Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-05-18
THURSDAY, MAY ia. 1871.
The barre and Gardner R1.en.lon.

on the Barre aud Gardner extension bill. No
good or even plausible reason has been pro-
dueed by the enemies of the bill to explain their
opposition. They can vote against it and har-
angue against its supporters; but they give no
explanation Of their refusal to allow the people
on the line of the road to spend their own
money for this valuable local improvement.
Senators and Others who oppose the measure
may be excused for giving no good reasons for
their course, because there are none to be given.
The case is very simple; there is nothing OBJ
scure or difficult to comprehend; there Is no
subterfuge or trick, no scheme TO get money
out of the state or any person or corporation, or
10 deprive any town or railroad route Of its
legitimate business or profits. 1t is not disputed
by any body that Winchendon ought to have
more direct communication with Worcester,
and it is conceded also that it can
be had only by means of the Barre
and Gardner railroad. The people inter-
ested propose to supply this admitted want by
building with their own money railroad on
the most direct line. They may be supposed TO
know their own business best, and they are sat
isfed that this method will accomplish their OBJ
ject better than any other. 1t has at any rate
these obvious advantages, which everybody can
understand, that il is more than two miles
shorter than any other route; it has an easier
grade, and gives the needed facilities without
complications with existing roads. The substi-
tute proposed and urged by the most persistent
opponent of this measure presents engineering
difficulties which, though not actually 1nsur-
mountable are such as no Intelligent railroad
manager would undertake TO overcome, unless
in case which offered no alternative. When
the people of Worcester, Holden, Princeton,
Hubbardston, Gardner and Winchendon come
TO the peoples representatives at the state house
with this modest request, and with SO many ex-
eelent reasons why it should be granted, they
have right to expect favorable answer.
The opposition to this measure arose in Fitch
burg and Ashburnham, and was professedly
based on the assumption that the proposed ex-
tension would injure those towns and the rail-
roads which pass through them. 1t cannot have
any such effect, and it is difficult to believe that
anyone honestly thinks it will. The real mo-
tive of the oppositioni is a narrow and unreason..
able local Jealousy, which grudges additional
advantages to communities regarded as in some
sort rivals. The opponents contrived artfully
to excite the fears of the Bristol county people
that the building of this little piece of road in
the north part of Worcester county would di-
vert all the trade of northern New England
from its established channels, sending it to
New York by the way of Worcester, Providence
and Norwich instead of by the way of Fall
River. If this were true, as we must in candor
protest that we believe it is not it would be one
of the strongest arguments in favor OF the ex-
tension. If it could be demonstrated that the
building of ten miles of road would change the
course Of all the traffic which now goes through
Fitchburg, birmingham and Mansfield, this
would be abundant proof that this trade had
not yet found its natural channel. The fact is
that the road is needed as well as desired by
the people it aims to accommodate; it will be
great benefit to them and no injury to anybody
else.
The Boston Traveller very truly says:-"The
Spy cannot conceive of an honest difference of
opinion on question of this character" We
cannot; the case seems too plain to admit of it.
We are willing to believe, as we said yesterday,
the bill were influenced by sense of their duty
to the commonwealth or to their constituents,
but we cannot conceive by what mental pro-
cess they reached their conclusion, or by what
arguments they could justify it. The Boston
Journal and Advertiser, disinterested spectators,
unbiased by local influences, can see no other
explanation Of the senate's action than that
hiah hau haau 10 cd Tba
nal, quoting from our remarks of yesterday,
says it does not like to credit these assertions:
"And yet it is difficult to account for the de-
feat of the bill on any other ground. Certainly,
if ever a clear case was made out for the grant
inc of bill it was in this case; the bill is de-
feated, certainly not on its merits, but by some
influence, which if it be worthy and honorable,
ought to be made manifest. As the case now
stands, the public will attribute its defeat to the
power of the lobby who will be still more
brazen-faced than ever in asserting their owner
ship of the votes of the members of the legisla-
ture."
And the Advertiser says:
There was no conceivable,reason why the bill
should not be passed, and its defeat, in the face
of arguments which would have been deemed
sufficient to justify a charter anywhere else in
the state, is every way discreditable. 1t is the
triumph of lobby hired for this purpose; and
the only way in which the senate can recover its
credit is to reconsider its action and pass the
bill"
Nobody at the state house needs to be told
how measures of this kind are opposed or car
ried when the lobby is enlisted for or against
them. The members of that influential body
make it their business to know all the influences
most likely to be effectual with each member of
the legislature. They know who can be profta-
bly, assailed with social influences and good fel-
lowship and can be induced on plausible ex
parte representation of the case to pledge his
vote in advance to oblige a friend or business
associate; they know who have schemes of their
own whose success is doubtful and who are
willing to engage, as Mr.. Phillips so well ex-
pressed it, Gin the ordinary legislative traffic,
vote for vote" We not only know that these
means and Others like them are commonly en-
ployed by the lobby, as every body knows it, but
we know as fact, and our knowledge was
obtained from other sources than common ru-
NOR, that they have been employed with effect
10 this case. Now this measure directly affects
a comparatively small, but by no means insig-
nihcant portion of the commonwealth; but the
principles involved are of great consequence to
the whole state. 1t has come to pass that no
legislation on matters affecting railroads can be
considered on its merits. They are all passed
or defeated by the lobby or If the lobby fails as
1t does sometimes, it is only after a strenuous
and doubtful contest, costing the commonwealth
much in money and more in good repute. If
the lobby now boast Of owning the legislature,
is it not high time that we chose legislators
whom the lobby cannot own?
How Napoleon Lost His Last Chance.
The New York Tnbune's Berlin correspondent
gives an account Of curious conversation with
Bismarck in which the German chancellor ex-
pressed very frankly his opinion of Louis Ma
Poieon' and disclosed some of the secrets of the
diplomacy which produced the preliminary
treaty Of peace between Germany and her con.
qnered enemy. Bismarck, this writer saws
likes to give his ideas to the public in the ray
OF friendly chat, as if he were speaking of triv
ial matters. On the occasion mentioned 10
was talking with group of liberal represents.
tiyes, and the conversation led TO an estimate os