Daily Kennebec journal., 1899-03-17

of Somerset, the farms, the little dwelling
houses, are taxed for more than they are
worth today, know III (Applausc).
What shall we do about 1t? The gentle
man from Patten (Mr. Gardncr) offered Il
resolve l propose. Mr.. Speaker and gem
tlemen OF the House. to present an order
here, and it is practically in line with the
resolve offered by the gentleman from
Patten, and think when he understands
the order he will withdraw his resolve.
want to read this order, and ! ask your
kind permission to listen: and l want to
make a,few remarks upon it. AS has been
stated already, there was acommission APP
pointed in 1890, and it has been whispered
/ in my ear more than once that that COM
mission amounted to nothing; that all
that came from 1t was the Board Of State
Assessors and the taxation Of a dog. CAP
plause). Be that as 1t may. ] presume
that same board was surrounded by a
third House.
Now, l propose In this order to provide
for the appointment of Il committee that
shall be appointed in such manner thai
1t shall meet all the requirements. ana
every one Of them shall be perfectly inde-
pepdent and free from even the
appointing power or any othef,
so that no interest and no COM
mittee shall be appointed here that
shall be in the interest df one
any more than in the interest of another
or in the interest OF the State. When We
get such Il committee as that, composed
of men who have got backbone enough to
stand up and do their duty, l say | be-
lieve, gentlemen, that they can formulate
and make recommendations TO the next
LEGISLATURE that will aid greatly and
facilitate greatly the work of the next
Legislature and from their recommended
,jons a bill can be drawn here that Will
more nearly and more justly equalize tax
alton upon all the different interests Of
the State And the order is this:
Ordered the Senate concurring, that
with a view to the equalization Of taxa
ton in this State and ascertainng the
lust proportional part of the public bur
den which should be borne by the various
ciasses of property. rights and franchises
held and exercised in the State, which
may not be the subject of State. county
and municipal taxation, according TO their
fair values and according to their rela-
tive values, a Joint committee consisting
Of seven in number be chosen. five men,
bers of the present House of Representa-
tlves and two from the Senate Said COM
mttee of seven shall be appointed In the
following manner: The Speaker of the
House OF Representatives shall appoint 10
members of said body. and the President
Of the Senate shall appoint three members
of the Senate, who, together with the
Governor and Council. shall. on or before
the first day OF June. 1879, appoint said
committee OF seven, whose duty II shall
be 10 hold sessions at the State House and
give hearings to all parties interested IN
the subject and also make such investi-
CATION as they deem for the best interests
of the State, and make a report and
recommendations to the next Legislature.
You understand my position. In
the first place the Speaker of the
House appoints 10 Of it's members: the
President of the Senate appoints three
of its members, and they together with
the Governor and Council, who are
taken from the seven councillor dis
tricts of the State. they together shall
appoint the seven members five MEM
bers from the House of Representa-
tives and two from the Senate, making
the committee to investigate this whole
SuDJttl IfldtttT. iSpoit ~
the next Legislature.
Now gentlemen, l believe and it has
been admitted-it was admitted when
the gentleman from Augusta (Mr. Ma
comber) made the motion to indefinite
ly postpone the original tax bill that
was introduced by the gentleman from
Patten. He said he doubted not but
what the burden of taxation rested un-
equally upon the several interests of
this State. But the object of indefi-
nitely postponing was that we had not
the time to investigate the matter, that
it was a great and broad subject and
we had not the time. In that he was
right. But when that motion did not
prevail. what was the next thing that
was done? By an order already pre-
pared to meet the occasion. which was
equivalent. and knew then as we'll as
/ know today, and as we all know to-
day was equivalent to an indefinite
postponement. it would be referred to
the next Legislature. He says then
that the Gardner bill was imperfect
and every member that spoke for in
definite postponement said it was i'm
perfect, and believed it. 1t was hast
lily drawn. The order that he put in
here was for the purpose of indefinite
postponement. 1t had its effect. Now.
gentlemen, l say that when we come
here at the next Legislature, or who
ever comes here, l say, they want the
advantage of a thorough investigation
of this whole subject matter. 1t is a
great matter. 1t is momentous and
important matter, and l now move that
this order have passage at this morn
ing hour
Mr.. VIRGIN of Portland: In conf
mon with every other member I real
iZe the magnitude of the subject mat
ter of each of these orders. Whether
the order presented by the gentleman
from Skowhegan is practicable or not
can only be determined by mature de-
liberation. l therefore move that the
order lie on the table for the present
and that the regular order be now pro-
ceeded with.
The motion was agreed, to.
The following remonstrances were
received and ordered placed on file:
By Mr. Bodwell of HallOwell-Re-
monstrance of A. Grinnell & Co., and
81 other business firms of Hallowell,
against the passage of an act relative