# Record and brief — James C. Fargo, President of the American Express Company, Appellant, vs. Ebenezer W. Poe, Auditor of the State of Ohio

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## Record

- **Collection:** Supreme Court brief
- **Document type:** Record and brief
- **Published:** January 1, 1896

## Text

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TRANSCRIPT OF RECORD.

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SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.

OCTOBER TERM, 18396.

No. 399.

JAMES C. FARGO, PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN
EXPRESS COMPANY, APPELLANT,

Us,

EBENEZER W. POE, AUDITOR OF THE STATE OF OHIO

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR
THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHTO.

FILED JANUARY 9, 1896.

(16,133.)_

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(16,133.)

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.

OCTOBER TERM, 1896.

No. 399.

JAMES C. FARGO, PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN
EXPRESS COMPANY, APPELLANT,

US.

EBENEZER W. POE, AUDITOR OF THE STATE OF OHIO

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR
THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO.

INDEX.
Original. Print.
Caption (omitted in printing)
Bill of complaint. .
Subpoena (omitted in printing)
Motion for preliminary injunction (omitted in printing)
Order for restraining order (omitted in printing)
Restraining order (omitted in printing) .:
Cost bond (omitted in printing)
Bond for injunction (omitted in printing)
Marshal's return of restraining order (omitted in printing)
Marshal’s return of subpcena (omitted in printing)
Affidavit of E. W. Poe (omitted in printing)
Exhibit A—Senate bill No. 212 (omitted in printing)
B—Proceedings of board of appraisers (omitted in
printing)...
Motion to dissolve injunction (omitted in printing)
Exhibit A to bill—Annual statement of the property of the Ameri-
can Express Co., 1895

Jupp & DerweILer, Prinrers, WasHinaTon, D. C., Jury 13, 1896.

ti ; iNpey’X,

Transcript of sae of State board of appraisers (omitted
printing) ,

Copy of correspondence bs ‘tween counsel, Ce. lomibeted in printing).

Demurrer to bill (omitted in printing)

Decree, &e

Petition for appeal and assignment of errors.....-..

Supersedeas bond (omitted in printing

Clerk’s certificate (omitted in printing)

Citation (omitted in printing)
7

Proof of service of citation (omitted in printing)
Stipulation to omit parts of record in printing

Original.

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Print.

JAMES C. FARGO, ETC., V8. EBENEZER W. POR, ETC.

Bill of Complaint.

United States Cireuit Court, Southern District of Ohio,
Eastern Division.

James C. Farco, President of the American Ex- }
press Company, Complainant,
Us,

EpeNezeR W. Por, Auditor, &e., Defendant.

> Bill of Complaint.

To the judges of the cireuit court of the United States for the south-
ern district of Olio, eastern division:

James C. Fargo, of New York and a citizen of the State of New
York, brings this bill against Ebenezer W. Poe, a citizen of the
State of Ohio, residing in the eastern division of the southern dis-
trict of said State; and thereupon your orator complains and
says—

That he is the president and a shareholder of the American Ex-
press Company, which is a copartnership, organized many years ago
in the State of New York as a joint stock association and ever since
doing business as such, with its principal office and place of business
in the city of New York. Said company consists of about 3,000 part-
ners or shareholders, owning 180,000 shares, all of whom havea
joint ownership and interest in the cause of action hereinafter set
forth, but they are too numerous to be Joined as parties hereto, and
your orator, therefore, as such president and shareholder in said
company, brings this suitin behalf of said association and all the
shareholders thereof; that said Ebenezer W. Poe is auditor of the
State of Obto. |

That on May 10, 1894, the General Assembly of said State passed

an act for the taxation of express, telegraph, and telephone

companies doing business in said State, by which the auditor,

attorney general, and treasurer of State are designated the
State board of appraisers and assessors for said express, telegraph,
and telephone companies, of which board the auditor of State is ex
officio president. Said act (see. 2778) requires express companies en-
gaged in the business of conveying to, from, or through the State
of Ohio or any part thereof money, packages, gold, silver, plate, or
other articles by express, not including the ordinary lines of trans-
portation of merchandise and property in said State, to file annually
with the auditor of State between the Ist and 5lst days of Maya
statement under oath, a form to be prescribed and prepared by the
auditor, containing “a detailed statement of the real estate owned
by the company in Ohio, where situate, and the value thereof as
assessed for taxation, and a full and correct inventory of the per-
sonal property, including moneys and credits, owned by the com-
pany in Ohio on the Ist day of May, where situate and the value
thereof,” and in addition thereto the following facts:

I—399

*
ORO tlic 0 eropine

2 TAMES C. FARGO, PRESIDENT, ETC., VS.

The number of shares of the company’s capital stock.

The par value and the market value, or, if there be no market
ralue, the actual value of its shares of stock on the lst day of May.

The total value of real estate owned by the company and situate
outside of Ohio.

The total value of personal property owned by the company and
situate outside of Olio. :

The entire gross receipts of the company, from whatever souree
derived, for the year ending the Ist day of May of business where-
ever done.

