River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-04-11

Z poses no undue hardehipS. IL seeks
only to secure such concessions and
impose such obligations as will work
equal justice to all interests. There
Is not a line nor a word in
senate bill No. 10, from its enacting
clause to its conclusion, which if en-
acted into law, and rightly interpreted
md fairly enforced. will not promote
: wiser policie and better relations be-
tween the railway companies and the
public.
/ Il come now to consider the objeC-
tons urged against the passage of this
( bill. i shall cOnfine myself mainly to-
/ the arguments and statements made by
the able gentlemen who appeared be-
fore the joint committees in opposition
to the measure, / must of necessity be
brief. but if omit any important points
and any senator will call my attention
TO them. will explain them the best /
may.
/ els there demand for such law?
Mr.. Miller. president of the Milwaukee
Z & ST. Paul road, says there is not Let
/ US see. There has been scarcely day
#
I PRODUCED that numerous petitions have
not been presented in each branch of
the legislature praying for its passage.
/ have received hundreds of letters my
self in support of the measure, and
many other members have received
them. Shortly before the legislature
7 convened. the commissioner at the
head of the bureau of labor and statis-
I tics in this state sent out letters to
shippers all over the state, seeking in
/ formation on the railroad question.
He received very many answers that
are now on file in his office. / have
I before me extracts from the answers
of some fifty concerns. selected from
the pile ~ random, representing all
branches OF business, and every section
Of the state. They are all of about the
same general tenor. l will read only
a few. THE speaker here read COM
plants from . large number of ship
/ pers.
Now, remember that / have read
only few of these in my hands, and
/ that this bundle is only fraction of
I the mass of letters making complaints.
Do not these petitions and letters indi-
/ cate that there is a demand for railroad
( legislation? There were no hired
/ agents to circulate these petitions, and
no inducements offered to secure the
writing of these letters. But Mr..
Miller says. look at the circumstances
/ against the passage of the bill. Very
well. lets look at them. and see how
they We're secured and WHO signed
them. I make the assertion, and call
upon any opponent of this bill 10 con-
tTIdict il, that not a remOnstrance,
resolution or memorial, has been
presented to this legislature that
/ is not traceable TO the efforts
of men in railroad employ or
under their pay. Every station
agent in the state. and there are more
/ than a thousand of them. was furnished
circumstances and ordered to get out
of their offices and get all the signers
they could. Special agents, lumber
agents, freight agents. the whole vast
retinue of railway service, were set at
work and swarmed through the man
ufacturing districts to induce shippers,
+ Il leave YOU to imagine the induce
merits oifered) TO write letters and
adopt resolutions, and sign remOn-
strances against the bill. The only
wonder Is that they didn't get ten
times as many names. | wish the sem
ators would take time to gotO the rail-
road committee clerks and look over
those circumstances. Some of them
I have only two names, the station agent
and telegraph operator, presume.
Others have the section hands. evident
I ", and to avoid making crosses, the
/ agent has kindly signed all their names
as the handwriting shows. Then
again. orr clever railroad friends, to
/ show the popular uprising against this
bill. did what | never heard of before,
they had their petitions signed in du-
/ plicate. so that they would show double,
and presented in both senate and as
sembly.
20 for ways that are dark.
And tricks that are vain
+ MIR President. not one in a hun
bred Of these railroad signers ever read
a line of the bill What a formidable,
7 intelligent. and disinterested public
E sentiment these remonstrances do re-
veal to US? They ought not to have the
weight of a feather with any thinking
man.
lis there a necessity for such law?
/ If we are paying too high rates, and
( determinations are being practiced
against either persons or places, then
I an will agree that some remedy is de-
manded. The letters which / read
and the many others to which l re-
! ferred. tell the story of discrimination
I beyond dispute.
As to rates. will say that we are
paying much more than adjoining
states are paying for precisely the
same service. 1t must follow that
either they pay too little. or we too
much. | take Illinois rs an example.
as the expense of operating railroads
there and here is about the same, and
tie railroads in Illinois make no COM
ylaints at the rates in force there. l
have letter under date of Feb. Z.
1889. from Mr. Rinaker, who has been
+ for many years chairman of the rail-
road commission of Illinois, in which
lie saws:
- am very much surprised to learn
that railroad men or their representa-
tiycs should state that the laws of
Illinois regulating the conduct of rail-
roads are doing injury to the roads
and the people. The relations between
the railroad companies and the peO-
pie were never so harmonious or more
amicablc | may say that the law in
Illinois i not complained of by the
railroad corporations. and certainly
not by the people. The reverse of
this would be true if both were suffer
iug injury.
1T will bc difficult to impeach such
testimony as that
..The figures which shall give in
comparing rates in Illinois and Wis
conSin. are taken from the printed
tariffs of the railroad companies, and
no reputable man viii deny their cor
reCtuesS.
..Ou merchandise. four classes. rates
are per cent. on carload lots IS per
cent. on wheat and -four 10 per cent,
and on other grain 81 per cent higher
in Wisconsin than are the maximum
rates on the same articles in Illinois:
Rates between way stations in
Wisconsin are higher than in Illinois
by tho following percentages: Merchan-