Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1919-02-13
ents OF soldiers and sailors art =,

liking OF the date for the recen+ion of
private and special matters is of moro
OF iess Importance, it being the well,
CONSIDERED decision Of the Legislature
ana should not. therefore, be lightly
SCI asIoe-only for compelling rea
sons. personally, do not wish to he
captious or over particular in such
'hatters. put taking down the bars
10 the juicy clover field that is ada.
cent IN one case. makes it likely that
about 14s Of us will request a similar p
duplication. Now since the onlv Ioss
| poss'oie TO anybody is a loss of in
,e'est perhaps to the city of West
nrook Tor a term of two years for
inc dependents that have been cared
Tor 1t seems to me that we should not
ADMIT the resolve, and hope the vote
OF the House will be no.
Mr.. G1LMOCR: Mr.. Speaker 7
would say that il the gentleman from
Houlton. Mr.. Barnes. wishes to nut
up the bars for all aid to the soldiers,
Needy dependents. hope that this
Legislature will have honor enough
considering what the boys over there
nave accomplished. to vote that the
rules be suspended. and the the re-
! solve be admitted at this time.
Mr.. ROUNDS Of Portland. Mr.
Speaker, do hope that the rules win
ne SUSPENDED in this case. You know
that OF this million dollar fund some
S4SS.oO0 was left in that fund on the
"ls-- daS Of December. AS / under
STAND 1t. not being a lawyer, on the
ooth day OF June that fund disappears
from the roll. Therefore. to get these
dependents in it seems to me that it
should be acted on by this Legislature
!, IN this way. Or it would have to GO
10 the committee Oh claims, and be
taken out OF some other fund There
Iore. hope the rules will be sus-
pended and that the gentleman will
ne permitted to put in his resolve.
Mr.. BARNES of Houlton: Mr..
! Speaker ] do not wish to trespass up-
on the time of the Legislature an
instant. and l wish to be distinctly,
understood. l assume that the gen
tlemsn from Westbrook (Mr. Gill
'mour) is mistaken and that the de-
pcndents Of the soldiers and sailors
! have been cared for--I know it is so
out Of the treasury of Westbrook. 1t
is not question of whether the de-
pendents Of soldiers and sailors have
been cared for. and Westbrook should
have put in its resolve earlier. To ME
it is simply this: Shall Westbrook
I. wait two years to get her money
back There is no question but the
| state of Maine will refund it: but the
danger--it may be nothing to YOU
is that letting in such Il resolve will
let in 146 more. 1t may not be SO.
and it may pass through this House
without any objection and fail in the
next one. 1t is not an idle form that
we go through in fixing date for
these matters. I have no personal
feeling in the matter whatever. but 7
do hope that the rules we have adopt
cd for the session will not be sus-
! pended save in cases of grave i'm
port and emergency. Where the city
OF Westbrook merely loses the inter
est on her money for two years by
reason OF her laxity in this regard. it
is not a matter to my mind Of very
grave import.
Mr.. I-AUSlER Of Biddeford: Mr.
Speaker, it strikes me that in these
dependent cases Of soldiers and SAIL
ors. that the rule may well be broken,
and it strikes me that it has already
been broken In this House. The time
for resolves was up Jan. 80. but re-
solves were received in this House
after that date. This matter here is
not simply n question of two years
interest. IT is question Of whether
or not the State of Maine has the
honor to pay to the municipalities
that which it owes to them--not
waving any technicality of proce-
dure. but paying what is honestly due
without regard to technicality. II
Maine owes Westbrook, OF any other
city in Maine. any money. why don't
she pay it? This is a meritorious
case, and whether it be five. ten or
one thousand dollars. Maine ought
to pay it's debts at the proper time
when they come to maturity. In this
case they have so come. and l can
see no reason why the rules should
not be suspended and this resolve in
troduced into the House.
Mr.. Wilson OF Portland: Mr..
Speaker, it seems to me that what
we are hearing has no bearing on the
matter before the House. The SIM
pie question is whether unanimous
consent should be given for the In
PRODUCTION of this special resolve at
this time. 1t seems to me that the
proper inquiry is. whether or not
there is a reason or just excuse why
this resolve was not presef ted before
the expirati OF the time limit: and
would like, Mr.. Speaker. to in
quire through you Of the gentleman
from Westbrook INT. Gilmour) what
reason there was why this resolve
was not presented before January
31st
| man from Westbrook tMr. Gilmour)
wish to reply:
Mr.. GILMOUE: MIR. Speaker. the
names. I believe, have to be sent into
the State Department and through
some delay there, it was not returned
to Westbrook in time. For that rea-
son it was delayed in coming in here.
The State Department is partly to
; blame for not returning it in time
Mr.. WILSON,: Then understand.
Mr.. Speaker, that the city of West
brook made application in regular
course as provided by the act of two
years ago for its refund for the aid
furnished dependents of the city. and
through some error In that applica-
ton it was referred back to the city
authorities by the proper committee
Of the Governor and Council, who
handle those matters. I would now
Ita n ino,ire Mr. Eneaker whv Mi