368 Meyer—Early Railroad Legislation in Wisconsin. 
among others, gave practically the same version of the affair at 
a “consolidation meeting” held at the City Hall in Milwaukee. 5 
The only trace of a denial I find in a report (see below) signed 
by O. H. Waldo, a prominent railroad man, in which he states 
that they have corresponded with Senator Davis and that the 
latter said that his bill was “ never passed, never became a law, 
and so never was stolen.” However, Mr. Waldo does not pub¬ 
lish the letter which he alleges they received from Mr. Davis. 
At any rate, both sides agree that such a bill was introduced. 
A surviving member of that Senate also remembers that 
Senator Davis introduced a bill repealing the Consolidation Act. 
The fact should have been recorded in the Senate Journal, but 
in an examination I have failed to find any notice of it. Was 
this a part of the scheme which led to the alleged theft? At 
any rate it strengthens the charges brought by the enemies of 
consolidation. The newspaper reports of the proceedings of the 
legislature were then comparatively incomplete, and I have been 
unable to discover anything which would give us a positive 
answer to this question. 
But to return to the question of consolidation, — at the public 
meeting in Milwaukee at which Matt. H. Carpenter and others 
had spoken, a committee of seven was appointed to report on 
the question at an adjourned meeting. At the meeting of the 
committee only five were present, one of whom was independent 
and apparently took no part in making the report. Two of 
these issued a “majority ” report, while the other two brought 
in a “minority ” report. 1 2 
The “majority report, ’which covers six and one-half columns, 
begins by stating that the committee does not clearly see how 
we can hasten or hinder any action the companies may take in 
accordance with their legal rights, and that they know too few 
facts relating to the contemplated consolidation to judge prop¬ 
erly of its merits. (It should be remembered that O. H. Waldo, 
who signed the report, was a railroad man.) That the state is 
a unit, and that the interests of Milwaukee are the interests of 
1 Semi- Weekly Wisconsin, August 28, 1863. 
2 Semi-Weekly Wisconsin , October 2, 1863; Milwaukee Sentinel , 
Sept. 10 and 21, 1863. 
