History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II, Part 49

Author: Jackson, James R. (James Robert), b. 1838; Furber, George C. (George Clarence), b. 1847; Stearns, Ezra S
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : Pub. for the town by the University Press
Number of Pages: 918

USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 49

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Next to the highways the schools of Littleton have received more consideration from the taxpayers than any other object. The early settlers realized the importance of schooling their chil- dren, and gave liberally from their scanty means for this purpose. Their descendants have not retrograded in this respect, and a liberal number of district schools was maintained up to 1866, when the need of something better than the common school in the three districts comprising the village of Littleton was realized. A charter for a union district was accordingly obtained, and May 12, 1866, a meeting was held in Rounsevel Hall to see what should be done about building a school-house and raising money for the same. It was decided to go ahead. The resolution offered by John Farr and adopted showed that the voters endeavored to limit the expenditures of the committee and the burden in the way of taxation they were taking upon themselves. The resolution was as follows : -

" Resolved, that the building committee be instructed to keep down the cost of building the school-house to as low a figure as practicable, and in no event to graduate it on such a scale as to make the whole expense of buildings, grading, and land to exceed the sum of $10,000."

It was voted to raise $3,000 of this amount on the inventory taken the April preceding, and $7,000 on notes of the district at a rate not exceeding 7-8% per cent, $3,000 to become due October 1, 1867, and $2,000, each, the 1st of October, 1868 and 1869, the finance committee to issue the notes and keep a list of the dates, amounts, and when and to whom payable.

The building was erected and finished on the lot where it 110w stands at the corner of High and School Streets. It is an ex- cellent structure, but its cost far exceeded what was expected, and there was much ill feeling and many bitter words spoken in consequence. A meeting was held, and it was voted to have a detailed list of the expenditures printed and distributed among the taxpayers. This was done, and it was found there had been,

471

Taxation.

Bills audited and paid by the finance committee amount-

ing to

$23,025.61

Unpaid bills outstanding 5,260.58

Other expenses as per finance committee's report . 2,077.17

$30,363.36

Indebtedness of district

6,084.51

Estimated expense to finish .

1,000.00

$37,447.87

Articles sold, $56.98.

Such a revelation as this must have astounded those who had . not kept informed as to the condition of affairs. There was no escape, however, except to pay the bills ; so bonds were issued running a long series of years, and the last of them was recently paid.1 It was a heavy burden in addition to the expense of main- taining the school, but it has been manfully borne, and Littleton has a school of which any town might well be proud.

It is not necessary to follow further the details of taxation in the town, as they will be found in Table 3 of this volume.2 That the tables may be understood, we will state that the reduced valuation of a poll in 1805 was $1.30 ; in 1831 it was changed to $1.10; in 1833, increased again to $1.50; and remained at this figure until 1852, when it was reduced to $1.20 ; in 1868 it was still fur- ther reduced to 75 cents and in 1872 to 50 cents, where it has since remained. The assessed valuation was double the amount given. While this valuation indicates the material growth of the town, the actual wealth was much greater. Owing to the vicious system of assessing property in this State arising from a disregard of the law, property is not assessed at its real value, but varies according to the conscientiousness of the Selectmen in the various towns, and it has become a rule to undervalue taxable property anywhere from 25 to 50 per cent. In this town it is the practice to place the valuation at 663 per cent. Assuming that this rule has been uniformly followed, the Selectmen of 1890 considered the total valuation of the town to be $2,260,134, instead of $1,506,756, as returned. In 1900 it was $2,555,391, instead of $1,703,594. Nor is this all, as the Selectmen never succeed in discovering all the taxable property. " Cash on hand," " Money at interest," or otherwise invested abroad but taxable in the town, eludes their search. A conservative estimate of the actual value of these

1 This was wrriten in 1896.

2 For some reason the statistician did not deem it necessary to give the valua- tion of the town prior to 1877, probably because of the labor involved in ascertaining the amount of that valuation, as the totals are not given in the town records.

