Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-03-04

Maine any more than are the various
public hospitals which are in similar
manner assisted from the State treas
| ury from time to time. 1t is not
part Of the State educational system,
as arc the Normal schools, for instance,
but it's legal status has been from the
| fiji st and is today exactly that of the
other colleges III Maine, nothing more
| and nothing less.
This part of the decision is of Itself
of much interest and Importance at
| this time. but the matter directly and
Immediately involved is also of general
| interest to all those connected with
generally. The decision makes plain
the right OF Orono to tax the houses
| occupied by the various fraternities
| connected with the University of
Maine, just as the fraternity houses at
Bowdoin and Colby have hitherto been
taxed. without making any protest, by
| the municipalities of Brunswick and
Watervile. AS the fraternity system
does not exist at Bates College. that
| rectly interested in this matter, The
decision, of course, is based upon the
laws as they now exist and as such it
| is not to be questioned, but already
there is bill before the Maine Legis-
laturc exempting the fraternity houses
at all the Maine colleges from taxation.
The bill was drawn as the result of the
controversy at Orono between the as
SCISSORS and the University authorities,
but Of course it could not be made to
apply to the fraternity houses of one
institution alone and so it covers them
all. And there is much to be said in
| defence of such bill. The fraternity
| houses at the various Maine colleges
have practically all been built within
the past decade, and consequently
| have not long been subjects of taxation
in Brunswick, Waterville and Orono.
Therefore, their exemption by law
serious loss upon those municipalities.
Moreover, their erection has been in
various ways good thing for the towns
themselves, increasing general business
and bringing more students to the col
| leges, who in turn, spend more money
| in the respective towns The fraterni
ty houses, or chapter houses as they
| arc commonly called are not built or
maintained for anybody's financial
profit. They are occupied for dormi-
! tory purposes and as eating houses. as
clubs, and in short, as college homes
| by organized bodies of students. In
! the matter of discipline they are di-
| rectly under the control of the college
authorities. By their erection the col
| lcges have been saved the erection of
new dormitolies, which, had they been
built, would by law be exempt from
| taxation. -at
H. Nouii NC JUSTIFY ~ NhS W.
leges and to the fraternity boys if the
legislature should act fayorably and
promptly upon this bill exempting
these houses from taxation in the flu
ture. Had such bill been introduced
| when the first of the fraternity houses
were contemplated or being built, it
NI>rI not
the slightest opposition, as the towns
where the colleges are located would
have recognized the erection and occu-
| pancy of these fraternity houses as a
good thing for the business interests
| of the town. What would have been
fair and just then is no less fair and
just now that the houses are built and
| occupied.