POLICE POWER 25 



from its value as food. (§111.) Houses may be 

 destroyed. In all these matters it is presumed 

 that the owner as well as others will be benefited. 

 Under police power it may be possible to take 

 possession of a house and use it as a hospital, and 

 without rendering any compensation, in the ab- 

 sence of special statutes covering the subject. A 

 man's horse may thus be taken from him tempo- 

 rarily. If property be taken under what is called 

 eminent domain, it must be paid for. This shows 

 how easy it might be to be unjust under police 

 power unless certain checks be observed. 



In Bacon v. Walker^ the Supreme Court said, 

 in speaking of police power, that the power of the 

 state ''is not confined as we have said to the sup- 

 pression of what is offensive, disorderly, or insani- 

 tary. It extends to so dealing with the conditions 

 which exist in the state as to bring out of them 

 the greatest welfare of the people." 



15. Police Power Cannot be Alienated. Police 

 power always resides in the state. It may regu- 

 late the sale of liquor, by the granting of a license, 

 or it may grant to a veterinarian the right to prac- 

 tice his profession, but in neither case does it grant 

 to the party interested an absolute right, and free 

 from control. The license may at any time be 

 revoked upon showing sufficient cause. The state 

 does, not give away, nor sell, its right of control 

 under police power. The power is necessary for 

 the protection of the state and its citizens. It may 

 suspend its control under certain conditions, but 

 it still preseiwes its right to reassume full respon- 

 sibility. Under this power the state may abso- 



3 204 u. S. 311. 



