The Portland daily press., 1898-01-24
A GREATER CITY.
Deering AnnexatiOnists Are Working
for 1t.

Deering AnnexatiOnists Are Working
for 1t.
Last Night They Held Rousing
Rally.
Saturday evening was the occasion for
the first meeting of the 'Deering Annexa-
ton society in the interests of the cause
of annexation. The meetings of the newly
organized society are to be held in the
room formerly occupied by the Deering
city council in Lewis hall at Woodfords.
The meeting was called to order at 3
O'Clock by ex Mayor W. W. Merrill, the
president of the society. In spite of the
threatening weather there was large at
tendance, the room being filled with we'll
known citizens. Among those in atten-
dance were Messrs. W. W. Merrill, Thos.
q. Harris, George W. Brown, Fred V.
Matthews, Clarence W. Small, Isaao
Clark, Daniel d. Chenery, John E. Proc
tor, G. +. Stafford, W. H. Scout W. +
Nelson and others to the number Of over
100. A notable feature of the gathering
was the attendance of about twenty live
we'll known commercial travellers resio-
ing in Deering who are taking an active
interest in the cause of annexation and
propose to organize in conjunction WORK
among themselves for the furtherance of
the cause.
The meeting was formally opened and
the chairman announced that the time
was at the disposal of those present for the
purpose of discussion, and for answering
any questions that might be asked on the
subject of annexation.
The meeting started in with interesting
remarks by Messrs. W. H. Scott and
Thomas G. Harris, these gentlemen be-
ing followed by stirring remarks giving
facts and figures favorable to annexation
by Messrs. Fred V. Matthews and Clar-
epce w. Small.
Mr.. Thomas 6. Harris, in the course of
his remarks, alluded to instances Of the
annexation of suburban territory to the
larger cities, referring particularly to the
progress made in Charlestown, Cambridge
and the other portions of the outlying ter
ritory under the management of the great
er Boston. The cry here is that if annexed to
Portland we shall not have rs much
necessities as we should If we maintained
a separate government. Mr.. Harris said
by parity of reasoning Deering would
have as much done for her interests as the
suburbs of Boston have had. There Is as
much money paid out in the suburbs in
the case of Boston as there is in the city
proper.
Mr.. Clarence W. Small in the course
of his remarks showed the growth Of
Deering in the past few years and
how it was only recently that the state
assessors had discovered that the city was
not being assessed on a sufficient valuation
and had raised the same. behring's ex
penses have been rapidly increasing,
especially during the past two years, and
at the present pace taxes will have to
advance to at least S45 on the $1,000.
Portland has larger valuation and if
annexed, ID the event of increased expen-
ditures for improvement the amount that
Deering would have to pay in addition
would be reckoned as matter of frao-
tional part of dollar. Many facts and
figures have been published relative to
the advantages of annextion and it is
one of the purposes OF this annexation
society to distribute literature bearing
on the subject. This is a question of edu-
cation and we hope to be able to present
the matter to every citizen of Deering by
means of our circulars and literature,
so that they shall have fair understand
ing of the question. We propose to have
these rooms open every evening of the
attendance that are qualified to enlight-
en- the people on the various problems
bearing on the the subject.
Mr.. Fred " Matthews, the city solicit
tor, who has been opposed to annexation,
but who is now an ardent supporter,
said: ~ have heard it said by the. ants
that if annexed we shall only get what
we pay for. This leads me to say that
this is question that we need to discuss.
Today we do not get what we pay for.
We now look over the principal streets of
Portland and find located in business
many of our we'll known citizens. These
men, many of them. are doing an i'm
mense volume of business and are paying
their taxes to the city of Portland for
the management of their affairs, while
about all we can..reckon on from them is
the payment of a poll tax. This is some
thing for the farmers to think of. The
families of these men enjoy the privileges
of our schools and other benefits Of
public nature, while the bulk of the taxes
paid for the support for public institu
tions is paid by the farmers. II annexed
we should then have the benefits of these
taxes that are now being paid by our
business men into the treasury Of Port
land. That is, the amount would be &C.
credited to the Deering valuation and
IL