Page:The truth about the railroads (IA truthaboutrailro00elli).pdf/268

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE TRUTH ABOUTH THE RAILROADS

ing in 1909, was at the Sixtieth Congress, when 38,388 bills were introduced, the more deliberate and careful methods of the English are shown in the fact that the largest number of bills before any Parliament in that period, that of 1900, was only 621. Less than 2 per cent of the bills before the Sixtieth Congress became law, while 67 per cent of the bills proposed in Parliament in 1900 were enacted. During this ten-year period, our national Senate and House considered 146,471 different bills. During the same period the English Parliament considered but 6251 measures. The congressional “mill” added 15,782 measures to the law of the land; Parliament enacted but 3822 new laws. The figures in both instances include both public and private bills, and it should be added that Parliament considers and acts upon many subjects which are considered by state and municipal bodies in the United States.

The state legislatures for 1911 considered, as a part of new railroad legislation proposed, a total of 512 bills affecting the physical opera-

240