The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-06-18

! $4,000. The only possible effect of Col Eu-
stis's candidacy, if it should have any, would
be to substitute fer Mr.. Dingley the Hon.
Alonzo Garcelon, who does not believe in
| prohibition, and has never lifted his voice in
its behalf-to supplant lifelong and con-
sistent advocate of prohibition by an advo-
| cate of license law. And this the Third
| party calls helping the cause of temperance.
The special election to choose an alderman
in Ward 2 in Belfast, Wednesday, resulted
in the election Of Thomas w. Pitcher, tax
reducer, by majority of 63 over Charles w.
| Haney, taxpayer. At the regular spring
electionr when the issue between the tax
payers and the taY-reducers was first brought
to the 'front.' Haney received one majority.
| But the conrt sustained charges of irregu-
larities, which were made by the tax-reduc
srs, and Haney was unseated, and new
election ordered. The result of this election
| puts the tax-reducers in possession of both
| branches Of the city government, and ends
| for the present very important local issue.
| The peculiar names which the parties have
assumed are.explained by the circumstances
| which gave rise to the controversy. The city
| of Belfast was the prime mover In the con-
struction of the Belfast and Moosehead Lake
railroad, the line which runs from Belfast to
Burnham, and is now leased to and operated
| by the Maine Central. So it happens that
the city is a large holder of the stock of this
| branch railroad. The road has also bond
| ed and floating indebtedness, which will be
due in the course of few years. Now the
| object of the taxpayers was to provide
| sinking fund to be used in liquidating this
| debt. Their method Of providing this sink
| ing fund gave them their name. They pro-
| posed to cease paying dividends on the stock,
and apply the money thus saved to the sink
ing fund. AS the city is the great stockhold-
er, it would be the city that would lose the
| divid ends. This of course would cut off
| considerable revenue, and necessitate higher
taxes. Hence the parties who favored this
plan were called taxpayers Their oppo-
nents, who wished to have the dividends on
the city's stock continue, and leave the bond
| ed and floating Indebtedness to be settled
| when the time should come, were called tax
reducers, because their plan would leave the
city its dividends and thus keep the taxes
| down. As the tax-re ducers now control the
city government, taxes will remain at the
| old figure, and the citizen of Belfast may
content himself until the day when the debts
| of the railroad come to be paid. Then there
| will be more of the municipal squabbles
| which are so liable to be poster those cities
| that have built railroads in the hope of gain
ing opuIence thereby. AS Belfast lost in
stead of gained by the unfortunate venture,
it is not hard to account for the unusual bit
| terness which has animated her factions.
|
1t was nearly thirty-four years ago that
| Daniel Webster died. The times during
4 which he lived were such as to call forth his
greatest powers and impel him to the full ex-
| ercise of those abilities with which nature
had endowed him so generously. But to the
present generation the issues Of that day are
| matters of history or Renaissance merely
| OF all the great questions which agitated the
country in Webster's time there remains
| hardly single one unsettled. One spectral
| issue alone has passed the great chasm of
| the civil war. The last public question
which engaged Mr.. Webster's serious atten
ton was one relating to the rights of Amer
| lean fishermen on the coasts of the British
| Provinces. This question vexes us to-day,
| but hardly constitutes bond of active SYM
| pathy with the efforts Of statesman who
died nearly decade before the civil war.
| Our interest has been in a measure diverted
| from the early strife and preliminary skirm-
| ishes of the conflict which became a civil
war in the early sixties, to the characters
| and events which have passed before us
| within the last quarter of a century. The
| statesmen and soldiers who have figured
| since the birth of the Republican party have
claimed our admiration, rather to the exclu-
| sion Of those who rendered eminent services
| in critical times. 1t is not surprising then
that at the dedication Of the statue at Con-
cord yesterday, Daniel Webster was remem-
bered most fondly as a native of New Hamp-
shire. His services as statesman were not
forgotten; but the orator of the day spoke
to more eager ears when he pictured before
them Webster as New Hampshire man:
old elm that swung s near his Cradle and still
| sparkles the water of the old well that quenched
the thirst of his childhood sports and of his man
church-Searie's Hill,' or Injecting. house HIP
the first years Of his life for baptism. few
| miles beyond, in Andoyer, is the place where,
nth the o last eaE Of MS e ne wp
down by the Merrimack, lies tho "Elms Farm" OF
his boyhoods and his manhood's love; where at
the age of eight he first read the Constitution,
| printed on a cotton handkerchief - Two
hours away, as we now travel it, to the northwest
of u.s. is the college that moulded his young titan
| ic power whose diploma, whatever others may
1 foolishly repeat he did not tear in pieces, but
| gracefully accepted college that throughout
his life he loved and cherished.
The audience there gathered was distinct
lively New Hampshire audience. The
donor of the statue was son of New Hamp-
shire,.the State. through its chief executive.
was the recipient; the orator of the day had
known Mr.. Webster in his youth; and the
alumni of Dartmouth College there collected,
though they may have made fortune and
fame in other States as did Mr. Webster
himself, had come together to recall to men,
DRY the New Hampshire man.