The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-05-05
The Railroad Meeting.

The Railroad Meeting.
Our Yesterdays account of the railroad
meeting Saturday evening was necessarily
limited to a condensed statement of the i'm
portant facts presented by the speakers who
reported the condition of the enterprise on the
various sections of the line. 1t appeared that
in the Lamoille towns a stock subscription Of
100000 for 70 miles of road is already assur-
ed, and will probably be raised to 81 or
$4,000 mile before bonds are issued tDat LOT
the Essex county section of 80 miles Sodo,ooo
have already been subscribed to the STOCK and
$4,000 pledged in bonds; so that Vermont
may safely be trusted to build the road from
the Connecticut to Swanton Junction 1t ap-
pered furthermore that the 100 miles from
Portland to the Connecticut river can now be
contracted at $4,000 mile, or at $31 900 halt
in cash and halt in bonds at par. AT the lat
ter rate the cash payments required would be
only 81 $50 600, and the corporaters believe
they can do better than that Portland is
asked to use her credit to raise less than half
this sum- receiving in return an impetus such
as no city on the continent is now in posi-
tion to receive.
Such is substantially re-statement of the
case presented by the speakers Saturday eve
ming. The response on the pa TT of the bust
ness men of Portland was prompt and hearty.
Gen. Anderson, in behalf of the live business
men of the city, cordially and gracefully
thanked the Vermont gentlemen for the good
news they had brought us. G. P. Kimball,
Esq, expressed his thorough conviction of the
feasibility and necessity of prosecuting the UNI
dertaking. Gen. Shepley said that twenty
years ago Portland, in no respect enjoying
any advantage over such cities as Newbury-
port and Salem, except in the enterprise and
sagaci ty of Ter business men, woke up. and
built the Atlantic and st. Lawrence railroad.
1t had made her what she is. 1t was the pos
session ofextraordinary courage, skill and en-
ergy which gave her then the advantage
which she gained. Now she finds herself in
the track OF CONNIE rec, by the virtue of her
geographical position alone enjoying an OPP
portunity open to no other city on the Allan
tic coast, an opportunity promising ten-fold
the results of her former enterprise, and
if she fails to improve it she will show
in the second crisis in her history an as
tonishing deficiency, in the very qualities
which gained her former victory. Leaving
out of sight importations from Europe for
Western cities, leaving out of sight the har-
vests of the West, leaving out of sight the
trans continental commerce of Europe and
Asia which will come in time from San Fran
cisco to Portland, Gen. Shepley believed that
if the road were sim ply line from Portland
to Franklin county in Vermont it should be
built for the local business, and predicted that
nna ffar tba fha lina ha
valuation of Portland will have increased by
moro than the whole capital of the road.
Hon. Geo. W. Woodman said he had doubt
ed the feasibility of route through the Notch,
but the evidence was complete; and when that
point was settled, everything was settled. T.
c. Hersey, Esq, spoke with unwonted en-
thusiasm. BE wanted to recover the Vermont
trade which used to come heie after the first
snow storm every year when he first came to
the city forty years ago. Portland cannot af
ford to do without this enterprise. He would
whip child of his that should advance SO
preposterous an idea as that Portland could
not alone build this line and make a profit by
the operation. He was conservative in poll
tics, religion and business, but he wanted to
say as conservative that he believed we did
not half appreciate the Importance of this
road. Already the eyes of the West were
turning toward Portland. At the commercial
convention in Boston Western delegates
complained of the delays in New York-goods
carried to government warehouses, weeks
delay to get them through the custom house,
and carriage again from the warehouse to the
railroad depot. They wanted law of Con-
gress to facilitate the delivery of goods. Mr..
Hersey said he told them that what they
wanted could be obtained without petitioning
Congress by coming to Portland, where goods
are discharged into the warehouses on the
wharf and taken out ON the other side, so that
before steamer is unladen half her cargo
might be in Chicago, and he said the
convention cheered him as he was never cheer
ed before. " --
A telegram was received from Ossian Ray
Esq, of Lancaster, New Hampshire. announc
ing that he was detained by business in count.
hat 4A..ao-;-. I-:- cue success Of
the meeting. To complete the record and il
lustrate the feeling along the line in Maine we
append the following letter, mentioned yester-
day, from Hon. D. R. Hastings, of Fryeburg:
-FRYEBURG, April 80, 1868.
5u Gov. WAsHBURN. Dear Sir, II have Just
received your note of the 18th inst, Notifying
us of your proposed meeting next Saturday
evening to consider the Portland and Ogdens-
burg railroad enterprise, and inviting the at
tendance of its friends in this section, &C.. &c
1 much regret my inability from business en-
gagements, to be present, and that from short
ness of notice, state of the roads and day of
the week, our friends will alike be precluded
Pray don't attribute our absence to luke
warmness, or apathy. / assure YOU sir, we
are all alive to the importance of this great
enterprise. L believe our towns could afford
to give half their present valuation to insure
the road and then in ten years be the better
tor it. Can not Portland, with what this road
would do for her, again strive as nobly as in
the Atlantic and st. Lawrence enterprise?
nope you will so feel. Let Portland do her du-
ty, and say to us that we must build our sta
ton houses, pay our land damages and take 8
B per cent of our valuation in stock-this as
corporations, and then go in for Individual
stock subscriptions. This road can be built.
We here in the country (much less Portland)
ca',1aot afford to lose it Situated in the richest
agricultural part of Oxford county, il the val
ley OF one of the great rivers of the State
with abundance OF water power and forest
timber, yet, being in the centre of belt OF
country seyenty-fye miles OF. more wide from
railroad to railroad, SO far from market that
freight eats up all, we find everything Ian
guild, sleepy, and so it will continue so long as
we labor under this great drawback to all
kinds of enterprise.
Portland must help her old customers to re-
move all these business distractions, and
what is our gain will also be hers. 5'.g
My best wishes attend you for pleasant
and profitable meeting. l have the honor, sir,
to be, very respectfully, yours,
.y s'9 H'i'ie 'i D. R. HASTINGS