Nothing in this section and §§ 23-10-402, 23-10-403, 23-10-405, 23-10-406, and 23-10-410 — 23-10-431 shall be so construed as to prohibit any person or corporation operating a railroad in this state from transporting, delivering, or storing freight free of charge or at reduced rates for any city, county, or town government, or for any state or the United States, or any property for schools, churches, hospitals, fairs, exhibitions, eleemosynary and charitable institutions, or indigent persons, or employees of such corporations for their own personal use, or for railroad eating houses when the houses are maintained for the benefit of railroad employees and the traveling public.