Syllabus. W. W. CARGILL CO. v. MINNESOTA. ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA. No. 116. Argued and submitted December 3, 4, 1900.- Decided March 5, 1901. Chapter 148 of the General Laws of Minnesota for the year 1895, entitled "an act to regulate the receipt, storage and shipment of grain at elevators and warehouses on the right of way of railroads, depot grounds and other lands used in connection with such line of railway in the State of Minnesota, at stations and sidings, other than at terminal points," contained in sections 1 and 2 the following provisions: "Section 1. All elevators and warehouses in which grain is received, stored, shipped or hand led and which are situated on the right of way of any railroad, depot grounds or any lands acquired or reserved by any railroad company in this State to be used in connection with its line of railway at any station or siding in this State, other than at terminal points, are hereby declared to be public elevators and shall be under the supervision and subject to the inspection of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission of the State of Minnesota, and shall, for the purposes of this act, be known and designated as public country elevators or country warehouses. It shall be unlawful to receive, ship, store or handle any grain in any such elevator or warehouse, unless the owner or owners thereof shall have procured a license therefor from the state Railroad and Warehouse Commission, which license shall be issued for the fee of one (1) dollar per year, and only upon written application under oath, specifying the location of such elevator or warehouse and the name of the person, firm or corporation owning and operating such elevator or warehouse and the names of all the members of the firm or the names of all the officers of the corporation owning and operating such elevator or warehouse and all moneys received for such licenses shall be turned over to the state grain inspection fund. Such license shall confer upon the licensee full authority to operate such warehouse or elevator in accordance with the laws of this State and the rules and regulations prescribed by said commission, and every person, company or corporation receiving such license shall be held to have accepted the provisions of this act, and thereby to have agreed to comply with the If any elevator or warehouse is operated in violation or in disregard of the laws of this State, its license shall, upon due proof of this fact, after proper hearing and notice to the licensee, be revoked by the said Railroad and Warehouse Commission. Every such license shall expire on the thirty-first (31st) day of August of each year. Sec. 2. No person, firm or corporation shall in any manner operate such public country elevator or country warehouse without having a license as specified in the same. Opinion of the Court. preceding section, and any attempt to operate such elevator or warehouse without such license shall be deemed a misdemeanor to be punished as hereinafter provided, and any attempt to operate such elevator or warehouse in violation of law and without having the license herein prescribed, may upon complaint of the party aggrieved, and upon complaint of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission, be enjoined and restrained by the district court for the county in which the elevator or warehouse in question is situate, by temporary and permanent injunction, conformably to the procedure in civil actions in the district court." Held: (1) That the highest court of the State having decided that the provision requiring a license was separable from other provisions, it was the duty of the Federal Court to accept that interpretation of the statute: (2) That the mere requirement of a licensee to engage in the business specified in the statute was to be referred to the general power of the State to adopt such regulations as were appropriate to protect the people in the enjoyment of their relative rights and privileges, and to guard them against fraud and imposition, and is not forbidden by the Fourteenth Amendment: (3) That an acceptance of a license, in whatever form, will not require the licensee to respect or to comply with any provisions of the statute, or with any regulations prescribed by the state Railroad and Warehouse Commission, that are repugnant to the Constitution of the United States: (4) That as the statute applied to all of the class defined by its first section it was not invalid by reason of its non-application to those who own or operate warehouses not situated on the right of way of a railroad. Such a classification was not so unreasonable as to amount to a denial of the equal protection of the laws, nor was the requirement of a license a regulation of commerce among the States. THE case is stated in the opinion of the court. Mr. Ralph Whelan for plaintiff in error. Mr. W. B. Douglas and Mr. W. J. Donahower submitted on their brief for defendant in error. MR. JUSTICE HARLAN delivered the opinion of the court. The present action was brought in one of the courts of Minnesota, in the name of the State, against the W. W. Cargill Company, a Wisconsin corporation. The relief sought was a decree Opinion of the Court. perpetually enjoining the defendant from operating a certain elevator and warehouse owned by it, situated on the right of way of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company, in the village of Lanesboro, Minnesota, until it should have obtained a license from the Railroad and Warehouse Commission of that State. The suit is based on a statute of Minnesota, approved April 16, 1895, and entitled "An act to regulate the receipt, storage and shipment of grain at elevators and warehouses on the right of way of railroads, depot grounds and other lands used in connection with such line of railway in the State of Minnesota, at stations and sidings, other than at terminal points." Gen. Stats. Minn. 1895, c. 148, p. 313. It seems to be necessary to a clear understanding of the case and to the disposition of some of the questions presented for consideration that the entire act be examined. It is therefore given in full in the margin.1 1"§ 1. All elevators and warehouses in which grain is received, stored, shipped or handled and which are situated on the right of way of any railroad, depot grounds or any lands acquired or reserved by any railroad company in this State to be used in connection with its line of railway at any station or siding in this State, other than at terminal points, are hereby declared to be public elevators, and shall be under the supervision and subject to the inspection of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission of the State of Minnesota, and shall, for the purposes of this act, be known and designated as public country elevators or country warehouses. "It shall be unlawful to receive, ship, store or handle any grain in any such elevator or warehouse, unless the owner or owners thereof shall have procured a license therefor from the state Railroad and Warehouse Commission, which license shall be issued for the fee of one dollar per year, and only upon written application under