Litchfield enquirer., 1871-06-29
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4MgAel0 WnqalfM . Litchfleld. Thursday, June 29. 1871
 The General Railroad Law.
 Two or three weeks since we published ,-the bill for General Railroad law now be
 fore our legislature with our reasons fol
 believing it practically worthless. One obvious defect urged was the want of any provision allowing town aid. To this ob. iection the Hartford Co~ant replied as fol AloAsz OSx dIOH
 .u!Ihs xdtahfald EnqMirer criticisea the pending biIl Tor general railroad law. Its first objection ig hsttle matter of town aid is ignored. To ui tnssH ons or t,.s sns merits of the b We frankly Borne along by the almost irresistible popular tide we1sve c0nsented to and even aided projects tc spermit towns to lend credit take stock in rail- it in others without becoming liable to charges Of local partialty. But is it not favorable time
 %Syg es < be or aess sathorission rom the isssssurss sIs t xsoSIS npis be ssminently unwiso to grant the power in general theory concerning the true scope of the town cor porations. sGsc, s2sE
 The principle of town aid came to test votelin the House of Representatives, last week, on a motion to strike out the provis- ion in the proposed charter of a railroad through Colchester, Bozrah, and Norwich, allowing those towns to subscribe to its stock. This amendment was defeated by an overwhelming vote, MT. Eaton. of Hart ford. remarking that although in 1868 he had voted against the bill allowing the town of Hartford to bond itself for the Connecti- cut Western and Valley roads. ths principle had been establisked and he should not now fight against it. Now, therefore, that this principle has been sanctioned by success i've legislatures, and by both houses of our present General Assembly in repeated votes and overwhelming majorities, and now that . man 50 slow to recognize accomplished facts as Mir. William w. Eaton comedies that it is an. established principle of Con. necticut Legislation. is the Courant still of the opinion that this is "a favorable time to say there has been enough of this ?"
 There are ,unquestionably serious prac ticable evils under this, as we'll as under any other general principle. Towns some- times err egregiously in judgment, and the interests of minorities who are to be little benefited, are sometimes sacrificed to the interests of majorities who are to be much benefited by the building of new railroads. GtiIl, our legislature has never, to our Aknowledge, refused the privilege of railroad subscription, under suitable restrictions, to any town desiring it. Moreover, the revi- valicf railroad construction in Connecticut within the past few years is entirely owing to this very principle. Scarcely single one of the many enterprises which will add so greatly to the material prosperity of the State could have succeeded without town aid. Such being the case. this vital prinoi- pie must be engrafted into our general law nit is to be genuine and not sham measure. 4 4 'y a. @t1.i
 But, l" says the CoMrant, "why not let it be done only in cases of special urgency requiring special authorization from the legislature ?" Simply because by general railroad law we hope to avoid. special rail- road legislation in the first place and, in Che second. because the " authorization ," referred to is. practically mere form, wasting the time of the First and Second Houses, and useful only for the fees it brings the Third. Indeed, the Cowant fsyors, unawares, we believe, the idea that after allspecial is preferable to general leg. lislation. It is that very " special urgency" 60 potent with legislatures, and so fraught with danger to the general public, which is the special curse of the railroad legislation of our time. The general railroad law we need is one so carefully devised that all special charters might be repealed without injury to @ single existing corporation, and so liberal that no future enterprise could have the least excuse for asking special privileges of any future legislature. The bill under consideration, failing as it does. to anthorize town aid or any adequate sys- tem of bond and mortgage, and burdened with other annoying, iniudicious restric- tions, is very far from being such meas ure. Were it passed, we doubt whether Q single new railroad would ever be con- structed under it's provisions, unless it might be some branch built by rich cor- poration to iniure the business of weaker one, like that which we understand the Hartford < New Haven Railroad Go. pro. poses to extend to New Britain.
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 BASE BA1IA-The games of base ball be. tween the great professional clubs have been unusually close and we'll played, this season. The breaking up of the old Red .a Stockings club led to the formation of two excellent clubs; the Olympics of Washing tons and the Red Stockings of Boston. The Wrights were in the latter. and more a n