FARMERS ORGANIZE FOR ACTION 163 



provided the rates were not made so low as to 

 amount to the confiscation of property. 



The farmers of the West had won a great victory, 

 both in legislative halls and in the courts of the 

 country. They demonstrated their political strength 

 and revealed the power of concerted action. Had 

 they possessed continuous coherence, their influence 

 would have been more permanent and helpful in 

 securing social justice for themselves and the farm- 

 ers of future generations. But it was in this respect 

 that they revealed their weakness. The passing of 

 the era of financial depression weakened the spirit 

 of class consciousness among the farmers composing 

 the Grange. The influence of the organization 

 gradually declined as prosperity slowly returned and 

 their grievances disappeared. 



An aftermath of the Granger conflict with the 

 railroads came in 1886. In the case of the Wabash 

 Railroad vs. Illinois, the United States Supreme 

 Court partially reversed its former decision in the 

 "Granger Cases" and held that the states had no 

 power to regulate interstate commerce. For a time 

 it seemed that the principal work of the Granger 

 movement had been brought to naught. Some of 

 the most stringent laws regulating rates were re- 

 pealed gradually by the states. But the principle 

 that railroads are quasi-public corporations and 

 subject to regulation in the interest of public welfare 

 had been recognized too long to be disregarded. In- 

 stead, therefore, of a complete reversal of policy in 



