The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-03-09
THE PR ESS.
SATURDAY MORNING, MARCH 8, 1872
The Railroad Legislature and Its AttOr-

legislation VI tldSl WlutcI, 10 enL6r upon
an examination Of the motives of those who
favored and those who opposed it, we waive
the manifest unseasonableness Of topic
which this and all other newspapers consid-
cred fully many week ago. The exigencies OF
the situation. demand of the editor OF the
journal a renewal of personal controversies
which were long since laid aside at his own
suit. But before responding to his renewed
demand for personal attention, the morsel OF
argument, which appears so impertinent in a
purely malicious ''attack on friendly power"
is to be considered. In brief it is this,-and
we wish it was fresher, in order that our read
ers might enjoy it more: 9 a-a. ii
The Maine Central leases by law four or six
1--WE do not know the number) railroads. They
asked that authority might be given to these
roads to join in one joint mortgage under one
name to effect loan With this authority no
mortgage could be effected until the Board of
Directors of each road had sanctioned it. 1t
simply said to these different railroads. s''When
you wish to raise money by loan, instead of
giving four or six separate bonds. if you so vote
you may give one joint bond" That is the
length and breadth, the heighth and depth of
this ubiquitous measure" .f..t ~ D..
Then, after an Illustration calculating this
inadequate statement of the case, the Journal
adds: i. H.r, 4sof-a, ID, miami ..,.5..a.. ID.
1t neither authorized or forbid consolidation.
Its defeat would have been wantonly wicked,
and not only disgrace to the State of Maine
without a shadow of excuse, but it would have
driven from the State foreign r. r. capital;
since it would have established outrageous and
unheard of legislation to war upon the invest
ments of the State, and that too, when not a
soul could be benefited thereby except foreign
brokers. ~ i4f rs-s
Now mark, Mr. Journal, how plain a tale
shall put you down. The Maine Central and
Portland & Kennebec Railroads, ignoring the
undisputeG law of the State and the en-
phatic expression of the will of the people
given by the Legislature of 1870, had alreadg
consolidated when the Legislature of 1872 as
sembled. There is no escaping this point
Judge Rice and all the friends of the road ex-
pressly declared that the contract of May 18th,
1870, was VIRTUAL CONSOLIDATION Now
the language of the loan bill, referring to ''the
roads now leased'' by the Maine Central, is a
formal ratification of the consolidation effect
ed in reckless defiance of law and of the peo-
pie. And there is no escaping this point
ings before the Supreme Court, begun in be-
half of the State by the Attorney General to
test the legality of consolidation, are regarded
as brought to close by the action of the
Legislature. We repeat, then, that the pas
sage of the Maine Central loan bill was such
ratification of reckless, arrogant usurpa-
tion-of daring and unprincipled defiance
of law--as cannot be accounted for on any
other hypothesis than improper influences
brought to bear on weak or unprincipled
members. .,-.5.- & 7-.t5 ~ nas -s w.
This view of the case is confirmed by the
action of the friends of the bill in voting down
the amendments offered in the Senate on the
9th of February. Mr.. May offered an amend
ment providing thatthe act should not legalize
the lease of the Portland & Kennebec to the
Maine Central road, and should not affect the
legal proceedings pending in the Courts-in
other words, should not legalize consolidation.
But all Maine Centraldom was on the alert as
if a public enemy had effected landing on
our coasts, and it was voted down. An
amendment of similar purport offered by Mr..
Harrington shared the same fate. Mr. Spauld-
ing's amendment, which only proposed to
speak Of the roads swallowed by the Maine
Central boa constructor as "roads hereinafter
named," instead of the ''roads nov leased"
was also voted down! And now comes the
belated untimely attorney, declaring with
unspeakable impudence that the measure was
a simple and just authorization of proper
financial transaction, and that consolidation
was 'neither authorized nor forbidden there
by! '' -'a- t- 'iiE5 +d- a''~ 4at
To show the morbid constituencies of Sena-
tors interested in the Maine Central scheme
to everything touching however remotely
''the child of the State" it should be added
here that they rushed to its rescue with great
spirit when Mr.. Chaplin offered an amend
ment limiting the amount of the bonds to
$lO,000,000, and also when Mr.. Morris followed
it up with another, proposing that the Maine
Central should surrender, as an equivalent for
its enlarged powers, the exclusive rights Sc
cured to it by its charter, and should submit
itself to the control of the Legislature. Their
tenderness for the wealthiest corporation in
Maine was like that of Hamlets step-father
80
winds of Heaven visit its face too roughly!
But to men who have really examined the
case, it is all too plain for argument. The
passage of the loan bin was a victory won by
the strongest battalions-of dollars. -.
And now, reversing our antagonist method,
we shall make short work of his personal at
tack. Like many others who have criticised
the course of the PRESS in warning the people
against monopolies, he INDUCES in vague and
dark hints as to our notices We shall only
be too glad if our directness in ascribing the
proper motive to the journal in unmistakable
language EFFORTS from that paper a specific
charge in order that we may meet it. The
difficulty is that no human imagination can
conceive of anything except regard for the
public good as prompting the course we have
taken. As for the Journal, the following
charmingly ingenious paragraph, which ap-
peared in an inland paper early IL, January,
indicates with sufficient accuracy the origin of
its Opinions:
Friend Butler of the Biddeford Journal,
seems to know our wants and inclOses us an an
nual pass over the Eastern Railroad with the
compliments of the company. The Eastern
Railroad is doing much for the convenience of
the travelling public from Portland to Boston,
and has made excellent arrangements for con-
nections with our Maine railroads. a3
This fattering control of railroad patronage
granted to it by the Maine Centrals other
self, was not only sufficient to keep the Jour
nal ''sound" during the Legislature, but to
give such momentum to its gratitude as to
carry it into the third week after adjournment.
But this gratitude ought not to lead the
Journal to forget the just claims of its other
friends, at least to courtesy. Does not its
editor remember how, no longer ago than last
fall, when he wanted so much to be Senator
from York county, he begged for truce that
had been granted without any solicitation,
and how supplianty he prayed that we would
"let by-gones be by-gones'? Was it our
fault that his neighbors, who elected the rest
of the ticket on which his name appeared,
did not think his merits sufficient to deserve
their favorable consideration or thersuffrages ?
In the same number of the Journal which
contains the advocates plea for our Erie there
is an article on ''The Next Representative"
1t properly enough says that York county is
to furnish the candidate, adding that this con-
cession is on condition that majority of the
York votes be concentrated on one man. We
know nothing of this ''new rule" as the
journal calls it, but we do know that it is