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the price of the privilege of navigating the Mississippi River, between New Orleans and the Gulf, in the coastwise trade, as the condition on which the State of Louisiana consents that the boats of the plaintiff in error may be employed by him according to the terms of the license granted under the authority of Congress. The sole occupation sought to be subjected to the tax is that of using and enjoying the license of the United States to employ these particular vessels in the coasting trade; and the State thus seeks to burden with an exaction, fixed at its own pleasure, the very right to which the plaintiff in error is entitled under, and which he derives from, the Constitution and laws of the United States. The Louisiana statute declares expressly that if he refuses or neglects to pay the license tax imposed upon him for using his boats in this way, he shall not be permitted to act under and avail himself of the license granted by the United States, but may be enjoined from so doing by judicial process. The conflict between the two authorities is direct and express. What the one declares may be done without the tax, the other declares shall not be done except upon payment of the tax. In such an opposition, the only question is, which is the superior authority? and reduced to that, it furnishes its own answer."

In the light of these decisions, and many others to the same effect might be cited, there can be no question as to the invalidity of the ordinance under consideration, unless its validity can be found in the alleged expenditures of the city of Chicago in deepening and improving the river. It is upon such alleged ground that the court below sustained the judgment and upheld the validity of the ordinance, and it is upon that ground that it is sought to support the judgment in this court.

The decisions of this court in Huse v. Glover, 119 U. S. 543, and in Sands v. Manistee River Improvement Co., 123 U. S. 288, are particularly referred to and relied upon. The attempt is made to assimilate the present case to those cases from the fact that it is conceded that the Chicago River is from time to time deepened for navigation purposes by dredging under the direction and at the expense of the city. The license fee pro

Opinion of the Court.

vided for in the ordinance of the city is treated as in the nature of a toll or compensation for the expenses of deepening the river. But the plain answer to this position is that the license fee is not exacted upon any such ground, nor is any suggestion made that any special benefit has arisen or can arise to the tugs in question by the alleged deepening of the river. The license is not exacted as a toll or compensation for any specific improvement of the river, of which the steam barges or tugs have the benefit, but is exacted for the keeping, use or letting to hire of any steam tug, or barge or tow-boat, for towing vessels or craft into the Chicago River, its branches or slips connected therewith. The business of the steam barge or tow-boat is to aid the movement of vessels in the river and its branches and adjacent waters; that is, to aid the commerce in which such vessels are engaged.

As said by this court in Foster v. Davenport, 22 How. 244, from which we have quoted above, the character of the navigation and business in which the steam barges or tug-boats are employed cannot be distinguished from that in which the vessels towed are engaged. In Huse v. Glover, 119 U. S. 543, 548, the legislature of Illinois had, by various acts, adopted measures for improving the navigation of the Illinois River, including the construction of a lock and dam at two places on the river, and for that purpose created a board of canal commissioners and invested them with authority to superintend the construction of the locks and canals, to control and manage them after their construction, and to prescribe reasonable rates of toll for the passage of vessels through the locks. The works were constructed at an expense of several hundred thousand dollars, which was borne principally by the State, although the United States bore a part of it, sufficient to testify to their consent and approval of the work; and the commissioners prescribed rates of toll for the passage of vessels through the locks, the rates being fixed per ton according to the tonnage measurement of the vessels and the amount of freight carried. Certain parties engaged in the ice trade, and employing several vessels in transporting ice on the river and thence by the Mississippi and other navigable streams to St. Louis and other

Opinion of the Court.

Southern markets, all of which vessels were licensed and registered under the act of Congress, filed a bill alleging that, prior to the construction of the dams, the complainants were able to navigate the river without interruption, except such as was incident to the ordinary use of the channel in its natural state; that said dams were an impediment to the free navigation of the river; that for the construction of the locks they were charged and paid duties upon the tonnage measurement of their steamboats and other vessels, amounting to about five thousand dollars; and that similar charges would be made upon subsequent shipments. And the bill alleged that the imposition of the tolls and tonnage duties was in violation of article four of the ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River, passed July 13, 1787, which provides "that the navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence and the carrying places between the same shall be a common highway and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the territory as to citizens of the United States, and those of any other State that may be admitted into the confederacy without any tax, impost or duty therefor," and of the article of the Constitution prohibiting the imposition of a tonnage duty by any State without the consent of Congress. The bill therefore prayed that the canal commissioners and persons acting under them might be restrained from exacting any tonnage duties or other charges for the passage of their steamboats or barges and other vessels used by them in navigating the Illinois River, and from interfering in any manner with the free navigation of the river in the course of their business. The Circuit Court of the United States sustained the validity of the statute and this court affirmed its judgment. In its opinion this court said :

