River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-01-22

Is not question OF pollCy. Inc rdIlTCdu
companies Of this state owe the state more
than a million dollars year For many
years, because Of the postponement or de-
feat of legislation requiring them to pay
their proportionate share of the taxes, the
other taxpayers Of Wisconsin have paid
for them a million dollars annually. The
case has been tried the hearing has been
full. Judgment has been given again anG
again. Pledges have been made by pOliti-
cal parties and repeated by candidates for
office over and over again. The question
is not an open one. There is no opportunity
for Misunderstanding. There is no room
for speculation. The truth is ascertained
The truth is known. 1t is lodged in the pub
lie mind TO stay. The people want a mil
| lion dollars a year, because that is the sum
owing. They are not to be wheedled by any
| soft phrases about conservatism. There is
nothing to compromise. Equal and just
taxation is fundamental principle Of re-
publican government. The amount due as
taxes from railroads and other public
service corporations should be paid. and
paid in full, and / am confident the legls-
lation to secure that payment will be
promptly enacted
81 recommend that the bill formulated
by the tax commission in accordance with
their report, pursuant to the law creating
that body, and presented by them to the
legislature, be passed promptly, and that
there may be no uncertainty | now say
that a measure creating state board OF
assessment to determine the value OF rail-
road property, and applying to railroad
| companies and other public-serVice corpo-
rations the same rate Of taxation Whlch
other taxable property pays in THIS state
will be promptly approved by the eXecu-
tive, if given the opportunity
An exhaustive argument is given for leg
islation that will control freight rates
throughout the state, the governor pre-
senting a number of tables in his effort to
show that Wisconsin shippers are beng
Disseminated against in competition with
those Of other states, and especially with
those Of Iowa and Illinois. By these Ia
bIes the governor shows that Wisconsin
shippers are paying some 40 per cent. more
per ton mile than the shippers of Iowa
are paying and that there is a large differ
ence between the rates of Wisconsin and
Illinois in favor Of the Illinois shipper. OF
this subject the governor says:
Stated in plain language 1t means that
upon all kinds Of manufactured products,
upon merchandise and farm products Eek
cept a few articles which are shipped under
d higher rate than first class, or under a
low rate than class d, or which like cat
tie, grain, coal, lumber, ETC., are shipped
at Il different rate when moved in larger
quantities) the shipper in Wisconsin pays
from IS to nearly 40 per cent. higher than
the shipper in Iowa, where transportation
charges are controlled by a state railway
commission 1t means that in comparison
with Illinois, we pay in Wisconsin on cat
tie, hogs, sheep, grain, hard and soft coal
from 1912 to 81 per cent. more than the peo-
pie Of Illinois, who are protected from eX-
cessive transportation charges by a state
railway commission. 1t means that these
differences in rates, so prejudicial to Wis
cOnsin, are in every case presented in tn
foregoing tables upon the same roads, for
the same class and kind of freight, trans
ported the same number of miles, and in
all respects for dentically the same SerV-
ice.
Every dollar taken from the people Of
Wisconsin in overcharges by the railroad
companies effects the values of farms and
factories, the profits of merchandise, and
the wages of labor Why should Wiscon-
sin have endured this great loss? 1t is be-
cause, and only because, the railroads have
continued to exercise such control as to de-
feat legislation in Wisconsin creating a
commission to regulate transportation
rates such as the legislatures of Iowa and
Illinois have adopted. Session after ses-
sion such bills have been introduced only
to die in committee or be Overwhelmingly
defeated in the Legislature.
In making recommendations upon this
subject of freight charges, the governor
says:
81 am confident that the information
quite enough to secure prompt action at
this session of the legislature for the re-
lief of producers and consumers alike. 1t
is to be expected that representatives. of
the railway companies will urge delay, but
1t is to be remembered that delay costs your
constituents millions of dollars every year
II will be no answer o say to the merchants
and manufacturers of your districts that
they are to continue paying from % to 4S
per cent. more than the manufacturers and
merchants of Iowa pay to the same railroad
companies under exactly the same condi-
tions; it will be no answer to make to the
farmers in Wisconsin to say that on grain
and sheep and hogs and cattle they are to
continue paying from 10 to 81 per cent. more
than the farmers of Illinois pay for ship
ping the same products of their farms over
the same lines of roads equal distances to
market; it will be no answer to say to the
consumers of hard and soft coal through
out Wisconsin who are paying % to SO per
cent. more freight charges on their coal
than the consumers in Illinois are paying
for transporting their coal the same num-
Der of miles over the same lines of roads
that this whole subject has been deferred
for two years more because the railroad
companies want more time. For ten years
at nearly every session of this legislature
bills have been introduced, figures have
been presented, facts have been placed be-
fore the legislature and action urged for
the relief of our people so unjustly and
unwarrantedly Disseminated against by
the railroad companies.
Let it be plainly unders TODD that moth
ing more is asked than the creation of a
railway commission having authority to
investigate this matter fully and to deal
with absolute justice as between railroad
companies and the people of the state.
Members of this legislature should not be
msled The people of this state will not be
mis- led belief there ic 10
hottest possibility of doing harm to the
railroad interests of this state, or of i'm
posing upon them any injustice whatever,
much less any hardship. The establish
ment of a railway commission clothed with
all the power which this Legislature can in
vest cannot fix transportation charges at a
rate so low that the railroad companies
would be deprived of a reasonable profit
upon all of the capital which they have
invested, for the courts would at once set
aside any rate fixed by railway commits
sion upon a showing by the railroad COM
panies that the rate is unjust"
The governor favors nominations direct
by the people, and urges legislation that
will favor this system, and of this he says:
The scope of a primary election law
having been determined by the people, it
becomes one of the most important duties
which will devolve upon the legislature SO
to formulate the promised measure as to
carry out in letter and spirit the EXPRESSED
will of those who have chosen you to rep
resent them. This l am confident YOU will
perform in the utmost good faith. with q
determination to place upon the statutes
the best law for the nomination of all can
didates by direct vote which it is possible
to write
Whatever may have been the attitude Of
any member respecting this legislation
whatever misgivings he may have enter