The gross receipts for the year ending the Ist day of May.

4 from whatever source derived, of each office within the State

of Ohio and the total gross receipts of the company for such
period in Ohio. |

The whole length of the lines of rail and water routes over which
the company did business on the Ist day of May and the length of
so much of said lines of land and water transportation as is with-
out and ts within Ohio, naming lines within Ohio.

Said act provided for the assessment of express companies by said
State board in the following manner, to wit:

“SECTION 2778. On the meeting of the board the auditor of State
shall lay before the board the statements and schedules returned to
him under sec. 2778. The said board shall proceed to ascertain and
assess the value of the property of said express, telegraph and tele-
phone companies in Ohio and in determining the value of the
property of said companies in this State, to be taxed within the
State and assessed as herein provided, said board shall be guided by
the value of said property as determined by the value of the entire
capital stock of said companiesand such other evidence and rules as
will enable said board to arrive at the true value in money of the
entire property of said companies within the State of Ohio, in the
proportion which the same bears to the entire property of said com-
panies, as determined by the value of the capital stock thereof, and
the other evidence and rules as aforesaid.”

That said express company is and for a great many years last
past has been engaged in the express business in the United States,
which business consists in carrying packages on passenger and ex-
press trains, steamboats, and stages in the care and custody of the
employees of the company, who always accompany the packages.
The company has no ownership of nor interest in any of the said

means of conveyance in the State of Ohio, but merely pays the
Oo ‘allroad companies and the owners of steamboats and stage

coaches in said State for the passage of its messengers and
their accompanying packages. Aside from certain real estate owned
by said company in Hamilton & Cuyahoga counties, Ohio, used
by it for stabling purposes and there duly assessed for taxation,
it has no property in the State of Ohio, except certain horses,
wagons, harness, trucks, safes, and oftice fixtures, located at different
points in the State, the items of principal value being horses, wagons,
and trucks, which are used by the company in the collection and
delivery of packages in the various towns and cities. There is

“>

EBENEZER W. POE, AUDITOR, ETC. oO

nothing peculiar about any aforesaid property; it isof the ordinary
kind, whose true. value in money is easily ascertained and deter-
mined by ordinary standards. Your orator insists that in ascer-
taining and determining the value of said property it is neither
necessary nor proper, as contemplated by said act, to take into
consideration either the paror market value of the company’s shares
or the character and amount of its property, real or personal, in
other States or the amount of the gross receipts of the company
from its business in: Ohio or else where; but that its said property
should be valued in its hands as similar property is valued in the
hands of all other owners; that a horse is a horse, harness 1s har-
hess, a Wagon is a wagon, a truck Is a truck, and a safe is a safe,
whether owned by express companies or by other persons or asso-
clations, and the value of such property should be ascertained and
determined for purposes of taxation against express companies
according to the true value of such articles as determined by
their market price, which is. the method adopted by the State in
valuing similar property and all other property in the hands of
all other persons, associations, or corporations,

6 That, nevertheless, at the request of said Poe, auditor of State,
auditor of State, but denying his right and the right of said

board to require it to make any such report or statement, said com-
pany mide a statement as required by said act of May 10, 1894, upon
the form prescribed by the defendant, showing the number of its capl-
tal shares and the market value thereof, so far as said market value
could be shown on May 1,1895; a detailed statement of the real
estate owned by the company in Ohio, where situate,and the value
thereof as assessed for taxation; a full and correct statement of the
personal property, including moneys and credits, owned by the
company in Ohio on the Ist day of May, where situate, and the

value thereof; the total value of the real estate owned by the com-
pany and where situate outside of Ohio; the total value of its tan-
gible personal property situate outside of Ohio ; its gross receipts for
the year ending May 1, 1895, from whatever source derived, within
the State of Ohio, and the total gross receipts of the company for

~such period in Ohio; the whole length of the lines of railand water

routes over which the company did business on the first day of
May, 1895, and the length of so much of said lines of land and water
transportation as is without and is within Ohio, naning lines
within Ohio, a copy of which report is filed herewith, marked “ Ex-
hibit A.”

The true value in money of all the company’s property in the
State on May 1, 1895, aside from its said real estate, upon which
all taxes have been paid, together with the moneys and credits of
the company within the State, is given in Se ‘-hedule B of said report
and amounts In all to the sum of $25,450.00, and on Mav 1, 1895,
said company had no other property in the State of Ohio or subject,
to the taxing jurisdiction of said State.

That said State board of appraisers and assessors received and

accepted said statement. and, without objection thereto or
7 complaint thereof er calling for other information, made an

4 JAMES C. FARGO, PRESIDENT, ETC., VS.

assessment, fixing the amount upon which said company 1s
to be assessed for taxation in Ohio forthe year 1895 at the sum
of $499,373.60, and has reported said valuation to the auditor of
State, as required by section 2780 of said act, and the auditor of
State, unless restrained by this court, will, on August 15, 1595, In
pursuance of said section, afier deducting the value of said company’s
real estate in the State of Ohio as assessed for taxation, apportion
and certify said total value and assessment among the several fitty-
six counties in which the company does business in the proportion
that the gross receipts in each county bear to the entire gross re-
ceipts of the State; and said several county auditors will, on re-
ceipt of such certification from the auditor of State, place the val-
uation assigned to their respective counties on the tax duplicate, to
the end. that taxes may be levied and collected thereon as per-
sonal property in such taxing districts, and the taxes will be a cloud
and hen upon the company’s property in the State.

