New-York tribune., 1873-03-15
cula,ed to increase IT, But would this increase


The PRESENT SYSTEM MOST coRRUPrrsG.
do not hesitate maintain that OF all the devices Tor
introducing corruption politics and the Government
which could emanate from the unconscious ingenuity OF
the most supid legislator could be found equal
TO the existing system OF railroad supervision and regr
ation Upon what does that system dependf IL depends
upon this that one man Is 20 with IDEAS Of
mon sense-s it within the bounds OF reason-to suppose
hat the man who will not DO his best 10 contrOl
the man who regulatesi We know perfectly well how
rapidly the movement in this direction Is now going on
he SWAY OF the railroad and the lobbyist u notOr
GUS in half Legislatures OF the country. Ano wy
they there They are there because your @ as1 he
ownership OF a thing aud It's regulation, ana ne ne
who owns the thing kn0ws ne the t thns o And
just long as you pursue tniS laso i S5stot onr @
der correct so long as you All the
selves with the idea that you are not % mSnang gno a @
while that you dong your best 10 reduce neuune
TO sysemust 80 long as you maxi f tbe value ont Of
it-just long legislative venality ana pontoai
ton will increase And yet the tendency 1S oSer the
ton is no less rapid than u Is alarming an W. see
cOuntrymOre elsewhere than In soo
LEGISLATURES year by year 40 rnnonsbe boards
OF general railroad directors And Dy tne tern dIi1 q
spOnsDle mean not amenabe TO that caution WHICH Is
inseparabe from ownership In the state OF limos LUIS
position is avowedly assumed we DeieVo tnat !. i'
grave public and private disaster; that u VIII
result Ia abuses and scandals and corruptons III COLI
aud shocked will be but the dust in the balance
SIX RAILROAD FAMILIES
l. myself look forward with confidence TO the time as
not remote when some six corporations will In fact con
troll the railroad system Massachusetts, France Win
twenty-five times our territorial area IL already dis
tricted out among equal number our raroads' uh-
der the pressure OF natural laws will thus gravae
into families Of somewhat the Following uescrlpson
TO the North and East the Boston and Maine ana Ihe
Eastern with their connections. VIII form one FANNY
II they had formed IL two years ago ~ would nay hfe PR
vented throwing away and the wicked waste
Of millions OF money. Next to TINS anu stIetchs l
North will be the Boston and Lowell-the great NOtth
ern consolidation for which your laws already provide
ted large enough to fill the ambition 9i any Gohvn d ~,
man. Then should come the FItchDurg Railroad ana its
connections binding tue state by It's a'Ia route 70 tne
fields OF Pennsylvania. Further south will 3e the Bos
ton and Albany family operating pOweriu lne aey a.,
well consolidated and well understood Beyond that
will the Boston, Providence ana New YORK tahiy
to constitute which the Boston ana Provdenee anu Ie
Boston, Hartford and Erie lines must ultimately ABSORB
each OrherthOugh the time Is not yet Ana tnls con
necton will take 10 itself the territory OF southwestern
gland and will stretch across the Hudson 10 the
cOaholds again. and on over the Erie and tne fehhsy
yana 10 the West And finally to the southeast, now
naming sections OF the state by Responsible tenure
which be shaken aud TO the great oenent OF the
people thereOt-n that direction we md the Iainy Ol
the Old Colony
THE STATE SHOULD OWN ONE FAMILY OF ROADS.
But this is to be the form winch the railroad system
is % assume II consolidation Is thus inevitably reducing
the small number OF competing points, why not your
system al last naked recognized monopoyi The phan-
tom OF competition haunts more. Then you must
regulate or you submit there the alternative Now
If ths is the result to which the railroad system OF Massa
chusetts Is tendlnS, ana you Wodid seeA 70 le-t" t
through mixed ownership aud competition rather tlah
through legislation and meddng, what is the least pos
sibe ownership among six sucn families AS L have de-
scrlbed which would enable the state, through the man
say of these family groups out OF the
six and tnen common sese points out the Fitch
% tue pUsVn %e , S .i f m womId put into the
ham aff flaS flTp uunt t
meets with Canada on tue norJh competing WIN the
Northern Line. II runs parallel with the Boston and
Albany and where that goes IL go. Through the
channels the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company IL
reaches into Pennsyyana and competes with the Hart
ford and Erie and with the very golfers winch come to
by The trade OF Connecticut and CITY
the only trade 1t cannot tOuch ana mat Is competed
Tor by wafer He who holds the tunnel line holds there
FORE the OF the railroad system OF Misschsets nc
holds the key but there Is but one holder who would
So much for our external traffic; bnt this does not
cover the case OF local traffic 10 II, however, impOssi
BILE that there should two different systems OF local
transportation IN community the one being
the Otner wrong. successful innovation VIII soon |
force way into general USE But To remove an abuse
TO explode false theory you must demonstrate Sne
existence OF your abuse or tue Ially oI the IheOry
ere the railroad corporations nave us Od tne MP we
With the state operating the tunnel hue there would AOt
be OF transportation by rail- from without or
within the Commonwealth, no matter how removed from
Immediate contact with tue state road whlch would rOt
feel Instantly the effect Of any reform IN management
established upon IL. have shown you that III practice
found tO be the through the long eXper-
Belgium aud 1t would nave 10 be the case here
lf,u
cesstuy the road then the OF the private
corporations would be made out What the people could
accomplish their road tney could not ask OF
ex pect 10 accomplished the roads OF others.
THE LIMITS OF THE EXPERIMENT.
Here, them is where We would limit the experiment |
OF state ownership To go beyond this. and talk OF
assuming all the railroads in the State or even the |
greater part OF them, would not only expose our pot
cal system to great and unnecessary danger but 1t
would destroy the very of the experiment the
aspiring OF We rely competition TO
preserve from red tape the one side and cOrrup
Ion the other, and do not want 10 destroy
petition by State ownership but we want 70 get back TO
through, mixed ownership. When We stand upon COM
petition we feel the solid ground under feet. That
solid ground, far Massachusetts, is concerned
believe could secured through the public ownership
and manas cement of the railroad line which will owe
its State, aud which stretches its sinews
and feelers throughout tne railroad system Of the State