RAILWAY LEGISLATION 23! 



is applied, should be given credit for inaugurating the first 

 important movement for federal regulation of railways. This 

 movement, though unsuccessful in itself, was a forerunner of 

 and paved the way for the more extensive agitation which 

 finally produced the interstate commerce act. 



EFFECTS 



In concluding this survey of the Granger railroad legislation, 

 there are a number of questions of a controversial nature which 

 present themselves for consideration: (i) to what extent did 

 the Granger laws accomplish their purpose of securing reduction 

 and equalization of rates; (2) what was the effect of the legis- 

 lation upon the business of the railroad companies; (3) to what 

 extent did it prevent the construction of additional railroad 

 lines ? 



Some attention has already been devoted to the first of these 

 questions in the preceding chapters and it is clear that several 

 of the laws could have had practically no direct effect in reduc- 

 ing or equalizing rates, because they were not enforced. In the 

 cases where the laws were enforced, there can be no doubt that 

 they did, for the time being, effect some very material reductions 

 in rates and put an end to some of the most glaring discrimina- 

 tions between persons and places. 1 On the other hand, the rail- 

 road companies took advantage of every loop-hole in the law 

 or schedules to make their charges more instead of less burden- 

 some, not so much for the purpose of increasing their revenues 

 as with the idea of making the laws themselves unpopular. 2 

 The period, moreover, during which the laws were in force 

 was generally very short indeed, because of their hasty repeal, 

 and in case they did remain in force for any considerable length 

 of time, as in Illinois, it seems probable that competition and 

 other economic forces would have effected reductions in the 

 rates without the operation of the laws. In general, then, it 

 appears that the direct results of the laws in reducing rates were 



1 Illinois Railroad Commission, Reports, 1875, P- 22 > l8 7 6 > P- 12; Appleton's 

 Cyclopedia, 1878, p. 579. 



2 See above, pp. 154, 163, 175. 



