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 ILUNO IS RAILWAY LEG IS 
 LA T I ON AND C ;iS- Q ION 
 
 ~R^L SINCE 1
 
 LI B R.AR.Y 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 m Historical
 
 y 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS BULLETIN 
 
 Vol. 1 MARCH 15, 1904 No. 12 
 
 Published Fortnightly by the University and entered at Urbana, Illinois, as second-class matter 
 
 Vol. I MARCH, 1904 No. 6 
 
 Illinois Railway Legislation and Commission 
 Control Since 1870 
 
 By 
 
 JOSEPH HINCKLEY CORDON, A. M., 
 
 Instructor in History in the Academy of the University of Illinois 
 
 Witt an Introduction by M. B. Hammond, Ph.D., 
 Assistant Professor of Economics 
 
 PRICE 25 CENTS
 
 of flltnots 
 
 Vol I MARCH. 1904 No. 6 
 
 >tubie0 
 
 Illinois Railway Legislation and Commission 
 Control Since 1870 
 
 By 
 
 JOSEPH HINCKLEY CORDON, A. M.. 
 
 Instructor in History in the Academy of the University of Illinois 
 
 With an Introduction by M. B. Hammond. Ph.D.. 
 Assistant Professor of Economics 
 
 <T:lnturrstti> [J ITU'S 
 SErtana
 
 4 * . UJUA/V^, 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 During the year 1900-'01 the advanced students in the Eco- 
 nomic Seminary devoted themselves to a study of the railroad 
 development of Illinois, under the direction of Professor M. B. 
 Hammond, who was in charge of the department during my 
 absence in Europe. In addition to other excellent work done, 
 the essay here published was written by Mr. Gordon, under 
 Professor Hammond's direction. The history of railroad legisla- 
 tion before 1870 was also written up, but is not at present avail- 
 able for publication. Accordingly, Professor Hammond has kind- 
 ly written an introduction to the present essay, covering the 
 ground before 1870. This introductory historical sketch is 
 drawn chiefly from the results of the labors of the students who 
 were at work under Professor Hammond. Mr. Gordon has re- 
 cently revised his essay with Professor Hammond's assistance. 
 
 DAVID KINLEY, 
 Professor of Economics.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION : Railway Legislation Before 1870. 
 
 SECTION I. Railway Conditions in 1870 and the Constitu- 
 
 tional Provisions Concerning Railroads. 
 
 SECTION II. The Restrictive Legislation of 1871 and the Work 
 
 of the First Commission. 
 
 SECTION III. Litigation over the Enforcement of the Law. 
 
 SECTION IV. The Law of 1873 and the Powers of the Commis- 
 sion as Modified by It. 
 
 SECTION V. The Schedule of Maximum Rates. 
 
 SECTION VI. The Final Struggle in the Courts. 
 
 SECTION VII. General Legislation and Litigation. 
 
 SECTION VIII. Railway Construction and Consolidation. 
 
 SECTION IX. Later Work of the Commission. 
 
 SECTION X. Conclusion.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 RAILWAY LEGISLATION BEFORE 1870. 
 
 To the student of transportation problems the railway his- 
 tory of Illinois possesses an interest hardly equalled by that of 
 any of her sister states. This is not because of the magnitude 
 of the railway interests, though ever since 1870 the railway 
 mileage of Illinois has exceeded that of any other state of the 
 Union and her chief city has long been known as the railway 
 capital of the world. Nor is it because of their antiquity that 
 we feel an especial interest in Illinois railroads. Although this 
 state was the pioneer among western states in railway building, 
 and although both private and public agitation in favor of rail- 
 roads began in Illinois almost as soon as in the East, most of 
 the eastern commonwealths had already made a respectable 
 showing in railway construction before the western agitation 
 had attained any tangible results. 
 
 Our interest in Illinois railway problems lies rather in 
 their legislative aspects. This state, after having experimented 
 unsuccessfully with public ownership and management of rail- 
 roads, abandoned the plan and, like most of her sister states, 
 went to the other extreme and placed matters of construction 
 and operation entirely in private hands. Not appreciating the 
 fact that they were dealing with an institution whose relation 
 to private industry and public welfare was essentially different 
 from that of other industrial undertakings, the people of Illi- 
 nois at succsssive sessions of the legislative assembly freely 
 granted charters of incorporation to railway companies, and 
 made little effort to place on the powers conferred such limita- 
 tions as were necessary to safeguard the agricultural, manufac- 
 turing and trading interests of the state. The mistakes in this 
 policy soon made themselves felt in the so-called " Granger " 
 
 [213]
 
 6 
 
 agitation. After a bitter struggle in the courts and the legis- 
 lature, the right of the state to regulate and control its railway 
 corporations was secured beyond a reasonable doubt. It was 
 in this struggle for control that Illinois led the way. The 
 McLean County case, the Neal Buggies case, the case of The Peo- 
 ple v. The Illinois Central Railroad Company, and, above all, the 
 case of Munn 'v. Illinois, established the right of the state legis- 
 lature under the Illinois Constitution of 1870 to regulate the 
 charges for railway transportation within the state, and, f ur- 
 thermore,fully demonstrated the public character of the railway 
 business. As is well known, these decisions had more than a 
 local bearing. They became the precedents for decisions in 
 similar cases arising in other states and they mark a new 
 era in American railway affairsj 
 
 Nor was this the only way in which Illinois did pioneer 
 work in railway legislation. She was the first state to estab- 
 lish a railway commission having the power of regulation and 
 control in its own hands, often called the "strong" commis- 
 sion, or the "commission with power". This, too, was an out- 
 come of the Granger agitation and is closely connected with 
 the decisions of the courts just referred to, which settled the 
 right of the legislature to control the roads through such a 
 commission. The question as to whether this type of a com- 
 mission is preferable to the "advisory" type found in Massa- 
 chusetts and other states has been ably discussed by various 
 writers, who have not all reached the kame conclusions. In Il- 
 linois, at the time the Railroad and Warehouse Commission 
 was established, there was little discussion of the merits of one 
 type as compared with those of the other. The condition of the 
 public mind, which had been wrought up to a state of excite- 
 ment and fury by the persistence of extortionate charges and 
 unjust discriminations by the roads of the state, was not such 
 that the people could be satisfied by mere advice. An effort 
 was made to go directly to the heart of the difficulty by means 
 of legislative prohibitions and by entrusting such powers to a 
 
 [214]
 
 commission as were deemed essential to secure the enforcer 
 ment of the laws. Perhaps the wisdom of this move, under 
 the existing circumstances, has nowhere been better demon- 
 strated than by the experience of the state of Iowa, which, 
 when confronted with similar problems, first experimented 
 with the advisory commission and later abandoned it to estab- 
 lish a "strong" commission modeled after that of Illinois. 1 
 
 In this brief outline we have attempted to show the bear- 
 ing of the Illinois railway problem of the '70's on the railway 
 problem of the country at large. The way in which the people 
 of Illinois solved their own problem forms the subject of Mr. 
 Gordon's paper, and it would be a waste of words to attempt 
 further to elucidate that which he has so clearly presented. In 
 order to give this interesting episode its proper historical set- 
 ting, it may be well, however, to present to the reader a short 
 sketch of the early history of railway construction and legisla- 
 tion in Illinois. 
 
 As already suggested, a movement in favor of the con- 
 struction of railroads in Illinois began as early as February, 
 1829, when Governor Coles of this State wrote to Governor 
 Bernard of New York concerning internal improvements and 
 among other things, inquired as to the probable expense of 
 constructing a railroad through the open prairies of Illinois. 
 At about the same time the editor of the Illinois Magazine, 
 published at Vandalia, was advocating the building of railroads 
 in Illinois. 2 By 1831 the matter was before the legislature and 
 that body appointed a commission to report on the "practi- 
 cability and probable cost of constructing a canal or railroad" 
 in St. Glair county. The lack of an efficient means of trans- 
 portation was sorely felt by the early settlers in Illinois, whose 
 only highways were the muddy "dirt" roads which still em- 
 barrass the Illinois farmer in his efforts to market his crops. 
 
 1 For an account of the Iowa experience, see Dixon's State Railroad Control, 
 with a History of its Development in Iowa. 
 
 2 Illinois Magazine, 1, 85. 
 
 [215]
 
 8 
 
 The experiments being made with steam railroads in New 
 York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and South Carolina at about 
 this time were eagerly watched by the Illinois farmers, and it is 
 not surprising that many of them believed that the new device 
 for transportation offered them a means of escape from their 
 own difficulties. 
 
 For several years, however,beginningwith I831,a keen con- 
 troversy took place both within and without the legislature be- 
 tween the friends of the railroads and those who favored canals. 
 The railway advocates certainly presented the stronger argu- 
 ments 1 but, on the other hand, railway building was as yet 
 in the experimental stage, while the success of the Erie Canal 
 created a strong bias in favor of water as a means of transpor- 
 tation; and finally, in the legislative session of 1834-'35, the 
 supporters of the Illinois-Michigan Canal triumphed over their 
 railway opponents. But, although the canal project undoubt- 
 edly had popular support at this time, the desire for railroads 
 still remained strong with the people. The same session of the 
 legislature which adopted the canal project also passed the 
 first railway incorporation act. This provided for the construc- 
 tion of a railroad from Chicago to a point on the Wabash river 
 opposite Vincennes, Indiana. No organization was effected 
 under this charter and the road was never built. The first rail- 
 road actually constructed in this state was a private enterprise, 
 unincorporated, undertaken by Ex-Governor Reynolds in 1836- 
 '37. It was a coal road, six miles in length, built from the bluffs 
 in St. Clair county to the Mississippi river at a point about op- 
 posite St. Louis. In character and purpose this road was similar to 
 the coal and granite tramways built in Massachusetts, Pennsyl- 
 vania and other states, as well as in England, and, except as it 
 marks a beginning, its consideration hardly belongs to railway 
 history. The road was at first built with wooden rails, and 
 horse power was the motive power, though later steam was 
 
 i Senate Journal, i832-'33, p. 218. 
 
 [216]
 
 9 
 
 employed. 1 This road was finally incorporated and is now a 
 part of the Louisville, Evansville, and St. Louis Railroad. The 
 Chicago and Galena Union Railroad, which was chartered Jan- 
 uary 16, 1836, was the first road to be chartered by an Illinois 
 legislature which was actually constructed and put in operation 
 under its charter. The survey of this road was begun in 1838, 
 but the financial stringency following the crisis of 1837 delayed 
 construction, and the road did not begin operation until near 
 the close of 1848. This road later came under the control of 
 the Illinois Central Railroad and now forms a part of its 
 western lines. 
 
 From 1836 on, the incorporation of railroad companies in 
 Illinois proceeded with some rapidity. Not only the incorpo- 
 rators but likewise the people and their representatives in the 
 legislature expected large profits to be realized by these com- 
 panies. Attempts were made in several of the early charters 
 to guard against excessive profits. A notable example is the first 
 act of incorporation of the Illinois Central Railroad, which pro- 
 vided that when the dividends exceeded 12 per cent, on the in- 
 vestment, the legislature might reduce the tolls. This marks 
 the first attempt at restrictive legislation. 
 
 By far the most interesting chapter in the early history of 
 Illinois railroads is that which deals with the effort of the peo- 
 ple to establish a system of railroads owned and managed 
 directly by the state. This was a part of the great internal 
 improvement plan of 1837. Like many of her sister states Illi- 
 nois was siezed with the internal improvement mania which 
 possessed the people of the United States during the '80's- 
 This is not the place to enter into a discussion of the forces 
 which caused this remarkable movement. As historians have 
 frequently pointed out, it was due, in part, to the growth of a 
 surplus in the national treasury and its distribution in 1837, 
 and, in part, to bank and land speculation then rife in all the 
 
 i Niles Register, November 25, 1837. See also Reynolds, My Own Times. 
 
 [217]
 
 10 
 
 southern and western states. In Illinois the movement culmi- 
 nated in the internal improvement convention of 1836- 
 '37, and this resulted in the passage through the legislature of 
 the act of February. 27, 1837, entitled, "An act to establish 
 and maintain a general system of internal improvements". 
 This act provided for seven commissioners to superintend the 
 construction of certain specified public improvements, whose 
 estimated cost was $11,000,000. These expenditures, for which 
 a state loan of $8,000,000 was authorized, were, in part, for the 
 improvement of the chief rivers of the state and, in part, for 
 the improvement of roads and bridges in those counties where 
 no railroads were projected; but all but $600,000 of the amount 
 was for the purpose of constructing nine different railroads. 
 This ambitious program, which was entirely beyond the re- 
 sources and credit of Illinois at the time, was hastily passed 
 in spite of the protests of conservative men within and without 
 the legislature. Almost from the first, the impossibility of ex- 
 ecuting the plan was realized. Eastern capital would not enter 
 the undertaking, as had been confidently predicted, and within 
 three years after the passage of the act a special session of the 
 legislature, called for the purpose, had repealed it. The only 
 part of this stupendous undertaking which was ever completed 
 was the construction of the Northern Cross Railroad from 
 Springfield to Meredosia on the Illinois river, 33 miles beyond 
 Jacksonville. The first eight miles of the road, from Meredosia 
 east, were opened in November, 1838, and the first locomotive 
 ever used in the Mississippi Valley was then employed. The 
 road was completed as far as Jacksonville by January 1, 1840, 
 and to Springfield by May 13, 1842. It had cost $1,000,000. Its 
 administration by the state was at a loss and it was soon sold 
 for $100,000. None of its successive lessees succeeded in mak- 
 ing it pay and by 1843 it had been abandoned. Prior to this, its 
 one locomotive had been upset in a swamp and mules driven 
 tandem had taken its place. In 1847 the road was again sold, 
 
 [2I8J
 
 11 
 
 this time for $21,000, and was re-opened for traffic in 1849. It 
 now forms a part of the Wabash Railway system. 
 
 The internal improvement plan, after having saddled a 
 debt of $6,000,000 on the state, was reluctantly abandoned. 
 Many people continued to hope that later years might see a re- 
 newal of the attempt to create a transportation system owned 
 and managed by the state. The surveyed and unfinished por- 
 tions of the state roads were granted to the local divisions of 
 government through which they ran, with the proviso always 
 inserted in the grant that the state might resume control 
 whenever it desired to use them for their original purposes. 
 
 After the internal improvement plan had been abandoned, 
 the legislature reverted to the plan of granting charters to pri- 
 vate companies. Under the early railway charters but little 
 had been accomplished. According to unofficial statistics, 1 
 there were as late as 1852 only ninety-five miles of railroad in 
 operation in the entire state. The roads which were now 
 chartered were, in many instances, planned to complete por- 
 tions of the state roads begun under the act of 1837. The re- 
 luctance of the people to give up the plan of state ownership 
 and management of these roads is seen in the proviso, usually 
 inserted in the charters, that the state may purchase the road 
 after a specified number of years by paying to the company the 
 cost of the road together with interest thereon. 
 
 Professor B. H. Meyer, in tracing the history of the rail- 
 way legislation of this period for the country as a whole, has 
 shown that in all the western states, at least, these early 
 charters were loosely drawn and that they show little compre- 
 hension on the part of the legislators of the public nature of 
 the railway industry, or of the serious difficulties which were 
 sure to follow as a result of the failure clearly to define the 
 mutual rights and obligations of the corporations and the com- 
 monwealths. 2 In this respect the state of Illinois presented 
 
 I Chicago Daily Press, Feb. 16, 1856. But see p. 18. 
 
 2 Meyer, Railway Legislation in the United States, 8-9. . 
 
 [219]
 
 12 
 
 no exception to the general rule. In matters pertaining to 
 capitalization, increase of stock, indebtedness, the accumula- 
 tion of a sinking fund, and even in the determination of the 
 route and the fixing of terminals, there was the utmost loose- 
 ness and lack of uniformity. The early charters almost invari- 
 ably conferred upon the directors unlimited power to fix the 
 rates of toll, and this provision later proved embarrassing when 
 the state undertook to regulate the charges for transportation. 
 Relying upon the decision of the Federal Supreme Court in the 
 Dartmouth College case as proof of the inviolability of their 
 charters, the railway owners and officials insisted that any at- 
 tempt on the part of the legislature to interfere with their rate- 
 making power was a clear violation of their contract. In spite 
 of the fact that a general incorporation act was passed by the 
 Illinois legislature in 1849, the practice of granting special 
 charters continued, and no road was actually incorporated 
 under a general law until after 1870. The reason for neglect- 
 ing to take advantage of the general incorporation act of 1849 
 seems to have been that any road organized under its provisions 
 must still obtain from the legislature specific permission to 
 condemn land, thus necessitating a special act for each road. 
 Furthermore, the act of 1849 fixed the maximum rate for trans- 
 porting passengers at three cents a mile. 
 
