The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1906-05-10


rebate of 95 per cent taken out of
that tax. 1t is a contract that those
men were able To make with this Leg
islature. Upon what plea? Oh, that
the State of Maine should help favor
that glorious county of Aroostook.
| am not finding fault with that con
tract. | say it was made in good
faith. Carried out to the letter. But
why should they come in here and
fight this bill when they are paying
merely .05 of the part of the tax that
is assessed upon them today? Would
it be a burden to that line TO have this
bill become a law? Consider this
question as men of business and
men of affairs. You are here to act
as men acting in the interests of the
whole State. | know that it will be
said that four years age the railroads
came in here and said, mo, we are
not paying what we ought to pay, we
will paw more.n And who fixed the
rate? 1t was fixed by the taxation
committee, the bill was reported and
the chairman of that committee was
the president of a railroad in the State
Of Maine. He is either here on the floor
| Of this House or in il somewhere; |
|
e has been here constantly working
with the members of this House ask
! ing them to vote against this bill.
| He was the chairman OF the commit :
| tee that reported that tax bill four
years ago. | do not wish to be I'M
4 derstood, and far be it from me to
say, that the gentleman was not act
| ing honestly and faithfully; but Ii II
10 naf Il fliI afIr out.
! edly where he has hundreds of thou
sands of dollars invested in a propo-
sition? | say it is impossible for a
man who has a large investment In a
certain kind Of property and 1t Is
made to pay a higher rate of income
into the public treasury say it Is
| impossible for that man TO act disin-
terestedly. Human nature will not
allow it.
want you to consider for mo-
ment that little road, the Portland u
| Rumford Falls, and | ask you If 1t IL a
burden for them to pay per cent
upon their gross transportation re-
ceipts? Look for moment on page
1853 of the railroad commissioners
report for 1904. We find stocks own
ed by that railroad, International Pa
per Company preferred, $500; Ok
ford Paper Company, 100000; Rum
ford Falls K Rangeley Lakes K. X.
Co., common stock, S190, 900; bonds
owned by the railroad, Oxford Paper
Company, 1866, 900; International Pa
per Company, debentures, Sl93,0 900;
international Paper Company, first
mortgage, 200; making total of
81 49,, 900 owned by the Portland q
| Rumford Falls railroad of stocks and
bonds. Are they able TO pay the pal
try tax of per cent upon their gross
receipts for transportation? One of
the richest propositions within the
| borders of the State, if not the rich :
est, is the Portland & Rumford Falls
railroad, their operating expenses
! lower than any other railroad in the
State of Maine, 53 per cent and a
fraction of their gross earnings, leaV.
| ing AZ per cent income. | submit II
| it is lust to say that the average man
throughout the State shall pay upon
his property over per cent annually
and this rich corporation owning 81,
900. 900 of stock and bonds which are
paying good income every day IN
the year. ask you if it is right for
YOU to say that shall pay more than
per cent upon my property and they
pay six mills upon theirs. Why, some
members of this House have talked
to me as though railroad corpora
ton or any other corporation was
something that was different from an
| individual. What difference is there
| between corporate property ana IN
dividual property? a corporation is
merely combination of individuals
with corporate power and when one
man drops out the organization still
continues, it is endless but it is made
up of individuals, and the property
that is invested in corporate stocks
and bonds and property of different
kinds should be subjected to the same
rate of taxation as though it were
owned by the individual himself
Take the Bangor & Aroostook rail
road. We find that they issued their
stock, large amount of it. How
much has it cost the stockholders of
the Bangor 4 Aroostook railroad, and
how many of them are there2 There
are 10 men, according to their report
of June Goth, that own over 400 miles
of the Bangor 4 Aroostook railroad.
Only - stockholders; and pray tell
me if you believe that they are men
who need your fostering care and ten
der mercy upon question of taxa
ton? Do you believe that they are
the poor men of the State of Maine?
Are these 10 the widows and orphans
of the State of Maine, or are they the
rich men of the State who come here
and ask you practically to exempt
them from taxation? You must meet
this question, and | want you to meet
if fairly and honestly. How much
did they pay for their stock? The
treasurer of that company told me
that they put into that Bangor Il
Aroostook railroad per cent of the
stock and the stock was issued to
them, and that is every dollar that
the stockholders ever put into it, and
the rest was received from their earn
ings and from the bond issue. What
is their stock worth today? 1t is
worth $3.50 a share. | so stated be-
fore the committee. One of the
members of the House, l mean the
third House,-th morning that this
bill was introduced into the House
met me,-he knew what the bill was,
and he smilingly met me and said,
FYou have laid china egg" In
/ .,,nJa erautIau1nn nf the