Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/153/289
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 06:47:28+00:00

Document:
This was a prosecution by the city of Titusville, Pa., against J. W. Brennan for violating an ordinance imposing a license tax. Having been convicted in the court of the city recorder, defendant appealed to the court of common pleas, which also rendered judgment against him. He then took an appeal to the supreme court of the state, and the judgment was there affirmed. 22 Atl. 893. Thereupon he sued out this writ of error.
'(1) J. A. Shephard is a manufacturer of picture frames and maker of portraits, residing in Chicago, in the state of Illinois, of which state he is a citizen, and in which city he has his manufactory and place of business.
'(2) In the prosecution of said business he employs agents who, under his direction, solicit orders for pictures and picture frames in the state of Pennsylvania and in other states of the Union by going personally to residents and citizens of said state of Pennsylvania and other states and exhibiting samples of his pictures and frames, going, when necessary, from house to house, in said state of Pennsylvania and other states.
'(3) The defendant, J. W. Brennan, was an agent of the said J. A. Shephard, employed by him to travel and solicit orders for said pictures and frames in the manner stated, upon a salary, and also upon commission upon the amount of his sales, at the time of his arrest, May 25, 1889, upon a warrant issued by the authorities of the city of Titusville, in the state of Pennsylvania.
'(4) Upon receiving orders for pictures and picture frames, the agents of the said J. A. Shephard forwarded the same to him at Chicago, in the state of Illinois, where the goods were made, and from there shipped by said J. A. Shephard to the purchasers in Titusville, in the state of Pennsylvania, by railroad freight and express, and the price of said goods was collected and forwarded by the express companies and sometimes by the agents to said Shephard, at Chicago, in the state of Illinois. J. W. Brennan, the agent employed by J. A. Shephard, was engaged in conducting the business in the manner stated at the time of his arrest, May 25, 1889. The said J. W. Brennan, at the time of his arrest and before, had not been otherwise employed than as stated, and was acting solely for the said Shephard.
'(6) At the time of his arrest the defendant, Brennan, was not, and had not been, selling by sample to manufacturers or licensed merchants or dealers residing in said city of Titusville, and was not, within the provision of the twelfth section of said ordinance, soliciting to such excepted persons.
'(7) The defendant, J. W. Brennan, at the time of his arrest had not obtained a license as required by said ordinance, and had not paid to the treasurer of the city of Titusville the license fee provided by said ordinance.
'(8) The defendant was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to pay a fine of $25 and costs of suit under said ordinance on the 29th day of May, 1889, before W. M. Dame, city recorder of the city of Titusville.
'If the court should be of opinion upon the facts stated that the defendant, J. W. Brennan, was liable to take out a license, and pay the license fee provided by said ordinance, then judgment to be entered for the plaintiff, the city of Titusville, for $25 and costs of suit. If the court should be of opinion that said Brennan was not so liable, then judgment to be entered for the defendant, with costs of suit.' Upon these facts, on May 20th, that court entered judgment against him for $25 and costs. From that judgment he appealed to the supreme court of the state, which court, on October 5, 1891, affirmed the judgment. Thereupon he sued out a writ of error from this court.
Roger Sherman, for plaintiff in error.
George A. Chase, for defendant in error.
Mr. Justice BREWER, after stating the facts, in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.
The question in this case is whether a manufacturer of goods, which are unquestionably legitimate subjects of commerce, who carries on his business of manufacturing in one state can send an agent into another state to solicit orders for the products of his manufactory without paying to the latter state a tax for the privilege of thus trying to sell his goods.
