St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-01-10

evils TO Brazil winch ndu D6SH PIE
dicted by the ultra-cOnservatives and
the apprehension of which undOubt-
edlv delayed the contamination OF
the humane policy begun nearly
twenty years before Brattleboro
Phoenix.
RAILROAD TO STOWE, VERMONT.
We are informed that the Central
Vermont railroad has offered-if as
sisted by gratuities to the extent of
$40, OOO-to build a branch from its
station III Waterbury up the valley
to the village of Stowe, where Is the
Mt. Mansfield House. Weare greatly
interested in Stowe, for 1t has been
our summer home for several years,
and we do not know where there is
more charming spot on God green
earth or Il more fertile one in New
England. and we sincerely trust the
golden opportunity to connect 1t by
rail with the outside world will be
improved. for the day has gone by
when even a town so blessed with
natural advantages as Stowe can
continue to thrive ten miles from the
main line of railroad. We have seen
i'll our own State and we see every
where how villages spring up and
prosper around the terminus of a
railroad; how they become the cen
tiers Of trade, of manufacturing, of
education, culture and material pros
pcritV and how the old towns, ia
nous in local history for their wealth
and enterprise in the days of the
stagc-coach, shrivel and decay when
the railroad passes by on the other
side, and it is the unalterable law of
the period that this shall continue
That Stowe has SO long been able to
hold her own, to attract visitors from
far and near during the summer
months and to retain enough of her
sons and daughters to cultivate her
broad acres and prevent q serious
loss of population is evidence enough
of her attractivencSS and substantial
resources. but these will scarcely
avail to save her through another
Decade Situated as she is she can go
ahead and any town that does not
do that must retrOgrade.
And here is a good place to say q
word about the construction of short
railroad branches in general in New
England. 1t used to be a theory that
4 railroad should be built only where
there was business enough to support
it, but Il broader policy obtains now
and the Sagac1OuS railroad manager
pushes out the arm of his system to
all the points where there is reasOna-
bic promise that it can create pay
e., W.
held to be poor judgment to go after
patronage which was compelled to
come to a road. To illustrate, it has
been argued all along that the Cen
trail Vermont could not afford to go
up the valley to Stowe because if it
did not. Stowe would go down the
valley to reach it at Waterbury, and
it would have the business Just the
same; but this idea has also been
abandoned, and it has come to be
generally acknowledged that it is
quite as much for the interest of a
railroad corporation as for its pa
irons that it should give them every
facility for carrying on their enter
priscs; that ii must go out from its
main line on Sidings and branches to
meet them and enable them to ship
their merchandise as chcaply and
easily as possible, so that they can
compete with rivals favOrably stu
ated that it must give them every
chance to live and prosper i'll order
that they may flourish and furnish it
with freight and passengers. This is
the correct view, and it is the justifi-
cation for the investment of money
in numerous short lines of road which
are ut first unpnOductive. One of the
leading railroad superintendent of
this section said to us not long ago ::
We can afford to build branch
over any feasible route where the bus
mess the first year will pay for run
ming the trains, for the increase of
traffic resulting from ample railroad
facilities Will in Il short time pay
other expenses and dividcnds.' If
we apply this to the Stowe case that
road should be built at once, for it
will put new life into the town, dou-
bic and treble its business and give
the corporation q large amount of
traffic which it does not get now. 1t
will create new industries, prosper
those already in existence, carry
thithcr Il great stream of summer
travel and put Il market value into
great deal of property that is now
of little account; and it will provide
the main line with feeder from which
it can draw nOuriShment continually
and forever Editor Clarke i'll Man
chester Mirror