344 Meyer—Early Railroad Legislation in Wisconsin. 
ever known in a legislative body before. Members .... were 
met on the threshold by others who said to them, ‘We have 
measures of our own to get through, and there are others the 
success of which we wish to prevent; we are strong now, but 
wish to be sure ;—if you will vote throughout the session as we 
wish, your bills shall pass.’ We know this to have been said, in 
effect, to more than one member, and to have succeeded. 
Scarcely one measure has succeeded or failed because of its 
merits or demerits; but all depended upon the sort of bargain 
which had been made. The people are likely enough to pay 
dearly for this novel style of legislation. ” 
But the bill itself deserves attention. It was entitled “A Bill 
to authorize the formation of Bail Road Corporations and to reg¬ 
ulate the same, ,;1 and was, excepting slight variations due to 
differences in administrative and judicial officers of the two 
states, an exact copy of the General Railroad Law of New York 
of 1850. Several sections of the bill, contained in the New 
York law, were struck out in the committee; and the provi¬ 
sions relating to the relation of railroads to the Erie Canal were 
omitted, as were also the seven paragraphs of the New York law 
describing the manner of serving notices in cases of expropria¬ 
tion; but with these and several other minor exceptions, the 
Wisconsin bill was a literal transcription of the New York law. 
As will be seen by an examination of the law, many of its pro¬ 
visions are identical with provisions of the best Wisconsin char¬ 
ters, although it is much more comprehensive than any single 
charter, and a number of its provisions are not contained in any 
one of the charters granted during the period which has been 
discussed. Among the latter are the provisions (§12) on the 
payment of laborers, on the payment of a certain sum per mile 
1 The original bill, with marks and changesof the committee, is on file in 
the office of the secretary of state. No printed copies, or even excerpts, 
are known to me. On the title page the clerk recorded the following: 
“ Introduced by Mr. Wright. Ref’d to select com. of 5 to act with Com. of 
Senate March 7; Cate, Wright, Barber, Tweedy, Bell. Rep. favorable & 
ord print March 14; Wright mo. take up & made special order, laid over 
under rule, March 26; taken up & made the special order for June 6th, 
March 31; Laid on Table June 8th.” 
