The Portland daily press., 1897-01-28
STATE HAS PLENTY.
Movement 10 Increase the Number
Of State Paupers.
TOWNS WISH TO BE RELIEVED OF
THEIR CHARGES.

| Hearing on Engel Railroad Bill Was Post
poned-Minority Stockholders of Maine
Central Send Ex-Attorney General Lit
tlefieId to Augusta to Fight Measure,
ESPECIAL TO THE PREssJ
Augusta, January 97.-Tha poor we
have always with US and there is evident
ly disposition among some of the towns
to let the state take care Of those of the
poor who cannot take care of themselves.
The Judiciary committee now has before
1t several measures relating to the sup
port of paupers, and there is a prospect
OF moro to follow. A bill presented and
referred two or three days ago might be
appropriately termed, "An act to induce
town officers to aid in the making of
tramps, for it relieves towns of the ex-
pense OF caring for paupsrs who have
lost their settlement in one town and
have not acquired another. Now, natural
ly enough, no town wants to see its
paupers increasing in numbers and the
bill referred to, as it makes the state re-
sponsiple for the care of the paupers with
L 1NSS~osApb
temptation to keep the shiftless and the
| ne'er-do-Welis on the move, 80 that as
| they migrated from town to town. the
municipalities which aided them. could
| have their expenses REIN bursed from the
state treasury. This bill is understood
to come from I. b. Barrett, ESQ. of
Canaan, gentleman remem bered as a
member of the last house and a whiIom
| candidate for governor. The bill is in
teresting more as a curiosity than any
thing else 1t adds TO section 8, chapter
"a, Z. s., the following:
"But whenever person having a
pauper settlement in a town has removed
or shall remove from such town and lives
| away from such town for a Period of
| five years. he and those who derive their
settlement from him, shall be deemed to
have lost their settlement in that town
and shall be NO longer ohargsable there
to, but any town thereafter furnishing
relief to any such person or persons shall
be reimbursed by the state to such
amount as the governor and council shall
| anJudRe to have been necessarily an.
pended: provided that such person, when
so relieved. has not again acquired a
settlement in any town.
Mr.. Kinsman of Cornville put in the
following order today. 1t will be observed
that Mr. Kinsman's order goes farther
than the Barrett bill in the legislation
which it suggests. 1t provides:
"That the judiciary committee inquire
into the expediency of legislation for the
support OF all paupers by the state and
report by bill or otherwise
Mr. Walton Of Skowhegan has another
OF these pauper bills which he will intro
duce tomorrow. Under the existing
law, the paupers residing in plantations
are aided by the nearest town, which Is
reimbursed by the state. By the bill,
the law would be changed SO TINT the
county commissioners would dispense the
state aid to paupers in plantations, the
assessors In each plantation acting as
local agents for the commissioners or. in
cases where there are NO assessors, some
person appointed as agent by the COM
missioneTs.
A sweeping change is contemplated by
another measure which may not be in
troduced however. This would make all
persons not citizens of Maine, who might
become dependent. stase paupers.
All plans to increase the number of
state paupers or to diminish the interest
of the towns in the management of
pauper affairs will be dercely resisted
and if the bills are pushed. there may be
big fight over the matter. 1t is
whispered pretty loudly that cases are
not unknown In which towns have
adopted some rather peculiar means to
yet paupers saddied onto the state, and
more than that it is said that the orening
of the door to increased mum bers of state
paupers means and expense which no one
can estimate.
BANGOR IN A NEW ROLE.
The legislature would hardly seem
natural If Bangor was not here for some
purpose and Bangor is here this time for
a novel object. Bangor doesn'5 want
any thing done. That's a strange attitude
for the Penobscot city. but in this par
ticular case, Bangor or large number of
Bangors citizens want the Legislators to
keep hands off. 1t is needless to add |
that this attitude SO foreign TO Rangor's |
usual position is not in any way con-
nected with the insane hospital project. |
1t relates to Bangor's street railway sys-
tenn Bangor is now supplied with |
electric transportation by the Bangor,
Orono, and Oldtown street railway. |
This corporation has been refused by the
city council the right to lay its tracks in
certain of the city streets. Now there is
project to build an electric road from
Bangor to Corinth to be known as the
Penobscot Central and this new corpora
tion wants to traverse the streets in
which the city council will not sanction
the placing of tracks. Boing unable to
get she yermission of the city fathers. the
of the Penobscot Central have
fallen rack on the legislature and want
to get into the forbidden territory by
legislative enactment And Bangor rises
in indignation to say that while she is
not opposed to the building of the Penob-