by John Marshall Harlan

“ The International Text-book Company is a Pennsylvania corporation, and the proprietor of what is known as the International Correspondence Schools at Scranton, in that commonwealth. Those schools have courses in architecture, chemistry, civil, mechanical, electrical, and steam engineering, English branches, French, German, mathematics and mechanics, pedagogy, plumbing, heating, telegraphy, and many other subjects. It has a capital stock, and the profits arising from its business are distributed in dividends, or applied otherwise, as the company may elect. ”

“ In an organized society it is the right conservative of all other rights, and lies at the foundation of orderly government. It is one of the highest and most essential privileges of citizenship, and must be allowed by each state to the citizens of all other states to the precise extent that it is allowed to its own citizens. ”

“ In order that applicants may adapt applications to their needs, each solicitor-collector is kept informed by correspondence with the company of the fees to be collected for the various scholarships offered, and of the contract charges to be made for cash or deferred payments, as well as the terms of payment acceptable to the company. ”

“ In the conduct of its business the company employs local or traveling agents, called solicitor-collectors, whose duties are to procure and forward to the company at Scranton, from persons in a specified territory, on blanks furnished by it, applications for scholarships in its correspondence schools, and also to collect and forward to the company deferred payments on scholarships. ”

“ It results that as the part of § 1283 which relates to the statement to be filed with the secretary is unconstitutional, and as the clause in the same section, relating to suits in the state court, is so dependent upon and connected with that part as to be meaningless when standing alone, the section must be held inoperative in all its parts, and as not being in the way of the enforcement in any state court of competent jurisdiction of the plaintiff's right to a judgment against the defendant for the amount conceded to be due from him to the Textbook Company under his contract. ”