198 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



The control of this body was in the hands of the Kearneyite 

 or Workingmen's party aided by the organized farmers of the 

 state, and the outcome, so far as railroad regulation was con- 

 cerned, was the enactment of the most radical provisions ever 

 embodied in a state constitution. 1 All railroad and other 

 transportation companies were declared to be common carriers 

 and subject to legislative control; and the granting of passes 

 to state officers, pooling with other carriers, and discrimination 

 between places or persons, were prohibited. The constitution 

 also made provision for an elective railway commission with the 

 power of fixing maximum rates, which should be deemed by the 

 courts to be conclusively just and reasonable. A law along 

 the line of these provisions was enacted in 1880; but the agita- 

 tion which had produced them soon died down, and the commis- 

 sion does not appear to have subjected the management of 

 railroads to any considerable restrictions. 2 



In Oregon also, the Patrons of Husbandry were active in 

 demanding railroad regulation during the seventies, and the 

 farmers' Independent party, which played a considerable part 

 in the election of 1874, declared for legislation fixing railroad 

 charges. 3 In 1875, the platforms of all three parties, Democratic, 

 Republican, and Independent, declared for legislation to control 

 railroads; 4 but no law was forthcoming. Again in 1876 the 

 state grange denounced the " exorbitant rates " and " oppres- 

 sive monopoly " of the railroad companies and called upon the 

 local granges to petition the legislature for relief. 5 Nothing 

 was accomplished by this agitation, and it was not until 1885 

 that a restrictive railway measure was enacted in Oregon. 6 

 On the other hand, a reflection of the Granger railway legislation 

 of the North Central states is seen in the railroad provisions 

 of the constitution adopted by the new state of Colorado in 



1 Bancroft, California, vii. ch. xv; Thorpe, Constitutions, i. 437-442; Cullom 

 Committee, Report, i. 86. 



2 Cullom Committee, Report, i. 87; Bancroft, California, vii. 399, 403-406. 



3 Chicago Tribune, April 17, 1874, p. 5. 



4 Appleton's Cyclopedia, 1875, p. 609. 



6 Oregon State Grange, Proceedings, iii. 16, 22, 42 (September, 1876). 

 8 Cullom Committee, Report, i. 119. 



