Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-03-14

! corporation. and that until there was
| a Constitutional Amendment the
State Of Maine could not charge and
could not go into the business Of
/ private industry. Well now. you are
not asked to give that away. because
| the State of Maine does not possess
| it. And every cent that this corpora
ton gets toward defraying the ex-
; pense of the construction OF that
, great storage dam, is to be paid I'M
! der the inviolable right OF contract.
| that which every man possesses. that
which every corporation possesses.
| that which the State cannot give and
| cannot take away. There Is moth
! ing in this franchise proposition that
is tangible for minute. This COM
! pany asks for permission to invest
private capital up there and to de-
velop that storAEe-not in the re-
| mote future. but nOw.-and to get the
benefit Of this flood water at the
earliest moment in order that the
! citizenship Of Somerset County, in
order that the industrial communities
| Of Kennebec County and i'm order the
| outlying contiguous territory in this
section shall be benefited. and in
| order that industry as a whole in this
| State shall go forward. In other
| words. gentlemen. they are asking
! for this in order that you may have
! acts and not words if you want
! Maine to go ahead. (Applause)
! Mr.. CUMMINGS OF Portland: Mr..
| Speaker. may i say just one word
of comment on my friend. Makers.
remarks? He says that this was not
organized as profit making indus
try, that not one cent will they get.
| Oh. l suspected that! What difference
does it make. gentlemen, whether
| they get a dividend in cash. or
whether they get $500 worth OF wa
| ter for a year which they need in
| their business. and which will save
them that amount OF expenditure:
Not the slightest.
| Also, l want to say one word in
| relation to the hearings before these
! committees. | believe that anyone
who is in possession of anything that
/ would be of use to a committee In a
hearing ought to appear before that
| committee and state whatever he has
that is CT consequence; and 1t is true
! that before the hearing on that mat
! ter l knew that the State owned
! those lot, on both sides OF the river:
| but was not here,-l was away on
! the work of another committee on
that day. 1t happened to be assigned
| just that way. SO that | was not able
! to be present. l want to state also
that, after the hearing, l. spoke to
| two members of the judiciary COM
| mittee in regard to this matter, and.
if can judge anything by what they
! said they were very much surprised
! that that condition existed, and one
of them particularly expressed him
self very strongly as to why some
| body had not informed him in regard
| to it before.
Mr.. BARWISE Of Bangor Mr..
| Speaker. l do not wish to take but
just a moment Of the time of the
| House. and l approve Of all that my
, friend from Augusta, Judge Maher,
| mas said. One point which l think
perhaps he neglected to speak about
was that there has been very careful
arrangements made by this company
so that nobody in this region will be
taken advantage of in the slightest
way. In other words. every square
| foot of ground that will be covered
by water in this development has
| already been contracted for by an
option. and the price made satisfac-
tory to the owner. Every single own
! err In this region is getting his price
! for his land: everybody in this viii
! lage That is going to be taken away
is getting a fair price. even more
than fair price.-is getting what
they say it is worth. The proposed
| company has gone SO far as to make
arrangements for moving burial
| ground. which is absolutely satisfac-
tory TO all the people who have rela-
I tives buried on this place. In fact,
everything that could be done to pro-
| tect the rights of individuals in this
| development has been done. l think
| we need have none of the fears that
| the gentleman from Portland (Mr.
| Cummines) has expressed. ] think
! that he is eXaggeratinS the dangers
| from that point. The land. which
belongs to the State. is to be paid for,
and paid for at the rate which a fair
commission of men will say it is
| worth. There is to be no grab"
| either from the State or from private
individuals. in this new development
| This development is merely a devel-
| opment to assist Nature in holding
| the flow of the river from the time
! of the spring flood through the sum-
| mer's drought. That is all that it is.
On the Androscoggin, the laborers
there have not lost Il single hours
| work since that Aziscoos dam--or
whatever you call twas built; not
| single hours work have the labor
ers lost on that river. while on the
| kennebec they have lost sometimes
months time during the year. On
| the Penobscot we have a similar ar
ranSement-it is not quite complete
but our Ripogenous proposition has
stabilized the flow of water so that
we lose very much less time, and the
industrial situation in the east is
very much improved over what it
! used to be. Now If this Kennebec
valley can be taken care OF in the
same way. we shall have the three
great basins Of the State taken care
of. SO that industry can be carried on
at its highest pitch. 1 have given
some attention to this matter, and /
think there is nothing whereby the
most careful attorhey could find
where anybody's rights were being
infringed upon or injured in the
slightest degree. hope this bill will
pass.
Mr.. CUMMINGS: May I ask Mr..
Barwise question through the
Chair?
The SPEAKER pro tenn: The gem
tlenan may state his question.
Mr.. CUMMINGS: l wish to ask Mr.
Barwise. who has stated that the
! price to be paid for this land that is
to be taken is already fixed, what the
price is that they are to pay the
State OF Maine. for the rights that
they take from the State?
Mr.. BARWISE: l meant to say
that all the land taken from private
individuals, the price is fixed by OPP
ton.
Mr.. CUMMINGS: 1t would follow.
then. that they had fixed the other
Mr.. BARW1SE: AS l understand
the proposition. the land to be taken
from the State is to be settled on
by an impartial commission. but the