POPULISM TO INSURGENCY 39 



state accountants searched the books of railroad companies for irregulari- 

 ties and compelled the payment of back taxes upon rebates, generously 

 given but never reported as income. 24 



La Follette was not yet through with the railroads. Railroad rates 

 within the state, he maintained, were unconscionably high. In a "message 

 of 178 printed pages," presented to the legislature on April 28, 1903, he 

 "furnished a final and unanswerable demonstration" that Wisconsin 

 freight rates were from 20 to 69 per cent higher than corresponding rates 

 in the neighboring states of Iowa and Illinois. With the freedom to levy 

 rates they then possessed, La Follette quite plausibly maintained, the rail- 

 road companies could easily compensate themselves for higher taxes by 

 passing the bill along to their customers. The proper course, then, was to 

 provide for effective regulation by a railroad commission preferably 

 chosen, so La Follette believed, by the governor. Eventually this reform, 

 despite the usual violent opposition, reached the statute books. In making 

 the appointments it called for, La Follette took pains to select men of 

 broad experience and high standing. The result was that many unfair 

 rates were reduced and many discriminations against communities and 

 individuals discontinued. 20 



The La Follette reforms did not end with the railroads. Other public 

 utilities, such as water, gas, electricity, and telephone corporations, were 

 eventually brought under regulatory control, to their own great distress 

 but to the equally great financial benefit of the public. A stringent Cor- 

 rupt Practices Act made the use of large sums to influence the results of 

 primary and state elections difficult. An antilobby bill required the official 

 registration of all lobbyists, and even prohibited them from private com- 

 munications with members of the legislature on matters of legislation. 

 An inheritance tax and a graduated income tax greatly augmented the 

 revenue of the state, enabling it to support educational and charitable 

 institutions far more generously than ever before and also to build a new 

 state capitol, mainly from current revenue. 26 A legislative reference library, 



24. Ibid., pp. 291-92; Raney, Wisconsin, pp. 290-91. 



25. La Follette, Autobiography, pp. 280-85, 34^~5^ 



2.6. Ibid., pp. 297-98, 356-57. It should be noted, however, that during La Follette's 

 administration the State of Wisconsin received a windfall of well over a million 

 dollars from the federal government to cover interest and losses that came from the 