 During the years from 1848 to 1854 railway building in 
 Illinois was greatly hampered by the attitude of the legislature 
 in upholding what was known as the "State policy" in matters 
 of railway construction. This policy was to refuse to charter 
 any east and west road whose proposed terminals were trading 
 centres outside of the state. The object was to build up com- 
 mercial centres within the state and the policy was directed, in 
 particular, against the cities of St. Louis, Missouri, and Vin- 
 cennes and Terre Haute, Indiana. The pursuance of this short- 
 sighted policy not only hindered the flow of capital into the 
 state and retarded the industrial and commercial development 
 of certain sections, but it caused retaliatory measures to be 
 
 [220J
 
 13 
 
 adopted by neighboring states. The policy met with especi- 
 ally strong opposition from the residents of the southern part 
 0f the state and several conventions were called to protest 
 against its continuance. Two special sessions of the legislature 
 were called to deal with the matter, but so strong was the in- 
 fluence exerted by the supporters of this plan that it was not 
 until 1854 that a more liberal policy prevailed. 
 
 In spite of this policy, however, railway building in Illinois 
 in the early '50's proceeded with unparalleled rapidity. As 
 already indicated, there were in 1852 only 95 miles of railroad 
 in operation in the state. By February 16, 1856, there were 
 2410 miles in operation. 1 Of this amount only about three 
 hundred miles were in the southern part of the state. From 
 1835 to 1869, inclusive, 413 railway charters were granted by 
 the Illinois legislature and the great majority of these were 
 framed after 1854. 
 
 Of the railway building of this period, by far the most not- 
 able undertaking was that of the Illinois Central Railroad. 
 This enterprise has an importance not confined to the state of 
 Illinois, since it marks the first important step in the policy of 
 securing Congressional land grants in aid of railroads. Small 
 beginnings of this policy had already been made in Illinois, as 
 well as in other states. In 1835 an act of Congress authorized 
 the legislature of Illinois, if it saw fit, to use the land granted 
 in 1827 to aid in the construction of the Illinois-Michigan 
 Canal for a railroad instead of a canal. Small grants of land 
 had also been made by Congress to several southern states in 
 aid of railway construction. Although several citizens have 
 claimed the credit of having originated the Illinois Central 
 railway project, the credit for having pushed the land grant 
 through Congress undoubtedly belongs to Stephen A. Douglas. 
 The desire to have a north and south line running the full 
 length of the state had long been a pet scheme of the people 
 of Illinois. The internal improvement plan of 1837 had 
 
 I Chicago Daily Press, February 16, 1836. See also p. 18. 
 
 [221]
 
 14 
 
 this as its main item and, after the failure of that ambitious 
 program, another attempt was made in 1843 to provide for such 
 a line by chartering the Great Western Railroad Company. 
 Private capital, unaided by government subsidies, appeared 
 unwilling, however, to undertake the project and, beginning 
 with 1848, Douglas worked unremittingly to secure Congres- 
 sional aid for the road. Finally, on September 26, 1850, Con- 
 gress passed the act which gave to the State of Illinois the 
 right of way 250 feet in width through the public lands and 
 also the alternate sections of land, six sections deep, along the 
 proposed route, an amount of land aggregating nearly 2,600,000 
 acres. The Illinois Central Railroad Company was incorpo- 
 rated in January,1851,for the purpose of building the road, and 
 the lands granted by Congress to the state were conferred on 
 the company in return for a promise on its part to pay annu- 
 ally a tax of seven per cent, of its gross earnings into the 
 State Treasury. This was to be in lieu of all other state and 
 local taxes. The company which received the charter and the 
 land grant was composed of New York and Boston capitalists 
 of high financial reputation but the capital for the enterprise 
 came, for the most part, from England. The bill incorporating 
 the company was hastily passed by the legislature and was in 
 opposition to the wishes of many who believed that the state 
 should have retained the title to the lands and should have 
 constructed and operated the railroad. Without discussing in 
 this place the relative merits of the two plans, or seeking to 
 justify the general principle of governmental subsidies in aid 
 of private railway corporations, it may be said in all fairness, 
 that in this case the Congressional land grant proved advan- 
 tageous to all parties concerned. By withholding from the 
 market for two years the sections of land not granted along 
 the right of way, the Federal Government was able to dispose of 
 these lands at an average price four times as large as that at 
 which they were offered prior to making the grant. It also 
 fixed the compensation for carrying the mails over the road 
 and reserved the right to transport its troops and munitions of 
 
 [2221
 
 15 
 
 war free of cost. To the state of Illinois the land grant and 
 the building of the railroad added 150,000 in population within 
 a very few years and the development of the state's resources 
 was greatly hastened. Furthermore, the contract for the pay- 
 ment of the gross earnings tax has proved very advantageous 
 to the state, and, judging from the market price of its stock, 
 has not seriously affected the prosperity of the company. 
 
 Several other attempts were made to secure Congressional 
 aid for Illinois railroads between 1837 and 1854, but they 
 proved fruitless. 
 
 The financial disasters resulting from the failure of the in- 
 ternal improvement plan of 1837 led the framers of the Consti- 
 tution of 1848 to insert a clause in that instrument, forbidding 
 the General Assembly to give the credit of the state in 
 any manner in aid of any individual, association or corporation. 
 The people were soon convinced, however, that public aid of 
 some sort was necessary, if railway building was to proceed 
 rapidly. The state government being estopped from giving 
 direct aid, the people turned to the local sub-divisions. In 1849 
 the legislature, in an amendment to the general incorporation 
 act, provided that any county might, upon vote of its citizens, 
 subscribe for shares in the capital stock of any such corpora- 
 tion to an amount not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars. 
 Later acts extended the power to boards of supervisors, where 
 the township organization prevailed, and to councils of munic- 
 ipalities. An attempt to increase this power of the local gov- 
 ernments to aid railroads was made in 1869 by the passage of 
 the so-called "tax-grabbing" law. The features of this law 
 and the results of its passage are described in subsequent 
 pages. We need here only to mention the fact that the en- 
 couragement which these laws afforded to counties, townships 
 and municipalities to bond themselves in aid of railroads led to 
 the adoption of many hastily-passed and ill-considered meas- 
 ures for furnishing financial aid to various companies. In some 
 instances the aid thus rendered proved of advantage to all 
 concerned, but in other cases it simply resulted in saddling a 
 
 [223]
 
 16 
 - 
 heavy debt upon the local governments without yielding any 
 
 corresponding benefit whatever. 
 
 There remains for brief consideration in this introductory 
 chapter the early attempts on the part of the state to regulate 
 the rates of toll upon the railroads, in order to prevent extor- 
 tionate charges and discriminations. Until 1849 complaints of 
 this character were infrequent, but about that time it began to 
 be charged that the railroads were not only making extortion- 
 ate charges for transportation, but that they were, in this way, 
 making profits in excess of those in other industries. The 
 Committee on Internal Improvements in its report to the legis- 
 lature in 1849 recommended the establishment of maximum 
 rates in every charter to be granted in the future. This recom- 
 mendation found approval in the general incorporation act of 
 that year which fixed the maximum passenger rates on roads 
 chartered under its provisions to three cents a mile. The act 
 further provided that for roads already chartered the legisla- 
 ture might alter the tolls, provided such alterations did not re- 
 duce the profits, to less than fifteen per cent of the capital 
 stock. The roads protested against the operation of this sec- 
 tion, claiming it to be a violation of their charter contracts, 
 and the people began to realize the difficulties of rate regula- 
 tion which the loosely drawn charters had imposed on them. 
 However, the demand for legislative action to control the rate- 
 making power of the roads continued to grow louder and more 
 emphatic throughout the two succeeding decades. This pro- 
 duced some effect in the requirement, inserted in some of the 
 charters granted, that the roads should establish and maintain 
 a schedule of uniform rates for both passengers and freight. 
 Meanwhile railway consolidation which had been proceeding 
 with great rapidity during the '50's and '60's was causing alarm 
 and was being denounced as being "in restraint of trade." So 
 great,indeed, was the fear of monopolistic power being secured 
 in this way, that in the Constitution of 1870 a clause was in- 
 serted forbidding the consolidation of parallel or competing 
 lines. Public opinion seemed to be divided, however, as to the 
 
 [224]
 
 17 
 
 right of the legislature to modify the rates of toll on the roads 
 already chartered, and between 1858 and 1869 every attempt to 
 pass a general law fixing rates or for the prevention of dis- 
 criminations failed of passage in the legislature. The first 
 general law of this character was not passed until March 10, 
 1869. It limited the charges OK the roads of the state to 
 "reasonable rates," but did not attempt to define what was 
 reasonable. On the other hand, the law stated: "That the 
 company shall fix a reasonable and uniform rate of tolls does 
 not mean that one road shall charge the same as any other 
 road, or that the same rate for different roads is required." 
 The act thus cautiously worded proved ineffective, and no at- 
 tention whatever was paid to its provisions by any road in the 
 state. The real struggle for securing effective public control 
 over the railroads in Illinois began in the Constitutional Con- 
 vention of 1870. 
 
 The railway history of Illinois may thus conveniently 
 be divided into five periods, each period having its own peculiar 
 characteristics. 
 
 The first period (1829-1836) is one of agitation, having no 
 practical results other than the construction of a few unimport- 
 ant tramways and the chartering of several roads which were 
 either not built, or whose construction was postponed until 
 later years. In this period the building of canals aroused more 
 enthusiasm than did railway projects. 
 
 The second period (1837-1839) witnesses the effort of the 
 state to construct and operate its own roads, an effort which 
 fails utterly after having brought about the insolvency of the 
 state government. 
 
 The third period (1840-1869) marks a return to the plan of 
 incorporated private companies aided in some cases by Federal 
 land grants and in others by the bond issues of counties, town- 
 ships and municipalities. It is a period of rapid construction, 
 but one in which later difficulties are engendered, owing to the 
 loosely drawn charters arid the reckless financial aid furnished 
 
 by the local governments. 
 
 [225]
 
 18 
 
 The fourth period (1870-1876) is characterized by the 
 " Granger" agitation, and by the efforts of the people to regu- 
 late railway rates and to prevent unjust discriminations by the 
 establishment of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission. 
 During this period the struggle for control is being carried on 
 in the State and Federal courts and results in the complete 
 triumph of the policy of state regulation. 
 
 The fifth period (1877-present time) is a period of calm in 
 which the principle of public control is recognized by the 
 roads, and the work of the Railroad and Warehouse Commis- 
 sion is carried on without interference on the part of the rail- 
 way managers. It is the importance which is attached to 
 these later periods which furnishes the interest to the follow- 
 ing pages. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, M. B. HAMMOND. 
 
 March 1, 1904. 
 
 [226]
 
 SECTION I 
 
 RAILWAY CONDITIONS IN 1870 AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRO- 
 VISIONS CONCERNING RAILROADS. 
 
 The twenty years preceding 1870 had witnessed a rapid de- 
 velopment of railroads in Illinois. In 1851 this commonwealth 
 had only one hundred and eleven miles of railroads,and was the 
 eighteenth state in the Union with respect to railway mileage. 
 By January 1, 1871 the number of miles had increased to 4,823 
 an amount in excess of that of any other state. 1 The same 
 period saw a rapid increase in the population and wealth of the 
 state, an increase which was greatest in those sections through 
 which the railroads had been built. The people of Illinois had 
 soon realized the aid which might be rendered by the railroads 
 in industrial development and the demand for increased rail- 
 way facilities came from all parts of the state. 2 
 
 So great was this eagerness for the extension of the roads 
 that hasty and ill-considered means had often-times been 
 adopted for the acceleration of the movement. Towns and 
 counties had bonded themselves to subscribe to the stock of 
 new railroads proposing to build through them and individual 
 citizens in many cases went so far as to mortgage their proper- 
 ty to subscribe to the stock of the roads. 3 By the granting of 
 special privileges in charters the state legislature, also, did all 
 in its power to hasten the construction of new lines of road.* 
 From 1850 to 1870 charters had been granted to three hundred 
 and twenty-two railway companies. 5 The close of the Civil War 
 
 1 H. V. Poor, "Manual of Railroads of the United States," 1871 -'72, p. XXXII. 
 
 2 John Moses, ''Illinois, Historical and Statistical," 11:1057-8. 
 
 3 Ibid., 1058. 
 
 4 Davidson and Stuve, "History of Illinois." 1020. 
 
 5 Laws of Illinois, 1851-1869. 
 
 [227]
 
 20 
 
 had left idle a class of men who were particularly attracted to 
 the field of railway enterprise. 1 All of these causes had com- 
 bined to produce an abnormal development of railroads. 
 
 It was inevitable that this over development of the roads 
 should lead in many cases to failure. As a result of this fail- 
 ure the people saw that their hopes of the benefits to be de- 
 rived from the building of the roads were, in most cases, not to 
 be realized. The profits with which the holders of the railway 
 stock were expecting to pay the interest on the debt which they 
 had incurred to buy this stock were not forthcoming. Further 
 than this, the stock itself was rendered valueless by the failure 
 of the roads and often-times the farmer, with nothing to com- 
 pensate him. was obliged to see the foreclosure of the mort- 
 gage which he had placed upon his farm to enable him to buy 
 railway stock. The people were further dissatisfied with the 
 fact that the roads were using up in the payment of large sal- 
 aries to railway officials the profits which the public had expect- 
 ed to share. The citizens were also burdened with the heavy tax 
 which was necessary to liquidate the bonded indebtedness of 
 counties and towns. 8 
 
 The chief cause of the public dissatisfaction, however, is to 
 be found in the management of the roads. Each company ar- 
 ranged its rates with a view to securing as large a share of the 
 traffic as possible and, as a consequence, the evils of discrimi- 
 nations between places and persons arose. Rates at compet- 
 ing points were made so low that they were not sufficient to 
 pay the cost of transportation and the loss was made up by the 
 charging of exorbitant prices at non-competitive points. Per- 
 sonal discriminations were also frequent. The absence 
 of any regular tariffs made it necessary for each per- 
 son to make a separate bargain with the company, and there 
 were, as a consequence, great variations in the rates charged to 
 
 1 Davidson and Stuve, op. cit. 1020. 
 
 2 Moses, op. cit. 11:1058. 
 
 [228]
 
 21 
 
 different customers. 1 Mr. Pierce, one of the delegates to the 
 Constitutional convention of 1870, declared that the railroads 
 were charging exorbitant rates and were making discrimina- 
 tions, citing as an instance the fact that, in shipping lumber 
 from Chicago to Springfield, it was cheaper to ship it to St. 
 Louis and from there to Springfield than to ship it direct to 
 Springfield from Chicago. He also asserted that the people of 
 Illinois were being discriminated against in favor of the people 
 of Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas and Nebraska. 8 Although his de- 
 scription of the situation may have been overdrawn, it is cer- 
 tain that the practice of making unjustifiable discriminations 
 was very general and that it was having in many instances a dis- 
 astrous effect. 
 
 In addition to these grave evils of railway management in 
 the state there was one which, although it worked no consider- 
 able hardship to the patrons of the roads, did much to aggra- 
 vate them and to excite their hostility. This was the attitude 
 which was assumed by the officials and employees of the roads 
 in their dealings with the people. Little attempt was made by 
 these officials to furnish the traveling and shipping public the 
 most satisfactory service which it was in their power to give. 
 The courteous treatment of the customers of a road is a matter 
 of vast importance to the avoidance of friction between the 
 roads and the people and the lack of a proper consideration of 
 this point is stated by C. F. Adams 3 to have been one of the two 
 great causes of the hostility to the roads which marked the 
 Granger movement. 
 
 Two acts of the state legislature in 1869, which served as a 
 good illustration of the lack of conservatism which marked the 
 action of the legislature at that time, furnished a disturbing 
 element of considerable importance in the railway situation in 
 
 1 A. E. Paine, "The Granger Movement in Illinois," manuscript thesis, Uni- 
 versity of Illinois, 1900, 12. 
 
 2 Debates of the Constitutional Convention of 1870, 11:1646. 
 
 3 "The Granger Movement", North American Review, CXX:^c)8-4O4; Paine op. 
 cit. 1 8, 19. 
 
 [229]
 
 22 
 
 1870. These acts were known as the "tax grabbing" law and 
 the "Lake Front" law. The first of these laws 1 provided that 
 all counties and towns which had bonded themselves to aid in 
 the construction of railroads should receive for ten years 
 all of the state taxes on the increased assessment over 
 the assessments of 1868, and all of the taxes which were 
 raised during the same period from the railroads in 
 benefit of which the debt was created, except, in both 
 cases, the state school tax and the two mill tax. The sums 
 thus received were to be applied to the payment of the bonds. 
 The effect of this act was to increase greatly the amount of 
 local aid voted to railway companies. By the "Lake Front" 
 act 2 , a portion of the lake front in Chicago, south of the river 
 mouth, sufficient to construct miles of dockage and outside 
 harbor was given to the Illinois Central and Chicago, Burling- 
 ton and Quincy railway companies, together with some land 
 for depot purposes within the city. In return for these grants 
 the city was to receive $800,000, a sum which fell short of the 
 
 actual value of the property by nearly $2,000,000. 3 The harm- 
 ful effects of these two radical measures which provided such 
 generous assistance to the roads will be seen later when the 
 policy of the state changed from one fostering the railroads to 
 one restricting them. 
 
