The Portland daily press., 1862-07-17

At the meeting Of Saturday evening, in the
absence of any knowledge that the State would
offer bountics to newly enlisted soldiers, it was
intimated that the City Council might offer to
each new recruit $50 bounty, or perhaps more,
to stimulate the able-bodied citizens to volun-
teer and make up our quota of the 1000 fresh
troops now called for. The quota of this city
is 2S6. The members of the City Government
talked the matter over, and Monday they were
ready-so we learn-to vote $50 per man to
each one who should enlist, of our own citi-
zens, to make up the requisite number. This,
so far as common talk might be taken as an
index of feeling was generally considered lib
eral; as much as the city ought to pay or as
the soldiers would expect
But in order to act in harmony with the
State Government, and not to embarrass its
operations, the Mayor took pains TO send
gentleman to Augusta, to confer with the Gov
ernor, so that his views might be fully under
stood. Before the Council came together on
Monday, information was received from the
agent, setting forth that the Governor feared
the effect, upon other portions of the State, of
offering large bounties by the cities and
wealthy towns. Such policy would encourage
enlistments in such towns, while upon the
country generally, where no such encourage
ment would be offered, it would operate unf;l-
vorably. Men would not feel like enlisting in
the back counties, unless they could fare pref
ty nearly as well as those from other parts of
the State, who would be associated with them
in the same regiments. The 2S6 men required
of Portland are but mere handful of the
1000 required of the whole State, and a policy
that would operate against the many, merely
to secure prompt response from the few, the
Governor thought, should be avoided; and it
was fer this reason that he suggested the i'm
policy of offering large bounties by Portland
and other Cities
But in lieu of such a plan, the Governor,
taking careful advice of influential men,
promptly decided to offer State bounty of $50
each for recruits for the new regiments. and
$35 to ill up the old ones-a plan that would
offer the same enhancement to the men of Aroos-
took as to those of Conference.-The same to
the men of the smallest and poorest plantation
as to those of the largest and wealthiest city
The city, at its Council meeting on Tuesday
evening, voted to add $40 per man to this State
bounty, for the men to I'LL up her quota, thus
securing to the ne,cty enlisted soldier precise
ly the same sum that 1t ,cas proposed to gioe
him, AS A LIBERAL INDICTMENT, before IL
scds knorn whdt the State authorities ,could
dol The recruit, therefore, fares precisely
the same as he would have done had the State
remained inactive and the city had carried
out its original proposition.
Now, the soldier having no grounds of COM
plant inasmuch as he receives all he had reck-
oned upon, and all that he had been encourage
ed to look for, the only question is, has the
city acted literally, or has it studied penuri-
in its true light, satisfy every candid mind and
show that the city has nobly acted its partand
should be commended for pursuing most lib
eral and praiseworthy policy.
Suppose the State had offered no bounties,
and the City Council had voted $50 to each of
the 2S6 volunteers required; that would have
imposed burden upon the city of s2s6O0.-
But how stands the case now? The city has
got to pay her proportion of tax to meet the
$50 per head offered by the Governor. Seven
thousand men at $50 each, is $4,000. Port
land pays ID per cent. of the aggregate State
tax, and therefore she will have to pay 1927 800
as her proportion of the bounties offered by
the State. When to this sum is added $40 each
for her quota, we have S33,020 as the amount
of the burden imposed upon the city of Port
land by the bounties offered for enlistments in
the city and State! 1t will thus be seen that
II Portland had paid SIP bounty to each of
her 2S6 soldiers required, and the State had
done nothing, she would have had no heavier
burden imposed upon her than she now has
or had the city paid the $50 per man, as origi-
nally proposed and expected, and other towns
and cities had done likewise, instead of being
more liberal than she has been. she would ac-
tually have saved Sls,720 of the money which
she is now obliged to pay
Why, then, not feel that the city has done
nobly? We feel proud of her, and still we are
as yet but an outsider, not privileged to cali
her our city. She bears her load without COM
planning, willing to pay money for recruits in
the uniavored and sparsely populated regions
of the State, as well as within her own borders.