RAILWAY LEGISLATION 13! 



sections of the act all dealing in futures was forbidden, but these 

 sections were repealed by the next general assembly in 1869.! 

 The warehouse article of the constitution of 1870 2 defined 

 public warehouses; and made it obligatory on railroad companies 

 to weigh or measure grain at points where shipped, to receipt 

 for it, and to deliver the shipment to the consignee provided 

 his warehouse was connected with the tracks of the railroad 

 company; and all railroad companies were to permit such con- 

 nections to be made by any warehousemen. This article also 

 contained mandatory sections by which it was made the duty 

 of the legislature to pass laws for the inspection of grain,' for the 

 regulation of warehouse receipts, and to give effect to this article; 

 " which shall be liberally construed to protect producers and 

 shippers." 



The Illinois constitution of 1870 was submitted to the people 

 for approval as a whole and a number of its sections were sub- 

 mitted for separate vote. The vote on the constitution as a 

 whole was 134,227 for and 35,443 against. Among the sections 

 submitted for separate vote were those relating to railroads, 

 which were approved by vote of 144,750 to 23,525; and those 

 relating to warehouses, which were approved by vote of 143,- 

 532 to 22,702. In only three of the one hundred and one coun- 

 ties, namely, Hardin, Jackson, and Union, all in the extreme 

 south, was there a majority against the railroad sections. 3 



THE LEGISLATION OF 1871 



The duty of giving effect to the railroad and warehouse pro- 

 visions of the new constitution fell upon the twenty-seventh 

 general assembly, which convened in January, 1871. This 

 general assembly contained an unusually large number of farmers, 

 who banded themselves together in a "Legislative Farmers' 

 Club " and worked unitedly for railroad and other legislation 



1 Public Laws, 1867, pp. 177-183; 1869, p. 410. An act regulating the trans- 

 portation of grain had also been passed in 1865. See ibid., 1865, p. 75. 



2 Article XI. 



3 Debates, ii. 1894. 



