The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-03-15
PARTITION OF POLAND.
Some Suggestive Statements as to
~ ri
Taxation in That Town.

idAdblOli Ill AHuu IV"h'
STILL WRESTLING WITH PROVIS-
IONS OF DRUGGIST BILL.
A Bridge Building. acknowledgements
=; of the Druggist Bill Fails to Convey
the Meaning of Its Authors-Important
Social Function-Cold Comfort for the
enforcement League--Other Matters.
Especial to the Press.1
AUGUSTA, March IA. - The House
cheered Mr.. Sprague this morning. The
cheers were called out by Mr.. Sprague's
vote in favor of the $40, 900 appropriation
asked for to aid the town of Winn in
building bridge over the Penobscot
river. Mr.. Sprague made no remarks
but in view of his opposition to so many
appropriations perhaps his vote in favor
of this one spoke louder than words.
Mr. Powers of Houlton spoke in favor
of the appropriation. He referred to the
loss to the town caused by the destruc-
ton of the tannery of Poor & Sons by
fire. If this bridge was built, industries
were expected to come in to take the
place of the tannery There was now no
bridge within 40 miles. The town was
willing to raise $4,000 and asked $4,000
| from the state.
Mr.. Fairbanks of Bangor, in supporting
the appropriation, called attention to the
| fact that there now but two carriage
bridges over the Penobscot and one of
these was toll bridge.
Messrs. Scott and Dickey spoke for the
bridge. Mr.. Higgins of Limerick opposed
| the appropriation and Mr.. Shaw Of Port
| land wanted some guarantee that $3.50, 900
would be expended in improving the
| water power at Winn, the friends of the
appropriation having been given to I'M
derstand that this would be done. Mr..
| Shaw's amendment was not adopted.
| Mr.. Sprague and Ga others voted for the
| appropriation and 46 against it, The
| matter will come up again on its passage
to be engrossed Friday.
The Partition of Poland.
Senator Libby, in an able argument
| this morning, zpointed out so many rea-
sons in favor. of the partition of the
town of Poland and the creation of the
| new town of Mechanic Falls. that the
| Senate voted, without dissenting voice,
to pass the bill tobe engrossed. This
Strengthens the, belief that the friends of
l I, 10y orc of victory Mr.
Libby discussed at length the provisions
of the bill, and then told why the Me-
chanic Falls people wanted to be made a
town by themselves. Mr.. Kicker, of the
Poland Springs House, was an interested
auditor of Mr., Libby's remarks. Mr..
Libby said in substance concerning the
desire of Mechanic Falls to be made a
town;
We are community of 1000 people
| substantially living in compact settle
ment, and under present conditions we
| can not procure things necessary to our
we'll being. In the matter Of danger
from fire we have no protection, and
should the devastating flames break out
we could not prevent repetition of the
.visitations suffered by Pennington and
Eastport. What we ask by this bill is
that we be granted the poor boon to. pro-
tect ourselves, our property, and the
| lives Of our citizens, on our own soil,
| with our own money, from this danger.
| The lowest insurance rate we can get in
| that village is 2 Is per cent on CONNER
cial risks, and it ranges from that to
| per cent. In the effort to increase the
prosperity of the village and induce out
side capital to come in, this insurance
rate handicaps us. Our engineer esti-
mates that we can get an abundant wa
| ter supply for $4,000, and we could save
| $4,000 yearly in insurance rates. Setting
| aside $4,000 for the operation of the plant
we should then save $4,000, or 16 per cent
on the investment All that we ask is
| the right to supply ourselves with what
we need. We do not ask others to come
| in and help us to do this. We do not be-
| lieve it would be right to do so.
The only objection to this division is
| that the town of Poland is to be left
| poor. The bill has been so drawn and
amended that there is little or no opposi-
| ton to it's provisions. The valuation OF
| Poland is $1,01S, 900, and it is claimed
| that we are to take away SAILS, 900, leav-
| ing 100000, as estimated on the present
| valuation. How many towns in the
state are there with an equal valuation.
when the towns contain no large villagesf
| But Jne SLaCe assessors give The
valuation as over $1,200,000. There
is a discrepancy somewhere, and
assuming. that the state assessors are
right, then the valuation of the town is
so much larger. There is piece of
property in that town of Poland which ii
| is understood is not taxed to its proper
| value and I believe that after we have
| taken away all that we propose to take,
the assessors of Poland with one stroke
of the pen can put the valuation of the
| town back to where they put it today
and do no injustice to any man or any
piece of property.
Mr.. Libby read from history of An
droscoggin county reference to Poland
Springs which referred to that place as a
second Saratoga whose fame was known
over all the world and whose waters
were used to an extent greater than al
the Saratoga waters. From the Lewiston
Journal, Mr.. Libby read statement
that nearly million and quarter o.
dollars had. been offered for the Poland
Springs plant. Of that million dollar
property as it is called in the accounts
| ONLY 1914. 900 was taxed in the last wear