individual and of society. The feeling is growing that if the state has the right and duty to protect the individual or society from fraud and imposition by preventive measures, it has the same right and duty to protect the individual or society by constructive measures which will make preventive measures less necessary.2

In the United States there has already developed a large body of purposeful governmental restrictions and regulations, both Federal and State, which indicate a decided tendency away from individualism and toward collectivism. These measures, so far as they are economic in character, may be classified as follows: governmental encouragement of internal improvements; the conservation of natural resources; the regulation of the manufacture and sale of foods and food products; restrictions on the organization of business; restrictions on and regulation of transportation; regulation of exchange, banking, and insurance; restrictions on profits; and restrictions on and regulation of labor conditions and labor contracts. Moreover, there is an increasing number of people who demand legislation for the relief of their social and economic wants. Indeed, there is a widespread feeling that the government should direct the forces of industry, commerce, and science in such a way as to make the interests of individuals and of society as nearly identical as possible.3

Besides the regulation and control of great nation-wide industries, the Federal government is confronted with the solution of many other economic problems. Thus a catalog of the most important economic activities of the Federal government would include the regulation and control of the national banking system, the regulation and control of trusts and of interstate and international commerce, the conservation of natural resources, the construction of great public works for irrigation, the improvement of rivers and harbors, the building of the Panama canal, the publication of

reports on the movements of commerce, the compilation of agricultural statistics, and the enactment of pure food regulations.*

But in all of its economic activities the Federal government is limited to the exercise of powers conferred upon it by the Federal Constitution. On the other hand, the powers of the State being general in their scope, the State government may legislate very broadly for the furtherance of the general welfare of the people. It may legislate in the interests of the health, the good order, the education, and the morals of the inhabitants of the State; and all laws enacted for the furtherance of these objects will be enforced as valid unless they should be found to violate some of the constitutional limitations upon the powers of State governments.5

Moreover, while the Federal government has developed new functions and new methods in the field of economic and social legislation, State governments have not remained inactive. Thus the several States have undertaken to supervise and regulate transportation companies within their borders; they have granted charters with limited liability to corporations; they have incorporated and regulated insurance companies and banking associations; they have provided for the regulation of gas, electric light and power, and local transportation companies; and they have also begun to regulate and control food producing establishments and other similar industries. In addition to these activities the State governments have promoted internal development. They have built roads and encouraged improved methods of agriculture and stock-breeding. They have made arrangements for the draining of swamp lands, and initiated policies for the conservation of natural resources. Finally, they have developed methods of taxation by which revenue is raised for the conduct of both State and local governmental activities.6

In view of these conditions it would seem worth while to

review the economic legislation of a typical State of the Middle West and to show just what that State has done in this interesting field of governmental direction and control.

In any attempt to discuss the regulation and control of economic conditions by law it is of course essential to have clearly in mind just what is meant by economic legislation. As used in this volume the term economic legislation means all legislation which directly affects or attempts to regulate the economic condition of society, that is, legislation enacted for the purpose of bettering and protecting the economic condition of the people of the State. It consists of all those measures the object and purpose of which are, on the one hand, to secure to every one in the State equality of opportunity and, on the other hand, to prevent the exploitation of one class by another class: it attempts to secure fair play in business. Economic legislation consists, moreover, of all those measures the object and purpose of which are to encourage the development and conservation of the resources. of the State, and includes road legislation, drainage laws, the encouragement of agriculture and stock-raising, and the geological survey. It is legislation which is enacted primarily through economic considerations.

In a broad sense this might seem to include all the legislation enacted from the social point of view, and commonly designated as social legislation, as well as the legislation which is primarily economic. All socio-economic legislation, such as poor laws and liquor legislation, as well as legislative provision for education might be included. Poor relief might seem to be purely social, yet poverty is largely the result of economic conditions; and the economic effect of the use of intoxicating liquors can hardly be overestimated. Education, moreover, affects very directly the economic well-being of society, especially as regards the recent tendency toward provision for vocational training in the public schools. Such legislation has, however, been guided

by ethical rather than by economic considerations, and it is upon this ground that it has been excluded from these pages.

Again, labor legislation, including factory laws, child labor laws, and laws for the regulation of labor contracts, appears to be quite as much social as economic; and the same may be said of pure food laws and misbranding laws. But an examination of such laws and of the causes which have led to their enactment shows that there have been in all such legislation economic as well as social considerations; and so labor legislation can not be overlooked in this connection. At the same time it must be freely admitted that the distinction between economic and social legislation is one of degree only. It seems advisable, therefore, in discussing socio-economic legislation to emphasize the economic factors and to pass over without special consideration the social aspects of the problems.

A third group of laws which are economic in their nature, and of which some account must be taken, comprises that body of legislation which has to do with the collection and expenditure of revenue and with the financial administration of the government. Such legislation may be designated as politico-economic. It is not enacted from economic considerations primarily, and yet the economic interests of the people are directly affected by it as is shown by the fact that in 1915 the total tax levied in Iowa for all purposes amounted to more than $50,000,000.

Thus defined and limited economic legislation in Iowa may be understood to include (1) all legislation enacted for the purpose of internal improvement and for the purpose of conserving or developing the natural resources of the State, (2) legislation which has been enacted for the purpose of regulating business in its various forms, (3) labor legislation or legislation enacted in order to prevent the exploitation of one class by another class, and (4) tax legislation.

I

TRANSPORTATION

Since the time when the Iowa country was first thrown open to settlement, the means and methods of transportation have undergone many changes. The earlier settlements were made chiefly along navigable rivers, and the interior occupation of the State progressed slowly and always along the water courses. Settlers searching for a location could cross the prairie in wagons, but in order to market their produce they had to occupy land reasonably near the navigable streams. Although the need for transportation facilities was keenly felt by the pioneers, it was not until the Iowa country had become a part of the original Wisconsin Territory in 1836 that any attempt was made through legislation to meet the demands of the settlers for better means of transportation.

WATER TRANSPORTATION

Iowa escaped, for the most part, the heavy expenditures for canals and the improvement of water courses such as were made by several of the States east of the Mississippi. This escape was due chiefly to the fact that long before the Iowa country was fully settled the practicability of railroads as a means of transportation had been fully demonstrated.

Many of the pioneers of the Territory came into the country by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, or by way of the Great Lakes and the Wisconsin and Fox rivers; and settlements were made along the banks of the Mississippi River or along the rivers of the eastern part of the Terri

6