Subd. 1. Discriminatory practices.

It shall be unlawful for any common carrier:

1. (1) To charge, demand, collect or receive for any service a greater or a lesser sum than that fixed in its published schedules.
2. (2) To make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage, or any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage, to any person, company, firm, corporation, transit point or locality or to any particular description of traffic.
3. (3) By any special rate, rebate, drawback or other device, directly or indirectly, to charge, demand, collect or receive a greater or less compensation for any service rendered in the transportation of any property within this state than the regular established schedule of rates and charges for like and contemporaneous service for any other person, or for the public generally; or, directly or indirectly, to offer or give any shipper, in connection with or as an inducement or reward for receiving any property for transportation, any gift, gratuity or free pass or any rate less than that offered to the public.
4. (4) Except as expressly permitted, to charge a greater rate per ton or per ton mile for a single carload of freight of any kind or class than for a greater number of carloads of the same kind or class, to and from the same points of origin or destination.
5. (5) To charge or receive any greater compensation for the transportation of a quantity of property for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line, the shorter being included within the longer; but this shall not be so construed as to authorize any carrier to charge or receive as great compensation for a shorter as for a longer distance; or to charge or receive any greater compensation per ton per mile for the contemporaneous transportation of the same class of freight for a longer than for a shorter distance over the same line in the same general direction, or from the same original point of departure or to the same point of arrival; but this shall not be construed so as to authorize any carrier to charge as high a rate per ton per mile for a longer as for a shorter distance.
6. (6) To charge or receive for the transportation of freight of any description for any distance within this state a greater amount than is at the same time charged or received for a like quantity of freight of the same class over a greater distance of the same railway; or to charge or receive at any point upon its road a higher rate for receiving, handling or delivering freight of the same class or quantity than it shall at the same time charge or receive to any other point upon the same line; or to charge or receive for freight of any description over its railway a greater amount than at the same time is charged or received for the transportation of a like quantity of freight of the same class being transported over any portion of the same railway of equal distance; or to charge or receive from any person a greater amount than it shall at the same time charge or receive from any other person for the same class and like quantity of freight at the same point upon its railway; or to charge or receive from any person for the transportation of any freight upon its railway a greater amount than it shall at the same time charge or receive from any other person for the transportation of a like quantity of freight of the same class being transported from the same point over an equal distance of the same railway; or to charge or receive from any person for the use and transportation of any railway car upon its railroad for any distance, a greater amount than is at the same time charged or received from any other person for the use and transportation of any railway car of the same class or number for a like purpose being transported over a greater distance of the same railway; or to charge or receive from any person for the use and transportation of any railway car upon its railroad a greater amount in the aggregate than it shall at the same time charge or receive from any other person for the use and transportation of any railway car of the same class for a like purpose being transported from the same original point of an equal distance of the same railway; provided, however, where two or more railroads serve a common point one having a shorter mileage than the other from a given point, the railroad having the longer mileage may be authorized by the commissioner to meet the rate made by the shortest line.
7. (7) To charge or receive more for transporting a car of freight than is charged or received per car for several cars of a like class of freight over the same railway for the same distance; or to charge or receive more for transporting a ton of freight than is charged or received per ton for more than a ton but less than a carload of like class over the same railway for the same distance; or to charge or receive more for transporting one hundred pounds of freight than is charged or received per hundred pounds above one hundred pounds but less than a ton of like class over the same railway for the same distance.

Subd. 2. Exceptions.

Nothing herein shall prohibit carriage, storage or handling of property free or at reduced rates for the United States, the state, or any governmental subdivision thereof, ministers of religion, persons who have taken a vow of poverty as members of a religious order, missionaries, students of educational institutions or inmates of charitable institutions, or for charitable purposes, or for exhibition at fairs or at expositions, nor prohibit the interchange of freight transportation and message service between railroad, motor bus and telegraph companies.