Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-07-10
Madison. July 6.

Madison, July 8.
The first fruits of the new policy
innovated by the railroad commission
er of holding open Investigations of
alleged determinations of railroads
against the people, begin to appear in
examinations already started by his
department. Complaints pour into
Commissioner Rice's office alleging dis
elimination by railroad companies in
rates and privileges, the great burden
of protest being that higher rate is
charged, over the same road and in the
same direction, for short haul than
for long haul. This is asserted to be
a contravention of section 1898 of the
revised statutes of Wisconsin, which
reads as follows:
''No railroad corporation shall
charge, demand or receive from any
person, company or corporation for
the transportation of persons or
of property either by the car
load or otherwise, a greater sum than
it shall charge, demand or receive from
any other person, company or corpo-
ration for a like service; or charge,
demand or receive from any person,
company or corporation an unreason-
persons or property, or for the hand
ling or storage of freight, or for the
use of its cars, or for any privilege or
service afforded by it in the transac-
ton Of business. Every railroad cor
poratiOn shall, upon reasonable notice,
when within it's power to do SO, furnish
suitable cars to any person applying
therefor for the transportation Of
freight and shall receive, transport
and deliver such freight with reason
able dispatch and provide suitable ia
cilities for the receiving, handling and
delivering of such freight at any sta
ton upon such railroad Any railroad
corporation which shall violate any of
the provisions Of this chapter forbid
ding extortion or unjust discrimina-
ton or any provision of law establish
ing rates shall be liable to the person
aggrieyed in three times the actual
damage sustained besides COSTS"
While this section may not make it
unlawful to charge more for the short
haul than for the long haul, yet it ex-
pressly prohibits discrimination in the
rates given to different patrons of the
road Shippers and producers contend
that the cost to the railroads of the
same kind of service on the same line
of road in the same direction at the
same time, should alone govern the
rates charged.
A case in point is that Of Mcclure
& Atwood of West Superior, who al
lege unjust discrimination on the part
of the Wisconsin Central railway. This
firm of commission merchants was
charged 10 cents a hundred for ship
ping oats from Boyd to Agnew over the
Wisconsin Central line, whereas, from
Chippewa Falls to Ashland, between
which points on the same railroad line
Boyd and AgneW are located, the rate
for oats is only 10 cents a hundred.
This is believed by the complainants
to be a rank injustice, inasmuch as
they claim that it kills the possibility
Of competition by middlemen and
farmers in Boyd, for example, with
and farmers in Chippewa
Falls, the latter being able to undersell
the former because of the favorable
difference in the expense of transport
ing their commodity. There are num-
berless instances Of which this is
merely a good example, and the al
legged discrimination has effected meal
culab1e damage to producers and ship
pers all over the state. The railroad
rate this situation, which he believes to
be intrinsically unjust; and has insti-
tuted his Investigations with the pur-
pose of discovering to what extent the
people are legally protected against the
discrimination of railroads, intending,
if checkmated in his efforts to secure
justice, to induce the next legislature
to enact remedial legislation in this
matter.
Wednesday morning the railroad
heard the complaint of
Blanche Craven of Madison against
the Illinois Central road, in which she
alleges that the railroad on April &c,
1899, violated section 1864 of the re-
vised statutes by allowing a fire, set by
a section foreman on the right of way,
to escape and damage her property to
the amount of 800. The complainant
and her witnesses we're present but the
railroad was not represented. The
ease was continued till Ju1v 20 at 2