Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol II).djvu/473

 CH. XIV.] § 999. The fourth paragraph of the ninth section of the same article will next be considered. It is in these words: "No capitation, or other direct tax, shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census, or enumeration herein before directed to be taken."

§ 1000. The census referred to is in that clause of the constitution, which has just been considered, which makes numbers the standard, by which both representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the states. The actual enumeration is to be made "within three years after the first meeting of the congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct."

§ 1001. As the direct and declared object of this census is, to furnish a standard, by which "representatives, and direct taxes, may be apportioned among the several states, which may be included within this Union," it will be admitted, that the omission to extend it to the district, or the territories, would not render it defective. The census referred to is admitted to be a census exhibiting the numbers of the respective States. It cannot, however, be admitted, that the argument, which limits the application of the power of direct taxation to the population contained in this census, is a just one. The language of the clause does not imply this restriction. It is not, that "no capitation, or other direct tax shall be laid, unless on those comprehended within the census herein before directed to be taken," but "unless in proportion to" that census. Now this proportion may be applied to the district or the territories. If an enumeration be taken of the population in the district and the territories, on the same principles, on which the enumeration of the respective states is made, then 59