Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-03-22

anu towns of the State, we have only
."o ooarcs Of trade and only 129 names
~ THESE petitions from all over this
S'ate outside of Portland and only so
raiiles from the city of Portland itself.
10 there a call for change of this
law Is Their" cry from the mortgagor
suHerlhg from the burdens of taxation
w. gentlemen, there is not. 129 names
nsroiy represent the intelligent people
CT the State CT Maine.
ana who compose those 1923 people? l
nav taken Pains to look up some of
.heh'. l found one gentleman signing
"is petition from thu city of Ellsworth.
"iis one The city Of Ellsworth has
doout loo polls. He is one of the rich
est men in that city, a money lender
anu ne wants the advantage which
thls Dill will give him. Let me say, gen.
uehen, here in connection with these
men who have signed these petitions
'hat You will find that they come from
citles and towns where there is large
amount of money taxed as money at
interest From Thomaston there are
| HNe- lou can tell the signature of 4
mn tSaSor as soon as you can see it.
wien saw these five signatures from
ihotilastoE written i'll a smooth free
Hahd l knew that they did not repre-
sent the class of people which these
Iiieh We're claiming they were going to
benefit. In Thomaston I found there
was $4,000 being taxed as money at in
| terest. l found that three Of those men
were bankers, none of them mortgage
ofS. IL this bill becomes law l claim
that there would be S1199 that the num-
| icipality there would lose in taxes, and
1t would be necessary to raise that
SlI99 from somebody else, upon all
| KINDS of property except the money
| men. What | have said about Thomas
| ton applies to the other places. Ellis
| worth has $4,000 taxed as money at in
| telest With one petitioner who would
| like to escape taxation. If this bill be-
| comes {, law Ellsworth would lose 1882
ard the State would lose $3.50. This loss
| would fall upon every man who has
q farm or a stock of goods or a home
| These rich centres like the city of
| Ellsworth escape the tax and it fails
back upon the people all ever the State
kennebunk has 90 signers. Her NUM-
| cipal tax is 1856. Is my friend from
| kennebunk going to vote to pass bill
by which his municipality will lose
| S3S65? The little town of Madison has
| 13 petitioners, and I find that by this
bill they will lose 1925 in taxes. Free
| port had 40 petitioners, and | found
| there $4,000. Their municipal tag
| would be $780, which would disappear
| under this bill Richmond had eight
| petitioners and | found there 500, 800
| taxed AS money at interest. Their mu-
| nicipal tax would be $605. Paris had 25
| petitioners; their municipal tax would
he $500. Portland had $50 petitioners.
| According to the assessors report we
| find S. 292, 425 at interest in the city of
| Portland. At the rate that the city of
| Portland is paying their municipal
loss would be s1100S2 if that money
disappears from taxation. and that
burden has got to be added to the
poorer class of people in the city of
Portland. Portland has a large State
tax. Under the rates which we have
had for eight years find that the city
| of Portland would escape paying into
the State treasury $14,55416. Who is
going to pay that? We have got to
| have just as much money with which
ia run this State as ever. Who is go
ing to pay it if the city of Portland
don't pay it? The back towns are go
taxation and then you and 1 and every
man who has a homestead or stock
of goods or piece of land has got to
! pay this tax. | do not blame FOI tland
and these wealthy people who are now
| being taxed with money at interest in
| an amount over $1,000 900 for coming
| here with a lobby such as | have not
seen before at this session. When
went before the committee to protest
against this bill instead of the mort
gasors | found the rich men repre-
scented by one of the ablest attorneys
in this state: | found other attorneys
working outside, and they have worked
ever since that time for this one meas
ure; I found real estate brokers there
and i have seen them upon the floor
of this House almost every day since
If these rich men in Portland can es-
cane paving one hundred and ten thou
| sand dollars is it any wonder that they
can afford to have a lobby here such
as has not been seen on the floor of
this House in regard to any other mat
ter at this session? 1t will be said that
while these men are assessed upon so
much money at interest. they are not
mortgages and therefore this bill does
not apply to them. A certain portion
of them are mortgages. And what
about those that are not mortgages?
What is the result if this bill passes?
How long would it take those men
who are anxious to escape taxation to
have every dollar Of this money at in
terest secured by mortgages on real es-
tate? Your bill says that any loan Sc
cured by mortgage on real estate shall
bo exempt from taxation. In my judg-
ment the friends of this bill don't
know the full force and scope of it.
Every sensible man that knows any
thing about money escaping taxation
must agree with me that the thousands
| of dollars which are now being taxed
as money at interest will be placed in
. such way that it will be all secured
bv mortgages that escape. 1t VIII be
said that that is theory but we have
every reason to believe from our ex-
perience with human affairs that 1t
will he so. What do you suppose the
Changers will say when trey learn
that the House of Representatives.,
| four.Gfths of il composed OF Republic