The rate of taxation in Ohio for the year 1895 varies according
to the county from two to three per cent., so that the aggregate as-
sessment against your orator upon said illegal and excessive valua-
tion will amount to between $10,000.00 and $15,000.00 and in one
or more of the counties of the State not only the assessment, but the
differeuce between the assessment under said valuation and the as-
sessment upon a true and lawful valuation of said company’s prop-
erty, will exceed $2,000.

That the principal business of said company and of all other ex-
press companies doing business in the State of Ohio and subject. to
said act of May 10, 1894, is Interstate commerce, to wit, the carriage
of express matter between different States of the Union. More thar

three-fourths of the business done by it and them in the
. State of Ohio is interstate commerce or the transportation of

express matter across said State between other States and
between points in said State and points in other States, although a
portion of their business does consistin the transportation of express
matter from one point to another in the State of Ohio.

The Adams Express Company, the United States Express Com-
pany, and the National Express Company also each filed sworn
statements with the auditor of State for the vear 1895, showing the
following facts :

ly 1s
sum

or of

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EBENEZER W. POE, AUDITOR, ETC.

Adams. National. U_S.

Number of shares. Gis. Rb a weceenes Pe fete cee ck ees 100,000
Par value of each share .... ....... | cn ne ws ian S100
Market value of each share......... BEGG Gs BO ok dies ewan | 340
Taxable value of real estate owned

by the company in Ohio.......... eS ter rarer ae $22,190
Value of personal property, Includ-

Ing moneys and credits, owned by

the company in Onio .......:..... $42,065 $9,975 328,458
Total value of real estate owned out-

Pe AE RI 5 eos eeeteee aa eas $3,005, 197.50

Kntire vross receipts from whatever
Souree derived Within the State for
ele kt, SOTO ERECT EITC TTT $282,181.00 $19,32
Whole length of lines of rail and 7
water routes over which the com-

pany is doing business. . 2 ..... 29,647 miles. 4,035 miles.
Leneth of sueh lines without the
ce RE Fe APE ee a aS Pee ae | 5,008
Length of sueh lines within the
ENTS RA RL TA ReaD LA See on! 9199 «= * 337 5,011 miles.

erty owned outside of Ohio. . $1,117,426.05 |

9 And the said board made against said companies the fol-
ing assessments, to wit:

The Adams Express Company ........ scecsece: 22. $993,095 80

The American Express Company...... Gh piece a we 499,575 6O

The United States Express Company........... ..-- 488,264 70

The National Express Company......... ee 28,951 50

Whereupon said companies, as soon as they were advised of said
assessments, addressed to said board the following communication :

Mon. I. W. Poe, auditor of State and president State board of ap-
praisers,

Dear Str: The assessments by your honorable board against
the Western Union Telegraph Company and the express companies
represented by us are so manifestly excessive, and in the ease of the
express companies, at least, are without any foundation that we can
see to support them as assessments of property within the State of
Ohio, that we are obliged to protest and apply for a correction of
the assessments prior to their certification to the county auditors ;
and, in order that we may address your board intelligently, we
should like to know upon what calculation, if any, the apparently
precise amounts of the assessments, especially in the case of the ex-
press Companies, are based and how the figures are arrived at. We
respectfully submit that, being officers of the law, bound by law,
you should furnish this information in order that the correctness of
the basis of your assessments may be submitted fairly and intelli-
gently to the test of law; otherwise we cannot help feeling that the
assessments, especially in the case of the express companies, are

6 JAMES C. FARGO, PRESIDENT, ETC., VS.

arbitrary and wholly without reference to the value of any prop-

erty within the State, for the companies have submitted to
10 you schedules of their property, money, and credits within

the State, th- correctness of which they are prepared to es-
tablish if questioned, and the character of the property Is such
(horses, Wagons, safes, harness, furniture, ete.) that there is not much
room for difference of opinion on questions of valuation. They
are unable to understand how these valuations came to be increased
from ten to twenty fold.

An early answer will oblige,
Very respectfully,
RAMSEY, MAXWELL & RAMSEY,
Attorneys for the Western Union Lelegraph Company,
the Adams, American, United States, and
National Lapress Companies.

