State ex rel. Northern Transportation Co. v. Railroad Commission

The relator concedes that the provisions of the law conferring power on the Railroad Commission to regulate common carriers by motor vehicles are valid. The only portions of the statute which are attacked are those which provide for the ton-mile tax.

Streets and highways belong to the public and are constructed for the use of the public. But their use for the purpose of conducting a business for gain is a special and extraordinary use which may be permitted only upon such conditions ás the legislature may prescribe. Packard v. Banton, 264 U. S. 140, 144, 68 Lawy. Ed. 596, 608, 44 Sup. Ct. 257.…