148 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



act of 1871, which took no account of direction. It further 

 differed from that act and this was in line with the dictum 

 of the supreme court in the McLean County case in providing 

 that such discriminating rates should be taken merely as prima 

 facie evidence of the unjust discrimination prohibited by the 

 act. This allowed the company to bring forward evidence to 

 show the justness of the discriminating rate, but the section 

 contained an express declaration that the existence of competi- 

 tion at certain points should not be deemed a sufficient justifi- 

 cation for discrimination. A proviso at the end of the section 

 permitted the issuing of " commutation, excursion or thousand- 

 mile tickets." 



Sections 4 and 5 provided for the enforcement of the law by 

 actions in the name of the state to recover fines ranging from 

 not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand 

 dollars for the first offence to twenty-five thousand dollars for 

 the fourth or subsequent offenses. Section 6 gave action to 

 the aggrieved party also for the recovery of three times the 

 amount of the damages sustained, together with costs and 

 attorney's fees. Section 7 made it the duty of the railroad 

 commission " to personally investigate and ascertain whether 

 the provisions of this act are violated " and " to immediately 

 cause suits to be commenced and prosecuted against any rail- 

 road corporation which may violate the provisions of this act." 

 This was important as giving the initiative to the commission 

 and relieving it of dependence upon aggrieved shippers, who 

 might fear retaliation on the part of the railroad company. 1 



By section 8 of this act the commission was directed to prepare 

 a schedule of maximum rates for the transportation of pas- 

 sengers, freight, and cars, upon each railroad; which rates 

 should be taken, after January 15, 1874, as prima facie evidence 

 of reasonableness in all suits involving charges of railroad com- 

 panies. Such schedules were to be revised by the commission 

 from time to time as circumstances might require. Although 

 this solution of the railroad problem was roundly condemned, 

 especially in the eastern states, as an attempt to fix rates by 



1 Railroad Commission, Reports, 1873, p. 21. 



