IOWA. 



445 



that whenever any common carrier shall violate or 

 >r neglect to obey any lawful order or require- 

 ment of the said Board of Kailroad Commissioners, it 

 shall be the duty of said commissioners, and lawful 

 for any company or person interested in such order or 

 requirement, to apply in a summary way. by petition 

 to the District or Superior Court . . . alleging such 

 violation or disobedience as the case may be ; and the 

 said court shall have power to hearand'determine the 

 matter. 011 such short notice to the common carrier 

 complained of as the court shall deem reasonable . . . 

 and said court shall proceed to hear and determine 

 the matter speedily as a court of equity and without 

 the formal pleadings and proceedings applicable to 

 ordinary suits in equity, but in suchlnanner as to do 

 justice i'n the premises': . . . and on such hearing the 

 report of said commissioners shall be prima-fa 

 dence of the matter therein, or in any order made by 

 them stated ; and it it be made to appear . . . that the 

 order or requirement of said commissioners in ques- 

 tion has been violated or disobeyed, it shall be lawful 

 for such court to issue a writ of injunction, or other 

 proper process mandatory or otherwise, to restrain 

 such common carrier from farther continuing such vio- 

 lation or disobedience ; . . . and in case of any disobe- 

 dience of any such writ, it shall be lawful for such courts 

 to issue writs of attachment, or any other process of said 

 court incident or applicable to writs of injunction or oth- 

 er proper process, and said court may, if it shall think 

 fit, make an order directing such common carrier or 

 other person so disobeying ... to pay such sum of 

 money not exceeding for each carrier or person in de- 

 fault 'the sum of one thousand ($1,000) dollars for 

 every day after a day to be named in the order that 

 such carrier or other person shall fail to obey such in- 

 junction or other proper process mandatory or other- 

 wise . . . and the payment thereof may without prej- 

 udice to any other mode of recovering the same be 

 enforced by attachment or order, in the nature of a 

 writ of execution, in like manner as if the same had 

 been recovered by a final decree in personam in such 

 court. 



Another section provides as follows: 



The Board of Railroad Commissioners of this State 

 are hereby empowered and directed to make for each 

 of the ra'ilroad corporations doing business in this 

 State, as scon as practicable, a schedule of reasonable 

 maximum rates of charges for the transportation of 

 freight and cars on eacli of said railroads, and said 

 power to make schedules shall include the power of 

 classification of all such freights, and it shall be the 

 duty of said commissioners to make such classifica- 

 tion ; provided, that the said rate* of charges to be so 

 fixed by said commissioners shall not in any case 

 exceed the rates which are or may hereafter be "estab- 

 lished by law ; and said schedules so made by said 

 commissioners shall in all suits brought against any 

 such railroad corporations, wherein is in any way in- 

 volved the charges of any such railroad corporation 

 for the transportation of any freight or cars or unjust 

 discrimination in relation thereto be deemed and taken 

 in all courts of this State as /,rim<.i- facie evidence that 

 the rates therein fixed are reasonable and just maxi- 

 mum rates of charges for the transportation of freight 

 and cars upon the railroads for which said schedules 

 may have been respectively prepared. 



Said commissioners shall from time to time, and as 

 often as circumstances may require, change and revise 

 said schedules, subject to the same provision that the 

 rates fixed are not to be higher than now or hereafter 

 established by law. 



Annual reports from the various railroad 

 companies are also required. 



Another act requires all railroads in the 

 State to be fenced, and a third makes the Board 

 of Railroad Commissioners more directly re- 

 sponsible to the people by providing that the 



members shall be chosen "by popular election. 

 A full board shall be chosen in November, 

 1888, and one member thereof each year sub- 

 sequently. 



The ne\v railroad act went into effect on 

 May 10, and in accordance with its pro\ 

 the commissioners soon thereafter prepared 

 and published a schedule of maximum freight 

 rates, which should go into effect on July Id. 

 These rates, being on an average over 20 per 

 cent, below the previous schedule rates, were 

 strenuously opposed by the railroads. Imme- 

 diately upon their publication, certain of the 

 roads applied to Judge Brewer, of the United 

 States Circuit Court, for a temporary injunc- 

 tion against their enforcement by the com- 

 mission. This was granted, and July 5 was 

 set as the day for a hearing upon the matter. 

 On that day the question of the reasonableness 

 of the rates and the constitutionality of the 

 new act was argued before Judge Brewer, who, 

 on July 26, decided to continue the temporary 

 injunction till a further hearing and more ex- 

 tended evidence should be given as to the 

 reasonableness of the schedule. Meanwhile, 

 the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad 

 had applied to Judge Fairall. of the district 

 court at Iowa City, for an injunction on the 

 same ground, that the rates tixed were nn- 

 unreasonably low. The judge granted a tem- 

 porary injunction, which the commissioners 

 moved to have dissolved. The hearing and 

 arguments on this motion consumed nearly a 

 week. Late in August, Judge Fairall rendered 

 his decision, denying the motion, whereupon 

 the commissioners appealed to the State Su- 

 preme Court, where the case was argued in 

 October. Early in September the opponents 

 of the railroads, anticipating that the com- 

 missioners would not be able to enforce their 

 schedule until after a long litL'tirfon, if at all, 

 adopted a new method of securing a reduction 

 of rates, under a section of the same act. which 

 provides that on complaint of a person or class 

 of persons that the charges of any common 

 carrier are too high, the commissioners shall 

 investigate, bear all parties interested, and fix 

 a reasonable rate. The shippers of Davenport, 

 Dubuque, and Burlington entered complaints 

 under this section with the commissioners; 

 these complaints were heard separately, and 

 the decision, signed by two of the three com- 

 missioners, was published a few days before 

 the November election. The rates established 

 were somewhat higher than the corresponding 

 rates of the July schedule. No sooner had the 

 commissioners announced their decision than 

 the Chicago. Burlington and Quincy Railroad, 

 and one other road interested, obtained from 

 Judge Brewer a temporary injunction against 

 the enforcement of these new rates. The hear- 

 ing upon the continuance of this injunction 

 was set for December 11 at Minneapolis, at 

 which time the various questions involved 

 were argued ; but no decision had been made 

 by Judge Brewer before the end of the year. 



