It is a strange fact that during the first eighty years of the Government's existence Congress did not exert its power to regulate the conduct of common carriers engaged in interstate transportation. The first act regulating such carriers was passed in July, 1866. It authorized railroad companies chartered by the States to carry passengers, freights, etc., "on their way from any State to another State, and to receive compensation therefor, and to connect with roads of other States so as to form continuous lines for transportation of the same to the place of destination." The passage of this act, it should be remembered, was urged by the railroad companies themselves. Seven years later an act was passed providing that "no railway within the United States, whose road forms any part of a line or road over which cattle, sheep, swine or other animals shall be conveyed from one State to another, or the owners or masters of steam, sailing or other vessels carrying or transporting cattle, sheep or swine or other animals from one State to another, shall confine the same in cars, boats or vessels of any description for a longer period than twenty-eight consecutive hours, without unloading the same for water, rest and feeding, for a period of at least five consecutive hours, unless prevented from so unloading by storm or accidental causes." Every violation of this act was made punishable by a penalty of from $100 to $500. Though Congress had asserted the right to regulate commerce among the States, it had made previous to 1873 very limited use of that power. In the midst of the Granger movement the Senate of the United States passed on the 26th day of March, 1873, the following resolution: "_Resolved_, That the Select Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard be authorized to sit at such places as they may designate during the recess, and to investigate and report upon the subject of transportation between the interior and the seaboard; that they have power to employ a clerk and stenographer, and to send for persons and papers...."