Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-03-15

town of Poland that town would be let
poor. BY the last report of the ASSESSOR
of Poland the total valuation of that tow 1
| is 81 else 1t is claimed that We an
taking away S4lS,o 600 This will leave the
old town of Poland valuation of Ssoo, ,oss
as ii is valued Al present. wou0 ask thu
gentlemen of the Senate to take their veal
books and see how many Of the to- =, u
this State which are without large ,,lias
within their limits have a valuation ei
s6oo,0oo. But that is not all. While
the returns of the town assessors show
valuation of si.ols,o00, the returns
Of the State assessors show valuation o.
| 81 i,23t,o1o. There is some discrepancy
between the two; something perhaps that
may need explanation shall not attemp,
TO explain it. 1t is evident. however, that
there is some property in the townof Poland
which is not taxed at its true value by the
town assessors. There is one piece of prop
erty that vastly exceeds, by itself alone,
the value of the tract of territory that sc
wish 10 take away. We have taken away
S4ls,ooo of the valuation of the town, and
| We have taken our fair share of the debt.
and our full liability for roads and bridges,
and yet with all that we take away, the
town assessors, with stroke of their pen,
on the very mex, morning after the passage
of this bill could make up the valuation of
the town of Poland TO what it was before
the town of Mechanic Falls was incorpor-
ated, and not do anybody an injustice
We desire this incorporation of the town
of Poland for our own benefit, and We de-
mand that it shall injure no one.
Lest you should think that in the arlor
of debate had been Inclined to over-step
the bounds of fact in regard TO this piece of
property of which have spoken desire
to speak by the book. refer to the His
tory of Androscoggin county" page 7S5.
This piece of property that | speak of is
situated eight miles south of the village of
Mechanic Falls.
Mr.. Libby then read from the history
quoted above, in which ii was stated that
over 81 200, 900 was invested in hotels, etc &,
at Poland Springs. He then read from the
History of the Town of Poland, -
PIP. A-35, and further from the Lewiston
Journal of August ls92, in which the fol-
lowing occurred "roday the newspapers
announced an offer of one and quarter
million dollars for this plant, referring to
Poland Springs. lie then went on to state
that although there was over S50,0Oo of
personal property in one hotel there, there
was only valuation of S5200 on the books
of the assessors last year, and none at all
before that time. The total valuation on
this million and quarter property was only
S94 900, Speeding of the income of the
spring itself he said that the weekly ship
ments from the spring were five ears of 20
barrels each, and these barrels being worth
50 or 81 apiece, that gave Il total of SlOs,
600 of annual income, and yet the total val
uation of the whole property is only SHi,-
900, or 81 1000 less than its annual income !,
Continuing, he said:
The fact is that somebody is paying taxes
for somebody else in the town of Poland.
The constitution of this State provides that
taxes shall be levied equally, but this is not
equal. Faxes become odious when they
are assessed in that manner. When it is
shown that one man is paying his taxes on
100 cents to the dollar and another is pay
ing them on basis of ten cents to the dol
lar upon his valuation then it becomes
odious.
There is one more thing that | wish to
say. The people of Mechanic Falls come
here AS one man asking for this charter.
| trust that there is not gentleman upon
lHe HOpr OI tuls senate WHO VIII say tii;h VIZ
are asking anything that is not right and
fair and proper. We come here TO the
great general court of the State of Maine
praying for right and justice and equity in
this matter and that you will grant us this
privilege of giving us this act of incorpora-
ton.
The bill was then read second time and
passed to he cngrossed.
On motion of Mr.. Mallet of Cumberland
the Senate adjourned.