Said board has madeand will make no answer to said communica-
tion or correct said assessment, and your orator believes and charges
that said assessment against said company was not made or In-
tended to be made by said State board upon the basis of the value
of the company’s property within the State or upon any estimate
of the value of its said property as property, but altogether upon
other considerations, and that said sum so assessed was not arrived at
by any process of valuation, calculation, or apportionment, but was
au amount determined by said board arbitrarily upon the simple
consideration that said company, in view of the market value of
its shares, should pay in the State of Ohio a tax on the basis of
said assessment wholly without reference to the value of any prop-
erty owned by the company within the State. Your orator believes
and charges that said assessment was fixed at an apparently precise
figure by said board for the sole purpose of giving to it the sem-
blance of an amount arrived at by process of valuation, caleula-

tion, or apportionment.
11 Your orator insists that said act of May 10, 1894, and said

assessment made thereunder against said company are in con-
travention of the Constitution of the United States, especially of the
interstate-commerce clause of section 3, article 1; section 2, articie 4,
and of section 1, article 14, and of the constitution of the State of
Ohio, especially sections 2 and Sof article 12, and of section 1 of ar-
ticle 2, because said act provides for the assessment of and the as-
sessment embraces property not situated within the jurisdiction of
the State of Ohio; and the said act provides for the assessment of
property for taxation and the taxation thereof, and the said assess-
ment so made by the State board deliberately and intentionally
assesses said company’s property for taxation without regard to its
value and in excess of its value; and said act provides for the as-
sessment of the property of express companies for taxation in a man-
ner and by a method different from the manner and method pro-
vided and required by the laws of the State of Ohio in respeet of
the same kind of property owned by other persons within the said
State and of which the same use is made under the same cireum-

prop-

ted to

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-

EBENEZER W. POE, AUDITOR, ETC. 1
stanees and conditions; and the said assessment is not in fact an
assessment against the company in respect to its property held and
owned by it in the State of Ohio, but is really and deliberately and
intentionally an attempt to enforce against the company, under the
guise of taking its property within the State, the payment of a tax
upon its business, which is largely interstate commerce, or for the
privilege of doing such business in said State by placing a fictitious
and artificial value upon its property. The scheme of taxation
contemplated by said law, while professing to provide for taxation

of property in the State of Ohio, does not in fact do so, inas-
12 much as it directs the State board of appraisers, in determin-

ing the value of the property of express companies in said
State forthe purpose of taxation, to be “ guided by the value of said
property as determined by the value of the entire capital stock of
said company *— * in the proportion which the same (viz.,
the property of the companies within the State) bears to the entire
property of said companies, as determined by the value of the capital
stock thereof,’ whereas the value of the capital stoek or shares of
sald company and of express companies generally is determined, not
so much by the value of the property and applances which they use
in carrying on their business as by the skill, diligence, fidelity, and
success with which they conduct their business. Said company em-
ploys many thousands of men, who are constantly engaged in
carrying express packages, many of them of great value, from one
part of the country to another, and its income and the value of its
shaves are largely the resnit of their efforts, fidelity, and integrity,
and of skillful management and supervision of the business. Said
company furthermore owns bonds, stocks, and other securities aggre-
gating millions of dollars, none of which are held or taxable in the

State of Ohio, and many of them not taxable at all, all of which

however, together with the business connections of the company and
the reputation and good will which it has earned in the course of
more than fifty years of public service, enter largely into the value
of its capital shares. Nor Can the value ot the company’s property
in the State of Ohio be ascertained, even approximately, by apply-
Ing or considering the proportions which its routes in Ohio bears to
the total mileage of its routes, because its earnings are not. uniform
and in Ohio are less than its average earnings per mile of all its
routes. Nor does the market price of the company’s shares
15 afford any fair, reasonable, or just method of estimating the
value of its property or fixing a basis of value for the
purpose of taxation, because the market price is speculative and
variable, depending upon financial conditions not at all con-
nected with this company, its business or its property ; and your
orator insists that said scheme for taxation Is unfair, illegal, unjust,
and unequal, and isa regulation of and tax upon interstate com-
merce and a taking of its property without due process of law, which,
if enforced against this company, will destroy the value of its busi-
ness In Ohio and compel it to abandon the State, to its great and
irreparable injury.
Said company has duly reported to the auditor of State and to

8 JAMES C. FARGO, PRESIDENT, ETC., VS.

the various county auditors the amount and value of all its personal
property, including moneys and credits, in the various counties of
the State, as set forth in Schedule B of Exhibit “A.” None of the
assessments of taxes for the year 1895 have yet been made nor the
rates determined, so that said company, although ready and will-
ing, has not been able to pay or tender the taxes properly assessable
against it in the various counties for the year 1895, but it 1s able,
ready, and willing to pay the same as soon as they are assessed or
the amount can be ascertained, and your orator offers to do so and
offers as a condition of obtaining a preliminary or perpetual in-
junction under this bill to pay the approximate or estimated sum
properly assessable against it into the registry of the court or other-
wise to make such deposit or give some security as the court may
direct.

