Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1893-01-24

fora County, bat throaKhout The ststs
and the country oyer. 30, the fact thai
| thee county buildings have beeu locates
upon PaYis HUI since The formation o.
| the county u no reason and no argu'
meut that this d the beet possible loca'
ton for the county buildlugs ct the pres
eut time. It u "a ego ef change. Nv,
erythlng ID changing. 1he methods Of
business arc changing. Tue lines OF com.
muuIcation are being changed. 10 thu
old times n . man wanted 70 come from
the town Of Porter or the town OF Frye
burg, his only means OF communications
was BY an overland drive through tho
country.
That's oil changed, nobody comes
that way now, % you arc well aware.
Il ID useless for me to stand here and
argue before you upon mttters which
are common knowledge; for lpropose 70
take up but very few moments OF your
time. Everything 70 changed. The
people from the western towns In our
county almost uniformly como By rail-.
road TO South Paris, and from there here
by means OF the conveyance that II FUR
nlshed them. 30 say that, 40 . matter
OF convenience In travel, Il 10 . self-evi-
dent fact that they would be better con-
vened by the location at South Paris
than they are upon Parls Hill to-day.
With that statement In relation to those
towns, 90 far 40 that branch OF this case
ID concerned, leave It. With that por-
ton Of the country bordering up and
down on either side Of the Grand Trunk
and the towns north OF Bethel, who
centre there, their public communities
tlon and access to court, In nine cases
out Of ten, 10 by the line Of the Grand
Trunk railroad. They land at South
Paris, and II the county buildings were
located there they would, nine out OF
ten of them, simply DO three miles
nearer to their destination for business
than they are at the present tlmo with
the buildings located here. There can
be no controverting this proposition, be-
cause It 10 self-evIdent to your minds,
and to the mind of every one. Those
luhab itants Of the towns west OF the
Grand Trunk Railway, between there
and where the line OF demarcation
comes, 20 down over the railroad, and
Of course they are better convened.
The same argument holds good as to
those who come from the towns along
the line Of the Rumford Falls and Buck
field Railroad by rail-, around by the way
of Mechanic Falls and South Paris.
There can be no doubt about II. 1t
would be useless to argue to the con-
trary, because they are propositions
which are self-evident. As the lines OF
trade, public travel aud public conyen-
fence are to-day, and as they are likely
to remain for all time to come 90 Tar ~
the present indications are concerned,
there ID not man within the sound OF
my voice who does not know that there
Il no other spot within tho limits OF OK
ford County to-day 90 central, consider
Ing the lines of travel, 40 South Paris.
/ venture the assertion that eight out
of every ten, yes, nine out OF every ten
OF the people who come by public con-
yeyance TO Paris Hill to transact busi-
ness, no matter what that business may
be, come by the way Of South Paris. so
I say, as n matter OF convenience, as q
matter Of necessity, 80 far every conven-
ience becomes Q necessity; and the
foundation Of necessity considered by
you as a body In the location OF high
ways and the matter Of this location, Is
that necessity which Is founded upon
the convenience Of the people.
Now I am going to leave that right
where Il Is. There IL but one town Ia
the whole OF Oxford County that would
be inconyenienced to any extent by the
change Of the location Of these county
buildings, and that Is the town OF Sum
ner, adjoining the town OF Paris. That
IL the only one, In my Judgment.
II 10 conceded that II Ia your duty, as
a board of County Commissioners, to pro-
vide fire-proof vaults for the preservation
of the records In the Reglstry OF Deeds,
the Registry Of Probate and the office OF
the Clerk OF Courts, and all the records
which 20 to make up the volumes OF the
county records for this county. IL Is
conceded that this IL your duty. The
statute says that you shall do It. | do
not claim that the records are any more
unsafe at the present moment than they
have been for some time previous; but
the matter has now been brought to
your attention. II was brought to your
attention some weeks, perhaps month
or two ago, and having had the matter
brought to your attention, having had
the question OF the safety Of these rec
Ords submitted to you, as II has been ny
the statements Of the experts who have
come here-and II 10 understood the
other side have had man here; and /
infer from the proceedings, as we have
witnessed them here to-day, that he also
pronounces them unsafe; with that Tact
admitted, as It IL admitted upon all
sides-lt becomes your duty, under your
oaths Of Office, to provide those fire
proof vaults for the preservation OF
these records which are Of 90 much I'm.
portauce. IL the records have not been
destroyed heretofore, It Il our good for
tune. They might continue M they are
for years and not be destroyed, and that
would also be our good fortune; but by
no conduct Of yours, should the risk be
allowed to continue longer. No man
wants It to continue. II you should
submit this question to q vote OF the
people of the county, and they should
decide by q vote OF ten to one to have
things remain on Paris Hill a. they are,
as citizen and q tax-payer-l was 60
Ing to say an average taxpayer bat do
not know a. am-as q taxpayer OF the
County OF Oxford, should advocate
that you make these buildings safe and
convenient, no matter what expense 1t
might require. think It Is your duty
to do 90.
II 10 admitted that We have no sulta-
BILE room In which to hold probate court.
Our jsil has been condemned BY the jail
commissioners Of the state. That also
Il admitted. The eloquent gentlemen
who have opened aud closed upon the
other side have said something to you
about about the jail commissioners.
With my "honest democracy" as my
brother says, I do not feel competent to
speak about that and guess ! will say
nothing about Il. ! do not regard the
jsll 40 entering Into thls c0ntrover-
sy to any great extent. IL the i've pris-
oners whom we had there, and who es-
capped by climbing out OF the chimney
and fed to Canada, will only remain 10
Canada, I will be content. do not re-
gard the question Of the jail as of any
great consequence In this controversy,
and shall not devote much time to the
prisoners or the jail, although | under
stand that there are some things In the
lower cells Of the jail which are not
quite 40 they should be. But the ques-
tlon 10 this you are called upon here
to-day, and have been called upon here
tofore, to provide safe vaults for the
Of these records. Pending
that question q petition 10 presented to
you representing something over 1000
voters. Quite number Of petitions
have come In since, one from Buckfield,
81 names think, but no