472

History of Littleton.

items would double the valuation of the town as returned by the Selectmen.

It will be seen from the table above referred to that the first village district tax was levied in 1850, when the town rate was $1.12 on a hundred of the valuation, and in the village it was $1.46. A similar tax was raised in 1852 and 1853, when the town rate was $1.15 and $1.05 respectively and the village rate $1.20 each year. No further district tax was assessed until 1866, when Union School District was organized and the rate in the village was increased to $3.20.

The high-water mark of indebtedness antedating 1894 was reached in 1870, when the debt of the town was $71,973.66, and that of Union School District approximately $30,000, a total of $101,973.66. The assets of the town cannot be accurately stated, but were probably about $9,000, consisting of sums due from the tax-collector and collectors of previous years, from the county and other towns for sums paid for the maintenance of the poor by this town and chargeable to the county and certain towns. Practi- cally the assets may be considered as cash. Thus estimated, the combined debt of the town and Union School District was $92,973.66. The valuation of the town was $807,668; the State apportionment, $5.61 ; the local tax rate in the town, $2.70, and that of the village, $3.85. At the close of the fiscal year March 1, 1871, the town debt had been reduced $10,276.87, and then amounted to $61,696.79. In the same period the indebtedness of Union School District had been decreased about $1,300. The total income of the fiscal year was $30.833.26 ; the expenditures, $29,331.02 ; cash in the treasury, $1,172.24. The principal items in the expenditure account were : town poor, $529.96 ; county poor, $721.61 ; a litigated pauper claim in favor of the town of Lyman, $1,117.10 ; for the support of schools, $8,425.91 ; debt and interest, $11,310.23 ; coupons on bonds, $1,944; town officers, $388.50 ; collector of taxes (percentage), $349.33 ; police officers, $10.

The financial event of the decade ending with December, 1879, was the refunding of the bonded debt of the town in 1878. The first bonded indebtedness was created in 1864, when bonds to the amount of $32,000 bearing interest at the rate of six per cent payable semi-annually were issued. In 1878 the Selectmen were authorized to refund the indebtedness at four per cent inter- est, - a low rate for town bonds at that time. Early in May John M. Mitchell, for the Selectmen, issued a circular calling for sub- scriptions to the new bonds. The total issue was to be $25,000, of which $2,000 were to be redeemable on the first of July each year,

473

Taxation.

beginning in 1881. The exchange was satisfactorily made, re- sulting in a saving to the town in its interest account of 33} per cent. A sinking fund for the extinguishment of the indebtedness was also established.

The fiscal year ending March 1, 1880, showed the financial affairs of the town in good condition. The debt of the town during the decade then ending had been reduced from $61,696.79 to $19,083.99, deducting the assets, which were cash due the town from various sources.

The receipts during the fiscal year had been $26,005.97; the disbursements, $24,442.19. The chief items in the expenditure account were : State tax, $2,732; county tax, $4,599.31 ; pre- cinct tax, $1,200; Union School District, $1,868; legal ex- penses in Sargent case, $412.65; town officers, 1,243.08; town poor, $262.22; county poor, $2,160.52; highways and bridges (in addition to the half of one per cent paid in work), $264.96 ; inci- dental expenses, $603.52; debt and interest, $4,040.52.

In this period the average annual receipts had been about $26,000, until 1889, when they were $36,046.24. The increase is partly accounted for by the appropriation in March, 1888, of $2,000 to defray town charges, the purchase of a part of the Moulton farm for park purposes, and the payment in cash of one-half of the money raised for the repair and maintenance of highways.

The tax rate in 1880 was as follows : town, $1.90 ; village, $2.54 ; State apportionment, $6.83. In 1890 it was : town, $1.80 ; village, $2.14, and the State apportionment $7.27. The decrease in the town debt in the ten years was from $19,083.99 to $615.67. Union School District had built the Mitchell School-house on the south side, and the debt thus entailed had been practically extinguished.

