or otherwise, of goods, wares, or merchandise, notions or other articles of trade that are outside of the state and are after their sale to be shipped direct to the persons ordering or purchasing the same. It was further declared that the law should not apply to any transaction that involves interstate commerce. In 1901, persons selling fruits or vegetables in cities of the first class were declared exempt. This exemption and the exemption of soldiers of the civil war, of butchers, of cripples, and of those who had had the goods peddled in their possession for three months prior to their sale were declared by the Supreme Court of the state in the 1904 case to constitute an unwarranted classification. The history of this tax is a history of the influence on legislation of private interests of various kinds. A law of 1905 imposes the taxes without exception on all hawkers and peddlers. Such a law can undoubtedly be sustained under the police power of the state.1 13 It will conduce to clearness to give the rates in tabular form. 1852 (Laws of 1852, Ch. 386.) Peddler on foot.... With a single horse or other beast of burden... With a vehicle drawn by two horses or other animals $10 30 60 5 15 40 50 Traveling by railroad, steamboat or other public conveyance 50 Traveling to solicit by samples, lists, catalogues or otherwise 25 1867 (sec. 4.) Specific taxes on peddlers of patent rights, etc. If he had an interest in or offered for sale more than half of the state, $20. If half the state or less, $10. 1870 (Laws of 1870, Ch. 72, sec. 3.) On foot (including traveling on railroads or other public conveyance) $15 13 Laws of 1876, ch. 395, sec. 3; Laws of 1878, ch. 269; Laws of 1881, ch. 100; Laws of 1882, ch. 218; Laws of 1885, ch. 263; Laws of 1889, ch. 510; Laws of 1895, ch. 81; Laws of 1897, ch. 84; Laws of 1901, ch. 341; Laws of 1905, ch. 490. With one animal carrying or drawing a burden... With a vehicle drawn by more than two animals 1889 (Laws of 1889, Ch. 510.) $20 40 50 On foot (including use of railroads or other public con Such merchants were to pay also a local license tax of not to exceed $5 a day. 1895 (Laws of 1895, Ch. 81.) Rates were made $30, $45, $75; transient merchants $50 and a local license of not to exceed $20 a day. This $20 was changed The rates now obtain to $50 later (Laws of 1901, Ch. 341.)* ing are those prescribed by the law of 1905, which imposes a license tax on all hawkers, peddlers, and transient merchants. (Laws of 1905, Ch. 490.) Using a vehicle drawn by two or more animals or a con veyance propelled by mechanical power Using a vehicle drawn by one animal Using a hand cart or its equivalent Using no vehicle Transient merchants are obliged to pay a tax of And are subject to a local license of not to exceed...... $75 45 30 20 75 25 (This applies especially to those who, having no fixed establishment, conduct fire or bankrupt sales.) The administration of the hawkers' and peddlers' tax law has not, especially in the earlier years of the state's history, been marked by eminent success. In the first place it was a mistake not to provide for licenses for a fraction of a year. Such a provision was not made until 1867, fifteen years after the adoption of the tax. The Secretary of State in this interval received many applications for licenses for shorter periods *By a law of 1877 (ch. 296, Sec. 4) showmen exhibiting any wild animal or other object of curiosity are required to pay a license of $20 a year. By a law of 1903 (ch. 393) caravans and menageries are taxed $100 a year. Showmen exhibiting on fair grounds of associations receiving aid from the state are exempt. In such cases a bond is required. than one year. Some peddlers did not confine their business to Wisconsin but merely passed through the state, spending only a few weeks or months within its boarders; others pursued the business of peddling only in the seasons when they could not engage in other work; some whose sole occupation was peddling were not able to advance the amount required for a full years' license. Such were some of the conditions bearing on the administration of this tax law, when in 1852 the Secretary of State declared that strict justice as well as financial expediency demanded that licenses be issued for as short a period as three months.1 The legislature, however, took no action. and the tax continued to be evaded. Some evaded it because it was easy to do so and there was no penalty for so doing; some because they could not pay it; others because it was or seemed unjust, and it was in many cases. The receipts from this tax were in the year ending