Daily Kennebec journal., 1895-06-03
MORE ARGUMENTS
Why the Wiscasset Railroad
Should Be Built.
How Exemption Of Corporations from
Taxation Has Helped WaterviIIe.
Missionary WORK. Sunday, for the Proposed
WaterviIIe & Wiscasset Road.

Waterville, June 2.-(Special) In
the Lewiston Saturday journal of June |
is a letter signed ''Waterville Taxpayer, -
and assumes to answer in opposition the
article in this paper dated from this city
May ~ in behalf of the proposed road
Hundreds of the Saturday Journals were
turned inside out, the letter marked with
a blue pencil and the papers distributed
over town with the Boston Sunday papers.
today
1t was good letter aud voiced the sen.
timents of the friends of the proposed
road in more ways than one. The Lock
wood Company was exempted by vote of
| the city or town, as it then was a small
country village, and the company at once
greeted the first mill The business of
| the company grew, another min was built
and now as Taxpayer says the COM
pany pays every fortnight $13, 900 TO its
1900 employees.
The city can well boast of it's cotton
industry, for it not only has one of the
best equipped and managed mills in New
| England but it manufactures q grade OF
| goods superior to all competitors, which
sold SO steadily during the hard times Of
| the past three years that the whole plant
| has been kept at work at full capacity
and not one of the 1900 employees has been
obliged to loaf for lack of work. 1t has
| been benefit to Waterville in more ways
| than even "Taxpayer' claims, for it has
made city of the little village of 90 years
ago.
| But would the mill have been built if
| Waterville had refused to exempt taxa
| ton? The chances are against it, for
other towns with equally as goo1 water
power were longing for the industry.
| Waterville did herself wise thing when
she voted to exempt the mill from taxes,
and a mean thing when the "kickers"
demanded the payment Of them.
| The same thing exactly is true of the
Maine Central car shops. Not one of the
men who voted for their exemption or
went into his private pocket to help make
up the purse of $4,000, not $500" has
ever regretted the action, for those shops
have added 1000 people to the population
of the city and been the cause OF mort
| than 500, 600 worth of houses to be built
| on which taxes are paid every year.
| But one day the town voted not to put
in it's own water works, and today repents
the action in sackcloth and ashes.
"Taxpayer' says that the proposed
road will not benefit Watervile, for i,
will stop in Winslow. He is wrong. The
road is to be built across the kennebec.
right into Waterville, and the train
hands, the section men, the machnists
and Others some 90 or 25 at least, whc
will be the regular men which any road
must have, will live right here in town.
| But that Is not all.
| To the man who cannot sec that the road
will bring in larger numer of people, will
not have the natural tendency to build up
the city, perhaps not so much as the
Lockwood Company or the railroad shops,
does not look for a good thing.
With the new road close to the water
powers ON the Messalonskee, new mills ART
sure to be built where now trucking t.
the freight station would consume a big
share of the profits of any industry. Rea!
estate in the south part of the town can
not help advancing in value and the
whole city receive direct and indirect
benefit from the road if built and taxes
instead of being increased, be assessed at
lower rate.