Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/28

 During a crowded legislative session how can it determine and put into law a schedule of prices for oil and coal or of railroad rates? Even if this were possible, are we not basing all on the presumption that the legislature is willing and ready to do our will? It is not so simple as this; as an editorial in the Chicago Tribune, commenting on recent events in the state of Illinois, expresses it:

It is not so easy to get regulation from the legislature as it may seem. The people who possess Force use it in this connection as freely as they use it elsewhere, and the legislative machinery is not yet so complete that it always follows the wishes of the people.

The judges? Can we turn to them? Well, the Man in the Street looks dubious when you ask him. This matter of contract in relation to monopoly has somehow been strangely muddled in the courts; we are still looking in vain for any real relief from that quarter. The truth is, that the judges are like the legislators; even if they are clear-brained and brave enough, how can they fix the price of gas at ninety instead of ninety-five cents? What means have they for studying carefully every cog in the great machinery of commerce? They were not constituted for this duty, and as umpires can scarcely assume