The last decade of the century witnessed a remarkable change in popular sentiment in regard to public expenditures. For more than a hundred years the influences that had directed the finances of the town had been most conservative. Citizens were slow to venture upon a system of public improvements that involved the creation of a town debt. " Pay as you go " had always been their motto, with two exceptions. In the beginning they were poor, and could not meet the demands of the State treasurer, and in the war for the preservation of the Union to have raised by tax- ation the large sums required would have been a herculean, if not an impossible task. But through that trying period they raised by taxation far more than their share of an expense that was in- curred in part for the benefit of distant generations to whom all the

474

History of Littleton.

financial burdens it imposed might well have been transmitted. . Then a town debt was not regarded as a blessing, and when the demands of the hour led them to depart from the frugal custom of years and incur a debt, it was discharged at the earliest moment.

In March, 1894, the auditor's report stated that the town was free from debt and had a surplus of $643.27 in its treasury. For many years there had been a strong sentiment in the town in favor of many needed public improvements, but it was deemed by the majority impolitic to inaugurate such a system until the debt had been paid. 'The public was paying an annual rental of $625 for the use of such rooms or buildings as were required for its use, and it was then deemed a suitable time to make a beginning in the direction of town ownership of public utilities.

The financial results of this policy are easily traced through the pages of the annual reports of our municipal officers issued since the inauguration of the system. Before the close of the decade the combined debt of the town, village precinct, Town School District, and Union School District aggregated $127,000 above their avail- able assets, and the rate of taxation in the village precinct has been as high as $2.87 on each hundred of valuation.1 This was the highest rate, and that of 1899 of $2.48 per hundred the lowest since 1894.2 In the same period the valuation increased from $1,578,334 to $1,751,778.

The practice, once rare but now quite common, of exempting from taxation the capital and plant of manufacturing concerns has been in vogue in this town for nearly forty years. Votes, both general and specific, for such purpose were adopted before 1871, but were not effective, as the conditions named therein were not complied with. In March, 1871, it was voted to exempt from taxation for ten years any establishment for the manufacture of hoes, shovels, scythes, or either of them. Under this vote the scythe factory built on the present site of the Pike Manufactur- ing Company's shop was exempt from taxation for the period named. When the same property passed into the possession of C. F. Harris & Co. in 1887, it was again, by vote of the town, exempted from taxation for ten years, and, when taken over by the Pike Company in 1903, was exempt for the third time and for a like period. When this term expires in 1913, this real estate will have been free from taxation for thirty years of the forty-two which have passed since the town first granted this special privilege.

1 This rate was in 1897.

2 This was the rate in both 1898 and 1903.

475

Taxation.

In 1878 the town passed a general vote exempting from taxa- tion for ten years the capital invested in any establishment erected for the manufacture of fabrics of cotton or wool or articles of wood or iron when such capital should exceed the sum of $5,000. By virtue of this vote the Granite State Glove Company, the Eureka Glove Manufacturing Company, and the White Mountain Glove Works were not taxed for several years, it being supposed that the general vote of exemption was valid. In the case of the Cox Needle Co. v. Gilford,1 the Supreme Court held such a vote insufficient, and at a special meeting held April 14, 1884, it was voted that each of these corporations be exempt from taxation for the term of ten years from the date when each began business, all parties to the original transaction having acted in good faith, believing they were within their right under the law.

The old Kilburn foundry was exempted in 1883 for the usual period, when a sum not less than $5,000 had been invested in converting it into a factory for the manufacture of cotton or woollen goods. This action was in contemplation of the property being used by Tilton & Goodall in making knit underwear. The business was continued less than two years. At the same meet- ing exemption was refused the Chiswick Inn property on the ground that the statute did not contemplate the exemption of that class of property. In 1889, however, this policy was reversed in the case of the Maples, a summer hotel, and in 1899 the town voted not only to exempt, but also to grant a largess of lands or money, or both, to a hotel company which proposed to build a summer hotel on Pine Hill.

