The situation thereby created, however, was not only extremely undesirable in the public interest, but it was at bottom extremely dangerous to the railroads.  These companies were constantly extending their mileage, increasing their equipment, improving their terminals, and enlarging their capital stock.  Their operations covered many different states, and their total investments ran far into the hundreds of millions of dollars.  In the meantime they remained subject to one or several different political authorities whose jurisdiction extended over only a portion of their line and a fraction of their business, but who could none the less by unwise interference throw the whole system out of gear, and compromise the earning power of many millions of dollars invested in other states.  Moreover, they could, if they chose, make all this trouble with a comparative lack of responsibility, because only a fraction of the ill effects of this foolish regulation would be felt within the guilty state.  As a matter of fact many railroads had experiences of this kind with the Western states, and were obliged to defend themselves against legislative and administrative dictation, which if it did not amount to confiscation, always applied narrow and rigid restrictive methods to a delicate and complicated economic situation.  Most of the large Eastern and some of the large Western companies purchased immunity from such “supervision,” and were well content; but it was mere blindness on their part not to understand that such a condition, with the ugly corruption it involved, could not continue.  The time was bound to come when an aroused public opinion would undermine their “influence,” and would retaliate by imposing upon them restrictions of a most embarrassing and expensive character.  In so doing the leaders of a reformed and aroused public opinion might be honestly seeking only legitimate regulation; but the more the state authorities sought conscientiously to regulate the railroads the worse the confusion they would create.  The railroad could not escape some restrictive supervision; neither were they obliged wholly to submit to it on the part of any one state.  The situation of a railroad running through half a dozen states, and subject to the contradictory and irresponsible orders of half a dozen legislatures or commissions might well become intolerable.

Just this sort of thing has been recently happening.  The state authorities began to realize that their lax methods of railway supervision were being used as an argument for increased Federal interference.  So the state governments arose in their might and began furiously to “regulate” the railroads.  Commissions were constituted or re-constituted, and extremely drastic powers were granted to these officials in respect to the operation of the railroads, the rates and the fares charged, and their financial policies.  Bills were passed severely restricting the rights which companies had enjoyed of owning the stock of