The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-03-09
BOARD OF TRADE.
A Protest Against Taxing the Grand
Trunk.

brought before it.
The meeting was called to order at II o'clock
! by President Anderson. There was large
attendance of leading business men.
Hon. George Walker was elected member
President Anderson stated the meeting had
been specially called in reference to the gener-
al law before the Legislature taxing railroads.
The GrandiTrunk have felt some apprehensions
| that under the terms of the law they might be
included, and, as under their charter, the At
lantic & st. Lawrence road, leased by them,
was exempted from taxation, in order that
there might not be any careless wording of the
law, the road desired an expression on the part
| OF the Board of Trade ON this matter, as it
might have weight with the Legislature.
| Hon. W. W. Thomas, ex-mayor offered the
| following resolutions:
THE RESOLUTIONS.
Whereas, In 1916 the Legislature of Maine
! granted charter to the Atlantic & St. Law
renee Railroad Company to enable them to
| construct a road from Portland to the Canada
| line, by which charter, in order to encourage
the stockholders in their Important and ardu-
GUS undertaking, special privileges were given,
| among others an exemption from taxation by
the state except in the manner particularly de-
scribed in the charter itself; and
| Whereas, Said railroad was actually built,
mainly by Portland capital and the aid of the
city credit, and was subsequently with the con-
sent OF the Legislature leased to the Grand
Trunk Railway Company, but has never from
the beginning earned a dividend on its stock;
and
| Whereas, 1t has come to our notice that a
railroad tax bill is now pending before COM
mittee OF the Legislature at Augusta, which if
enacted will practically cause a tax to be
sessed on the Grand Trunk company as lessees
of the said Atlantic & st. Lawrence railroad;
RESOLVED, That in the opinion of this Board
no attempt ought thus to be made to fix 31di-
rect!y that which is directly exempt from taxa
ton; that an act such as we understand has
been proposed, would at least be of doubtful
legality; that it is of very great importance to
the people of Portland as well as to the state at
large that no additional burden be laid upon
the Grand Trunk Company, which has now to
compete with the roads in Boston for all
freight to be shipped abroad by ocean steam
ers; and that we earnestly protest against all
legislation imposing upon them any tax not
provided for by the charter of the Atlantic &
st. Lawrence railroad, of which they are les
sees. atl a-f .-s-.-.-... q
Resolued, That the Secretary communicate
the above to the Senators and Representatives
from this city and represent TO them the i'm
portance of adding such amendment to the
proposed tax act as will protect the interests of
the Grand Trunk Railway Company of this
city.
Mr.. Thomas said he was one of the directors of
the road at the time of making the lease of the
Atlantic & st. Lawrence to the Grand Trunk.
The road has promptly paid the interest on it's
loan from the fcity of $1,0O0,000, and is ready
to pay the principal if the city will take it. He
thought everything should be done for the
road that has done so much for us as State,
and is doing us so much good without cost to
ourselves The Grand Trunk took the road in
an imperfect state and made it first class The
company has never received, on the stock of
that road, one dollar. This proposed taxation
of the Atlantic & st. Lawrence is not Port
land matter alone. People all through the
State have stock in the road. 1t was thor
oughly understood when the Atlantic & St.
Lawrence was leased by the Grand Trunk
the latter road received the advantages and
privileges possessed by the former. He moved
the adoption of the resolutions.
