884 Meyer—Early Railroad Legislation in Wisconsin. 
system which is both just and expedient. Does the decision 
of 1867 do this? 
Another important case was that of the "Dousman House” in 
Prairie du Chien. 1 The hotel had claimed exemption under the 
laws exempting railroad property. The court would give the 
statute a ‘‘liberal construction.” but evidence had been intro¬ 
duced showing conclusively that the Dousman House was not 
strictly a railroad hotel, but that it admitted any one who chose 
to come; and that, too, when there were good hotels in the city. 
It was doing a general hotel business, and, on that account, was 
held by the court liable for the taxes. In the decision, the 
court took occasion to say that the erection and maintenance of 
hotels or places of accommodation cannot, in many cases at 
least, be well or properly be left to private or individual capi¬ 
tal and enterprise; but that they should be and remain under 
the management and supervision of companies as being neces¬ 
sarily connected with and forming a part of this mode or sys¬ 
tem of transportation or travel. This remark on "private or 
individual enterprise” is interesting when compared with utter¬ 
ances on the same subject in relation to paving streets, lighting 
a city, or even building a railroad. 
A decision was rendered by the same judge in a second 
case by the same parties, in 1876. 2 The hotel property was 
assessed in 1873, and sold in 1874 for non-payment of taxes, 
and the action was brought to set aside the tax certificate 
issued on such sale. The ground taken was similar to that of 
the first case. Meanwhile the hotel had been remodelled, and 
its name changed to "Railway Hotel,” and from that time on 
had been used principally, though not exclusively, for travelers. 
The court held that since the hotel was used "principally for a 
purpose necessary to the operation of the railroad” it was not 
subject to taxation under the laws of the state. The principal 
use was the point on which the decision turned. 
The question of taxing warehouses and elevators involves a 
similar principle. 3 Are elevators and warehouses necessarily 
1 Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Co. vs. Board of Supervisors of 
Crawford County , 29 Wis., 116; June, 1871. 
2 48 Wis., 666. 
3 C., M., & St. Paul R. R. Co. vs. City of Milwaukee, 34 Wis., 271. 
