ion ought to be enlarged so
as to enable it to compel the railroad companies to improve their
tracks and bridges, when, in the judgment of the Commission, such
portions of railroads become unsafe. The Railroad Commissioners
act as arbitrators between the railroad companies and their patrons;
and in the Commissioners' report they say they have succeeded in
settling most of the complaints made to them in a manner satisfactory
to all the parties to the controversies.

"In my judgment if the Commission were dispensed with by the
Legislature, difficulties would soon arise, agitation would commence
again, and controversies would run riot. New legislation would
follow, another board of some kind would soon be created, and the
track we have just passed over would be again travelled by the
people's representatives.

"The Board should be sustained in the interest of all the people.
Instead of being destroyed it should be strengthened. It should
not only have the authority with which it is now vested, but more.
It should be made a legal arbitrator in all matters of controversy
between railroad companies and warehouses and their patrons; and
it should be required to make examination of roads, and be invested
with authority to compel reparation of unsafe and defective bridges,
culverts, track, and rolling-stock.

"(Signed) S. M. Cullom,
"Governor."

My experience, as Chief Executive of the State, with the practical
workings of the Railroad and Warehouse Law, clearly demonstrated
to me that a State statute, no matter how drastic it might be, was
utterly inadequate to meet the evils complained of, and that
effective regulation must be Federal and not State, or probably
Federal and State combined. Some of the States had attempted to
exercise control over interstate traffic which originated in the
State, but it seemed perfectly clear from a long line of decisions
of the Supreme Court, beginning with _Gibbons_ vs. _Ogden_, and
continuing with _Reading Railway_ vs. _Pennsylvania; Baltimore and
Ohio_ vs. _Maryland_, and many other cases, that the States as such
had no control over interstate commerce. But it was not until our
own Illinois case (_Wabash Railroad_ vs. _Illinois_), that the
Supreme Court settled it once and for all. It was clearly stated
in that case that the power of Congress was exclusive, and the
Court said that, "notwithstanding whatever _dicta_ might appear in
other cases, this court holds now and has ne