David Josiah Brewer

“ Certainly there must be some satisfactory reason for departing from the general rule of construction. It is also true, as said by this court in United States v. Isham, 17 Wall. 496, 504, 21 L. ed. 728, 730, 'If there is a doubt as to the liability of an instrument to taxation, the construction is in favor of the exemption, because, in the language of Pollock, C. B., in Gurr v. Scudds, 11 Exch. 191, 'a tax cannot be imposed without clear and express words for that purpose." With that proposition we fully agree. ”

“ An isolated agreement to sell stock, made by an individual in Austin, Texas, is an agreement to sell subject to the stamp duty imposed. It is none the less an agreement to sell when made in the stock exchange of New York, as one of a multitude of similar transactions. ”

“ That Congress recognized the difference between these two terms is evident, because in the very next paragraph of Schedule A it provides, in reference to merchandise, for a stamp 'upon each sale, agreement of sale, or agreement to sell.' That no stamp duty was imposed on agreements to buy (or, in the vernacular of the stock exchange, 'puts') furnishes no ground for denying the validity of the stamp duty on agreements to sell. The power of Congress in this direction is unlimited. ”