The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1902-06-04

nOlOl ana regard IOf tne state. Up
posed to these have been sophistry,
noise without substance, campaign
of clamor shifting from one false claim
to another equally false, but growing
pettier as the resources of calumny
and misrepresentation even OF past
masters in such acts began to dwindle
and fail. The candidacy of Proctor,
in the course of tie canvass has be-
come burdened with such clogs as
these:
TAX EVASION.
The Proctor influence persuaded the
General Assembly of 1888, (of which
the senior Proctor was a member) to
set off from the old town of Rutland,
under the name of Proctor, the Suth-
erland Falls marble region and some
farming lands, about 1000 acres, with
the additions made in the subsequent
partition of Rutland. In course of
time the town of Proctor and the
name of Proctor became practically
one and the same thing Proctor, the
individual or his corporate representa-
tive, the Vermont Marble Company,
so far owned the town of Proctor as
to be able to control all its affairs,
business and municipal, as effectually
as if he or the corporation were the
direct owner of the boro.
The purpose of Proctor in creating
the boro' of Proctor began to develop
that is to have and to hold the
boro' for his direct personal advan.
tage, politically and commercially,
giving him through his family or en-
ployees perpetual representation in
the Legislature of the State and such
control in State affairs and III guarding
his business and property interests as
would accrue from proprietorship of
the town
What has been the result as regards
taxation at Proctor? BY the appraisal
of 1900 the real estate, embracing
marble quarries that capitalists value
at millions of dollars, including the
farming lands (owned chiefly by the
Marble Company the extensive shops
and other buildings of the company,
the private residences of the resident
officers, the large number of dwell
ings built for the employees, are set
in the list at only 1857, 977. The capt.
tai of the Vermont Marble Company
is 80, 800, 000 it has hundreds of thou
sands of dollars in machinery and
personal property of many kinds for
operating the quarries and the shops,
besides stocks of goods the tax:
able assets of the farms, the families,
etc, etc. At what sum is this great
array of personal property set in the
list for taxation? At-the merely nomi-
nal valuation of 500, SOB.
The property grand list of Proctor
is 80, S66. Polls are added which
make the aggregate list for State tax
es $l1,02 Any person of ordinary
business judgment and familiar
with the circumstances of the case
ought to know that this sum is a mere
bagatelle compared with what the
grand list ought to be under an APP
praisal such as the law demands.
This appraisal is made by listers vir-
tually selected by the Marble Com
pany Practically it is the appraisal
of its own property by the Marble
Company, and the Company is Proc
tor in the last analysis
The State tax for the current bien-
NAL term is 10 cents on dollar of
nd Iict - 1o,
full State tax is Proctor shouldering
off on to the other tax payers of the
State?
The special State school and the
State highway tax is five cents each.
OF how much money for better schools
and good roads is Proctor depriving
the towns of the State for whose ben
eft these taxes were designed?
Let every tax payer, every bene-
ficiary of the special taxes competent
to judge and to estimate reflect on
the probability of an enormous eva
sion of just taxation at Proctor, and
as one of the consequences of creating
the Boro' of Proctor.
FhO1lBIIlON.
II am a prohibitionist, " is the
proud profession of Fletcher d. Proc
tor. II am and always have been in
favor of the prohibitory law. l believe
it is better suited to promote the
welfare and sobriety of our State than
any scheme of license. " Thus writes
Candidate Proctor What is the Can
didate's practice?
He holds, as shown by the records
FIVE United States licenses for the
sale of Intoxicating liquors, and the
law Of Vermont makes the possession
of license prima facie evidence of
illegal traffic in such liquors, Posses
sion ought to be as good evidence in
the case of Candidate Proctor as in
that of any common grog house keep