Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-03-14


and it is not more than proper for us to
grant this charter for the very reason that
the court cannot give 1t. II this Is an
advantage to the driving it is proper that
the drivers should pay for it, and that
this company should be reimbursed for
the capital they expend in making this
sluice
Mr.. Higgins of York, asked the sena-
tor II he had stated his exact position in
the Legislature of six or eight years ago
on this question of short lumber.
Mr. Engel replied that the question had
never come up in the form in which IT
was now, the question of toll did not
come up, and that the questions then
related simply to the organization of driv-
| ing companies. He said that he never
was i'll favor of short lumber going
through at the expense of long lumber.
The speaker then went on to say that
short lumber and long lumber derived
benefit from this sluice, and it was no
more than right that they should pay for
it. Continuing, he said: If there is any
injustice in this bill it is an injustice TO
the long lumber men. 1 think that the
toll should be just as much on cord OF
short lumber as on cord of long lumber
l think it is right, just and equitable
bill
| Mr. Morrill, said that the senator from
Penobscot was right in saying that the
long lumber made the jams and he agreed
entirely with him in that. He wanted
to say that he did not himself own a single
log of long or short lumber, and did not
expect ever to go into the business again,
so that all that he had said was not pre-
JUDGED by self-interest.
Mr.. Savage of Androscoggin made
long and able Argument against the bill,
in which he pointed out, in the first place,
that there was distinction between this
case and the one in which he had expressed
an opinion to the gentleman from Penob-
scot, Mr.. Engel,) that the Legislature was
here to right wrongs which could not be
reached by the courts. He pointed out
that he said that the Legislature was there
to right wrongs, and that in this case
there was no wrong to be righted at all,
but simply monopoly to be granted. lie
said that he had asked for reasons for the
passage of this bill, and from the replies
of the senators from Oxford, Somerset
and Penobscot it appeared that this bill
was started out of pure spirit of philan-
thropy, and that certain public-spirlted
men had gone over to the falls, and had
watched there the struggles of these log
drivers, and had Immediately determined
to come to their aid. 1t was a piece OF
kindness for which the lumber men did
net thank them. yc
| He pointed out that the incorporators
in this bill were most of them the pro-
moters of the Rumford Falls Water Co,
and that the interests OF the two concerns
were identical, and that this sluice com
pany could not stir hand without the
permission and except at the behest OF the
Water Power Co.
Continuing, he said: Now, what is it
that they propose to dos These gentlemen
propose to go up there on the Androscog-
gin river, which is public way, over
which any man has right to drive his
logs as freely as he pleases, and put up a
lock upon the river at Rumford Falls and
lock up the river, and when we come down
there with our logs they say to us. Pay us
our toll or you can't go over" 1t is the
| first time in the history of the State that
the Legislature has ever been asked to put
guardianship over any Of our great high
ways, and put that guardianship in the
hands of private corporation.
Sometimes an improvement company
has been chartered on some of the smaller
tributary streams, but never on the An no
scoggin, Kennebec or Penobscot rivers.
| The speaker then detailed the history of
the past legislation in favor of the Rum
| ford Falls Water Power Co., and pointed
out the fact that they had not complied
with the terms of the charter in building
their second dam. He said il was not
surprising that they should come and ask
for this bill, the principal purpose of
| which was not to improve the driving,
but to conserve the water for the Water
Power Co.'S. use. The purpose of this bill.
he said, was to enable the Rumford Falls
Co. to build this sluice, so as to improve
their water supply, without expense to
themselves, and he thought that at the
least they ought to share in the expense
of making it. He admitted that he was
not practical lumberman, but said that
he had had pretty intimate acquaintance
with the business in his profession, and
had many numbering cases, past and
pending.
Continuing, he said: Aside from the
general principle that it is contrary to the
policy of the State to allow any hand to
wrest from the people their rights in any
of the great public waterways of the
State say that this bill is unfair to the
short lumber men. The theory of the bill
is that it costs just as much to drive short
lumber as to drive long lumber. This is
not the fact. At Livermore Falls and at
Otis Falls there are pulp mills which use
short lumber to the extent of about 49,
900, 600 feet year, and the tariff they
would have to pay to this corporation
would be over $1,000 year.
have in my hand the statement under
oath of gentleman who has driven 10,-
600 cords year for the last II years, and
he says that the longest time he ever took
in getting the pulp wood from above the
falls into dead water mile below the falls
was five days, with IL men in the crew.
The senator then went on to say that
the lumber lobby had been futtered by
the introduction of this bill, but the long
lumber men were satisfied with it, and he
did not wonder at it, for their interests
were well taken care of. In conclusion he
said: feel very earnestly that if the
Rumford Falls Water Power Co. want
this sluce for themselves they should have
it, but l do not think we should pass this
i ~ ~