The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1894-02-03
sCALPBRS ARE ON TOP
THE ANTI-DROkER LAW 1s nm.
CLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
Judge Willis, of the Ramsey County
District Court, Decides That the
Famous Law of the Inst Lexis.
lature 10 Void.

important decisions made in the Ramsey
county district court was that read by
Judge Willis i'll open court in the case
of the state against G. E. Corbett, in
dicted under the 'tickct scalping law
so called, passed by the last legislature
In that case u demurrer to the inlict
ment was interposcd by Hiler II. Horton
who argued the case with great ability
assisted by his partner. Mr.. Dencgre
while the county attorney, Mr.. Butler,
assisted by MIR. Charles Bum, appeared
TO- the state. Judge Willis sustained the
demurrer and will certify the question
to the supreme court for final decision.
The law was attacked on the ground
of its constitutionality. After referring
to the provisions Of the law, Judge
Willis says, in his memorandum:
The act contains no provision re-
quir!ng the issuance of u license to sell
these tickets to any citizen of good char
acter who may apply for such license and
pay the fee therefor. 1t provides no quail.
lhcatlons US to character or competency
on the part of an applicant for license.
All that Is required Of an applicant is
that he shall be presented to the licens-
lllS authority under the potent patronage
OF person or corporation fortunate
enough to be the owner Of railway or
a steamship. 1t is made, by this statute,
the duty of the owners of any railway OF
steamship to redeem tickets for the trans
ptrtntion of passengers once issued by
sncE owners, in cases where the original
vendor is the owner of railroad or
steamboat situate OF operated, in whole
Ort V~.stE NJ,
vision is made for the redemption of
tickets of the kind mentioned sold by
persons other than the owners of every
rnilroad or steamboat situate or operated
in whole or in part within this state
Thcre is no provision in the net for
the redemption of the ticket described
in the indictment in the case ut bar, if
such ticket were originally purchased in
the State Of Wisconsin from the agent of
railway company chartered under tho
laws of that state and owning and con-
trolling no lines outside of Wisconsin,
Suppose the ticket mentioned in the i'll
dictlpcnt was sold to The defendant at
Milwaukee, Wis. Unless he bought it
from an agent of the Northern Pacific
RGilroad company he can neither sell it
nor force its redemption under the laws
of this state if the statute under con-
s!deration be allowed full force. His
property in this ticket is thus nnnihilated
so far as its exchangeable value is COLI
cerned. The ticket is marked not trans
fcrablc.' But the condition simply means
that the issuer of the ticket will not
recognize it as Il sufficient evidence in the
hrn'ls. of any assignee of the original
IN In.
portation by virtue thereof 1t does not
eXtinguish it's existence as an article of
commerce. That result is accomplished,
however, if the statute under review is
constitutional.
"lhe statute, by forbi,lding the sale
OF railway and steamship tickets, rpcog-
nizcs such tickets as clattcl property,
and as articles which have been the
subject of commercial transactions by
barter and sale. III assuming to destroy
the value of such chattcls as articles of
commerce, the statute must be justified,
If ut all. as an exercise of the police pow.
or. That power has never been allowed
to ACHIEVE the destruction of private
Mopcrty, unless its exercise was di-
rette,i towards the preservation, of life.
health or morals. The various statut IS
of Iowa and Kansas, prohibiting tho man.
ufrcture of Intoxicating beverages, have
been upheld on that ground as consti-
tutiOnal measures for the exercise Of
the police power.
'T'lis statute does not declare the
selling of transportation tickets to be u
business dangerous to health or morals.
Nor could such decision be sustained.
TIE sale of such chattes is per Sc inno-
cent. The legislation under which the
pending proposition is based aims at the
complete prohibition of such sales and
the suppression of traffic in transporta-
ton tickets except by privileged clnss,
the persons designated by the owners of
railways and steamships and licensed
by the state government pursuant to
such designation. This favoritism is To-.
pugnant to the entire scope and spirit
of our state constitution. The provision
for the issuance Of license restricting
the issuance to persons designated by the
owners of any railroad or steamboat is
an unconstitutional delegation of the IL
censing power.
while the statute under consideration
is conspicuous example of class legis-
latiOn, it could not be successfully inn
peached upon that ground, if its enact
ment by the legislative authority Of the
stt II. were not in direct conflict with that
piior and supreme expression of tho sov-
creign will of a free people which is cnl-
Bodied in the st0te constitution.
"That instrument declares that no per-
son shall be de-
pri, ed of life, liberty OF property without
due process of law
''The statute, which is now under re-
ion.
''This statute, by creating spe ,ial
class of citizens to whom alone licenses
Eay be issued, violates section 33 Of
Article of the state constitution which
declares the legislature shall pass no
law granting to any corporation or indi-
v:dual any special or exclusive privilege
1T may be that some sections of this
statute are not justly open to the OBJ
lection that they arc unconstitutional. hut
it is evident that the entire scope Of the
nc! is controlled by the unconstitutional
provisions, and the latter are so inter-
woven with the other provisions of the
act that no chirurgical art known to
Jurisprudence could ,lisscct the void from
the valid portions of the statute and
leave any vitality in the subject of the
ope ration"
Arkansns Rnftsmen Frozen.
Fulton, Ark, Jan. :M-The first news
of loss of life by the late cold weather
reached here last night, when it was re-
ported from the upper Red river that
tive negroes, names unknown. employed
In logging camp. We're discovered frozen
to death on raft thirty-fvc miles IRON
here. The bodies were frozen stiff when
Long Distance Hello.
Sioux Falls, $. D., Jan. 3O.-Long dis.
tance telephone lires to Salem and Dell