Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1905-05-18

Madison, May II.
Governor La Toilette last night sub
mitted to both houses OF the Iegisll.
ture special me sage t5at charge |
the railroads with who.e,, me giving OF
rebates, with unlawfully and fraudu.
lcntll emitting 'atgc items from their
swurl reports Of GROSS earnings and
with lodging state taxes % the extent
Of $l20,000. The report OF the i'll.
ycsuaation by Railroad Commissioner
Thomas. ordered by rhc legislature
two years ago in response to a special
message by Governor "a FUle to. was
submitted. The assembly has passed
a bin ordering the attorney general 10
prosecute recovery suits and he re-
suit will be a great legal battle b..
tween the railroads and the state.
The message will be called violent
by friends of the railroads 1t IS
praised highly by administration ad,
herents.
In the message Governor La Toilette
transmitted Railroad Commissioner
Thomas report of his inves igation or
the books and accounts of the rail
roads.
Ten Millions Omitted.
The governor summarized the report
Of the commissioner, which is
voluminous document, showing that
the railroads during the last seven
years had Illegally omi It'd from the
reports of their gruss earnings sums
amounting to 1919, 1895, not includ-
ing tine reports of the Burlington,
which it is estimated by The railroad
commissioner would raise Tho .otal
amount omitted to $40 500 600. On
this amount the total license fees due
At the legal rate of A per cent on the
grosg earnings woult be $42O,OO0.
Some Roads Have Paid.
The Northern Pacific Great North.
ern and the Duluth South Shore &
Atlantic have paid 10 the state treas,
urer all the money due on the amounts
50 withheld. The Minneapolis & Sault
Ste Marie has paid S6,GO1.25 on the
amount due from 1t on the earnings
not properly reported hut still has q
considerable amount to pay Suits
Z
against the Chicago a Northwestern.
the Chicago, Milwaukee q St. Pau,
the Chicago 81. Paul. Minneapolis a.
Omaha. the Wisconsin Central and the
Minneapolis & Sault Ste Marie TO re-
cover the penalty Of $4,000 for failure
70 properly report gross earnings as
required by the statute. In his mes
sage, the governor assures the legisla-
ture that suits will be brought to re.
cover the license fees due n the
earnings withheld, together with the
accrued interest
The assembly has passed a bill auth,
orizing the attorney general to pro.
coed against the railroad comnanies
for these amounts. AMI the bin has
been reported for passage by the sen.
ate committee on Judiciary. If there
was anything doubtful as to the mean
ing of the present statute on this point
there will be none as to the authority
of the attorney general and the intent
of the law on this point after the pas
sage Of this bill
The report Of the railroad commits
sioner takes up the matter of rebates
in detail and tells Of the methods OF
the state accountants. Expert a.
countants were employed who hal hao
experience in railroad accounting. lie
partments. T. VI Fisher OF Chicago
for Is years in the accounting dc.
partmcnt Of the Rock Island road. ana
w. r. Cleary Of Spnoner. Wis. for
years a clerk In the accounting de-
partmeut Of the Omaha. were first
employed Il was found that they
would need assistance and the commits.
sioner employed s. w Gilman and e
c. Mason Of Madison, both expert &C
countants with knowledge OF railroaG
methods Of bookkeeping
Examined for Seven Years.
They went back over Il period or
seven years In their Investigations al /
the Milwaukee. the Northwestern AMI
other reads The Wort o. inyesfigat
ing the Burlington IS NOT ". com
pleted
This investigation went into the r.
payments IN passenger traffic as vel.
as On freight business Long table,
are appended to the report showing
the amounts each road has Withheld.
from The reports 81 It's gross earning