September, 1865 only $180; for the next year, only $130. As the state was overrun with peddlers it was evident that only a very small proportion of them paid their taxes. A great many of these peddlers were non-residents. On the ground of justice to the resident merchant and to the hawker who paid his tax the legislature was urged to take measures looking to a better administration of the law. It was recommended that it be made the duty of every sheriff, constable, or city marshal to call upon every peddler whom he should meet to show his license and if the peddler failed to do so to take him before a justice of the peace.15 It may be observed at this point that in 1876 the law was extended so as to apply to persons buying and selling the products of farmers. Under this clause many farmers who on their way to market bought products from their neighbors were arrested and fined for peddling without a license. The protest of the Governor in 1877 and his recommendation that this part of the law be abolished led to that end the same year.16 The first penalty was provided for in 1867, a penalty of 10 per cent of the amount of the tax, if not paid when due. A 14 Secretary of State's Report, 1852, 23. 15 Secretary of State's Report, 1866, 38. 16 Laws of 1876, ch. 395; Laws of 1877, ch. 296; Governor's Message 1877, 17. penalty of $25 with costs not to exceed $5 was to be imposed for peddling patent rights or patent right territory without a license, and the goods, wares, and merchandise of the offender were to be levied upon. Still the violations of the law continued. In 1872 provision was made for the appointment of a treasury agent to enforce all license laws.17 However, the difficulty in collecting the tax continued, and hence in 1889 rather severe penalties were provided for. The penalty for violating the law was made a fine of from $50 to $100. Failure or neglect to produce a license when demanded by the treasury agent, any special treasury agent, or any sheriff, deputy, policeman, marshall, constable, or justice of the peace was made punishable by a fine of not exceeding $20 or imprisonment not exceeding thirty days or both. The term of imprisonment was changed to twenty days in 1899. In 1905 the penalty was made a fine of $25 to $100. In default of payment the culprit was to be imprisoned for not exceeding sixty days.18 The receipts for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1906 were $1,872.75. The present law makes no qualifications nor exemptions, but applies to all peddlers, hence in the light of judicial decisions it seems undoubted that it can be sustained under the police power of the state. 19 17 Laws of 1872, ch. 177. 18 Laws of 1867, ch. 176; Laws of 1868, ch. 177; Laws of 1889, ch. 510; Laws of 1899, ch. 52; Laws of 1905, ch. 490. 19 Licenses are now for one year. Laws of 1907, ch. 634. CHAPTER XV PUBLIC WORKS-THE MILWAUKEE AND ROCK RIVER CANAL Wisconsin entered the Union not long after many of the older states had come to grief on the rock of internal improvements, and consequently its constitution forbids state expenditures for such works. The Milwaukee and Rock River Canal project, which in the Territorial period aroused a keen and wide-spread interest, is of historical importance chiefly because if this canal plan had been carried out the state of Wisconsin would have had the interesting experience of owning and operating a canal. The question of a canal between Rock River and Lake Michigan began to be agitated as early as 1836, the year of the organization of Wisconsin Territory. On January 5, 1838 Congress passed a bill authorizing the incorporation of the Milwaukee and Rock River Canal Company, and on June 18 of the same year Congress granted to the Territory of Wisconsin for the purpose of aiding in the construction of the canal the theretofore unappropriated odd numbered sections of public land on both sides of the canal route. The Act of June 18 provided that whenever the Territory should be admitted into the Union as a state the lands granted for the construction of the canal or such part of such lands as might not already have been sold and the proceeds applied to the work should vest in the state of Wisconsin to be used for the completion of the canal. Furthermore, the state of Wisconsin was to have as many shares of stock of the canal company as should be equivalent to the aggregate of all sums of money arising as net proceeds from the sale of the lands and applied to the construction of the canal, and the state was to be entitled to the same dividends as any other stockholder. In the event of the state's making no |