656 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



question and reserved its decision, affirming the constitutionality 

 of the laws, for more than a year after the test case (Muuii v. 

 Illinois] was argued. The gist of the decision is in the following 

 words : 



When one devotes his property to a use in which the public has an interest, 

 he, in effect, grants the public an interest in that use, and must submit to be 

 controlled by the public for the common good to the extent of the interest he 

 has thus created. 



The decisions in this, and the six other " Granger " cases, were 

 pronounced by Chief-Justice Waite, Justices Field and Strong 

 dissenting. 



In the courts the farmers were victorious. But, unfortunately, 

 the Supreme Court does not pass upon economic laws, and to 

 these the movement had already succumbed. By the time the 

 cases were decided, in 1876-1877, scarcely one of the statutes in 

 question remained in force. In the second year under the Potter 

 law, no Wisconsin road paid a dividend, and only four paid 

 interest on their bonds. Foreign capitalists refused to invest 

 further in the state. On the recommendation of the governor, 

 the very men who had passed the law hurriedly repealed it. In 

 the next year Mr. Potter faded out of American politics, and his 

 place in the Senate was rilled by another. Most of the other 

 states also beat a precipitate retreat, poorly covered by a faint 

 demonstration against unreasonableness in general. 



So the victors were beaten, and bad times made the defeat 

 seem worse than it was. But they claim, and not without reason, 

 to have done lasting good. The attitude of railroad corporations 

 is very different from what it was twelve years ago. More of 

 the old grievances have disappeared than is generally supposed. 

 To this movement we owe the railroad commissions found in so 

 many states. How much they are worth is, of course, a matter 

 for dispute. The power of the railroads to reward or punish is 

 so real and present, while that of the people at large is so indef- 

 inite and far away, that it is not strange if the ordinary commis- 

 sioner inspires about the same terror as does the gingerbread 

 lion. Of late the Grange, forgetting its record, has been claim- 

 ing the credit for all the good accomplished. It is gravely 



