ILLINOIS. 



407 



2. Bill making it a penal offense for the managers of 

 any railway company to allow a shipper of freight any 

 kind of rebate or drawback whereby such shipper se- 

 cures benefits and advantages over others. 



3. A bill requiring the managers of all railroad com- 

 panies to make a full and complete statement, under 

 oath, to the Railway Commissioners, of the actual cost 

 of their respective railway properties, including equip- 

 ment, and excluding all increase of stock not based 

 upon bo na fide expenditures of construction, and fur- 

 ther requiring such railway managers to make a semi- 

 annual statemant of the gross receipts and expendi- 

 tures, together with the fixed charges of such' roads, 

 and empowering the Railway Commissioners to require 

 of any railway company a reduction if its freight and 

 passenger tariff-earnings (after payment of all fixed 

 charges) for twelve consecutive months shall exceed 

 in amount, the sum required to pay six per cent per 

 annum upon the actual cost of such railways. 



4. A bill changing the present mode of assessing 

 railway property, and containing a provision that will 

 insure in the future such property bearing its fair pro- 

 portion of the burdens of taxation. 



5. A law forbidding unjust discrimination in favor 

 of cities where there are competing lines of railroad, as 

 against cities and stations where there is but one line ; 

 afso preventing discrimination in favor of through 

 freight and passenger traffic, as against local traffic, and 

 in favor of large shippers, as against small shippers. 



6. A bill requiring all railroads chartered by this 

 State to have a stock-transfer office located at some 

 accessible point within the State, and the stock-books 

 to be kept open for the inspection of any stockholders 

 in such company. 



7. A bill making it a penal offense for the managers 

 of any railroad company to issue stock in excess of the 

 cost of such road, after deducting the amount received 

 from the sale of its bonds. Also, promising additional 

 stock based upon an increase or supposed increase in 

 value after completion^ or in any m. inner adding to, 

 or " watering " its capital stock ; and also prohibiting 

 railroad companies from paying dividends upon any 

 such fictitious stock. 



No acts, however, were passad relating to 

 the subjects of these resolutions. 



An unsuccessful effort was also made to ef- 

 feet the passage of a bill known as " the Com- 

 pulsory Education Bill." The bill was intro- 

 duced into the Senate early in the session and 

 referred to the Committee on Education. This 

 committee reported it with a recommendation 

 of its passage. The main feature of the bill 

 was contained in its first section, which was as 

 follows : 



That every parent, guardian, or other person having 

 control and charge of any child or children between 

 the ages of eight and fourteen years, shall be required 

 to send any such child or children to a public school 

 for a period of at least twelve weeks in each school 

 year, which is to commence on the first Monday in 

 September, and at least six weeks of which shall be 

 consecutive, unless such child or children are ex- 

 cused from such attendance by the Board of Edu- 

 cation or school directors of the city, town, or dis- 

 trict, as the case m ly be, in which its parents or 

 guardians reside, upon its haying been shown to 

 their satisfaction that the bodily or mental condi- 

 tion of such child is such as to prevent its attend- 

 ance at school or application to study for the peri- 

 od required, or that such child is taught in a private 

 school or at home, in such branches as are ordinarily 

 taught in the public schools. Provided, that in case 

 a public school shall not be taught for three months 

 during the year within one and one half mile, by the 

 nearest traveled road, of the residence of any such 

 person within the school district, he shall not oo lia- 

 ble to the provisions of this act. 



An important act was passed to prevent and 

 punish the adulteration and sale of any article 

 of food, or drink, or medicine. This act went 

 into operation on July 1st. Its provisions are 

 of a stringent nature. It is based upon the 

 present British statute, which was enacted 

 after an experience of twenty years, in the 

 course of which it was shown that it was not 

 possible to carry statutes of this kind too far. 

 The act of the Illinois Legislature provides that 

 no person shall mix any food or drink with 

 any ingredient so as to render the article in- 

 jurious to health, or to depreciate its value, and 

 that no person shall offer such articles of adul- 

 terated food or drink for sale ; that like adul- 

 terations in medicines shall be unlawful; that 

 no ingredients, even when not of a harmful 

 character, shall be incorporated in any article 

 of food, or drink, or medicine, unless the true 

 name of the ingredients shall be stamped upon 

 the package, or unless the purchaser shall be 

 informed by the seller of the true name of such 

 ingredients ; that no mixture of oleomargarine, 

 fat, or other foreign substance, shall be added to 

 butter or cheese except upon similar conditions. 

 The penalties are, for the first offense, a fine of 

 $25 to $200 ; for the second offense, of $100 

 to $200, or confinement in jail of from one to 

 six months ; for the third offense, fine of from 

 $500 to $1,000, and imprisonment from one to 

 five years. 



This law makes two distinctions : First, that 

 no article which is injurious to health shall be 

 mixed in any manner in any food, or drink, or 

 medicine, under criminal penalties; second, 

 that where harmless ingredients are added, the 

 name of such ingredients shall be clearly 

 marked upon each package, or the seller shall 

 notify the buyer of the adulteration and its 

 character. The first provision makes adulter- 

 ation a crime ; the second makes it a fraud. 

 There of course can be no objection to the ex- 

 clusion from all food of articles of adultera- 

 tions which are positively dangerous to health. 

 It was feared that the provisions of the sixth 

 section might do much to defeat the object of 

 the act. That section provides that no person 

 shall be convicted under the act if he shall 

 show "to the satisfaction of the court or jury 

 that he did not know he was violating the act," 

 and that he could not, with respectable dili- 

 gence, have obtained the knowledge. It in- 

 volves a principle totally at variance with 

 one of the fundamental principles of law. 

 Every man is bound to know the law, and 

 may not plead his ignorance of it, yet this 

 adulteration act permits an accused person to 

 make an exhibit to court and jury of his con- 

 science, his thoughts, and his mental processes. 

 It is difficult to see what standard can be set 

 up by which a court or jury is to be satisfied 

 as to the mental processes of a person who 

 may have dealt in adulterated goods, especially 

 when on trial for a first offense. 



An act was passed to provide such means as 

 would prevent and suppress the spread of 



