Commissioner of Agriculture. 75 



equal rights of others which may increase their property or 

 develop their faculties, so as to give them their highest enjoy- 

 ment. The common business and callings of life, the ordinary 

 trades and pursuits which are innocent in themselves, and have 

 been followed in all communities from time immemorial, must, 

 therefore, be free in this country to all alike upon the same 

 terms. The right to pursue them without let or hindrance, ex- 

 cept that which is applied to all persons of the same age, sex 

 and condition, is a distinguishing privilege of citizens of the 

 United States, and an essential element of that freedom which 

 they claim as their birthright.' In the same case Bradley, J., 

 says : ' I hold that the liberty of pursuit, the right to follow 

 any of the ordinary callings of life, is one of the privileges of 

 a citizen of the United States,' of which he cannot be deprived 

 without invading his right to liberty within the meaning of the 

 Constitution. In Live Stock, etc., Association v. Crescent City, 

 etc., Company {1 Abb. U. S., 388, 398), the learned presiding jus- 

 tice says: 'There is no more sacred right of citizenship than 

 the right to pursue unmolested a lawful employment in a law- 

 ful manner. It is nothing more or less than the sacred right 

 of labor.' In Wynehamer v. People, Johnson, J., says: 'That a 

 law which should make it a crime for men either to live in, or 

 rent or sell their houses,' would violate the constitutional guar- 

 anty of personal liberty. In Bcrtholf v. O'Reilly (74 N. Y., 509, 

 515), Andrews, J., says: That one could 'be deprived of his lib- 

 erty in a constitutional sense without putting his person in con- 

 finement,' and that a man's right to liberty included ' the right 

 to exercise his faculties and to follow a lawful avocation for the 

 support of life.' " 



The court then proceeds to examine the question whether the 

 law under consideration could be sustained as an exercise of 

 the police power and as a health law, and states: 



(P. 107.) " But the claim is made that the Legislature could 

 pass this act in the exercise of the police power which every 

 sovereign State possesses. That power is very broad and com- 

 prehensive, and is exercised to promote the health, comfort, 



