Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1870-03-03
Litter from Augusta


| MR. EplToR:-
Tie enquiry j. frequently made what
the charges against man, OF the towns
in favor OF the stale i Tor | have re-
cciyed several letters asking an explana
ton and propose 10 give il through the
| American.
| Prcviou, to February 1864 the state
had paid one hundred dollar, bounty Ia
soldiers who enlisted in answer 10 call
OF the President for troops. BY an act
| approved on the 2uth. oil that month the
| Governor was authorized - l,aY al
additional bounty 81 two hundred dol
ar- Ia each soldier cnlisiins under the
call oi that month. The same act al.o
prohibited ,he pas ing % this additional
county to amy soldier 10 bc credited to
the quota oi amy town till that tow u had
Tiled it, qubia on the call 81 October
1865.
Before the quotas were filed. num-
Der of men came into the state 10 >cll
then.elyr- or be sold a substitutes.
The Governor wa> anxious 10 secure
them to be credited 10 the states quota.
and regardless OF the prohibition. paid
the full three hundred dollars 10 each
soldier.
Now the town "A" was deficient, ten
men on the call OF October, and was not
| entitled To any of the additional bounty:
and n the Governor paid il Ia all, "a
was benefited to the amount OF two
hundred dollars tor each ofthr ten men.
or two thousand doilal :. This sum WA
subsequently charged 10 he town. aud
| dppears to be "a Just though not iegai
| charge.
But the charge to some Of the towns
is not SO easy to JUSTIFY. And in other-
| (although it might have been paid in
good faith by the GOVERNOR no obliga-
| ton rest, on the town 10 refund
For instance, | am informed that the
towns OF Argyle and Benton filled their
| quotas very speedily. And at the time
| that the Governor commenced paving
| the large bJunties. were not deiicien, on
the call of October 1865, yet both these
Towns are charged with deficiencies on
the October call. The town OF Mars
Hill is charged with twelve hundred
dollars on the saline account.
find by the Political Manual that
Mars Hill was organized as a plantation
in 1866 and incorporated into town in
1869. am informed that every able
bodied man in that settlement (unor-
ganized) went into the army and were
credited TO several towns.
The town Of fremont appeared by
the Adj. Gems. books to be deficient on
the October call 10 the amo unit oi twenty
listed four thousand four hundred dol
lars OF the additional bounty was paid
and is charged to the town. Now Ire
mont had made contract with brokers
To ill Its quotas, not supposing that sum
would be paid Gas the law forbade it'd
and therefore received no benefit by lis
being paid: and cannot be expected to
refund what it never received. The
brokers Were enriched to that amount
unless they shared the profits with
officials or others.
1t would seem that the whole scheme
Of charging was an after thought, and
WAS not executed till some time during
the past year, after it was known about
what the report ofthe Equalization com
mission would be. can account for
some mistakes on no other grounds.
For instance Mars Hill settlement sent
men into the army, though other towns
got the credit at the time. But the
town Of Mars Hill claimed and was
allowed by the commission bonds for
them. Hence q charge is made to Mars
Hill purporting to have been made in
1864. And if the charge was made in
1864 how did it happen that the mist axe
was made Of charging deficiencies to
those towns whose quotas had been
PROMPTLY filed? Or to Mar Hill which