Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-06-19
The Montpelier and At. JOhn>bury
Railroad.

We stated recently the action Of the com
nittee, appointed at Il meeting Of the people
IF Montpelier. to consider what the town
,ught to do in aid of the enterprise Of build-
NJ the Montpelier and st. John>hury Rail
DAD The majority of that committee have
.aused to be published in Walton's journal
The following
TO THE TAx-PAlEK q! MONTPELIER.
The undersigned. members of a committee
| appointed mt ii meeting held Village Hall.
( IN the 2jth of March II consider the sub
ect of a railroad from Montpelier to St
| Johisbury, submit To YOU the following state
nent of facts.
The Committee met on several occasions
| they heard the engineer. directors and Others
interested in building the road. and have
spent considerable time in the discussion and
| vcstigation of the subject At the last
meeting the sum of ) loo 900 was named by
| General Pitkin. the least that would be
| accepted of Montpelier t. commence the
| prosecution of the work and he desired no
| ,ction of the Committee that would result in
| commenting TO the town to raise any less
/ sum on the grand list
| To raise this amount would require IA tax
| If about Sl2.G0 on every dollar OF the pres
ent grand list. annual tax, to p1y the
| interest at government rates, of about 90
cents ON the dollar 1t il confidently he
| leved that under such burden the list
would be reduced So that at least 100 cents
Jn the dollar would be required to pay the
| interest. 1t was claimed. However, by Gene-
raj Pitkin, that one-halfof the interest would
| be refunded by the corporation on their bonds
| but, at the same time. it was admitted that
the money raised by the towns. would only
| lie sufficient to begin the work and thus en-
able the directors to mortgage the road for
| funds sufficient to complete the same. Three
| fOurths of the expense of the work would un-
doubtcdly be embraced in the mortgage, and
the reliability Of the bonds of corporation
whose property is heavily incumbercd by
mortgage, can be estimated by YOU as we'll as
/ by Judging, however. from the past
history of Vermont railroads. no reliance can
be placed on such securities for either inter
est or principal, and in the opinion of the
undersigned the question falls back upon the
! first proposition, whether it is advisable for
| the town 10 impose upon its grand list
| equal to an annual tax for all time to come
| Of 100 cents on dollar for the payment of
| interest. This tax must fall heavily upon
| real estate, and the undersigned verify believe.
| that the burden would be such as to check
| improvements in building, stop the increase
| If Il valuable population. and essentially de
crease the grand list of the town Entertain
ing this opinion, the undersigned could not,
| in good conscience. recommend to the tax
payers to assume such debt. We do not
here propose to discuss the proprietv of
building and equipping the railroads the
grand list. No railroad. thus far. has been
| Quilt in this State upon such basis. Where
| the experiment has been tried at the West to
| build upon the bonds of cities. or by the aid
| of farm mortgages, it has generally. if not
universally, resulted in reputation. or liti-
cation, and we do not hesitate t. say that an
0ppressire tar, for such an object. would
| jeopardise the prosperity Of any town, and
be uniustifiable in those who imposed it.
| While we thus constrained to doubt
| the prudence and propriety of mortgagng
| the town in the mode and for the amount re-
quired. not unmindfui of the deer
interest of the citizens of Montpelier in the
success Of the road and of their Willingness
to contribute literally to it and as an ex-
preston of our own interest. we are ready to
recommend to the citizens Of Montpelier to
raise fifty thousand dollars and invest that
sum in the stock of the company, and to give
it, bonus, to any corporation, person or
persons, who will subscribe the balance OF
! one hundred thousand dollars to the stock or
bonds, at par, Of said company-thus real
izing for the road, if capitalists shall have
confidence in the undertaking. all that seems
to be required at the hands of Montpelier
This would have done but for the desire
of director of the corporation that the
proposition should not now he made.
ID. BALDWIN. GEO W. SCorr,
r RICHARDSON, III. W. HEAToN.
f.. p. JEwETT, C.. Emery,
j. A. PAGE. &. RoBrNsoN.
ORANGE FIFIELD, DENIsoN TAFT.
CARLOS BANCROFT, GEO. c. SHEPARD,