rt, including such statements, facts and
explanations as will disclose the actual working of the system of
railroad transportation in its bearing upon the business and prosperity
of the commonwealth, and such suggestions as to its general railroad
policy, or any part thereof, or the condition, affairs or conduct of any
railroad corporation, as may seem to it appropriate." This board also
had the general supervision of all railroads and power to examine the
same. It was required to give notice in writing to any railroad
corporation which, in its judgment, was guilty of any violation of the
railroad laws of the State; and if such company continued the violation,
after such notice, it became the duty of the commission to present the
facts to the Attorney-General. It was further made the duty of the board
to examine, from time to time, the books and accounts of all railroads,
to see that they were kept in a uniform manner, and upon the system
prescribed by the board. It was also required to investigate the cause
of any accident on a railroad resulting in loss of life. These being the
principal duties of the board, its powers were very limited; but its
personnel supplied the power which the law had withheld. The success of
this commission exceeded even the expectations of the advocates of the
system, who, in view of the limited powers of the commission, had
anticipated but meager results.

To quiet the Granger movement the railroads favored and finally secured
the adoption of the commissioner system in the West, and South, in which
sections it attained its highest development. It was soon found that a
commission after the Massachusetts model, when composed of men less
competent or less disposed to do their duty, was liable to dwindle into
a statistical board or even become a pliant tool in the hands of the
railroads. Furthermore, the conditions in Massachusetts, where railroad
owners and railroad patrons lived side by side and were in many
instances even identical, differed materially from those found in the
West and South, where railroad patrons were made to pay excessive rates,
to produce liberal dividends on fictitious stocks for non-resident
stockholders. Here a conflict between the railroads and such commissions
as were determined to do their duty became often unavoidable. Railroad
companies were as a rule disposed to disregard the recommendation of a
commission to reduce exorbitant rates. This led in those States which