 The evils from the over-development of the roads, and the 
 discriminations and high charges, some justifiable but many not 
 so; the hardships resulting from the too liberal use made of 
 public and private credit in aid of the roads; the non-concilia- 
 tory action of the managers of the railroads; the evils at- 
 tendant upon absentee ownership; and the radical attitude of 
 the state legislature, all combined to produce in Illinois by 
 1870 a state of affairs which clearly could not long endure. Dis- 
 satisfaction was general throughout the state and was especially 
 keen in the rural communities. The feeling prevailed that the 
 
 1 Public Laws of Illinois, 1869, 316-21. 
 
 2 Ibid., 245-8; Davidson and Stuve, op. cit. 1021. 
 
 3 Illinois House Journal, 1869, 111:523-4. 
 
 [230]
 
 23 
 
 previous state action with regard to the roads had been ill con- 
 sidered and that the necessity had now arisen for the state to 
 take some positive action to curb the growing power of these 
 corporations. That the attitude of the people toward the roads 
 was the result of the Granger movement cannot be maintained, 
 for in 1870 this movement was still in its inception. The first 
 grange was not organized in the state until 1868 and the state 
 organization was not effected until 1872. The same forces, 
 however, which were to give the Granger movement the 
 strength which it attained in Illinois were working to intensify 
 popular opposition to the roads and in this way a close relation 
 existed between the Granger movement as such and the atti- 
 tude of the people toward the railroads at this time. 1 Such 
 was the condition of public opinion when the Constitutional 
 convention met in 1870. 
 
 The delegates to the convention seem to have been almost 
 unanimous in the opinion that some measures restrictive of the 
 railroads were necessary and they felt that public sentiment 
 would support them in action along these lines. Mr. Snyder, 
 a delegate to the convention from Saint Glair county, remarked 
 that "if there is any one question on which there is unanimity in 
 this state, it is on restricting these railroads." 2 But, although 
 it was very generally agreed that there was a necessity for re- 
 strictive measures there was wide difference of opinion as to the 
 method of restriction which should be adopted. The chief ques- 
 tion to be settled was as to the power which the state possessed 
 to adopt measures limiting railway charges. 3 On the one side 
 it was claimed that the fixing of charges by the state legislature 
 was an illegal violation of the rights granted in the charters to 
 the railroads, and the decision in the Dartmouth College case 
 was cited to substantiate this claim. On the other hand, it was 
 argued that if the railway corporation was beyond public regu- 
 lation, it had become superior to the state which had given it 
 birth, a condition of affairs which was impossible. The belief 
 
 1 /. Paine, op. cit. 31. 
 
 2 Debates of the Constitutional Convention, 1 1 11770. 
 
 3 Ibid., II, 1637-64; 1708-23. 
 
 [23 !.l
 
 24 
 
 in an extensive power of the state to regulate the roads was the 
 general one among the delegates and after an extended debate 
 the convention incorporated in the Constitution certain pro- 
 visions concerning railroads which were intended to define the 
 power of the state over the corporations. 
 
 Article XI. of the constitution provides that no corpora- 
 tion shall be created by special laws ; that the railroads shall 
 make public the amount of their capital stock and the names 
 of the stockholders, together with the amount of their assets and 
 liabilities ; that the directors of each road shall make a sworn 
 annual report to some officers designated by law concerning 
 such matters as may be prescribed by law ; that consolidations 
 of competing lines shall not be made ; that the General Assem- 
 bly shall from time to time pass laws establishing reasonable 
 maximum passenger and freight rates ; that stocks or bonds 
 shall not be issued except for money, labor or property actually 
 received ; and, finally, that laws shall be passed to correct 
 abuses and to prevent unjust discrimination and extortion in 
 freight and passenger rates and to enforce such laws by ade- 
 quate penalties to the extent, if necessary, of forfeiture of rail- 
 way property and franchises. A resolution was presented in 
 the convention providing for the insertion in the constitution 
 of a clause establishing a railroad and warehouse commission 
 but it failed of adoption. 1 
 
 Thus through her fundamental law Illinois took an ad- 
 vanced position with regard to railway control. 2 The constitu- 
 tion prepared the way for the institution of some system of reg- 
 ulation, leaving to the legislature the establishment of the ma- 
 chinery through which regulation was to be accomplished. It 
 even went so far as to command the legislature to pass restric- 
 tive legislation, an order for which there was no means of ex- 
 ecution provided. The legislature, however, accepted the duty 
 laid upon upon it by the constitution and enacted laws regula- 
 ting the railroads, fully as advanced in character as were the 
 provisions of the constitution which inspired them. 
 
 1 Debates, II, 1648. 
 
 2 Paine, op. cit. 20. [232]
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 THE RESTRICTIVE LEGISLATION OF 1871 AND THE WORK OF THE 
 
 FIRST COMMISSION. 
 
 In the debate on the adoption of the railway article of the 
 Constitution of 1870, it was declared by one of the delegates l 
 that the people expected this article to inaugurate a tight 
 with the roads. The constitutional provisions opened the way 
 for positive legislative enactment, and the expectation of the 
 people was soon realized. * 
 
 In his message of January 4, 1871, to the Twenty-Seventh 
 General Assembly, the first to be held after the adoption of the 
 new constitution, Governor Palmer considered the railway 
 problem at some length. 3 He declared that the claim that the 
 state legislature did not have the power to regulate railway 
 rates was equivalent to the assertion that "a power had grown 
 up in the state greater Ithan the state itself". In considering 
 the need for state intervention, Governor Palmer took an ad- 
 vanced position in regard to the effects of railway competition. 
 ''Those who deny the necessity of state intervention", he said, 
 "insist that all of the evils of excessive tariffs and unjust dis- 
 criminations in rates for transportation will be ultimately cor- 
 rected by the competition of different lines of railways in their 
 efforts to control business. Competition is far more expensive 
 than direct methods of legal control. The grossest oppressions 
 that burden the people grow out of the fierce and exhaust- 
 ing railway competition at important points, where their inter- 
 ests come in conflict ; and one of the strongest reasons for the 
 
 1 Washburn, of the sixth representative district. 
 
 2 Paine, op.cit., p. 21. 
 
 3 Senate Journal, 1871, 19-22. 
 
 [2331
 
 26 
 
 interference of the Legislature to control the management of 
 railway lines is, that the burdens of the useless competition of 
 different lines are thrown upon intermediate points, where com- 
 petition is impossible. Deprive railroad corporations of the pow- 
 er to impose discretionary rates upon their traffic, and the busi- 
 ness community would suffer far less from the selfish contests 
 of competing lines, that in their effect unsettle values, to the 
 confusion of business and the disappointment of the most pru- 
 dent commercial calculations." In regard to the difficulties of 
 the railway problem, Governor Palmer added, "The difficulties 
 that occur to my mind do not relate to the power of the state 
 to enact and enforce proper laws, but they grow out of the com- 
 plex nature of the subject. There are conflicting interests to be 
 reconciled and adjusted, and nothing within the sphere of gov- 
 ernmental action requires more delicacy of management than 
 what is termed the railway problem." 
 
 The Twenty-Seventh General Assembly did not hesitate to 
 follow the requirements of the constitution, and six acts, de- 
 signed to institute state regulation of the railroads, were passed 
 at this session. 1 These acts contained provisions, (1) for the in- 
 corporation of railway companies, (2) limiting railway consoli- 
 dation, (3) regulating the receiving, transportation and delivery 
 of grain, (4) prohibiting unjust discriminations and extortion 
 in freight rates, (5) fixing reasonable maximum rates for pass- 
 enger traffic, and, finally, (6) establishing a board of railroad 
 and warehouse commissioners. 
 
 The general incorporation act prescribed and defined the 
 duties of railway corporations, and limited their powers by 
 expressly reserving to the general assembly the power to pre- 
 vent unjust discriminations and extortions and to fix maximum 
 freight and passenger rates. 2 
 
 The act "to provide for changes in incorporated com- 
 panies" granted to railway companies the right to consolidate, 
 but provided that consolidation should not take place between 
 
 1 Laws of Illinois, 1871-72. 
 
 2 Ibid., 625-34. 
 
 [234]
 
 27 
 
 parallel or competing lines. 1 A.S to what were to be considered 
 parallel or competing lines the act made no statement. This 
 provision of the law, following as it does a similar clause in 
 the constitution, 2 is interesting as it reveals the general opinion 
 of the time as to the effect of railway competition. Notwith- 
 standing the opinion expressed by Governor Palmer, competi- 
 tion seems to have been considered an effective remedy for 
 railway evils instead of one of the primary sources of some of 
 the grossest of those evils. 
 
 The act regulating the receiving, transportation, and de- 
 livery of grain forbade discrimination between shippers and 
 warehouses in the handling of grain. 
 
 The act to prevent unjust discriminations and extortion in 
 freight rates 3 provided "that no railroad corporation organized 
 or doing business in this state * * * shall charge or col- 
 lect for the transportation of goods, merchandise or property 
 on its said road, for any distance, the same nor any larger or 
 greater amount as toll or compensation than is at the same 
 time charged or collected for the transportation of similar 
 quantities of the same class of goods, merchandise or property 
 over a greater distance upon the same road, nor shall such 
 corporation charge different rates for receiving, handling or 
 delivering freights at different points on its road, or roads con- 
 nected therewith which it has a right to use. Nor shall such 
 railroad corporation charge or collect for the transportation of 
 goods, merchandise or property over any portion of its road, a 
 greater amount as toll or compensation than shall be charged 
 or collected by it for the transportation of similar quantities 
 of the same class of goods, merchandise or property over any 
 other portion of its road of equal distance." The provisions of 
 this act are thus seen to be more sweeping than the provisions 
 of the "long and short haul clause" of the interstate commerce 
 
 1 Laws of Illinois, 1871-72, 487-90. 
 
 2 Art. ix, Sec. ii. 
 
 3 Laws of Illinois, 635-6. 
 
 [235]
 
 28 
 
 act of 1887. 1 The Illinois statute makes the charging of the 
 same or greater sum for the shorter distance than is charged 
 for a longer illegal under all circumstances, while the federal 
 law only makes such a charge illegal when the shorter distance 
 is included within the longer and the haul is in the same 
 direction. 
 
 The act concerning freight rates further provided 2 that no 
 increase should be made in the rate then existing between any 
 two points, in following out the provisions of the act and that 
 the rates on any day should not be higher than the rates which 
 existed on the corresponding day of the year 1870. In cases 
 where the law was violated, the party aggrieved was entitled 
 to collect in an action of debt a sum not exceeding one thou- 
 sand dollars and costs. 3 
 
 Although the aim of this act, the prevention of unjust 
 discrimination in freight rates was a laudable one, the act was 
 so constructed that it worked injustice to the roads. Condi- 
 tions may very easily be so different in different parts of a road 
 that a reasonable charge for a certain distance at one place 
 may be unreasonably high at another, and a discrimination 
 by which more is charged for a shorter distance on one part of 
 the line than is charged for a longer distance on another part 
 may be perfectly just. The provision that rates should not on 
 any day be higher than the corresponding rates on the same 
 day of 1870 was also extremely unwise as the year 1870 pre- 
 sented some astonishing fluctuations in freight rates. In 1869 
 and 1870 freight rates between New York and Chicago varied 
 from $5 to $37 per ton and between New York and St. Louis 
 there were variations of from $7 to $46 per ton.* A worse year 
 to serve as a standard could not have been chosen. 
 
 The act which had for its object the control of passenger 
 rates 1 proposed to accomplish this by a classification of the 
 
 1 24 U. S. Statutes at Large, 379-387, Sec. 4. 
 
 2 Sec. 3. 
 
 3 Sec. 5. 
 
 4 R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1871-72. This report is published in the Reports 
 to the General Assembly of Illinois, 1871, II: 423-596. 
 
 [236]
 
 29 
 
 roads according to their gross earnings. The roads were divided 
 
 into four classes as follows: 
 
 Class A Those whose gross annual earnings per mile were 
 
 $10,000 or over. 
 Class B Those whose gross annual earnings per mile were 
 
 between $8,000 and $10,000. 
 Class C Those whose gross annual earnings per mile were 
 
 between $4,000 and $8,000. 
 Class D Those whose gross annual earnings were less than 
 
 $4,000 per mile. 
 
 The act provided that the roads in these classes were not to 
 charge for the transportation of passengers more than 2-|, 3, 4 
 and 5^ cents per mile respectively, and required each road to 
 keep posted a table of distances between points on its line to- 
 gether with a statement of the class to which the road be- 
 longed. Thus for the first time in the history of the state a 
 classification of the roads with respect to the rates to be 
 charged was made. Although the method of classification 
 adopted, one based on the gross earnings of the companies, may 
 not have been the best possible, the legislature in providing 
 any form of classification took an advanced position for the 
 time. 
 
 The legislative measure, however, that was to have the 
 most far-reaching effect was the act establishing the railroad 
 and warehouse commission. This act 2 provided that the gov- 
 ernor of the state was to appoint within twenty days of the 
 passage of the act a board of three commissioners, no one of 
 whom was to have any connection with a railroad company or 
 be interested in any stock or property of a company. To this 
 board of commissioners the law required every railway com- 
 pany doing business in the state to make an annual report. 
 
 Forty-one particulars on which definite report was to be made 
 are specified. These embrace a very full statement of the rail- 
 
 1 Laws of Illinois, 1871-72, 640-1. 
 
 2 Ibid., 618-625. 
 
 [237]
 
 30 
 
 road's business and of its running arrangements. -Among other 
 things each road was required to report on the a mount of its cap- 
 ital stock, by whom it was owned, and the amount of cash paid 
 the company on the original capital stock; the names and resi- 
 dences of its officials; the amount of its assets and liabilities 
 and of its bonded and floating debt; the value of all its property; 
 the mileage of the road and the mileage of freight and passen- 
 ger trains; the monthly earnings and expenses from passenger 
 and freight transportation; expenses for improvement; passen- 
 ger and freight rates and a copy of all its published schedules, 
 whether or not the published rates were followed; and the run- 
 ning arrangements with express and other railway companies. 
 The commission was required to make an annual report of 
 the facts gathered to the governor. 
 
 The commission was further required to inquire into the 
 fulfillment of the law by the railway companies and to prose- 
 cute the company where cases, of the violation of the law were 
 reported to it or discovered by its own efforts. The commis- 
 sioners were given power to examine the books of all railway 
 companies and to subpoena witnesses. Failure to obey the 
 process of subpo3na was punishable by fine, imprisonment, or 
 both. Failure to make the reports required by the law or by 
 the commissioners was also punishable by fine. The attorney- 
 general and the state's-attorneys were required to institute and 
 prosecute all suits which were referred to them by the commis- 
 sioners. 
 
 With these six measures the state legislature began the 
 work of public regulation of the railroads. On July 3, 1871, 
 Governor Palmer appointed Gustavus Koerner, Richard P. 
 Morgan, jr., and David S. Hammond as the first board of rail- 
 road and warehouse commissioners. 1 The board met on July 
 5th and began their duties by sending requests to the railway 
 companies doing business in the state to make a report by Sep- 
 tember 1st on the particulars specified in the act establishing 
 the commission, and also requested a report by August 1st on 
 
 i Moses, op. cit. t II., 809. 
 
 [238]
 
 31 
 
 the amount of their gross annual earnings for the year ending 
 June 30, 1871, and the total length of road on which these 
 earnings were made, in order that the classification for the 
 schedule of passenger rates might be made. 
 
 The railway companies were slow in sending in their re- 
 ports and, as a result, the board was unable to make the required 
 classification until its October meeting. l Of twenty-one roads 
 operating in the state two did not issue reports, two did not 
 issue reports full enough for classification, and of the remain- 
 ing seventeen, two were classed in Class A, three in Class B, 
 five in Class C, and seven in Class D. The gross earnings per 
 mile of the roads varied from $1,800 in the case of the St. 
 Louis and Southeastern to $15,000 per mile on the fourteen 
 miles of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. 2 
 
 The reports as sent in by the companies were imperfect. 
 The different methods adopted by the various companies for 
 keeping their books made uniform reports practically impos- 
 sible. Books of different companies were kept for different 
 fiscal years and many of the roads of the state were merely 
 parts of great railway systems running through other states so 
 that separate accounts were not kept for the part of the road 
 in Illinois. 3 
 
 Under such conditions, the task of securing compliance 
 with the law must necessarily have been a difficult one, but it 
 was rendered doubly so by the attitude of the roads toward the 
 new laws. The people looked upon these laws as effectually 
 settling the railway question. The roads, however, denied the 
 constitutionality of the law and determined to pay no atten- 
 tion whatever to it until it had been passed upon by the courts. 
 
