The Portland daily press., 1872-01-29
THE PRESS.
MONDAY MORNING. JAN. 80, 1879.
Is it a Movement Against Portland 2
II will not be Surprising if there is develop.

It will not be surprising if there is develop
ed strong spirit of opposition to the Lewis
ton and Auburn charter when it comes up
again. Wednesday, for consideration in the
Senate When it was first introduced in that
body there seemed no reasonable ground for
opposing it. The desire of the people of Lew
iston and the adjoining towns for a second
line to this city, which would enable them in
some measure to escape the extortions OF the
Maine Central monopoly, was natural and
proper Their wish to obtain a better West
ern connection by a union with the Grand
Trunk, no disinterested person could con-
scientiously oppose. While these just purpo-
ses alone were disclosed, the sole opposition
to the scheme arose from the Discrimination OF
the Maine Central partizans to see that road
forced to endure the presence of competitor.
For our part we promptly gave the scheme
such support as its merits seemed to deserve.
Subsequently, however, a suspicion has arisen
that the petitioners for the charter have GER
tain Interior purposes that are in deadly hos
tility to the interests of this city. These sus-
picions did not receive such confirmation as
to demand serious attention till Thursday,
when Senator Morris offered certain amend
ments calculated to make the bill conform ex-
actly to the ostensible purposes Of its friends.
By providing that the road should be built on
the broad gauge, and by striking out the sec
ton that permits the new corporation to con-
meet with any otherroad and to lease its line, at
thesame time offering to agree topermitit to be
leased to the Grand Trunk, Mr.. Morris ap-
piled what seems to us to be a genuine touch
stone to the measure. The friends of the bill
opposed these amendments and they were
both finally rejected. The inference then be-
came unavoidable that the Lewiston and
Auburn bill is a part of the plan for building
a road from Danvie to Gorham which shall
turn away from this city the business that
would naturally and legitimately come to it.
The Lewiston journal says that the report
connecting the Lewiston and Auburn bill
with the obnoxious Danville and Gorham
scheme has been started by the Maine Cen
trail for the purpose of defeating the former
measure. 1t declares that the story is ''made
out of whole cloth" The friends of the
AICWloUOu anu AuuuIu IOdu COulQ easily nave
proved that the Journal is right, and that the
Grand Trunk connection is all that they want,
by accepting the amendments of Mr.. Morris.
They may prove it in some way even now
But if it prove otherwise Portland and Port
lands representatives can never give their as
sent to scheme which is calculated to rem
der the city's generous pecuniary assistance to
the Portland and Rochester road worse than
loss. The managers of the latter road have
promptly disclaime through the columns of the
Advertiser all completely with the Danville and
Gorham project, and if their sense of honor and
their gratitude to the city forbid them to engage
in it, outside parties ought not to be allowed to
strike so undeserved blow at the metropolis
of Maine. Let the projectors of the Lewis
ton and Auburn road show by their action
that they want a connection with the Grand
Trunk only, as they at first protested, and it
will be extremely difficult to defeat them un-
less the Maine Central has already become
supreme.