Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-09-10

taXHtlOH, larger ana larger amounts
collected by the State by direct tax
| and counting upon the books of the
State as expenditures.
Recently the Democratic candidate
| for governor made a statement which
| he enunciated as the climax of his ar
| raignment of this administration
Said he: Nobody knows how much our
State owes. Not even Governor Fer
maid knows. Our State institutions
dependent upon the State for funds,
having no credit except as the States
backing gives it to them, without
! right and without authority of law
| have no trustees notes, treasurers'
| notes and commissioners notes bor-
rowed large sums of money which
| eventually Maine must pay"
| My friends | want you to consider
the gravity. the prrport and the infer
ence intended to lie conveyed by this
| remarkable charge against the present
administration. Its purpose is plainly
to convey that trustees of State insti-
tutiOns without warrant from the Gov
ernor and Council are deliberately Dor
rowing and expanding money which
the State will have eventually to pay,
thereby adding to the liabilities and
the burdens of the people. Now | want
to say with emphasis in response to
this that our State institutions nave
not borrowed one penny that eventual
~ the state must pay in the sense in
tended TO be conveyed by the above
Every penny that any State institution
has borrowed for any cause whatever
in the interim between the opening Of
the fiscal year of 1910 and the coming
in of taxes in 1910 must be paid by
those institutions out of their regular
allowance for maintenance. Not dol
lar can be or vii! be added to the State
liability or Indebtedness thereby.
There is no word. line, suggestion
or scintilla of truth in the statements
that such temporary loans as have
been personally made by trustees of
State institutions in anticipation of
forthcoming revenue from the State.
and, as l have said, a dollar of liabil-
lty or create in any respect a debt
that Maine will have to pay
On the subject of inequalities of
taxation. l join my opponents.
would there were no inequalities of
taxation. 1 am a farmer and a manu-
facturer, and like the rest of you,
wish there were no taxes at all, and
earnestly hope the day will come
when there will be revenue enough
from the natural resources of our
State. either to eliminate them or to
reduce them to negligible minimum.
But / realize that so far as the ques-
ton of inequalities of taxation goes,
the efforts of commission of men out
side the legislature, selected from both
political parties. and the efforts of
special committee of some of the alb
lest men of both parties in the 74th
Legislature, and that finally the en-
tire Legislature, together with COM
mittees from the Grange and the cor
pOrate interests, and representatives
of the people have all wrestled with
this subject within the past eighteen
months. Their sublimated wisdom
was presented in the tax measure
which was enacted by the last Legis-
lature. This measure was supported
on the floor of the Senate by the SEN
ate chairman of the taxation commit
tee; it was supported on the floor of
the House by the Democratic leader
of the House, who was one of the
committee, and who said to the Legis-
lature. Il have worked hard on this
matter. and all the members of the
committee have worked hard. I think
we have pretty good BILL" I as
sumo that perhaps it was not all that
he could wish; it was not perhaps all
that any one could wish. but it was
indeed, as the Democratic leader as
serted, "a pretty good bill" 1t met
his approval. 1t ELECTED from him an
eloquent and able speech on the floor
of the House in it's support. and it
passed both branches OF the Legisla-
ture by an overwhelming majority.
AS l said in my inaugural. the cur
rent questions of taxation can never
be settled right until they dispense
justice to every man. rich or poor, and
so far as possible dispose the burdens
of public tax in proportion to their in
terest, great or small. And on that
platform I stand today. declaring
without fear of contradiction that no
man of interest has any claim or pow
er upon me or over me that could
cause me for a single instant to think
or act otherwise.
I cannot close. without declaring
with the greatest emphasis Of which
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