Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-02-28

Il very StiohS a'6uinent here for the
poor man. the farmer and a class of
people who have small deposits in tho
banks. Let us consider this ma,,o,.
carefully for moment. He COW. 3.
pays no tax. this immense sa,';,,,.
bank deposit of $4,000. OoO ~. s,,,,,
matter. He says it pay no tax To-, nc,
see whether it does or not. Tbero i,,
no man that gets dollar of nrof;, o,,.
of a savings bank except the depositor
himself. There is no capital. The nao
pie deposit their money there. ana tho
state provides how to Regulate Il !, -
gard to investments. interest ,na -
forth. Now. as matter of fact, what
ever investments are made by savings
banks in the state, of bonds, stocks or
whatever, mortgages or anything that
is invested here in the State nav a. of
per cent. to the State. Understand
all bonds that are bought. investments
that are made outside of tho state
what we call foreign investments nav
= of l per cent: and that goes to the
State. Now. as l understand the mat
ter about one-quarter of the whole tax
of the State of Maine is paid by saw
ingS banks. Now is there any other
property that. as an average. viii nav
any better tax thah that? But, throw
ing that all one side, he saws that these
wealthy men VINO have got this money
in the savings banks, who pay no tax.
should come to the front and pay. Well
as a matter of fact. every man who has
got more than $1,000 in the savings
banks. according to the Statutes. can
not receive interest. He can receive
interest on ii up to $1,000. When il gets
beyond S2000. he is not entitled to re-
ceive interest on 1t. He may leave il
there as long as he plcaScS. and let it
accumulate. but, according to the Stat
uteS. ne is not entitled to any interest
when his deposits exceed $4,000. Now
the poor farmer that he aliudcs to. and
the poor mechanic and the poor people
through the country are the people
who are the depositors in our savings
banks. Look at the record. and YOU
viii see who they are, and you will
find that a large portion of them will
come under $500 A Very few Of them
Will exceed a thousand dollars Now.
those people ar" people who put their
little earnings into the savings banks
simply because ii is State institution
they feel safe i'm having their prop
erty there. and feel that when the time
comes, if they need little money.
they know where to go and get
it, They get what ever it carns-it
matters not whether it is per cent. or
6 per cent.-thc rule has been lately
about q. per cent. Most Of the saw
ings banks in the State are now con
templating cutting down to 3 per cent,
they think they will have 10 cut down
to three per cent. very shortly with
the present condition of investing their
money. Now rs | remarked there is
nobody who gets any profit out of this.
1t all goes to the depoSitorS; and |
claim the depoSitor, as rule. is poor
man. Il mechanic. a farmer. the very
man whom we should try to encorage
to save his little earnings in just this
manner. so that in time of need he will
have something when the time comes.
In regard to trust companies. | see
this bill speaks of savings banks and
trust companies-in regard to trust
compnaies-I have been a members o.
the House and of the Legislature III
one way and another most of the time
since these trust companies have be
come general The rule has been to
tax them the same as savings banks
were taxed, at least the national banks
weer taxed. Consequently they pay
upon their stock a local. municipal tax
lust the same as a national bank pays.
If | have a hundred dollars of ma
tional bank stock l have to pay a mu-
l,rrr1 al
shares of trust company stock, | have
to pay municipal tax on that. at the
same rate: so that there is no injustice
there: and it seems to me that the
argument made by the gentleman from
Knox is more against than for the
farmer and the mechanic
Mr MCFADDEN Of Lincoln: Mr..
President, | do not propose TO enter IN
to this discussion at all but | Will Just
lust state that there is now pcndlnG
before the committee on taxation. an
act to tax interest bearing deposits IN
trust and banking companies. ana a
hearing is assigned for Tuesday,
March >.
Mr. STAPLES of Knox: Mr.. PreSi-
dent. lust a word in reply to the senator
from He1DDStol. w il't 'iihh ''''
if the depositor in the savings banks
tho smaller class of depoSitors-lf they
have been prudent people and saved
a certain amount of mony-if that is
Withdrawn. | do not apprchend that II
will be lost by any means; but 90
say that if the senator from Pen"hscot
is a dcpositor in the savings banks
40 not know whether ne Is
or motif he is. let me ask nun
j ouestion: If he has 500" IN
that bank. ] ask if he thinks ne IS 40
ing right to his neighbor not to pay
the same amount of tax upon thdt as
his ncighbor is paying upon ms real es-
tate or his personal property?
Mr.. ADAMS of Penobscot: Mr.. Pres
ident. | will say that | am not aware
that there is any difference. so far as
I am personally concerned, whether |
danosit in that savings bank my $1,000
ar whether | deposit il in national
hank. I am supposed to pay tax on
IL If can cheat the assessors out OF II
-nerhaps many do it, | don't do 1t. but
nerhapS many debut if | can 90 II
II raalIv don't matter to the pubic or
ia the State whether it be in national
or q savings bank.
Mr.. STAPLES Of Knox: Mr.. PresI-
dent. | apprehcnd the senator from re
nobscot knows that there is not dol
lar of any deposits in the savings banks
assessed by any assessor in the State