Rufus Wheeler Peckham

“ The owner of the cattle, who brings them to the yards, and avails himself of the privilege of selling them at that place, does, without doubt, make use of a privilege which every one knows is an advantage sufficient to constitute a material difference between a sale at the yards and a sale elsewhere. This advantage, although one which any person could use, is yet of precisely the same nature as that existing in the case of an exchange or board of trade, and it is therefore a similar place, within the meaning of the statute. ”

“ Taxation is eminently practical, and is in fact brought to every man's door; and, for the purpose of deciding upon its validity, a tax should be regarded in its actual, practical results, rather than with reference to those theoretical or abstract ideas whose correctness is the subject of dispute and contradiction among those who are experts in the science of political economy. ”

“ A sale at an exchange differs from a sale made at a man's private office or on his farm, or by a partnership, because, although the subject-matter of the sale may be the same in each case, there are at an exchange certain advantages, in the way of finding a market, obtaining a price, the saving of time, and in the security of payment, and other matters, which are more easily obtained there than at an office or upon a farm. ”

“ In deciding upon the validity of a tax with reference to these requirements, no micro-scopic examination as to the purely economic or theoretical nature of the tax should be indulged in, for the purpose of placing it in a category which would invalidate the tax. As a mere abstract, scientific, or economical problem, a particular tax might possibly be regarded as a direct tax, when, as a practical matter pertaining to the actual operation of the tax, it might quite plainly appear to be indirect. ”

“ Any person is at liberty to send, take, or to receive cattle, hogs, or other live stock into the Union Stock Yards, and there place, or have the same placed, in a pen or pens, care for the same, and there sell any cattle belonging to him, or which he has the right to sell. Any person has access to the pens containing cattle, hogs, or other live stock, for the purpose of buying the same, and has liberty to purchase or negotiate for the purchase thereof. Sales of cattle, hogs, and other live stock in the yards are at private sale. ”

“ It is always an exceedingly grave and delicate duty to decide upon the constitutionality of an act of the congress of the United States. The presumption, as has frequently been said, is in favor of the validity of the act ”

“ A purchase occurs whenever a sale is effected, and to say that a purchaser at an exchange sale must be taxed for the facilities made use of in making the purchase, or else that the tax on the seller is void, is simply to insist upon doubling the tax. ”

“ They furnish a meeting place for those engaged in the purchase and sale of commodities or other things to be sold, and in that way they offer facilities for a market for them. Dealings among members so engaged tend to establish the market price of the articles they deal in, and that price is very apt to be the price for the same article when bought or sold outside. The price is arrived at by offers to sell, on the one side, and to purchase on the other, until, by what has frequently been termed, the 'higgling' of the market, a price is agreed upon, and the sales are accomplished. ”

“ The question always is, when a classification is made, whether there is any reasonable ground for it, or whether it is only and simply arbitrary, based upon no real distinction, and entirely unnatural. ”

“ It is also objected that there is no power in congress to require a party selling personal property, in the course of commerce within the state, to make a written note or memorandum of the contract, and to punish him by fine and imprisonment for a failure to do so; if the state do not require a memoranddum on a sale, congress cannot, in the exercise of the taxing power, compel a citizen to make one, in order that it may be taxed by the United States. ”

“ In searching for proper subjects of taxation to raise moneys for the support of the government, congress must have the right to recognize the manner in which the business of the country is actually transacted; how among other things, the exchange of commodities is effected; what facilities for the conduct of business exist ”

“ It appears in this record that the Chicago Board of Trade is a voluntary association of individuals, who meet together, at a certain building owned by the association, for the purpose of there transacting business. ”

“ It may be the same privilege, but when it is used in different cases to accomplish sales of wholly different things, between which there is no relation whatever, one use may be taxed and the other not, and no rule of uniformity will thereby be violated. ”

“ It is common knowledge that these exchanges encourage and promote honest and fair dealing among their members, that they provide penalties for the violation of their rules in that regard, and that contracts between members relating to business on the exchange have the advantage of the sanction provided by the exchange for such purposes. ”