Unless your orator can obtain the injunction prayed for in this
bill against the auditor of State,said company will be obliged to bring
fiftv-six separate suits for Injunction against the various county
auditors of the State, or to defend against fifty-six separate suits
for the evilection of the taxes in various counties. ‘To the end,

therefore that your orator and said company may not be
14-48 subjected to the multiplicity of suits which would otherwise

be necessary, and that said company may be spared irrep-
arable injury and its property not subjected to an illegal cloud and
lien, your orator prays for a writ of subpoena against said Ebenezer
W. Poe to appearand make full and true answer to this bill, but not
under oath, and especially to show how and upon what caleulation,
if any, the amount of the assessment was arrived at, and upon the
final hearing of the cause that he may be perpetually enjoined from
apportioning or certifying the said assessment made by said State
board against said company to the auditors of any of the counties
of the State, and that he and they may be enjoined from taking any
steps thereunder; that in the meantime a restraining order and an
injunction may be issued pending the suit to the same effect, and
that upon the final hearing said assessment may be declared null
and void and cancelled, and that your orator may have all other
relief to which he may be entitled in equity.

RAMSEY, MAXWELL & RAMSEY, Solicitors.

STATE OF OHIO,
Hamilton County, § ”
J. H. A. Romer, being duly sworn, says that he is agent of said
The American Express Company; that he has read the foregoing
bill of complaint; that said bill and allegation thereof are true of
his own knowledge except as to matters therein stated to be alleged
upon opinion and belief, and as to those matters he believes same
io be true. J. H. A. ROMER.

Se

Sworn to before me and prescribed in my presence this 13th day
of August, A. D. 1895.
[SEAL. | WM. W. RAMSEY,
-Notary Public.

* * * K * K *K

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EBENEZER W. POE, AUDITOR, ETC. 9

4-4 And afterwards, to wit, on the 4th day of December, A. D.

1895, the following Exhibit “A” to the bill was filed in the
clerk’s office of said eourt, clothed in the words and figures following
to wit:

‘ ExHIBir A” TO THE BILL.

Annual statement of the property of the American Express Com-
pany sabject to taxation in the State of Ohio, as required by
sections 2777, 2778, 2778a, 2779, 2780 of the Revised Statutes, as
amended and supplemented by an act passed May 10, 1894, as
existing on the Ist day of May, 1895.

AUDITOR OF STATE’S Orrick, CoLUuMBUs, OHIO.

To express companies :

This form is submitted for the purpose of procuring property
statements from each express company doing business in Olio.
All statements furnished must be made on this blank, and the items
called for therein must be given in full. This report must be made
out and sworn to by the president, secretary, treasurer, superintend-
ent, or chief officer of such company and filed in the auditor of
State’s department on or before May 10th of each year.

Respectfully, E. W. POE,
Auditor of State.

Nature of company, whether person or persons, association or
corporation : Joint stock association. ;
Under the laws of what State organized: New York.
Location of principal office: No. 65 Broadway, New York.
Give the name and _ post-oftice address of each of the following
ofhicers:
President, James C. Fargo, New York, N. Y.
AG Secretary, W. H. Seward, New York, N. —
Auditor, W. E. sing sei: New York, N. Y.
Treasurer, Chas. G. Clark, New York, N. Y.
General sup’t, Rob’t D. Hoste Cleveland, O.
Chief officer or managing agent in Ohio, Rob’ t D. ITughes, Cleve-

land, O.

Number of interests .6us acs ocd ees wee $180,000 OC
Par value of interest. ..1...s0ceeenus po Ree Wweas 100 00
Market value Gf there be no m: arket value give the

metal VAING).. os bbs vce cs care eee es 112 00
Taxable value of real estate owned by the comp: ny

19 CORIO 6 onc Khas Chee eee eee cee a as 958,660 00
Value of personal property, including moneys and

credits, owned by the company mn Chie: ¢
| | 2,839

EBENEZER W. POE, AUDITOR, ETC. | 13

plated by Schedule D—Continued.
t May 10,

'-Amount of

Names Of Jonna, | gross receipts Titel anuititous
Nimes of counties. cities, villages, and | in each tax- ceipts i
special school dis- ing district as "
| gross re- tricts. designated county.
Ipts in | | column 2.
inty. fied an’ ~nsecspiesindiisteletinsecannhistelesiasiasalimintitebabipieriiots sib iitsliagh iinet
| Dollars. Dollars.
sess Coshocton....... | AVOUGKIB. 6 6ikas cs | 3SU
elt. SR Oe eae eee | COS Seca evew anes | 126
i a a ta Covington ..... daeake are CR ic ee Od 3 ell
ana ne ag :
: gel aeakia aera COHEAID.. «. . os oe! 6] ; _ :
se all ate Greenville .... ae ee or Oe VR Se ee ee

se @ a 2 2 8 DPD. e- 2
» en 2. OO 8 8.2 eS
ro at = @ Git aS
cs 8 2 & Oo 2 Bie =
> &&:.O 2 8 &. Bos
. * . * es @# * . e
> ck fe

ete we Oo..o- ave

> & eS ee @ 8-38

raat + & 2. Fs

oe 0 & 2 @ #s
2 @& sO Oe 2 Bs
*e @ ee #8 # *® © @
.@.64 2 © 2 @: 2 @
>. © 8&8 8&8 2 8 @
*e @ @ @

Muskingum....

