Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-28

! perform his duties properly; but il seems
! to me that it is advisable for us to wait
until the official is tried. If it had been
/ thought best to introduce a bill of that
| sort at the beginning of the session. to
/ apply to the then incumbent f.the office,
/ / certainly should not have objected. and
| | should not object i'm two years from
| now, If the official had performed his
duties wisely and well, to extending the
] tenure; but it seems to me that any mat
/ ters of that sort should be considered by
/ the people who are being served. rather
| than by the servant. Those offices were
/ not created for the benefit Of those who
| happen to hold them: but for the benefit
of the people FOR whom the service is
! performed, and logically it seems to me
| that any change in the tenure o. that Of
! flee should proceed from the people. Now
/ may be misinformed; but as I under
stand ii this is a bill of the commission
| er himself: not introduced by him. be-
| cause he could not do that or under his
! name; but everybody knows 1t is admit
! ted won't use the term admitted, be-
| cause that might carry with it an mpli-
! cation uncomplimentary to somebody. I
! do not mean it in that sense; but ii was
! a bill prepared and brought before us
at the behest of the commissioner imme-
/ djately aftc- he entered upon the duties
of his office. Now without criticisinG
him. without forccasting at all to the
| effect of it it se' ms to me that on the
whole we are not cal ed upon to ta:c any
action at this time. and | move the indefi-
mite postponement of all action on the
matter.
Mr. MARSTON of S5owhcgan: Mr..
Speaker | merely wish to state the
position of your committee, and the
reason they reported that this bill
ought to pass" Evidence was brough:
to your committee that this office, in
the first place, is somewhat different
from the other offices in the State
House. 1t IS shown that about nine
tenths Of the labor Of the forest COM
missioner and land agent is in con-
| nection with the so-called forestry
| district. Now that forestry district,
as most Of you probably know. was
| created at. the s.behest sot 1.-THE land
| owners of Maine in order to afford
| them protection from fire to the wild
! lands. They asked the State to form
this district because the State is the
| only agency that can compel all land
| owners to contribute toward the cost
of fire protection. You know some
where between $4,000 and $4,000 a
! year is levied as a special tax upon
the land owners within this so-ealled
forestry district. Now the land own
| erS-thc people concerned-requestcd
the State to appoint a man who should
administer the expenditure of this
$4,000 or $4,000 for the best inter-
csts of themselves. The State as 4
whole, of course, are interested in the
protection of the forests from fire;
but directly interested. of course and
NEST interested, are the owners of the
land. 1t has been shown, as l said
that go of the labor of the forest
commissioner is in the handling of
this forestry district consequently the
matter of policy of the Governor who
happens to be in control, his politics
has little if anything to DO with the
administration Of this office.
There are certainly some offices in
the State House that are directly at
fected by the policy of the Governor
and it might be embarrassing for the
Governor to have Il man Of the oppo-
site party in them; but in this offics
this man is largely concerned with
something which might be considered
purely business prepoition. At tht
beginning of this session, when this
matter was under consideration there
We're everal meetings of the land
| owners here to consider the measures
which were to be introduced, and at
that time they were unanimous in
favor of putting this Office out of
politics if possible. The bill was
drawn az the suggestion of the land
owners. AS land owner and as q
member of the committee, | asked the
land commissioners office to draw the
bill and the land commissioner en-
ployed lawyer to draw the bill.
Now the bill as reported by your COM
mittee simply struck out the words
"at the pleasure of the governor
20 be removed at the pleasure of the
Governor, or something to that effect;
/ don't remember exactly. The old
law was to the effect that the lam
agent and forest commission held of
flee for four years unless removed at
the pleasure of the Governor. At that
time ! do not think there was any
land owner or any member OF the
committee that realized the political
significance of the bill. When the
hearing came there was very able OPP
position to the bill, and purely and
simply on the ground that this bill
was unfair; that by making the ten
ure of Office four years il would make
it impossible for the successor
of the present governor to APP
point a man during his admins
traton. If the next Governor should be
a Democrat it would provide that the
present incumbent would hold through
theinext Governors administration. We
at once realized that that was unfair
and at the suggestion OF a member oil
our committee we moved to make the
tenure three years, so that in the ae-
cident of a Democratic Governor Il
succeed Governor Haines the Demo
cratic Governor would have the ap'
pointment of Il land agent and foree
commissioner in the middle of hi!
term. We appointed a committee
Democrat and a Republican-to consul
the leaders of the House, and the op'
) pononts of the bill, as to the fairness
of it, and they reported that the bill
was eminently fair. The principal OPP