 This attitude is clearly shown in a letter which represen- 
 tatives of four of the leading roads of the state submitted on 
 August 1, 1871, to the commissioners after a conference had 
 been held with them. This letter formally denied the validity 
 
 1 R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1871, 4. 
 
 2 Ibid., 64. 
 
 3 Ibid., 5. 
 
 [239]
 
 32 
 
 of the law under which the commission was working and asked 
 that the board institute legal steps to secure in a court of last 
 resort a decision determining "the relative rights and duties of 
 the state and the railroad companies". l 
 
 Among the first of the complaints to be made to the com- 
 mission were a number to the effect that the railroads were 
 violating the long and short haul clause of the act to prevent 
 unjust discriminations and extortion in freight rates. When 
 the commissioners referred the complainants to the clause in 
 the act which gave the party aggrieved the penalty of $1,000 
 for violation of the law, the complainants universally refused 
 to prosecute, declaring that they could not afford to offend the 
 railway companies as these companies had it in their power to 
 do far greater harm by the denying of accommodations to the 
 complainants than the penalty could benefit them. 2 
 
 The first report of the commission, made in December 
 1871, pointed out that there had been a great increase in railway 
 construction during the year for which the report was made 
 and that a large amount of the stock of the new companies 
 was fictitious, but the railway managers were nevertheless 
 attempting to exact rates that would enable the companies to 
 pay good dividends on all the stock issued. 3 The report urged 
 the vital importance of early and effective action by the legis- 
 lature to remedy this evil. No action, however, has ever been 
 taken by the legislature with a view to the regulation of the 
 practice of stock watering. 
 
 The existing legislation was discussed by the commissioners 
 and amendments were suggested which they thought would be 
 beneficial. They showed that the laws as passed conflicted in 
 some particulars and that there was uncertainty as to just how 
 far the new laws repealed previous legislation on the subj ect. The 
 law establishing the board gave the commissioners power to insti 
 tute suits against the railroads for violation of the laws, and it was 
 
 1 R. R. & W. Com. Report 1871, 59-60. 
 
 2 Ibid., 6. 
 
 3 Ibid,, 9- 1 1. 
 
 [240]
 
 provided that the attorney-general and the prosecuting attor- 
 neys were to act under their direction, yet the kind of action, 
 whether civil or criminal, was not indicated and in many cases 
 the penalties were not fixed. The commissioners were of the 
 opinion that, while the right of the individual to prosecute the 
 company was retained, there ought to be a general provision 
 by which any violation of the law would be made an indictable 
 offense, or would subject the offender to a penalty to be sued 
 for by the state. l 
 
 The report also pointed out the difficulty which arose from 
 the classification of the roads for the purpose of fixing passen- 
 ger rates when two competing companies were in different 
 classes. The road which the law allowed to charge the higher 
 rate of fare was compelled to reduce this charge to the rate 
 which the law fixed as the maximum which its competitor could 
 charge in order to meet its competition. The commissioners 
 finally suggested a remedy which they thought would be of the 
 greatest value in solving the entire railway question in the 
 state and the one which in their opinion was perhapsjmost likely 
 to be ultimately adopted, that the state own a few of its roads 
 and by the management of these and the control of the tariffs 
 charged by them, regulate the other roads of the state. 2 
 
 In his message to the adjourned session of the general 
 assembly which met November 15, 1871, Governor Palmer sug- 
 gested that the new railway laws would need amendments to 
 make them realize, public expectations, as the commissioners 
 were not provided with sufficient means to enforce the law. 
 He pointed out in particular that the state's attorneys, the 
 principal legal agents on whom the board had to rely would 
 cease to exist after their present terms expired and the enforce- 
 ment of the laws would be left to the county attorneys. 3 The 
 chairman of the commission had prepared a bill, consolidating 
 and digesting all laws then existing in regard to the railroads 
 
 1 R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1871, 14. 
 
 2 Ibid., 25-26 
 
 3 Senate Journal, 1871, 11:5. 
 
 [241]
 
 34 
 
 and removing all conflicting features. This bill was intro- 
 duced in the house, but was lost in committee. A bill prepared 
 by the commission, embodying all the railway police laws in 
 force in the state, as well as some features from the legislation 
 of other states, was introduced in the senate, but suffered the 
 same fate as the house bill. 1 
 
 In their second annual report the commissioners presented 
 some interesting facts with regard to the railroads of the state. 
 They showed that by November 30, 1872, there were 6,258 miles 
 of railroad in the state with 1,587 miles in process of construc- 
 tion. The average cost of the completed roads as shown by 
 the reports of the commission was $42,264 per mile. The com- 
 mission believed that all expenditure over $25,000 per mile was 
 due to fictitious stock, sacrifices made in sale of securities and 
 other losses due to bad management and unavoidable delays 
 in the work of construction. 2 By the time of the issuance of 
 the second report railroads had been extended until seventy- 
 three per cent of all the land in the state lay within five miles 
 of some road in actual operation, twenty-one and one-half per 
 cent lay between five and ten miles, four per cent between ten 
 and fifteen miles, and one and one-half per cent lay more than 
 fifteen miles distant from any railroad. 3 The twenty-seven 
 roads actually operating and issuing reports full enough for 
 classification showed a variation in gross earnings per mile for 
 the year of from $772 to $19,885. The average gross earnings 
 were $8,108 and the average net earnings, $2,789. Such in gen- 
 eral was the condition of the roads when the attempt was 
 made through the agency of the courts to put into force the 
 laws concerning public control. 
 
 1 R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1872, 12. 
 
 2 Ibid., 18. 
 
 3 Ibid., 19. 
 
 [242]
 
 SECTION III. 
 LITIGATION OVER THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW. 
 
 Unanimity of opinion throughout the state as to the 
 advisability of the new laws in restraint of the railroads was 
 lacking. In some portions of the state, and in Chicago especi- 
 ally, there was manifested considerable opposition on the 
 ground that the state was taking up a war upon capital that 
 would not be for best interests of the people. The counties 
 that were anxious for railway development opposed any state 
 action hostile to the roads. But in the corn-growing counties 
 there was an active demand for the enforcement of the re- 
 strictive legislation. The summer of 1872 produced an extra- 
 ordinary corn crop and the farmers were anticipating great 
 profits from the sale of their staple. The railroads felt that 
 the abundant crop would afford them a large traffic and conse- 
 quently tariffs raised. In December, 1872, corn in central 
 Illinois was worth seventeen cents a bushel, while the cost of 
 the transportation of a bushel of corn to New York was thirty- 
 five cents, over twice the value of the corn. The farmer saw 
 that his expected profits would be absorbed by the railroads 
 by means of a rate which he considered extortionate and he 
 was determined to see the law enforced. 1 In answer to this 
 popular demand, the commission sought to secure compliance 
 with the law through the aid of the courts. 
 
 The first suit under the new laws was brought by Stephen 
 R. Moore of Kankakee against the Illinois Central Railroad 
 Company for charging four cents a mile for passengers when 
 the classification of the commission called for by law allowed 
 them to charge only three. The case was tried in the circuit 
 court of Kankakee County on an admitted statement of facts. 
 
 I Davidson & Stuve, op. cit. 1027. 
 
 [243]
 
 36 
 
 December 4, 1872, Judge Wood, who occupied the bench for 
 this trial, handed down a verdict for the railroad company. The 
 grounds of his decision were that it had not been shown that the 
 rate charged was unreasonable and that the fixing of rates by the 
 legislature was an unconstitutional violation of the railway 
 charter. The decision further held that the legislature could 
 not at any time fix the fare as it had no judicial powers and 
 no means of ascertaining whether a rate is reasonable or not. 
 No appeal was taken from this decision of Judge Wood and at 
 the time it was taken for granted that the decision was cor- 
 rect. l 
 
 In a later case, however, which came up under the same 
 law, an appeal was taken to the supreme court of the state 
 and the constitutionality of the law was upheld. This latter 
 case, generally known as the Neal Ruggles case, arose in 1873, 
 and the decision of the supreme court was handed down in 
 1878, five years after the law was repealed. The opinion of the 
 higher court in this case was that "the legislature of this state 
 has the power under the constitution to fix a maximum rate 
 of charges by individuals as common carriers, or others exer- 
 cising a business public in its character, or in which the public 
 has an interest to be protected against extortion or oppression, 
 and it has the same rightful power in respect to corporations 
 exercising the same business, and such regulation does not im- 
 pair the obligation of the contract in their charters." 2 
 
 The first decision of the supreme court, however, in which 
 the principal points at issue were covered, and the one which 
 led to important changes in the legislation of 1871, was handed 
 down in what is known as the McLean County case. This case 
 arose in 1871 under the act to prevent unjust discrimination 
 and extortion in freight rates. On December 5th of that year, 
 J. H. Rowell, state's attorney of the ninth judicial district, 
 acting on the information of the Railroad and Warehouse Com- 
 
 1 Davidson & Stuve, op. cit. 1028. 
 
 2 91 Illinois, 256. 
 
 [244]
 
 37 
 
 mission began quo warranto proceedings against the Chicago & 
 Alton Railroad Company for alleged violation of the act men- 
 tioned above. The information filed by the state's attorney 
 set forth that this company had repeatedly transported lumber 
 from Chicago to Lexington, a distance of one hundred and ten 
 miles, for $5.65 a thousand feet, while at the same time it 
 charged only $5.00 a thousand feet for transporting like lumber 
 from Chicago to Bloomington, a distance of one hundred and 
 twenty-six miles. The former haul was included within the 
 latter. The railway company entered a plea, admitting the 
 alleged facts, but setting forth the acts of the legislature by 
 which it was incorporated and claiming that such acts gave it 
 the right to use its own discretion in the fixing of tolls, and 
 that the act of 1871 was in violation of its charter rights, and> 
 therefore, unconstitutional. To this plea a general demurrer 
 was interposed and the case came up for hearing on the de- 
 murrer. 
 
 It is worth our while to consider in detail the arguments 
 presented by both sides of this important test case as they pre- 
 sent a clear statement of the attitude assumed on the one side 
 by the railway companies and on the other by the people. 
 
 Mr. Corydon Beckwith, for the defense, argued that the 
 legislature in incorporating the railroad had given the directors 
 the power to fix the rate of toll; that the Lexington rate was 
 not unreasonably high while that to Bloomington was made 
 unreasonably low to meet the competition of the Illinois Cen- 
 tral; that by common law the company had the right to charge 
 more for a less than for a greater distance in order to meet 
 competition; that the state had the power to contract, the 
 railway company the capacity to be contracted with, and that 
 the state had not surrendered any inalienable rights in that 
 the judiciary still had the power to determine what were rea- 
 sonable and unreasonable rates; and, finally, that "the legisla- 
 ture never had the right to fix the rates to be charged by 
 common carriers except by contract. It can no more fix them 
 for an artificial person than for a natural one. It may require 
 
 [245]
 
 38 
 
 of one as well as the other that the rates shall be reasonable; 
 but it cannot make itself the judge of what rates are reasonable 
 and what are not so. The contract makes the judiciary the judge 
 between the parties, and the attempt to define the rights of the 
 defendant by legislative enactment is simply the judgment of 
 one of the parties to the contract." 1 
 
 The argument for the people was an equally able defense 
 of their position. It set up that the question underlying the 
 case was whether the act of 1871 was in conflict with the pro- 
 visions of the constitution of the United States; that legislative 
 authority was a trust which the legislature could not irrevo- 
 cably delegate or abandon and the legislature could not by a 
 contract deprive a future legislature of the power of exercising 
 any act of sovereignty confided to the legislative body; that the 
 prevention of unjust discrimination and extortion comes within 
 the legitimate exercise of the police powers of the state; and, 
 finally, that it could not be presumed that the legislature in- 
 tended irrevocably to part with the power of preventing by 
 legislative enactment, unjust discrimination between commu- 
 nities or individuals, and, as nothing was taken against the 
 state by implication, it was incumbent upon the defendant to 
 show that the state by positive enactment had contracted with 
 the defendant to withdraw permanently all control over its 
 rate of charges. 2 
 
 Judge Tipton, the presiding judge, handed down a verdict 
 for the people, sustaining the demurrer to the plea. The de- 
 cision took the ground that no part of the contract between 
 the state and the defendant was impaired by the law of 1871, 
 and that consequently the state retained the power so to regu- 
 late and control the franchise of the defendant as to determine 
 what should constitute unjust discrimination between com- 
 munities as well as between individuals, and to prevent such 
 discrimination by proper legislation. 1 
 
 J R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1872, 46-69. 
 2 Ibid. 70-98. 
 
 [246]
 
 39 
 
 The case was appealed by the railroad company, and was 
 tried in the January term ( 1873) of the state supreme court. 8 
 The decision was reversed and the case remanded. Chief Jus- 
 tice Lawrence, in delivering the opinion of the court, declared 
 that the legislature had a clear right to pass an act preventing 
 unjust discrimination in freight rates and to enforce it by ap- 
 propriate penalties ; that' a less charge for a long distance than 
 for a shorter one was an unjust discrimination unless the rail- 
 road could show a peculiar state of affairs to justify the dis- 
 crimination further than the mere fact that .there were com- 
 peting lines at one point and not at the other ; but the consti- 
 tution of 1870 had given the legislature power to enact laws 
 preventing unjust discriminations, and the act under which the 
 case is being tried declares all discriminations unlawful without 
 giving the railway company the right to introduce evidence to 
 show that the discrimination was just. Thus, although the 
 court held that the legislature had complete power to prohibit 
 unjust discriminations in freight rates, it nevertheless declared 
 that no prosecution could be maintained under the existing act 
 until it was amended so as to prohibit unjust discriminations 
 and not discriminations of all kinds. 
 
 The decision of Judge Lawrence cleared up the railroad 
 situation in Illinois. It showed that the law which was in- 
 tended to correct one of the grossest abuses in the railway bus- 
 iness, unjust discriminations in the transportation of freight, 
 had been so framed as to be contrary to the state constitution, 
 and that consequently the legislature had failed in its effort to 
 prevent discriminations in freight rates. But its greatest value 
 lies in the dictum with regard to the power of the legislature 
 to fix rates. It plainly declared that the courts of Illinois 
 would not uphold the railroads in their contention that the leg- 
 islature in granting them their charters had surrendered its 
 right to regulate charges, and that they were, therefore, not sub- 
 ject to legislative control in fixing their rates. 
 
 1 R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1872, 99-114. 
 
 2 67 111., ii. 
 
 [247]
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 THE LAW OF 1873 AND THE POWERS OF THE COMMISSION AS 
 MODIFIED BY IT. 
 
 By the beginning of the year 1873, the opposition of the 
 farmers to the railroads had reached a state of frenzy. Numer- 
 ous farmers' conventions and meetings were being held and at 
 all of them the railway situation seemed to be the most im- 
 portant topic for discussion. The management of the roads 
 was violently denounced. A portion of an address delivered 
 before a convention of delegates from granges and other farmers 
 organizations, which met at Bloomington, January 15, 1873, 
 clearly illustrates the radical attitude of the farmers 1 . "The 
 whole railroad system is fast falling into a very few organizations 
 each of whom represents hundreds of millions of dollars. It 
 looks as though the 'King' in Wall street may soon rule over 
 the whole. Already the country is parcelled out in lots and 
 vast regions to the different systems. In most cases there 
 is no restraint to their charges save only the ability of the vic- 
 tim to exist under the load. Like hostile invading armies, they 
 levy contributions limited only by the ability of the victims to 
 pay. These exactions are again aggravated by unjust discrim- 
 inations against persons and places. If competition shows itself 
 at a few points, they remorselessly double up on others within 
 their grasp. They levy an Internal Revenue tax by their own 
 
 fiat and to fill their own coffers The country is being 
 
 robbed and large portions of the money basely applied. Un- 
 happy France only submitted to be ravaged after a gallant strug- 
 gle. These railroad Bismarcks prey upon us, and as yet we 
 have scarcely lifted a finger. We must, Grant-like, move upon 
 the enemy's works. If the tidal-wave now rising does not win, 
 it must be followed by such a succession of others each higher 
 and stronger till the railroad Pharaohs are brought to judg- 
 
 i The Prairie Farmer, January 215, 1873. 
 
 [248]
 
 ment." Nor were legal precedents to be allowed to stand in 
 the way of the people in their effort to control the roads. "In 
 our advancing civilization public interest and public necessity 
 will not be thwarted by old and musty cobweb precedents. 
 'Dartmouth College' may have been well enough for that day 
 and for an institution of learning ; but it cannot much longer 
 
 be made a standard rule and hobby horse for railroads 
 
 Let that decision stand, for aught we care, for all such cases, 
 but it will no more apply to railroad corporations than will the 
 baby garments of infancy clothe the stalwart man, or the con- 
 stable's posse meet the demands of a great revolution 
 
 The new constitution of Illinois declares railroads to be public 
 institutions subject to be regulated by law, and commands the 
 legislature to act. The legislature has mildly obeyed. The 
 roads spit upon the law and defy the people. They stand in 
 open rebellion to the constitution and laws. Near here a judge 
 has decided in favor of the supremacy of the people. This is a 
 good start. There should be no faltering. Let public opinion 
 be aroused and the executive and the legislature stimu- 
 lated to bring all their powers to bear upon the question." Such 
 were the remarks of a man 1 who had been a prominent member 
 of the constitutional convention of 1870. 
 
