Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-05-02


SCISSORS to tax its property at one-tenth
of its value. borrowed at per cent. all
the money invested, over-bonded its
works. divided the excess, put neither
their own cash nor their earnings into
the plant. all to swell fraudulent fran
| chise value. On the company's theory
Of valuation, the cheaper YOU can build
plant, the larger the sum the public
must pay when it seeks to supply it.
self with water. Now the Court held
that income should follow properry
value, each to be governed by the other
Along with it all must be remembered
the great rule that the rates must mt
exceed the worth of the service to the
individual. AS already shown. tho
rates charged in accommodating this
SaS,4ll.SS from the present takers are
substantially double the worth of the
service rendered, and at the Same time
the net income now received is more
imam double what is a fair return on
the fuli value of the property. Now
whose methods are to be employad
West. Gcodhue, Payson, or the rules
Oh the Supreme Court designed to
protect the people, the master. and the
company, the servant. This matter of
the Edwards lease is a practical propo-
sition and affects the true method of
rating and valuing. Here is a lease in
force until 1907. What is likely to hap
pen in 1907? Here is company that
is such an unwelcome occupant of
that yard that the Edwards Company
won't let them own anything up there
except what they can take out-their
W ,,tn<
them right down to these leases! Evil
IDENTIFY not very anxious to have them
there. Here is a dam with aVailab
water power of 4,S00 horse power, sub
stantially all used now; the Edwards
Company using little more than half,
or about half, the Water Company 300,
the Light and Heat Company 400 OH
the other end of the dam. and the Pulp
Company the balance; so that. as you
can well understand, in times Of low
water. while this company pumps
nights it is true, and they can get
along pretty fairly well, there must be
a good deal of difficulty for the Light
and Heat Company and the Pulp Com
pany to run. Now if the Edwards
Company, in 1907, could say all you
have got here is pumps and machinery,
and the necessities of business require
the extension of our mill and that we
should use all this power, and they are
driven out of this yard, what would
that mean for this company? Isn't that
a pretty serious business proposition?
We stand Mr.. Chairman, where we are
subject in three years to the very
probable contingency that, as district.
we shall be expelled from that yarS.
and compelled to build steam pump
ing station, buy coal. and increase our
operating expenses $500 a year. Now.
address myself to another proposition.
which affects this element of assured
income, and that is the TOguS Home.
only regret that I haven't time to enter
into the details of it. What as to its
permanence:
1t is practically Il question of the sur
vivors of the Civil War. all of wnoil
are engaged i'll the service. There is
about a million of them in round num-
bers left. These men ere now about
sc years old. The men that came there
are sick and disabled by wounds or dis
ease Can they live Is years? They
you'll then be 81 years cid. Substan-
TALLY speaking, would there be any
|
I submit the period is more than fair
We would then be confronted with all
abandonment of this branch. That is
the degree of uncertainty that rests
around these elements of assurance OF
income. 1t would have been their risk.
1t is ours. The law says that these
elements that affect the assuring OF
income are material things for YOU 70
consider. More than that. it is Il cloun
upon the actual value of the property
out there. Assured means, for the pur-
poses of valuation. permanent. That
element of assured income goes out.
But look at it's supreme Importance in
this case. II is Onc-fourth of their
gross income. 1t is one-fourth of their
net income as they claim it. 1t is the
largest factor in whatever is the true
value of this property, SO that % PC:
cent, roughly speaking, of the value
that they ask, rests upon this Togus
contingency. To my mind it might 10
perfectly illustrated by treating that,
as one taker with a service pipe run
ming to his house, with 1900 people in
the house which is apt to be closed in
IS years. The time is coming when
that item OF income is to drOp out and
when that goes that item of property
value goes too. Augusta has settled
back. as the last six years history
shows, to a slow, steady, conservative
growth common to so many towns like
Augusta in this good old state of ours.
While We grow richer in money, we
have remlined substantially stationary
in population.
Augusta today is tied to a cotton mill
and pulp mill, close them, and you
would see real estate drop in value one
half and the labOring man walking the
streets and looking for work. as counsel
and myself saw it around the early
seventies until the Edwards people
came here. See what we have had to
do here to keep this Edwards mill upon
it's feet, to get them to come here to
hold what prosperity we have. We
have had to exempt from taxation "A
million dollars of their property and
tax it to every man in this city for Is
years. We are a good. quiet. resi-
dental town, with no more prospect OF