REVISION OF THE LAWS.

801

life were alike irreproachable, that as soldier and civilian his character was unsmirched, the honor conferred upon him in his election to the United-States senate may be regarded as simply a recognition of his ability as a leader and his worth as a man. Under a law of the preceding legislature, Harvey B. Hurd, Michael Schaeffer, and William E. Nelson had been constituted a board to revise the public laws, and required to report to the twenty-seventh general assembly. The adoption of the new constitution had rendered it impracticable for the commissioners to draft and complete an entire code and they had been instructed by the judiciary committees of both houses to prepare bills to be acted upon separately. Nelson having been elected to a seat in the house, the work devolved upon the other two members after the meeting of the legislature. The commission accordingly from time to time reported for legislative action bills of revision for various laws. It also assisted in framing some new statutes. Those measures whose passage was required by the new constitution, regarding the regulation of railroads and warehouses, first claimed attention.

The proposition of the governor at the previous session, as stated in his veto of the bill "establishing fixed rates for railroads," that a railroad charter "in all essential circumstances takes upon itself the qualities of a contract, and at that instant passes from legislative and becomes subject to judicial control," that such a contract can not be impaired; and that "what is reasonable for the transportation of passengers under any given circumstances, must, in the nature of things, be dependent upon facts that can be investigated only in tribunals organized for that purpose," was now restated in his message, in the following form: "The denial that the State has the power, acting through the appropriate department as determined by its constitution, to control the management of railway corporations and to regulate the rates imposed by them as public common carriers so as to prevent extortion, oppression, favoritism, and unjust discriminations against or in favor of localities and individuals -or to investigate their management and prevent the employment of the vast sums of money under their control for the purpose of corruption-is to assert that a power has grown up in the State greater than the State itself, and makes an issue

that the representatives of a free people can not, without the most palpable disregard of their duty, avoid."

The new measures on this subject were promptly taken up in the senate and passed. These were as follows: to establish a board of railroad-and-warehouse commissioners, passed Feb. 13; an act to prevent unjust discriminations and extortions in the rates to be charged by the different railroads in this State, passed March 3.

Large bodies move slowly. Both parties in the house seemed to lack distinct aggressive leadership. Refusing to agree with the senate in its bill establishing reasonable maximum rates of railroad charges, on January 30, that body substituted for it one of its own which was passed, March 21. The other bills from the senate were not finally acted upon until just before the adjournment. There was no controversy over either of these measures, one of them passing the senate with no votes recorded against it, while the number of negative votes in the house did not on either measure exceed ten.

The only one of the laws reported by the revision commission adopted at this session, was that relating to attachments. In addition to the usual appropriations, however, a few new laws of importance were passed, as follows: to create a department of agriculture; to make the Illinois Eye-and-Ear Infirmary at Chicago a state institution-the trustees having transferred their property to the State for this purpose; and to provide for the construction and protection of drains, ditches, and levees.

The limitation as to the length of the sessions of the general assembly having been removed, the impression seemed to be that they were to last as long as the convenience of the members might dictate. On April 7, it was resolved by the house, and afterward concurred in by the senate, that the general assembly should take a recess from April 17 to November 15. In anticipation of this action, the mayor and common council of Chicago, backed up by a meeting of the citizens, invited the legislature to hold its adjourned session in that city, guaranteeing that "ample and suitable provision should be made for the accommodation of both houses of the legislature and the executive, free of expense to the State." Extraordinary as the proposition was, involving in effect the removal of the

PROPOSED REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL.

803

state- capital and being in violation of an express statute declaring that all sessions of the general assembly should be holden at Springfield, such was the temper of the members in relation to pending legislation and such their local surroundings, that it was carried-in the house by a vote of 97 to 44 and in the senate by 22 to 18. Nineteen senators filed a protest, setting forth, at length, their reasons for opposing this action. Both houses adjourned for the seven months' recess on April 17.

The subject which excited the greatest interest and strongest feeling at this session, and which doubtless largely influenced the action above mentioned, was that of the removal of the capital, which question had been again reopened by the introduction of a bill appropriating $600,000 to carry forward 'the work on the new building. Opposition to its passage sprang up, as extensive and powerful as it was unlooked for. The city of Peoria came forward with a proposition to remove the seat of government to that city offering to reimburse the State the amount already expended-over $800,000-to donate an eligible and attractive plat of ground, containing ten acres, as a site for a new building, and to furnish free of rent for five years accommodations for the meetings of the general assembly. The offer was so munificient, and so lavish was the hospitality extended to the members who had accepted an invitation to make a free excursion to the proposed new capital and see for themselves the advantages of the suggested location, that a sentiment in favor of removal was developed which proved as formidable as it was persistent. The fight was made against the appropriation bill, which must be first defeated, and so successfully was it conducted that the recess was reached without the appropriation being made.

Not only had this measure failed, but others equally important, which demanded early action, among them that providing for the ordinary and contingent expenses of the state government, as well as those fixing the salaries of the judges of the circuit courts and regulating the compensation by fees or by salaries of all state, county, and township officers; and providing for the government and management of the state penitentiary. The expenses of this institution had exceeded its revenue, and it was largely in debt. Its management had been the