from transporting
a product which it had produced or mined, "except such articles or
commodities as may be necessary and intended for its use in the conduct
of its business as a common carrier"--this clause was intended to end
the railroad monopoly of the coal mines--and made the failure to observe
published tariffs a crime punishable with imprisonment. The amended law
did not give the commission the right to fix rates in the first instance
but did empower it, on complaint, to investigate charges and on
the basis of this investigation to determine just maximum rates,
regulations, and practices, though carriers were given the right of
appeal to the courts.

* The Elkins Act of 1903 had, it is true, increased the
effectiveness of the commission in dealing with discriminations, but it
had not solved the problem of securing reasonable rates.

Thus, in essence, the public had obtained the reform which it had been
demanding for years. The reorganized commission did not hesitate to
exercise its new powers. It soon began actually fixing rates, and from
being a half-alive despised institution it rapidly developed into one
of the most powerful agencies of administration. In the succeeding ten
years its powers were still further enlarged by acts of Congress and the
privilege of fixing charges practically passed out of the hands of the
railroads into the control of the Interstate Commerce Commission. The
railroads, that is, practically lost the power to regulate their own
income. Meanwhile, the progressive movement in American politics had
led to the creation of commissions in most of the States, with similar
authority over rate making within the States, besides exercising
numerous other powers over service and capitalization. Many railroads
fell upon evil days and receiverships again became common. Naturally the
railroad managers attributed these calamities to the fact that they were
so constantly being regulated; but they probably pushed this claim too
far, for the causes of their troubles were more complex.

In 1916, in the heat of a political campaign, the Federal Government
took a step which introduced a new principle into railroad management
and made the roads practically helpless. The four brotherhoods of
railroad operatives were making demands for a so-called eight-hour day,
and threatened a general strike that would paralyze all business and
industry and throw the whole life of the nation into chaos. Properly to