RAILWAY LEGISLATION 1 75 



that time forth all the energies of the railroad interests were 

 directed toward securing a repeal of the law. Here as in the 

 other Granger states every effort was made to convince the 

 people that the law was disadvantageous to shippers and 

 the general public as well as to the railroads. At that time, it 

 was generally supposed that the state's right to regulate rates, 

 so far as it existed at all, extended to the part of an interstate 

 shipment which was within the state, and most of the Granger 

 laws were drawn with this idea in view, but it was soon found 

 that in actual practice such regulation could not be made effec- 

 tive. It was a very simple matter for the railroad companies, 

 although nominally charging legal rates on the part of a ship- 

 ment within the state of Iowa, to make the charge for the whole 

 through shipment as high or higher than before the law went 

 into effect. Through rates to Chicago were actually raised 

 in this manner on many commodities, especially on agricultural 

 products, and the public was given to understand that this 

 was due to the operation of the law. 1 Again, railroads which 

 had hitherto competed strenuously for traffic at various points 

 seemed to forget their rivalries in the face of the danger of state 

 control, and thus points which had previously enjoyed very 

 low competitive rates frequently found their rates raised to the 

 maxima allowed by the law. 2 Here again the railroad officials 

 could point to the law as the source of the evil, and with a good 

 deal of truth, for the equalization of rates had been one of its 

 avowed objects. As a result of this manipulation and of some 

 inherent defects in the schedule, a considerable sentiment was 

 soon built up in the state in favor of the repeal of the law. 



On the other hand, although the order of Patrons of Husbandry 

 had begun to decline, the Granger sentiment in the state con- 

 tinued strong for a couple of years longer, and stood back of the 

 governor in his efforts to secure compliance with the law. 3 The 

 political parties, also, continued to demand the control of 



1 Senate Journal, 1876, pp. 157-165; Cullom Committee, Reports, ii. 1057; 

 Applelon's Cyclopedia, 1878, p. 446. 



2 Larrabee, Railroad Question, 333 ; Dixon, State Railroad Control, 28. 



* Iowa State Grange, Proceedings, v (1874); Prairie Farmer, xlv. 211 (July 4, 



1874). 