 From the fruit growers of southern Illinois came the cry 
 that they were "wholly at the mercy of the soulless I. C. R. R. 
 Co." 2 The principal topic discussed at this time in the pages of 
 the "Prairie Farmer," the leading granger organ of the West, 
 was not some difficulty in corn-raising or fruit-growing, but 
 rather the best means of bringing the railroads into subjec- 
 tion to the will of the people. Hadley in his "Railroad Trans- 
 portation" 3 well describes the position of the farmer when he 
 says, "They were concerned in securing what they felt to be 
 their rights, and they were unwilling that any constitutional 
 * barriers should be made to defeat the popular will. They had 
 
 1 Hon. D. L. Whiting of Bureau Co. 
 
 2 The Prairie Farmer, January 25, 1873. 
 
 3 Page 134. 
 
 [249]
 
 42 
 
 reached the point where they regarded many of the forms of 
 law as mere technicalities. They were dangerously near the 
 point where revolutions begin." 
 
 The farmers made their influence felt in the state govern- 
 ment. When Governor Beveridge, after his succession to office, 
 sent his nominations for the members of the railroad and ware- 
 house commission to the senate for confirmation, the list was 
 not satisfactory to the farmers. A storm of criticism of the 
 Governor for ignoring the wishes of the people arose, which so 
 influenced the senate that it became evident that the nomina- 
 tions would not be confirmed. As a result the Governor was 
 forced to withdraw his nominations and send in appointments 
 satisfactory to the farmers. 1 
 
 The treatment accorded to Judge Lawrence by the people 
 shows how determined was the attitude assumed by the farm- 
 ers. When his decision was announced, notwithstanding the 
 fact that it contained merely a statement of legal principles, 
 the justice of which was clearly obvious, it was received with 
 an outbreak of denunciation. The farmer had supposed that 
 the vexed railway questions had been finally settled by the laws 
 of 1871, and their disappointment was keen. The Supreme 
 Court and Judge Lawrence in particular were denounced as be- 
 ing in the pay of railroads, and when Judge Lawrence ran for 
 reelection the following summer, he was defeated merely 
 through the unpopularity which arose from this decision. 2 Such 
 was the intense state of popular feeling. 
 
 Nothing was more natural than that this determined atti- 
 tude of the people should lead to a demand for new legislation. 
 The act declaring discriminations in freight rates illegal was 
 intended to correct the evils in the freight tariffs, and with it 
 declared unconstitutional, one very important feature of the 
 restrictive legislation of 1871 became of no effect. Some law to 
 take its place was, therefore, demanded. On April 2, 1873, while 
 the legislature was still in session, a convention of the farmers of 
 
 1 The Prairie Farmer, February 15, 1873. 
 
 2 A. T. Hadley, "Railroad Transportation," 134. 
 
 [250]
 
 43 
 
 the state met at Springfield to urge the enactment of a new 
 railway law to take the place of the one which had been de- 
 clared unconstitutional. 1 In response to this popular demand 
 and with a view to meeting the defects in the law of 1871 which 
 had been pointed out by Judge Lawrence in the decision of the 
 Supreme Court and by the railroad commissioners in their an- 
 nual reports, the Twenty-Sixth General Assembly passed, May 
 2, 1873, an act to prevent extortion and unjust discrimination 
 in freight and passenger rates, repealing the act of 1871 to pre- 
 vent unjust discrimination and extortion in freight rates.* 
 
 The new law prohibited unjust discrimination and the 
 charging of more than a reasonable rate, and made prima facie 
 evidence of unjust discrimination the charging of a greater sum 
 for the transportation of passengers and the same kinds of freight 
 for a less than for a greater distance; and the charging of dif- 
 ferent sums for the same distance, for different persons and for the 
 same kinds of freight; and further declared that the existence of 
 competition at certain points is not a justification of such dis- 
 crimination. 3 The penalty for violation of this pro vision is a fine 
 which is to be recovered by an action for debt in the name of 
 the state. 4 The railroad and warehouse commissioners are en- 
 joined personally to investigate and ascertain whether the law 
 is being observed and to prosecute all violations of it. 5 The 
 commissioners are further directed to prepare a schedule of 
 reasonable maximum passenger and freight rates for each of 
 the railroads in the state. In actions of law the rates of such 
 schedules are to be taken as prima facie reasonable. 6 
 
 This last provision of the act gave to the commission a new 
 power of vast importance, and by means of it a long stride in 
 advance in the work of railway regulation was taken. The leg- 
 islature had now hit upon a means of controlling rates which, 
 
 1 Prairie Farmer, April 12, 1873. 
 
 2 Revised Statutes of Illinois, 1874, 816-20. 
 
 3 Sec. 3. 
 
 4 Sec. 5. 
 
 5 Sec. 7. 
 
 6 Sec. 8.
 
 44 
 
 while perhaps not the best possible, was at least far superior to 
 the one which had been attempted. The laws of 1871 had fixed 
 maximum passenger rates for the roads, but no attempt 
 had been made to fix maxima for the freight rates, the only 
 provision being that freight rates must not be unreasonable 
 or discriminating. Any scheme, however, by which an at- 
 tempt is made to fix the rate of tariff by legislative enactment 
 has one great defect, the lack of flexibility. No matter how 
 just may be the maximum rates fixed by the stutute, changing 
 conditions will necessitate constant changes in the laws, which 
 it is impossible to secure. This difficulty was obviated in 1873 
 by placing in the hands of a board the authority to fix the 
 maximum rates, and the granting of this authority greatly in- 
 creased the power of the commission. 
 
 The act as amended in 1873 is the law under which the 
 commission is working at the present time. The chief duties 
 of the commission prescribed by this law, so far as they pertain 
 to railroads are : 
 
 1. The making of schedules of maximum freight and pas- 
 
 senger rates. 
 
 2. The investigation of complaints and the enforcement 
 
 by prosecutions of violations of the schedules and of 
 the statutes. 
 
 3. The taking of precautions to secure proper and safe 
 
 physical condition of roadbeds, bridges and trestles. 
 
 4. The requiring of annual reports from the various roads. 
 
 5. The making of an annual report to the governor. 
 
 The Illinois commission was thus a "strong" commission, 
 that is, a commission "with power." In this respect it inaugurated 
 anew method of railway control in the United States. State rail- 
 way commissions had existed since 1836, when a commission 
 was established in Rhode Island, 1 and in 1871 six states 2 had 
 commissions, all of which were of the type of the advisory or 
 
 1 Meyer, Railway Legislation in the United States, p. 65. 
 
 2 New Hampshire, 1844; Connecticut, 1853; Vermont, 1855; Maine, 1858; Ohio 
 1867; and Massachusetts, 1869. 
 
 [252]
 
 45 
 
 "weak" commission. In the creation of commissions since 
 1871, the majority of states have followed the example set by 
 Illinois and have adopted some form of the strong commission. 
 Thirty states at the present time (Jan. 1, 1903) have railway 
 commissions. Of these, ten states 1 have established advisory 
 commissions and the remaining twenty 2 have commissions of 
 the strong type. 3 
 
 The functions of the weak commission are supervisory and 
 advisory. Complaints against the railroads are made to the 
 commission and if on investigation it believes the complaints 
 well grounded, it recommends to the railway company the cor- 
 rection of the evil complained of. Failure of the roads to 
 comply with the recommendation is reported to the governor 
 or to the legislature. In addition to the supervisory and advis- 
 ory functions of the weak commission, the Illinois commission 
 has been given the further power of regulation. Not only has 
 it the right to investigate complaints and to make recommend- 
 ations to the railway companies, but it also has the power by 
 the institution of suits to compel obedience to its regulations 
 and compliance with the law. 
 
 A typical form of the weak commission is that formed in 
 Massachusetts. In that state the chief duties of the board are : 
 
 1. To investigate as to whether the roads are living up to 
 their charters and to report violations of the charter 
 rights. 
 
 1 The ten commissions with the dates of their establishment are : Colorado, 1885 ; 
 Connecticut, 1853; Massachusetts, 1869; Michigan, 1873; New York, 1883; Ohio, 1867; 
 Rhode Island, 1872; Vermont, 1855; Virginia, 1877: Wisconsin, 1874. 
 
 2 Alabama, 1881; Arkansas, 1899; California, 1876; Florida, 1897; Georgia, 1879; 
 Illinois, 1871; Iowa, 1878; Kansas, 1901; Kentucky, 1880; Louisiana, 1898; Maine, 
 1858; Minnesota, 1871; Mississippi, 1884; Missouri, 1875; New Hampshire, 1844; 
 North Dakota, 1889; South Carolina, 1878; South Dakota, 1889; Tennessee, 1897; 
 Texas, 1891. 
 
 Interstate Commerce Commission Report on "Railways in the United States in 
 in 1902," Pt. IV., 46-60. 
 
 3 F. C. Clark, "State Railroad Commissions and How They May be Made Effec- 
 tive," in Publications of the American Economic Association, VI: 473-582, Appendix 
 A, Table I. 
 
 [2511
 
 46 
 
 2. To care for the safety and accommodation of the public. 
 
 3. To inspect books of railway companies and to require a 
 
 uniform system of accounts. 
 
 4. To summon witnesses in order to decide upon the mer- 
 
 its of a controversy and to arbitrate disputes between 
 the roads and the complainants. If the roads refuse 
 to obey the recommendations of the commission, the 
 attorney-general decides whether the state shall 
 prosecute or not. 
 
 5. To make annual reports to the legislature. 
 
 The commission relies chiefly orf public opinion for the enforce- 
 ment of its decisions. The public press is used in keeping the 
 recommendations of the commission before the people, and the 
 legislature is ever ready to enforce its decisions. In this way 
 a very effective control over the roads has been secured. 
 
 Under these circumstances it might seem at first thought 
 that the natural course for the Illinois legislature to have taken 
 would have been to model the Illinois commission after the 
 commissions which were already in successful operation else- 
 where. It must, however, be remembered that the state con- 
 stitution enjoined upon the legislature the fixing from time to 
 time of reasonable maximum passenger and freight rates, and this 
 duty was very naturally entrusted to the commission as the 
 most efficient body for carrying out the constitutional provis- 
 ions. There were, moreover, differences between the condi- 
 tions in the New England states, where all the commissions 
 then existing, with the exception of the one in Ohio, were to be 
 found, and in Illinois, which made it highly probable that a 
 supervisory and advisory commission would not be successful 
 in its working in this state. The commissions in the East worked 
 in conservative communities where public opinion was a power- 
 ful force. The roads were owned largely by capitalists living 
 in the community and on whom public opinion could easily 
 exert its force. In Illinois, however, the roads were owned by 
 eastern capitalists who, however sensitive they may have been 
 
 [254]
 
 47 
 
 to public feeling were, as C. F. Adams points out, * in no posi- 
 tion to appreciate the exact state of that feeling. Further than 
 this, railroads had reached a considerable development in New 
 England before the commissions were established, and these 
 bodies were not often forced to meet and correct the evils aris- 
 ing from rapid railway building. 2 Industrial conditions were 
 in a more settled state, and industry had adapted itself to trans- 
 portation conditions, while in Illinois in 1870 this adaptation 
 had yet to take place. Such considerations seem to indicate 
 that the results obtained in New England could not have been 
 attained in Illinois by the same type of a commission. 
 
 In addition to these considerations, the attitude which the 
 railroads actually assumed would seem to furnish conclusive 
 evidence that a commission of the Massachusetts type would 
 have been unable to cope with the situation in Illinois at this 
 time. The railroads made no attempt to correct evils which it 
 was very evident were universally condemned by public opinion. 
 When public opinion had shaped itself into the restrictive leg- 
 islation of 1871-73, it has been shown that the railroads dis- 
 played no inclination to yield and only conformed their prac- 
 tices to the demands of the public when forced to do so by the 
 courts. 
 
 1 "Railroads, Their Origin and Problems," 140. 
 
 2 F. B. Dixon, "State Railroad Control," 201-203. 
 
 [255]
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 THE SCHEDULE OF MAXIMUM RATES. 
 
 One of the most important provisions of the law of 1873 in 
 its direct bearing on railway conditions was that which made 
 it the duty of the commissioners to prepare a schedule, for each 
 different railroad, of reasonable maximum rates of charge for 
 the transportation of passengers and freight. Although such a 
 provision as this brought the railroads to a much greater de- 
 gree under the control of the commission, there were serious 
 objections to conferring on the commission such a power. It 
 is in the first place more expedient to give a commission the 
 power to investigate any particular rate and to make its find- 
 ings with respect to that one rate prima fade evidence of reas- 
 onableness than it is to require of the commission the making 
 of schedules of rates. Different roads work under such different 
 sets of conditions that not only do reasonable rates differ for 
 each road, but they also differ for the different sections of the 
 same road. Justice in the rates allowed could only have been 
 approached by the commission undertaking the preparation of 
 a schedule for each road in the state. Even such a plan would 
 have left out of account the important fact that reasonable 
 rates differed on the same road. This difficulty could only have 
 been met by the clearly impossible task of preparing schedules 
 of reasonable rates for each road and between all of the points 
 of shipment on each road. The further difficulty would have 
 remained that the time of year is a determining factor in the 
 consideration of the reasonableness of rates, and a rate which 
 is reasonable for one time of year might be clearly unreason- 
 able for another. 
 
 An attempt is made in the law under which the Interstate 
 Commerce Commission is working to obviate the difficulties 
 which arise from the adopting of schedules by a commission. 
 
 [256]
 
 49 
 
 That law makes it the duty of the commission to investigate 
 individual rates on complaint or on its own motion and deter- 
 mine their reasonableness. The courts have, however, 
 refused to admit the findings of the commission as prima facie 
 evidence of reasonable rates and Congress has not yet conferred 
 upon the Commission the right to determine in specific cases 
 what rate is reasonable and to enforce its findings. While there 
 are many grave objections to a plan of this sort, it seems prob- 
 able that its employment in Illinois would have been more ben- 
 eficial in its workings than the plan which was adopted. 
 
 A difficulty in the practical working of the law arose from 
 the fact that the duty of making the schedules devolved upon 
 a board of commissioners which had been in office less than a 
 year and which was made up of men who were not practical 
 railroad men. Although the remainder of the law went into 
 effect July 1, 1873, special provision was made that the section 
 providing for the adoption by the commission of the schedules 
 of maximum rates should not go into force until January 15, 
 1874. This provision was made in order that the commission- 
 ers might be given ample time to prepare the schedules. In 
 August of 1873, the commissioners began the arduous work of 
 preparing these schedules. l A more difficult task cannot easily 
 be conceived of. The men whose positions best fitted them to 
 prepare schedules of reasonable rates were the traffic managers 
 of the various roads, but whenever these managers were sum- 
 moned before a commission, they referred that body to their 
 published schedules as their idea of reasonable rates. It was, 
 however, the evils of these very schedules which the commis- 
 sion was seeking to remedy. The commissioners were largely 
 guided in their work by the testimony of well informed ship- 
 pers throughout the state. The amount of capital invested in 
 road and equipment, the amount of business done, and the av- 
 erage proportion of the operating expenses to the gross earn- 
 ings were given important consideration. 
 
 By the plan which was adopted, the .roads of the state were 
 
 I R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1873, 25, 26. 
 
 [257]
 
 50 
 
 divided into five classes, and different rates were provided for 
 each class. The basis of the classification of the roads was the 
 amount of business done and the cost of operation. In the first 
 class known as "the standard class," was put a number of the 
 leading roads of the state doing about the same amount of bus- 
 iness at approximately the same cost. 1 In the second group 
 were placed all of the roads doing a greater business than the 
 roads of the standard group. 8 In the remaining three groups 
 were placed the roads doing a less business than the roads of 
 the standard group. 1 ' It will be seen that in this classification 
 the second group comprised the most prosperous roads 
 of the state and the fifth the least prosperous. 
 
 The maximum passenger rates fixed by the commission 
 varied from two and one-half cents a mile for the roads of the 
 second group to four cents a mile for the roads of the fifth group. 
 Freight was divided into four classes, and for each class a rate 
 on one hundred pounds of freight for the first mile was fixed as 
 well as the amount to be added for each additional mile from 
 one to five ; from five to twenty ; from twenty to thirty ; from 
 thirty to one hundred and forty ; and from one hundred and 
 forty to two hundred and forty-seven miles. Car-load rates for 
 each class were fixed and special car-load rates corresponding 
 to the commodity tariffs of the present time were made for (1) 
 flour and meal ; (2) salt and cement ; (3) grain (except wheat ;) 
 (4) wheat; (5) lumber; (6) horses and mules; (7) cattle and 
 
 1 There were ten roads in this class as follows : Chicago and Alton ; Chicago, 
 Burlington and Quincy ; Chicago and Northwestern ; Chicago, Rock Island and Pa- 
 cific ; Illinois Central ; Indiana, Bloomington and Western ; Indianapolis and Saint 
 Louis ; Ohio and Mississippi ; Pittsburg, Cincinnati and Saint Louis ; Wabash. 
 
 2 These were : Lake Shore and Michigan Southern ; Michigan Central ; Pitts- 
 burg, Fort Wayne and Chicago. These, it will be noted, are all Eastern "trunk 
 lines," having very few mjles within the state. 
 
 The third group comprised the following roads : Chicago and Eastern Illinois ; 
 Illinois and Saint Louis ; Saint Louis, Alton and Terre Haute ; Toledo, Peoria and 
 Warsaw; Western Union. 
 