oath, specifying the location of such elevator or warehouse and the name of the person, firm or corporation owning and operating such elevator or warehouse and the names of all the members of the firm or the names of all the officers of the corporation owning and operating such elevator or warehouse, and all moneys received for such licenses shall be turned over to the state grain inspection fund. Such license shall confer upon the licensee full authority to operate such warehouse or elevator in accordance with the laws of this State and the rules and regulations prescribed by said Commission, and every person, company or corporation receiving such license shall be held to have accepted the provisions of this act, and thereby to have agreed to comply with the same. Opinion of the Court. We here give only the first and second sections of the act: "§ 1. All elevators and warehouses in which grain is received, "If any elevator or warehouse is operated in violation or in disregard of the laws of this State its license shall, upon due proof of this fact, after proper hearing and notice to the licensee, be revoked by the said Railroad and Warehouse Commission. Every such license shall expire on the thirtyfirst day of August of each year. "§ 2. No person, firm or corporation shall in any manner operate such public country elevator or country warehouse without having a license as specified in the preceding section, and any attempt to operate such elevator or warehouse without such license shall be deemed a misdemeanor to be punished as hereinafter provided, and any attempt to operate such elevator or warehouse in violation of law and without having the license herein prescribed, may upon complaint of the party aggrieved, and upon complaint of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission, be enjoined and restrained by the district court for the county in which the elevator or warehouse in question is situate, by temporary and permanent injunction, conformably to the procedure in civil actions in the district court. "§3. The Railroad and Warehouse Commission shall before the first of September of each year, and as much oftener as they shall deem proper, make and promulgate all suitable and necessary rules and regulations for the government and control of public country elevators and public country warehouses, and the receipt, storage, handling and shipment of grain therein and therefrom, and the rates of charges therefor, and the rates so fixed shall be deemed prima facie responsible and proper, and such rules and regulations shall be binding and have the force and effect of law; and a printed copy of such rules and regulations shall at all times be posted in a conspicuous place in each of said elevators and warehouses, for the free inspection of the public. "§ 4. The party operating such country elevator or country warehouse shall keep a true and correct account in writing, in proper books, of all grain received, stored and shipped at such elevator or warehouse, stating the weight, grade and dockage for dirt or other cause on each lot of grain received in store for sale, storage or shipment, and shall, upon the request of any person delivering grain for storage or shipment, receive the same without discrimination during reasonable and proper business hours, and shall, upon request, deliver to such person or his principal, a warehouse receipt or receipts therefor in favor of such person or his order, dated the day the grain was received, and specifying upon its face the gress and net weight of such grain, the dockage for dirt or other cause, and the grade of such grain, conformable to the grade fixed by the state Railroad and Warehouse Commission and in force at terminal points; and shall also state upon its face that the grain mentioned in such receipt or receipts has been received into store to be stored with grain of the same grade under such inspection, and that, upon the return of said receipt or receipts, and upon Opinion of the Court. stored, shipped or handled, and which are situated on the right of way of any railroad, depot grounds or any lands acquired the payment or tender of payment of all lawful charges for receiving, storing, delivering or otherwise handling said grain, which charges may have accrued up to the time of the return of said receipt or receipts, such grain is deliverable to the person named therein, or his order, either from the elevator or warehouse where it was received for storage; or if the owner so desires, in quantities not less than a carload on track on the same line of railway at any terminal point in this State which the owner may designate, where state inspection and weighing is in force, such grain to be subject to such official inspection and weight as may be determined upon its arrival or delivery at such terminal point and the party delivering shall be liable for the delivery of the kind, grade and net quantity called for by such certificate, less an allowance not to exceed sixty pounds per carload for shrinkage or loss in transit, if such shrinkage or loss occurs. On the return or presentation of such receipts by the lawful holder thereof, properly endorsed, at the elevator or warehouse where the grain represented therein is made deliverable and upon the payment or tender of payment of all lawful charges, as hereinbefore provided, the grain shall be immediately delivered to the holder of such receipt, and it shall not be subject to any further charges for storage after demand for such delivery shall have been made, and cars are furnished by the railway company which the party operating the elevator or warehouse shall have called for promptly upon the request for shipment made by the holder of such receipt in the order of the date upon which such receipts are surrendered for shipment. The grain represented by such receipt shall be delivered within twenty-four hours after such demand shall have been made and cars or vessels or other means of receiving the same from the elevator or warehouse shall have been furnished. "If not delivered upon such demand within twenty-four hours after such car, vessel or other means for receiving the same shall have been furnished, the warehouse in default shall be liable to the owner of such receipt for damages for such default, in the sum of one cent per bushel, and in addition thereto one cent per bushel for each and every day of such neglect or refusal to deliver; provided, no warehouseman shall be held to be in default in delivering if the property is delivered in the order demanded by holders of different receipts or terminal orders and as rapidly as due diligence, care and prudence will justify. "On the return of said receipts, if shipment or delivery of the grain at terminal point is requested by the owner thereof, the party receiving such grain shall deliver to said owner a certificate in evidence of his right to such shipment or delivery, stating upon its face the date and place of its issue, the name of the consignor and consignee and place of destination and shall also specify upon the face of such certificate the kind of grain and the grade and not quantity exclusive of dockage, to which said owner is entitled by |