375.  Federal  Union,  Jan.   7,   1871,   p.   1,  c.   4;  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,
Jan.  5,  1871,  p.   1,  c.  1;  Jan.   6,  p.  1,  c.  1.
376.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Jan.  5,   1871,   p.   1,  c.  1.
377.  Ibid..  Jan.  6,  1871,  p.  4,  c.  1  and  2.
378.  Ibid.,   p.  4,  c.   2.
96  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS.
with  anxiety  for  a  notice  of  the  fact  that  the  honorahle  mem-
ber from has  introduced  a  bill  regulating  the  rate  of

charges  by  railroad  companies  for  passage  and  transporta-
tion."^''-*

Governor  Austin  in  his  message  to  the  legislature  again
took  up  the  railroad  question  and  discussed  it  at  length.''®"
Since  his  inaugural  address  his  ideas  concerning  railroad  regu-
lation had  become  more  definite.  After  further  investigation
he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  system  of  freight  tariffs
and  elevator  charges  practised  l)y  some  of  the  railroads  Avas
unjustifiable,  extortionate  and  o}>pressive  to  the  last  degree.
