The Portland daily press., 1875-02-20
The Sinking Fund.

To the Editor of the Press:
If my unknown friend portland" will look
again, he will find that it is not the abolition
of the sinking fund so much as ths postpone
nent of the payment Of oar state wdr debt
which opposed before the committee.
Hence his structures upon the expenses of
the sinking fund, whether by purchase of
Maine bonds at premium by payment of sal
ary to its custodian, or otherwise, are no answer
to my article. 1 repeat that 1 could never per-
ceive the wisdom of the Counsels which origl-
mated the sinking fund, albeit they emanated
from practical financiers of Portland and else
where To my unfnancial mind it seemed at
the time and seems now that it would have
been simpler and better to make the state
bonds of 1868 and 1864 payable, some S3OO,0OO
or S4O0, 600 year, for series of years, than to
resort to the complications and circumlocution
of sinking fund. But sinking funds were
the fashion among practical fnanciers ten
years ago, and so the sinking fund system was
adopted Now if any equally safe substitute
can be devised without postponing the payment
of our state debt, do not understand me as OBJ
jecting. .-cTl- --a
The alarming part of the Governor scheme
was not so much the abolition of the sinking
fund as the discontinuance OF one-thlrd OF our
annual payment toward the principal OF our
state debt. The state valuation of 1870 was
225OOO 900, and for the past ten years an an
pual tax of three mills on the dollar or 80 cents
on the 800 has been applied toward the public
debt More than half of this sum has been
required for interest, and the remainder, lit
tie over 100000 yearly, to the reduction OF the
principal.
For ten years the work has proceeded with
ont complaint and thus the state debt has been
reduced from over SIS, 100000 to 50, 100000 In
fourteen or fifteen years more 1t would have
been all wiped out Last year, in the midst OF
the panic which began in September 1879
everybody acqu;esced in the assessment of the
usual tax and indeed the Legislature created a
new officer for the sole purpose OF guarding the
that act, but to call attention to the fact that
NV friend portland" and other liable and
candid financiers of Portland, had not, as
late as last winter, discovered the popular de
mand for reduction OF taxation.
One solitary voice was raised in behalf OF the
nostnonement of the payment of the state debt
last wear, that of Mr.. Boardman, representa-
tive from Belfast, who was almost II not quite,
unanimously voted down.
This year too, nobody seems to nave dreamed
q
raj address fell upon US with that baefnl rec
ommendation like a thunderbolt from clear
sky. Indeed it now leaks out, am informed,
that the Governor las he had perfect right to
do if he saw fD inspired the utterapce OF tne
Relfast representative last winter. Personall-
ties are of small account as argument, but
will, fraely grant that "Portand' ,lwhoever he
is NAV be as much or even more interested ana
has as much or more at stake In the nnanclal
honor and standing of the State OF Maine as or
than myself.
Al any rate, never owned state bond, and
hardly EXPECT to- certainly not for speculation.
AS to misrepresenting the Governors plan, l
assure him that it was not my intention Tor 1
referred the readers of the PRESS to His Tx
cellency's address, which they can read and
iudge for themselves. Neither do l think that
did msrepresent 1t.
The point of my article, if it had any point,
was that the Governor distinctly and deliber-
ately invited the Legislature to overturn the
settled financial policy of the state for The past
two wears ny stopping one-thrd of the annual
payment toward the principal OF the state
debt thus postponing its extinction ten years,
viz, from 1890 to the end of the century.
In this assertion [ certainly do not misrepre
sent him, for he admits it in SO many words, as
"Portland" will see if he will take the trouble
to refer to the Governor address published in
the PRESS of Jan. 7.
nurpose of saving so small a sum, comparative
tv as some S1OO. 900 yearly in the state tax, or
less than cents on the $1OO OF the state valu-
alton, ten years should at one stroke OF the
nen he ADDED to the existence of our state debt,
and and the first departure from our settled policy
he Ha made. But if it will be any qualification to
nv M friend Portland l will confess that l
have found to profound surprise Ss and regret
,ost candid fnancers of Portland" differ with
me-: me:s and further, that greatly fear. for that
Very reason, that the Governors suggestions
will be adopted.