New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-12-28
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OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE UNITED STATES
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF new ORLEANS
Important to Commercial Travellers.

Important 10 C0mmcFCSHl AGHVCbcEDs
1t will be recollected that last week Jus
tlce Clifford decided, in the United States
Supreme Court, the case of Ward against
the State of Maryland, against the right OF
any State to levy tax discriminating IN
favor of residents of the State in the same
business. Joy is expressed 10y ''drummers
for houses in New York and other large
cities over the announcement OF the decl-
sion that they have rights that State au-
thorities are bound to respect. Three legal
decisions now come together to guarantee
them in the exercise Of the constitutional
right to sell their goods where they please
without being specially taxed beyond the
amount Of tax paid by merchants OF the
same class in the community where 1t Is
levied In this connection Washington
correspondent gives resume OF the case
referred to:
A year or two ago the annoyance to
''drummers'' by arrestoend assessment OF
large license fees became too great to bear.
A test case was made Oh the arrest of Mr..
Ward, representing {; mercantile house i'll
another city and selling by sample. The
.'drumrners' contributed to IA fund and car
ried the case on appeal to the Supreme
Court of the United States, where the dis
eliminating tax upon nonresident traders
was declared unconstitutional Two weeks
ago. ahead Of this decision, the Supreme
Court of Ohio decided a similar case, the
Judge ruling that no State had, under the
constitution, right to levy license taxes
upon nonresident traders beyond the
amount levied upon resident traders in the
same line of business. On Thursday, Fer
dinand Hayman came before the court here,
charged with having exposed wares for sale
in Washington, he being a nonresident
trader, and having no license from the au-
thorities in Washington to sell. The license
in such case charged is two hundred and
fifty dollars, but in case OF a resident, fifty
dollars. The regular license fee Of resi-
dent is five dollars.
In deciding this case Judge Carter ruled
that the law creating it as an Otfense for
nOn-residents to sell wares or merchandise
in the District of Columbia, wherein the
penalty was in excess of that which follows
upon the violation of the statute. which de-
clares that residents shall take out license
and in default thereof be fined not less than
five dollars nor more than fifty dOllars-in
other words, that the distinction between
resident and nonresident traders was I'M
constitutional.
Judge Carter, in conclusion, gave notice
that hereafter he would set aside all cases |
into which this vice had entered, and that |
the case then at issue, together with all |
other cases Of the same nature now upon |
the records, would be Obliterated there.
from.
Any proceeding in Washington hereafter
against nonresident traders will, under this
decision, have to be brought as in violation
of the statute against resident traders and
the effect of the Supreme Court decision,
which will be in print about the middle OF
next week, will bind all courts in the United
States to the same principle.
This has been long and expensive con-
test for the drummers, but they have a glo-
rions triumph at last.