The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-12-13
,a. Cr.na Trunk halfway.
OF THE PRESS:

I closed former communication on this sub
iect by urging the business men of Portland,
interested in the flour, grain and other western
produce trade, to unite as one man to obtain
damages of the Grand Trunk for late and pres
ent most unreasonable detention of their
property and outrageous disregard of
thelr rights on this public highway.
Without such united action nothing will
probably be done; with it much may De
| accomplished both for the past ana future.
Let meeting be called at once 10 con-
slider the situation, and let us ascelt tam wnetl-
| er after all our expenditure OF time, labor and
money to build part OF this road, we have
| anv ,ipbt in it, or to it, which its Canadian
| managers are bound to respect If We have
not. then has the road forfeited its charter and
the sooner its rails legally torn up the better
The rights of the citizens OF Portland and the
whole State, as well as the rights of this cor
poration, are bound up together in that char
ter, and they should stand or fall together.
| canno., find that the Grand Trunk has any
chartered right,-from mere whim or caprice,
from fear or favor,-to take one mans goods
and reject anothers; or having taken goods
| for any given place, to leave them by the way
for months, taking other goods daily by them
and in advance of them. That this Company
does this, let the forty thousand barrels OF
Portland -four locked up in its sheds for
the last three months, while Canadian -four
has been moving forward freely, bear witness.
But if this Company has no such chartered
right to thus make fish of one and flesh OF an
other, then is it one of our reserved rights,
founded on common sense, common Justlce
\ and common law, NOT TO HAVE THEM DO II;
and if any new legislation is needed to compel
them to respect this reserved right, let the in
coming Legislature be appealed to to provide
it. The whole State is interested in the sub
iect. Scarcely town or village that has not
been more or less injured by this same disre-
gard of their rights. Their few hundred bar
rels of -four or bushels of grain locked up
at Sarnia, are as much disappointment and
damage to them, as Portland's thousands to
her. All necessary legislation can be easily
obtained, 1 doubt not
But another remedy, and perhaps more
sure and effectual one, is at hand The Grand
Trunk is VIGOROUSLY bankrupt bankrupt to
the very people whose rights it is trampling on.
Its overdue bonds and obligations secured by
mortgages on the road-the original Atlantic
& st. Lawrence bonds and mortgages-are
now held by our citizens, in great forbearance;
they should be held in terroren.
| Let the mortgage to secure the overdue
Bonds, be put upon foreclosure, and let the
Trustees of that mortgage take immediate pos
session of the road to Island Pond and manage
it for themselves, doing equal justice to all
| Let them meet all freight at that point, and
there proclaim that not barrel of flour nor
pound of merchandise shallpa into or over our
part of the road out of the regular order and
| time of shipment unavoidable accidents and
detentions of course excepted); and that all
| freight on which discriminating tariff has
been laid, in favor of the lower Provinces, Eng
| land Boston, or any other place, and against
Portland and the State of Maine, shall remain
on the other side of the line till the Canadian
managers of the Grand Trunk shall learn that
others have rights as well as they-rights that
| ought to be, and must be respected. And am,
at this moment authorized by the Trustees to
say that whenever they can be assured of
the united support of the people of Portland
those interested in the subject-they will forth
with take possession of the road and protect
wrongs, and their own duty in the premises;
and let me add they are men who knowing
their duty dare to perform it, Again, then,
urge union and action,-give the Trustees i'm
mediately, the positive assurance, the pledge
| of our cordial cooperation, and the next new
year will find them in the full possession and
management of the old Atlantic and St. Law
renee Railroad with all its privileges and ap-
purtenances.
Ihad intended TO suggest other remedies for
our grievances, s ch as opening another and
competing route to and from the West, by com
pleting the Portland and Rochester Railroad
| (which ought to be speedily done,) or by con-
Meeting line of steamers at New York with
the Erie road-or by way Of Buffalo and Al
bany or Ogdensburg and some of the Vermont
| lines, either of which routes may be secured
on favorable terms if dealers in Portland will
unite and pledge them all their business But
| the Grand Trunk is our natural, our chosen,
our rghtfnl channel of communication with
| the West, and we must have it, and have it so
managed as to be a reiable dependence, and
answer the great ends for which it was project
ed and built, and now have confidence to be-
| lieve that in connection and cooperation with
the Trustees we shall be able to effect such
management. I rest the case here for the pres
ent.
Should all efforts in this direction fail and
the supplies of Portland and this State still he
| held at the mercy and caprice of the foreign
managers of a foreign road, running mostly ov-
er foreign territory, then indeed will it be-
come serious question whether Portland can
| retain her business and her business men. A
| seasons trade has just been lost-driven away
| to Boston and New York by the miserable,
treacherous aud wicked management of the
Grand Trunk. Other seasons before have been
nearly lost by the same cause. Mere hants
naturally and necessarily follow their trade
/ their business-as water seeks its level, and
unless something effectual is done NOW, it may
soon be said in truth, as it has already been
said in derisie n, portland is whiting" and the
grass growing even ON
| COMMERCIAL STREET.