Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/260/366/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 02:48:25+00:00

Document:
Logs, under control of their owner, which are being floated in a river in continuous movement from one state to another, or which, in the course of their interstate journey, are being temporarily detained by a boom to await subsidence of high waters and for the sole purpose of saving them from loss, are in interstate commerce, and not subject to state taxation. P. 260 U. S. 371. Coe v. Errol, 116 U. S. 517, and other cases, distinguished.
was brought in the county court, and, the defendant having failed to set the cause for jury trial within the time fixed by statute, it was heard by the court, which made findings of fact that, under the state practice, are conclusive on review by the supreme court. The county court gave judgment for the Realty Company. The town took the case on exceptions to the supreme court.
"During the winter of 1918-19 the plaintiff cut pulpwood, in all about 10,000 cords, in the Towns of Jamaica, Stratton, Londonderry, and Winhall in this state. The plaintiff maintains a mill at Hinsdale, in the State of New Hampshire, about three miles below Brattleboro, where its pulpwood is rossed and bolted. The wood, cut four feet long, was placed upon the banks of West River and its tributaries to be floated down into the Connecticut and thence to its destination at the mill in Hinsdale. The waters of the West River are wholly in this state, and empty in the Town of Brattleboro into the Connecticut. West River and its tributaries had been used for driving pulpwood to the mill at Hinsdale in the years 1917 and 1918. A single log boom is provided at the mill to receive the wood floated down the river, but is incapable of holding it all when the water in the Connecticut is high and the current swift, and the wood is liable to be carried over and drawn under the boom and lost. A pond of considerable size is formed near the mouth of West River in the Town of Brattleboro by water set back from the Connecticut by the dam at Vernon. Plaintiff maintains a boom at this point to hold and control the logs driven down West River until the water in the Connecticut has receded sufficiently to permit of their being held in the boom at Hinsdale."
to be taken out by a process called 'booming,' or 'warping.' None of this 1,500 cords was cut in the Town of Brattleboro. All of it had been carried down West River and was destined for the plaintiff's mill at Hinsdale, New Hampshire, by way of the Connecticut. The drive of pulpwood down West River to the Connecticut and thence to the rossing plant at Hinsdale was in continuous operation from March 25th until it was completed on May 9th, and was conducted properly to make an uninterrupted passage, so far as possible."
On these findings, the supreme court held that the interstate transit did not begin until the wood left the Brattleboro boom. Everything before that was merely preparations. The floating of the logs from the West River towns to Hinsdale was interrupted, and the interruption, although only long enough to secure safety in the drive, was for the benefit of the owner, and in law postponed the initial step in the interstate transit until the wood was released from the Brattleboro boom. The court therefore held the wood taxable at Brattleboro, and reversed the county court.
The Vermont Supreme Court depended for its conclusions chiefly upon Coe v. Errol, 116 U. S. 517, which is the leading case on this subject. There, logs had been cut on Wentworth's Location in New Hampshire during the winter, and had been drawn down to Errol in the same state, and placed in Clear Stream and on the banks thereof on lands of John Akers and part on land of George C. Demerritt in said town, to be from thence floated down the Androscoggin River to the State of Maine. 116 U.S. 116 U. S. 518.
"that such goods do not cease to be part of the general mass of property in the state, subject, as such, to its jurisdiction, and to taxation in the usual way, until they have been shipped, or entered with a common carrier for transportation to another state, or have been started upon such transportation in a continuous route or journey."
P. 116 U. S. 527.
"The carrying of them in carts or other vehicles, or even floating them, to the depot where the journey is to commence is no part of that journey. That is all preliminary work, performed for the purpose of putting the property in a state of preparation and readiness for transportation. Until actually launched on its way to another state, or committed to a common carrier for transportation to such state, its destination is not fixed and certain. It may be sold or otherwise disposed of within the state, and never put in the course of transportation out of the state. Carrying it from the farm or the forest to the depot is only an interior movement of the property, entirely within the state, for the purpose, it is true, but only for the purpose of putting it into a course of exportation; it is no part of the exportation itself. Until shipped or started on its final journey out of the state, its exportation is a matter altogether in fieri, and not at all a fixed and certain thing."
Maine. They had only been drawn down from Wentworth's Location to Errol, the place from which they were to be transported to Lewiston in the State of Maine. There they were to remain until it should be convenient to send them to their destination."
or in any way dealt with by the owner for his benefit except to save them from destruction in the course of their journey that, but for natural causes, over which he could exercise no control, would have been actually continuous. This was not the case in Coe v. Errol. It is evident from the statement of that case and Mr. Justice Bradley's language that the logs were partly drawn and partly floated to Errol, and deposited some in the stream and some on the banks, where "they were to remain until it should be convenient to send them to their destination," and they were being gathered there for the whole previous winter season. It was an entrepot or depot, as the Justice several times describes it. The mere fact that the owner intended to send them out of the state under such circumstances did not put them into transit in interstate commerce. But here, we have the intention put into accomplishment by launching, and manifested by an actually continuous journey of more than half the drive, with a halting of less than half of it in the course of the interstate journey to save it from loss, and only for that purpose.
"for the mere temporary purposes of inspecting, weighing, cleaning, clipping, drying, sacking, grading or mixing, or changing the ownership, consignee or destination."
own benefit, and was taxable. His storing of the grain was not to facilitate interstate shipment of the grain or save it from the danger of the journey. It was to enable him to treat the grain, so as to enable him more conveniently to dispose of it. He made his warehouse a depot for its preparation for further shipment and sale. He had thus suspended the interstate commerce journey, and brought the grain within the taxable jurisdiction of the state.
"It was only there for distribution, it is said, to fulfill orders already received. But to do this required that the property be given a locality in the state beyond a mere halting in its transportation."
P. 209 U. S. 231. The tank at Memphis thus became a depot in its oil business for preparing the oil for another interstate journey. So far as it bears upon this case, American Steel and Wire Co. v. Speed, 192 U. S. 500, presented a similar state of facts and ruling.
shipped as they were needed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, to the mills of the company. Not more than 40,000,000 feet a season were needed. Palpably the company's sorting grounds and pier jams were a depot for the keeping of the logs for the business purposes of the company, and there was no interstate commerce until the final shipment to Green Bay began.
In the cases of Brown v. Houston, 114 U. S. 622, and Pittsburg Coal Co. v. Bates, 156 U. S. 577, the coal in barges in the Mississippi River which was the subject of taxation had come to rest in Louisiana, after a trip from Pittsburg, and was being held for sale to anyone who might wish to buy.
New Hampshire, because of low water. In the cases just cited, the transit had begun in one state and was continued through another, on the way to a third. This circumstance strengthened the inference that the interruption in the intermediate state did not destroy interstate continuity of the trip. But this was not always so, as Bacon v. Illinois and General Oil Co. v. Crain show. In other words, in such cases, interstate continuity of transit is to be determined by a consideration of the various factors of the situation. Chief among these are the intention of the owner, the control he retains to change destination, the agency by which the transit is effected, the actual continuity of the transportation, and the occasion or purpose of the interruption during which the tax is sought to be levied.
Of all the cases in this Court where such movable property has been held taxable, none is nearer in its facts than Coe v. Errol to the case at bar. We have pointed out the distinction between the two, which requires a different conclusion here.

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