Railway Legislation in
the United States

BY

BALTHASAR HENRY MEYER, PH.D.

PROFESSOR OF INSTITUTES OF COMMERCE
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

H52710

Z3M3

NERAL
COPYRIGHT, 1903,

BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up, electrotyped, and published June, 1903.

Norwood Press

J. S. Cushing & Co. - Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

PREFACE

THE aim of this volume is to present a condensed analysis of the private and public laws which govern railways in the United States, and of the important decisions relating to interstate commerce. Statements and comments are based upon actual analysis and in large part upon analytical tables of charters and laws enacted in the various states. These tables present so many typographical difficulties that it was not thought expedient to publish them.

Chapter IV of the Introduction originally appeared in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, for January, 1902; and chapters II, III, and IV of Part III appeared in the Political Science Quarterly for September, 1902. The author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to the editors of these publications for their courtesy and kindness in permitting the use of this material in the present volume. Part II was included in a more general form in a report published in Volume IX of the Report of the

United States Industrial Commission, "Railway Regulation under Foreign and Domestic Charters.' It is hoped that the addition of specific references will add to the value of this material in the present volume.

MADISON, WISCONSIN,
January 12, 1903.

B. H. MEYER.

PREFACE

CONTENTS

PART I

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RAILWAYS

Railways as creators of a new world

Extent of the railway system of the United States

The beginnings of railways in different countries

Railways in the employ of nations.

CHAPTER II

PAGE

V

I

3

4

5