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enactment of the potter law by robert t daland the legislature of wisconsin enacted the potter law dur ing the session of 1874 the law sought to regulate various railroad practices including the rates charged by some historians this law has been characterized as granger legisla tion others allege that it was written or supported by the rail roads for the purpose of preventing the enactment of any railroad legislation at all on the theory that the act was so extreme that it would not only fail but would carry similar measures down with it let us examine the circumstances surrounding passage of the potter bill in an attempt to determine exactly what forces con tributed to its enactment by 1874 the railroad network blanketed wisconsin the voices which twenty years before had been calling for government to encourage railroads were now equally persistent in their demands for state regulation they1 claimed fraud in the financing of the railroad companies together with discrimination against shippers and exorbitant rates the railroads on the other hand suggested that the high rates were due to unusually high operating costs here in the far west and that fraud and corruption were charges ap plicable only to previous owners the business panic of 1873 increased the need for a solution to the railroad problem but there were political as well as economic factors which affected the enactment of the potter law governor washburn a republican had just been defeated by william r taylor a democrat who had been elected on a platform of reform though the democrats controlled the assembly by a substantial majority the presence of holdover senators left the robert t daland milton a graduate student in political science at the university of wisconsin 1948-49 prepared this paper for the society's 1948 annual meeting held at milwaukee august 19-21 45
Object Description
| Title | Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 33, number 1, September 1949 |
| Article Title | Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 33, number 1, September 1949 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | State Historical Society of Wisconsin |
| Series | Wisconsin Magazine of History ; v. 33, no. 1 |
| Format-Digital | xml |
| Publisher-Electronic | Wisconsin Historical Society |
| Rights | © Copyright 2006 by the Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison, Wisconsin) |
| Publication Date-Electronic | 2006 |
| ISSN | 1943-7366 |
| Identifier-Digital | vol33no010000 |
| Description | This issue includes articles on the origins of public education in Wisconsin, a former stagecoach inn in Waukesha County, and the enactment of laws to regulate railroad rates. |
| Volume | 033 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Year | 1949-1950 |
Description
| Title | 45 |
| Page Number | 45 |
| Article Title | Enactment of the Potter Law |
| Author | Daland, Robert T. |
| Page type | Article home |
| Format-Digital | jpeg |
| Publisher-Electronic | Wisconsin Historical Society |
| Rights | © Copyright 2006 by the Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison, Wisconsin) |
| Publication Date-Electronic | 2006 |
| ISSN | 1943-7366 |
| Identifier-Digital | vol33no010049 |
| Description | Enactment of the Potter Law: This 1874 legislation was the first Wisconsin law to regulate railroad rates. Sometimes called "Granger Legislation" it established the legal right of state government to regulate private industry, a precedent essential to later Progressive Era reforms. The article explains the clash between the railroad corporations and local farmers (organized into the Grange), and how political pressure from both factions affected railroad regulation in the 1870s. The provisions of various drafts of the bill, and their fates in the legislature, are discussed in detail. (10 pages) |
| Volume | 033 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Year | 1949-1950 |
| State/Province | wisconsin |
| Decade | 1870-1879 |
| Subject | legislation; political campaigns; political parties; politicians; railroads; Progressivism (United States politics); farmers; |
| Full Text | enactment of the potter law by robert t daland the legislature of wisconsin enacted the potter law dur ing the session of 1874 the law sought to regulate various railroad practices including the rates charged by some historians this law has been characterized as granger legisla tion others allege that it was written or supported by the rail roads for the purpose of preventing the enactment of any railroad legislation at all on the theory that the act was so extreme that it would not only fail but would carry similar measures down with it let us examine the circumstances surrounding passage of the potter bill in an attempt to determine exactly what forces con tributed to its enactment by 1874 the railroad network blanketed wisconsin the voices which twenty years before had been calling for government to encourage railroads were now equally persistent in their demands for state regulation they1 claimed fraud in the financing of the railroad companies together with discrimination against shippers and exorbitant rates the railroads on the other hand suggested that the high rates were due to unusually high operating costs here in the far west and that fraud and corruption were charges ap plicable only to previous owners the business panic of 1873 increased the need for a solution to the railroad problem but there were political as well as economic factors which affected the enactment of the potter law governor washburn a republican had just been defeated by william r taylor a democrat who had been elected on a platform of reform though the democrats controlled the assembly by a substantial majority the presence of holdover senators left the robert t daland milton a graduate student in political science at the university of wisconsin 1948-49 prepared this paper for the society's 1948 annual meeting held at milwaukee august 19-21 45 |