MAINE. 



515 



taxation throughput the State was last year I'll per 

 cent, on a valuation which in many towns was much 

 helow a 'just value.' We believe that, under the sys- 

 tem proposed, the annual levy need not exceed an 

 average of 1 per cent." 



Valuation. Pursuant to the law requiring a 

 valuation of all the property in the State once 

 in ten years, for purposes of* State taxation, the 

 Governor in 1889 appointed a valuation commis- 

 sion of 16 persons. This commission met on 

 Dec. 3, 1889, and continued its sessions to 

 March 28, when it adjourned till the second 

 Tuesday in November. The total valuation of 

 the State, as returned to the commission by the 

 assessors of the cities, towns, and plantations, 

 was $258,910,524, against $228,030,656 returned 

 by the assessors in 1880. The value of the wild 

 lands, which is to be fixed by the commission, is 

 to be added. The amount of railroad property 

 reported to the commission is $2.300.000. Bank 

 stock gives a total of $8,336.281. In 1880 the 

 State had a reported value of shipping of $8,678,- 

 093. The amount reported in 1890 was but 

 $5,523,626, a decrease in ten years of $3,154,470. 

 The total value of live stock reported was nearly 

 $16,000,000. At the close of the year the com- 

 mission had not made its final report. 



Abandoned Farms. During the year statis- 

 tics were gathered by the State Commissioner of 

 Labor and Industrial Statistics from all but 12 

 towns and plantations in the State, respecting 

 the number and value of abandoned farms there- 

 in. His report shows a total of 3,318 such farms, 

 or an average of nearly seven for each town. The 

 number of acres included in these farms is 254,- 

 513, or 500 acres to each town, and they are val- 

 ued at $1.268,769, or an average of $3.99 an acre. 



Prohibition. The decision of the United 

 States Supreme Court, late in April, in the case 

 of Leisy vs. Hardin, was soon followed by the 

 opening of " original-package " shops in the 

 larger towns and cities. A seizure of liquor at 

 one of these shops was promptly made, and the 

 questions involved were brought before the State 

 Supreme Court in the case of State vs. Burns. 

 The Court rendered a decision on May 29 to the 

 effect that such seizure was illegal. The con- 

 cluding portion of the opinion is as follows : 



The case of Gus. Leisy et als. vs. Hardin, just de- 

 cided by the Supreme Court of the United States on 

 full consideration, seems to clearly settle the question, 

 and to require us, as we are bound on such questions 

 by the law as determined by that court, to reverse the 

 rulings below, and sustain the law according to the re- 

 spondent's contention. The opinion of a minority of 

 the judges sitting in that case appears to be very 

 elaborate and exhaustive of the question involved and 

 may commend itself to many as containing the better 

 conclusion. Our obedience is due, however, to the 

 judgment which prevails. Not that our statute is un- 

 constitutional, for it prohibits only the " unlawful 

 sale" of intoxicating liquors ; but that its interpreta- 

 tion must be constitutional. 



No general effort was thereafter made to in- 

 terfere with the business of these shops, until the 

 passage of the Wilson bill by Congress com- 

 pelled them to close. Regarding the general 

 operation of the prohibitory law, the Governor 

 says in his message to the Legislature of 1891 : 



It can not be denied that the law for the suppression 

 of the liquor traffic is often violated, and that officials 

 charged with its enforcement are frequently derelict 



in duty. But it is undoubtedly true that this condi- 

 tion of affairs is moscly confined to our cities and larger 

 villages. In other places the law appears to have been 

 faithfully and successfully administered. 



Political. On May 20 a State convention of 

 the Union Labor party met at Waterville and 

 nominated Isaac R. Clark, of Bangor, for Gov- 

 ernor. A platform was adopted favoring the 

 distribution of the United States Treasury sur- 

 plus among the people, the establishment of 

 postal savings banks, the ownership of trans- 

 portation and telegraph facilities by the Govern- 

 ment, and the pensioning of every soldier and 

 sailor who has seen service. Opposition was de- 

 clared to the gift of land to corporations, the 

 sale of land to aliens, the dealing in futures of 

 agricultural products, and to employment of 

 contract labor. The Australian ballot system 

 and a graduated income tax were recommended. 



On June 4 a State Democratic convention at 

 Augusta nominated Francis W. Hill; of Exeter, 

 for Governor, and adopted a platform that con- 

 tained the following : 



Resolved, That reform in the administration of the 

 affairs of the State is urgently demanded. Needless 

 and extravagant expenditures have come largely to 

 absorb our State revenues, thus postponing the pay- 

 ment of the State war debt, upon which more than 

 the original amount has been already paid in interest. 

 Salaries have been unnecessarially increased, in some 

 cases without request ; and that with a population, 

 nearly stationary, with no State enterprises requiring 

 an outlay, the expenditures for State purposes have, 

 been nearly quadrupled under the rule of the Republi- 

 can party. 



Resolved, That the hypocrisy and dishonesty with 

 which the republican party has dealt with the ques- 

 tion of temperance deserves the condemnation of all 

 good people. They use the statutes of the State for 

 party purposes and the corruption of the ballot. For 

 party ends they permit the laws to be openly and 

 notoriously violated. 



On June 12 the Republican State Convention 

 assembled at Augusta and unanimously nomir 

 nated Gov. Burleigh for re-election. The 

 platform includes the following : 



It [the Republican party] favors an economical ad- 

 ministration and a continuance of the financial policy 

 which, under the administration of Gov. Edwin 

 C. Burleigh, has lessened the burden of the people by 

 reducing both the amount of the State debt and the 

 rate of interest paid upon it. 



It favors the enactment of such laws as may be 

 necessary for the protection of labor. 



It not only recognizes the evils of intemperance 

 and sympathizes with all honest and well-directed 

 efforts to eradicate them, but it unreservedly renews 

 its adhesion to the principle of the probibition of the 

 liquor traffic, and insists upon the thorough and effect- 

 ive enforcement of the prohibitory law. It demands 

 of Congress the enactment of such legislation as shall 

 enable each State to exercise full control within its 

 borders over the traffic in all liquors whether^ im- 

 ported therein in the original packages or otherwise. 



It favors an elective system free from corruption 

 and fraud, and it approves of any legislation that 

 may be required to secure that end. 



It favors the policy which protects American labor 

 against foreign competition, aids agriculture, builds 

 up American industry, and creates an adequate home 

 market for domestic production. 



It favors liberal pensions for service rendered in the 

 war of the rebellion. 



It favors the regulation of immigration, PO as to 

 prevent the introduction of convict and pauper labor 

 and the criminal classes. 



