132 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



desired by the farming classes. 1 The governor now recom- 

 mended vigorous measures, including the establishment of a 

 board of commissioners to enforce the railroad and warehouse 

 laws. 2 Indeed, most of the members of the legislature, as well 

 as the governor, seem to have " seen the light," and the various 

 railroad and warehouse bills met with little opposition. The 

 legislation proposed and enacted upon these subjects can readily 

 be divided into six different categories: (i) the regulation of 

 passenger fares on railroads; (2) the regulation of freight 

 charges on railroads; (3) the regulation of warehouses; (4) the 

 regulation of the transportation of grain on railroads; (5) the es- 

 tablishment of a board of railway and warehouse commissioners; 

 and finally, (6) the enactment of a general railway incorporation 

 act. Separate acts were passed at the regular session of the 

 twenty-seventh general assembly dealing with each of the first 

 five of these subjects, while the passage of a general incorporation 

 act was postponed to the adjourned session held in the winter 

 of i8yi-72. 3 



The first of these subjects taken up was that of the regulation 

 of passenger fares, and " An act to establish a reasonable 

 maximum rate of charges for the transportation of passengers 

 on railroads in this state " passed the two houses by votes of 38 

 to 7 and 130 to 10, and received the approval of the governor. 4 

 This passenger act of 1871 was an improvement upon the measure 

 vetoed in 1869, in that it provided for the division of railroads 

 into classes based upon their gross earnings per mile, and fixed 

 a sliding scale of maxima for the different classes, ranging from 

 two and pne-half to five and one-half cents per mile. 5 Still it is 



1 Prairie Farmer, xlii. 49, 57 (February 18, 25, 1871); Paine, Granger Movement 

 in Illinois, 20. 



2 Senate Journal, 1871, i. 19-23. Cf. Moses, Illinois, ii. 801; Gordon, Illinois 

 Railway Legislation, 25. 



3 Public Laws, 1871-72. Cf. Gordon, Illinois Railway Legislation, 26. 



4 For the legislative history of this measure, see Senate Journal, 1871, i. 61, 72, 

 82, 85, 99, 102, 104, 117, I2i r 123, 129, 131, 135, 154 (Senate bill passed), 406, 

 418, 443, 445, 450, 468 (House bill passed); House Journal, 1871, i. 209, 236, 332, 

 527, S^g, 545> 55, 5 88 6l2 > 62 7, 631-636 (House bill passed), 704, 724. 



6 Public Laws, 1871-72, p. 640; Gordon, Illinois Railway Legislation, 28; 

 Paine, Granger Movement in Illinois, 21. 



