The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-07-28
THE II. g N. A. RAILROAD.

bstween the railroads of the lower British
Provinces and those Of this State S''N
We do not believe there is man in this
portion Of the State who would not rejoice to
see this great enterprise showing signs Of pro-
gress, and giving real promise of being carried
frwlrd TO successful result. The best feel
ing toward it exists, and all desire its prosperi-
ty. -
Bat railroads can no more be built with gass,
or on paper, or without money, than men and
women can subsist and thrive on mere air.
They can be carried forward only with efforts
backed by substantial aid. Such aid the
Road in question should have; at present it
has it not. As yet the road has only conting
ent capital on which to rely. 1t has secured
contingent loan of the credit of the city of
Bangor for $500,00O. 1t has also contingent
grant from the State Of the timber on ten,
townships of the public lands. 1t has con
tingent grant from the State of Massachusetts,
of say three-Eourths of million dollars. 1t.
has also a contingent assignment of certain
alleged claims Of this State and Massachus
etts against the General Government. Be-
yond these contingent sources of revenue, we
are aware of nothing in the shape of material
aid which has been secured towards building
the road and making Unavailable for travel and
international communication. asss
A few days since the stockholders of this
road had meeting at the Bangor House
when very important votes were passed. The
principal of these were, first, vote authoriz-
ing an issue of bonds for million or more.
secured by the timber granted by the State;
second, vote authorizing another issue Of
rtwo millions of bonds, and mortgage, on
the road, secured by the aforesaid claims on
the General Government, and third, vote au-
thorizing the President of the road to put the
whole work under contract, from ST. John to-
Bangorl ..s
1t isto be borne in mind that the security
for the 1st issue Of these bonds--a million dol
lars or more-is the timber on land only con
dittonaEty granted, and to be made available
in instruments only when the road to Lincoln,
about forty-fve or fifty miles from Bangor
shall have been built and put in successful OPP
Grafton; and that the second issue of bonds
for more than two millions-rests on claims
against the general government which, as yet
that government has never recognizcdl How
much of these claims if any the government
will recognize, remains to be seen; this we
know, however, that when Mr.. Poor was get
ting his bill through our legislature to assign
the claims on the part of this State, he argued
that, to the State, the claim was of no value,
but to the road, in view Of its military impor4
tance, something handsome might be acknowl-
edged and paid. 1t was to impress Congress, I
through favorable report from special com
mittee, with this military Importance, thatthe
great so-called Congressional excursion of last
year was got up, and that Portland and Ban
gor raised money to pay its expenses; and
when this was done, and the Committee was
believed to be favorably impressed, through
somebody's neglect the whole thing was al
lowed to slumbsr, and the Committee was al
lowed to die without action or even report.
Way this was so has never been explained.
TIE meeting of stockholders % at Bangor
the other day, that passed the important votes
already referred to- we-have heard from. A
gentleman who was present, not as a particle
pator but for business purposes with men ex-
pected to be there, informs us that he heard
the votes read andwitnessed the action taken.
AMI that tmore than sic persons arere in
the rom al the time. No Bangor Director was
there; no Bangor gentleman except Mr.. Cros-
by, wac was acting as Secretary pro TIM. Our
informant-a Bangor gentleman of the HIGH
est credibiIity- thinks only tou, persons acted
in the passage of these votes, in the name of
the stockholders ola gigantic corporation.
The presumption is that not dollar of such
bonds as were authorized could be sold in the
market, unless by deception and at large
discount from par,-and the idea ofcontract-
ing for the building of the road is preposter
Gus, SO long as not dollar of money has been
absolutely secured to back up such contract
Even the contingent loan of the city of Ban
gor, for $4,000, cannot be made available till
the road to Lincoln is absolutely completed.-
The language of the act is-ssif said comnanv
shall within three years from its approval, [the
approval of the act quoted froml finish and
complete their line of railway from Bangor to
Lincoln, By running Of cars Mereon.n then
the Mayor of the city shall certify the fact to the
Treasurer and he is to issue the bonds. which
the act declares shall be sfor the purpose of
building and furnishing and completing said
roadn J l0
This first fozty-iive or fifty miles of road, on
the completion ofwhich in three years from
March Is, 1854, hinges the Bangor loan,
mas not been touched, nor are we aware
tnat tae hrSt dollar towards building it
mas been secured; and although it is
Ste contingency on which all the aids arc sus-
penued, sixteen months of the thirty-six in
which 1t was to be finished and the cars RIM
upon IL, have come and gone withou4 a s,,b-
stantial sign having been made that . shono,-
full of dirt is to be removed upon the ,noI NJ
efort has been made to begin the work at the
beginning. This must be done by nersonaI
effort. by private enterprise, and till tits dom
all other aids and agencies are unayail;nc
And yet all that has been done seems to have
been at the wrong end-with view to touch
the things contingent, and not to lift the con
tinyeney upon which they depend and, in our
judgement, the idea of beginning at the last
end Of a chain male up of contingent
links, is no less absurd than an attempt to
build chimney by commencing at the top.
We want to see this road built. It's impor-
lance to the State can scarcely be overesti-
mated, but to lend countenance to mere
wildcat scheme would be an imposition up
on the people and the good sense of the State.
We KNOW that some Of the best friends Of the