The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-02-04

Somerville's finances willingly. An inti-
nation that publication of facts about the
towns affairs might hurt Its credit
brought out the response.
20. that's all right You can't hurt US
any,"
Here vas cheerfulness In adversely!
Mr. Soule produced the towns papers
from his desks. The town report was not
printed, but written on foolscap. Various
other town documents were also written
on foolscap. which was pasted together,
until 1t made long white banner, q
white flag standing for defeat.
Longest among these banners were the
lists Of delinquent taxpayers for the
past five or six years. The town has abous
100 poll-tax payers. There are 100 resi-
dent and 81 nonresident taxpayers, for
both polls and real estate, In the town.
In 1897 sixty-six parcels OF real estate
were sold for taxes, and on the long fools-
cap inventories that Mr.. Soule spread
out on his counter the owner of these
parcels in each and every case is set
down as '1nhabi OF the town Of
Somerville." In 1898 fifty places were
sold, and were all bid In by the inhab.
itants of the town of Somerville.
Thus the residents Of the town as q
whole own In common practically all
the places In the town. This result does
not benefit the town treasury, however,
Nobody comes to buy them from the
town, for tax titles are not secure. The
owners live on them as before. The town
affairs go on from bad to worse. Every
body Is in the slough Of despond finans
cially. The higher duties of the citizens
are lost sight Of. Each man suspects his
neighbor of being able to pay, and many
swear they will not pay while somebody
else evades payment
And so the thing p0ea~ on. the fnvu,
debts pile up, interest accumulates on
bonds and cannot be paid, and the sheriff
Is called upon to collect the taxes for
1892
: SO heartless q task was 1t for the coll
.lector Of taxes in the town that last year
no collector was obtained Mr.. william
M. Chamberlain was duly elected, but
dld not qualify by giving bonds Last
summer special town meeting was held
Tor the purpose of electing a tax collec-
tor and treasurer. but nobody would ac-
cept the honor
30 on the wall of Mr. Soule's store Ia
pasted several square yards Of foolscap
banners, side by side, bearing on them
the name of every taxpayer of the
town, and at their head a warrant adj
dressed ITO the sheriff of the county Of
Lincoln" and announcing that "in the
name OF the state of Maine you are
hereby required by law to levy and col
lect," the taxes enumerated.
Examination of the various rolls Of
foolscap in Mr.. Soules keeping shows
that the town real estate Is assessed at
ABOUT $6e,oo-under present conditions
all the real estate in It would hardly
bring s6,500-while the towns debts are
more than $4,000, and money has ceased
to flow into the town treasury.
The debts include bonds for SIT 900. is-
sueo IL years ago, to run 20 years, at s
per cent, on which interest to the
amount of $3.50 was due March G. 1899.
Then there were notes and orders to the
amount Of T,465.A, with interest unpaid
OF s1.S2762. up to last March. AS re-
sources the town has about $4,000 Of
uncollectible taxes.
The amount Of taxes voted last wear
was 81, 7o5Sl, Of which $1,000 was road tax,
which could be worked out The state
tax for 1899 was s172.Ss, and the county
tax SS00S The state tax has not been
paid for two years, and as a result the
town cannot draw school money.
The last term Of school was curtailed
for want of money. What the teachers
got was paid in town orders, which cam
not be cashed. as nobody wants them.
The town officers salaries are $3.50 year.
all told. They take their pay In town
orders. The town clerk gets SIS year,
He has the order for his last years salary
and would like to cash 1t, at a discount.
The holders Of the town bonds are for
the most part people of small means, and
can do nothing to protect themselves.
The bonds are held chiefly In neighbor-
ing towns, though one savings bank at
Rockland has $1,000 invested in them The
towns bills for support of the poor are
as much as for the schools. r 81
On the whole, the outlook for Somer-
Vile Is not cheerful, yet its people are
not cast down. Not a bit of It!
Nights well make the best of it." said
one of a group Of citizens. 'If some peo-
pie had had some gumption we wouldn't
have been where we are. No, we don't
know what's going to be done about it.
Don't know as anything can be done.
Good bye. come down and see uS
again.