to figure out how expensive to tne
town was the selectmen's rejection
of the offer of settlement made by the
plaintiffs on the eve of the trial. The
basis of their proposed compromise
was the acceptance of the valuation
made by their own appraisers in place
of the assessors' valuation, the special !
appraisement showing a reduction of (
$5,000 for each of two years in the;
case of Mr. Peck and $10,000 for one j
year in the case of Commodore Lutt- '
gen. Tne loss to tne town in uuwa
from this reduced valuation would
have been about $260. How much of
the difference between that sum and
$831 the town is out of pocket by
having gone to trial cannot be ex
actly calculated as some expense for
attorney's fees had been incurred
previous to the settlement offer.
Placing this at $200, which seems a
reasonable estimate, the town re
mains a loser by $31 despite the fact j
that it was the winner In the litiga
tion No wonder that the selectmen
long powdered and hesitaited ' before j
coming to a decision. The reason
they announced for deciding to fight
the case was that they did so as a
matter of principle which meant, of
course, a matter of business policy
and not one of ethics. As it turned
out they won by a very narrow mar
gin and the town would have been
out of pocket by probably at least
$500 more had Mr. Peck adhered to
his original purpose of taking an ap-
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