Harlan F. Stone

“ The tax is $50 for a state-wide license. Local licenses are obtainable at a rate graduated according to population. That for Manchester is stated to be $85 for each license. Violation of the act is punishable by a fine of not more than $200. Appellee's chief ground of attach upon the statute, sustained by both the courts below, is that it denies the equal protection of the laws by excepting from its operation certain classes of hawkers and peddlers, in which appellee and his agents are not included. ”

“ Cases involving lesser amounts have been left to be dealt with exclusively by state courts, except that judgment of the highest court of a state adjudicating a federal right may be reviewed by this court. ”

“ There the value of the matter drawn into controversy, the contract providing permanent immunity from taxation, or the order to maintain a permanent structure for an unlimited time, is more than a limited number of the annual payments demanded. ”

“ In such a case the burden which rests on a defendant who challenges the plaintiff's allegation of the jurisdictional amount, see Hunt v. New York Cotton Exchange, 205 U.S. 322, 333, 27 S.Ct. 529, 51 L.Ed. 821, may well not be sustained by the mere showing that the annual payment is less than the jurisdictional amount. ”

“ Rodgers, supra at page 525 of 284 U.S., 52 S.Ct. 217, 76 L.Ed. 447; compare Town of Elgin v. Marshall, 106 U.S. 578, 1 S.Ct. 484, 27 L.Ed. 249.
The contested license fees must be paid annually as a condition precedent to doing the business. ”