dered you by the relator, in a dry and suitable condition for storage, at a rate of compensation not exceeding the following schedule, viz., for receiving, elevating, insuring, delivering, and twenty days’ storage, two cents per bushel; storage rates after the first twenty days, one half cent per bushel for each fifteen days or fraction thereof, and shall not exceed five cents for six months; or that you show cause to the contrary before this court, at the courthouse in the city of Devil’s Lake, Ramsey county, N. D., on the 5th day of October, 1891, at 10 o’clock in the forenoon of said day, or as soon thereafter as counsel can be heard, and how you have executed this writ make known to this court at the time and place aforesaid, and have you then and there this writ. Dated Sept. 30th, 1891. D. E. Morgan, Judge District Court, Ramsey County, North Dakota.”
To which writ appellant made return by answer, as follows: “The return of the respondent to the alternative writ of mandamus issued in the above-entitled proceeding shows to the court: (1) That the respondent admits the truth of the facts pleaded in said alternative writ. (2) For a further return to the said alternative writ the respondent alleges that he owns and operates only one grain elevator in North Dakota or elsewhere; that the said elevator is the elevator mentioned in said alternative writ, and is situated at Grand Harbor, a small way station on the line of the Great Northern Railroad, containing a population of less than one hundred people; that there are two other elevators owned and operated by different owners independently of and in competition with each other; that there are about six hundred grain elevators, flathouses, and warehouses in said state of North Dakota, at which grain is bought and shipped for profit, which said elevators, warehouses, and flathouses are owned and operated by over one hundred and twenty-five different owners, independent of and in competition with each other; that the owners of said elevators, warehouses, and flathouses are individuals engaged in buying and shipping grain, millers who use their elevators to supply their mills with grain, farmers’ shipping associations, elevator corporations, and individual farmers; that said elevators, flathouses, and warehouses vary in cost of construction from five hundred dollars to five thou-
