Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1894-01-11
STATE FLEW .ATOR KILLED.
kHE SUPREME COURT KNOCKS OUT
q ~ ii THE LAW. @ Il
II Holds That the state Has No Pow
er to Act, 1t Not Rcinw I'm AccOrti-
ance with the Police Powers Pros
vidcd Ivy the Constitution.

= 3 il : III u. 2 +. ~ a
st. Paul, Jan. 6.--Ihe 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 eXere
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 a talrn, and says the state
could as well so into the brewing or lum-
Der business as the grain business. Tho
title and syllabus Of the case arc as
follows:
Henry Ripe, appellant, vs.. George L.
Becker ct al, Board of Railroad and
Warehouse Commissioners, respondent.
Syllabus:
Chapter 80, Laws of 1893, entitled
AN act to provide for the purchase of
a 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
tho business of receiving, weighing and
inspecting grain in elevators. 1t has no
relation to the regulation of the business,
but provides for the state itself engaged
in carrying it on. The police power of
a state to regulate q business is to be ex-
ercised by the adoption of rules and
regulations us to the manner in which it
is conducted by others and not by itself
engaging in it. The act in question is
in violation of section 5, article 6, of the
constitution, providing that "the state
shall never contract any debts for works
of internal improvements or be party in
carrying on such works."
Works of internal improvement, as
used in the constitution, means not mere
" 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 q
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 re-
versed. Mitchell, j.
Another case of no little importance
to the people of the northern part of
the state is that of the State of Mime
sofa ex rel. j. N. Mari, relator, appel
liant, VS.. Samuel S. Luther, county audit
or Of Aitldn county, respondent. The
state brought the suit to tax the lands
of the St. Paul & Duluth road, claiming
that their exemption should have ended
when they were transferred from the
old Lake Superior & Mississippi road, to
which they were first granted. The
court holds that they are not taxable.
Following is the syllabus:
Special Laws, 1865, chapter 8, entitled
"An act in relation to the taxation of
lands granted to the Lake Superior &
Railroad company" passed
March 3, repealed the proviso attached
to section of the prior act Is. L. 1865,
chapter p, passed Feb. %, and exempts
the granted lands from taxation in the
ordinary way as long as 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
of percentage on the gross
of the railroad company in lieu
of all other taxes on its railroad and
granted lands were invalid when passed,
they were invalidated by the constitn-
tional amendment of 1871 (aricle 4,
section 32). Order affirmed.
Mitchell, j.