It is true, in the present case the tax is imposed only for selling to persons other than manufacturers and licensed merchants; but, if the state can tax for the privilege of selling to one class, it can for selling to another, or to all. In either case it is a restriction on the right to sell, and a burden on lawful commerce between the citizens of two states. It is as much a burden upon commerce to tax for the privilege of selling to a minister as it is for that of selling to a merchant. It is true, also, that the tax imposed is for selling in a particular manner, but a regulation as to the manner of sale, whether by sample or not, whether by exhibiting samples at a store or at a dwelling house, is surely a reglation of commerce. It must be borne in mind that the goods which the defendant was engaged in selling, to wit, pictures and picture frames, are open to no condemnation, and are unchallenged subjects of commerce. There is no charge of dealing in obscene or indecent pictures, or that the pictures or the frames were in any manner dangerous to the health, morals, or general welfare of the community. It must also be borne in mind that the ordinance is not one designed to protect from imposition and wrong either minors, habitual drunkards, or persons under any other affliction or disability. There is no discrimination except between manufacturers and licensed merchants on the one hand and the rest of the community on the other, and unless it be a matter of just police regulation to tax for the privilege of selling to manufacturers and merchants it cannot be to tax for the privilege of selling to the rest of the community. The same observation may also be made in respect to the places and manner in which the sales were charged to have been made. It is as much within the scope of the police power to restrain parties from going to a store or manufactory as from going to a dwelling house for the purposes of making a sale. We do not mean to say that none of these matters to which we have referred are within the reach of the police power; but simply that the conditions on the one side are no more within its reach than those on the other, so that if, under the excuse of an exercise of the police power, this ordinance can be sustained, and sales in the manner therein named be restricted, by an equally legitimate exercise of that power almost any sale could be prevented.
'Definitions of the police power must, however, be taken subject to the condition that the state cannot, in its exercise, for any purpose whatever, encroach upon the powers of the general government, or rights granted or secured by the supreme law of the land.
'Illustrations of interference with the rightful authority of the general government by state legislation which was defended upon the ground that it was enacted under the police power are found in cases where enactments concerning the introduction of foreign paupers, convicts, and diseased persons were held to be unconstitutional, as conflicting, by their necessary operation and effect, with the paramount authority of congress to regulate commerce with foreign natio and among the several states. In Henderson v. Mayor of New York, 92 U. S. 259, the court, speaking by Mr. Justice Miller, while declining to decide whether, in the absence of action by congress, the states can, or how far they may, by appropriate legislation protect themselves against actual paupers, vagrants, criminals, and diseased persons arriving from foreign countries, said that no definition of the police power and 'no urgency for its use can authorize a state to exercise it in regard to a subject-matter which has been confided exclusively to the discretion of congress by the constitution.' Page 271. Chy Lung v. Freeman, 92 U. S. 275. And in Railroad Co. v. Husen, 95 U. S. 465, Mr. Justice Strong, delivering the opinion of the court, said that 'the police power of a state cannot obstruct foreign commerce or interstate commerce beyond the necessity for its exercise; and, under color of it, objects not within its scope cannot be secured at the expense of the protection afforded by the federal constitution."
'The power vested in congress 'to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states and with the Indian tribes' is the power to prescribe the rule by which that commerce is to be governed, and is a power complete in itself, acknowledging no limitations other than those prescribed in the constitution. It is coextensive with the subject on which it acts, and cannot be stopped at the external boundary of a state, but must enter its interior, and must be capable of authorizing the disposition of those articles which it introduces, so that they may become mingled with the common mass of property within the territory entered. Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1; Brown v. Maryland, 12 Wheat. 419.
So in the case of Minnesota v. Barber, 136 U. S. 313, 10 Sup. Ct. 862, in which a law of the state of Minnesotaostensibly a law for inspection of meatswas declared unconstitutional, the court distinguished in the opinion by Mr. Justice Harlan between that which is mere inspection and in the legitimate exercise of the police power, and that which, under the guise of inspection, is a direct burden upon and obstruction to interstate commerce. Very similar to this was the case of Brimmer v. Rebman, 138 U. S. 78, 11 Sup. Ct. 213, in which also an inspection statute of the state of Virginia was set aside for the same reason.
Because a license may be required in the exercise of the police power it does not follow that every license rests for its validity upon such police power. A state may legitimately make a license for the privilege of doing a business one means of taxation, and that such was the purpose of this ordinance is obvious, not merely from the fact that in the title it is declared to be for 'general revenue purposes,' but also from the further fact that, so far as we are informed by any quotations from or references to any part of the ordinance, there is no provision for any supervision, control, or regulation of any business for which by the ordinance a license is required. In other words, so far as this record discloses, this ordinance sought simply to make the various classes of business named therein pay a certain tax for the general revenue of the city.
