Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-01-09
GOVERNOR BURLBlGH
Delivers His Inaugural Address
Before ihe Legislature.

Before ine LsSlSEluFe.
1 Cosciss AID Comprehensive ReIisg o.
Stats Affairs.
Cordition OF Financial Affairs -rsx
| tion-8allo. Rstcsm-Tz dustIial Da
vslopnsns - We. de Fait - O,hsl
Matters
Al the beginning OF the important and ex,
| acting duties which. a. tine chosen rppresen
| tatlves OF the people Of Nsine. will cieyolgs
| upon sou daring the Esxl few months. IL j,
my pieasass privilege 70 welcome you TO more
councillors asd convenient quarters thar
have been enjoyed By your preieceS.ors-
The increased healIh and comfort thus So,
cured 10 YOU viii. il Is hoped, 90 far toward:
facilitating the labors Of the session.
FIsANcIaL.
On the fir.t day Of October, ls69, when
bonds were issued Under the Act of 1858. 10
payment of the Municipal War Debts assumed
by the state, the total bonded Indebtedness
Of Maine reached its highest point, amounting
this the aecumulation- then in the Sinking
Fund, amounting, at their par value, TO 1872,
30, it viii be seen that the total net Indebted
ness OF the state was SIZES $40. This debt
was bearing Interest at the rate Of six per
cent per anaum. payable sem-anrually. and
the amount due for interest IL 1870 was S4s6,-
asJ4 90.
The total bonded debt of the state at the
present time is - .602 200. OF this amount
rilS.:'00 is drawing interest at i've per cent,
$50, 900 al four per cent and s2.33i ,O9e al
three per cent. per anunLn. payable sem-an-
nually. being Just oae-half the rate which the
STATE had been paying for the previous twenty
wears. During the past year the sum of 500
go has been paid on the principal OF the pub
lie debt
Briefly stated. the financial operations of
the STATE from 1869 to the present time are as
follows.
Total net bonded debt, October i,
1869, s7.i2s,37o
Total net bonded debt, January /,
ls3i, 2,602, 800
Total reduction since 1863, si,526,o7o
la 1870 the total amount of inter
est due from the state upon the
bonded debt wa, sisG,e5i 90
The amount OF interest to be paid
on the bonded debt during the
present year i, 81 .a35 10
showing n total reduction in the
annual interest account, since
1863, OF S40i ll9 90
This interest account will he growing less
from year TO year. a. the annual payments
upon the principal OF the debt are made under
the Refunding Act of 1889.
4 comparison of these figures will clearly
sboH to the people of Maine what has been
accomplished during the last twenty years,
nj hns He MI nj Iv nor N fYt
interests have been managed during that time.
la 1870 the rate of taxation in Maine was
fifteen mills on the dollar of the State valua-
ton, and the State tax assessed upon the
County Of Cumberland alone WAS larger, by
nearly fourteen thousand dollars, than the
entire state tax fOr 1890. Indeed, the state
tax for 1868 was only Sl26. 000, 90 less than the
entire amount of the bonded debt Of the state
at the present time. Within the last decade
the rate of tax alton in Maine has been reduced
from five mills in iSS0 to two and one.quarter
mills in 1890. If we take from this the one
mill that is levied directly by the state. under
the Act of 1872. for the support of Common
Schools, and is distributed by the Treasurer
of state to the several cities. towns and plan
tatons, there remain but one mill and quar-
ter to be used for general state expenses the
lowest state tax that has been levied during
the past thirty wears.
This tax would not be burden to any one,
were it fairly assessed upon all the property of
the State. at its full value. The benefits de-
rived from State Government, the protection
OF person and property which renders possible
increased production, through the division of
labor, cannot be oycr-estmated Nowhere else
do we secure so large returns from so small an
expenditure Of mouey.
OF all the public burdens resting upon the
people of Maine, the State tax is to-day the leas
onerous. The total amount levied during the
past year was @j3l ,697l7, of which more than
eioo,OOo we're returned directly TO the people
for school purposes, leaving but about $3.50, 900
of the amount thus assessed to be used towards
delaying the expenses of the State Govern
ment During the present year 2S7 towns and
plantations will receive from the State more
money on account of the School Fund and Mil
Tax alone than they pay into its Treasury. In
a large number of the remaining towns the DIFF
ference between the amount to be paid the
State, and the amount to be received from II on
this account, will be exceedingly small.
by virtue OF the Act of 1872, known as the
Mill Tax law, all the property of the State is
assessed one mill upon every dollar for the sup
port of Common Schools. Under this system Of
taxation, which has given eminently satisiac-
tory results, the cities and wealthy towns are
obliged to materially aid in tightening the bur
den5 of the less prosperous communities. 1t
will therefore he readily seen that the burdens
resting upon the people to-day viii be found
largely in what may be termed municipal or
town taxation and that, in seeking ways to
tighten these burdens. this important fact
should not be lost sight Of. While the State tau
for the year 1870, including the one mill levied
for the benefit OF schools, is only two mills and
a quarter on dollar, or TWENTY-FIVE and one
half cents on one hundred dollars of the State
valuation, the municipal town taxes, levied
for all purposes average one and seventy-onc
hundfedths cents upon the dollar of assessed
valuation, and are always, outside of certain alb
solute requirements. lust what towns munich
aat.c- may themselves determine and author
iyc.
In my address two years ago, | expressed the
opinion that the State tax might safely he re
duced in 1890 from two and three quarters to
two and one-quarter mills upon the dollar OF the
State valuation, thus lifting an annual burden OF
SllT,s9S9t from the tax payers of Maine An
order directing such reduction passed the House
of Representatives on the thirteenth day OF
February, one month before the final adjourn
mcnt OF the Legislature. Sub seqnent to the
passage of this order, the following appropra-
lions we're made entirely outside the usual item,
of state expenditure:
Railroad lax cquiiably due certain
towns or the years 1854, lSs,,.
and 1886 : q, 900 0O
Enlargement OF state House $50 1000 Mi
New bindings at Maine Insane
Hos ital 100 90 on
While there was a very general agreement
am6ng the members ofthe last Legislature a. to
the necessity and justice Of these appropriations
1t is altogether probable that further decrease
Of taxation woui, not have been voted had their
number and scope been clearly foresecn when
the order for such a reduction was given y pas
sage. The Treasurer has found it necessary to
make a temporary loan in order TO meet the cN-
peascS occsSioned by these special apprcprla-
tions. II must be borne in mind, however, that
tt,.- 80 f1i, salt nf a