The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-01-10
THE PRESS.
WEDNESDAY MORNING, JAN. 10, 1872.
Is Consolidation LegaIS

Is Consultations LegaIs ~
Among the thousands of persons who are
more or less interested in the question OF rail-
road consolidation, there are few who under
stand the grounds on which the consohdated
companies claim that their action is legal.
There NAV be some easily satisfied people
who will rest content with the mere bald de-
claration of the representatives of the roads
that they have proceeded in conformity with
law, and that all who hold otherwise are
liars. There are others who will not accept
such declarations as final, however exalted
the station and unquestioned the ability OF
gentlemen who take the unprecedented course
Of becoming personally responsible for the
soundness of given position on question
of pure law. , ..ss,..1 b ... ,e..f
The position of the consolidated compa-
MES, if we understand it, is this In the year
1856 the Legislature gave the Kennebec d.
Portland corporation permission to lease its
road. The Kennebec & Portland road after
wards passed into the hands of the Portland
& Kennebec company by virtue of mort
gage made in 1852 and subsequently fore
closed This last transaction has been yarl-
ously characterized, but it is sufficient for the
purposes of this article to state that the par
ties who claim under the mortgage have con-
solidated (s1eased," as they would say) the
road to the Maine Central on the ground that
the power to lease was one of the chartered
rights and immunities of the old Kennebec &
: Portland company to which they claim to be
the successors. And they say that the con-
tract of May 18th, 1870, effecting what they
call lease, was made in pursuance of the
permission given in 1856, and is therefore le-
gal. uaa s.e a"DtH
On the other hand, the people of Maine
('slars" all, according to the declaration of the
representatives of the railroads) acting
through the Attorneys General in a suit now
pending in the Supreme Court, say that the
contract of May 18th is not legal, even if the
Portland & Kennebec succeeded to the right
to lease granted to the former owners of the
road. In the first place, the Revised Statutes
of 1871 declaring generally that no road
shall be leased without the consent of the
Legislature revoked the special permission
given in 1856. In the second. place, it is
claimed that the contract in question has eff
fected not lease but complete consolidation
which, without the consent of the Legislature
is unquestionably illegal. To show that the
transaction amounts to consolidation, the
second article of the 'sease' is cited, which
makes the owners of the leased road part
owners in the Maine Central; also the third
and fourth articles, by which the Maine Cen
trail has power to mortgage its interest in the
leased road and all the bonds, interests and
liabilities of the two companies are placed on
the same footing, and the seventh article by
which all right of re-entry is taken away and
the 'lease" is made irrevocable.
So far all is on the hypothesis that as re-
CARDS right to lease the ten gentlemen who
control the Portland & Kennebec road arc
successors to the corporation to which the
Legislative permission of 1856 was given.
But the people of the State deny that this
special permission was one of the inheritances
of the Portland & Kennebec road, and fol
these reasons: rr aj '.s .la4-
First The right to lease was granted to
another corporation, was not included in the
Portland & Kennebec mortgage and was not
of such a nature that it could be transferred.
Second, the permission to lease had neuer
been accepted and was not therefore a char
tered right which could pass by virtue Of the
foreclosure of mortgage.
Gen. Hawley in his manly letter in answer
to Gen. Buffers ISLANDERS said that he believed
the word liar had its proper place in the Ian
guage, and he accordingly applied it to his
antagonist But we submit to dscrimina-
ting public that the application of it to per-
sons holding given opinion touching point
law, like the one just stated, is not only
unmannerly but grossly ridiculous. Are the
Maine Central authorities prepared to charge
the Judges Of the Supreme Court with false
hood, if the pending suit shall be decided
against the road? Hoie FT'
So far as the PRESS is concerned the dis
courtesy and arrogance of the railroad kings
is the more CONSPICUOUS since there has nev-
er appeared in these columns, prior. to the
meeting of Saturday, one word in relation to
them or their projects that has not been alb
solutely unobjectionable in point Of temper
ate and respectful language. We have ven
tured to state with the utmost moderation
opinions that are widely, almost universally,
prevalent in regard to matters affecting the
vital interests of the State. That insult and
vituperation have been used to meet them is
circumstance calculated to cast suspicion
on the good faith and honest purposes of those
who have betaken themselves needlessly to
rufianly weapons.