Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-01-28

an article in the warrant TO see If the town
would take some measure to authorize some
body To contract with some water company
for . supply of water at the village. And
what did they dos They voted il down, the
first request for important improvement ever
made by that village, and not one solitary
man who is on this remonstrance proposed
or voted for any measure st that meeting in
favor of water. What next? The in
habisnts of the village made one more eff
for: for their oxn protection. and called
special meeting upon = petition circulated
every " here in the town, and out of all the
Inhabitants of East Boothbsy who are on the
remonstrants here and who nov come by
their counsel and say they are in favor of
water, just two names were obtained to that
petition, petition which simply asked that
4 town meeting should be held in which the
subject might be considered by the
voters of Boothbay. That meeting
wss held, and the town did vote to
appoint a committee to investigate and make
3 contract. You have seen that committee
and you can Judge of their integrity, their
standing and their bearing. They need no
defence at my hands. They speak for
themselves That committee made con-
tract, suchssa one as they thought for thr best
interests of the town. Then what? At the
next town meeting instead of putting into
the warrant an article 10 hear and act upon
tue report of the committee, they trusted to
dame rumor that the committee was not to
ready TO report without asking one of them
in regard TO it, and kept the article out.
Again II special meeting was called on May
I, IS, by the seleciman, and that was called
for the purpose avowed in the warrant. which
| will state. And you can we'll Judge. gen.
tlemen, whether there is on matters of town
policy that complete unanimity aud harmony
/ of section that should and ought to exist in n
town, that is not tot to be divided, when you
hear what followed after that committee of
honorable men had been appointed a nj had
made a contract whlch is before You ami is
well guarded for the interests OF the town,
| better so than the majority of water con-
tracts now in force. ask il Mr.. Boyd is
far from right when with indignation in his
voice he says that this article was AT il suit
upon that honorable committee, the article
to '.see if the town will vote to instruct the
selectmen TO protect the interests
of the town against the illegal contract
made by the committee which was chosen So
and so? Should not they have been met
fairly and treated with respect even if they
had incautiously and unknowingly exceeded
the technical limit of the vote: especially
when they had legal opinions afterwards sus-
tanned by his honor upon the supreme bench,
Judge Danforth, than whom no more honest
man ever breathed. when those opinions said
in plain terms, as Judge Danforth did, that
no matter whether this were authorized oil
not, the town has authority either to accept
or reject them and the rest of the contract
remains good? Was it not an insult to spread
hat, sha VOID Nf fha and
denim these honorable gentlemen as if they
were trying in some way to plfer the righl,
Of their own .sSn? But it was so recorie
ami by these remonstrants the matter wal
finally referred to Judge Danforth to decide
what should be DONE his decision to be final
and his opinion il before you. And he CALI
at,ent on to two little points which he say
were in excess of the strict technical author
ity of the limit OF the town andhhey undoub-
.diy were And one is the clause in which
they undertook to contract for a perpetua
right, and the other WAS clause which in
creased the time from % to so wears, the
committee understanding that the last q
; years was optional, but it was not in fact
Tha, contracc was submitted TO the selectmeI
and they raised an objection to tn,
} 80 years clause, and the commit
tee got that changed giving To thu
TOW he option t, extend the contract o
not at the end of the first twenty-five years
That was precisely the thing which the Sc
t iectmen said removed every grouGl of oh
} lection, because the other technical ohjec
tion had occurred to Judge Daaforih rs
. law, er, and 10 nobod! Sc Then tina
T contract was all right and As by Tin
vote of the town the decision of Judge Dan
orth was to b. final, il would seem MS i
/ water was at last secured. But Ihes
numerous gentlemen in the 9th r parts of tn
town who were protecting their int rrsi-, af
ter the decision of Judge Dantprlh that tin
town could accept or reject those l." iul
! provisions and accept the rest oil the contract
. came into the to~n meeting OF July l4h, a
: wlIch tn re was to b at o. upon article IL
the first place TO hear aud to act upon TIN
report of the water committee The com
mittec were there with their report, and tn,
. selectmen knew it, and then article | wa
, read. And somebody moves toshear the re
port of the committee, and then the report i
brought forward and in the instant of TIM
while they were waiting for that, and i
l seems upon the testimony even before tn
! instant of time, somebody was ready with hi
stereotyped death blow 80 vote to dismiss
, the article. They would not even listen Il
5 the report of the committee, much less &C
upon il. And v thin two minutes, acc0rdin.
to the testimony, that whole warrant wa
! dismissed by an overwhelming majority. ID,
: you believe that town was in favor of water
and Ell within two minutes voted to dismiss e v
cry article relating t0it. Is that the way intel
. hgent citizens carry out their own wishes
Don't you suppose that these able selectmeI
: if they had been in favor of water coult
have found some way to hear at least tina
reportE And It they hadn't been satishet
l with that particular form, couldn't thqy have
found some other plsnt ANA now what dc
: they say? Why, they say that that first con
tract was not legal. In the iirst place they
| say there was not reliable COMPANY Blu
it has appeared that that company had PLACED
with one Of the leading ba lkers OF PorllanC
500, 900 of bonds on which to raise mo ley
and the works once in, the town was bounl
to have water whether the company failed
or not, because it would be for he interes
of the bondhoders to carry on the works. Il
is iimsy prete1t, and they know it.
What else do they sayf There was not a;
adequate pond chosen to supply it. An af
ter thought. Nobody said so then, and tht
testimony here shows that it was adequate
But these gentlemen in the other parts of the
town uho were SO clamorOus internally fol
water were the ones who found it was not AT
adequate supply, aid they do not flui il ou
until this case of division came up, and it i,
a curious circumstance that the people VINO
were to use and drink this water always nund
that the supply was all right, and the only
peope that ever objected to it we're the PEG
pie who were never goi1g TO use it.
Then they say the authority of the
committee had expired. What did they mean
by that: committee appointed by the
town to perform certain duty and no time
limited in which they should perform tina,
duty They performed the duty and asked
leave to report til .ir action, They have
never been discharged What LAWYER dare
maintain that that committees duty had tx.
pred But it seems that the town itself
Recognized that committee and its existence
after the March meeting of IS as recorded
On the 1th Of May IS. for it appears of
record that on motion of Mr.. Remission il
was voted to authorize the committee to Sc
cure an amen iment to the contract with the
BoothDay Water Co so as to leave out III.
Centre water supply, on terms advantageous
to the town. If the contract is decided t, b,
legal" The town thereby FATTY, endorse
and recognize their existing authority, and
direct them to go and 10 certain other things
Then you have the opinion of Senator Heath
and Judge Dangorth that the committee hal
authority still to act,
Int hat A thay 70 .