Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-07-25

THE following communication received just too
late for publication In our last issue-ED. PHUSIxl
Editor of the PhGHir- Dtdr Sir, My at
tention as a director of the Battleboro 4
Whitehall railroad company has been called
to an article appearing in the Reformer of
the llth inst, over the signature of &c. n D.. ="
relating to the narrow gauge railroad. To
put it in a mild form il seems to me that the
article in question is calculated to convey to
the public a wrong impression AS to the true
condition of affairs. Nothing will be said
herein as to what assurances were given to
the taxpayers of Bnttleboro that the line
through Esteyville and Centreville should be
adopted as | have no personal knowledge
touching this matter, and did not know that
such assurances were given to any person or
persons, and will only remark upon this
point, that it came to be generally felt by the
board of directors that it would not be for the
interest of the company, even if not imprac-
ticable, to build the road on the above named
line. At any rate, your correspondent 80 uu-
derstood it. Furthermore, he does not UNI
derstand that the railroad now in process of
construction is made dependent" upon the
Vermont Valley railroad in the sense that the
former is to be- or can be, controlled by the
latter the yearly rent is not large" but on
the other hand very reasonable.
As to the enhancement of land damages to
the amount of Sl2,OOO to SO, 900, by reason
of change of route" in different places"
referred to in an editorial in the aforesaid
sheet, it is enough simply to say that it is
confidently asserted by those who know, that
the entire land damages for the uAoLe line
cannot much, if any, exceed the sum of $l3,-
600. The writer of this article puts conf
dence in this statement. Furthermore, from
such knowledge as he has been able to gain
at meetings of the directors, from parties out
side, interested or otherwise, and from good
or poor judges of railroad building, he does
not believe that $3.50 200 will build and
equip better railroad than we now have in
prospect" as the writer of the aforesaid arti-
Gle puts into the mouths of good judges"
The price of iron is more than was anticipat-
ed, and the cost Of rails, material and equip
ment, to say nothing of the work, will go far
higher up in the figures than one uninitated
would be apt to suppose.
sc. N. D." says that "some of them"
(meaning the directors) are "wise enough to
stand from under" and asks why have they
resigned" We cannot say as We do not yet
know of the resignation of any one. 1t would
be useless to say that there has always been a
perfect coincidence of opinion in matters
coming before the board That such should
be the case could hardly be expected in a
body of fifteen men where important interests
are at stake. Whatever is wrong should be
corrected, if possible, but the article referred
to is far from the truth according to my own
understanding of the facts. The above asser-
tons have been honestly made, but while
making them am well aware that had they
come from some other person they would
carry greater weight. yet trust that what has
been written by the undersigned will not be
out of place as the honest opinion of a direc-
tor. MILLION DAVIDSON.