The Portland daily press., 1885-07-01


collapsed in 1887. 1t was sound Judgment
which led them to pursue the policy of buying
lands when they could buy to advantage, re-
sardless of the ups and downs of the market.
They foresaw the growth of New England
under the stimulating influence of railway de-
velopment which was just beginning forty
years ago and they knew that Maine timber
lands would have an increasing value and the
fullness of their conviction led them to pur-
chase until they held 700 square miles. 1t
was the same we'll grounded faith in the
growth of the Northwest which led Governor
Coburn, after the collapse of the Northern
Pacific enterprise in 1874 to hold and con-
tinue to purchase the dishonored securities of
the company that they might be turned into
land.
The great service which Governor Coburn
rendered Maine in the development of its
railroad system cannot be over estimated. For
more than quarter of century he devoted
time and money to it when the general opinion
was that it was misfortune to be a stock
holder in either of the four corporations east
of Portland which now make up the well
equipped and excellent property known as the
Maine Central. The history of the construc-
ton and earlier years of these lines is re-
cital of personal sacrifice and almost super
human struggle. The Coburns of Skowhegan.
the Moors and Morrills of Waterville, the
Wlliamses of Augusta, the Pattens of Bath.
the Browns of Portland and their associates
are men to whom every generation following
them in Maine will owe large debt of graft
tude. Many fell out by the way, but as wears
passed. Governor Coburn became more and
more the most prominent man in the enter
prise. Many of his associates lost faith in the
ultimate success of the enterprise but Gov
ernor Coburn, in its darkest hours. attested
his faith by pledging his private fortune to
meet its obligations to an extent which if done
by other men would be regarded as reckless.
During the year 1877, when paralysis had
fallen upon the business and the industry of
the State, and extensive improvements were
made the Maine Central managers found it
impossible to meet their obligations Its float
ing debt was large, the banks would not take
its paper upon the security presented and the
outlook was discouraging, but Governor
Coburn during that year endorsed Maine
Central paper to the extent Of ST., 1886, 000 At
an earlier period, incident to the process of
consolidation there was another crisis in the
affairs of the Maine Central. l have my in
formation from one of Names honored citizens
and | will try to relate the incident in his
graphic language: at had been hard season;
our expenditures had been heavy and our re-
eeipts light. Our floating debt had become
large and those who held it were importunate
when they found we could not pay. Institu-
tons which held our paper and were glad to
get it demanded immediate payment We did
not know what to do. At last it occurred to
one of the board to go to Governor Coburn
He had been confined to his house for several
weeks and was just getting up when two of us
went to see him. He was yet sick man. We
laid our case before him and ended by stating
that we could see no way out but for him to
endorse the paper of the Maine Central for
100000 then and for 100000 IN the course
of the next sixty days. He said not word
and we could not tell from any expression of
his features how our proposition struck him,
When we had finished, he broke the silence by
asking if we had a note for him to sign. We
presented it, he signed it, and the crisis was
over. One savings bank which had the best
security the company could give was urging
payment with great persistency, but when we
offered it the endorsement of Governor Co.
burn the president said he would regard it
favor to have the company keep the money
with such security as that"
What tiattering testimonial was this both
to the integrity and the intellect of Abner Co.
burn-the name of an old man in feeble health
giving market currency to the obligations of
the first corporation and the great railroad of
the State! 1t was not wholly because Gov.
Coburniwas rich man that the managers of
institutions had such faith in him,
but it was because they knew that If he was
backing the Maine Central it must be solvent.
They were right; Gov. Coburn had settled for
himself every doubt respecting the corporation.
No man knew better than he the possibilities
of the country for which the Maine Central is
the arterial system. Town by town he had
the 81 aaah
II 80. -, amount u houl1shli4ent eae-
NJcallty would afford the railroad, so that his
faith in the ultimate value of the property was
based upon calculations made with mathemat-
ical accuracy. 1t was his intelligent and I'M
wavering faith in the enterprise which inspired
confidence in others, and this more than his
wealth promoted the success of railway
which, in all the years to come more than any
one agency, will affect the welfare of the
larger part of the people of Maine Suppose
that in these crucial periods, Gov. Coburn had
lacked faith, as did others, or had turned rail-
road wrecker instead Of corporation saver
what would have been the effect upon the in
terest of the people whom the corporation now
so well serves and which has doubled the value
of the farm, the factory and the toll of the
laborer?
Governor Cobun was a conservative bust
ness man who acted upon the theory that all
gains from business should come from the ac-
tual appreciation of property. He was a
stranger to Wall street practices, and to those
manipulations Of properties by which one man
is made Crmsus by filing Wall street with
shorn and bleating lambs. He was not en-
gagged in ''corners' and "blind pools" and re-
garded transactions in commodities and stocks
which never had existence as species of gam
xyhia h nd f0 fbo Of
the country, and therefore, was in no sense
legitimate enterprise. He recognized the diff
ference between speculation and enterprise;
therefore his life and his energies were devoted
to enterprises, the success of which depended
upon the actual appreciation of values. The
business affairs and projects in which he was
engaged and which he carried out, added mil
lions to the wealth of the country when thou
sands were added to his estate.
The Coburns, in their relations to others,
We're helpful men, The shores of the sea over
which they sailed fifty years to fortune are
not dotted with the unsightly hulks of fellow
voyagers whom they have scuttled in kind of
trade which is better called piracy. On the
contrary, in seasons of peril, they were always
helping the weak; and scores Of men are pros
porous to- day, because when amid the break
ers, they raised the signal of distress and the
GODuIUS Cdlile 10 IuGH T6SCuG anu conveyed
them into the open sea. After having rescued
men, they never assumed toward them pat
ronizing air, never boosted of it, never re-
minded them of their obligation or claimed
perpetual vassalage as the price of succor. If
during the last 25 years of his life, Governor
Coburn had utilized that power which a sense
of obligation for benefits received carries with
it, in the larger business affairs of the State
and in legislation affecting it and in politics. he
could have been well nigh autocratic. Many
of us who remember the railroad contests in
the legislature prior to consolidation, knew
that Governor Coburn never availed himself of
that power-that either from delicacy or from
fear that he might infringe upon the realm of
propriety, he did not ask the services of these
whom he had favored, when they could have
been his allies in all honesty and honor.
Governor Coburn gave his first vote for
President in 1924 to John Quincy Adams. He
did not vote for another successful candidate
for President until 1910, which is to say, that
he was Wing. At an early age, he took an
active interest in party matters and to the end
of his life was firm believer in the cardinal
principles of the Wing party in the days of its
glory. At that time the Wing party in Maine
embraced such distinguished men as George
Evans, Governor Kent, William Pitt Fessen-
den Elijah L. Hamlin and Luther Severance
Governor Coburn first appeared in the Maine
House in lS3S-the time when the Wings