The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1894-01-11
STATE ELEVATOR KHTFD
THE SUPREME COURT KNOCKS O1rr
THE LAW.
It Holds That the State Has No Pow
er to Act, 1t Not Being in Accord
nnce With the Police Powers Pro-
vided by the Constitution.

err to Act, 1t Not Being in Accord
nnce with the Police Power. Pro-
vided by the COnstitution.
St. Paul, Jan. 6.-The supreme court
has reversed the order of the lower.
court in the state elevator case, holding:
that under the constitution the state has
no right to engage in the grain buying
business; that it is not proper exer-
else of the police power to regulate the
traffic. = So it is altogether probable that
the elevator will not be built after ALL.
In his opinion Judge Mitchell roasts the
project to turn, and says the state
could as we'll go into the brewing or lup,-
Der business as the grain business. The
title and syllabus Of the case are RS
follows:
Henry Ripe, appellant, VS.. George t.
Becker ct al, Board of Railroad and
. Warehouse Commissioners, respondent.
Syllabus:
Chapter 50, Laws of 1893, entitled
"An act to provide for the purchase cr
n site and for the erection Of state ele-
vator or warehouse at Duluth for public
storage of grain, etc. is an exercise of
the police power of the state to regulate
the business of receiving, weighing and
relation to the regulation of the business.
but provides for the state itself ensaged
in carrying it on. The police power of
a state to regulate business is to be ex-
ercised by the adoption of rules and
regulations as to the manner in which it
is conducted by others and not by itself
enga ging i'm it. The act in question is
in viola ton Of section 5, article 6, Of the
constitution, providing that 1.-The state
shall never contract any debts for works
of internal improvements or be a party in
carrying on such works"
Works of internal improvement, as
used in the constitution, means not mere
ly the construction or improvement Of
channels of trade and commerce, but any
kind of public works. except those used
by and for the state in the performance
of its governmental functions, such as =
state capitol, state university, peniten
tiaries, reformatories, asylums, quaran
tine buildings, and the like, for the pur-
pose of education, the prevention of
crime, charity, the preservation Of public
health, furnishing accommodations for the
transaction of public business by state
officers and other like recognized func-
tions of state government. Order.
versed. Mitchell, J.
Another case of no little Importance
to the people of hhe northern part of
the state is that of the State of Mime
sofa eX rel. ]. n Mari, relator, appel
liant, VS.. Samuel S. Luther, county audit
or Of AitlIn county, respondent. The
state brought the suit to tax the lands
of the st. Paul q Duluth road, claiming
that their exemption should have ended
when they were transferred from the
old Lake Superior 4 Mississippi road. to
which they We're first granted. The
court holds that they are not taxable.
Following is the syllabus:
Special Laws, 1865, chapter s, entitled
IAN act in relation to the taxation Of
lands granted to the Lake Superior Il
Mississippi Railroad company" passed c
March 3, repealed the proviso attached
to section 1 of the prior act Is. L. 1865.
chapter y, passed Feb. %, and exemptS
the granted lands from taxation in the
ordinary way Us long is they continue to
be owned by the company.
Assuming, without deciding, that laws
passed subsequently to the adoption of
the state constitution providing for the
payment of a percentage on the gross
earnings of the railroad company in lieu
of all other taxes on it's railroad and
granted lands were invalid when passed.
they We're invalidated by the constitu
tional amendment of 1871 (article i.
section 32). Order affirmed.
Mitchell. L.