Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-154

Opinion No. 154 G.-ain-Wheat-Warehousemen- Stor- age Charges. HELD: "Grain" as used in the Stor- age Act describes whea t, flax, oats, barley, rye and other grains. "'Yheat" as used in Storage Act in determining the storage charges con- notes wheat of the highest grade. Aplil 12, 1933, You ha\'e submitted the following qucstions: "1. The law reads that 25% reduc- tion of storage charges is to be made when the market price of wheat being sold is less than fifty cents per bush- el in the station, How would this apply to flax, oats, barley, rye, and so forth? "2, If it a pplies to all grains is the price of whea t as figured to be for the highest priced wheat sold or the lowest?" Section 357!) R C. M. 11t-n, as amend- ed by Chapter 35, Laws of 1933, reads in part as follows: "Charges must be made by all public warehousemen sub- ject to the provisions of this act for the handling or storage of gmin, as follows: * * *". Section 3574 as amended by said chapter in part re- cites: "Whene\'er the word 'grain' is mentioned in this act it shall be con- strued to include flax." 'Yheat, oats, barley and rye are grain. 2S C. J, 757. It is therefore my opinion that the storage charges fL'i:ed in the above chapter apply to flax, wheat, oats, bar- ley, rye and all f)ther grain except where it is otherwise specifically pro- vided, Your question No.2 presents a more perplexing problem in dew of the fail- ure of the legislature to be more spe- cific as to what was meant by the word "wheat", Paragraph (e) of Sec- tiim 3579, supra, as amended. reads as follows: "Twenty-fh'e per cent reduc- tion from the above charges shall be allowed when the market price of wheat being sold at point of origin at time of sale is less than fifty cents per bushel". '''hat is meant lIy the term "wheat": is it top grade or low grade, the high- est grade No.1, or the lowest grade ~o. 5, or possibly some lower grade? It might be said that wheat is wheat regardless of grade or condition. When, howe\'er, wheat is used as a basis of compalison with other commodities, or as a standard of values, that quality and grade which is the highest is the test, rather than the lowest. The name for any commodity connotes something of the highest grape or purity in that commodity. Wheat adulterated with water, wild oats, mustard seeu. t5mut, or any other foreign substance, may still be called "wheat" for lack of a hetter term to describe the itdmb:ture amI because its part of the bulk may preponderate, but, strictly speaking, such mixture is not wheat. "loreoYer, in fixing values according to the custom of the trade, the highest grade of wheat is bought and sold on the commodity exchange and the de- mand for it determines its price. This price is then used as a basis to deter- mine the prices of the lower grades or adulterated commodities. 1n the absence of any express dec- laration to the contrary, it is my opin- ion that the legislature, in using the term "wheat" used it according to the custom of the trade and used it to de- scribe that commodity which most nearly approaches purity, and there- fore the highest grade wheat.