Charles Evans Hughes

“ The tax is not upon the exertion of, and cannot be said to burden, any governmental function. Fox Film Corporation v. Doyal, 286 U.S. 123, 130, 52 S.Ct. 546, 76 L.Ed. 1010. The tax is not laid upon the license granted by the Federal Water Power Commission, but upon the production and sale of power which the company generates at its own pleasure and exclusively for its own profit. Notwithstanding the special characteristics of electrical energy, the company is engaged in producing and selling an article of trade. ”

“ The court found that there were at least two plants in the state producing electric current by the use of internal combustion engines, and that these plants were small and their business was comparatively insignificant. ”