Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-01-24

law prohibiting under severe penalties,
any corporation or other employer from
interfering in any manner with the free
and independent exercise of the right of
suffrage on the part of any employe."
The Message in Paragraphs.
Following are important paragraphs
from Governor La Follette's volumin-
Gus message TO the Legislature:
1t will be admitted by all that the I'M
limited power to dispose of the funds
and securities of the State ought not
TO be lodged in a single individual or
officer.
The present tax commission will go out
OF existence on May /, 1909. aud there
Is at present no law providing for its con-
tinuance beyond that date.
The electric railways of this State
were at first organized and operated as
urban, for the purpose of carrying pas
sengers only. Many of them have now
become interurban and common carriers
of passengers and freight.
EdcH Ille insurance company dong
business in this State ought to bear its
just and equal burden of taxation with
out reference to the fact that other
States may or may not impose such bur-
den fairly or justly.
These same railroad companies have
Systematically defrauded the State for
years, by classifying the reports of their
gross earnings.
Under any system of taxation which
the State may adopt it must contest with
these corporations to the last limit of
all possible opposition, in order to re-
cover the taxes which they ought to pay
cheerfully in support of the government
which charters them to conduct their
business and extends to them every pro-
lection which the law can afford
The State fails in one of the essen
tiaIs of government when it permits a
railway company to leave populous and
productive area, like that between Madi-
son and Prairie du Chen, with rail-
way service so deplorably bad as to cause
continual public protest for years with
As q mere carrier of the products Of
others the railroads have no right to
show favoritism to individuals or to dis
eliminate between places.
Whatever temporary reductions may
have been made for political reasons,
: Wisconsin rates are still higher
than the rates charged under substan-
TALLY similar conditions on State traffic
in the neighboring States of Illinois and
Iowa, where these rates are regulated
by law.
The railroads are entitled to receive
from the public a reasonable profit, in
terest, or return upon the capital invest
ed in conducting the business in which
they are engaged. If legislation were
necessary to insure this it would be the
duty of the Legislature to pass, and of
the executive to approve, such legislation
The character of the service Is quite
as important to the business interests
and to the people of every community as
is the cost of the service.
The great trusts and combinations of
the country owe their life to and are
largely dependent for their existence
upon special rates, special privileges, and
close association with the great railway
systems.
1t is certainly wise to provide, with all
possible speed against any further over
sfols1 Is 90 II.
railroads within the State, or any over
capitalization of such other lines as may
from time to time be constructed.
The commission should have authority
to require the railway companies, upon
reasonable notice, to furnish all the cars
requisite to accommodate shippers.
The commission should be authorized
to require reasonably adequate train SER
vice on all lines, designating, wherever
the action Of the railway company makes
it necessary, the minimum number of
trains that shall run at convenient hours
for the travelling public to reach centers
of trade and reasonable connection with
the service of other lines; to provide
proper station accommodations and tele-
graph service.
In Wisconsin at present the railroads
are supreme.
However technical and scientific rate
making is in the abstract, as practiced
by the railroads, there is little of scien-
tiie application and less justice.
Party preference or prejudice should
in no way influence the selection of mem
bers of this (the railroad commission.
They should be men of the highest in
tegrity, of marked industry, and who
possess special fitness and power for the |
important service demanded of them
Protection from danger to life and |
limb of travellers and trainmen on rail- |
way cars should be safeguarded by the |
use of every modern appliance known to
be efficient.
The participation in government of the !
corporation as a corporation is a menace. |
It's action is governed by no sense of in
dividual or personal responsibility.
Grants Of public service franchises dl- !
rectly agsinst the city's interests are so
common as to become the rule rather
than the exception.
Largest Flower in World.
The rafflesia is a strange plant. 1t
grows in Sumatra and derives its name
from Sir Stamford Raffies, governor of |
Sumatra at one time, and his friend
DR.. Arnold. naturalist says the De
troit News-Tribune They were the
first white men to discover the won
derful plant. 1t is said to be the larg-
est and most magnificent flower in the
world.
1t is composed of five roundish pet