Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/199

 observer that the legislation of the Twenty-second General Assembly has had most gratifying results.

“Railroads have been called into being by the people to promote the common welfare and the State can tolerate neither usurpation of power nor conspiracy on the part of its creatures. We are building for the future and the importance of keeping intact those principles which lie at the foundation of every government of, for and by the people cannot be overestimated.”

This closing message of Governor Larrabee to the General Assembly clearly reviews the lengthened conflict which had been going on between the railroad managers and the people for more than twenty years. Numerous attempts had been made during this period by the representatives of the people, to bring the powerful corporations directly under legislative control but without permanent success. The cooperation of the Governor and the Twenty-second General Assembly had at last brought a remedy for most of the extortions of the railroads which had long oppressed the people. The legislation of that General Assembly, which had been strongly urged by the Governor in devising and applying the control by law to these corporations, has stood the test of time and the courts. It has become the settled policy of the State, has inflicted no wrong upon the railroads and has been of inestimable benefit to the people. The evil effects of attempts to influence public officials with free passes still remains so strongly intrenched that all attempts to eradicate that dangerous form of bribery have failed.

The Governor made a powerful argument in his retiring message for the maintenance and enforcement of the prohibitory laws and against the establishment of legalized saloons in Iowa by any kind of license. He states the following facts in support of his position:

“While the number of convicts in the country at large rose from one in every 3,442 of population in 1850 to one in every eight hundred sixty in 1880, the ratio in Iowa is at present only one to every 3,130. The jails of many counties are now empty a good portion of the year and the number of convicts in our penitentiaries has been reduced from seven