Rufus Wheeler Peckham

“ Whether the statute be sufficiently determinate or certain in its character upon which to ascertain the amount to be paid for a license is a question of the construction of the state statute, which does not necessarily involve a federal question, and the determination of the state court as to the proper construction and sufficiency of such a statute is conclusive upon us. ”

“ So long as the regulation as to the license or taxation does not refer to, and is not imposed upon, the business of the company which is interstate, there is no interference with that commerce by the state statute. It was stated by Mr. Justice Bradley, in the course of his opinion in the Crutcher Case, that 'taxes or license fees, in good faith imposed exclusively on express business carried on wholly within the state, would be open to no such objection,' viz. an objection that the tax or license was a regulation of, or that it improperly affected, interstate commerce. ”

“ Here, however, under the construction as given by the state court, the company suffers no harm from the provisions of the statute. It can conduct its interstate business without paying the slightest heed to the act, because it does not apply to, or in any degree affect, the company in regard to that portion of its business which it has the right to conduct without regulation from the state.
The company in this case need take out no license, and pay no tax, for doing interstate business, and the statute is therefore valid. ”