William R. Day

“ Granting that the right exists whereby a state may impose privilege or license fees upon business carried on wholly within the state, it is argued that the tax of $3,000 per annum, collected for carrying one or more local passengers on cars operating within the state, is assessed upon traffic which bears such small proportion to the entire business of the company within the state that it could not have been levied in good faith upon purely local business, and is but a thinly disguised attempt to tax the privilege of interstate traffic. ”

“ Under the earlier act the tax is required for the privilege of running and using sleeping cars on railroads not owning the cars. In the later act it is enacted for the privilege of doing business in the state. This business consists of running sleeping cars upon railroads not owning the cars, and is precisely the privilege to be paid for under the first act, neither more nor less. In neither act is any distinction attempted between local or through cars or carriers of passengers. The railroads upon which the cars are run are lines traversing the state, but not confined to its limits. ”

“ While they show a zealous care to preserve the exclusive right of Congress to regulate interstate traffic, the corresponding right of the state to tax and control the internal business of the state, although thereby foreign or interstate commerce may be indirectly affected, has been recognized with equal clearness. ”