The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1863-11-30
Essex County Railroad Bill

u
Island Pond and St. Johnsbury, by the way of
the valley of Moose river, but we have been COM
PEELED to defer it from time to time, and can only
briefly allude to it now.
A condensed and just statement of the case
can be made in a very little space.-The people
Of Essex County, by their senator and representa-
tives expressing the desires of the entire popula-
ton of the County, have for the last three sessions
of the Legislature made application for grant
of railroad connecting with the Grand Trunk
railway at Island Pond, or near there-and with
the Passumpsic road at st. Johnsbury Plain, This
road would pass along the valley of the Moose
river, thence through Cranky and Ferdinand to
the line of the Grand Trunk road. 1t passes
through q heavily timbered country south Of
Island Pond, besides furnishing much better
market for the vast amount of lumber on the line
of the Grand Trunk, in the northern part of Essex
Comfy, than Portland, where that lumber now
goes. 1t was estimated that the increased value
OF the tim Der in Essex County, if this road were
built, would be more than million and half of
dollars.-more than enough to build and stock
the road 1t is also apparent that the road would
furnish the people Of Essex County direct COM
munication with the rest Of the State, much need
cd and which could be obtained in no etber way,
as will be seen by glance at the map OF north
eastern Vermont.
The opposition tc the road was from several
only tba pa
cd before the committee. All the railroads in the
State,-unless we except the Vermont Valley
so far as they were represented at all about the
Legislature, were hostile to the application,
though,with the execution of the PaSsumpsic, they
all protested to be Indifferent spectators The
Passumrsic road, now running to Newport, and
graded to Derby line, the northern terminus of
its chartered limits, fought tbs people of Essex
County at every step of their application. The
reason they gave for this opposition was, that if
the proposed road were built it would d.
minish the revenues of the Passumpsic road,
and the faith OF the State was pledged
TO give the PasSumpsc road the monopoly
of the carrying of freights and passengers in
eastern Vermont, whether the people of Essex
County we're accommodated or not The answer
that was made to this rather startling assumption
on the part of the Passumpsic corporation, was
that the fifth OF the State was not thus pledged,
but on the contrary, that tie State had expressly
reserved to itself the right to connect the Grand
Trunk and Passumpsic roads whenever it chose to
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several instances granted charters to thai effect.
1t was also shown in proof that the net earnings
of the Connecticut & Passumpsic road for the
past year, were four and one half per cent on the
cost of the entire road to Derby line, and that
large quantities of its stock and bonds were held
by SPECTATORS who had bought it up at less than
fifty cents on dollar, the road thus paying to
these spectators eight or ten per cent on their
investment.
But it would take too much space to 90 more
at length into the facts of the case. 1t is
enough to say that the merits of the application
have been so clearly shown that the House has
passed the bill for three successive years by
large msjorties ; this year by a vote of nearly
three to one. The Senate has each year killed
the bill, and has done so because the railroads
in the State are cunning enough to secure, in ad.
vance, at least one branch of the General Assem-
bly, which can be relied on in pinch to do what
the railroads want done and it has been found
more convenient to manage the Senate, in this
particular than the House, for some years past.
The Passumpsic road has not influence enough to
accomplish this wo.k alone, but the Vernon Cen
tral-or perhaps it should more properly be
called the Vermont and Clnada--has perfected
some pretty machinery by which it is potent in
legislation whenever it chooses to be so and it
has chosen for the last three years 10 defeat the
Essex County Railroad bill, hoping thereby to
advance its purpose of defeating any Northern
direct connection iOith Montreal by the ,oay Of the
Passun,psic aud Connecticut rtvers.
How long this kind of legislation will continne
of course no one can predict, because it is not
EASY O ascertain in advance how long the people
will suffer the paid agents, salaried attorneys and
travelling dead-heads of pow erful corporations to
manage conventions ADD nominations. The peo-
pie of Essex county, however, will persevere in
their application, and will undoubtedly ultimately
triumph; for by and by the opposition to it on
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