 In the fourth group were the Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville ; The Rock Island 
 and Peoria ; and the Saint iJouis, Rock Island and Chicago. The fifth group con- 
 tained the remaining six roads of the state. R. R. & W. Report, 1879, v-Com.-vii. 
 
 [258]
 
 51 
 
 hogs; (8) sheep ; and (9) coal. These rates were fixed for the 
 roads of the first or standard group. The maximum rates of the 
 second group were ten per cent, lower ; those of the third, 
 fourth and fifth groups, five, ten and fifteen per cent, higher 
 respectively. 1 The rates fixed by the commission for the 
 standard group varied from thirty-seven cents for carrying 
 one hundred pounds of merchandise of the first class one 
 hundred miles to eighteen and one-half cents fora sitnilar haul 
 of merchandise of the fourth class. The standard rate on 
 wheat in car load lots for a hundred miles was 14.26 cent per 
 hundred pounds. The corresponding rate on coal was $1.60 a 
 ton. 
 
 In the classification and fixing of rates, various principles 
 must have been recognized. A few illustrations will show the 
 conflicting influences. Common soap, for instance, was placed 
 in the fourth class, while fancy soap went into the second class. 2 
 The cost of hauling different kinds of soap would be the same 
 and the justification of placing different kinds of soap in differ- 
 ent classes must be found in the fact that one kind was more 
 valuable than the other. The value of the commodity must, 
 therefore, have been recognized in fixing the rate. On the 
 other hand, butter in crocks was placed in the first class, and 
 butter in kegs or boxes in the second, 3 a clear recognition of 
 the " cost of service " principle. In their report for 1873, the 
 year in which these schedules were prepared, the commission- 
 ers state that the justice of the rates was the end aimed at in 
 preparing the schedules 4 but they do not state what basis they 
 took for determining just rates. In the report for the follow- 
 ing year, however, the same commission, with one change in 
 its membership, 5 discussed the question of what constitutes 
 
 i R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1879, vi, vii. 
 2. Ibid., 1874, 376. 
 
 3. Ibid., 1874, 371. 
 
 4. Ibid., 1873, 26. 
 
 5. Chairman H. D. Cook had died in November, 1873, and had been succeeded 
 by James Steele. 
 
 [259]
 
 52 
 
 reasonable rates. 1 In the discussion the cost of the road and 
 the aggregate cost of service are both rejected as criteria in 
 determining reasonable rates, and the conclusion is reached 
 that "there are certain maximum charges for transportation 
 which the business of the country can afford to pay and be- 
 yond which it cannot afford to go," and if the value of the road 
 is so high, that when these maximum rates are charged, a rea- 
 sonable per cent, of profit is not made, "the sooner its owners 
 cut down its nominal value to such figures, or sell to other 
 parties at such price as will justify its operation at reasonable 
 rates, the better for the community and all concerned." As to 
 what is a reasonable rate for the transportation of a particular 
 commodity the board comes to no definite conclusion further 
 than that a classification is necessary and that a variety of cir- 
 cumstances enter in to make it "worth more to transport some 
 commodities than others.'' The commissioners thus more or 
 less definitely recognize the ;< value of service " principle, or the 
 principle of "charging what the traffic will bear" as the true 
 criterion of reasonable rates. As we have seen, however, an 
 examination of the classification which the commission adopt- 
 ed shows that the "value of service" principle was not consist- 
 ently and exclusively followed, but that "cost of service" and 
 other principles exerted a strong modifying inflence. 
 
 As might be expected, the schedules of reasonable maxi- 
 mum rates were unsatisfactory both to the commission and to 
 the people, while they were exceedingly obnoxious to the rail- 
 roads. The traffic managers, who had not been in the habit of 
 following even their own schedules, refused to follow those 
 which were prepared by a body of men whose authority over 
 them and whose ability to deal with so intricate a matter was 
 denied. The result was that the roads paid scant attention to 
 the schedules and considered them as in no way binding. 
 Again a fierce struggle over the enforcement of the law broke 
 out in the courts. 
 
 i. R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1874, 21-24. 
 
 [260]
 
 SECTION VI. 
 THE FINAL STRUGGLE IN THE COURTS. 
 
 On July 1, 1873, apparently as the result of some agreement 
 between the different companies, rates at all competing points 
 and at many non-competing points advanced, and the public 
 was coolly informed that the advance in rates was due to the 
 workings of the new law. 1 The commissioners accepted this 
 action on the part of the railroads as equivalent to an ultima- 
 tum by them that it was their intention to settle the points at 
 issue in the courts. Suits were accordingly commenced by the 
 commission against the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad 
 Company at Freeport and against the Illinois Central Railroad 
 Company at Urbana on the charge of extortion. 2 The commis- 
 sioners thought it best, and in this view they were upheld by 
 their legal counsellors, not to begin other suits until the sched- 
 ules which were to be prepared by them became prima facie 
 evidence, as they would be on the fifteenth of January follow- 
 ing. 3 The case against the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad 
 Company was begun in the December term of the circuit court, 
 was continued to the March term, then to the September term 
 and again to the March term, 1875, to await the decision of the 
 Supreme Court of the United States on cases pending before it. 4 
 The case was later dismissed by the commission. 5 The suit 
 against the Illinois Central was also dismissed, the purpose of 
 the commissioners being to institute new suits when the sched- 
 ules went into effect. 
 
 In testing the validity of the law, the policy of the com- 
 
 1 R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1874, q, 10. 
 
 2 Ibid., 8-10. 
 
 3 Ibid., 1873, 2 9- 
 
 4 Ibid., 1873, 10. 
 
 5 Ibid., 1875, 17. 
 
 6 Ibid., 1874, 10. 
 
 [261 j
 
 54 
 
 mission was not to institute suits in all cases where violations 
 of the statute were found, but rather to begin suits against the 
 most powerful corporations in cases in which the various points 
 of issue were clearly involved. 1 The first case in which a de- 
 cision of the principal point of controversy, the right of the 
 legislature to authorize the commission to make a schedule 
 which would be prima facie evidence, was made by the Supreme 
 Court of the state, was that of "The People v. The Illinois Cen- 
 tral Railroad Company." This case was begun at the October 
 term, 1874, of the Douglas county circuit court. 2 Judgment for 
 one thousand dollars was rendered against the railway com- 
 pany in this court 3 and the case was immediately appealed to 
 the Supreme Court. The proverbial delay of the law was evi- 
 denced in this case, and the decision of the Supreme Court was 
 not handed down until 1880. By this decision the judgment of 
 the circuit court was affirmed and the validity of the law of 1873 
 declared.* Although this was the first case decided by the Su- 
 preme Court of the state in which the law of 1873 was involved, 
 the right of the state legislature to fix a maximum rate of 
 charges had already been upheld by the Supreme Court in the 
 Neal Ruggles case to which reference has been made. 5 
 
 The law empowering the commission to fix schedules of 
 maximum rates and to compel the roads to abide by them was 
 thus upheld by the courts of Illinois. It yet remained for the 
 Supreme Court of the United States to declare whether or not 
 the constitutional provision that no law impairing the obliga- 
 tion of a contract should be passed by a state legislature had 
 been violated. This point was covered in a decision handed 
 down by the Supreme Court of the United States in October, 
 1876, in the case of Munn v. Illinois. The court held in this 
 case that the state legislature had the right under the constitu- 
 
 1. R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1875, 15. 
 
 2. Ibid., 1874, 12. 
 
 3. Ibid., 1875, 17. 
 
 4. 95 IH. 313- 
 
 5. Above, pp. 28-29. 
 
 [262]
 
 55 
 
 tion " to limit the rate of charges for service rendered in a pub- 
 lic employment, or for the use of property in which the public 
 has an interest." 1 The decision in this case served as a prece- 
 dent upon which was based the decision of many important 
 cases, commonly known as the "granger cases," which came 
 up to the supreme court from Iowa and Wisconsin. 2 After 
 years of litigation, the position of the commission was thus 
 finally established by the courts. 
 
 1. 94 U. S. 113. 
 
 2. Davidson & Stuve, op. cit., 1036. 
 
 [263]
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 GENERAL LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION. 
 
 In the preceding chapters, the legislation which provided 
 a scheme for state regulation of railroads in Illinois has been 
 discussed, together with the litigation which grew out of it and 
 which finally firmly established the position of the railroad and 
 warehouse commission and their right of control. There re- 
 mains for our consideration a large body of legislation, which, 
 while lacking the importance of the laws already considered, 
 nevertheless deserves mention in a history of railway legisla- 
 tion. To this should be added some railway litigation arising 
 under laws already referred to in this essay, though dating from 
 the period prior to 1870, which had an important bearing in the 
 railway history of the state. 
 
 Of the laws which have not yet been considered, the most 
 important are those providing for the incorporation of railway 
 companies and defining the powers of the companies so incor- 
 porated, and the laws which provide rules in the nature of po- 
 lice regulations governing the management of the railway bus- 
 iness in the state. 
 
 We have seen that the constitution of 1870 prohibited the 
 chartering of any corporation by special laws * and that in 1871 
 the legislature passed a general incorporation law for railway 
 companies. 2 This law is still in force and, with a few minor 
 changes, is the law governing the incorporation of railway com- 
 panies at the present time. In 1877 the act was amended by 
 adding a provision granting railway corporations the right to 
 purchase another company, 3 and in 1891 a further amendment 
 was made to the effect that a railway company in this state 
 
 1 Above, p. 24. 
 
 2 Above, p. 26. 
 
 3 Laws of Illinois, 1877, 163, 4.
 
 57 
 
 which operates a railway connecting it with a railway owned 
 by a company of another state might, acting by itself or jointly 
 with this foreign company, purchase the stock and securities 
 of the connecting road. 1 In 1875 an act was passed empower- 
 ing a railway company operating other companies under lease 
 for a period of not less than twenty years to buy or sell "the 
 remaining interests, property or franchises of such railroads" 
 on terms agreed upon by the parties to the lease. 2 A provision 
 was added which forbade railroads in other states from becom- 
 ing owners of roads in this state under the act, but in 1895 this 
 restriction was removed. 3 An act of 1883 provided for the con- 
 solidation of corporations owning a railroad situated partly in 
 Illinois and partly in other states when separate corporations 
 are organized in each state through which the road runs. 4 In 
 1885 railroads organized in this state were, on complying with 
 certain conditions, given the power to purchase and to hold 
 railroads which are located in other states, but with which they 
 connected. 5 In 1889 the acquisition of a railroad in this state by 
 a corporation of another state was made possible by a law which 
 provided conditions under which a corporation of another state 
 which was in possession, or owned or controlled the capital 
 stock of a railroad in this state, might secure ownership of the 
 road. 6 The passage of these laws seems to have been largely 
 due to the demand for consolidation of railroads and to the 
 growing faith in the advantages which consolidation would 
 bring about. At the same time this legislation by its restrict- 
 ive features shows the fear entertained by the legislature that 
 the roads would be taken beyond the control of the commission. 
 The second class of laws to which I have referred, the laws 
 providing regulations as to the details of the management of 
 the railway business of the state, constitutes the greater part 
 
 i Laws of Illinois, 1891, 184-5. 
 
 2 Ibid., 1875, 96. 
 
 3 Ibid., 1895, 293-4. 
 
 4 Ibid., 1883, 124 5. 
 
 5 Ibid., 1885, 229-231. 
 
 7 Ibid., 1899, 116-7. 
 
 [265]
 
 V 
 
 58 
 
 of the legislation which has been enacted by the general as- 
 sembly since the commission was established in its final form. 
 Before 1870 laws had been passed at different times containing 
 various provisions with regard to the details of the operation 
 of the railroads, the maintenance of the roadbed, the speed of 
 trains, and matters of this sort. In 1874 an act was passed which 
 embodied with several additions the more important provisions 
 of this character which had been previously enacted. The act 
 contains provisions in regard to the fencing of the track, sign 
 boards of warning at country road crossings, the speed of trains, 
 the stopping of trains at draw bridges and railway crossings, 
 the handling of baggage, etc. l Since this law, additional pro- 
 visions concerning union depots, 3 investing railway conductors 
 with police powers while on duty on trains, 3 regulating the 
 selling of passenger tickets, 4 the placing of interlocking switch- 
 es at railway crossings, 6 and others of the same nature have 
 been added. 
 
 In general, the laws just referred to are conservative in their 
 character. They seem to have been enacted with due regard 
 to the rights of the railway companies and the regulations which 
 have been prescribed are of such a nature as to insure the con- 
 venience and safety of the public without imposing onerous re- 
 strictions upon the railway companies. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact in regard to Illinois railway legis- 
 lation that no laws restricting railway pooling have been en- 
 acted, although many other states have adopted restrictive 
 legislation of this nature. Indeed such legislation as has been 
 enacted is on the whole favorable to railway consolidation. 
 Not only has the legislature not taken any action toward the 
 prohibiting of pooling, but the railroad and warehouse com- 
 mission seems to have given it little consideration. The atti- 
 tude of the commissioners, which in all probability has coin- 
 
 1 Revised Statutes of Illinois, 1874, 807-14. 
 
 2 Laws of Illinois, 1875, 97-99. 
 
 3 Ibid., 1879, 223-4. 
 
 4 Ibid., 1875, 81-2. 
 
 5 Ibid., 1891, 180-82. 
 
 [266]
 
 59 
 
 cided with that of the legislature, is given in their report for 
 1 886 in which they take the ground that the enforcement of the 
 schedule of maximum rates will prevent the evils which might 
 arise from pooling contracts between roads lying within the 
 state, and that the state is powerless to regulate pooling con- 
 tracts between inter-state roads. 1 Congress prohibited pooling 
 by inter-state roads in 1887. In the meetings of the general 
 assembly of the state w r hich followed, several bills were intro- 
 duced aiming at the prohibition of pooling, but none was able 
 to command a majority of both houses. 2 
 
 Reference has already been made to the "tax grabbing" 
 and "Lake Front" laws as disturbing elements in the railway 
 situation in 1869. 3 The importance of the workings of these 
 laws in the later history of the state is sufficient to justify their 
 further consideration. The "tax grabbing" law, which, it will 
 be remembered, offered inducements to local units to issue 
 bonds in aid of railroads, was passed with the intention of rem- 
 edying the inequalities of railway extension throughout the 
 state. The local bodies quickly took advantage of the law and 
 over $15,500,000 of these bonds were issued by various counties, 
 townships, cities and towns and registered with the state au- 
 ditor. 4 In 1871 the general assembly passed an act further de- 
 fining the method of distributing the taxes paid into the state 
 treasury on the bond account between the different townships, 
 cities and towns in the same county which had issued bonds. 5 
 In 1874 a decision by the supreme court of the state in the case 
 of Ramsey v. Hoger declared the law unconstitutional on the 
 ground that it interfered with the constitutional provision 
 which requires equality of taxation for state purposes. This 
 decision of the supreme court worked great hardship on the 
 local units which, because of the benefits which the law held 
 
 1 R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1866, xxi. 
 
 2 See House and Senate Journals. 
 
 3 Above, p. 22. 
 
 4 Auditor's report in Reports of General Assembly, 1882, 1:200-207. 
 
 5 Laws of Illinois, 1871-72, 192-3. 
 
 (267)
 
 60 
 
 out to them, had bonded themselves heavily in aid of the rail- 
 roads. In many cases repudiations of their debts followed l . 
 After the decision was handed down the state treasurer was un- 
 certain as to the status of over $430,000 which had come into 
 the state treasury as a part of the local bond fund. 2 To solve this 
 difficulty, in 1875, a law was passed making the state sole 
 trustee of all of the excess over || of the state tax of 1873, except 
 so much as had been carried to the local bond fund and paid 
 out of the treasury for the redemption of the bonds, and a 
 method of refunding such excess was provided. 3 The excess of 
 7 ff of the state tax was increased by the law of 1869, allowing 
 the different localities to devote part of their state tax to pay- 
 ing interest and principal on their railway bonds. The pro- 
 visions of this measure clearly showed the injustice of the law 
 of 1869 as it was made evident that the state taxes- were thereby 
 increased nearly twenty-five per cent. The localities which 
 had not issued bonds were obliged to bear this increase, though 
 they received no corresponding benefits as did the localities 
 which had issued bonds. The legislature from time to time dis- 
 cusssed the matter of relieving the embarrassing possition in 
 which the localities which had issued bonds were placed by the 
 abrogation of the law, but no action was taken. 4 
 
 A repetition of the evils due to the unlimited issue of rail- 
 way aid bonds was made impossible by the constitution of 1870. 
 One of the sections which was submitted to the people for sepa- 
 rate vote and which was endorsed by them provided that "no 
 county, city, town, township or other municipality shall ever 
 become subscriber to the capital stock of any railroad or private 
 corporation or make donations to or loan its credit in aid of 
 such corporation". Provision was, however, made for the is- 
 suance of aid already voted. A law of 1874 prohibited the is- 
 suance after 1877 of bonds which had been voted before 1870 
 
 1 76 in. 432. 
 
