Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/192

 managers until after the amended bill became a law. It is recognized as the keystone of the arch of Iowa railway legislation.

The railway companies appealed to the Federal Courts to enjoin the Commissioners from putting into effect the schedule of freight rates adopted by the Board; but, as before indicated, the new laws had been so carefully prepared that the corporations had little expectation of having them set aside. A few months later litigation was suspended; the Commissioners’ rates were accepted by the roads and peaceful relations were finally established between the people of Iowa and the railroads.

The ruin predicted in some quarters as certain to result from the legislation of 1888, did not ensue. The loss of revenue to the companies foretold by the opponents of moderate rates did not take place. On the contrary the Iowa earnings of the railroad companies doing business in the State were increased by several million dollars per annum. This effect of establishing such local freight rates as would permit the people of Iowa to interchange their products among themselves had been predicted by the framers of the measures, and justified the prediction.

Futile efforts have been made by the railway companies to secure a reversal of the popular verdict, and by the reformers to carry the movement into National politics; but the public has failed to respond to either of these appeals, and within a few years the railroad question has substantially disappeared from the politics of the State. The attempt to abolish free passes over railroads to public officials was again defeated; but railroads were required to fence their tracks and keep the fences in repair. The Twenty-second General Assembly will be long remembered for the inestimable service it rendered to the people, in the framing and enactment of laws controlling railroads which have proved to be wise, just and beneficial.

James F. Wilson was elected to the United States