CHAPTER V 



GRANGER RAILWAY LEGISLATION (CONTINUED) 



MINNESOTA l 



THE agitation in Illinois for railroad regulation was paralleled 

 by similar movements in several of the neighboring states. 

 Minnesota, however, was the only other state in which a 

 stringent law was enacted as early as 1871. The construc- 

 tion of railroads in this state began in 1862, and they were 

 welcomed with open arms as the most effective agents for the 

 development of its resources. By 1872 nearly two thousand 

 miles were in operation. 2 From the first, however, there seems 

 to have been a premonition of the evils which would result 

 from giving the railroads too free a hand. In the constitution, 

 under which the state was admitted in 1858, section 2 of Article 

 IX forbade the formation of companies under special acts; and 

 section 4 of the same article, in providing for the exercise of 

 the right of eminent domain for the benefit of transportation 

 companies, declared that " all corporations being common 

 carriers, enjoying the right of way in pursuance of this section, 

 shall be bound to carry the mineral, agricultural, and other 

 'productions and manufactures on equal and reasonable terms." 

 A section of the general railroad incorporation act passed by the 

 legislature in 1858 limited the charges of companies organized 

 under its provisions to three cents per mile for passengers and five 

 cents per ton mile for freight. 3 The demand for more railroads 

 was so strong during the sixties that any attempt to enforce such a 

 measure would have met with disapproval as tending to interfere 

 with railroad construction and the act was soon superseded by 

 another which required merely that charges should be reasonable. 



1 See R. S. Saby, Railroad Legislation in Minnesota, 1849 to 1875. This was 

 published too late to be of use in the preparation of this section. 



2 Minnesota Railroad Commissioner, Reports, 1871, pp. 5-9; American Annual 

 Cyclopedia, 1872, p. 543. 



3 Minnesota, General Laws, 1858, p. 170. 



ISO 



