The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-06-02
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, J
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, =
Ralninh Anil % 1901

": ~; Worth, Esq, State Business Agent of N.
7. fdfmers' State Alliance:
DEAR SIR have your letter in which, after
setting forth the nature and plans of the Bust
4Hoos agency OF the Farmers Alliance, and re-
mantIg te 10 the accompanying printed dOcu-
Hi eL rGIaGIng 10 the same, you ask whether the
agency Is liable to the tax on purchases.
1O9 state That the members of the Alliance in
the state employ one man as their Business
Agent, to write their letters and find ont where
Is the best market to purchase their goods for
Lnelr individual not in any case
s0r speculation; the individual members place
their orders for goods that they wish for their
individual consumption, with the sinh RnsineSs
Agent, and he forwards the order to the ConDtv
BUSINESS Agent, and he sends it to the State
agent, and L buy for them in any market where
l can 90 so most advantageOusly. They simply
employ me to write their letters and look out
where are the best markets to buy their goods,
ana nave me DO their correspondence for them.
L Keep no stock on hand and only buy for County
ana and individual members of the
machines that I have furnished to the brethren
4 tn Inc p 9Late: me machines are sold at the fac
Tory TO the party who uses it"
relating to the Business Agency, provides for it's
regulation and control by the Executive Com
mlttee of the Alliance and that it is prohibited
from making any charge for its services to mem
berS contributing not less than a specified sum
to the Fund, and to those contributing less, only
such charges as the Executive ommitt may
deem just, to be applied to the expenses of the
Agency.
the nature, purposes and methods of the Agency,
/ am of the opinion that it is not subject to q tax
on lUS purchases, maSmuCl as Unoy are not made
for the purpose of trade, speculation or profit of
the Agency or of the Alliance as a Corporation,
but for the use, consumption and benefit of the
member who are the purchasers through their
owl appointed factOtum or purveyor, the Busi-
ness Agent.
The conclusion is based upon the idea solely
that the Business Agencysis conducted exclu-
sively for the benefit of its employers or princi-
pals-the member Of the Alliance who are
really the purchasers, because they are the
users and consumers of the articles bought, and
that no profit is otherwise aimed at or realized
in it's transactions. Should the Business Agent
enlarge the operationsand buy and sell to others
than those who employ him, or should conduct
the Agency so as to make it a source of profit
(beyond the meeting of the expenses) to himself
or the Alliance as a corporation, then he or his
Agency would be considered as in the realm of
trade, and liable, as other tradesmen, to the
purchase tax.
l think the decision of the Supreme Court of
North Carolina, in the case of Stokes Us. The
Department Of agriculture, 1O6 N. @. Repsrts,
page 439, sustains the position l hvea taken.
Estate further that the term merchant :" or
dealer" in the Act to Raise Revenue as it
appears tome, refers to the persons who buy
and sell to the public generally for a profit, and
does not embrace any man or set of men who
only act as agents in ordering goods for others,
the agent not making a profit on a sale.
Very respectfully,
N w. Balm, State Treas.