ILLINOIS. 



407 



filed l.y t ho defendants. Prior to the May term, 

 dot'. -admits' council procured a writ of certi- 

 \ I'ri.in the Circuit, Court of tin- lulled 

 States, under the provisions of the act of Con- 

 of April 20, 1871, entitled "An act to 

 t-nforco the provisions of the fourteenth amend- 

 ment t<> tli<' ( (institution of the United States, 

 and tor other purposes 11 (commonly known as 

 the " Ku-kluz " act), commanding the transfer 

 of the suit from the State to the Federal court. 

 At the May term the State court, after full 

 : nt on the part of each party, declined 

 y the mandate of the writ of certiorari, 

 ami the defendants refusing to appeal or other- 

 \\ ;-e appear, except as amid curia, the cause 

 \v:is tried and a judgment obtained in favor of 

 t!u- people for three thousand dollars and costs. 

 [Uently the defendants ohtained a writ 

 of error and supersedeat by which the cause 

 was taken to the Supreme Court of the State, 

 where it was pending for hearing at the Janu- 

 ary term, 1876. 



At the June term of the United States Cir- 

 cuit Court very full arguments were submitted 

 by counsel for the respective parties, to the full 

 bench, consisting of Judge David Davis, of the 

 Supreme Court of the United States, and Judges 

 Drummond and Treat, upon the proceedings 

 instituted in that court by the writ of certi- 

 <-<<ri, and a decision rendered quashing the 

 writ and dismissing the proceedings. From 

 this decision the defendants have taken an ap- 

 peal to the Supreme Court of the United States, 

 where it is now pending. Thus is presented the 

 anomaly of the same case pending in the two 

 courts at the same time. 



In his message to the Legislature of 1875, 

 Governor Beveridge discusses at length the 

 policy of the State toward railroads. He says : 



The law to prevent extortion and unjust discrim- 

 ination in the rates charged for the transportation of 

 passengers and freights on the railroads in this State, 

 lias been in force about eighteen months, and the 

 schedules prepared by the Railroad and Warehouse 

 Commissioners, in pursuance of said law, have been 

 in force little less than one year. 



The policy of a State interfering with private en- 

 terprise, or undertaking to manage the affairs of its 

 citizens, is controverted. This law makes no such 

 interference, and undertakes no such management. 

 It only seeks to correct abuses by preventing extor- 

 tion and unjust discrimination. Framed in accord- 

 ance with the decision of the Supreme Court, it fol- 

 lows the principles of the common law. It does not 

 declare any particular act to bo an unjust discrimina- 

 tion, but it declares certain acts to be prima facie 

 evidence of unjust discrimination. It does not pre- 

 scribe any rate to be charged, or declare any rate un- 

 reasonable or extortionate, but makes the schedules 

 prepared by the commissioners prima facie evidence 

 of what is a reasonable maximum rate of charges. 

 It docs not controvert a single principle of the com- 

 mon law, except to change the rule of evidence, and 

 to throw the ourden of proof upon the defendant, 

 and the question whether such an act is an unjust 

 discrimination, or such a charge in extortionate, is to 

 be determined by a court and jury, upon the facts 

 proved under the law. 



Repeal this act, and every principle of the law re- 

 mains, save that the burden of proof would be upon 

 the plaintiff, and there would be no statutory penal- 



ties affixed to a verdict of guilty of extortion or un- 

 junt diaurimination. 



In deference to the law and public opinion, the 

 railroad corporation* of the State have, in the main, 

 ceased their unjust discriminations ; at least but few 

 complaints have been heard, and few have been 

 made to the commissioners ; and on some lines the 

 rates of charge conform nearly to the nchedules pre- 

 pared and published by the commiHsioncrs, and on 

 lines the rates have been materially lessened. 

 Greater courtesy and a better spirit of accommoda- 

 tion, on the part of railroad officials and employe's, 

 have tended to create a kindlier feeling between the 

 producing classes and the transportation lines. 



Railroads have developed the ^ resources of the 

 State, have increased our population, have added to 

 our wealth, have brought sections of country distant 

 from markets into close proximity with the markets 

 of the world, and they are indispensable to the wel- 

 fare of our commercial, manufacturing, and farming 

 interests. 



No legislation should be had to embarrass railroad 

 companies in operating their roads, to impose upon 

 them unnecessary burdens, to cripple their energies, 

 to prevent them from charging and collecting reason- 

 able rates, and receiving full remuneration for proper 

 repairs and cost of economical operation, and a rea- 

 sonable compensation upon a fair valuation of their 

 property ana for the risk run. 



On the other hand, they should be subject to legis- 

 lative control, so far as to submit to proper police 

 regulations, to pay their proportion or taxes, to af- 

 fora safe and reasonable facilities in the transporta- 

 tion of persons and property, to secure economy in 

 administration, to prohibit wasteful expenditures and 

 corrupt management, and to prevent unjust die- 

 criminations and unreasonable or extortionate rates 

 of charges. 



Entertaining these views, I approve of the rail- 

 road legislation of the State, and of the continuance 

 of the Board of Railroad and Warehouse Commis- 

 sioners, representing the State, and standing between 

 the people and these mammoth corporations. 



The Railroad Commissioners, in pointing out 

 the benefits to the public from the operation of 

 the law, say that " the railroad companies sel- 

 dom now, asheretofore they were in the constant 

 habit of doing, unjustly discriminate in favor 

 of one point on the line of their road to the det- 

 riment of another ; nor do they practise to 

 the same extent as formerly that objectionable 

 sort of favoritism to individual shippers that 

 has been in the past the cause of so much com- 

 plaint, and was doubtless the principal, if not 

 indeed the prime, cause of the enactment. 

 "While this law has not as yet accomplished a 

 full reformation as to the extortion, we think 

 it may safely be claimed that it has in a great 

 measure put an end. to unjust discrimination. 

 It is gratifying to observe, also, that several of 

 the roads have regulated their charges to cor- 

 respond, if not exactly, very nearly, with that 

 of the rates fixed in the schedules of the com- 

 missioners ; and that the aggregate charges of 

 all the roads in the State, taken upon the same 

 amount of business done, are less than before 

 the passage of the law mentioned. In the suits 

 already named, instituted chiefly for the pur- 

 pose of testing the questions in dispute, it will 

 be observed that in every instance where the 

 courts have passed upon the question, the law 

 has been sustained." 



The Legislature held an adjourned session, 



