It is unnecessary to report his speech. It
was plain, practical, and to the point. He recommended that the
town appropriate a certain sum as bounty money to volunteers.
Other towns had done so, and he thought with good reason. It
would undoubtedly draw in recruits more rapidly.
A short, stout, red-faced man, wearing gold spectacles, rose
hastily.
"Mr. Chairman," he commenced, "I oppose that suggestion. I think
it calculated to work serious mischief. Do our young men need to
be hired to fight for their country? I suppose that is what you
call patriotism. For my part, I trust the town will have too much
good sense to agree to any such proposition. The consequence of
it would be to plunge us into debt, and increase our taxes to a
formidable amount."
It may be remarked that Squire Haynes, the speaker, was the
wealthiest man in town, and, of course, would be considerably
affected by increased taxation. Even now he never paid his annual
tax-bill without an inward groan, feeling that it was so much
deducted from the sum total of his property.
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