Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-10-24
BEEN CHANGED.
Dramatic Incident At the
Edwards Tax Hearing.
Judicious Editing Of Letter by
Counsel Causes Trouble.
". D. Pencil Of Lewiston the Unwilling
Party 10 a Peculiar Operation.

The forenoon session Of the Edwards
| tax abatement h"arinS was uccupie.d
| hv TIE further SS-rX:tmination Of W.
! II. Pcnnrn uf L'N istnn. Minute comuar-
i-1ns were made Of the machinery in
| the li.Il mill. If which Mr. P!ull is
| agent. with that in tn" Edwards mill
After Attorney Williamson had cox
| cred Il comparison of the textile ma
,hincry city Snli' it"r Dutton took the
Witness and cro%S-cXaminod him as To
| what elements he had considered in
placing Il value upon the buildings. The
with, y, stated that he had not cSti-
mated replacement cost other than Il
general figure Of so cents Der square
| foot Of floor space for a building Of sur
liritni capacity to hold machinery
enough to produce the product Of thns
mill. He was not sure whether he
would have one Or NOR" buildings. Up
on bcin;; pressed he admitted that he
knew nuthin" of the going price of Ia
Dor az materials i'll Augusta and had
not considered tn" question.
rhr witness wa; then intcrrogatcd on
the value Of water power. He had cSti-
| mated iii" value ut s. per horsepower.
The value of power in the city of Lew
i>'ton was thoroughly covered. The Wit
ness placed his estimate at SC per
hocScpoN er in Lewiston, that being The
price paid by his cotton mill to the
Union Water Power 90. The crosS-eX-
animation brought out the fact that
al the stock OF the Union Water Pow
| 81 60. is owned by the various mills in
Lewiston and that they really paid on
" the cost of producing the power 1t
appeared that the Union Water Power
Go. had brought suit against the city
of Lewiston to recover for SurIluS
water power and had charged SEQ per
hnrS rllowcr for it. The witness finally
admitted that his knowledge of water
puwr: values i'll Lewiston was limited
t. the power leased 10 the various
| mills owning the stock of the Union
Water Power co.
Numerous objections to the admiss-
| sion IF testimony We're made by coun
| sci on both sides and spirited discus
| SionS followed.
Crdnsrl took NJ Mr.. Pcnnell's Sched
| ulc. which was in the form of Il letter
to the agent Of the Edwards Mfg. Go.
lie Was asked if that was 4 true copy
Of his original. He stated that il was
with the exception Of perhaps a few
grammatical changes.
Til" most dramatic incident Of the
trial since the discontinue Of Expert
Sheldon on the freight rate question &C.
CURED " hen Mr. pcnnell admitted that
his; l,-."trt ON the valuation of the MILL
which p,rli.rltci To be- Il copy Of Il let
ter written by him to Agent Pratt. was
not : true copy Of the original letter.
Mr.. Prnnrll admitted that he had a
true copy in Iii. custody ana the cuun-
.-cl for the city insisted that it be pro-
Guced ut the afternoon session. II.
produced the original letter at the af
ternoom session and on examination the
cDpy presented to the commissioners
WAS found to have been edited by some
one rot unfavorable to the mill.
The paper given to the commissioners
was headed Copy" dated 'Lcwiston.
March Il. 1906 addressed to Mr.. Pratt
and signed by Mr.. Penncll. When the
original was produced it was found to
differ from the c"py presented in about
80 different places. Paragraphs unfa-
vorahlc to the mill We're inserted, while
paragraphs commenting favorably M
on its condition Were entirely omitted.
Numbers of machines We're in some in
stances changed and the amount of the
cstimnt" which III the paper presented
to IN" commissioners was $I33,"OO. was
stated to be $3.50. 800 in the original.
In the original the frames We're Spok-
en- Of as doing "cxcell"nt' work, but ,
IN the commissioners COPY fairly |
good was substituted. In several 9TH
er instances adicctiveS applied to il !
limited part Of the machinery We're |
made to cover 4 greater amount in the |
copy. Will" commentator was uni |
formly changed. either to blame or
omitted altogether.
Tho following is an exact copy of the |
original letter:
Lewiston. Maine. March T.. 1906
Mr.. Albert s. Pratt Agent, Edwards |
Manufacturing CO.. Augusta, Maine:
Dear Mr.. Pratt-Whcn your letter, re
gardine tn" examination of your com
paiIy property, came to me | WIS V"rS
strongly inclined to drclin" tn" invita-
ti"n, as ] went through a similar expert
sncc at one time when 7 WAS actually |
forced. by what | found upon inVrStIgi-
tipn, to admit that the valuation put upon
IT," plant of Il certain corporation 10y the
ass" sSnrS of tn" town was not excessive.
but lust ana r"aSunallr, ana ! assure YOU
it was not altpGrthrr q happy experience
Having practically Iittl" "r no knnWl-
edge Of your situation ~ Augusta, my
reason for hrSitatng WAS that | feared
| might rraliz. /: similar STATE OF things.
inaSmuch rs had for some reason
CONTINUED on Page Ten)