CURBING THE RAILROADS 47 



as common carriers enjoying right of way, were 

 bound to carry freight on equal and reasonable 

 terms. When the Legislature of Iowa turned over 

 to the railroad companies lands granted by the 

 Federal Government, it did so with the reservation 

 that the companies should be subject to the rules 

 and regulations of the General Assembly. Thus 

 these States were fortified not only by arguments 

 from general governmental theory but also by 

 written articles, more or less specifically phrased, 

 on which they relied to establish their right to 

 control the railroads. 



The first gun in this fight for railroad regulation 

 was fired in Illinois. As early as 1869, after several 

 years of agitation, the legislature passed an act de- 

 claring that railroads should be limited to "just, 

 reasonable, and uniform rates, " but, as no provi- 

 sion was made for determining what such rates 

 were, the act was a mere encumbrance on the 

 statute books. In the new state constitution of 

 1870, however, the framers, influenced by a grow- 

 ing demand on the part of the farmers which mani- 

 fested itself in a Producers' Convention, inserted a 

 section directing the legislature to "pass laws to 

 correct abuses and to prevent unjust discrimina- 

 tion and extortion in the rates of freight and 



