Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-04-06

The doctrine that the city has no rights in the
common which are entitled to respect, is the
! deformed fruit of an incestuous union between
| the venality of legal opinion and the audacity
of corporate greed. The pretence that the town
of Worcester conveyed, in perpetuity, the fee of
its sole public ground, acithout consideration,
can only be duly appreciated when 1t is remem-
bered that the councils of the town were guided
at that time by the calm judgment and matured
experience of Isaac Davis and Emory Wash.
burn, of Pliny Merrick and Charles Allen, of
John Davis and Levi Lincoln. mol through
out that whole period, involving the growth of
Worcester from an humble village of three thou
sand inhabitants to Its present proud rank
I among the thriving cities of the commonwealth,
| this corporation, now so defiant, has been
| gorging itself upon the traffic Of Worcester and
| using our streets and public grounds withoutpa pay
| ing a cent in return. Its tracks were laid down
| for the business which it expected and which it
| obtained. But through no needless generosity
| of towns, as through no criminal tdcheS of COM
mittees could it acquire what not even legisla-
turc could confer, the title to the land of an in
dvidual or community, aCitbOut consent or
compensation!
And this conclusion, so irresistible as against
a concession in fee simple, is of equal force
when applied to the theory of grant of right
of use or way in perpetuity. In both cases, the
Indispensable element of a valuable considera-
ton is lacking. And in the latter the spirit, if
not the text of the law, which forbds the crea-
ton of estates-tai, would prohibit the alienation
of a use as Of a possession, for an intermnabe
period. Not even the transparent subterfuge of
a demise for SO years is interposed by the corpo-
rations, which apparently rely upon the law
which they have bought with price from the
Judges IN eSSe gel posse among their respective
officers. And yet Judicial blindness" has been
a proverb for ages
But the Worcester and Nashua corporation is
too sagacious to place its reliance upon such
frail support as that which is derived from the
vote of a town meeting. In answer to ques-
ton, at the audience before the legisla-
tive committee, the counsel for that corporation
stated that the fright of his road to cross the
common was right conferred by charter: their
track is on the original location of the Norwich
road" Now the language of the statute is eX-
plcit:
"Sect 2. The Worcester and Nashua railroad
company is hereby authorized to enter with its road
upon, unite the same with, and use the road of the
Providence and Worcester railroad company.
Sect 8. Nothing in this act contained shall em-
power either of said corporations to make any new
location of any portion of their respective rail
roads"
Not a syllable herein about the "original loca-
ton of the Norwich roadp If aught new or
additional, anything like grant of the fee or a
demise in perpetuity, had been contemplated by
the general court the right of the city to COM
pensation would have been carefully guarded.
Nothing additional UdS contemplated; and, by
their own admission, the Nashua and Worcester
company, being upon the Norwich" location,
are treSpassers, under the statute, db initiO.
There are other points that might well de-
mand attention did space and patience suffice.
The absurd implication that removal of the
tracks is denial of permission to locate else
where and that thprpfprp q dpnriva tipn of rail
road facilities, must ensue.
The stupid apprehension that grass must
spring up in Main street immediately upon a
relocation of the tracks, although their remote
ness has had no material effect upon the price
of hay in Webster square; and the Boston and
Albany station, in Boston, has never yet so
stimulated the growth of fodder in fremont or
Washington street so as to furnish sufficient nu
| triment for the city teams.
The panic fear Of the venerable counsel tor
the Norwich company, that "the Foster street
| station is the heart which for thirty-tive years
has sent its pulsations abroad, and cannot be
torn out without great injury to the city and the
public;" whereas, the utmost that is proposed
by the people, through their agent the city gov
| eminent, is to follow the analogy of the human
| body and place the "hedFt' upOn the left of the
municipal system, nothing doubling that the
circulation will flow as usual, without obstruc-
| tiOn TO single artery.
| The insolent assumption of the president OF
| the Norwich corporation, which, in its GOODNESS
| almost attains sublimity, that, although the
''use of the common for switching must prove a
great Inconvenience to the public" such use
must be tolerated, lest otherwise his road should
fail to get great gains from the Transmission OF
through freight
The naughty superciliousness which, parad-
ing its "S98,000 of taX-list and the wealth and
business OF Worcester" that it monopolises !
with the concet of pdrUenu for the first time in
| good society, decries the jewellers within the
triangle as OF no account, and depreciates the
common as worthless TO the poor because itself
rejoicing in ample gardensl
In what place s0ever located, the use of the
railways must be attended with personal and
public annoyance. But that ANNOYANCE may be
SO regulated as to be of degree only; a degree
influenced and modified in turn by locality. The
inconvenience that has become insufferable, in
the centre of the city, would be felt, yet not to
the same extent, if transferred to the suburbs
The remarkable forbearance of the people would
seem TO invite large measure of consideration
from the corporations. Such consideration
should be manifested in a cordial effort to COM
ply with the reasonable requirements ofthe COM
munity, upon whose continued welfare their own
prosperity so seriously depends. No temporary
make-shifts, no involutons oftracks, liker rather
to the coils of an anaconda than to the simple
lines of practical surveyor; no massive struc-
ture "bestriding" Mechanic and Front streets,
''Ike colossus" an object of terror alike to
man and beast; not one nor all of these things
will supply satisfactory solution of this much
veXed problem. Hitherto every concession ha S
| come from the people. Scarcely request OF
the corporations throughout their long exist.
ence, which has not met with ready acquiescence
Let them now eyince portion of the same dis
position and in the simple volition 10 accommo
date the community they will find one-half Of
| their difficulties shrunk into insgnfcance
Otherwise, and should they prove unyielding to
the bitter end, they will never fail to find them.
selves at chronic and implacable issue with
multitudes besides the writer who, while share
holders in either corporation, find higher pride