The Portland daily press., 1871-08-09
Natural business Centre Of New EngIam nd.
10 the Editor Of The Press


".
To the Editor of The Press: ~
The New England States occupy an area of
90, 600 square miles. This entire district is at
present commercially largely tributary to Bcs-
ton. 1t is important 10 observe, however, lbat
the pfedomipence in trade secured by Boston
is due mainly to arcidena crcums ances, as
it were, and not to any natural and~inevi;able
necessity. Ia virtue of its geographical posi-
ton, Portland and not Boston is entitled 10
the business of the larger portion OF New Fog
land, because in point o: distance Portland is
mot ready OF access to the larger portion than
is Boston. ..5
That this may be seen to be the case, or auy
accur aiely constructed map OF New Enela laid
let line be drawn SO a. to pass though the
points qually distant from Portland and Bos-
ton. This lue, it is evident. will separate the
territory winch is ut arer Portland Oh The one
hand IRON that which is nearer Boston 81 the
other. SO drawn, the lire falls 7n the coast
rear Portsmouth, thence interiorward passes
near Concord in New Hampshire and Rutland
in Vermont, and terminates On Lake Cham
plain little to the north OF Whitehall at the
head of the lake. All the territory nor III and
east OF this line is nearer Portland than Bos-
ton. All south and west of it is nearer Boston
than Portland. The territory north and east
of this line cOmprehends all Maine and about
| three. fouIths of New Hampshire aud Yer
| mont, or nearly $4,000 square miles. That
south and west of the line embraces the resi-
due of the eastern States, or about 10000
square miles. s.ae r,- 90. tNff
Such, then, are the proportions of the terri
tory of the six States that would naturally find
their market respectively in Portland and Bos-
ton. We all understand by what varied influ-
encrs, by the circumstance OF an earlier start,
| by the cooperation of a wiser state policy, by
the prior establishment of manufactures, by an
audacity of enterprise that has been the prodi
gy of modern times, Boston has much more
than reversed the natural proportions of New
| England business due her from position, and
until recently has threatened to bear not mere
| ly no rival, but even no participator in that
| business. t- .it..t.s.tt e.s.zl sa.ss.+.s
Her astonishing success has been due to her
railroad enterprises more than to any other
agency. This, lit is to the last degree impor-
tant that Portland. just in the present crisis Of
Not content with the comparatively narrow
territory naturally falling to her, Boston has
| pushed out her line of traffic far into the re-
gion geographically more closely related to
Portland, and has wrested away from her bus
| mess which she is entitled to regard as hers,
| a business which actually was once and wholly
hers. Take the map in hand and observe how
far beyond the dividing line, above noticed,
Boston has driven her railways into
| New Hampshire and Vermont. AT this
instant, as write, a railroad whistle sounds
and my eyes fall upon a long train of ieight
cars laden with merchandise from the ware.
houses of Boston, rolling along its track,
through the midst of this thriving center Of
manufactures, 205 miles distant from Boston
and up the teeming valley of the Psssumpsie
river, while Portland which could supply the
| dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes, hard
ware, salt and fish, drugs, paints, oils, soap
| and other articles with which this train i.
| loaded, on as favorable terms as Boston, is on
ly 135 miles distant by the Portland and Og
densburg road and has none of this business
Less than an hour ago an old Vermont mer
chant was telling me how he alone used tt
| send hundred tens of produce to Portland
by the "Notch' each W inter, getting back his
groceries, dry goods and other stores by the
same route. Everybody else did the same,
he exclaimed; ''the line Of pungs were as long
as the caravans of Africa. Lay down the raj
to meet us as we reach the Connecticut river
and the business all goes back to Portland"
Let every citizen of Portland, then, take no.
tice, that 900 square miles of territory in
New Hampshire and Vermont, lying nearer
Portland than Boston, have been made tribu-
tary to Boston to the loss of Portland, and the
whole thing has been effected by railroad =
This territory with the vast reach of country
beyond to which through the Great Lakes it
opens, belongs for business purposes to Port
land. 1t belongs to as. The same agency that
| enables Boston to keep it away, and in part to
take it away from us, will enable us to recover
it. at least in part, and hold it in possession
We can build railroads into New Hampshire
and Vermont that will place us in time and
convenience as we now are in distance, Sin
side" of Boston. This we are indeed now do
ing. 1t remains only u DO it tborouoblv -
Anything short of this is simply to lose the
best fruit of what we have already done and to
fling away advantages placed within our reach
| by the force of nature. % ~ **
St. Johnsbury, VT, Aug. Z, 1871,