Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1905-06-05
Madison, June 2.


sage of the bill to require railroads
to produce books and papers in court
when 50 ordered by any court or Off
Ger authorized to do so, the purpose
of the bill being to aid the state in
the prosecution of the suits against
the railroads for failure to properly
report their gross earnings.
The bill was reported for indefinite
postponement by the committee on
railroads. The governor urges the ne
cessity of the bill and asks, who will
say that the state is not entitled to
recover every dollar of license fee
withheld by the railroads by reason
of these false reports? Who will aid
the railroads in cheating the state out
of past taxes due and assist them in
escaping penalties which the law says
they shall pay for their wrongful
acts?" The message follows:
Must Have Naked Facts.
Some two months ago, the assem-
bly, passed substitute bill No. 466a.
Your calendar discloses the fact that
this bill has just been reported, by the
senate committee on railroads to the
senate for indefinite postponement. l
cannot believe that such action has
ceen taken with full knowledge of
the great Importance of this bill to
the people of the state.
Within very few days, | trans
mitted to the legislature special re-
port of the railroad commissioner,
upon the investigation which he has
been conducting in the offices of the
railway companies doing business in
Wisconsin, to ascertain whether they
have annually paid the amount of
taxes due from such companies under
the license fee law. This investiga-
ton makes it very plain that these
railway companies have regularly fall
sified their reports; that for the seven
years covered by the examination of
their books and papers, they have de-
frauded the state upon their license
fees paid in lieu of all other taxes, out
Of more than founr hundred and TWEEN
ty thousand dollars; and that there
still remain many more years to be
covered by the railroad commission
er's investigation. In addition, each
railway company has incurred, under
another statute, liability to pay to
the state ten thousand dollars as a
penalty for wrongfully Withholding
the payment Of the license fee which
it owes.
"These facts were all submitted to
the legislature in the executive mes
sage which accompanied the report of
the railroad commissioner You were
further informed that all of the lar
ger railway companies had refused to
pay either the license fees found by
this investigation to be due, or the
penalties for which they were liable,
and that suits had been brought by
the state to recover both the license
fees and the penalties. Who will say
that the state is not entitled to re-
cover every dollar of this money? Who
will aid the railroads in cheating the
state out Of their past due taxes and
in escaping penalties which the law
says they shall pay for their wrongful
acts?
No1 DOSNo bNCNC0oaIYs
'fTo recover this money in court the
state must prove it's case out of the
books and papers of the railway COM
panies. The companies have posses
sion and control of this evidence.
There is no reason to believe that the
production of these books and papers
in court, and the cross examination of
the men who have kept them and
made the entries therein, will lead to
tn discovery of still larger sums of
which the state has been defrauded.
The state must have the right to COM
pei the production of all books, vouch-
ers, and papers necessary, and to
cross examine any officer or employe
of the railway companies in court,
both upon the trial of the license fee
cases and upon the trial of the pen
atty cases. The court may hold that
the state has that right under the law
as it stands today. But if the court
should hold that, because the statute
enfOrces a penalty upon the railway
company for it's wrong doing, the rail
way officer or emplOye cannot be com
PEELED to testify or to produce books,
vouchers, and papers, then the state
will fail in it's suits to collect the pen
alties which the state imposes, and it
may also fail to collect a dollar of
the large amounts due from the rail-
way companies i'll back taxes or license
fees.
"The object of assembly substitute
bill No. 466a is to prevent the railway
companies from escaping upon any
such technicality. The bill provides
that no railroad or street railway cor
poratiOn, now or heretofore, or here
after operating a railway or railroad
in this state, shall be excused from
producing books, papers, tariffs, con-
tracts, agreements, records, files or
documents in it's possession, or un1er