to the indefinite residual powers of
the States.

TAXATION

The Supreme Court, citing the fact that the American Revolution "really
began when * * * that government (of England) sent stamps for newspaper
duties to the American colonies" has been alert to the possible uses of
taxation as a method of suppressing objectionable publications.[187]
Persons engaged in the dissemination of ideas are, to be sure, subject
to ordinary forms of taxation in like manner as other persons.[188] With
respect to license or privilege taxes, however, they stand on a
different footing. Their privilege is granted by the Constitution and
cannot be withheld by either State or Federal Government. Hence a
license tax measured by gross receipts for the privilege of engaging in
the business of publishing advertising in any newspaper or other
publication was held invalid[189] and flat license fees levied and
collected as a pre-condition to the sale of religious books and
pamphlets have also been set side.[190]

FEDERAL RESTRAINTS ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND PRESS

Regulations of Business and Labor Activities

The application to newspapers of the Anti-Trust Laws,[191] the National
Labor Relations Act,[192] or the Fair Labor Standards Act,[193] does not
abridge the freedom of the press. In Gompers _v._ Bucks Stove and Range
Co.,[194] the Supreme Court unanimously held that a court of equity may
enjoin continuance of a boycott, despite the fact that spoken or written
speech was used as an instrumentality by which the boycott was made
effective. "In the case of an unlawful conspiracy, the agreement to act
in concert when the signal is published gives the words 'Unfair,' 'We
Don't Patronize,' or similar expressions, a force not inhering in the
words themselves, and therefore exceeding any possible right of speech
which a single individual might have. Under such circumstances they
become what have been called 'verbal acts,' and as much subject to
injunction as the use of any other force whereby property is unlawfully
damaged."[195] A cognate test has been applied in determining when
communications by an employer constitute an unfair labor practice which
may be forbidden or penalized under the National Labor Relations Act
without infringing freedom of speech. In Labor Board _v._ Virginia Power
Co.,[196] the Court held that the sanctions of the act might be imposed
upon an employer for the protection of his employees, where his conduct
"though evi