Montgomery

2
Vo

Mahoning...

JAMES C.

FARGO, PRESIDENT. ETC., VS.

Schedule D—Continued.

Amount of

Names of LOWNSHIpS, VTOSS recelpts ah }
ve CT ae a *s M. Total
Cities, Villages, and In each tax-

“ } } ae. . or
Sprecha SChool aGdis- ine aistr ~
tricts leSsIPGhHat eG —
column 2
] : ray
~ T a | >

i Peto. cS. ‘

I a : _ wav

EEN oc bw cece Anau

Welinet 1} | T1O
4 i LLY Ul il ' +)

age re 7.404
OE & Gemeente oneena iSO
Be llefontaine Se ae oe 1. Sov
CL 46
NE has yo hw ns 4 LS
REUGRGIIIO. 6 wes ws 7 vel

NE os Caw hws 20

d LZ
oS ere t?
Rushsylvania..... 257
we Baeetty......- LOS

Lilly Chapel a ei abet P50
ES EGE oa 595

NN oS oy wks hs 119

4 Ot eS Pp
BOT oT re PDS
ee Pree, Cee {S4
ee ee ? S65

EA Snare 139

RN ie ea rer

ee Cine r

i. rie 9,820
Wamersvilie.......
Germantown......
Miamisburg.......
Nat'l Mil’t’y Home.
W. Carrotiton.....

Lowellville ... ... 44 |

1,404
t1S5 :

Hop
} j
t 144
7 =— — =
ce ever

11,202

ne ampey ° ~capeesee= serene - ==

EBENEZER W. POE, AUDITOR, ETC. 17

Nehedule D—Continued.

Amount of

ae
Names of townships, gross receipts op eae
_— - ° Total fYross re-
‘ ; ; cities, Villages, and in each tax- oy,
Names of counties. Ce : “sega? ceirptée in
special school di ls- ing district as ‘
# é county.
tricts. designated — .

eolumn 2.

ae a i ;

Dollars. | Dollars.

5 ag ees PbPUtHOMK . 6sk iw os 27
4 6 i ate Youngstown ee ee SOD

SSU
$ TON oases Cardington.... 62%. 1,125
ai ih ue oe nage rea Pe cs Seo kk oe 420
WO Mt. Gilead... .. . 823
Snape rere Ot. FRU oc cck cs 327

2 693

CNT co rN 8 eke us 10

pe ‘ich IS oe aes 4%

pws cw | Dp Pati 5. 3x: 23

Bier ee OU ee oo ree a 4. ere eee 714

Pee his eae bee wee ae PE osx ache eas IS]
4 | - 1375

‘ a re CS oie as sv 6

Sn tae aie Coie Wet . ci ccs. 162
; eee ak er aa SEOIPSOE uo a we 5 i

; | me. 2. eee oy

* =
| 1,445
OMNI gS ge ai arg a ee 146

Se SE a eee OTE oa kk es 46
' giver iad eas Dewtor Cite... . as 244
ies keane Eo eer rrr 454

Re Se a eg hm i Ce re Ol]
2 O49

Peo a etc Ingomar .. 2 xu 144

reat EME BRR che aha ro! epee es Wes. Manchester.... 220
ee ho aS ees Ws. Alexandria.... 253

O40

a) ae ee ae
in ea sik tere MORN oa oak Ke en eo (x

|

j

} _
Bree fi bei eat a Sis > a aaa al Fo ar ee eee 47
eee ieee Sa go Gaewerrer odV
pcan suf RRsat

708

2 ee Binnfiéld . . <..... ! 88
Ebi PRES ca Ep St er tre 602
eee MuashiOt : .cakase 306

18 JAMES C. FARGO, PRESIDENT, ETC., VS.

Schedule D—Continued.

Amount of)

Total eross re-

eaten

Names of townships, | gross receipts
Names ofconntien, | ites, villages, and | in each tas
tricts. designated —
column 2. |
Dollars. |
et eas Streetsboro .......| 49 |
a aie TO 66 os ss ais 4]
a PW Ga eee ks hee ae
ka CPOGWEy o5ik 50s es 20
Epa Cloverdale........ 20
vt e wee Gilboa nin eee 76
a ee fo 110
tail 9 ee = 43
hig ack eas 2 reer 242
54 |
michlend ........ Shelby... .<, kung 1,130
jie SNE inv ckeaww O45
i teceanes VOR 6 6 Oka eased oO?
Banausky ......- CRO b oN vias ees | 1,055
NN. 5) 5 sk wae ANG 6s uss | 30
pe eee BAVON Ss 6 ik dain a) O40
ene ene rs: | See 2d
Lescol Qo 1,15
» Wane Nona Green Spring .....| 312
rer fa ere 1,598
ene eee 22
ee bene ct MINE Ma caeus | 18
ieee spat 56G4c4u 23
Se eer ene | 1,595
a ra Go eer rae 3,206
erro | Rennes | 44
spite celeste Seeiceks | 24
ies | East Akron.......| 155
A Ric oes | Oo
bee wil | SOIR Ss on Kean os 77
ie kee sf NE ia ect 1S
ee eee 89
or ~onef SOMNOUIA:... 412
rr Be ee 9]
| Uniontown ....... 145

| . |

Ft

%

eceipts in
county.
Dollars.
] J0S6
ta
523
ak \
1,727 oa
1,055
3.443
4
: tae
1,456

a ee -

EBENEZER W. POE, AUDITOR, ETC.

