RAILWAY LEGISLATION 



duty of the Legislature to pass laws, fixing reasonable rates 

 for freight and passengers without classification of roads." 

 Riding on the railroads at " legal fares " was endorsed by the 

 convention, and it was further declared that, the supreme court 

 having pointed the way by which unjust discrimination might 

 be reached, no reason existed for delay on the part of the legis- 

 lature. 1 Shortly after the adjournment of this convention, 

 the House passed, by vote of 123 to 10, a bill " to prevent extor- 

 tion and unjust discrimination in the rates charged for the 

 transportation of passengers and freight on railroads in this 

 state, and to punish the same and to prescribe a mode of pro- 

 cedure and rules of evidence in relation thereto." The Senate 

 amended this before passing it by vote of 36 to 6 but a conference 

 committee quickly effected a compromise and the bill was signed 

 by the governor and became law on May 2, 1 8 73.* 



The Illinois railroad law of 1873, which repealed and super- 

 seded the act of 1871 relating to unjust discrimination and 

 extortion, has remained the basis of railroad control in that 

 state to the present day and has served as a model for legislation 

 in other states, so it will be well to examine its provisions with 

 some care. 3 The first two sections of this act declared that 

 any railroad company charging more than a fair or reasonable 

 rate of toll or compensation should be deemed guilty of extortion, 

 and any railroad company making an unjust discrimination 

 should be deemed guilty of having violated the provisions of 

 the act; in either case, the company should, upon conviction, 

 be dealt with as provided in the act. Section 3 defined dis- 

 crimination in great detail so as to cover every possible difference 

 in charge between persons and places for the same service in 

 the same direction. In this latter particular it differed from the 



1 These resolutions are to be found in the American Annual Cyclopedia, 1873, 

 p. 367, and in Periam, The Groundswell, 286-289. 



2 House Journal, 1873, pp. 503, 576, 598, 656, 680, 691, 725; Senate Journal, 

 1873, pp. 336, 353, 359-364, 380, 590, 606-610, 613-616. 



3 The act is in Illinois, Revised Statutes, 1874, pp. 816-820 and in Railroad Com- 

 mission, Reports, 1873, PP- 162-167. It was omitted from Public Laws, 1873, 

 together with other of the acts of 1873 which were included in the Revised Statutes 

 of 1874. 



