The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-05-18


Maine, selling goods by the piece or by sam
nle and thus escaping all the taxes and other
burdens to which our own merchants are ex
! posed. The Boston merchant pays his taxes
there; pays his license as wholesale or re-
tail dealer thereto do business tn Boston,
and he thinks it great hardship that he
cannot pack samples of all his wares in
trunks, and send one his runners with them
ipiol Maine, to spread them out in every no.
tel, and thus establish atemporary. wholesale |
store in every village in our state, enjoying all
the benefits with none Of the burdens OF q |
wholesale merchant IN Maine as well as III
Boston. Inthe columns of the papers Oh tnat |
city we find merchants advertisements, IN |
which they threaten retaliation, oy wiennoiuEs
ing communication from US, ana summing US
in their travelling excursions, thus destroying
~ crastlv ipiuring our railroad and steamboat !
s.oeks, hotels, stage coaches, and divers other
i ;o,arests. This would be bad indeed. What
should we do with no beardless boys travelling
through our State, sent out by third-r rate city
iobbers, to take in. country shopkeepers by 1
palming upon them old and shoprworn goods,
drinking gin cocktails with down-east"
pumpkins, and CONSUMING their fares out of
goodnatured conductors, steamboat clerks and /
stage drivers!
This kind OF bosh would be of no account
aud scarcely provoke o smile, but for the tone
Of papers in that city-papers taken by thou
---4sr in Maine-wblch indulge in filings at our
people for going to Boston to beg money to
build railroads, and then passing or unfolding
laws virtually excluding the Boston people
from riding on their own roads! Here is an
extract:
The position of the people of that Common
wealth as petitioners for the past year for aid
/ from Massachusetts to complete the great line
of railroad which is to make her the great
highway between the British Provinces and
the States, would seem to dictate different
| policy than this. They are here asking the
business men OF Massachusetts, acting through
| their State government, to aid in building
railroads, which by the laws of Maine they
cannot ride over, in the usual and ordinary
pursuit OF their business, without liabilityto
arrest and fine, or Imprisonment.
If there can be anything meaner beneath
the canopy of heaven than to follow what is
claimed to be generous act by o fling, we
don't know what it is. Because Massachu-
sets has assigned paltry sum to aid road
in this State. for her olon benefit we are now
expected to sit at her feet, and to acknowl-
edge her our lawgiyer in all things. 3 We must
cease to regard our own State. interests, to
repeal all our municipal regulations, break
down our wholesale merchants who contribute
so largely to bear the public burdens, and OPP
en- the State for the common plumber Of her
would be guardians. The moment we do any
thing looking to the protection of our own
rights, then we are unfriendly TO Massachu-
settsl Why can't Boston be content to hold
out such inducements as will draw our coun-
try merchants to her warehouses, instead q
sneaking around through all the towns in our
State to gain untaxed advantages, for the en-
joyment of which our own people are obliged
to bear burdens2 Let her merchants come
into Maine aud build or lease stores, pay taxes,
and thus do business as our own merchants
do, and we will bid them God speed; but it is
small business to try to secure the advanta-
ges of wholesale trade by avoiding all taxes,
escaping all burdens, and virtually trying to
/ break down our own hard working and honest
merchants. "a
There is one kind of retaliation for such
meanness that is perfectly justinable. Many
of our merchants have found out there is such
) acity as New York, where they can purchase
merchandise twenty per cent. cheaper than in
Boston, Lat them learn also that there is q
semi-weekly line of steamers runs direct be-
tween that city and this, and that The wants o.
the State can be supplied without troubling
I | the small tri-monntain village. We advise
! the merchants of Maine to think of these
5 things. 80 FAIR PLAY.
European and North American Railroad.
~ Yesterday we copied sentence from Bos-
ton paper in relation to the action of the Leg
islature of Massachusetts, in aid of the above
named railway, which was evidently bungled
in the wording; for, according to that state
ment, the only aid granted was the assign
ment OF the bonds held by that State against
this, after the said bonds shall have been paid
or cancelled. From other sources, we derive
the information that the assignment of the
bonds embraces the appropriation of their full
amount (yet unpaidl and interest, as gift to
the Railroad Corporation, to aid in the con
struction of the line from the Penobscot River
to the State line. This amount, thus donated
we are told, will probably amount to about
: 100000. The aid granted by this State will
amount to at least as much more, making
$4,000 perhaps half million, for which the
crporation will have no interest to pay, no
bonds to issue. #
Besides this, Massachusetts, has Joined our
our own State in assigning to that corpora
ton all the joint-claims of the two States upon
the General Government, growing out of the
settlement OF the North Eastern Boundary
question; claims which may or may not prove
valuable. There is unreasonable presumption,
however, that from these claims, amounting
nominally to million dollars more or less, a
few hundred thousands may be realized, if the
matter is judiciously managed, and the claims
shall not be prejudieed by the manner in
which they shall be pressed upon the attention
of Congress. m
The aid thus granted by Massachusetts,, and
by this State also, we think, attaches to that
portion Of the road between the State line and
Lincoln, or the point where the PeDobscot
River is first reached from the East, which is
some fifty miles above Bangor. To secure
the road from Bangor to Lincoln,-which
must be very easy road to grade,-the city
of Bangor has already voted to loan her credit
for 100000. From Bangor to Oldtown, via
Orono Village, the road is already graded, the
same road.bed being adopted that was graded
several years since by the Penobscot River
Railroad Company, the franchise of which has
been transferred to the E. & N. A. r. r.