The Portland daily press., 1868-05-26
W hy Note


densburg road; that We have reached point
where some new impulse is wanting, and that
the opening of this road will furnish the I'M
pulse we need; that it will bring commerce 10
our harbor business to our WuarVes ana at-.
tract population and capital to our city. The
benefits to be expected from the completion of
this undertaking are not special and private
but general and common to all. An increase
of valuation will lessen our taxes Improved
communication with the West will reduce the
cost of living. A larger aggregate of business
will not only furnish new opportunities Tor our
merchants, but will increase our population
and furnish larger practice for lawyers ana
doctors and larger patronage iof newspapers
There is no class of the community which is
not interested in the success of this enterprise,
and that interest is very nearly in proportion
to the present accumulations of each indiviC-
ual. The heavy taxpayers have most to gain
by reduction of taxes, by lew opportunities
for the employment of capital; while every
man who pays only poll tax is nevertheless
interested in the price Of flour and beef.
As the enterprise is for the common good
then, why should Eot the expense be borne in
part ty the community? Why should we
stand with our hands in our pockets, waiting
Tor benevolent individuals to come and build
our road for US? What is the use of social Or
ganization, if not for the accomplishment OF
enterprises too great or too important to be left
in private hands? The city has reserved to it
self the right to take possession of the water
works now in process of construction at the
expiration of a term of years. Why should
the community give up all control over an
important artery of trade like that of which
we speak? The stock is limited to 81 100000.
The city with a subscription of $750000 will
have a controlling interest in the management
of the road, and why should she not? Why
should railroads, completely interviewer as
they are with our modern civilization, be any
longer classed apart from highways?
1t is at last conceded that highways and
bridges are of use to the public and should be
built, owned and kept in repair by the public
The day of turnpikes and toll bridges is past.
Why should railroads, equally indispensable
means Of communication, be left wholly TO the
control of exacting private corporations? The
indications are that they will not. Already
we have in our own State general act au
thorizing any town or city to take stock in
railroads. A similar law has been tried in
New Hampshire and other States Where
there is no general law, no difficulty is found
i'll procuring the passage of enabling acts.
The towns in Vermont are subscribing for 40
per cent of this very line. See what our
neighbors in Maine are doing-Bath and
Rockland combining their means for shore
road, Belfast taking stock in the Moosehead
I,.Je
and a fourth of our valuation incurring an ag-
gregate liability for railroads $150000 more
than ours will be if this subscription is madei
For years cities and counties throughout the
West and South have been subscribing for
stock in railroads; it is but few weeks since
Louisville, Kentucky, subscribed million to
the stock of new line Is the world going
crazy, or is the truth beginning to make itself
apparent that railroads like other means of
communication should be built and managed
for the common good?
These are for us and now not merely speeu-
lative but impor tant practical questions.
When Augusta invites the Spragues to come
and improve her water power and offers to ex-
empt their property from taxation for a
term of years, she does well. But that exemp
tion is really gift. 1t is precisely as if the
taxes had been collected and then an appro-
priation of thousands of dollars had been
made for the sole benefit of these capitalists
That may be well, but how much better for
Portland, instead of paying private parties a
bonus to build this road, to become herself
large shareholder: to assume controlling in
terest in the line, and share in the profits Of
its management directly as we'll as indirectly.
That is the proposition on which we are to
vote to morrow. We voted year ago to loan
the credit of the city to this enterprise, leaving
it entirely in the hands of the corporators
We now have an opportunity to transform the
loan into a subscription, and secure controll-
Ing interest in the road. 1t is the duty of the
city to embrace that opportunity. The pru-
dent, economical construction of the read will
be secured and its future management in the
interest of Portland will be assured by this
timely aid, which we doubt not will be grant
ed.