Names of counties.

en ear wee
ta “er eee#eee#e# « @ @
‘ ioe
go!)
ana,
AO
‘Tusearawas .....
Re es ep fo Sk eas
es ead te ehcp orn tee
‘ oe. 2. & @*¢
Ue eee ;

Names

Schedule D—Continued.

of
cities,
special
tricts.

Beach City

Canton....

Justee....

villages,
school

: | Amount of.

townships, |
and |

dis-

«ee * © @ @

oe @ 6 ©@ @

Middle Braneh....

Minerva....
Massillon. .

2 @

No. Industry...

New Berlin..
Navarre
Qsnaburg...

e © &. +. -¢

Robertsville....

Sparta......
Coalburg.. c
Fowler ..
Hubbard

Kinsman

Tyrrell Hill,

Barr’s Milis

Canal Dover.......

Dundee ....

Mineral Point..... |

Sugar Creek.

Vallev

oS & a2 2

ee 8 @&© *#

Se 6 a2. .&(8..9

gross receipts
in each tax-

ing district as |

designated —
column 2.

Dollars.
405

ee7eeee ee}

19

Total ¢gross re-
ceipts i
county.

Dollars.

7,444

0,447

Jol

eae ee eS

20 JAMES C. FARGO, PRESIDENT, ETC., VS.

Schedule D—Continued.

Names of counties.

Wer Wert.sss+

| Lov2 ,
Wyandot........ RMN os sevice ks | 613
ie niwaes CROWOIEL.. sos cece 15
ee a a are 47
(eoneaes Upp. Sandusky.... STO

fe mm a es ef a |

Names of townships,
Villages, and
school dis-

cities,
special
tricts.

PONE ee ie ee

Wetton .. oc ccc.

Amount of.

eLross receipts ia
2 , Total vross re-
in each tax- 5 Ph
. +: . celipts In
ing district as reeds

* ex _
designated —
column 2.

Dollars. Dollars.

1o07

Wairen...... Lo nee 663
ory ea ts ee | aan 948
a cag ek NOTE as oc cs 108
Lote
ee eee eT ere 447 |
; eeu Le Moyne ....... o1 | :
eehas eee 2 |
Tee, Pemberville.... 150 |
evens oO 256 |
‘% Walbridge........ 5 |
O11
Washington..... eee 42
pate. ies 4s 6,236
eas Macksburg........ 115
ks elehacel Stanleyville.......| 45
er ee ig). A
awed ino. te 172
OH S00
Williams..... Oo 35
i clk RS ee be eas | 559
a awed WOR: LIE. . 192
| 786
EEE aa Oneraaes << Satara Gee ey Pie ae 275,446

KBENEZER W. POE, AUDITOR, ETC. 21

O6 ScHEDULE E.—Showing the Name and Length of Lines of Rail
and Water Transportation over which the Company is Doing
Business in Ohio.

Names of lines. 3 Length of lines.
Canton Magmtlion Bite. «ix. sss cutee Gee nas eae ‘5 8
Cincinnati, dackson & Mackie... cue cod tee shee 165
Cincinnati, Lebanon & Northerti. <.s 6is iin ic ks oe ee 3
Cleveland & Marietie.. .. 61s 50sec dees eee 105
Cleveland, Canton end Southett.. .44cs sowsse seen 198
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louls... ... 2.2.2... 608
Columbus, Hocking _— Ce err er 125
Dayton and Udiet.... oc 6dcice ee es ee 47
Findley, Ft. Wayne ‘and N. Western...... Pa i.e
BOUND BGs. soo oe 5 83 Ks Ae (0c 66 ee a eas oi 4
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern...... ieee weenie a
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern (Franklin div.). ...... fi
DERI V GIOOE big boos cc's on ke ee ek ee eee 8
Obie Gitiieee.. «os os dos ss oir ee nee & eee 66
Peete @ Daemsee .. o b o in ke ee eee 62
Piitemiret and Lake Bie. o:ices sks cwatewecssunnaes ok ee

“Sandusky, Milan and Northern. ...... Ree ke wea en ae
VORIOE nck cas b 46 wke bn ke kee yee eraeneres thawed cali
1,751

OT Aside from the real estate mentioned in the accompanying

schedule situated in Hamiiton & C uyahoga and there duly
assessed for taxation, the American Express Co. has no property in
the State of Ohio except certain horses, wagons, harness, trucks,
safes, and office fixtures located at different points. The actual
value of this property in money, together with the moneys and
credits of the company within the State, is given in Schedule “ B,”
hereto attached, together with the location of the various items.

