Reference is often made to the experience of the United States in regard to the supervision of railways as if it should be a guide to us. There each State may legislate with reference to the construction and regulation of its own railways. At first everything was done to facilitate their construction. They were proceeded with in advance of, or concurrently with, immigration and settlement. Many States have made large grants of land to railway companies. In some States a few individuals, from five upwards, may form themselves into a railway company, and under general laws construct railways between any two places, regardless of the wishes of others and the considerations which here form the subject of Parliamentary inquiry. No scale of maximum rates, as a rule, governs the charges for conveyance; and great variations in them are in fact made. Only, however, in recent times, when railways have become numerous and their extension is not so urgently needed, have State Legislatures interfered with their management.[93] [93] The rates for “interstate” traffic in the United States are not at present subject to any Government control, but are made at the discretion of the companies to meet the requirements of trade, competition by rail and water, and of cities. Two Bills for the regulation of the interstate traffic of railways have recently been before Congress; one, the “Reagan” Bill, which proposes to fix the charges, to prohibit any discrimination, and to make it illegal for railway companies “to combine or to pool” their receipts without stringent provisions and penalties. The other Bill, entitled the “Cullom” Bill, proposed the appointment of an Interstate Commission consisting of five members, but did not provide for any specific or maximum rates for the transportation of passengers or merchandise, except that they should be reasonable and that there should be no unfair discrimination; while laying down the principle that the rates should be in proportion to the distance carried, it proposed to give to the Commissioners power, in their discretion, to allow lower rates to be charged for long, as compared with short distance traffic. The former Bill passed the House of Representatives and was rejected by the Senate; the “Cullom” Bill passed the Senate, and was rejected by the House of Representatives.