There has been a notable increase in recent years of the number of purposes for which towns are authorized to raise money. The fathers were parsimonious, and by the acts of February 8, 1791, and September 15, 1792, limited the power of towns to raise money by taxation to the following objects : " To the settlement, mainte- nance, and support of the ministry ; schools ; meeting houses ; school houses; the maintenance of the poor ; for laying out and repairing highways ; for building and repairing bridges, and for all the necessary charges arising within the said town." 2 The first grant of power named in this law was repealed by the passage of the Toleration Act of 1819. Otherwise for more than half a century this act prescribed the purposes for which towns were permitted to raise money by taxation. Beginning with the grant to aid in procuring enlistments during the war of 1861-1865,

1 62 N. H. Reports, p. 503.

2 Laws of New Hampshire, ed. of 1815, p. 243, sec. 10.

476

History of Littleton.

the powers of towns have been enlarged from time to time until the statute now reads : -

" To encourage volunteer enlistments in case of war or rebellion ; to procure and erect a monument or memorial building to perpetuate the memory of such soldiers belonging thereto as may have sacrificed their lives in the service of their country, including a suitable lot therefor and fence for its protection ; to defray the expense of decorating the graves of soldiers or sailors who have served in the army or navy of the United States in time of war, not exceeding two hundred dollars yearly, to be given to or expended by committees appointed by the Grand Army of the Republic so long as they shall continue the services of Memorial day as originally established and at present observed by that organization, and thereafter to such persons or organization as shall continue such service in the several towns ; to provide and maintain armories for military organizations stationed therein which form a part of the New Hampshire National Guard or reserved militia, not exceeding $200 yearly for each organization ; to provide means for the extinguish- ment of fires ; to establish and maintain public libraries and reading rooms for the free use of all the inhabitants of the town ; to establish cemeteries, or parks, or commons, and to improve the same ; to pro- vide and maintain receiving tombs ; to set out and care for shade and ornamental trees in highways, cemeteries, commons and other public places; to provide and maintain suitable coasting and skating places, not exceeding five hundred dollars yearly ; to procure the detection and apprehension of any person committing a felony therein ; to prepare and publish the history of the town and record weather observations ; to establish hospitals therein ; to provide a free hospital bed for the use of such inhabitants of the town or city as are entitled to receive assist- ance from said town, not to exceed three hundred dollars ; such sum, not exceeding five thousand dollars, for the permanent endowment of a free hospital bed for the use of such inhabitants as are provided for in the preceding section, and a sum not exceeding four hundred dollars for public band concerts."

The first burdensome debt of the town was that incurred for war purposes in 1861-1865. The amount of these liabilities can- not be accurately stated, but they were not less than $70,000 nor more than $75,000. A sinking fund was. created for its extin- guishment, and this was accomplished, as has been stated, in 1894. In order to meet the requirements of the sinking fund the tax rate in the years from 1865 to 1894 was large, falling below two per cent only in the years 1883-1884 and 1885,1 and then but a few cents below, and in eight years it was above three per cent, vary- ing between 3.25 and 4.06 on a hundred of valuation.

1 The rate here given is that of the village which pays the largest share of the tax.

477

Taxation.

Comparisons are not always valuable for the light they cast, as conditions are variable, but they are interesting. These figures are taken from the auditor's report covering the fiscal year ending March 1, 1891, and show the cost of the administration of the town government without including payments on account of debt and interest, except interest on temporary loans made in antici- pation of taxes.

State and county taxes

$6,212.92

Schools

9,743.65

Town officers

1,524.31

Highways and bridges

9,548.06

Library

600.00

Electric lights

1,067.20

Town poor

693.56

County poor .

