Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-06-13
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TUESDAY, JUNE Is. Is54. -


sonal interest in whatever concerns the phys
ical progress Of our State, and the earnest
ness with which, through a long succession Of
| years, YOU have advocated every measure cal
| culated to subserve that end, have thought
| that the following article might not inappro-
| priately find place in the columns Of your
| widely circulated paper; elFf 90
Railroad. in the Unircd States, and their
p li llislaul1 PrOiect0rssa 1861 138T
Massachusetts--P. P. p. DEeRAND, ESQ -
In attempting series Of occasional sketch
| es--one for each federal State--of those living
| benefactors of our country, whose means and
energies have been concentrated upon the
| achievement of objects of great public utility
and by whose sagacity the noblest results, as
affecting the progress and prosperity of the
nation have been accomplished, we do not
! know that we can make more suspicious or
| acceptable commencement of our purpose,
than that predicated in the name of the State
and individual which We have placed at the
bead Of these lines. A brief retrospective
| glance at that proud and distinguishing fea-
ture in the material growth of Massachusetts.
her Railroads, with some account Of the strug-
| giles which attended the construction of the
most important among them, particularly that
| colossal work, the Z" Great Western" Road.
as it has long and most pertinently been des-
! ignated, will, we doubt not, be an appropriate
introduction to our contemplated effort
We have before us solid volume of some
two hundred and twenty-five pages, covering
the " Annual Reports Of the Railroad Corpor-
atoms in the State of Massachusetts, !" to-
gether with an abstract Of said returns, pre-
pared with skill and care by the Secretary of
the Commonwea Less than quarter Of
a century ago. an infant memory would have
been as complete and intelligent a repository
Of all the data then pertaining to railroads IN
Massachusetts,, as could be desired. But
what change! According to the official
document now before us, the present number
| Of railroad companies in this State, exclusive
of those organized since the preparation Of the
Report iii question, is So, with capital of
$50, 236, 600, and costing $60,0l9 ,O5l; length
| of miles, ,280.29; earnings, $7,7l3,2 0S; ex-
pense of working, $4,54l,4SS; net earnings,
| S3,2ll ,197; dividends, $2,48S,54 s.; debt,
| SIG, 009, 095; surplus, Sl,1l2.072. ss
With these huge figures, then, as the ssbasis
| of our strain, and without consuming time
or rhetoric in expatiating upon the vast and
ramifed benefits which must accrue to Mas
saehusetts, in particular, from these numerous
and grand facilities OF inter communication,
we propose, at this time, to ignore the usual
statistical details and business calculations.
characteristic of such articles in general, and
to seek to present our subject more pleasingly
to the reader, in brief memorial of one whose
labors may be said, without disparagement
of any of the noble minds which have co-op-
Grated with his own, to be Immortality identi-
fled with the history of railways in America,
and to have earned for his name an honored
and enduring prominence ON the roll OF Rep
resentative Men of the Nineteenth Century
Depending, as we must, on memory, and
on scantv facts cleaned from scattered sources
what we shall preseDt in our notice of Mn.
| DEeRAND, will necessarily be less complete
| than if we had enjoyed that access to more
| full and authentic Information which personal
| acquaintance would have privileged us to-;
| though possibly in the latter case that estina-
BILE modesty which so largely charactertzes
him, would have defeated our purpose al
together. lae1
Mr. Degrand is, we believe, native Of
Ma1seIlles, France, whichplace he leftduring
the CONSUMPTION in 1905, emigrating to this
country and taking up his residence in Boston,
where he has remained until this days. OF its
most useful, eminent, and respected citizens.
He was engaged for many years, IN an active
commercial business, being for some time a
partner in the we'll known house of GILMAN,
i LANGDoN, & Co.. and subsequently, carried on
an extensive business in his own name. In
| 1919, he established the ssBoston w eel1ly Re-
| port one Of the earliest exclusively commer-
/
| a manner most creditable to the editorial tact
and talent of Mr.. Degrand, was held IN high
estimation by the mercantile community inthis
country and Europe, and has since served as
the model for scores of business Journals ia
these more modern days. Mr. DegraGd was
possessed of great mercantile knowled9e,--uu~
derstanding the philosophy as well as the prae-
ticale of trade,-and. though a native OF France,
exhibited i'm all his transactions cas- a naer9
chant, the same degree of Yankee energy, per-
severance and ingenuity, which he has eginced
inahis more recent pursuits. About twenty
years ago, Mr.. Degrand relinquished the
sphere of commerce, and engaged in the stock
and exchange line, taking rank at once amoRg
the leading and most honest and honorable
bankers in Boston. He has long been mem
Der of the Stock Exchange of that city; and
it is not saying too much of him. nor too lit
tie of his respected associates, that he has con-
tributed, in great degree, by his probity,
\ sound Judgment, courtesy, and complete
business capacity, to the responsibility and
importance which SO deservedly attach to that
Association, m Aisr ss
For long time previous to any public ac-
ton relative to the matter, the subject Of rail-
roads, in all their aspects and details, was,
with Mr.. Degrand, one of profound investi-
CATION and study, availing himself of every
possible means and resource, to the end Of
enIghtening his own mind, and that OF the
public, in respect to their valus, urging the
benefits to be derived from them, and predict
ing, with great confidence, their entire success.
In the earlier as well as well as the later his
tory Of Massachusetts railways, Mr.. Degrands
name is foremost of all.-''the wisest aud
brightest. taking, as he did, a most active
part in the planning Of the Providence. Wor-
cester, Eastern, Old Colony, SC. 81
He was the hrstto pay an assessment on the
| Worcester and Western lines; aud when they
were depressed, ami thick clouds Of doubt, as
to their ever arriving at prosperous point,
| hung over them, Mr.. DEGRAND's confidence
| in their ultimate success remained unshaken.
There are some, doubtless, who can recall to
mind famous picture which he had prepared,
framed and suspended in his Office, represents
| ing 7" Worcester Long Wharf, in Boston Har-
! bor," with several coasting vessels on each
side of it, receiving and discharging freight,
and a number of depots, locomotives, and
trains Of cars, filing up the view. This pic
ture, as is well known by those in whose
minds the remembrance of tits still fresh, was,
at the time, considered visionary and Utopian;
its representations, however, fell greatly be-
low what has since been realized, but it served,
in its day, to keep up the spirits of not a few
OF the stockholders, and must be regarded as
an admirable exemph hcation of Mr.. Degrand's
Astounding faith and prescience.
The Great Western = read may be said to
be the grandest railway undertaking in which
Mr.. Degrand has been responsibly engaged,
as it is also one Of the greatest feats in e. hiss
tory Of modern enterprise, whether in the old