858 Meyer—Early Railroad Legislation in Wisconsin. 
illegal taxes, Milwaukee is doomed to recede instead of progress. ,r 
These words indicate the spirit in which the meeting was called. 
Editorial comment asserts that “ the pressure of taxation has 
become intolerable. ” We must contrive “ means of relieving our¬ 
selves and the city from the onerous burdens and depressing in¬ 
fluence of excessive taxation and extravagant expenditure. ” At 
that meeting it was agreed that taxes “had increased, were in¬ 
creasing, and ought to be diminished,” 1 and a committee was 
appointed to report on the proposed amendments to the charter. 
The outcome of it all was that the city council, by a vote of ten 
to four, granted additional aid. 2 A minority report of the coun¬ 
cil points out that but ten per cent, had been paid on the pri¬ 
vate subscriptions amounting to eight hundred thousand dollars, 
and that with good financial management the road could be com¬ 
pleted without further aid. But a part, at least, of the public, 
could forget momentarily the burdens against which they had 
protested, and give themselves up to “ blazing bonfires and roar¬ 
ing cannons ” in honor “ of this happy event ”—the sale, in New 
York, of corporate and individual bonds and mortgages held by 
the railroad company. How these securities were floated in the 
Eastern and European markets is a familiar fact. 3 
Attention has already been called to a report of a committee 
to the Wisconsin legislature. 4 This committee asserts that “the 
magnitude of the interests to be affected ” has caused them to 
deliberate most carefully. “ The great advantages of railroad 
improvements . . . present strong inducements to sustain 
the policy contained in the bill,” and the immense sums of 
money already invested by innocent holders, on the faith of 
bonds issued by other municipalities under similar acts, is a 
1 Sentinel, June 8, 1850. 
2 June 20, 1850. 
3 Typical accounts of these transactions and subsequent celebrations can 
be found in the Janesville Gazette of June 20,1850, and April 10, 1851;. 
Fond du Lac Journal, May 15, 1851, and following; and Milwaukee Sen¬ 
tinel, July 17, 1850. 
4 “Report of the Committee on Expiration and Re-enactment of Laws, 
in Relation to Assembly Bill No. 364, to authorize certain towns to aid in 
the construction of a railroad; March 14, 1854.” Bound in Wisconsin 
Miscellaneous Pamphlets, Vol. XVI, No. 16. 
