burdens.

I should not have risen to say one word if I did not know that I voiced the sentiments of every banker, of every manufacturer, of every merchant, and of every tax-payer in this State.

For these reasons I have introduced this resolution, for no more important business can come before the Legislature than the pregnant and vital question of economy and retrenchment in public expenditures.

My great ambition is that this General Assembly shall live in history as one of the wisest, most honest, and economical Assemblies that have ever met in this ancient Commonwealth to do the people's bidding.

SPEECH

Delivered March 28, 1895, in Favor of the Bill relieving the New York, New Haven, and

Hartford Railroad from Double Taxation.

MR. SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES:

I WISH to state briefly the reasons which will control my action in this matter. The Judiciary Committee are unanimously of the opinion that this bill should pass, and thus release the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company from what is, indisputably, a double taxation,

from paying taxes upon property that is being taxed in other States.

Every newspaper in Connecticut heartily approves of this bill, and every citizen, every taxpayer in Connecticut is in favor of it, with one bare exception, - Mr. Goodwin, of East Hartford. And his objection is not so much to this particular bill. It is because he thinks some years ago this railroad did not do exactly as he claims the law requires that it should have done.

The State of Connecticut has had many faithful and honest treasurers, and I shall presume

that they have done their duty by the State of Connecticut.

I shall take no part in the long and acrimonious contest that has been going on for years between Mr. Goodwin and the Consolidated Railroad Company.

I am here to do right as between the State of Connecticut and all parties in interest. I have made some investigations on my own account, and I am satisfied that the Consolidated Railroad Company are paying more than their just proportion of the taxes of this State, and I await with interest any candid reply to the figures that I am about to give.

I am not here to call names or to criticise any man's motives, or to indulge in any personalities, but I am here to argue this matter, as I propose to do every other matter which comes before this General Assembly, on a high and lofty plane of reason and of solid facts. Every person and every interest which have suffered or are suffering an injury which no other court can redress, have a right to appeal to this General Assembly, the court of the last appeal.

I make the total cash value of this railroad company to be $45,620,884.99 for the entire length of 248 miles, and there are in the State of

92

66

100

Connecticut 166 miles, making the real cash value of so much of this railroad as lies within the State of Connecticut to be $30,544,659.70. These

figures I gathered from the reports of your Railroad Commissioners, and from the reports of this company to its own stockholders, and I have also been aided by experts not in the employ of this railroad company. The portion of railroad lying in New York State costs more per mile than the same number of miles in Connecticut, but I have made no difference in my calculations on that

account.

Now, a one per cent tax on so much of this property as lies within the State of Connecticut would raise $305,446.50, which is the fair rate of taxation of all property in Connecticut, where it is assessed at its full value, as in the city of Bridgeport, and many other places in the State.

Under your present system of taxing the railroads of this State, this company pays into the treasury on that same property, $535,049.85, an excess of taxation above the proportion that all other property pays of $229,603.25, showing that this company is paying one and three-fourths per cent on the full cash value of its property. In ninety-nine towns out of a hundred in this State the property is not assessed for more than one-half to two-thirds of its full value, which makes the burden which this company is carrying still more onerous, paying as it is one and three-fourths per cent upon the full value of the road.

This company paid for the year ending Sept. 20, 1894, twenty-eight per cent of the entire rev

enues of the State of Connecticut, and forty per cent of the total taxes paid by corporations, including insurance companies, savings-banks, express companies, telephone companies, and all other kinds of corporations.

The mutual insurance companies and the savingsbanks of the State pay from one-fourth to threefourths of one per cent. The six telegraph and telephone companies and the three express companies pay less than five per cent on their gross receipts in this State, while the Consolidated Railroad Company pays more than twelve and one-half per cent on its total gross receipts in Connecticut.

Again, if you look at the earnings of the different. railroads of the State, you will find that the Consolidated Railroad pays more largely in proportion to its earnings than any other railroad in the State. This railroad for the year ending June 30, 1893, earned about sixty-nine per cent of the total amount earned by steam railroads, and paid about seventyfour per cent of the taxes paid by these railroads into the treasury. The New York and New England Railroad earned twenty-four per cent and paid twenty-two and one-half per cent of the taxes. The New London and Northern Railroad earned over two and one-half per cent and paid less than two and one-half per cent of the taxes; and the Philadelphia, Reading, and New England Railroad earned nearly four per cent, and paid less than one per cent of the taxes.