RAILWAY LEGISLATION I S3 



any serious abuses in railway charges within the state, but not 

 interfering to any considerable extent with the business of the 

 companies. 1 



The railroads, meanwhile, had not been satisfied with opposing 

 the enforcement of the law in the courts; they had also made 

 every possible effort to secure its repeal or modification. The 

 campaign having this end in view can be considered under two 

 headings; conciliation and " education." Apparently the rail- 

 roads hoped to disarm public opposition by better treatment, 

 and at the same time to " educate " public opinion to appreciate 

 the disadvantages of the law and the policy it embodied to the 

 country. An instance of the more gracious attitude of the 

 companies is seen in their ready cooperation with the railroad 

 commission in its efforts to settle disputes and adjust grievances 

 by arbitration. During the many years in which the protection 

 of the shippers and the traveling public by the means provided 

 in the law was prevented by the delay of the courts, the railroad 

 commission followed a plan similar to that which had been 

 developed by the Massachusetts commission, of endeavoring 

 to adjust grievances by arbitration. Whenever complaints 

 of overcharge, discrimination, or other unjust treatment were 

 received from shippers, these were carefully investigated by the 

 board and, if found well-grounded, the board acted as an inter- 

 mediary, in presenting them to the railroads for adjustment. 

 The companies, possibly in the hope of having this kind of 

 regulation substituted for the more burdensome and in the end 

 more effective regulation embodied in the law of 1873, accepted 

 almost invariably the recommendation of the commission with 

 regard to these complaints. 2 It is quite likely that this practice 

 contributed materially to the allaying of that antagonism to 



1 Railroad Commission, Reports, 1876, p. 22, 1879, pp. v-viii, 269, 1880, p. 18; 

 Governor's message in Senate Journal, 1877, p. 19, House Journal, 1877, p. 30. 

 The revision of the schedule was undertaken in 1881 in response to a request from 

 the general assembly in the form of a resolution. The new schedules fixed a uni- 

 form passenger fare of three cents a mile for all roads, and for freight rates the 

 roads were divided into but two groups. Railroad Commission, Reports, 1881, 

 pp. 15-20. 



2 Ibid., 1872, p. 10, 1877, p. xx, 1878, p. xvii, 1879, p. 267. 