2,034.66

Miscellaneous

912.68

Fire precinct .

2,800.00

Interest on temporary loans

182.83

Sheep killed by dogs

183.00

Watering troughs

122.43

$35,625.30

The item in regard to county poor should perhaps be treated as an unliquidated asset, as much if not all of it was repaid to the town.

For the fiscal year ending February 15, 1901, the expense of municipal administration was : -

State and county taxes

$7,058.65

Schools

15, 491.26

Town officers

1,395.50

Highways and bridges

6,118.06

Library

800.00

Electric lights

1,355.50

Town poor

54.67

County poor .

488.02

Miscellaneous

634.00

Village precinct

8,810.98

Paid for sheep killed by dogs

24.00

Watering troughs

109.00

Dependent soldiers

57.95

Expense town building .

1,321.89

Park and hotel committee

295.00

Town history

809.09

$44,823.57

478

History of Littleton.

The total income of the town for the fiscal year ending February 15, 1891, was $44,789.89 ; for the year ending February 15, 1901, it was $51,200. 77. The sum represented by the difference between receipts and expenditures was mainly applied on the debt and in- terest account. These sums represent the money raised by tax- ation by the town, the village precinct, Union School District, and the Town School District. The expenditures include the cost of maintaining each of these departments, if they may be termed such, and in the income of the town as given is also included the sums raised at the annual meetings of these departments as well as that raised by the town.

The village district pays, in round numbers, 75 per cent of all the money raised by taxation. The total valuation of the town in April, 1904, was $1,802,713. Of this amount $1,335,306 was assessed on property within the village district, and $467,407 in the town district. In the statistical history are given the valuation and the rate of taxation in every year since 1877, and in that of every census year prior to that date.

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PLAN OF LITTLETON, N.H, Reduced from P. C.Wilkins Plan of 1877.

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479

Surveys.

XLVII. SURVEYS.

BY ADAMS MOORE, A.M., M.D.

I HAVE found no evidence that the entire outlines of Chiswick were ever run according to the original charter, farther than they had been fixed by surveys of the towns adjoining. No record of distances has been kept, except what appear on the back of the charter. If the boundaries of Lyman, Concord (Lisbon), and Lan- caster had been marked, their bounds, with the Connecticut River, would be the bounds of Chiswick.

The first authentic survey was made by Dudley Coleman 1, in 1769, as a preliminary step for obtaining the new charter of Ap- thorp. The marks which he made on trees at that time were visible eighty years after, and by removing a block of the wood over the original scar the number of grains could be counted which showed the exact age of the line.

Disputes between towns as to their boundary lines are very fre- quent, and great carelessness, if not intentional fraud, has in many cases been practised. Between Littleton and Lyman there has never been any trouble in following the line. It was described by Coleman in 1769 to run from the northeast corner of Lyman to the Connecticut River, northi 57° west. That line now 2 runs north 53° west. From the southeast corner of Apthorp, when run out at that time, it followed the line of Gunthwaite (now Lis- bon) north 571° west to the northeast corner of Lyman. The line now 3 existing between the towns of Littleton and Lisbon, which should be the line then existing between Apthorp and Gunthwaite run north 58° west.4 The known variation of the magnetic needle accounts for the difference in the first line. The same

1 Coleman was of Newbury, Mass., and had been employed by Colonel Little to survey much of his land.

2 1860. The present (1903) is N. 49° 43' W.

3 1860. .

The present (1903) course is N. 51º 53' W.

480

History of Littleton.

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History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II, Part 49

Author: Jackson, James R. (James Robert), b. 1838; Furber, George C. (George Clarence), b. 1847; Stearns, Ezra S Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : Pub. for the town by the University Press Number of Pages: 918

Author: Jackson, James R. (James Robert), b. 1838; Furber, George C. (George Clarence), b. 1847; Stearns, Ezra S
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : Pub. for the town by the University Press
Number of Pages: 918