 2 Davidson and Stuve", 935, note. 
 
 3 Reports of the general assembly, 1875. 
 
 4 Davidson and Stuv, op, cit. 935; House and Senate Journals. 
 
 (268)
 
 61 
 
 and not yet issued. 1 In 1877 the liability for the issuance of 
 bonds voted was extended to 1880 2 , and a law of 1883 finally 
 decided against any further issuance after that year except 
 under certain conditions. 3 
 
 The "Lake Front" act proved to be equally as disturbing 
 an element as the "tax grabbing" law, but its influence was felt 
 in Chicago alone, while the evils of the "tax grabbing" law were 
 felt throughout the state. The act became the basis of a strug- 
 gle in the courts which lasted for twenty years. On petition 
 made within four months after the passage of the act, the 
 United States circuit court issued an injunction restraining the 
 city of Chicago from releasing and the railway companies from 
 occupying the land granted for depot purposes. The record of 
 this proceeding was destroyed in the great Chicago fire of 1871 
 and was never fully restored. 4 The opposition to the act was 
 so determined that in 1873 it was repealed. 5 The repeal, how- 
 ever, w T as of little value in effecting a definite settlement of 
 the rights of the respective parties. In 1883, the attorney-gen- 
 eral of the state began proceedings in the circuit court of Cook 
 county to quiet title and remove the cloud upon the title of the 
 state to the submerged lands. The case was removed to the 
 United States circuit court for the northern district of Illinois. 
 The Illinois Central defended its title by alleging the uncon- 
 stitutionally of the repealing act of 1873 on the ground that it 
 impaired the validity of contracts ; that it interfered with vested 
 rights ; and that it was in violation of the provision of the con- 
 stitution of 1870 which prohibited the release of impairment of 
 any tax imposed upon the Illinois Central Railroad. 6 The cir- 
 cuit court held in a decision handed down in 1888 that the 
 effect of the repealing act was to abrogate the cession of the 
 submerged lands to the railway company. It was also held by 
 
 I 
 
 Revised Statutes of Illinois, 1874, 797. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 Laws of Illinois, 1877, 157-8. 
 
 
 3 
 
 Ibid., 1883, 122, 3. 
 
 
 4 
 
 A. T. Andreas, History of Chicago, III: 
 
 92. 
 
 5 
 
 Laws of Illinois, 1873-4, 119. 
 
 
 6 
 
 Andreas, III: 192. 
 
 
 
 (269) 

 
 62 
 
 the court that the return to the railway companies, at their re- 
 quest, by the comptroller of Chicago, of the money deposited 
 by them as the first installment to be paid to the city for the 
 land for depot purposes had deprived them of the benefit which 
 had accrued to them from the tender and the repeal of the act 
 accordingly left the title in the city of Chicago. 1 The circuit 
 court further confirmed the title of the road to the piers and 
 docks then built out into the lake so far as they did not extend 
 beyond the point of practical navigability, but perpetually en- 
 joined the company from erecting further structures over or 
 filling in the bed of the lake between Chicago River and Six- 
 teenth street. 2 The case was appealed and was tried at the 
 October term, 1892, of the Supreme court of the United States. 
 The decision of the lower court was sustained, a majority of 
 the court holding, with regard to the act of 1869 and its repeal, 
 that "it was not competent for the legislature to thus deprive 
 the state of its ownership of the submerged lands in the harbor 
 of Chicago, and of the consequent control of its waters ; and 
 the attempted session of the act of April 16, 1869, was inopera- 
 tive to affect, modify, or in any respect to control the sover- 
 eignty and dominion of the state over the lands, or its owner- 
 ship thereof, and any such attempted operation of the act was 
 annulled by the repealing act of April 15, 1873, which to that 
 extent was valid and effective". 3 The claim to the land grant- 
 ed for depot purposes was not revived by the railway company. 
 In another attempt made recently by the Illinois Central to se- 
 cure title under its charter to submerged land recovered by it, 
 the superior court of Cook county held that the company had 
 no right under the charter to take possession of land submerged 
 beneath Lake Michigan. In this decision, the court was sus- 
 tained by the Supreme court of Illinois in 1899* and by the 
 
 1 Moses, op. cit. II ; 782-3. 
 
 2 184 U. S. 87. 
 
 3 146 U. S., 387. 
 
 4 173 111. 471. 
 
 (270)
 
 63 
 
 Supreme court of the United States in 1900 l . Appeal was taken 
 to the state to the decision of the circuit court in 1888 as to 
 the right of the railway company to the piers built out into the 
 lake but the decision was affirmed by the circuit court of ap- 
 peals in 1899 * and by the Supreme court of the United States 
 in 1902 3 Here the matter rests for the present, and the decis- 
 ion of the Supreme court seems to be regarded as a final settle- 
 ment of the long controversy. 
 
 1 176 U. S. 646. 
 
 2 91 Federal Reporter, 955. 
 
 3 184 U.S. 77- 
 
 (271)
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION AND CONSOLIDATION. 
 
 In 1870 Illinois [had 4,82s 1 miles of railroad within her 
 boundaries. In the thirty years since that date the railway 
 mileage of the state has more than doubled, the mileage for 
 1892 being 11,031 2 . The increase in railway construction has 
 not been uniform throughout this period, but there have been 
 two distinct periods of rapid construction. The first of these 
 periods beginning with 1870 extends to about 1876. In the five 
 years from June 30, 1871, to June 30, 1876, the railway mile- 
 age increased 2,736 miles, an average of 547 miles a year 3 . The 
 rapid extension of the railroads during this period was probably 
 due in great measure to the aid to railway construction which 
 was being granted through local aid bonds. For three years 
 there was somewhat of a lull in railway building, but in 1879 a 
 second period of rapid extension began during which, however t 
 the building of new lines of road was not carried on so rapidly 
 as it had been in the earlier period. In the nine years from 
 June 30, 1879, to June 30, 1888, the number of miles of railroad 
 in the state increased from 7559 4 to 9918 s , an increase of 2,359 
 miles in the nine years. The year of greatest increase during this 
 period was 1883-84, when 375 miles of road were built 6 . This 
 was a period of much more rational development than was the 
 earlier one. The extension of the railroads was in the main 
 due to an increased need for railway service and not to an ar- 
 
 1 Poor, Manual, 1871-72, xxxiii. 
 
 2 R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1902, 92. 
 
 3 Ibid., 1871-76. 
 
 4 Ibid., 1879, viii. 
 
 5 Ibid., 1888, xxviii, xxix. 
 
 6 Ibid., 1879-88. 
 
 (272)
 
 65 
 
 tificial stimulus such as was furnished by the railway aid 
 bonds. In the fifteen years succeeding 1888 only 1,100 miles 
 of road have been built. It is, therefore, fair to assume that 
 Illinois had by 1888 reached a state of equilibrium in which 
 railway development would keep pace with the slow but steady 
 increase of industrial development. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that the increase in mileage in 
 Illinois has been great, it by no means represents the full in- 
 crease in the usefulness of the railroads which has come about 
 in the same time. The improvements which have been intro- 
 duced during the past thirty-three years have brought to the 
 roads an increase in efficiency which is several times as great 
 as the increase in mileage. In 1871, of the 5,490 miles of track 
 in Illinois, more than ninety per cent, was laid with iron rails 
 weighing from thirty to fifty-six pounds to the yard 1 ; by 1902 
 ninety-nine and four-tenths per cent. 2 of the mileage of the 
 roads was laid with steel rails weighing from thirty-five to one 
 hundred pounds to the yard. In 1871 the road way was bal- 
 lasted only in those places where trouble was caused during 
 the wet season 1 ; in 1902 eighty-five per cent, of the mileage 
 was ballasted 2 . In 1875, in the 7,100 miles of road in the state, 
 there were fifteen stone arch bridges 3 , but in 1902, with only 
 an increase of about fifty per cent, in the mileage, there were in 
 use 444 masonry bridges and 2156 iron and steel bridges 4 . In 
 1870, there were 99| miles of double main track in the state 5 , 
 or about 1-60 as many miles of double as of single track; in 
 1902, the number of miles of second, third, fourth and addi- 
 tional main tracks was 1,827 6 , about 1-6 the mileage of the sin- 
 gle main track. In 1870 also the protection of a crossing by 
 an interlocking switching device was unknown, but by 1902, 
 
 I R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1895, xi. 
 
 i Ibid., 1902, 179. 
 
 3 Ibid., 1895, 4. 
 
 4 Ibid., 1902, 183. 
 
 5 Ibid., 1871, Table " H." 
 
 6 Ibid., 1902, 79. 
 
 (273)
 
 66 
 
 there were 246 of such devices in use. 1 These merely illustrate 
 the many improvements that have been introduced. In ad- 
 dition, block signalling systems have been put into operation, 
 curves and grades have been reduced, tracks have been elevated 
 and many changes of like benefit have been effected. Follow- 
 ing the direction of the improvements which have been men- 
 tioned, and largely as a result of them, have come changes in 
 the transportation of passengers and freight which have revo- 
 lutionized the railway industry. The size and power of the 
 engines and the capacity of the cars have been increased, longer 
 trains have come into use and a much higher rate of speed has 
 been attained by both passenger and freight trains. 
 
 The influence of these changes on Illinois has been great. 
 It is not confined to the mere fact that they have secured an 
 increased efficiency for the roads of the state. With the im- 
 provements which have been introduced has come a reduction 
 in the rates which would have been almost impossible without 
 them. This reduction in rates has caused a great extension 
 in the market for the grain of Illinois and of the Northwest, 
 and an increased demand has followed as an inevitable result. 
 The extension of the market caused by the reduction in rates 
 has made it possible for the states of the West and Northwest 
 to supplant Illinois in the production of wheat and the farmers 
 of the state have consequently been forced to turn from wheat- 
 raising to corn-raising which the reduced rates made a much 
 more profitable industry than it had previously been. This 
 change has in the end probably proved of greater benefit to the 
 agricultural interests of the state. 2 
 
 Two other results of importance in the railway situation 
 in Illinois have ensued. The extended markets for the com- 
 
 1 R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1901, ix. 
 
 2 In 1869 Illinois ranked as the first wheat producing state in the union with a 
 production of 30,128,405 bushels; by 1899, this production had decreased 1019,795,500 
 bushels and the state was fourteenth in amount of wheat produced. The production 
 of corn during the same year increased from 129,921,395 bushels to 398,149,140 bushels, 
 Illinois ranking first in both years. Census 1000, vol. VI, Part II, pp. 80, 93. 
 
 [274]
 
 67 
 
 modities of the Northwest has created the need for extended 
 railroad facilities to transport them across the state, and the 
 world market which has been thrown open to Illinois commod- 
 ities has led to an enlarged prosperity and at the same time 
 to an increased dependence by the people of the state on the 
 welfare of the railway system. Railways have thus become of 
 transcendent importance to the well being of the state not only 
 through the extension that has been made in the lines them- 
 selves, but also through the changed conditions that have been 
 brought about by the improvements in the management of 
 the transportation industry. 
 
 There is a second feature which has marked the develop- 
 ment of the railway industry in Illinois and which has had an 
 equal importance with the changes in railway construction and 
 equipment in securing a better service to the people of the state. 
 This feature of railway development is the growth of railway 
 consolidation. In this process the two distinct lines along 
 which consolidation has progressed in the United States at 
 large 1 have been evident in Illinois. During the earlier part 
 of the period under consideration, consolidation was chiefly 
 effected by the union of short connecting lines. In the latter 
 part of the period, the chief method by which consolidation has 
 been brought about has been the purchasing or leasing of a mi- 
 nor road by one of the great railway systems. 
 
 On June 30, 1871, the average number of miles of road in 
 Illinois operated by the different companies was 263. 2 By 1875, 
 the average had decreased to 142, 3 and from that time until 
 1900 it had not varied much, the average for 1900 being 161 
 miles. 4 From these figures it might seem that there had been 
 no tendency toward railway consolidation in Illinois, but there 
 had been a movement toward short lines of road. The error 
 lies, however, in taking the number of miles owned in Illinois 
 
 1 Newcomb, "Railway Economics", 120-1. 
 
 2 R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1871, Appendix "H", II. 
 
 3 Ibid., 1875, 300-1. 
 
 4 Ibid., 1900, Lxxxii-Lxxxvi. 
 
 [275]
 
 68 
 
 the various companies operating in the state as a basis for es- 
 timating the amount of consolidation that has taken place. The 
 true basis for the estimate is the whole number of miles owned 
 by the roads rather than that part which lies within the state. 
 The significant fact for our consideration is that the roads of 
 the state have become parts of great railway systems. The fol- 
 lowing table 1 shows the progress of consolidation as far as it 
 can be traced statistically. It does not include consolidations 
 which have been effected without any change in the operating 
 organizations. The mileage given is the total mileage of all 
 roads which operate with in the state. 
 
 It will be seen from the table that there has been a great 
 increase in the number of roads in the state which are parts of 
 great railway systems. In 1871 only a little over one-half of 
 the mileage of the state represented part of a railroad over six 
 hundred miles long and the length of the longest road which 
 had any mileage in the state was 1,224 miles. 2 By 1900, eighty- 
 nine per cent of the mileage was part of railway systems over 
 six hundred miles long, and one road running through the state 
 operated 6,410 miles of line. 
 
 This consolidation, the extent of which is shown by the 
 table, has secured two benefits to the travelling and shipping 
 public. Better service has been secured than would have been 
 possible if it had remained necessary for each shipment to tra- 
 verse several different lines. Consolidation has also made pos- 
 sible lower rates on account of the reduction in operating ex- 
 penses which has been secured by the bringing of several roads 
 under one management. 4 
 
 It will be seen that the railway system of Illinois has not 
 only grown enormously since 1870, but its usefulness has also 
 been increased by the introduction of improvements and through 
 the consolidations which have taken place. As a result of these 
 
 1 The table is adopted from the one in the Reports of the Statistician of the 
 Interstate Commerce Commission. (See next page). 
 
 2 The Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company. 
 
 3 The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company. 
 
 4 Newcomb, op. ctt., 122. 
 
 [276]
 
 69 
 
 changes, lower rates have ensued. There has, therefore, been 
 an increase in efficiency far greater than would be indicated by 
 the mere increase in mileage. 
 
 ITEMS. 
 
 Mileage 
 over 600 
 
 Mileage 
 from 
 300-600 
 
 Mileage 
 from 
 100-300 
 
 {Mileage 
 under 
 100 
 
 Total 
 
 1871 
 Number of roads 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 17 
 
 Aggregate mileage in class 
 
 3661 
 
 1448 
 
 1368 
 
 133 
 
 6610 
 
 Per cent, of total mileage 
 
 55 
 
 22 
 
 21 
 
 2 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1875 
 Number of roads 
 
 9 
 
 5 
 
 12 
 
 24 
 
 50 
 
 Aggregate mileage in class 
 
 9309 
 
 2313 
 
 2312 
 
 1178 
 
 15112 
 
 Per cent, of total mileage 
 
 62 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 8 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1880 
 Number of Roads 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 48 
 
 Aggregate mileage in class 
 
 13859 
 
 2362 
 
 2923 
 
 775 
 
 19919 
 
 Per cent, of total mileage 
 
 69 
 
 12 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1885 
 Number of roads 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 17 
 
 19 
 
 57 
 
 Aggregate mileage in class 
 
 22234 
 
 4317 
 
 3396 
 
 719 
 
 30606 
 
 Per cent of total mileage 
 
 73 
 
 14 
 
 11 
 
 2 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1890 
 Number of roads 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 16 
 
 20 
 
 63 
 
 Aggregate mileage in class 
 
 36826 
 
 5737 
 
 3128 
 
 676 
 
 40367 
 
 Per cent, of total mileage 
 
 76 
 
 14 
 
 11 
 
 2 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1895 
 Number of roads 
 
 14 
 
 12 
 
 14 
 
 27 
 
 67 
 
 Aggregate mileage in class 
 
 35008 
 
 5149 
 
 2617 
 
 817 
 
 43591 
 
 Per cent, of total mileage 
 
 80 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1900 
 Number of roads 
 
 21 
 
 7 
 
 13 
 
 27 
 
 68 
 
 Aggregate mileage in class 
 
 50810 
 
 2914 
 
 2565 
 
 805 
 
 57094 
 
 Per cent, of total mileage 
 
 89 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 100 
 
 In connection with this increase in the efficiency and mile- 
 age of the steam railroads must be noted the growth of interur- 
 ban electric railways. In 1899 when the reports of the electric 
 roads were for the first time compiled separately by the com- 
 mission, the total mileage of elevated and interurban electric 
 lines reporting was 97.06. (Report 1899, III.) This mileage 
 more than tripled in the following three years aggregating in 
 1902,352.35 miles. (Report 1902, 8.) This movement which 
 
 [277]
 
 70 
 
 is yet in its infancy bids fair to become a factor of great import- 
 ance in the transportation interests of the state. It is yet too 
 early to determine whether the electric interurban lines will 
 seriously decrease the earnings of the steam railroads by their 
 competition in the local passenger traffic or whether by serving 
 as "friends" to the steam roads, they may not actually prove of 
 benefit to them. However this may be it is certain that by 
 the extension of passenger freight and express facilities into 
 the heart of rural districts, a benefit of inestimable value will 
 be conferred upon much territory which must otherwise be 
 practically devoid of easily accessible means of communication. 
 
