Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-02-14
,bori,ino the taking Of private property on

Of their validity is raised? 1t is 4 question OF
supreme moment to-eyery creditor OF Town
in this country. If the doctrine Is SOUND. theh
the proposition, with which set out, Is es-
tablished-that the only absolute security for
the debt of Rockland, is the power which the
city holds to tax its citizens, within the nmit
of the municipality owing the debt, and fhat
municipality will be what is left of Rocklano
after the division. The whole 100000 Is
again.t RocklanI. II is a contract between
her and her creditors. You can do nothing
here to change her liability to pay her bonds
You cannot alter the obligation of the con-
tract. Cut her up as YOU will. if YOU leave
a piece still organized as Rockland, she must
take care of that debt. or it will never be
taken care Of West Rockland is not known
10 the creditors. She is clear of all liability
to him. You give Rockland no power TO re-
imburse herself by taxing the divided por-
ton. Divide her and YOU will have taken
awav very material part of the creditors Sc
curitv. a clear violation of the constitution
and robbed the city of the power to tax about
si6O,OO0 worth of property that she had when
the bonds were issued. TO reimburse herself
for the payment of West Rocklands por-
ton.
These questions would seem to open diff
culties enough to ruin our credit in case of a
q ulNsslOU- " linpCi thC iSSiSiotutS ~
stav its hand, but the trouble does not end
here. There is still another constitutional
objection. decisive and insuperable. The
constitution of this State. as amended in
1879, provides as follows: No city or town
shall hereafter create any debt or liability
which singly or in the aggregate with previ-
Gus debts or liabilities, shall exceed per
cent of the last regular valuation of said
town or city,
According to any valuation of Ward that
has been shown, the portion of the city
debts and liabilities, she would have to as
sumo. would not be less than Sll2, 900, the
amount she could constitutionally assume
would not exceed 1913 900, so that she would
be assuming a load about five times greater
than the constitution will permit her to carry.
| am well aware of the answer that is attempt
ed to be given to this. and with how much of
ingenuity it has been urged by an ac-
complished lawyer, and that is. that it vi ill
not be a new debt but continuation of the
old one. 1t was favorite maxim of Aaron
Burr that law was whatever is forcibly urged
and plausibly maintained. If the maxim is
sound the counsers position is sound, for it
was urged with force and plausi-
bility. But is this so: Pray by whom
is the old debt owing: BY Rock
land in its corporate name. To whom is the
old debt owing? To thousand creditors
holding its paper. West Rockland will not owe
nor can owe in any legal sense one dollar of
that debt to any creditor. appeal to law
yers if this is not so. Can she be sued on
any dollar of those Rockland bonds? That
is the test care not what provisions you
put into this bill-you cannot fix definite
and certain liability for the payment of any
portion of this debt upon this territory, with
absolutely none exists now. If any portion
of Rockland's population assume or under
take by themselves, either as a district a
ward or as new town, any definite and
separate portion of that debt to paw by them
selves or by virtue of any act of the Legisla-
ture, it is new assumption. a new liability.
BY the provisions of this bill, if the town Or
gaDizes under it and thus accepts its pro-
visions, she will become a R@ar debtor to ner
creditors, to wit. the CITY and ask if that
does not constitute new debt:
The seventh section of the bill :, Il puzzle
to me. | have studied hard on it but can't
understand it. l think it might be safely
called Il section to lead unsuspecting people
into litigation, purely for the benefit of law,
yers.
BY dividing the city, then. you inflict !i-
rect and telling blow at her credit; in that
creditors, by removing from the city the pow
er to tax S4G0 900 of its best property
2d If our statutes are constitutional you
deprive the creditor directly of $3.50. 900 Sc
curty, by placing it beyond the municipality
with which he contracted the debt.
3D. You impose the sole obligation to paw
the whole debt and interest upon the remain
der of the city and oblge her to seek reim-
bursement by such remedies as litigation
may discover.
4th. You relieve Ward of 4-5ths of her lust
proportion of the debt, by allowing her to
assume 100000 more than the constitution
allows, and you will impose that 800, 900 up
on the city-or the little piece that is left
9TH. You leave the rights of the city. in
definite, intangible and subject to endless
litigation. and cast us adrift from sure, Ger.
tain and well known track upon a shoreless
and untried sea.
Now it would seem to me, gentlemen,
whether you admit that my propositions are
strong and good or not. that You certainly
must admit that l have raised in your minds
reasonable doubt as to the legality of this
measure; and the credit of city which is
owing quarter of its whole valuation is n
sensitive thing. Like the Roman matron. its
virtue must be beyond suspicion. Once cast
suspicion upon that debt or the liability of
the town to pay it, and down go your securi-
ties; and the 100000 of that debt which 10
held by the savings banks in your State and
the more than $3.50, 200 of it which is held
by the widows and orphans and the poor men
of this State, will shrink by reason of your
action here. Our bonds in the markets
of this county, since the report of this Com
mittee, have shrunk -4ths per cent. at the bare
possibility of cutting that city in two Gen
tlemen. YOU must pause. This is matter
OF State Importance. Not only the interests
of the city which have the honor to repre-
sent is involved, but stand here as
the representative of the creditors of
the city. / stand here as the rep
resentative of your savings banks.
of the persons who hold the trust funds for
your poor people and your orphans. to ask
you that you do not knock the CITY of Rock
land on the head; that you do not rob her of
5-lths of her territory and all the lime stone
beds within her jurisdiction the verv foun-
tains of her life. her prosperity. from which
she has drawn the wealth that she eniovs to
day. which has raised her in the estimation
of the people Of this country as a city which
Is industrious, prosperous, and enterprising.
Gentlemen, the grievances of Ward are pitt
full compared with this. You cannot do this
thing without inficting an rremedial wrong
upon parties beside the city Of Rockland All
the way from Rockland to the city of Bath. is
little string of towns which are borne