The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-05-27
MAINE BUSINESS INTERESTS
now the business Men of Portland and
Of the State Are Put mt a Disadyau,age
oy the Peculiar Arrangements for RIM
ming Passenger Trains Between ,hi.
City and Boston,

To the Editor Of the Press:
AS we are now nearing the time when nau
time tables of the Boston & Maine and East.
ern railroads are to be issued, allow me tn call
your attention to the fact that the business ~
Portland and of the State OF Maine has b;,ha,-
quite ignored RE tP g gNs S
trains. : y
By the present time table, business men Of
Boston can leave that city at O'Clock in the
morning, arriving here at one o'clock, have
two hours and half for the transaction of
business, and reach Boston again by s O'Clock
in the evening; or they can remain until
o'clock, and reach Boston at half-past 9. On
the other hand, the business man Of Portland
who leaves here at S.45 does not reach Boston
until ! 10, making the trip between here and
Boston half an hour longer than the trip the
other way; and if he wishes to return on the
$50 train, he is compelled to spend four hours
and twenty minutes on the train before reach
ing home; and if he is detained, he cannot
leave Boston until o'clock in the evening,
reaching Portland at eleven.
If the interests of the business men of Port
land are ignored in future as they have been
in the past, the only remedy would seem to be
in the Legislature. There is no good reason
why these roads could not give our business
men train to Boston, which would leave here
say at half.past O'Clock, reaching Boston at
haIt-past 10; leaving there at o. M and reach
ing Portland again at s. This would stimulate
the Maine roads to run trains in connection
with it, and thus place the business men
Of the State of Maine Ia communication with
the outer world, without having to submit to
stage coach time to do it.
The writer is quite familiar with the work
ings Of the various systems of railroads in this
country, and the facilities which they offer the
people, and he is not awars of similar con-
dition of things in any OF the Northern or
Western States this side Of the Missouri river.
For instance, the Milwaukee & st. Paul road
not only place a rapid train in the morning
and afternoon between both cities one leaving
Milwaukee and the other Chicago in the
morning, and returning in the afternoon; but
add to this convenience the comforts of hotel
car TO zach train. The discrimination of the
Boston g Maine railroad in favor of Boston as
| against the business interests of Portland, and
against the interestet the whole State, in fact,
has been snch that capfsl will not come here,
nor will it remain where Railroad facilities are
denied or so poor as to prevent comnetition
| with the outer world.
Notwithstanding the water faciliras within
| the State, and the liberal laws regardfL0 man
| ufactures, the State Of Maine has not been de.
| veloped az has either New Hampshire or Mas
| sachusetts, all owing In the opinion OF tie
| writer, to this wanton discrimination against
the business of the State by the railroads. This
discrimination has no doubt forced manutact-
uring enterprises to 90 elsewhere, which would
| have been located within the borders of the
| State, and through 1t we have lost thousands
of inhabitants, and millions of dollars of CAPT.
| tai to give employment.
| Statistics believe show, Il at there are now
| living $50, COO of the natives OF this State, who
| have emigrated to other States for the purpose
| of transacting business. Had the railroad
| companies given to the State OF Maine, facili-
| ties so that our people could have utilized our
| magnificent water powers and developed our
| natural resources, how many of these persons
| who were driven from the State for the want
| of facilities to transact business within it,
| would have remained within her borders, no
| one of course can say. This emigration from
| the State must continue so long as railroads
| deny to the people the facilities which the
railroads of other States give. 1t seems not
unreasonable to place the injury this discrimi-
nation has wrought against the people Of this
| State, far up in the millions; and 1t is not a
| temporary but permanent injury. Give the
same facilities to the people OF Maine to prose-
| cute their business with the outer world that
| other States have; give them an opportunity
| to leave here, in the evening, and reach New
| York in time for breakfast, or leave here in
the morning, spend the day in Boston. and
reach home again at night, and you will add
| TO the permanent prosperity OF the State of
| of Maine, more than can be done in any ether
way.
Will you not lend to the people of the city
| and the State the benefit of your columns for
| the agitation of this question, and so lead to
| the relief which, 1t seems 70 me, the business
of this State and city demands? ID.