The Portland daily press., 1871-10-25
DAILY PRESS.
CORTLAND
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1871
State Aid TO Railroads.

ly avows Itself favorable to the general policy
of State aid to railroads, and that it demands
assistance in building the Aroostook and
Eastern roads to begin with. Lest we should
inadvertently misrepresent journal Tor
which we entertain the highest respect, we
quote its language at length:
In DIR. Lorng's rather ford remarks at |
Vanceboro' on Thursday, there was one SEN
timent appropriate 20 the occasion, wherein |
he alIuded to the grand results achieved in
Massachusetts by the liberal policy of the |
State in encouraging the construction of rail- |
ways, and the occasion was one where this |
subject could be pertinently considered bv |
those gathered to celebrate an enterprise of
national Importance, which owed its connie
ton in great part, to the assistance rendered
by the State. 1t is matter of Importance to
those who are to frame the legislation of this
progressive age, to inquire into the results of
the dissimilar policies of this and other States
upon questions affecting its material prosper. |
lty, and to see whether the modification OF |
some of the rules of other days is not de- |
manded by the necessities and interests OF the |
present time.
With reasonable qualifications we might |
say that a railroad in any direction in any |
part of the State, must prove advantageous |
to the general interests, and we can say with |
out qualification that general State policy |
which should encourage ndpromote the con-
struction OF lines wherever the people are |
willing to help to build them, would do more |
in ten years towards increasing the wealth of |
the State than all other agencies combined.
The Importance of opening the fertile valleys
and rich resources OF the Aroostook is be-
coming daily more distinctly visible and the
great counties of Hancock and Washington
are at last awakening to the influences of the
outside world, and demanding intercourse
fhnjr Ytoiuhhnrc
own section are prominent, because the dis
tricts affected are at present sparsely populated
and there are cases in other portions of the
State where such enterprises would be fol-
lowed with results beneficial to the people at
large. Aroostook waits only for means of
access to attract thriving population and
the people of Eastern Maine are only debat
ing their ability to bear the expense OF the
line which they discover to be essential TO
their prosperity. 1t the State could aid either
of these sections in open ing railway commu-
nicaton, no one can doubt that the common
wealth would be repaid abundantly by the re-
suits which would follow, and in other cases
where the people are able to do less than bear
the whole burden at the outset, the general
interests would be subserved in promoting the
growth and development Of section.
Propositions of this nature must be in
stantly met even though we should incur the
unjust reproach of opposing through Jealousy
the interests of another part of the State.
We beg that the Wing will do us the justice
at the outset to believe that we oppose the
change in the policy of the State on general
grounds alone. We hold that whatever helps
Bangor, or Aroostook County or Eastern
Maine helps, the whole State, and so helps
Portland. We trust that the PRESS is a
stranger to that narrow, unintelligent spirit
that looks askance at everything not directly
and exclusively beneficial to single city,
however conspicuous the position it may oc-
cupy. We should favor granting State sub
Idly to the Aroostook or the Eastern road
with ust as much alacrity as we should favor
granting the same indulgence to the Portland
d Rochester or the Portland & Ogdensburg
roads-both of them enterprises dear to the
Portland heart. But we should look upon
substituting either or all of them as most I'M
wise and as inevitably disastrous TO the moral
and ultimately to the material interests of the
State.
In a part of the Wings article which we
have not quoted it justifes the policy it rec
ommends by citing the single case in which
the State has departed from its traditional
prudence by granting nearly million dollars
and the remnant of its public lands to the
European & North American road and
claiming that it can see that all the outlay of
the State will be paid back "more than
hundred fold" 1t believes that the State
will be enriched thereby, and in justification
of its faith points to "the great tannerles of
kingman that have sprung up at the sound
of the locomotive whistle" We have great
respect for the tanneres of Kingman. Long
may they flourish, and may like industrial
establishments line the road at convenient in
tervals from the Penobscot to the St. Croix.
But we cannot allow the exceptional case
Of the European & North American road to
pass unehallenged as precedent. The State
of Maine never expected to receive, and for
at least a hundred years TO come never will
receive pecuniary recompense for the money
and lands it gave that road Both State and
and nation acted in the premises from sim
cere belief that the road was necessary "for
the defense of the Northeastern frontier"
We -AHAr should have departed from the set
tied policy of the State if the treaty of Wash
ington had been ratified before the aid was
granted. The relations Of the United States
and Great Britain were then extremely pre-.
carious. The Alabama claims AMI the fish
cry question seemed likely to involve us in a
war that would invite an attack from an enc
my on the line of the st. Croix. Taking ad-
vantage of the popular apprehension, the pro-
jectors fthe enterprise finally excited the in
terest of the Legislatures of Maine and Mas
s"shusetts in the road as ga military necessi-
w." NO One now believes that the necessity
longer exists. And If the most saneuine ex-
pectations of the Wing should be fulfilled in
respect to the development of the country on
the line of the road, there is no possible wav
IN winch the State can receive qutd pro quo
unless ii is saved from an armed invasion -
So that with all our enthusiasm for the great
International route, and with all our faith in
Its future, we feel that the State has made a
poor investment, and one that has deprived
1t largely OF the means as well as the inclina-
ton to proceed further in the same direction.
One word as to the moral effect of subsidiz-
Ing railroads. Where railroads are founded
on the needs and are built by the money of
the communities through which they pass.
they are healthlul and helpful to surprising
degree. But there is an abnormal growth of
railroads that is harmful to a still greater de-
gree. Where they are built by subsidies.
wrung from reluctant Legislatures by the arts
OF corrupt lobbyists and largely appropriated
by those chiefly Interested in obtaining them
they may give fictitious appearance of pros
perity that is an entire deusion. Heaven save
Maine from that prosperity" that is based on
the acmuation of immense fortunes in the
hands of afew capitalists, and from that cor
rupting wealth" that springs from the sue
cess of gigantic 'monopolies. We are not of |
those who find DR.. Loring's pictures at all Sc |
ductive. We remember too well that the /
policy of Massachusetts in substituting rail |
roads has brought upon it that evil which is
most OF all to be dreaded by those who real
lie how entirely the general happiness and
innate well-being of a people depend |
on preserving their integrity, and on the |
purity of public administrations lobby
powerful and INSCRIPTIONS enough to
control the Legislature. Boston, Hartford |
& Erie has not only brought the omnipo-
tent lobby to Massachusetts, but it has rem |
dered it possible for the polluting finger of |
FISK to be felt for the first time in the affairs
OF the honored old commonwealth. Both in
Massachusetts, and in other States where its
system is in vogue the tendency of the best
and wlsest men is to abandon it as an ever