Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1903-01-24

S.
1t is their due, it is due to the state, that
these wrongs should enc here and now
The past cannot be recalled. The wrongs
lnt1lcted cannot be repaired, but there is
lodged with this legislature the full author
lty, and upon it rests the binding obliga-
ton to deal justly with these corporations
and with the people. The duty is not one
which may be shirked or evaded or post
poned.
Efforts may be further continued to OBJ
struct the course of justice These failing,
as last resort efforts will be made to COM
promise. There has been given into our
hands trust to discharge. Difference of
opinion may arise in the performance Of
public duty upon questions Of policy. This
is not a question of policy. The railroad
companies of this state owe the state more
than million dollars a 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 million dollars annually. The
case has been tried, the hearing has been
full. Judgment has been given again and
again. Pledges have been made by politi-
cal parties, and repeated by candidates for
office, over and over agaill The question
is not an open one. There is no opportunity
for misunderstanding. There is no room
for speculation. The truth is ascertained.
L
lie mind to stay. The people want a mil
lion dollars a year, because that is the sum
owing. They are not to be whee6le6 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 legis-
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 l now say
that 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 which
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 being
Disseminated against in competition with
those Of other states, and especially with
bles 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 it means that
upon all kinds Of manufactured products,
upon merchandise and farm products lex
cept few articles which are shipped under
a higher rate than first class, or under
low rate than class D, or which like cat
tie, grain, coal, lumber etc, are shipped
at 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 1872 to 81 per cent. more than the peo-
pie of Illinois, who are protected from ex-
cessive transportation charges by state
railway commission 1t means that these
dlfferences in rates, SO prejudicial to Wis
consln, are in every case presented in the
foregoing tables upon the same roads for
the same class and kind of freight, trans
ported the same number of miles, and in
ali respects for technically 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 oyerWhelmingly
defeated in the legislature.
In making recommendations upon this
subject of freight charges, the governor
says:
L am confident that the information
Which is now placed before you will be
quite enough to secure prompt action at
this session of the legislature for the re-
lief of producers and consumers alike It
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
1t Wild be no answer to say % the merchants
and manufacturers Of your districts that
they are to continue paying from IS TO AZ
per cent. more than the manufacturers and
merchants of Iowa pay to the same railroad
companies under exactly the same condi-
tons; 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 unjustIy and
unwarrantedly disseminated against by
the railroad companies.
Let it be plainly understood that moth
ing more is asked than the creation of
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
misled. The people of this state will not be
misled into any belief that there is the re-
hottest possibility of doing harm to the