The Portland daily press., 1899-04-27

and yet the subject was of.such. supreme
magnitude that IL could not be considered
now. nor could any commission be pro
vided for to consider the question and
report to the next legislature; COM
mission would not be wise enough &c
compass the immense subject; and SC
the last session of the legislature ad-
journed and left the people to do some
thinking concerning these things. Will
the people think?
Abraham Lincoln once said; "Al1 OF
the people cannot hesfooled all the time ="
Boss Tweed put the question to the tax
payers of New York, whom he had sys-
tematically robbed for many years:
"What are You going TODD about itY'
That is the question which this coon will
ask the people now and here. Now do
not believe, and would not have 1T I'M
derstood that even intimate that all
the political coons in our legislature have
consciously wronged the people. But some
of them have, and will do so again If the
opportunity permits and the innocent lit
tie coons will naturally follow the vet
Grams ,oons into the corn field and husk
and eat the farmers corn, and thereby
and as well injure the business of the en-
tire state.
In answer to the question: what are
you going to do about itf" l suggest that
the voters, everyone Of them who posi-
bly, can, attend the party caucuses of both
of the leading parties and see to 1t that
no man be nom mated for senator or rep
resentative in any town or city who is
not pledged land who is not reliable
enough to keep his pledge), to advocate
aud vote for all the measures of tax-re-
form which the people shall previously
formulate and print for the guidance OF
their public servants in the next legisla
ture of Maine. There is plenty of time
for conference, for organization and for
the deliberate and wise consideration OF
at least some OF the most fragrant In
CAPABILITIES of state taxation.
l venture to say to my fellow citizens
that 1t is tremendously for their personal
pecuniary interest to devote great deal
Of time and some money to this Item
of business. 1t intimately concerns them
and their families; 1t concerns their towns
and cities, and it especially concerns our
public schools both in our cities and in
our rural towns
The inequalities of oui method OF tax
alton during the last 20 years have burd-
ened our municipalities, both rural and
city to the full extent OF more than twen-
ty millions Of dollars, unjustly and I'M
necessarily, provided 1t is unjust to tax
on property of the same value,and unnec-
essarily uecause the people might have
corrected these inequalities at the begin
ming Of them.
Ii this statement be questioned stand
ready to demonstrate my figures from
official reports and other equally anthem
tic sources
In conclusion, l move that q commit
tee of one from each subordinate grange
in this county be appointed to take i'm
mediate action upon taxation and report
at a subsequent meeting some practicable
method of uniform action throughout the
state with a view to arousing the voters
of the state to the Importance of the en-
terprise, and to unite the people on some
definitely formulated measures to be rati-
fed by resolutions In caucuses and con-
yentions, and to secure the nomination
of representatives and senators in harmo-
ny with the same.
The resolution was unanimously passed
and each subordinate grange will report
the name of its committee at the May
meeting.
After dinner, Mrs. bennett read La
per upon astronomy; Mrs. Jones rested
the poem, "My Properties" by Sam
Walter Foss, and Mrs. Snholl, the I'm
guarded Gates" by Thomas Bailey AL
drich.
Lecturer b. l. Bickford offered the fol-
lowing: "Resolved, that the methods of
instruction in the public schools gen.
Grafton ago were superior to those OF the
present time" and invited Hon. W. j.
Corthell, principal of the Gorham Normal
school, to speak. He made an intelligent
ly discriminating speech in which he
showed the loses and gains of the present
methods over those of the former days.
Whether the addition of the Philippines
would injure the agricultural interest OF
this country was discussed by Messrs.
Stewart, True, Griggs, Chaffin and 9TH
ers.
A vote of thanks to the Presumpscot
Grange for their good entertainment was
passed and the Pomona closed to open
in May.