Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1905-05-22
Madison. Nav II.

Madison, May II.
Governor La Toilette last night sub
mitted to both houses of the legisla-
ture special message that charged
the railroads with wholesome giving OF
rebates, with unlawfully and fraudu-
lently emitting large items from their
sworn reports of gross earnings AID
with lodging state taxes to the extent
of $4,000" The report Of the in
vestigation by Railroad Commissioner
Thomas, ordered by the legislature
two years ago in response to special
message by Governor La Toilette, was
submitted. The assembly has passed
a bill ordering the attorney general to
prosecute recovery suits and the re
suit will be a great legal battle be
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 investigation of
the books and accounts of the rail
roads.
Ten Millions Omitted
The governor summarized the report
of the commissioner, which is al
voluminous document, showing that
the railroads during the last seven
years had Illegally omitted from the
reports of their gross earnings sums
amounting to $9,739 1885, not includ-
ing the reports of the Burlington,
which it is estimated by the railroad
commissioner would raise the totaf
amount omitted to $40, SOC, GOO On
this amount the total license fees due.
at the legal rate of per cent on the
gross earnings, would be $4,000.
Some Roads Have Paid.
The Northern Pacific, Great North
ern and the Duluth, South Shore &
Atlantic have paid to the state treas
urer all the money due on the amounts
so withheld. The Minneapolis & Sault
Ste. Marie has paid S6,601.35 on the
amount due from it on the earnings
not properly reported, but still has a
considerable amount to pay. Suits
have been instituted by the sta e
against the Chicago & Northwestern,
the Chicago, Milwaukee & ST. PAU,
the Chicago, ST. Paul. Minneapolis 4
Omaha. the Wisconsin Central and the
Minneapolis & Sault Ste. Marie to re-
cover the penalty of $4,000 for failure
to 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 on these
earnings withheld, together with the
accrued interest.
The assembly has passed bill auth
orizing the attorney general to pro-
coed against the railroad companies
for these amounts, and the bill 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 &C.
countants were employed who had hao
experience in railroad accounting lie
partments. E. M. Fisher of Chicago,
for Is years in the accounting de-
partment of the Rock Island road, and
w. H. Cleary of Spooner, Wis, for
years a. clerk in the accounting de-
partment of the Omaha, were first
employed 1t was found that they
would need assistance and the commits
sioner employed S. W. Gilman and q.
G. Mason of Madison, both expert &C
countants with knowledge Of railroad
methods of bookkeeping.
Examined for Seven Years.
They went back over a period OF
seven years in their Investigations OF
the Milwaukee, the Northwestern and
other roads. The work of Investigate
ing the Burlington is not yet COM
pleted
This investigation went into the re-
payments on passenger traffic as we'll
as on freight business. Long tables
are appended to the report showing
the amounts each road has withheld
from the reports of it's gross earnings
for each Of the seven years. There