104 
Urdahl—Historical Survey of Fee Systems. 
for exacting money from the people. A small charge once begun 
was easily made a precedent or pretext for a higher exaction. 
But even where the license fees were taken away from the gov¬ 
ernors, their tendency to increase in amount was manifest. As 
an example may be cited the fees for Indian traders’ licenses in 
South Carolina. At first there was no charge for the privilege; 
then a small, almost nominal fee was charged, which was soon 
increased to £3; in 1709 it became £5; and in 1711 it was in¬ 
creased to £8, then to £20; and finally in 1734, £50 were 
charged for each license. This was the high water mark, 
which was held for only a short time, after which the charge 
was decreased again. 1 In 1719 a commission was appointed to 
manage the Indian trade for the benefit of the colony. This 
commission was empowered to license traders, provided they 
gave bond for £500 and paid ten per cent, of the proceeds into 
the colonial treasury. 2 The same is true of peddlers’ licenses 
in South Carolina. The fee was gradually increased, until in 
1738 we find £100 charged for a license to peddle by water, and 
£50 by land when carried on with a horse. 3 
The evolution of the license fee as we know it to-day, can be 
most easily traced through its early stages in the colonial liquor 
regulation. The experience of Massachusetts may be considered 
as typical; for every other colony has, with more or less varia¬ 
tions, passed through the same process. 4 The preamble of a 
Massachusetts license law dated 1645, 5 reads as follows: “ For¬ 
asmuch as there is a necessary use of houses of common en¬ 
tertainment in every commonwealth, and of such as retail 
wine, beer, and victuals, yet, because there are so many abuses 
by persons entertaining and by person entertained, ” it is or¬ 
dered that, " no person . . . shall be a keeper of a cook- 
1 Johns Hopkins University Studies, 13, 104; Financial History of 
South Carolina, C. L. Whitley; also Laws, S. C. 
* Laws, S. C., 1719, p. 93. 
3 Laws , 1838, III, 487. 
4 F. A. Wood, History of Taxation in Vermont; Columbia College 
Studies, IV, 391. The earlier liquor licenses in Vermont were imposed for 
regulation, not revenue. The fee charged was about equal to one dollar. 
5 Colonial Laivs, Mass., p. 43, (1645-51, 1653, 1657-58); 1645, p. 164. 
