HON. w. c. FLAGG S ADDKESS. 349 



be done by State power, confined, of course, to the limits of that State. 

 Or the roads might be placed under the control of a board of commis 

 sioners. Or by owning all or a portion of the roads and operating them 

 at cheap fixed rates. 



The people preferred a law to which those who were aggrieved 

 might appeal, such as laws fixing maximum rates of fare and freight, 

 and punishing their violation. Instances of the operations of rail 

 road laws in several States were given. Thus far, in Illinois, the 

 legislation was faulty, but there was a more determined effort in that 

 direction because the constitution necessitates action, and the people 

 have ratified that section by a large majority. 



The ignorance of legislation and the difficulty of the subject, had 

 caused the lack of success in passing laws of this character. The men 

 in the Legislature who worked for railroad rings always got the best 

 of the honest but not posted members. The circumstances surround 

 ing one road were very different from those affecting another. It was 

 about as difficult to adjust a railroad tariff as it is a protective tariff, 

 and many are not inclined to do it for the same reason. Charles 

 Francis Adams regarded relief under this head as hopeless. The par 

 liamentary committee of 1872 considered that legal maximum rates 

 afforded little real protection, since they are always fixed so high that 

 it was, or became sooner or later, the interest of the companies to 

 carry at lower rates. But the speaker thought that a uniform maxi 

 mum passenger rate of three cents per mile would relieve the public 

 and prevent a good deal of extortion, without much, if at all, diminish 

 ing the gross receipts of the roads. He had known a relatively better 

 business to follow such a course. If the Illinois Central were legal 

 ized to carry at three cent a mile, it would be for its benefit. The 

 rates on freight, especially on local business, were far above a reason 

 able maximum rate. They were, before the first of July, 4.72 cents 

 per ton per mile, and 2.16 cents for through rates, so that as a tem 

 porary recourse they should have legislation giving reasonable maxi 

 mum rates on freight. They wanted the cheapest rates obtainable. 

 Any thing which added to the cost of transportation aggravates the 

 tax, and any thing which reduces it, removes one more burden from 

 hnman toil. &quot; It was not enough,&quot; says Drake, &quot; that there should be 

 free movement for thought ; free movement for the people themselves 

 was equally as important.&quot; Travel increased as its cost diminished ; 

 whatever, therefore, operated as a tax on locomotion is inconsistent 

 with the highest principles of State policy. 



