Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-04
Bone of Contention Among
Wisconsin Republicans.
A COMPARATIVE CALM
TEMPORARY PEACE SUCCEEDS
THE RECENT STRIFE.
Gov. La Follette's Heterogeneous Sup
port Denounced as Dangerous
Fanatics.
Correspondence of The Evening Star.

! MILWAUKEE. Wis, June 2, 1904. r
| After the strife which preceded and at
tended the holding Of two conventions at
Madison the republican voters of Wiscon-
| sin have settled down to a period of COM
parative calm, broken only by the wordy
disputations which appear In the organs Of
| the contending factions. This does not in
| dictate that the feeling has subsidized, mere
| ly that the line of demarkation has been as
| sharply drawn as that between the pickets
| of two opposing armies which face each
| other on the eve of a decisive conflict No
| ammunition is being wasted in desultory
| firing, but every resource Is husbanded for
use when the real campaign opens. and
| pendent vote
"Stalwarts" and .1Half Breeds"
For the active members of the so-called
| 'stalwart" and half breed parties there
| will be- no turning, no surrender and no
| quarter until one or the other has been
| practically annihilated.
The issues dividing them existed in en-
| bryo at least thirty years ago, at the time
OF the Granger movement, and of late years
they have become more and more acute
with each successive campaign. They will
now be fought out to the end without re-
gard to any decision of the courts or of the
national committee as to which faction is
| entitled to bear the name of the republican
party.
| in Wisconsin may appear difficult to UNDER
| stand; but the fact is, the questions now at
| issue are not those of politics, of economics
| or of leaders only. Gov. La Toilette has
| succeeded in convincing his followers that
| he is the apostle of reform, the champion
| of the people against corporate greed and
legislative corruption; and he Is now at the
| head of a compact mass of fighting men,
| sod nf
| lists and socialists. with varying views as
| to national policies, but all united by a
| common purpose in respect to state affairs
| and animated by zeal and determination
| which can be compared only to that OF the
| Roundheads of Cromwells time.
Regarded as Dangerous Fanatics.
| This very fact causes the opposition fac
| ton to regard the La Follettites fanat-
les, dangerous to the peace of the state,
| the security of vested property rights and
the freedom of the body polite. which ap-
| pears. to them to be threatened by the con-
| tinued existence of an organization so
! closely knit and readily controlled py
| magnetic leader. 1t is not as has been
| mistakenly supposed by many, a struggle
| between rival machines. supported on the
| one hand by state and on the other by
| federal patronage. 1t is the old, old con-
| test between conservatism and radicalism,
| with certain aggravating features which
| give lOCdi COlOT " H. II 10 lHeSer HoWcNSi.
| that render any compromise impossible in
| Wisconsin; for interest has been arrayed
| against interest. class against class. sec
| ton against section, and often town against
4 town. In essence itais civil war, with AL
| of the animosty and bitterness that the
4 after implies. p r4'=' 81 y - ISL
| Attack on the Railroads
I Whether justly or not. Coy. La Toilette
has made his principals attack upon the rail,-
| no off Tod av
session of the Legislature for the past
| twenty-five or thirty years, and the rela-
| tons of the common curriers' to the public
| have become the leading issue of the pres
| cnt campaign. Primary election reform has
feen urged only as means to an end; the
vital question has been enc of taxation.
The details of the contest need not be
| gone i1to at This time. Suffice it to say
| shat, after bitter struggle extending over
| some Years, q law was passed abOliShing
| the license fee system ct taxation for rail-
| roads and making their property subject to
assessment on the ad valorem basis. ...,,
| In the course of the contest, however.
| q railroad attorney was said to have re-
| marked that it made no difference whether
| or not the taxes of the companies were in
| creased. as they could easily Eeeoup their
| losses by raising freight rates; and this at
| once famed into fierce flame a question
| that had been long smolderIng-that OF
the establishment of state railroad COM
| mission, with power to make maximum
! SCne0uleS OF rates OF 10 revise thoSe lOuuu
| to be excessive or unjustly dscriminative.
/ In the fall of 1902 long tables of figures
were published in q Milwaukee paper max
! ing comparisons of rates, in Wisconsin,
with those charged by the same compares
| in Iowa and Illinois, the object being to
| show that they were very much higher than
| in those states, which have railroad conf
1 missions. g
| The Administration Fails
| Are these now to be further increased?"
| was the question asked by the campaign
speakers and papers supporting La Fol-
| lette In his first message to the legi;ld-
| ture the governor treated of the subject
at length. and later he wrote special
| message to which was appended extensive
| schedules of comparative rates that appear
! ed to be collection of those previously
! published-all tending to prove discrlmlna-
| ton against Wisconsin.
| In spite of the Administrations utmost
| efforts the bill creating state railroad
| commission failed of passage, as did also
| one prohibiting any advance in the
| freight rates then existing. Thereupon
| the governor sent another message to the
| legislature calling attention to the dis
| closures made in Minnesota, where 1t had
| been discovered that certain railroads
| were eyading a share of their taxes, and
| asking for authority to have the books of
| the Wisconsin companies examined. The
legislature responded by empowering the
| railroad commissioner to make such an
examination; and just prior to the spring
| caucuses the latter published a report as
| sorting that a number of the carriers had
been defrauding the state of Wisconsin
| of a large amount of taxes on unreported
earnings which had been returned to ia
| vored shippers in the form of rebates.
|
SILVER FOR THE MISSOURI.