RAILWAY LEGISLATION 233 



always they seem to be mere assertions without any attempt to 

 present positive proof either by the use of statistics or in any 

 other way. On the other hand, the proceedings of granges 

 and other agricultural organizations, the Grange press, 1 the 

 messages of Granger governors, 2 and the reports of the Granger 

 railroad commissions, 3 are equally filled with contrary assertions 

 and with equal absence of conclusive proof. 



This controversy did not end with the cessation of the Granger 

 movement. The railroad forces seized upon the Potter law and 

 kindred acts as " horrible examples " to hold before the people 

 whenever there appeared to be any danger of legislative inter- 

 ference; or, as A. B. Stickney, himself a railroad president, 

 expressed it, " the Granger laws have served the purpose of a 

 ' bloody shirt ' to conceal incompetence in railway management 

 for twenty years at least." 4 The railroad side of the argument, 

 moreover, occupied a conspicuous place, 5 while the Granger side 



157 (1873-75). Some of these statements are inconsistent with the statistics 

 presented in ibid. xx. i (July i, 1875). See also American Exchange and Review, 

 xxv. 393 (August, 1874). For the attitude of local papers, see Evansville (Wis- 

 consin) Review, September 22, 29, 1875, quoted in Lea, Grange Movement in Wis- 

 consin (Ms.), 31-34- 



1 Grange Bulletin (Wisconsin), October, 1875. 



2 See especially the annual message of Governor Taylor of Wisconsin, January 

 15, 1875 in Governor's Message and Accompanying Documents, 1875, i- 24-33. 

 Governor Newbold of Iowa in 1878 declared that " during the years 1874, 1875, 

 and 1876, the increase of railroad mileage in Iowa was greater, both absolutely and 

 relatively, than in either of our sister states on the north and west, while those of 

 our neighbors that showed most decided increase were Illinois and Wisconsin, both 

 having laws regulating railroads." Iowa, Legislative Documents, 1878, i. no. u, 

 p. 27. 



3 " No contemplated roads have been to our knowledge, abandoned because the 

 State has assumed to protect its citizens from ' extortion and unjust discrimina- 

 tion.' On the contrary, new roads were opened with remarkable rapidity where- 

 ever there seemed a remote chance of reimbursement up to the time of the panic in 

 September, 1873." Illinois Railroad Commission, Reports, 1876, p. 12. See also 

 ibid. 18-21, 1872, p. 18, 1875, PP- 1T > 22. 



4 Stickney, Railway Problem, 121. 



6 For example, C. F. Adams, " The Granger Movement " in North American 

 Review, cxx. 394-424 (April, 1875), though apparently judicial in spirit really pre- 

 sents a very distorted view of the movement and its effects. This and the articles 

 and editorials in the Nation have undoubtedly been the principal sources of the 

 views of later writers. 