"The exaction of tolls for passage through the locks is as compensation for the use of artificial facilities constructed, not as an impost upon the navigation of the stream. The provision of the clause that the navigable streams should be highways without any tax, impost or duty, has reference to their navigation in their natural state. It did not contemplate that such navigation might not be improved by artificial means, by

Opinion of the Court.

the removal of obstructions, or by the making of dams for deepening the waters, or by turning into the rivers waters from other streams to increase their depth. For outlays caused by such works the State may exact reasonable tolls. They are like charges for the use of wharves and docks constructed to facilitate the landing of persons and freight, and the taking them on board, or for the repair of vessels.

"The State is interested in the domestic as well as in the interstate and foreign commerce conducted on the Illinois River; and to increase its facilities, and thus augment its growth, it has full power. It is only when, in the judgment of Congress, its action is deemed to encroach upon the navigation of the river as a means of interstate and foreign commerce, that that body may interfere and control or supersede it. If, in the opinion of the State, greater benefit would result to her commerce by the improvements made than by leaving the river in its natural state and on that point the State must necessarily determine for itself—it may authorize them, although increased inconvenience and expense may thereby result to the business of individuals. The private inconvenience must yield to the public good."

We adhere to the doctrine thus declared. It was not new when stated in the case mentioned. It had been often announced, though, perhaps, not with as much fulness. That case differs essentially from the one before us. It pointed out distinctly the nature of the improvement; the benefit which it extended to vessels was readily perceptible, and no principle was violated, and no control of Congress over commerce, interstate or foreign, was impaired thereby. Congress, by its contribution to the work, had assented to it. The navigation of the river was improved and facilitated, and those thus benefited were required to pay a reasonable toll for the increased facilities afforded. Nothing of this kind is mentioned for consideration in the ordinance of Chicago. The license fee is a tax for the use of navigable waters, not a charge by way of compensation for any specific improvement. The grant to the city under which the ordinance was passed is a general one to all municipalities of the State. Waters navigable in

Opinion of the Court.

themselves in a State, and connecting with other navigable waters so as to form a waterway to other States or foreign nations, cannot be obstructed or impeded so as to impair, defeat or place any burden upon a right to their navigation granted by Congress. Such right the defendants had from the fact that their steam barges and towboats were enrolled and licensed, as stated, under the laws of the United States.

The case of Sands v. Manistee River Improvement Co., 123 U. S. 288, does not have any bearing upon the case under consideration. The Manistee River is wholly within the State of Michigan, and its improvement consisted in the removal of obstacles to the floating of logs and lumber down the stream, principally by the cutting of new channels at different points and confining the waters at other points by embankments. The statute under which the improvement company was organized contained various provisions to secure a careful consideration of the improvements proposed and of their alleged benefit to the public, and, if adopted, their proper construction, and also for the establishment of tolls to be charged for their use. When the case came before this court it was held that the internal commerce of a State, that is, the commerce which is wholly confined within its limits, is as much under its control as foreign or interstate commerce is under the control of the general government, and, to encourage the growth of that commerce and render it safe, States might provide for the removal of obstructions from their rivers and harbors and deepen their channels and improve them in other ways, and levy a general tax or toll upon those who use the improvements to meet their cost, provided the free navigation of the waters, as permitted by the laws of the United States, was not impaired, and provided any system for the improvement of their navigation instituted by the general government was not defeated. No legislation of Congress was, by the statute of Michigan, in that case interfered with, nor any right conferred, under the legislation of Congress, in the navigation of the river by licensed or enrolled vessels, impaired, defeated or burdened in any respect. It was the improvement of a river wholly within the State, and, therefore,