revenue of railways, become an agency of discriminations and other abuses, and in the hands of weak roads provide the latter the means through which they may dictate, in a measure, at least, to the stronger and larger systems. In all but a dozen states, ticket brokerage is extra-legal; that is, the law has ignored the subject, unless we unduly extend the meaning of such general provisions as that found in the laws of California, that railways shall provide tickets. In Connecticut the railway commission may regulate the sale of tickets and prescribe hours during which ticket offices may do business. South Dakota stands alone in that it expressly authorizes scalping. "Any person having an established place of business . . . shall have the right to buy, sell, and exchange passage tickets. . . . Any person purchasing a ticket from the authorized office. . . shall have the right to sell his ticket or tickets to any person doing business under this act."1 Villages and cities may, however, regulate this business by law. Not nearly so wide in its scope is the Alabama provision licensing ticket brokers on paying a fee of $50 in towns of 10,000 or over. In smaller towns a fee of $20 is exacted. In Colorado all tickets are transferable. They are limited as to time, but not as to person. On the question of free transportation and passes, New Jersey occupies a position as unique as that of South Dakota, in that the laws of this 1 Rev. Stat., 1899, §§ 3950, 3951. state enumerate certain state officers who shall be permitted to ride free. Most of the states that have legislated on scalping have in the same act inserted provisions relating to the redemption of unused or unused portions of tickets. The lists are not entirely identical, scalping being prohibited without providing for the redemption of tickets, and vice versa, in a few states. The nature of legislation of this kind may be illustrated by the following: 1 "SECTION I. No person other than a duly authorized agent of the railroad company issuing the same, shall sell, offer for sale, or rent any railroad mileage book or any coupons therefrom, or any other railroad tickets limited to the use of a person or persons thereon specified at the time of its issuance by the railroad company, under a penalty of not less than $10 nor more than $100 for each offence, to be recovered on complaint. "SECTION 2. No person other than the one specified in any railroad mileage book or other railroad ticket limited to the use of the person or persons specified thereon at the time of its issuance by the railroad company, shall offer for passage or in payment for transportation on any railroad any such mileage book or coupons therefrom, or any other railroad ticket limited as aforesaid, under a penalty of not less than $1 nor more than $10 for each offence, to be recovered on complaint. 1 Laws of Maine, 1899, ch. 69. "SECTION 3. Any railroad company which shall issue a mileage book limited to the person or persons named therein, shall, upon presentation thereof by the person to whom such book was issued or his legal representatives, at some one or more of its principal stations in each county through which its road runs, to be designated by such company, at any time after one year from the time when such book was issued, redeem all the coupons then attached to such book at the same rate per mile as such mileage book was sold at." A similar law passed by the legislature of New York has recently been declared unconstitutional. Other states prescribing the sale of railway tickets through authorized officers are: Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, Iowa, Texas, and Pennsylvania. In Montana the railway company must provide its agents with certificates which, when presented to the secretary of state, entitle the holder to a certificate authorizing him to sell tickets for the railway in question on the payment of $1. Selling tickets without such a license is unlawful. The redemption of unused or unused portions of tickets has been provided for by law in Pennsylvania since 1863. Other states having statutory requirements to this effect are Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota. Laws governing the free transportation, or transportation at reduced rates, of certain persons or classes of persons, have been enacted in less than one-fourth of the states, most of these making it a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine, forfeiture of office, or otherwise, for persons holding public offices to accept passes or tickets at rates other than those charged to the public at large. Excursion and commutation tickets and reduced rates for exhibitions, fairs, political and other gatherings may still be granted, as well as special favors extended to charitable, religious, reformatory, and other institutions. States having legislated on this topic are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin. In most of these the law takes the form of positive prohibition of the acceptance of passes on the part of public officials. In 1899 Minnesota passed a law making it obligatory for railway companies to grant free transportation to shippers of car-load lots of live stock. Free baggage is expressly provided for by the laws of a number of states, 150 pounds being the usual exemption on first-class tickets. In recent years laws declaring bicycles baggage have been enacted in a number of states. - Long and Short Hauls. With the exception of discriminations and reasonable rates, there is no subject which the decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission touch more frequently than that of long and short hauls. During the period covered by its first annual report fifty-eight petitions, representing ninety-five different railways, were presented to this body for relief under the fourth section of the interstate-commerce law, commonly known as the long and short haul clause. The question of long and short hauls is chiefly an interstate matter, yet nearly one-half of the state laws contain the long and short haul provision in one form or another, that used in the interstate-commerce law being the most common. Among the states prohibiting a greater charge for a shorter distance included within the longer for transportation in the same direction over the same line, under substantially similar conditions, ten introduced the much needed element of elasticity in that the respective railway commissions, or other authority, may permit the suspension of the long and short haul provision in certain cases and under certain conditions. "That it shall be unlawful for any common carrier, subject to the provisions of this act, to charge or receive any greater compensation in the aggregate for the transportation of passengers or of like kind of property, under substantially similar circumstances and conditions, for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line, in the same direction, the shorter being included within the longer distance; but this shall not be construed as authorizing any common carrier within the terms of this act to charge and receive as great a compensation for a shorter as for a longer distance: Provided, however, That upon application to the board appointed |