202 TJrdahl—The Present Fee System in the United States. 
conditions. They are influenced by the ideas and ideals of the 
times, and unconsciously, at times even consciously, adjust and 
modify constitutions and laws so as to fit the economic condi¬ 
tions which present themselves. We thus find a long list of 
cases where the imposition and collection of license fees, were 
adjudged to be an exercise of the police power, although it was 
clearly shown in many of them, that the fee yielded a surplus 
revenue to the public body. 1 2 In New York vs. Leonard, 2 the 
court held that the imposition of a license charge of $50 per 
car for the privilege of running on the streets of New York, 
was an annual tax and not a license fee; while the parallel case 
of Johnson vs. Philadelphia , 3 w 7 as decided contrary to the former 
decision, the court holding that $50 per year per car was a legiti¬ 
mate license charge. The court here stated “ that if it be granted 
that the sum is a reasonable charge as a police regulation, then 
its incidental operation in augmenting the receipts of the city 
treasury, cannot invalidate it. ” The trend of the earlier de¬ 
cisions 4 seems to be that the distinction between fees and taxes, 
corresponds to the distinction between police powers and taxing 
powers. 
The dividing line between these two powers has never been 
definitely fixed. Even the United States Supreme Court 5 6 h as 
1 People vs. Thurber, 13 Ill., 554; Walker vs. Springfield , 94 Ill.,. 
364; Burch vs. Savannah, 42 Ga., 596; DuracEs Appeal, 52 Pa., 392;. 
East St. Louis vs. Trustees, 99 Ill., 583; Rochester vs. Upman , 19 Minn., 
312; State vs. Carridy , 22 Minn., 322; Johnson vs. Phila., 60 Pa., 445; 
Fire Dept. vs. Helfenstein, 16 Wis., 136; Cine. Gas Co. vs. State, 18 
Ohio, 237; Boston vs. Schaffer, 9 Pick., 415; Welsch vs. Hotchkiss, 39 
Conn., 140. 
2 32 N. Y., 261. 
3 60 Penn. Stab, 451. 
4 Tenney vs. Lentz, 16 Wis., 566; License Cases, 5 How., 504; Keller 
vs. State, 11 Ind., 525; Commonwealth vs. Kimball, 24 Pick., 359; Gib¬ 
bons vs. Ogden, 9 Wheat., 23; Marmetvs. Ohio, 12 N. E. Rep., 472, 
etc. 
6 New York vs. Milwaukee, 11 Pet., 102. “Every law comes within 
the police power which concerns the welfare of the whole people of the 
state or any individual within it, whether it relates to their rights or their 
duties, whether it relate to them as men or as citizens of a state, whether in 
their public or private relations, whether it relates to the right of persons or 
