RAILWAY LEGISLATION 2OI 



ization was actively engaged in agitating for railroad regulation 

 in Pennsylvania. 



In Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, however, the sentiments of 

 the farmers on the railroad question were somewhat the same as 

 in Illinois and Wisconsin and they made use of their organiza- 

 tions to agitate for restrictive legislation, but without any 

 considerable success. A law was enacted in Ohio in 1873 fixing 

 a maximum freight rate of five cents per ton mile and containing 

 a " short haul " clause; 1 but no provision was made for its enforce- 

 ment and the agitation on the part of the farmers' organizations 

 continued. 2 When the state grange met for its first annual 

 session in 1874, a proposition to ask for reduced rates on the 

 return fare was voted down on the ground that the members 

 should not put themselves under obligations to the railroad 

 companies. This was followed up at the next session in March, 

 1875, by a resolution demanding legislation to subject railroad 

 corporations to the control of state authority, 3 but the legislature 

 failed to respond. 



In Indiana a somewhat similar situation prevailed. The 

 state grange complained of the mismanagement of railroads 

 in 1873, and in 1874 adopted a resolution asking for laws to make 

 the railroads " serve the people instead of ruling them, and com- 

 pel them to carry passengers and freights at rates in proportion 

 to the actual cost of the road, and local in proportion to through 

 freights"; 4 but no legislation of the sort was secured during 

 the decade. Michigan enacted a law in 1873 establishing a 

 single commissioner with supervisory powers and limiting 



1 Cullom Committee, Report, i. 119; Wisconsin Railroad Commission, Reports, 

 1874, p. 80. Ohio had a single railroad commissioner with advisory powers as early 

 as 1867. Ibid. In January, 1873, a state agricultural convention requested 

 legislation to limit freight and passenger charges and prevent discrimination. 

 Cincinnati Semi-Weekly Gazette, January 10, 1873. This may have had some 

 influence on the ensuing legislation. 



2 Chicago Tribune, June 18, 1873, p. 5. See also Cincinnati Semi-Weekly Gazette, 

 September 26, 1873, P- 5 ("The Ohio Campaign") and October 28, 1873, P- 4 

 ( " Capturing the Grangers " ). 



3 Ohio State Grange, Proceedings, i. 9, 22, 26 (1874), ii. 19, 27 (1875); Ellis, in 

 Ohio Farmer, c. 472 (December 19, 1901). 



4 Prairie Farmer, xliv. 403 (December 30, 1873); Indiana State Grange, Pro- 

 ceedings, iv. 30 (November, 1874). 



