THE FARMER AND THE RAIfKOADS. 175 



omitting repetitions. The citizens of each state can obtain 

 the reports of their own states. 



Farmers, while insisting upon disclosure of all railroad 

 secrets, and fully informing themselves as to what is now 

 known, should work for the strengthening of the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission by the legislation which it has asked 

 for, but which Congress refuses to give, and for the strength- 

 ening, in certain directions, of state commissions. In the 

 newer states the railroad commissions are usually objects of 

 public contempt— and this whether honest or dishonest. They 

 are usually expected to accomplish the impossible, and having 

 foolislily accepted office must suffer the consequences. I do 

 not see how a good railroad commissioner can ever be evolved 

 from the tumult of a political convention, but it is a fact that 

 good men are often both nominated and elected to those 

 places. The trouble is apt to be with their mental calibre. 

 They are expected to become advocates, and are not usually 

 able to cope with the intellectual forces against them. 



The true functions of a railroad commissioner are not 

 those of an. advocate, but of an investigator and judge. A 

 railroad commissioner can not make a freight tariff. He does 

 not know how. Just classifications and rate sheets must be a 

 matter of growth. The railroads must make their own tariffs, 

 and the commissioners must hear complaints, and decide 

 them after due hearing, ordering such changes as may seem 

 just. The decisions once made, and upheld, if contested, l)y 

 the courts, must be enforced relentlessly, and at all hazards, 

 by the people, whether in favor of the complainants or against 

 them. When decisions are just, as they usually will be, the 

 railroads will, in nearly all cases, promptly comply with them. 

 What the farmer must do, therefore, to secure justice from the 

 railroads, is: First, insist upon finding out and publishing 

 whatever the railroads desire to keep secret. Secondly, study 

 the railroad question from original official documents; no 

 other publications, especially if controversial, are of much 

 value. Third, insist upon strong national and state commis- 

 sions, with full power and wide discretion in investigation 

 and review. Fourth, get good men into those positions. Fifth, 

 sustain them when they are there. 



