Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-08-29
The Somerset Railroad.

cratic Justification factory has yet put
forth is that which attempts to make
party capital out of the State aid Civ
en- the extension of the Somerset rail-
| Realizing that their attack upon the
| Bangor ard ArOostOok railroad has
proven boomerang for them and that
it has lost them many votes instead of
making them any, the Democratic
managers are evidently attempting t.
divert attention from that subject by
attacking this Somerset railroad mat
ter in wreckless partisan fashion. The
acts and motives of men like ex-Gov-
ernor John +. Hill and State treasurer
/ Oramandal Smith are impugned, and
vague charges are made against the
whole Legislature which enacted the
law granting it to this railroad. To be
sure, Cyrus w. Davis, Of Watervile.
was member Of that Legislature, and
| neither voted against the bill in ques-
| ton nor thought to say anything
against it until the present campaign;
| but Democratic editors loftily wave
| that matter aside as of no Importance,
| leaving us to believe, as the Sentinel
would put it. that he was either bull
| dozed and deceived into voting for
| the bill. or else asleep and snoring in
| hic chair whan tho measure WAC .'cur-
reptitiously" put through.
| AS a matter of fact. the bill aiding
the Somerset railroad and Relating a
| part Of its tax for time was exactly
the same kind of a measure as that
| giving similar assistance to the Ban
gor and ArOostook railroad a dozen
years earlier. Both bills were to aid
| in the development of the State and
promote the material prosperity of all
| its people. They were voted for by
| members of the Legislature, without
| any regard for party lines. and nobody
| ever dreamed that party capital would
| be made out of them until the Demo-
| Gratis i'm their desperation in this cam
paign have attempted to use them as
an issue" thereby attacking the leg
| iSative record of scores of Democrats,
and even that of Candidate Davis him
self. In discussing the measure and
pointing out the Inconsistency and alb
surdity of the present Democratic at
tack upon il, the Portland Press says:
1t is a great enterprise 20 which the
| men concci ned have addressed them
selves and in which they have rskcI
| heir money 1t IS to do for interior
| Of The country of Somerset in the way
| If dcV eiopincEt of natula wealth ana
resources what the e. and a. has don.
| Cor Aro1stCok and what the Washing
ton county line Will do for the south
| eastern county. They are building
railroad for fifty miles through the
prime,al forest from Bingham on the
upper Kennebec to a point on the West
shore of Moosehead lake. with a Plan
| III mind eventually to continue the line
| nOrthWaId to the Canadian frontier.
What this new road means to that part
| Of the State may be imagined from the
| fact that according to the geographical
| survey OF the forest SctllDfi III Ndlne
more than 80 per cent of the undevel-
oped water power of the State is sit
| uated within the belt which will be di-
rcctly tributary to the Somerset rail-
road when the full dream of the com
pany is realized. The road taps and
will make available for market a large
area Of the best pine and spruce tim
| her in the State. now too far distant
| no T. nd ri IA nv
streams to make numbering operations
profitable Another thing is that Incl
| dentaly it will make more accessible
some of the best hunting and fishing
grounds in the State AS to the agri-
cultural possibilities of that part of the
State there is no particular inforna-
| ton, but ii is reasonable to suppose
| that with the advent of the iron horse
| and the clearing of the forests good
farming tracts will he developed in
the valleys and along the watercourse5
| IF that well watereG region. Along the
middle and lower reaches of the Ken
| nebec are some of the best farming
lands in the state outside Of ArooS-
| took, and II would seem as if there
should he much fertile soil about the
head waters also
1t Is said that the men concerned III
| the enterprise own much of the tim
Der land to be developed. as if that
were something to their diScredit.
| They came by their titles honestly, and
| the stockholders are putting their mon
ey into the road in the expectation of
getting some return. The compare
lively slight aid granted by the State
in the Shape Of relief from taxation
during the period of building and de-
velopment and before the road can be
| expected to become a paying institu
ton is the best public Investment that
could he made. for another Millinocket
or RumfOrd Falls in the Somerset
wilderness would return to the State
| a hundred fold in taxes"
That big mass meeting in Lewiston