of the effectiveness of state action. The continental
lines, necessarily long and traversing several States, emphasized the
inequality between the powers of a State and the problem to be met.
Their national character pointed to national control.

In Congress there were repeated attempts after 1873 to secure the
passage of an Interstate Commerce Act. In continuation of this campaign
a committee headed by Senator Shelby M. Cullom, of Illinois, made a new
investigation in 1885, and reported early in 1886 that supervision and
publicity were required, and that these could best be obtained through a
federal commission with large powers of taking testimony and examining
books. The committee was convinced, as the public was already convinced,
that the problem had become national.

The Supreme Court reached the same opinion in 1886 when it handed down a
new decision in the case of the Wabash Railway Company vs. Illinois.
Here it reversed or modified its own decision in the Granger Cases. In
1877 it had ruled that railways are subject to regulation and that the
States under their police powers may regulate. It now adhered to its
major premise, but declared that such regulation as affected an
interstate rate is exclusively a federal function. In effect it
determined that if there was to be regulation of the great systems it
could only be at the hands of Congress.

The regulation of interstate commerce was not a party measure. It had
its advocates in both parties, and found its opponents in the railroad
lobby that resented any public interference with the business of the
roads. The railway owners and directors were slower than the public in
accepting the doctrine of the quasi-public nature of their business. It
was a powerful argument against them that their size and influence were
such that they could and did ruin or enrich individual customers, and
that they could make or destroy whole regions of the West. Enough
positive proof of favoritism existed to give point to the demand that
the business must cease to discriminate.

The Interstate Commerce Act became a law February 4, 1887. It created a
commission of five, with a six-year term and the proviso that not more
than three of the commissioners should belong to one party. It forbade a
group of practices which had resulted in unfair discrimination and gave
to the commission considerable powers in investigation and interference.
The later interpretation of the law deprived the