The arguments produced by the railroad managers no doubt influenced some members of the General Assembly; by far the greater number of them, however, realised that the failure of the law to bring the expected relief was not due so much to its own imperfections as to the absence of a power to enforce it. The writer, with others, was convinced that a strong and conscientious commission would be a much more potent agency to secure reasonable rates for the shipper than a maximum tariff law without proper provisions for its efficient enforcement; they, in short, preferred a commission without a tariff law to a tariff law without a commission. The question became the subject of many animated debates in both houses of the General Assembly, but the commissioner system at last prevailed. The act establishing a Board of Railroad Commissioners, and defining their duties, was approved on the 23rd of March, 1878, and went into force a few days later. The act empowered the commission to exercise a general supervision over all railroads operated in the State, to inquire into any neglect or violation of the laws of the State by any railroad corporation or its officers or employes, to examine the books and documents of any corporation, to investigate complaints of shippers that unreasonable charges had been made by railroad companies, and to modify any charge which they might deem unreasonable. It was also made the commissioners' duty to make an annual report to the Governor disclosing the working of the railroad system in the State, the officers of each company being required to make annual returns to the board for this purpose. Though the enactment of this law was a surprise to the people, they accepted it in good cheer, and determined to give it an honest trial. The law was extensive in its scope and stringent for that time, and, if strictly enforced in letter and in spirit, promised to be, and would have been, entirely sufficient for the thorough control of railroad corporations.