The Republican journal., 1914-08-27
Our Washington Letter.


Especial to The Republican Journal.]
WASHINGTON, D. c., Aug. "a, 1914.
An example of the diversified matters
that come here from Maine for consider
alton by Senator Burleieh is afforded by
the case of the Mount Vernon Telephone
Company. 1t is one of the little corpo-
rations in Maine doing business under
State laws. According to the Income
Tax Statute the company was required
to make return, but the blanks did not
reach them in time to fill out the requir-
ed information. The company accord
ingly paid a compromise fine of $50.
The company's tax when figured out
amounted to just one cent. The com
pany now wants to get back that $50 and
has appealed to Senator Burleigh to help
them out. He has responded with his
usual spirit and has made several visits
to the Treasury Department in the Com
pany's behalf. 1t may be little tedi-
Gus, but probably one of these days Sena-
tor Burleigh will emerge from the Treas
ury with warrant for that $50 in favor
of the Mount Vernon Telephone Com
pany.
Quite number of small Maine cor
porations were caught in this manner.
This is not the first case of the kind Sem
ator Burleigh has taken up in behalf of
his constituents. Next year there will
be more familiarity with the income tax
law and the smaller corporations will be
on the alert for all provisions. Similar
difficulties have been encountered in
other parts of the country. The Treas
ury Department has not been enforcing
penalties vigorously, but there will be
Tightening up next year on the theory
that everybody has now had ample warn
ing and valid excuses no longer apply.
Many Maine visitors ''fetch up" at
Senator Burleigh's Offices here. Those
Offices are place of general rendezvous
for Maine people visiting in Washington.
Former Maine people, residing in other
States, go there frequently. One of the
recent callers of that class was Claude
Boyle, who lives now in Newark, N. J.
He is a graduate of the University of
Maine and his people reside in Dover.
The wisdom of Maine Republicans in
Congress voting against the bill for re-
pealing free Panama Canal tolls some
months ago is recently being indicated.
Others in Congress from New England
rushed to the support of the administra-
tion in that regard. Now there are Sen
ators and Representatives who have
been eager to tget back" at New Eng
land by smashing the coastwise shipping. |
Indeed, the emergency shipping bill, in
cldent to the war in Europe, is to be
passed, but prominent men have been
found earnestly championing it on the
sole ground that coastwise shipping is
entrenched in New England and New
England turned out strong to help pass
the Panama Canal bill.
This may not be altogether fair, for
there were many in Congress from New
England, who followed the lead of Sena-
tor Burleigh of Maine, and Senator Gal
linger of New Hampshire in opposing
the Canal free tolls repeal. Senator
Burleigh took his stand on that measure
without hesitation and positively. The
three Republicans in the House from
Maine also voted against the repeal.
The Maine Senators and Representatives
have been doing their very utmost to
help the coastwise shipping people, but
the Democratic leaders of the Senate
and House have been crying out unfairly
that coastwise shipping was dominated
by trust and that it was the part of
good legislation to let in some COMPETE
ton
1t was impossible to stop the legisla-
ton, which happened to be an after
thought of the emergency shipping bill.
Senator Jones of Washington started the
trouble by proposing that the ships of
foreign build, admitted to American
registry, should be permitted to trade
between ports on the Atlantic and Pa
cifc coasts. Then Senator Williams of
Mississippi, an old style Southern Demo-
crat, wanted the same privilege for
these ships to trade between Atlantic
coast ports and Gulf of Mexico ports.
The Senate assented to that, but later it
was discovered that this would be con-
trary to the Constitution for ports of
the United States must be treated with
out discrimination. So the bars were let
down completely.
People along the Maine coast have re-
Gently been showing much interest in