 [278
 
 SECTION IX. 
 LATER WORK OF THE COMMISSION. 
 
 By 1880, as we have seen, the authority of the commission 
 and the validity of the restrictive legislation were firmly estab- 
 lished by the courts. The commission has consequently since 
 that time been able to carry on its work without being ham- 
 pered by delays in litigation. During this later period, as in 
 the earlier one, the fixing of maximum rates has occupied a 
 prominent place in the work of the commission. The first 
 schedule of maximum rates went into effect in 1874. By 1881, 
 a feeling that a change in the conditions since that time had 
 made necessary a new schedule caused the general assembly to 
 adopt a joint resolution requesting the commission to revise 
 the schedule. l In response to this request, the first general re- 
 vision of the schedule of maximum rates was made. For the 
 purpose of the schedule, two classes of roads were made in- 
 stead of the five classes into which they were divided for the 
 schedule of 1874. The commissioners made no definite state- 
 ment as to the basis of classification, but a general estimate of 
 the prosperity of the roads seemed to be the controlling consid- 
 eration. The maximum passenger rate was fixed at three cents 
 a mile for the roads of both classes. The freight rates of the 
 schedule of 1881 were from twenty to thirty per cent, lower 
 than the rates of the schedule of 1873, and according to the 
 commissioners, from twenty-five to thirty-three per cent, lower 
 than the- rates in the adjoining states of Wisconsin and Missouri 
 where the rates were fixed by legislation. 2 The reduction in 
 the rates of this schedule as compared with those of the previ- 
 ous one corresponded closely with the actual reduction in rates 
 
 1. Senate Journal, 1881, 845. 
 
 2. R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1881, 15-18. 
 
 [279]
 
 72 
 
 which had taken place throughout the country during the pe- 
 riod. 1 
 
 The rates which were adopted by the schedule of 1881 
 proved satisfactory to the managers of the different roads, and 
 they signified a general willingness to conform their charges to 
 schedule rates. 2 Since 1881, changes in the schedules have 
 been made almost every year . These changes have taken place 
 chiefly through variations in the classification of freight. The 
 last general revision of the schedules under which the roads are 
 working at the present time went into effect January 1, 1900. 
 By it the uniform maximum passenger rate of three cents a 
 mile is retained. Freight is divided into ten classes, and in ad- 
 dition to these, special rates are made for (1 ) horses and mules, 
 (2) cattle, (3) hogs, (4) sheep, (5) wheat, (6) grain except 
 wheat, (7) lumber, (8) salt, and (9) coal. 3 
 
 The hearing and adjusting of complaints has proved one of 
 the most important duties of the commission during the latter 
 period. The policy of arbitrating complaints was undertaken 
 in 1878, while the constitutionality of the law of 1873 was still 
 undecided. 4 This policy proved to be very satisfactory in prac- 
 tice, and, although undertaken as a temporary measure, was 
 continued as a permanent policy. In 1893, the commission 
 adopted rules of practice to govern the method of trial of com- 
 plaints brought before it for its adjustment. 5 In most cases the 
 railroads have shown a willingness to comply with the decisions 
 of the commission, and as a result disagreements between the 
 shippers and the roads have had a speedy settlement without 
 resort to the courts. This has meant a considerable saving of 
 time and expense and has brought each party to a clearer under- 
 standing of the rights of the other. The complaints to the com- 
 mission arise from many different causes. Of these causes dis- 
 crimination and extortion are probably the most important, 
 
 1 Hadley, 104. 
 
 2 R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1882, xvi. 
 
 3 Ibid., Schedule of rates. 
 
 4 Ibid., Report, 1878, xvii, xviii. 
 
 5 Ibid., 1893, 6. 153-59. 
 
 [280]
 
 73 
 
 and the adjusting of complaints arising from these two sources 
 has been productive of great benefit. Since the passage in 1891 
 of the act providing for the determination by the commission 
 of the necessity for the location of interlocking switches at rail- 
 way crossings, action on petitions for the location of such 
 switches has been one of the important functions of the com- 
 mission. In 1878, the commission commenced the practice of 
 inspecting the roads of the state. 1 This additional duty which 
 has been assumed by succeeding commissions has greatly in- 
 creased their usefulness. When the physical condition of the 
 road or the equipment is deemed insufficient for the safety of 
 the public, an order for the improvement of the deficiency is 
 issued by the commission to the railway company. In this res- 
 pect, also, the companies have exhibited a willingness to obey 
 the orders of the commission, and the roads have thus been 
 kept in a sound physical condition. 
 
 The conferences which the commissions of the different 
 states have held furnishes another feature of the work of the 
 Illinois commission which is worthy of mention on account of 
 the beneficial results in the way of railway regulation which 
 may be secured in this way. The first national convention of 
 state railway commissioners was held at Springfield in 1875. 
 Succeeding conventions were held in 1878, 1879 and 1881. After 
 1881 this first movement for the conference of state commissions 
 came to an end. In 1889 the movement was revived by the 
 Interstate Commerce Commission. An invitation was extended 
 by this body to all of the state commissions to attend a confer- 
 ence. The invitation was accepted, and beginning with 1889, 
 the commissions of the various states, together with the Inter- 
 state Conunerce Commission and representatives of the rail- 
 roads have met in annual conference. The questions which 
 have been discussed at the conferences are especially those 
 features of railway regulation which require uniform action by 
 the state and federal governments. Classification and railway 
 
 1 R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1878, xviii. 
 
 2 Ibid., 1879, 247-59. 
 
 [281]
 
 74 
 
 accounting, for instance, matters in which uniformity is espec- 
 ially desirable, have been given particular attention. Although 
 the practical results of these conferences have not been import- 
 ant, they furnish on the whole a good medium through which 
 the incongruities in the railway legislation of the different 
 states can be revealed and state regulation made more effective 
 by securing a greater degree of uniformity in the methods em- 
 ployed by the different sovereignties. 
 
 [282]
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 For thirty years Illinois has endeavored to control her rail- 
 roads by means of the strong commission. It cannot be claimed 
 that complete success has been attained in remedying the many 
 evils, which have been in large measure due to the unsettled 
 condition of the transportation industry. But although gross 
 abuses have existed in the past, and in some instances still exist, 
 the work of the commission has justified its establishment. It 
 is true that its usefulness during the first ten years of its his- 
 tory was greatly impaired by the struggle which it was forced 
 to carry on in the courts, yet during that period it was by no 
 means a useless body, if for no other reason than that it was 
 carrying on the fight which must inevitably have arisen be- 
 tween the railroads- and the people before the roads would sub- 
 mit to public control. By 1880 the courts had finally estab- 
 lished the validity of the law under which the commission was 
 working, and the commission was left free to carry out its work 
 without hindrance. But by this time the need for the exercise 
 of the authority of the commission had greatly diminished. 
 The evils due to the over-development of the roads were passing 
 away as the population and business of the state increased, and 
 the abuses of rapid railway building were remedied as the has- 
 tily built roads were placed on a sound basis. One of the most 
 potent influences in securing the correction of railway abuses 
 was the fact that the commission had the unquestioned power, 
 with the aid of the courts, to force compliance with the law 
 and with its own decisions. The railroads recognized this pow- 
 er and confirmed their management to the requirements of the 
 law. Thus the commission, without being called upon to rem- 
 edy actual abuses, exercised a strong potential influence in se- 
 curing the correction of evils. This fact, notwithstanding the 
 apparent diminution in the need for the commission as railway 
 
 [283]
 
 76 
 
 conditions have changed, furnishes an important element in 
 the justification of the continuance of the commission. 
 
 The schedule of maximum rates which the commission pre- 
 pares is of far less importance than it was when the first one 
 was prepared in 1874. The railroads have in a large measure 
 come to a realization that "charging what the traffic will not 
 bear" in the guise of "charging what the traffic will bear" is 
 fully as detrimental to their interests as it is to the interests 
 of the public, and attempts at extortionate charges have been 
 largely abolished. Further than this, the competition between 
 points where competition is possible serves to keep down com- 
 petitive rates to a reasonable level, and through the operation 
 of the "long and short haul" clause of the Illinois law and that 
 of the interstate commerce law, reasonable rates between non- 
 competing points is secured, 
 
 But complaint has arisen from some sources that the com- 
 mission no longer fills a positive place, but that it has come to 
 furnish merely an opportunity for political "graft" at the ex- 
 pense of the state treasury. Whatever truth there may be in 
 such criticism of the commission of today, it is nevertheless 
 true that it still does a work of positive value to the state. The 
 general surveillance which the commission exercises over the 
 state still further justifies its existence and continuance. It 
 furnishes a permanent body to which the legislature can assign 
 the execution of matters connected with the railroads ; it ex- 
 ercises a general supervision over the physical condition of the 
 roads of the state ; it collects and presents to the public statis- 
 tics in regard to the financial condition and management of the 
 roads ; it provides the only competent body to study the rail- 
 way situation and to recommend to the legislature measures 
 which would be of benefit both to railroads and to the people; 
 and, finally, it furnishes the most convenient means by which 
 the state can keep in touch with the work of the federal gov- 
 ernment and the other states, and thus make possible that 
 united action on the part of the different sovereignties which 
 is essential to effective control. 
 
 [284]
 
 77 
 
 Although the work of the commission has thus been of 
 great benefit to the state, a few changes in the law might great- 
 ly increase its efficiency. The law establishing the commission 
 provides for the appointment of all three members of the board 
 at one time for a term of two years. Although the disadvant- 
 age of the short term has been in some measure counteracted 
 by the general practice of retaining the same commissioners in 
 office during the four year term of the governor, the efficiency 
 of the commission is lessened by the fact that all the mem- 
 bers of the board retire at the same time and their duties must 
 be taken up by men unfamiliar with the workings of the office. 
 This defect could be easily remedied by a plan which the com- 
 mission proposes, ] in accordance with which the term of office 
 of the commissioners would be extended to six years and one 
 member of the board would retire every two years. There 
 would then be only one new man on the board after each change. 
 The usefulness of the commission could be further increased if 
 the power which it now exercises over railroads should be ex- 
 tended to include sleeping-car and express companies. z These 
 businesses are analogous to the railway business and are sub- 
 ject to many similar evils. To this power should be added 
 also the authority of the commission to require reports of the 
 same character as the reports of the railway companies from 
 telegraph and telephone companies and from street railway 
 companies. The commission should also be given the power to 
 decide in regard to the equipment of crossings of street rail- 
 ways and steam railroads with interlocking devices. 3 This last 
 power the commission claims, but its right to exercise it is ques- 
 tioned.* 
 
 There has been in the past a considerable waste of capital 
 through the building of roads which paralleled existing lines of 
 
 1. R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1880, 9. 
 
 2. The interstate commerce commission has recommended that its power be 
 extended in this way. 
 
 3. R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1898, xii-xiii. 
 
 4. Ibid., xii. 
 
 [285]
 
 78 
 
 road or which were built where the business was not sufficient 
 to justify their construction. With the disappearance of the 
 idea that competition of different lines would secure benefits 
 to the public, should come some method for restraining the 
 building of unnecessary roads. Under the present general in- 
 corporation law, any number of persons not less than five may 
 become incorporated for the purpose of constructing and oper- 
 ating a railroad. Under this law more than nine hundred 
 franchises for the construction of new railroads have been is- 
 sued. 1 Although many of the roads thus chartered have not 
 been built, a need exists for some positive means of control- 
 ling the unlimited granting of railway franchises and the build- 
 ing of unnecessary roads. It is doubtless true that much great- 
 er evil has arisen from this latter cause in the past than is to 
 be expected in the future, but the securing of franchises for 
 purely speculative purposes is as pronounced an evil at the 
 present time as it has been in the past. Beneficial results 
 could be secured by a law requiring a proper certificate to be 
 obtained from the railway commission before articles of incor- 
 poration are granted for the construction of any new railroad 
 in the state. 
 
 There is opportunity for increasing the usefulness of the 
 commission in the matter of securing uniformity of railway 
 accounts. As the law now stands, the only restriction placed 
 upon the keeping of their accounts in any way which the roads 
 see fit lies in the fact that on certain particulars, specified in 
 the law of 1871, the roads are required to make a report to the 
 commission. Uniformity in railway accounting is eminently 
 desirable, and if the method of accounting is to be prescribed, 
 the commission should be delegated with the power of prescrib- 
 ing it. Action along this line would, however, be of little value 
 until the initiative is taken by the federal government in giv- 
 ing the Interstate Commerce Commission power to prescribe 
 uniform methods of accounting for interstate roads. Should 
 
 !. R. R. & W. Com. Report, 1895, xix. 
 
 [286]
 
 79 
 
 this action be taken by the federal government, the states hav- 
 ing railway commissions should confer upon them the power 
 to prescribe the form in which the railroads within the state 
 shall keep their accounts. 
 
 In general the legislation which has been adopted by Illi- 
 nois since 1870 with regard to the railroads has promoted a har- 
 monious development of the transportation industry in the 
 state. A due regard has been paid to the rights of the people 
 but in most cases in protecting public interests, the legislature 
 has not worked injustice to the roads. During the period of 
 thirty years over which the legislation under our consideration 
 has extended, the legislature of the state has many times been, 
 forced to the front in seeking a solution of the railway problems 
 which were characteristic of the development of the roads in 
 the West. The successful dealing with these problems has se- 
 cured for Illinois a condition of railway development and effi- 
 ciency which justly entitles her to the rank of the first railway 
 state in the Union.
 
 ADAMS, C. F. 
 
 Railroads, Their Origin and Problems. New York. 1886. 
 
 The Granger Movement. North American Review, CXX: 394-424, Boston, 1875. 
 ANDREAS, A. T. 
 
 History of Chicago. Chicago. 1886. 
 CLARK, F. C. 
 
 State Railroads Commissions and How They May Be Made Effective. Publica- 
 tions of the American Economic Association. VI : 473-582. Baltimore, 1891 . 
 DAVIDSON & STUVE. 
 
 History of Illinois. Springfield, 1884. 
 
 Debates of the (Illinois) Constitutional Convention of 1870. Springfield. 
 DIXON, F. H. 
 
 State Railroad Control, with a History of its Development in Iowa. New York, 
 
 1896. 
 HADLEY, A. T. 
 
 Railroad Transportation. New York, 1886. 
 HENDRICK, F. 
 
 Railway Control by Commissions. New York. 1900. 
 Illinois House Journal. Springfield. 
 Illinois Senate Journal. Springfield. 
 Illinois Supreme Court Reports. Springfield. 
 LANGSTROTH & STILZ. 
 
 Railway Cooperation. Publications of the University of Pennsylvania. Series 
 
 in Political Economy and Public Law. No. 15, Philadelphia, 1899. 
 Laws of Illinois. Springfield. 
 
 MclNTOSH, A. T. 
 
 The Regulation of Railroads by the State of Illinois. Manuscript Thesis in the 
 
 Library of Northwestern University. 1900. 
 MCLEAN, S. J. 
 
 State Regulation of Railways in the United States. Economic Journal, X:349-369. 
 
 London. 1900. 
 MOSES, JOHN. 
 
 Illinois, Historical and Statistical. Chicago. 1895. 
 NEWCOMB, H. T. 
 
 Railway Economics. Philadelphia, 1898. 
 PAINE, A. E. 
 
 The Granger Movement in Illinois. Manuscript Thesis in the Library of the 
 University of Illinois. 1900. [This will be the next number of the Studies.] 
 
 [288]
 
 81 
 
 PERRY, E. R. 
 
 The Regulation of Railroads by the State of Illinois. Manuscript Thesis in the 
 Library of Northwestern University. 1900. 
 
 POOR, H. V. 
 
 Manual of the Railroads of the United States. New York, 1868. 
 
 The Prairie Farmer, v.44. Chicago, 1873. 
 
 Proceedings of the Annual Conferences of the State Railroad Commissioners. Wash- 
 ington, 1889 
 
 Reports of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission, Illinois. Springfield, 1871. 
 
 Reports of the Statistician of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Washington, 
 1888. 
 
 Reports of the General Assembly of Illinois. Springfield. 
 
 Revised Statutes of Illinois. Springfield and Chicago. 
 
 United States Statutes at Large. Washington. 
 
 United States Supreme Court Reports. Washington. 
 
 [289]
 
 NUMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY STUDIES PREVIOUSLY 
 
 ISSUED 
 
 Vol. 1., No. 1. Abraham Lincoln : The Evolution of his Literary Style. By Pro- 
 fessor D. K. Dodge, Ph.D. 
 
 No. 2. The Decline of the Commerce of the Port of New York. By Mr. 
 Richard Price Morgan. 
 
 No. ?>. A Statistical Study of Illinois High Schools. By Mr. F. G. Bonser, M.S. 
 
 No. 4. The Genesis of the Grand Remonstrance from Parliament to King 
 Charles I. By Henry Lawrence Schoolcraft, Ph.D. 
 
 No. 5. The Artificial Method for Determining the Ease and the Rapidity of 
 the Digestion of Meats. By Harry Sands Grindley, Sc.D., and 
 Timothy Mojonnier, M.S.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 385G65I C003 
 
 ILLINOIS RAILWAY LEGISLATION AND COMMISS 
 
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