In Missouri Pacific Railway v. Humes, 115 U.S. 512, 522-23, 29 L. Ed. 463, 6 S. Ct. 110 (1885), the United States Supreme Court stated that it is not a valid objection that the sufferer instead of the State receives damages. . . . The power of the State to impose fines and penalties for a violation of its statutory requirements is coeval with government; and the mode in which they shall be enforced, whether at the suit of a private party, or at the suit of the public, and what disposition shall be made of the amounts collected, are merely matters of legislative discretion.