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- 
préssion 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 preserves its right to reassume full respon- 
sibility. Under this power the state may abso- 
3204 U. 8. 311. 