The business of the company in the State consists in carrying
packages on passenger and express trains, steamboats, and stages,
1 the care and custody of its employees who carry the packages.
The express company has no ownership of or interest in these means
of conveyance; it simply pays to the railroad companies and the
owners of steamboats and stage coaches for the passage of its mes-
sengers and their accompanying packages. The horses, wagons, and
trucks are used by it in the collection and delivery of these pack-
ages. There is nothing peculiar about its property; it is of the
ordinary kind whose true value in money must be measured by the
ordinary standards and is easily ascertained and determined,

The company respectfully insists that in ascertaining and de-
termining the value of said property it 1s neither necessary nor
proper to take into consideration either the par or market value of
its shares nofé the character and amount of its property, real or per-

“ragpetent eta pecade.:

22 JAMES C. FARGO, PRESIDENT, ETC., VS.

sonal, in other States, nor the amount of gross or net receipts of the
company from its business in Ohio or elsewhere.

The company insists that property of this kind, which ts the only
personal property owned or held by it in the State of Ohio, should
be valued in its hands as all similar property is valued in the hands

of other owners.
o8-—72 The company ownes considerable real estate outside of the
State of Ohio that is used in the conduct of the company’s
business.

The jaw under which this report is made being in contravention
to the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Ohio,
same is respectfully made under protest.

THE STATE OF OHIO, |...
County of Cuyahoga, f sia
On the 28th day of May, 1895, personally appeared before me,
the undersigned, a notary public in and for said Cuyahoga county,
R. D. Hughes, who, being duly sworn, says that he is the gen’l sup’t
of the American Express Company, and that the foregoing state-
ment is correctly taken from the books of said company and is true
ti the best of his knowledge and belief.
R. D. HUGHES.

Subscribed and sworn to before me the day and year above

written.
EVAN H. HOPKINS,

[ NOTARIAL SEAL. ] | Notary Public.
* * * x xx x *
79 And afterwards, to wit, on the 5th day of December, A. D.

1895, an entry was made upon the journal of said eourt
clothed in the words and figures following, to wit:

Journal C, page 90.
Demurrer to Bill Sustained, Injunction Dissolved, &e.

This cause came on to be heard upon the bill and the exhibit
and the demurrer of the defendant to the bill, it being stipulated
by counsel that the transcript of the proceedings of the State board
of appraisers & assessors, and also the correspondence between the
parties as disclosed in the copies thereof on file, shall be treated as
part of the record the same as if made exhibits to the bill. On

consideration whereof the court sustains the demurrer, dissolves the

preliminary injunction heretofore granted, and dismisses the bill at
the costs of the plaintiff. Thereupon the plaintiff presents his peti-
tion for appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, and his
assignment of errors, and the appeal is allowed in open court and
the appeal bond fixed at $5,000.00, and upon application of the

eS
t

EBENEZER W. POE, AUDITOR; ETC. .

plaintiff it is ordered that the order dissolving the injunction
74 be, and the same is hereby, suspended pending the appeal,
until or unless otherwise ordered by the Supreme Court.
Nothing in this order shall relieve the plaintiff’s company from
payment of taxes for the year 1895 on its personal property, moneys,
and credits in the various counties, in accordance with its return
thereof to the State board, and the order suspending the dissolution
of the injunction is upon condition that it shall pay said taxes for
the year 1895 accordingly or tender payment thereof to the various
county treasurers at the time when the taxes for 1895 are due.

And afterwards, to wit, on the same day as aforesaid, the follow-
ing petition for appeal and assignment of errors was filed in the
clerk’s office of said court, clothed in the words and figures follow-
ing, to wit:

Petition for Appeal and Assignment of Errors.

United States Cireuit Court, Southern District of Ohio, Eastern
Division.

JAMES C, F arco, President of American Express Company,
vs. # 739.
EBENEZER W. Por, Auditor, &c.

Petition for appeal and assignment of errors.

The plaintiff prays an appeal from the decree dismissing the
bill to the Supreme Court of the United States and assigns for
error that the court erred in sustaining the demurrer to the bill
in dissolving the preliminary Injunction and in dismissing the

bill.

70-79 The plaintiff especially insists that the assessment com-

plained of is not in fact an assessment against his company
in respect of its property held or owned by it in the State of Ohio
or within the taxing jurisdiction of the State, but is really an at-
tempt, under the guise of taxing its property within the State, to
enforce against it the payment of a tax upon its business, which is
largely interstate commerce, or for the privilege of doing such busi-
ness in the State by placing a fictitious or artificial value upon its
property, and that said assessment and the statute of Ohio purport-
ing to authorize the same are therefore in contravention of the Con-
stitution of the United States, especially of the interstate-commerce
clause of section 8, article 1, and of section 2, article 4, and of sec-
tion 1, article 14.

The plaintiff prays for an order continuing the temporary injune-
tion pending the appeal to the Supreme Court.

LAWRENCE MAXWELL, JR., Counsel.

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/brief%3Aper_scotus_1896_399%3A0. Public record. Not legal advice.