CURBING THE RAILROADS 53 



legislators were more subtle. Whether or not the 

 numerous charges of bribery were true, railroad 

 favors were undoubtedly distributed among well 

 disposed legislators . In Iowa passes were not given 

 to the senators who voted against the railroads, and 

 those sent to the men who voted in the railroads' 

 interest were accompanied by notes announcing 

 that free passes were no longer to be given gener- 

 ally but only to the friends of the railroads. At 

 the session of the Iowa Legislature in 1872, four 

 lawyers who posed as farmers and Grange members 

 were well known as lobbyists for the railroads. The 

 senate paid its respects to these men at the close of 

 its session by adopting the following resolution : 



WHEREAS, There have been constantly in attendance 

 on the Senate and House of this General Assembly, 

 from the commencement of the session to the present 

 time, four gentlemen professing to represent the great 

 agricultural interest of the State of Iowa, known as the 

 Grange ; and 



WHEREAS, These gentlemen appear entirely destitute 

 of any visible means of support; therefore be it 



RESOLVED, By the Senate, the House concurring, 

 that the janitors permit aforesaid gentlemen to gather 

 up all the waste paper, old newspapers, &c., from under 

 the desks of the members, and they be allowed one 

 postage stamp each, The American Agriculturist, What 

 Greeley Knows about Farming, and that they be per- 



