The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-01-21
AN ANIMATED DISCUSSION,
Westbrook Citizens Meet In ODD Eal-
lows Hall, saccarappa,
And Vote to Petition for a City Char
ter.
whether the Charter win Be Adopted
Yet to be Decided.

Saturday afternoon the cltizens Of wa.,.
orook held another meeting In ODD FelIous
nan, oaccarappa, for the purpose OF con-
sidering the towns need Of better govern
ment than II now has, and also 70 see IL
something could not be done 70 secure
better form Of government A city charter
was suggested at the first meeting. and from
the beginning Saturday It was evident that
the preponderance of the meeting was In
favor OF at least applying to the Legislature
ior charter. although IL was well known
that II granted 1t might be rejected By the
people when presented to them for accent
an,e. Mr.. Klmball Eastman presided over
the meeting and Mr.. +. N. Ray was the 6rst
speaker. Mr.. Ray from the first has been
strongly In favor Of applying to the Iegisla-
ture Tor a city charter for Westbrook, al
though he has not stated whether In his
opinion 1t Is best for the town 70 AZ oncs
adopt the charter II granted. Mr.. Geor~e
Raymond vas outspoken against the eIty
charter proposition. and he entered into the
discussion with considerable feeling He
said that the city Of Calais had decreased in
population ala since 1t adopted a city
charter and he thought that did not look
very favorable for city charles. Moreover
MI. haynond was OF the opinion that
very much more expensive than a town
government such as the citizens OF WexI-
brook now live under. He referred 10
Lewiston which be said had a valuation of
some 100000 and debt Of s076.ooo. He
thought Westbook was better on than
Lewiston. He had received letter from
Councilman Wakefield Of Lewiston. who
wrote that he. had no doubt that a city
government Is very much more ex-
One Of the selectmen Of Brunswick wrote
that that town was granted city charter
four years ago, but the people have not As
yet voted 10 adopt 1t. This city charter"
said MT. Raymond, means increased tn
ca expenses. When l am satisfied that
city charter IS the best thing for the town
then will favor II. Today will sign a
petition for a city charter and win vots
against adopting II next March"
MT. y. M. Ray said:
believe was one Of the original movers
IN bringing about these meetings. / said a
week ago that as this town Is managed II Is
running into the ground. IL we continue 10
doubt the exPeidency Of forming ourselves
Into city. The charter can do US no harm
until accepted After It Is granted, Il can be
considered whether we will vote for L or
1ot. me city OF Calais Is spoken of,and the
known Of any desire on the part Of the pe0-
pie to change back to the town system /
can conceive how city charter here might
operaie for the good Of the town. Suppose
government under a city system does cost a
little more. are we not In fair way TO save
this by not 0ver-running appropriations and
oy 1udiciOus expenditures? Our apprOpria-
tions for the last ten or fifteen years have
been oyerrun. We now have bonded debt
Of about 100000, and that Is about as much
as the law win allow us to get 10 debt. /
understand that we will run ia debt stu
more this year. Isn't this something to be
considered; isn't Ii alarming?"
MT. z. w. Dennett, superintendent Of the
Westbrook Manufacturing Company's mills,
said: IL am in favor Of applying for charter
The application forta charter Is one thing
and accepting It Is another. am In favor Of
II because believe II Is the universal expe-
tain size they ind town government IN
profitable. am satisfied that there would
be more representative government under
city charter than there Is now. There
would be better general public understand
Mr.. Harris said that Calais was Organized
under city charter In 1850. with 4750 pOpu-
lation; Auburn In 1859 with a population
OF about 5000 and valuation OF g., 500
OOo. Auburn has six post Offices. Lewiston
got her city charter In 1863 and had popula-
ton then Of 1900. The city has two post
offices; Ellsworth has four post Offices. Ten
Maine cities, said Mr.. Harris, ''were ineor-
porated as cities with smaller populations.
that the town Of Westbrook Is now said 70
have"
Mr.. Lewis M. Edwards said he did not see
the necessity OF a city charter yet.
Mr.. III. X. Griggs said-"We have been ae-
cumulatlng debt that we might keep our
rate OF taxation down. The question Is,
shall we get under the city government,
compensation In the way Of benefits enough
TO Offset the Increased expenditures. It's
absolutely imperitive that we seek some 9th
or method for expenditure Of money than
we have under the present system"
Mr.. Frank Haskell, president Of the West
brook Manufacturing Company, gave some
figures that had telling effect He said
that In the last II years the personal proper
ty In the town had increased Ouly SO oOO
and he gave figures IN show the increase OF
other property In the town. He said that II
the value Of the different kinds Of property
In the town continued to change at the same
ratio In about Is years there would not be
any personal property In the town outside
the mills. The people would sell real estate
to pay taxes.
On motion Of Mr.. Haskell IL was voted TO
petition the legislature for a city charter,
and the matter Of drafting charter and pre-
senting the same to the legislature was left
in the hands Of the following committee.
Frank Haskell, Il. NJ. Ray, w. W. Lamb, w.
X. Dana. Elisha Newcomb, John L. Warren
and Lewis u. Warren.
W. w. Cutter spoke In favor Of a city char
ter, and brief remarks were made BY Repre-
sentative Lamb and b. Y. Roberts.