576 



MAINE. 



ceeding five per cent, on the regular valuation, 

 to aid in the construction of railroads, upon 

 the approval of the same by a two-thirds vote 

 of the citizens. 



The sum of $1,800 was appropriated to the 

 support of the three normal schools in the 

 State. 



No change whatever was made in the pro- 

 hibitory law. An attempt was made to declare 

 native wine, etc., not intoxicating within the 

 meaning of the law, and an attempt to repeal 

 the act relating to the duties of sheriffs and 

 county attorneys, known as the " Enforcement 

 Act," but both were unsuccessful. 



An act was passed providing that freight and 

 passage over all railroads in the State should 

 be at equitable rates ; that shippers of freight 

 should have a right to elect which road, south 

 or west of Portland, their freight should be 

 shipped over, and all agents of roads shall fol- 

 low directions explicitly, and there shall be no 

 discrimination by connecting roads against any 

 road in regard to passengers. 



Certain cities and towns that loaned their 

 credit to the Knox and Lincoln Railroad Com- 

 pany, finding that it would be inconvenient for 

 them to raise money to pay their bonds coming 

 due within two years, obtained authority to 

 issue new bonds and sell them to raise money 

 for that purpose. 



The act relating to the State College of Ag- 

 riculture and Mechanic Arts was amended so 

 as to allow a reasonable charge to students for 

 tuition, to be determined by the trustees. No 

 appropriation was made for the college. 



The act allowing the employment of detec- 

 tives by the State was repealed. 



The Farmers' Bank at Bangor was granted 

 a charter as a State bank, but without power 

 to issue bills to be used as currency. This was 

 formerly a national bank, and surrendered its 

 charter as such. 



The publication of the reports of the Board 

 of Agriculture is to be omitted, and the salary 

 of the Secretary is reduced to $100 per annum. 



The use of weirs was limited to one eighth 

 of the channel of any river. The annual close- 

 time of lobsters for canning purposes was fixed 

 from August 1st to April 1st, and no lobsters 

 less than 10| inches shall be sold or exposed 

 for sale between those dates, under penalty of 

 $5 for each lobster. Fishing for porgies with 

 steamboats and seines was further restricted by 

 prohibiting such fishing in bays and harbors 

 the entrance to which is two miles wide or 

 less. Plover is omitted from the list of birds 

 protected. 



The amount of appropriations was $1,329,- 

 028, of which $353,000 was for interest on the 

 public debt. The State tax was four mills on 

 the dollar, the same as in the preceding year. 

 It amounts to $899,712. 



The Land Agent was authorized to convey 

 by deed all lands held by settlers under con- 

 tract, without the performance of further set- 

 tling duties. In 1826 all of the wild lands, af- 



ter they had been surveyed, were divided be- 

 tween Maine and Massachusetts. Aroostook 

 County being thus opened, and its value be- 

 coming known, it was necessary for roads to 

 be built. To bring about any action relative 

 to the lands, concurrent resolves of the two 

 States were necessary. But a large portion of 

 the State, which belonged both to Maine and 

 Massachusetts, was not laid out into townships, 

 and from 1843 to 1850 surveys were made. 

 Then it was thought best for the State to pur- 

 chase Massachusetts^ share of the property, and 

 it was done in 1853, the State paying $362,- 

 500. Then the State gave it away to railroads, 

 but with the provision that if any tract was 

 found suitable and was wanted by settlers it 

 should be surveyed, roads built, and put into 

 the market at not more than one dollar per 

 acre. This land has all been sold by the State, 

 and it now only owns the fees from 72,000 

 acres, which the settlers hold not by deed but 

 by certificate. The Treasury of the State does 

 not derive one cent from this arrangement. 

 The chief condition which was to benefit the 

 State was the performance of the road labor. 



The following resolutions relative to the re- 

 sumption of specie payments passed the Sen- 

 ate, but failed in the House : 



Resolved, That the resumption of specie payments 

 by the United States on the 1st day of January, A. D. 

 1879, after a suspension of seventeen years, is greeted 

 with satisfaction and approval by the Legislature of 

 Maine. 



Resolved. That the attainment of coin resumption 

 puts an end to the myriad evils inseparable from an 

 irredeemable, depreciated, and fluctuating currency, 

 gives to labor a sure reward, places our commercial ex- 

 changes upon the only stable foundation, renders a 

 healthy and permanent revival of business possible, 

 and, best of all, preserves the faith of the nation in- 

 violate. 



Resolved, That national honor, public credit, and 

 private interest alike demand that specie resumption, 

 now happily achieved, shall be maintained honestly 

 and uninterruptedly at every hazard ; and to this end 

 our Senators and Eepresentatives in Congress are re- 

 quested to use their best endeavors. 



Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to 

 each Senator and Kepresentative from Maine in the 

 Congress of the United States. 



An act was passed for a valuation of all 

 property in the State based upon " the full, fair 

 cash value thereof." The reductions in the 

 annual expenditure made by the Legislature 

 amounted to $91,850. 



The census of the Penobscot tribe of Indians 

 taken in January, 1878, amounts to 450 per- 

 sons. Their annual election was held on 

 Wednesday, November 6, 1878, at which Ste- 

 phen Stanislaus was elected Governor, Saul 

 Neptune Lieutenant-Governor, and Sabattis 

 Dana delegate to the Legislature of 1879. 

 Public schools were taught during 1878 at all 

 the places designated in the act making appro- 

 priations for their support. In some of them 

 the money had been fully expended at the 

 end of that year; others consumed the entire 

 amount some months later. The day-school 

 on Oldtown Island averaged about fifty schol- 



