Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-04-12
wor,hy Master and Patrons:

OF all the subjects of an economical
character that have engrossed the at
tention of mankind. l presume there is
none so important as that of taxation.
From the time Moses levied the tithes
upon the children of Israel down
through the ages till Joseph went up to
bethlehem with Mary to be taxed. be-
cause he was of the lineage and house.
hold Of David, and continuing on till
this day, ii has been question of re-
curing and ever increasing interest.
Statesmen and sages have exhausted
their erudition upon it, philosophers
! and laymen have surrounded it with
their theories and their ignorance; yet
today it causes more discussion and
contention in the halls of legislation
than any other. Potent. then, as the
importance of the subject is, how very
careful should we be when looking for
new subjects of taxation and placing
additional burdens on old ones, that We
are thoroughly familiar with the
dangerous nature of the article we are
dealing with" | think familiar in
stance where we got Hoist by our own
petard" occurred a few years ago when
the Legislature, largely through the
influence of the Grange placed addi-
tiOnal taxation on the railroads.
| Realizing that increased expense nee
essitated increased revenue, they con-
cludcd that the farmer. who so much
desired them to pay this increased tax.
would be willing to bear his part of the
burden, SO they quietly placed an in
creased rate of soc per ton on hay
. S-Ii iata
or other cities and thereby raised
large part of the increased tax rate.
, with the result that the farmer lost soc
! per ton on every ton of hay sold and
shipped.
But, Worthy Master. without going
into the general subject of taxation. /
wish to call your attention very briefly,
for / know our time is limited. to one
feature of this question which is at
! present occupying so much of the at
tenIion Of our State. During the past
! year we have heard very much from
the platform and seen in the public
prints in relation to the taxation of the
wild lands in our State Whether
prejudice or ignorance prompts some of
these statements, do not know, but to
my mind many of them are at least
very misleading. Before entering upon
a discussion of this subject let us con-
slider moment what are the. wild
lands" The wild lands scattered over
part of eight counties of the State,
known as the wild land counties" en-
/ brace between 12000.000 and $1,000. 900
acres. Upwards of 5000. 900 acres or
three-fourths of this are 1oca ted in the
unincorporated townships This vast
wilderness. extending across our State
from Southeast to Northwest in a line
of over 200 miles, In extent A large
part Of which is located far from any
railroad, river, stream, or any other
means Of transportation, under no sys-
TEN of municipal government without
an inhabitant. where the hoOf of man
seldom treads unless for the purpose of
hunting or fishing. including morass,
| rocks and woods. is subject to the same
rate of state taxation as all property
located in cities and towns throughout
the state. 1t also. contrary to the
opinion of very many. pays the same
rate of county tax as other property
located within the counties with it.
There is also an additional tax assessed
upon it by the county commissioners
Tor the building and maintenance of all
roads located by them in or through
these townships. which i'm many in
stances is quite an additional burden
annually. The remaining wild lands
upwards of 100000 acres. are located
in towns and plantations. and are
assessed Ivy the local officers of these
towns. and are subject to the same rate
OF tax. state. county and municipal. as
other real estate in these towns, placed
upon IT by the local assessors In 1870
the state Valuation Commission valued
tn" wild lands in the unincorporated
townships at S5I56.356. or an average
value Of about 55c per acre In 1850.
they valued them s7.94S,O6O. or 92c per
acre In 1891 the Legislature created
the State Board of Assessors. and thcy
made their first state valuation in 1892
and valued the wild lands in the unin-
corpora;ed townships at $l7, ,195. $50.
They also valued the cities. towns and
plantations the same year 1895, ,119, ,287.
AL the last valuation made by the State
Board. that of 1905, the value of those
same wild lands. including the public
lots. was S29 9,S1O964, an increased value
IN the IL years of S11.660,070 or 81 per
cent The valuation placed upon the
cities and towns in 1904 was 1896. .653. $50,
an increase of s4O.523 763. or 13 per cent.
In other words, while the valuation of
all the cities. towns and plantations in
the State increased in the period named
IL per cent. the assessed value placed
upon the wild lands in the uincorpor-
ated townships increased 81 per cent, or
just about four times as much.
/ know, sir. that the opinion prevails
that our farm property bears an un-
equal burden of taxation. and no doubt
its exposed condition affords the great
er opportunity for complete valuation
than that allowed by intangible prop
erty 80 called. But to show that in a
measure. at least, this burden is not SO
unequal as some may imagine. I have
list here Of 191 of the best farming
towns in the State, located in every
county except Aroostook. These towns
include many large and prosperous
villages. with creameries, canning fac
tories. railroads and manufacturing in
dustries. In 1892 the valuation placed