so elects, can demand a redelivery of the same quantity of grain and of like quality as that specified on his receipt; but the amount of grain so redelivered is so-small as to be nonappreciable—the mass of the grain put in the elevators at railroad stations moves out of the country by rail after being placed upon cars by instrumentalities provided by the elevators and adapted to that purpose.
With the existing limited facilities for storing, handling, and shipping grain in this state, it is not an exaggeration to say that it would be impossible to market the larger part of the surplus grain raised in this state, in any year of an average yield of wheat and other cereals, without the aid of elevators and ware- houses now standing at railroad stations, and placed there for the express purpose of receiving, grading, and storing the grain and delivering it upon the cars. In brief, the elevators and warehouses are indispensable auxiliaries of the producers in conveying their grain to market. These explanations, it is hoped, will suffice to show that the business carried on at the warehouses and elevators erected at the railroad stations in North Dakota has a relation to the entire public which is unique. Not only are these structures peculiarly related to the producers of the grain who deal with them directly, but they have an exceptional relation also to that larger public, whose vital interests are inseperable from those of the producing class. It is true that our warehouses do not possess corporate privileges, and hence cannot be subjected to legislative control as legal monopolies; but they have such a large and decisive work to dg in the matter of transferring grain from the hands of the producer to the common carrier and to the buyer that their business has a relation to the public which is peculiar to them, and which lifts such business out of the common business pursuits of our people, and places it in a separate class. We adopt and approve the language of the court in Ruggles v. People, 91 Ill. 256: “The legislature of this state has the power, under the constitution, to fix a maximum rate of charges by individuals as common carriers, warehousemen, or others exercising a calling or business public in its character, or in which the public have an interest to be protected against extortion or oppression.”
