The railroad could not escape some restrictive supervision; neither were they obliged wholly to submit to it on the part of any one state.

The situation of a railroad running through half a dozen states, and subject to the contradictory and irresponsible orders of half a dozen legislatures or commissions might well become intolerable.
Just this sort of thing has been recently happening.

The state authorities began to realize that their lax methods of railway supervision were being used as an argument for increased Federal interference.

So the state governments arose in their might and began furiously to "regulate" the railroads.

Commissions were constituted or re-constituted, and extremely drastic powers were granted to these officials in respect to the operation of the railroads, the rates and the fares charged, and their financial policies.