388 Meyer—Early Railroad Legislation in Wisconsin. 
legislature busy even if no other business had been brought be- 
fore it. Again and again charters were passed in quick succes¬ 
sion, differing in their provisions so widely that it seems impos¬ 
sible that the same legislature could have granted them. How 
a dangerous law could be steered through the legislature, was 
well illustrated by the consolidation act. Amendments to 
charters could usually be obtained, securing grants of power 
previously denied, or which could now serve the purposes of 
manipulators the better. To incorporate in a charter provis¬ 
ions which had been provided for by general legislation seems 
not to have attracted the least attention. The passage of spe¬ 
cial laws on subjects covered by general laws previously enacted 
is one of the extraordinary features of our legislative history. 
Madison , Wis ., November , 1898. 
