Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-02-03
3, Town Out Of Debt
80: : Time in History

CA,..c VT, February 2-(AP)-
sts.wf own high up in the Green
this uhy ss has distinguished itself by
Nounla INF of debt for the first time
GETTING ,story. No higher finance or
In rs nd accounting was resorted
corppnvssr 10 bring this about. The
. s.ss was simple-taxes were m
rssseu' vears ago the town had
4 somewhat more than $1,000.
deDt " community with only forty
Il ant residents this represented
psfulsnss burden as a city debt of
a s,llions. The population was
nsny King. Every spring 1t was
dininsv TO borrow money to cover
nscss.. AZ highway work until the
Tho oess .ra collected in the autumn.
tIes ,sssnt an interest charge in
Tnn,. ,.r 70 the interest on the per-
.Essr,nt debt.
these interest charges and
Eoy eliminate the dead horse
rsaas% suggested someone at the
huIu.Is March meeting in 1922. It
tnnuss' ,,ks good business. The res
nok.' taxpayers felt that IL they
hens .ssnd an increase insthe tax
coulu certainly the foreign corpora
nv which owned large proportion
noI y. taxable property could easily
y! nv az rate thereupon was in
la usa from s1.95 to 1920, on the
ma so,;.r Of the grand list, the basis
qua ..x.tion in Vermont towns. This
q elI.nsht in enough money to- reduce
uo y. ssbt and when the last INSTALL
NY recently became due 1t was
msa' ant Of a substantial surplus.
W.oyer. town officers. figure that
~ 49, II enough money left in the
as.s so that it will not be
a.esssary to borrow more for the
lss,nc road work this year.
sp ~ tha $500 in taxes raised In
....,ton last year 1871 was paid by
S x. champIain Realty Company of
ysr York, which owns at least half
- ths land area Of the town. This
.a,sern. which furnishes an immense
. .mornt of pulpwood to the Inter-
..s,ional Paper Company. has been a
. aS here for a dozen years but
MY lar has cut very little timber in
Nv ,own. The second largest tax
aver Is the New England Company.
y. holding company Of the New
Srsland Power Company. which
.wns land in the southern part of
~. town. q few miles from the
sonsrset reservoir, the northernmost
INIT In the big power development
!, the Deerfield River valley. 1t
contributed 1924 in taxes last year.
stratton nowadays Is purelN a
Numbering town. Farming has vir-
,u.jlv ceased here. There are no
.chools, the few children being trans
nortsd to Wardsboro for their educa-
Non. There are no stores and no
noatofice. There is an Anticipated
church building but 1t Is opened only
snce q year when residents and
summer visitors join in an annual
service which usually attracts a
congregation Of about 400. The
nearest railroad station Is thirteen
miles away.
The principal numbering operations
IRE carried on by Elmer A. Eddy and
hIs brother, Emery J. Eddy of Brat
tleboro. They own 1900. acres of
land. Elmer Eddy has been town
clerk for 81 years and also is one of
the selectmen, town agent anAover-
seer and justice Of the .'eace. His
wife, Mrs. Inez Eddy, is town treas
'urer and also is librarian Ut the
towns little collection of books.
Small as 1t is, the town during the
last year had no poor to support.
This was the first time in many years
that there had been no town poor
account
No town in southern Vermont can
4 boast Of more magnificent scenery
|sthan Stratton. Stratton Mountain
rises to a height of 1859. feet
land oyerlooks the beautiful waters
Pof Stratton Lake, Governing 244
acres. Every year hundreds of
tourists pass through the town
over the old stage road from
Brattleboro to Arlington and many
others climb to the lookout
tower on the mountain in the course
OF their hikes along the Long Trail
over the Green Mountains.
One event in its history attracted
wide attention to Stratton.: In 1910
during the "Tippecanoe and Tyler
zoe" campaign Daniel Webster de-
| lvered an address on Stratton Noun