484 



ILLINOIS. 



opinion that " what is a reasonable rate of freight over 

 a railroad is at best a mere matter of opinion depending 

 on a great variety of complicated facts, which but few 

 persons could intelligently investigate, and which it 

 w_ould be wholly in the power of the company to fur- 

 nish or withhold." 



In 1873 the present law to prevent extortion and un- 

 just discrimination in rates charged for transportation 

 of passengers and freight on railroads in this State 

 was passed. It was prepared and passed with the de- 

 cision of the Supreme Court in the case of The People 

 vs. the Chicago and Alton Kailroad Company fresh in 

 the minds of the members of the General Assembly, 

 and every suggestion made by the Court was observed. 

 The Commission since its establishment has brought 

 many important suits against railroad corporations 

 for alleged violation of law, and obtained judgments 

 in the lower courts. In one of these, against the Il- 

 linois Central Eailroad Company, for unjust discrimi- 

 nation in the matter of delivery of grain upon the 

 track and to elevators, a judgment of $1,000 and costs 

 was obtained. The judgment was paid by the com- 

 pany, and the unjust discrimination discontinued. 

 At that time the railroads charged six dollars per car- 

 load more for delivering grain on the track than to 

 an elevator. Since then the railroads have discon- 

 tinued this practice. The action of the Commission- 

 ers in stopping this abuse has resulted in an annual 

 saving to the grain-raisers of Illinois of vast sums of 

 money. Other cases won by the people were appealed 

 to the Supreme Court. The judgment in one of these 

 was reversed, but in the opinion delivered by the 

 Court, as two of the dissenting Justices assert, tho 

 constitutionality of the act is assumed, and an intima- 

 tion is given that it will bo sustained when its merits 

 are discussed; but the law has not yet been passed 

 upon by the Court, and the fact must therefore bo ap- 

 parent that the Commissioners can not act under the 

 existing condition of things with the confidence they 

 would possess if the law had been decided by the 

 highest tribunal in the State to be constitutional. 



Notwithstanding the difficulties experienced by the 

 Commissioners, there has been rapid progress made 

 in Illinois toward a settlement of the railroad question 

 through their agency. 



In 1871 the Kailroad and "Warehouse Commission 

 was established. Its creation was resisted both by 

 railroad corporations and public warehousemen, and 

 after its organization they treated it with little consid- 

 eration. They_ refused to recognize its authority. But 

 after the decision by the Supreme Court of tho United 

 States declaring the doctrine that the Government 

 may regulate the conduct of the citizens to each other, 

 ana, when necessary for the public good, the manner 

 in which each shall use his own property, the railroad 

 corporations and public warehousemen began to grow 

 less determined in their opposition to the attempts to 

 control thenij until now there is very little opposition. 

 They now give prompt attention to requests of the 

 Commissioners for the correction of abuses called to 

 its notice by their patronsj and thus the Commis- 

 sioners not only settle questions arising between rail- 

 r6ad corporations and their patrons, T>ut it may as 

 truthfully be said of this as of the English and Massa- 

 chusetts Commissions, that the very fact of its exist- 

 ence _has put an end to many of the abuses formerly 

 practiced by such corporations which were angrily 

 complained of by the people. The Commission has 

 also, in some instances, shown to complainants that 

 the hardships complained of were not the fault of the 

 railroad companies, but. resulted from causes affecting 

 the markets outside of railroad control and interfer- 

 ence. 



It is a curious fact that the conclusion reached by 

 the English statesmen in 1874 was reached in Illinois 

 in 1873 the conclusion that railroad companies ought 

 to have the right to control their own affairs, fix their 

 own rates of transportation, be free from meddlesome 

 legislation, and, as it has been expressed, work out 

 their own destiny in their own way, just so long as 

 they show a reasonable regard for th'e requirements 



of the community. An analysis of the railroad law 

 will prove this. It recognizes the right of a railroad 

 company to establish its own rates for the transporta- 

 tion of passengers and freight over its railroad, pro- 

 vided that in doing so it neither extorts from nor un- 

 justly discriminates against any_ of its patrons : and 

 that questions of unjust discrimination may be deter- 

 mined, it declares what shall be unjust discrimination 

 prima facie ; and that complaints of extortion may be 

 determined, the law provides a way to make the cor- 

 poration complained about produce the facts on which 

 is based the opinion of what is a reasonable rate on its 

 road. This is done by requiring the Eailroad and 

 Warehouse Commissioners to prepare schedules of 

 reasonable maximum rates for the transportation of 

 freights and passengers on each of the railroads of the 

 State, and in every suit against a railroad corporation 

 are made prima facie evidence that the rates fixed by 

 the Commission are reasonable maximum rates. By 

 this process a corporation that has made a rate that is 

 complained about as extortionate is compelled to prove 

 that the rate is reasonable. In this way the law says 

 to the railroad company, You may charge what you 

 please if you can show, when your charges are ques- 

 tioned, that they arc reasonable. In other words, the 

 General Assembly has attempted to take the burden of 

 proof from the shoulders of the complainants in a suit 

 against a railroad company for extortion, and put it 

 on the shoulders of the defendant ; and it has done 

 this because the Supreme Court has said that " what 

 is a reasonable rate of freight over a railroad is at best 

 a mere matter of opinion, depending on a great varie- 

 ty of complicated facts, possessed only by the railroad 

 company, and which it may furnish or withhold." 

 The Legislature lias attempted to make the possessors 

 of the facts furnish them for the use of courts and 

 juries. It is true the Supreme Court has said that the 

 schedules of rates are something more than evidence, 

 that they are facts upon which actions against rail- 

 roads must be based. But the Legislature did not in- 

 tend to absolutely fix maximum rates. The Legisla- 

 ture intended to establish a standard of what is fair 

 and reasonable in the charges made in the transac- 

 tions of railroad business ; it was intended to allow 

 the roads to charge all they ought to, and devise a 

 method by which a determination could be reached, 

 when any one should complain that they were charg- 

 ing more than in fairness they ought to charge. 



In conclusion he said : 



In my judgment, if the Commission were dispensed 

 with by the Legislature, difficulties would soon arise, 

 agitation would commence again, and controversies 

 would run riot. New legislation would follow, another 

 board of some kind would soon be created, and the 

 track we have just passed over wo_uld be again trav- 

 eled by the people's representatives. The Board 

 should be sustained in the interest of all the people. 

 Instead of being destroyed, it should be strengthened. 

 It should not only have the authority witli which it is 

 now vested, but more ; it should be made a legal arbi- 

 trator in all matters of controversy between railroad 

 companies and warehouses and their patrons, and 

 should be required to make examination of roads, and 

 be invested with authority to compel reparation of un- 

 safe or defective bridges, culverts, track, and rolling 

 stock. S. M. CULLOM, Governor. 



The railroads of the State which reported to 

 the Commissioners, courting double and single 

 tracks, etc., own 18,477 miles, of which 12,934 

 are laid with iron. During 1878 920 miles of 

 steel and 293 of iron were laid. Forty-three 

 corporations with 14, 475 '02 miles of road re- 

 port $364,145,683.95 capital stock. Of this, 

 $59,684,277.56 is preferred, and is reported by 

 fourteen companies. Eight roads make no capi- 

 tal stock returns. Six of these are in the hands 

 of receivers. During 1878 dividends were 



