The Portland daily press., 1883-09-24
The Railroad Problem


Gil oy Hon, W. l.. Putnam at the meeting
on Friday night is one which deserves seri-
Gus and candid consideration. Prejudice
passion or ignorance should have little to do
with such subject. The judgment of in
telligent business men who have deep and
sincere interest in the prosperity of the city
ought to have the most influence in the de-
cision OF the question. The money invested
In the Portland and Ogdensburg railroad by
the city was public money and it was invest
ed to secure public advantages. The growth
OF the city in population and wealth, the in
crease of its industries, the employment of
more laborers, these are public advantages
from which benefits accrue to ALL
How was the Portland and Ogdensburg
Railroad expected to contribute to these
ends? When 1t was projected and built the
theory was that it would make the shortest
rail connection between the great water
ways of the Northwest and the Atlantic sea-
board and thus become an artery of trade
through which the products of the North
western States would find their way to the
East and to Europe. This expectation has
not been realized in any large degree, and
the reason is, in part, because railroad trans
portation has to great extent superseded
water transportation in the carriage of
grain. 1t has been made cheaper, or other
wise more desirable, to send grain all the
way by rail from Chicago to Eastern ports
than to send it partly by rail and partly
U WI 10 hot @1,ss
condition will change, and mo- prospect that
the expectation originally entertained will
be fulfilled.
In view of this failure the question of i'm
portance is, whether this road in which the
city is interested can be made available as
part of trunk line competing with the 9TH
or trunk lines for the profitable carrying
and so made to minister to the prosperity of
this city One thing is very obvious, shat it
cannot be made to do so if allowed to be-
come the property of any corporation which
Is more interested in diyerting business from
Portland than in bringing it here; or the
property of spectators who would be as
willing to sell it to corporation desiring to
practically close it as through line as to
anybody else provided they could make as
large profit. This is the peril of selling
the road to the highest bidder who may APP
pear in the market Perhaps we could get
a good price for surrendering the advantages
which 1t is possible to obtain; but it would
be very foolish to surrender them. What
already has cost so much to strive for it be-
hooves us to secure If it can be done. The
share we may have in the export commerce
of the country is worth too much to be sac
rifced for slight present financial advan-
tage. We are persuaded that no class of
our citizens whose interests are here and
whose prosperity depends on the prosperity
Of the city are willing to trade off the future
for slight present gain.
By what means can this railroad of ours
become part of trunk line between the
East and the West? Of what trunk line
of those which run South of the great
Lakes. Baltimore, Philadelphia, New
York, and Boston have secured the existing
lines and for reasons that are apparent will |
secure all that may. be built. Our connec- |
ton must be with Northern line. Forum |
ately there is a Northern line which with its
connections seems likely to become rival
of the Southern lines in the amount and val
ne of its business. This is the Canadian
Pacific running West from Montreal into the
great grain producing region of Manitoba
and thence on to the Pacific coast. Fur
thermore it is to have at no distant day a
connection with the Eastern end of the
Northern Pacific at Minneapolis which will
make it the shortest route from that point
to the seaboard. If the Portland & Ogdens-
burg Railroad is to form part of any East
and West trunk line this must be the one.
This opportunity, therefore, would seem
to be the precise one which will secure ,as far
as they can be secured now or are likely to
be secured hereafter, the objects the City of
Portland had in view in building the road.
1t will make the city the seaboard terminus
of great East-and West line of trarsporta-
tation which may reasonably be expected to
have an interest identical with that of our
people in developing the facilities of this
port, and to make the most of its own in
vestment. What more or better can be
hoped for under present circumstances?
What other arrangement can be thought of
which promises equal advantages? The
things that need to be looked after are, first
and chiefly, that the road shall be
operated as part of a through line,
and next that the city receive a fair
compensation for the property rights it parts
with. In other words the important consid-
erations are the uses to which the road will
be put If the city relinquishes its control,
and the return in money for the money ac-
tually expended and the debt incurred.
1t will be borne in mind that it is much
more important for all the people that a
great business should come here to stay, in
creasing the PROPERTY of the city for gener-
atoms, than that we should get back the
money actually paid out, or which must be
paid in satisfaction of liabilities assumed if
we obtain no further advantages. The city
of Portland did not build this railroad as
railroad speculation but for the public good.
1t did not expect to make money by operat-
ing the road or by selling it so much as by |
the increase of the general wealth which |
would result from the existence of the road,
II it can be secured that the road under 9TH
er control will bring about this result as GER
tainly or more certainly than if the city con-
tinues to own and operate it there will be no |
loss, but gain, in relinquishing it upon rea-
sonable terms. But of course this question |
of sale or lease can be discussed only in
general and hypothetical way until an actual
and definite proposition is submitted.
Though he has retired into private life, ex
Postmaster General James seems not to have |
lost his interest in the affairs of the great |
department with which he was so long and
30 honorably connected. At dinner which
was given In his honor at London last week
he had something to say upon the subject in
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