The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1911-12-02
How LaFonette
BY HERBERT QUICK
Editor Of Farm and Firesidc

/
CONSTRUCTION in the United Statesl
for decades is the Chicago, Mill
waukee & Puget Sound railway
defending from Minneapolis and
lSt. Paul to Tacoma and Seattle.
Thereby hangs tale of LaFol-
lette and LaFolleteism-a talel
which shows how LaFollettei
I"hurts business"
When the st. Paul wanted toI
start this gigantic piece of work, It'll
needed some changes in the laws,
of It's home state to permit the,
great bond and stock operations
lof the new line. And its. home
state was Wisconsin!
| Once Wisconsin had been just
about run by the railways, butt
their reign was over Wisconsin
was in the fell clutch of LaFol-I
lette. The law forbade gaining
the good will of Legislators BY
put ON the statute books made it,
unhealthy for a lobbyist to hang
around the capitol. Without pass
es' and lobbyists how could a poor
railroad get the laws it needed?
Burton Hanson, general solicit
or of the st. Paul system, saw a
state officer and laid the dreadful
case before him. What can L
dor" he pleaded. What CAN I
dol"
WELL" said the LaFollettel
man, eff you have a good case
why not go before the Legislature,
man to man, and ask what you
want?"
Such a thing never seems to
have occurred to the general So
lic.tor but really why not? Why
not be fair and open?
Doubtless the railway people |
remembered many reasons why
1.-THE LaFollettte people should
make their way hard.
Had not the railways al
ways made common cause
with every corrupt influ-
ence i'm the state to beat
LaFollette? Had they not
bribed away his delegates
and fought him I'm the strug-
gle for direct primaries? Had
they not slandered him.
Had there been a single ar
row. i'm the culver of corrupt
politics and bitter partisan
ship that they had not shot
at LaFollette for 10 years?
And was not LaFoIlette
demagOgue? . What better
chance for a demagOgue than
to take the field against the
big railway? A denagogue
could say that this was @
predatory move by the rail-
| way trust, and make capital
for himself by opposing it.
Or, if corrupt, the LaFollette
politicians might make the
railway pay a big price for
what it asked.
Hanson went before the legis- |
| lature without any lobby or
money or passes or favors, he got |
what he wanted. $50.
Here's the lesson in this. |
When LaFolletteism comes in
special favors go out. Enemies |
get a fair deal If what they want
| is right. LaFollette, being a !
great constructive statesman, |
fought the railways tooth and nail |
Wnen they were Wrong-aS they |
were in the anti-pass, the pri-
mary, and the tax fights; but the
| state of Wisconsin does not re-
member these things in it's Of |
ficial action.
One of the first fights the SEN
ator had to make against Bigl
Business was for equality of taxa
ton. The railroads and other
public utilities paid licenses which
relieved them of their just share
/ of taxes. 1t is so still in most
states.
But, thanks to LaFollette, it is |
so no longer in Wisconsin. La-t
Toilette pat through a tax COM
mission law under which these |
pay taxes at the same rate accord
ing to their values as farms and
homes.
This to Wisconsin people does
not seem revolutionary. In 1891
the railroads got off by paying
over a million dollars per year
less than they should. Thus their
Hobby was paid. Thus the legis-
lature was corrupted.
Since 1904 the railroads have