Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1851-04-10
Railroad Extortion.

Railroad Extortion.
The Hallowef GaaSae makss he following
remarks in relation to thessssss Of thing exis-
tieg bes&een >ths.swo railros1e running east
from cortland IA. IN.
"Ths true caiise of the licnlty Il the re-
cent nsesing # Che stoctholders Of The An
droscsggin aud Kennebec railroad for the pur-
pose ofSleasing the Peno6ecotsroad, fully ap-
pears in late number of the Waterville Mail.
The sificdhy wasrnot upon leasing the Penob-
scot ready for 10 Il believed large wajoriy of
re stdckhclderslare in favor OF tiiafmeastife,
but it arose from the overbearing and extor-
tionate policy pursued towards the Androscog-
gin and Kennebec by the Atlantic &'St. Law
renos railroad. The-last mentioned corpora
ton had already voted 70 take the lease IN con-
nection with the A. 8 Klroad, and were de-
termined to have this meeting 60 off to their
own liking. But their oppressive policy had
walked up the stockholders in the back route,
aud nothing was accomplished. We copy
paragraph or two from the Mail to show how
the matter stands. lt,is very evident that the
hfe-blood of the Androscoggin and Kennebec
road is sucked mp to swell the Wanted receipts
Of the giant Atlantic and St. Lawrence, and it
unriddles the mystery of the swelling tide of
business which the two leading Portland pa
pers publish everv month, under the head of
{" Atlantic and ST. Lawrence Railroad month
" receipts" es- .,..7. ..n, .i,s.
When the A. g. X. road was opened in Dec
ls49, the terms upon which their passengers
and freight shoald be carried over the Atlantic
road were fixed by the latter. They were then
complained of as extortionate and unreasonable.
They tUere Just such terms as the Portland and
Kennebec road ,couid not submit to, and sohich
drore them TO the necessity Of budding an indie
pendent road from North Yarmouth to Portland.
But the A. & X. company have up to this time
submitted, because, perhaps, at present, they
have no other alternative, and because they
have been hoping that their continued and per-
severing efforts might be successful in obtain
ing better terms. 'atirf41 t,sff7- l.,r
i will state what those terms are For each
passenger carried by the Atlantic road to or
from the A. & X. road, they charge sirty-ei chi
cents. The A. g. X. road charge for passen-
gers from Waterville to Portland two dollars.
The average cost of the transportation for each
passenger is estimated at one dollar; which,
together with the sixty-eight cents paid to the
Atlantic road, leaves but fhiyfy-t,co cents to the
A. & K. We have twenty seven and half
miles over their ruad, and ifty-five miles over
ours, and furnish cars all the way.
But our great reliance on this road has al
ways been on freight. Let US see how we fare
in that. A ton of freight from Watervile to
Portland pays two dollars 1t costs us one dol
lar to carry it there. We pay the Atlantic
road ninay-cents, and save ten for ourselves
We furnish cars for the whole distance, and
the only deduction from their ninety cents is
the trifling expense of loading and unloading
at Portland but all we get for the whole trans
portation and use of our cars is the ten cents a
ton. -'-. ra,.. -.- --.l ,.- g. p .alr '-a7
1t is believed that no other instance can be
found in the whole country where the trunk
exacls of the branch such exorbitant terms.
In view of the above, which the Mail Justly
calls exorbitant and extortionate terms, the
stockholders in this road, the Kennebec and
Portland, may see how much they are indebt-
ed to their directors in resisting this overbear-
ing policy in building on their own RESPONSE
biity an independent road into Portland 1t was
fortunate for US that the men on orr own board
of directors were not to be trifed with-they
would not submit to such extortons-and there
fore we have the result, thoroughfare to
Portland and Boston, without being subjected
to the grasping policy Of corporation which
knows no mercy.
Contrast the above arrangement between the
A. and St. L. and A. g. X. in relation to fare,
with the arrangements entered into between
the Boston roads and the kennebec and Port
land On the opening of the latter road to
Augusta, one half of the fare between Angus
ia and Boston goes to the X g. p. road, or the
fare is 10 be equally divided, and that too while
the Kennebec road is only about sixty miles in
length, and the distance from Portland to Bos-
ton is over one hundred. The Boston roads
asscnted to this liberal arrangement because
they considered branch or extension as affor-
ding them some advantage over and above the
advantage derived by the new road by connec-
with them. i.ig --.. e- -a'Isbl eor-
With the A. and ST. L. it is the policy to
abstract the life blood of the branches or extern
sions to build up the giant trunk One branch,
the Buckfeld, is now absolutely worthless from
the result of this policy. The Androscoggin
and Kennebec is now bleeding profusely from
the same cause, and we are glad to see the man
illness and resistance now beginning to mani
fest itself. -n- ~ 200