I am happy to say that we did not need the stimulus of a Jay Gould, a Vanderbilt or a Whitney to enact a public utility law in Wisconsin. There were, however, conditions existing in Wisconsin which justified the enactment of that law, and it may be interesting to notice briefly what those conditions were.

Prior to 1903, the railroads had been paying, in lieu of taxes, a percentage on their gross earnings. Through various political campaigns and before the legislature, there had been agitation for the taxation of railroads on an ad valorem basis. In 1903 such an act was passed. It was claimed at the time that the railroads intended shifting the added tax to the shipper, by increasing the freight rates. Governor LaFollette sent a special message to the legislature of 1903, in addition to his general message, strongly advocating the creation of a railroad commission for the purpose, among others, of preventing the shifting of this added burden of taxation from the railroads to the public. Such a bill was then pending in the assembly but was defeated.

In 1904 the republican party adopted a platform favoring a railroad commission with power to regulate freight and passenger rates. A campaign was made throughout the State—in every assembly and senatorial district—favoring the enactment of such a law, and every member of the legislature was elected upon the direct issue of whether we were or were not to have a railroad commission.