52 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



upheld by the state supreme court late in 1874. 

 They then began a campaign for its repeal. Though 

 they obtained only some modification in 1875, they 

 succeeded completely in 1876. 



The contest between the railroads and the farm- 

 ers was intense while it lasted. The farmers had 

 votes; the railroads had money; and the legislators 

 were sometimes between the devil and the deep sea 

 in the fear of offending one side or the other. The 

 farmers' methods of campaign were simple. Often 

 questionnaires were distributed to all candidates for 

 office, and only those who went on record as favor- 

 ing railroad restriction were endorsed by the farm- 

 ers' clubs and committees. An agricultural con- 

 vention, sometimes even a meeting of the state 

 Grange, would be held at the capital of the State 

 while the legislature was in session, and it was a 

 bold legislator who, in the presence of his farmer 

 constituents, would vote against the measures they 

 approved. When the railroads in Illinois refused 

 to lower their passenger rates to conform to the law, 

 adventurous farmers often attempted to "ride for 

 legal fares," giving the trainmen the alternative 

 of accepting the low fares or throwing the hardy 

 passengers from the train. 



The methods of the railroads in dealing with the 