Even if it be that we are concluded by the opinion of the supreme court of the state that this ordinance was enacted in the exercise of the police power, we are still confronted with the difficult question as to how far an act held to be a police regulation, but which in fact affects interstate commerce, can be sustained. It is undoubtedly true that there are many police regulations which do affect interstate commerce, but which have been and will be sustained as clearly within the power of the state; but we think it must be considered, in view of a long line of decisions, that it is settled that nothing which is a direct burden upon interstate commerce can be imposed by the state without the assent of congress, and that the silence of congress in respect to any matter of interstate commerce is equivalent to a declaration on its part that it should be absolutely free.
'But if it should be proved that a duty on the article itself would be repugnant to the constitution, it is still argued that this is not a tax upon the article, but on the person. The state, it is said, may tax occupations, and this is nothing more.
It is clear, therefore, that this license tax is not a mere police regulation, simply inconveniencing one engaged in interstate commerce, and so only indirectly affecting the business, but is a direct charge and burden upon that business; and, if a state may lawfully exact it, it may increase the amount of the exaction until all interstate commerce in this mode ceases to be possible. And, notwithstanding the fact that the regulation of interstate commerce is committed by the constitution to the United States, the state is enabled to say that it shall not be carried on in this way, and to that extent to regulate it.
These questions of interference by state regulations with interstate commerce have been frequently before this court, and it may not be unwise to examine a few of them. Welton v. State of Missouri, 91 U. S. 275, presented these facts: Welton was indicted and convicted for acting as a peddler under a statute defining a peddler to be one 'going from place to place to sell' goods not the growth, produce, or manufacture of the state, and prohibiting any one from pedding without a license. The conviction was set aside by this court. It is true that the case turned largely upon the fact of discrimination between products of other states and those of Missouri, but nevertheless the decision is an adjudication that the imposition of a license tax on the peddling of goods is a regulation of commerce.
Robbins v. Shelby Taxing Dist., 120 U. S. 489, 7 Sup. Ct. 592, was a case closely in point. Robbins was engaged in soliciting in the city of Memphis, Tenn., the sales of goods for a Cincinnati firm, exhibiting samples for the purpose of effecting such sales, his employment being that which is usually denominated that of a drummer. This business was declared by a statute of Tennessee to be a privilege for which a license tax was required. Robbins was convicted of a violation of that statute. The statute made no discrimination between those who represented business houses out of the state and those representing like houses within the state. There was, therefore, no element of discrimination in the case, but, nevertheless, the conviction was set aside by this court on the ground that whatever the state might see fit to enact with reference to a license tax upon those who acted as drummers for houses within the state, it could not impose upon those who acted as drummers for business houses outside of the state (and who were, therefore, engaged in interstate commerce) any burden by way of a license tax. The opinion by Mr. Justice Bradley is elaborate, and enters fully into a discussion of the question, citing many authorities. It affirms in the strongest language the exclusive power of congress over interstate commerce; that its failure to make express regulations indicates its will that the subject shall be left free from any restrictions or impositions; and that, whatever may be the extent to which the police power of the state can go, it cannot go so far as to uphold any regulations directly affecting interstate commerce.
In the case of Leloup v. Port of Mobile, 127 U. S. 640, 8 Sup. Ct. 1380, a license tax sought to be imposed by the state upon a telegraph company engaged in interstate commerce was declared beyond the powers of the state.
Asher v. Texas, 128 U. S. 129, 9 Sup. Ct. 1. In that case a statute requiring from 'every commercial traveler, drummer, salesman, or solicitor of trade, by sample or otherwise, an annual occupation tax of $35' was declared inoperative so far as it affected one soliciting orders for a business house in another state; and the case of Robbins v. Shelby Taxing Dist. was expressly reaffirmed.
The same doctrine was applied in Stoutenburgh v. Hennick, 129 U. S. 141, 9 Sup. Ct. 256, to the case of an agent of a Maryland business house soliciting orders in the District of Columbia without having taken out a license there, as required by an act of the legislative assembly of the District of Columbia.
Within the reasoning of these cases it must be held that the license tax imposed upon the defendant was a direct burden on interstate commerce, and was, therefore, beyond the power of the state.
For these reasons the judgment of the supreme court of the state of Pennsylvania is reversed, and the case remanded for further proceedings in conformity with this opinion.
EMERT v. STATE OF MISSOURI.
TEXAS TRANSPORT & TERMINAL CO., inc., v. CITY OF NEW ORLEANS.

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