of lowering them to the level of the lowest, the commissioners were
directed to establish a schedule of maximum rates; and the charging of
rates higher than these by any company after January 15, 1874, was to be
considered prima facie evidence of extortion. Other provisions increased
the penalties for violations and strengthened the enforcing powers of
the commission in other ways. This act was roundly denounced at the
time, especially in the East, as an attempt at confiscation, and the
railroad companies refused to obey it for several years; but ultimately
it stood the test of the courts and became the permanent basis of
railroad regulation in Illinois and the model for the solution of this
problem in many other States.

The first Granger law of Minnesota, enacted in 1871, established fixed
schedules for both passengers and freight, while another act of the same
year provided for a railroad commissioner. In this instance also the
companies denied the validity of the law, and when the state supreme
court upheld it in 1873, they appealed to the Supreme Court of the
United States. In the meantime there was no way of enforcing the law,
and the antagonism toward the roads fostered by the Grange and
the Anti-Monopoly party became more and more intense. In 1874 the
legislature replaced the Act of 1871 with one modeled on the Illinois
law of 1873; but it soon discovered that no workable set of uniform
rates could be made for the State because of the wide variation of
conditions in the different sections. Rates and fares which would be
just to the companies in the frontier regions of the State would be
extortionate in the thickly populated areas. This difficulty could
have been avoided by giving the commission power to establish varying
schedules for different sections of the same road; but the anti-railroad
sentiment was beginning to die down, and the Legislature of 1875,
instead of trying to improve the law, abandoned the attempt at state
regulation.

The Granger laws of Iowa and Wisconsin, both enacted in 1874, attempted
to establish maximum rates by direct legislative action, although
commissions were also created to collect information and assist in
enforcing the laws. The Iowa law was very carefully drawn and appears to
have been observed, in form at least, by most of the companies while it
remained in force. In 1878, however, a systematic campaign on the part
of the railroad forces resulted in the repeal of the act. In