Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-03-24

| ter of vital Importance to the city or
| Portland. In closing | will quote one
| newspaper, from the Portland Evening
| Express of March %: THE bill as
! drawn is calculated to meet the Situa-
| ton exactly. Amendments without
the advice of lawyers who have made
| a study of the situation would be dan
| gerous to the best interests of the city
nasmuch as they might defeat the
| very purpose which the bill is calculal-
ed to achieve"
Mr. ROUNDS: Mr.. Speaker: l was
not going to refer to late editorials be-
cause l see that the man who wrote
| them is in the room, but since the
gentleman has referred to them ! would
like to say a few words and explain
| perhaps how that editorial happened
to be in the paper at this present time
instigated by the friends of the pro
posed city building. Last Saturday |
received n telephone from the mayor
saying. Edgar, you won't put on any
| amendments? This is the first time !
have ever asked you for personal
favor" He asked me that SO he could
build that big monument for himself al
the expense of the citizens of Portland.
| Ard last week when the comnittee
on estimates met that man said that
some folks are getting too fresh" anC
he would stop contract that was
| made by the city government of Port
land with myself for 90 years. Now
| that was a direct threat to me if
! should care to come up here and vote
according to my convictions. Now whe,
| / got it from two sources right aftcl
that meeting / merely said, "Wait til
| [ get home" When I got home I re-
ceived a letter from the mayor asking
me to bring my contract to his Office
as they could not find that they ha(
any contract with me- When the bank
opened yesterday morning at s O'Clock
| went to the bank and took that con-
tract out and carried it down to the
mayor, and he said, Let me have that
contract, will you, Rounds?" I said,
mo. sir, I will not" daughter and
applause).
Il will carry that contract back
to the men who loaned me the money
4 in order that they might have water
on Peaks Island" l carried it back
to the bank and I said, Gentlemen,
if you want him to have a copy of
that YOU may let him have it, 1t is
your money that you have loaned me:
now you can do as you have mind
TO-" And you can see the underhand
business. to build that monument for
that man. He does not want the peo-
PIE of Portland to have a chance to
vote on it. In similar manner he has
had his agents all out to try to stop
the citizens of Portland from building
Portland bridge because he wants to
build it himself and have his name on
1t as erected by the votes of Mayor
Adam P. Leighton. Gaughter). Now
gentlemen, in all fairness if the gentle
man or airy gentleman from Portland
or anywhere else wishes to amend that
so it can be completed more quickly
] Will consent to the amendment bu:
let the citizens of Portland decide
whether they want a city building of
that magnitude. l have on my desk an
estimate of the cost of this proposed
building. 1t raises about Sis 900 a wear
for that particular monument for Tho
mayor of Portland. Now do the citi-
zans of Portland want to pay one-ninth
OF al tho taxes Of the city of Port
land Cor a monument to go down into
history for him: Give them a chance
to vote on this, that is all | ask This
is the picture Of the proposed building
(Showng). 1t looks more like a fac
tory or a tobacco Warehouse in Vir-
gina than it does like q city building
for Portland. Haughter) And still
you are putting s2,O00,OO0 into it, and
IN" gentleman cannot deny that the
Casco National Bank and the Maine
savings Bank have put that matter
out as a $2.00d,0Oo building and we have
Only got $150,000 to start with We
found out how it works in the case Of
the county court house. They came
here and got matter of $500, 900 Two
years later they came here for 5000, 900
more. We had $121,000 in the treasury
when we started. and today there is
bill for $4,000 more to finish that
| building and is it civic pride that W..
want to consider or the people who
pay the taxes? Only 1900 people in the
city Of Portland pay over $50 in taxes.
! over oo.OOO people are paying less than
sou and they have to scrape and scrub
10 get along and pay their taxes Now
| VIII you give those people one chance
TO vote on this question and not throw
them down so that they shall make a
| monument for this one man?
Mr. BIGELOW of Portland: Mr..
| Speaker: | rise merely to call atten-
tlon to this fact, that my colleague
from Portland is very anxious to have
referendum on this very simple mat
| Ter but he has expressed no such de
sire uron the other bills which are
| pending before this Legislature. ap-
POINTING nearly all the officials of Port
land to office, and a greater part Of
them are Republicans Now this mat
ter has been thrashed out in Portland
Ut IS an OLD story there. The people
passed unon it at the last municipal
| election, practically, and gave to the
| present MAYOR of Portland the lar.rort