The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1923-05-24

port of "Ought to pass" The char
ter was almost unanimously passed
by both the House and Senate.
In few days the Governor, return
ed the same with a veto message
rejecting on those members of the
House and Senate who had, as the
Governor termed 1t, given away by
this charter the heritage of the peo-
pie.
Mr.. Wyman then carefully pointed
out that the Kennebec .8e3ervior
charter did not give away or give to
the company anything belong :. & to
the people or to the st tie. He poin-
ted out that what the State owned
on the Dead River were the Public
Lots, which 1t merely held in trust,
as above explained, and that by the
terms OF the charter, the State was
to be paid by the reservoir company
for all of the land flowed or on which
IL set its dam. that the charter care
fully provided that the price for these
lots was to be determined either by
the Governor and Council and the
Company by agreement, or. IL they
failed to agree upon price, by Com
mission to be appointed by the court.
Within a few days after the Cover
nor vetoed the bill, the Legislature,
by overwhelming majorities in both
the House and Senate, passed the bill
over the Governors veto. The Gov
ernor thereafterward, in a public pro-
clamation, accused the Legislature of
being false to Its trust and called up
on the people OF Maine to sign petit
lions for a referendum Of the bill,
stating that he should call the refer
endum election at the regular election
in 1924. He gave as his reason for
postponing 1t until that date that
larger vote could be obtained at the
general election and that the corpor-
atoms could not control this vote.
Mr.. Wyman then took up the history
of referendum elections and showed
that in one special election which
has been held under the referendum,
the vote was practically as large as
that thrown on any referendum at
general election. Mr.. Wyman then
showed that the power owners in or
der to expedite work on the reser-
v0ir, put out petitions for a referen-
dunn at a special election to be held
In 1923, rather than In 1924, and OBJ
tanned more than the necessary num-
Der of signatures in less than week,
Mr. Wyman then told of the efforts
Of the Governor to bring about
compromise of the situation. He
showed that the Governor called Mr..
Shelton, the attorney who drew the
bill, into several conferences and sug
gested to him that, II the state could
be paid for the right to store water,
that he had no doubt but what ar
rangements could be made for the
passage of a charter. Nothing came OF
these conferences. The position of the
companies then was, and always has
been and now Is that the only interest
that the state had In this proposition
was due to the fact that 1t owned the
land on which the dam which would
be flowed by the water stored therein.
Because of this ownership, before the
dam could be constructed, the dam
site must be purchased OF the state,
the same as 1t would have to be pur-
chased If 1t were owned by private
individuals, and that the state would
also have to be paid for any damage
caused by the flowing of it's land up
the stream. Because paying for the
right to store water would mean the
surrender of this fundamental prin-
ciple of law, Mr.. Shelton refused
to consider any compromise which In
volved payment for the right to store
water.
On Tuesday, before the Legislature
adjourned, Senator Brewster of Cum
berland, who had opposed the Ken
nebec Reservoir charter, approached
Mr.. Wyman with a proposition that,
II the charter provided for a lease
rather than a purchase of the Public
Lots, his opposition would be with
drawn and he felt that the Governor
could be induced to approve a char
ter leasing the lands for storage pur-
poses at nominal rental. Later In
the evening he informed Mr.. Wyman
that the Governor had so consented,
and that he, Mr. Brewster, thought
ten thousand dollars per year would
be a nominal rental for the use of
the lands for this purpose. Mr..
okeltUu W augusta anu Wv"
an amended charter along these lines.
but the Governor refused to consider
a rental of ten thousand dollars and
wanted either forty or fifty thousand
dollars. After a long conference,
the Governor suggested to Mr.. Skel-
ton that, II the power rights at the
dam site and below 1t on the State
lots which were not granted in the
original charter were granted by the
charter, that it might afford a basis
on which they could get together
and allow the company to pay the
higher rental. Mr. Shelton took the
matter up with Mr. Wyman and he
told him that the Central Maine Pow
err Company would be willing to take
a chance on paying an annual rental
to the storage company of fifteen
thousand dollars per year for the
power rights at Long Falls. 1t was
finally agreed that an annual rental
of twenty-five thousand dollars should
be paid for the power rights, the dam
site, and the fiowage rights up the
river, which, when the power rights
were paid for. by the Central Maine
Power Company at the above figures,
60 yhof nxy