Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-02-24

thing like that. What is II tnat tney
do ask for?. Is 1t to reduce the price
of fare? No. it is simply that you VIII
saw that these railroads may pc per-
mitted. and required to issue at the
same rate that they are now issuing
mileage book good to bearer, or, sec
ondly as l said in my opening, under
the. secont, count in the declarations II
that Is inequitable in your Judgment
give us Just "a mileage book good 10
man and his family. so that he can rue
upon the railroad and take ms pet!er
half with him, or his son or ms
daughter along with him, instead oi
getting upon q railroad as ne mas 10,
today, with his $40 mileage book ana IL
his wife sits by his side, she mas elther
got to be put off the train or the nus
band has got to pull out his pocket
book and pay her fare at nearly douple
the price he pays.
l remember in my younger DAYS OF
reading in the Scriptures where we
should all be doing something ana one
should be taken and another left. Now
if the Maine Central Road had existed
in the days of the Scriptures 1t would
have read something like this: when
a man shall be upon railroad train
having a mileage book good only for
himself. and his wife shall be with him.
the man shall be taken and the wife
shall be left
Isn't it Just? l appeal to you as COM
mon sense men. l wish every man.
woman and child was within sound of
my voice. l hope it may reach them
through the press, that we simply ask
that a man may have mileage book
upon which his wife may ride, or his
daughter or his son, for he has paid
his money and he is obliged to support
his wife and family. that he may use
that corporation that has been estab-
lished by the laws of the State and
which the laws of the State and the
constitution says shall be equitable and
just to the citizens of this State.
What have these corporations done
for the State of Maine? l allude now
to the only evidence which has been in
troduced in this case, that it is of the
eminent man whose ability as rail-
road man stands second to none. and
will put Payson Tucker right along
side side of him, and that is the Hon.
Franklin A. Wilson. He is an honest
man. l commend him for what he has
stated and when he left the stand our
case was made out. What did he say?
That is the evidence upon the other
side, and he is the president of the
Maine Central Railroad. He drew a
picture of what his private charity has
done in paying damages for those who
lost their lives. l commend him for
that.
l said to him that if this railroad was
in the hands of Frank Wilson these
$4,000 people in the State of Maine
would not be duplicating the general
court here, today. He told you there
We're $23.249,4SS permanently invested
in the Maine Central Railroad in the
State of Maine. He told you the
amount Of taxes paid to the State. in
GLIDING the franchise tax was $112, 2S3,
or less than " of l per cent a year,
while the farmers, the merchants the
manufacturers, with their capital in
vested are taxed from to 21a cents by
the State each year l say this with
out fear of contradiction. Are the peo-
pie unjustly taxing the railroads?
l had the honor once in 1874 to sit in
this other branch. l had the honor to
be senator while the Hon. Nelson
Dingley than whom a purer man never
sat in the Gubernatial chair. Under
his administration bill was introduce
ed in the Senate and for the first time
in the history of this State the rail-
roads We're taxed for their franchises.
What rumpus they raised. | see ia
miliar faces around me, today. The
railroads were going to be ruined.
They would go out of business. We
couldn't get home. There We're emf
nent counsel sent here that have been
here ever since to tell the general
court what to do and they said. IF
you tax the railroads we will carry il
to the supreme court
The franchise is an incoporeak hered
itament as the legal gentleman calls il.
II my learned gentlemen look in the
66th Maine at the case of State VS..
Maine Central Railroad in the opinion
drawn by his Honor Chief Justice An
pleton. and another drawn on another
case which went up on another legal
bubble, and the cort held that thew
could be taxed for their franchise and
they could equitably and legally be
compelled to pay for the franchises
granted, that it wasn't double taxa
t1on. The people got something then.
They have been trying to get some
thing since and are, tonight.
Here is another railroad that comes
up IN my mind in this connection rep
resented by one of the most eminent
counsel in the State, who appears IN
behalf of his poor little, insignificant
Grand Trunk Railroad. 1t hasn't hut
4Voo miles i'm extent from here to the
furtherest boundaries OF the West. with
all It's ramilications. You look at the
map and you can't see the names of
half of the towns because of the rami-
hcatlons of this railroad. | tried it. the
other day, and gave it up, and thought
could travel on the Grand Trunk
most anywhere. He says that the
Graund Trunk is going to be ruined
We done ask for a ticket good for
miles at cents a mile We are will
ing to pay $50 and get 1000 miles. if wo
may have the privilege of having NV
wire and my boy ride upon it. Oh.
what a concession that is for that rail-
road. And what applies to the Grand
trunk applies to all the railroads ex-
cept the little roads that Brother Tim
periake represents and which this
wouldn't touch at all. So / will exon
70