Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1919-03-27

reached this verdict which We
thought was in an fairness to the
State highway department and to
Mr.. Fleming himself.
It was brought out in testimony
there that in the fall Of 1917. under 4
stress of circumstances. this old gen.
tleman offered to settle with the de-
partment for $3.50. He offered to set
tie, gentlemen. under a stress Of cir
cumstancee. because he was driven
to the wall. SO to speak. He mad 70
have the money: and I do not think
there is member here in this house
who has not sometime or other in
his life seen the time that he had 20
have the money: and think, gentle'
men. a lot Of times a man is quite
willing to sacrifice something upon
his original claim in order to get his
money and have the thing settled up.
1t was also brought out IN testimony
that very shortly after Mr.. Fleming
introduced this resolve into tle high
way department or an offer to settle.
he mortgaged his place fer Sl1S0. and
this old man. some over 20 years old.
went into the woods that winter and
." 3iAPC0 " III q Nv" 'N~oNS@ A"S w.
very hard up.
Now. gentlemen. after VIC reached
our verdict we received word t1at II
We did not cut that verdict down
from $cOs3eo to $1,000. the GoveSSor
would veto it. but if We would sub
NIT to $1,000, the State highway de-
partment would not put up any boil
ler.' nor the attorney generals Of
flee. and the governor would sign his
name to that resolve.
Now. gentlemen. you can see the
position in which we were placed.
We gave a lot of consideration to
that claim. and l believe that We
reached good. fair conclusion for
everyone concerned: and if we had
submitted to the one-man power
which told US what We were to do.
submit to the members Of this
House that We were no LONGER fit to
remain in our seats in this House as
legislators and to represent our con-
stituents at home. Therefore. gen.
tlemen, we rendered that verdict Of
s2O93 90, and We are going to stand
by it until the last ditch; and l want
to say right here that l am going 70
stand for this because l believe It il
right and I believe every member Of
that committee believes that it is
right. and ! am willing to so down.
gentlemen, with colors flying if |
have to, but thank God that l stand
upon the bedrock Of justice and
right. Gentlemen, / believe that We
| are right, and ! ask you to support
US in this resolve. Gentlemen. l
| thank you. (Applause)
Mr.. VARNEY OF Windham: Mr..
Speaker. this Fleming matter is 4
| matter Of history. Four years .lgo
we tEreshed it out the same as you
! are threshing it out now. 1t was
proved to us at that time that Mr..
| Fleming was man along in years.
man who could neither read nor
write, could not read his blue prints
Of the work that he was doing. knew
nothing about road building. This
+, was the first contract the State ever
! let-t1e first piece Of road building
| that Mr.. Fleming. or anyone else in
/; the State of Maine. ever did; that
! Mr.. Fleming was determined to do
| this work in his own way. regardless
/ Of the plans or the ideas and spectl-
! cations Of the commission. Mr.. Flem-
! ing would star: in to build a piece of
! road and cover grade. He would Gu:
off too much Of it and be obliged to
: fill il. He would start in to cut 2
! grade and would not cut off enough
/ of it, and would be obliged TO go over
and re-cut to come to the specitica-
| tionS.
1t has be,> said that there were
! two men turned off or discharged
One of the men vas Mr. F1eming's
! son, who was in business with him
/ and worked with him on the con-
! tract. Anothe.. vas his bookkeeper
who would not work with Mr.. Elem
! ing. Therefore. they left the job. and
. for a time there was no one on the
! job who co Id look after the work
and the State loaned Mr.. Fleming an
engineer to see that the work was
| done. This man was paid by AR
Fleming. not by the State: he was
Mr.. Fleming's man.
Now in regard to this ditch busi-
! ness-the fifty feet. This was sim
ply a unit to get contract from
and. as I understand it. Mr.. Flem-
! ing's bid was for two dollars linear
I foot for digging and filing this ditch
but the Commission verbally told him
that they would not accep- that bid
nor any bid over seventy cents, the
same as they were paying all the
! other men,-the same as they were
paying the man right at the end OF
the work f11ere Mr.. Fleming was
at work. They paid him wha. they
agreed to pay him; but there was
quite little work that was done
j that was done under the direction OF
the engineer in charge. that they fel,
would be of benefit and that was a
benefit to the road: and for that rea-
son they felt that some compensa-
ton should e due Mr.. Fleming. nd
if / understand it. the Governor has
minated that one thousand dollars
is all the money that = possibly due
Mr.. Fleming.
Mr.. ROUNDS of Portland: Mr.
| Speaker. the Highway Commission
for the second time said that they
had produced all the evidence that
| they had. because they were asked
/ specifically ii they had any more evil
dencc. No evidence was shown rs,
no copy of letter. or anything that
they gave Mr.. Fleming showing any
thing different from that bid that is
on your desk now: now I want to say
| that they had no more evidence. NJ.
Deering said that Il did not make any