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Show LitJUt- Lull j L SAYS GOV. LAFOLLETIBl MADISON. Wla. Jan. 12. The main j feature of Gov.. Lafolletts's, messags, which he read to the Legislature today, was a demand .for an appointive freight rate commission, the last of the big rs- I forms asked by the Governor. He said: '"Independently of the question of excessive ex-cessive freight char res. the State should no longer allow a railway corporation to control without supervision, absolutely and arbitrarily, the commerce of Wlscon- i sin and through control of that eemmesce I determine what villages shall become clt- j I lea, what cities become great markets i and dictate as to business- supremacy in every industry. Whatever temporary re- ductions may have been made for busi- I ness reasons, a study of railway tariffs In force in Wisconsin now discloses: "First Wisconsin rates are still higher" than the rates charged under substantial- ' ly similar conditions on . State traffic in -the neighboring Slates of Illinois and ' Iowa, where, the rates are . regulated by,, law. Second Interstate rates In "Wisconsin are generally higher than rates In Illinois Illi-nois and Iowa. , ' "Third Rates charged on traffic In Wisconsin, on the whole, yield a gross in-coma in-coma to the railroads considerably above ' the amounts required for all operating ex- . penses. for maintenance of property and ; for a fair Interest or profit on the cost of the roads. ''Fourth The . railway ' companies are guilty ' of gross discriminations in favor of certain shippers, and their dlscrimrna- 1 'tions as between favored shippers are likewise rankly unjust, resulting In the upbuilding of monopoly,' controlling production pro-duction and markets alike. - "The fact that railroads have such complete com-plete control ever the rates has given them control over commerce of far reaching reach-ing effect. It is easily in their power to -destroy cities and village or build them up in wealth and power. They have but to raise rates in the one case and lower them in another, afford superior facilities facili-ties in one case or Inadequate service In another. . . "The time has come for decisive action. The control of prices of coal and iron, and ' the food products, and other baste ele- ments of our commercial life by trust or- " . ganisations In connection with the great transportation systems of the country Is " absolutely destructive of industrial and commercial Importance. Industrial and ' commercial Servitude In the final analysis ' is absolutely destructive of political importance. im-portance. It Is tlmeto look to the Gov- . ernment for relief and for Its own sake, no power short of the Government itself is adequate now. to meet existing conditions." condi-tions." . |