Mr.. w. S. Dana, ex-President of the Board
of Trade, thought the wording of the charter
of the Atlantic q St. Lawrence road impor-
tant and read that section by which no tax
| should ever be laid on the road until it
earned ten per cent over the running ex-
penses. The only question, he said, was
| whether tax could be laid on the Atlantic &
| St. Lawrence when leased to the Grand Trunk
| although running under the name of the lat
| ter road. The company is still in existence
1t has n riven up any of its corporate rights
| Ex-Gov,. Washburn douted whether it was
in the power of the Legislature to change the
II is good adage, said the speaker, that what
| cannot be done directly cannot be done indi-
rectly. Itnever co@ld have been believed by
| the Legislature, or the people of the State, at
the time the act was passed giving the ATTAIN
tic & st. Lawrence the privileges stated, that a
subsequent legislature would ever attempt to
| change their action. If such things can be
done whose property will be safe? The matter
of exempting the road from taxation was care
| fully looked into, at the time the Atlantic &
ST Iawrpncn cbqrtara6 nv tho yuicn
in the State That their views thus publicly ex-
| pressed can be changed after forty years legis-
lation seems mockery. The State cannot af-
ford to violate its contracts and get name
| for slipperiness and trickery. The speaker
| didn't believe the Legislature contemplates, or
will contemplate, doing anything of the kind
He had always been in favor of all improve
ments that benefited the city. He favored
/ of what it might accomplish for Portland,
| while it never could harm the Grand
Trunk-in fact each road would be an advan-
tage to the other. He had never regretted the
construction of the .Ogdensburg. and he
den imposed by it. He thought the great
railroad Improvements in the West would
bear out his views in the future. The Grand
Trunk, at present and for many years to come,
will prove of great benefit to us. 1t has in
creased our capacity to pay taxes twenty per
cent. and our population several thousand.
| 1t is therefore not our interest to allow it
to suffer any injury. We should rather ex-
tend it encouragement. The Grand Trunk is
| contemplating doing more for Portland than
ever before. 1t has no further interest in the
Intercolonial road. Its interest.lies in earn
ing all it can, and the longest distance it can
haul will Of course pay it best. 1t can haul
furthest to portland, and there is no port from
whence or to whence freight can be transport
ed cheaper for shippers, or occupies a more
economical position and it will de-
pend upon ourselves, by keeping our eyes and
ears open, whether we shall SCOOP inn the
business The Graed Trunk, having disposed
OF the LINK from Quebec to the Rivere du
Loup, and bought the Port Huron Line, has
now complete line to Chicago independent of
all other lines, and she is not overlooking all
the advantages that will accrue from the con-
nection. 1t is patent that we shall never have
a better chance to show our good will towards
the Grand Trunk than at the present hour
Mr.. L. G. Hersey, Ex-President of the Board
of Trade, seconded the resolutions, and
thought nothing could be added to the clear
statements made by the other speakers He
could look back to the time when the A. & ST.
L. road was started, and he knew that without
the clause in the charter, exempting the road
from taxation, it could not have been built.
We rose from our low conditions by means of
the road; the Portland Co. and other impor-
tant industries being outgrowths of it, The
speaker would not say the road had always
been managed as it ought to have been, but it
is easy to criticise, and he thought it was now
well managed.
President Anderson wished it distinctly I'M
derstood that not only was Portland interested
in this matter, but the whole state as we'll.
When other roads had been forming combina-
lions the Grand Trunk held themselves indie
pendent and kept down rates of transportation.
The bill before the Legislature to tax the gross
railroad receipts would do the Grand Trunk
great injustice. Since it would tax that road
indirectly by taxing them in proportion to the
number of miles run by their line in the state
and those miles are run by the Atlantic & St.
Lawrence road under lease to the Grand
Trunk-a tax the Legislature would have nc
right to levy directly. He thought the integ-
rity of the state credit should be maintained.
Mr.. c. E. Jose thought the proposition to tax
the road should be discouraged all over the
state. There is no state that needs help to de-
velop its natural resources as much as Maine
and if it is found the state is ready to break its
faith, it will do more to estop that develop
, ment than anything else. MA q. :.
, Mr. j. P Baxter, of Davis, Baxter& Co.
, endorsed all that had been said and should be
: glad to vote in favor of the resolutions
, Mr. j. j. Gerrish. of j. j. Gerrish & Co., as
citizen of Portland and of Maine, wished tt
, put himself on record as against action by the
| Legislature that would dishonor its good name
and that of the state. He entered his earnes
protest against reputation of the states en-
: gagements with the old A. & St. L. Railroad
Me- L. = O