Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-02-18
Monday, February 10, 1907.
Augustus Debt to Portland.

t'c1A' AhSy nave " iiiCcl III oil dIitl-
quated, dilapicated. draughty struc-
torc, which, however good for its pur-
pose it may once have been, is no long
er suitable.-Portland Press.
Again does our esteemed Portland
contemporary fall into an error. There
is nothing dull in this small, interior
town during the legislative winter.
Too many Portlanders are here. laden
with winning smiles and losing
schemes, to allow any condition ap-
preaching dulness to prevail upon our
streets or at the Capitol. And the
legislators have no lack of opportun-
ity for recreation and relaxation.
When they want little change from
the serious business Of lawmaking
they find oceans OF fun in stringing
Portland into belief that 1t has a
chance to put the State House on
wheels and take it away to become an
adornment for Bramhall hill or the
Western promenade. To be sure. An
gusta has no grand bowling" such IS
the Press dwelt upon the other day as
an inducement for changing the seat
of State government. This we admit
in all humility and with full realiZa-
ton Of the grievous handicap which it
has imposed upon this small interior
town during all the long years since it
was made the capital of the State by
lawmakers who first considered the
claims OF Wiscasset and ThOmaston
but who did not cast a single vote in
favor of Portland.
There can be no dulness in the CAPT.
tai Of Maine as long as Portland is on
the map and subject to the same con-
stitution and laws that govern the
rest Of the State. Nor can there be
any lack of recreation and relaxation
for the lawmakers as long as Portland
dreams its pipe dreams and tries to
buy the State House with counterfeit
money. Equally deep into error does
our esteemed contemporary in the rich
and aristOcratic commercial metropo-
lis fan when it pities the legislators
for having to meet in "an antiquated.
dilapidated and draughty structure no
longer suitable for its purpose" 1t is
true that the growing business of the
State has resulted in a crowding of
some of the departments. but this can
be easily remedied, as Governor Cobb
suggests. by the erection of an addi-
ton or an outside office building. The
need Of more office room is no reason
for plying the lawmakers or for urg-
ing a change in the location of the
capital.
But the Capitol is "antiquated" walls
the Press. The only ancient thing
about it is that grand old Bulfinch
front which is the finest thing in archi-
lecture that Maine possesses. Nor are
there any traces of dilapidation visible
to the naked eye. within the building
or without it. Certainly 1t is no more
draughty than any large building must
be which has lofty halls. long corri-
doris ana many doors. The thing that
draughty is that chestnut Of 1889
vintage which the Portland papers are
trying to serve up as something new.
II is "A sad thing to get into such
state of mind as the Portland editors
have developed since they have been
trying to initiate the boomlet of capital
removal. In plying the legislators
who have to suffer the hardship OF
passing q winter in a small interior
town the Press forgets that the great
majority of them are residents of towns
that are even smaller than Augusta
and even farther in the interior. In
fact. about 16O of the 1S2 members come
from communities which have been
somewhat less successful than Au-
gusta in striving to attain the metro
politan proportions and dignity OF
Portland. Naturally. however. the
Press was not thinking of these MEM
hers. but solely OF the Portland con-
t;npent To think only of Portland.
and not at all of the rest Of the state
has been from the first the character
istic attitude of those advocating
changing the capital from Augusta TO
Portland.
It is a sad thing for city that is as
good and beautiful and as rich and
powerful as Portland to be sassy TO us
sister cities. In the eternal fitness Oh
things there can be but one Portland
&c Maine had two the State would have
to be divided at once. Other cities AT the
best can be but base limitations. They
can he only meek and lowly followers
along the pathway which is lighted by
its greatness. They must be content
to subsist on the crumbs which ran
from It's grooming banquet table. And