Stephen Johnson Field

“ So long as congress does not pass any law to regulate commerce among the several states it thereby indicates its will that commerce shall be free, and any regulation upon the subject by the states is repugnant to such freedom. ”

“ Whatever may be the power of a state over commerce that is completely internal, it can no more prohibit or regulate that which is interstate than it can that which is with foreign nations.'
Such being the recognized law, the question arose before the court in the case of Brown v. Houston whether the assessment of the tax upon the coal in question in the barges afloat amounted to any interference with or restriction upon the free introduction of the plaintiffs' coal from the state of Pennsylvania to the state of Louisiana ”

“ And it may be added that the correct rule is for the assessor or tax collector to assess all property found within his jurisdiction, being there for the purpose of remaining till used or sold, and constituting part of the great mass of the general property of the country, provided always that the assessment does not discriminate between the products of different states. ”