In 1903 the legislature authorized the municipal ownership of public service corporations, and in 1906 the city of Chicago took steps to acquire ownership of its street railways - a movement which seemed to have spent its force in 1907, when the municipal ownership candidates were defeated in the city's elections - and in 1902 the right of that city to regulate the price of gas was recognized by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals.
Two companies brought suit for moneys owed for liquor sold to the state dispensary; the commission resisted the suit on the ground that as a court and as a representative of the state it could not be sued; the circuit court and the circuit court of appeals overruled this plea and put the funds into the hands of a receiver; but in April 1909 this famous cause was closed by the decision of the Federal Supreme Court, upholding the commission and restoring to it the fund.
The suit would later be dismissed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
