Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-12-10
NOTES FROM THE HUB.


week not only to the citizens of Boston
hut to the people of the entire Com
monwealth,' was the refusal of the
board OF railroad commissioners to
ratify the proposed lease of the West
{ End railway system to the Boston
/ Elevated Railway company for a term
/ OF mnety-nine wears, the leasing COM
| pany To pay oue-eighth per cent.
| dividend, free of taxes, upon
the common and preferred stock
of the West End Railway com
/ pany. The commissioners are of
/ tue opinion that the terms of the lease
are not consistent with the public in
/ terest, for the following reasons, brief
/ ly stated: That the lease does not
| provide that the facilities for travel
/ on eitherrOad shall not be diminished; /;
| that it takes the West End system out
of its normal category and brings it
within the exceptional immunities con-
ferred on the Boston Elevated Railway
/ company 10y its amended charter, so
| that it would he impossible under the
lease to secure the due aud safe trans
portation of the public on the West
End system for twenty-five years
from June 10, 1897, by change from
the overhead trolley system for the
underground conduit system, by i'm
proved construction, equipment or
operation, or by the adoption of
any new safeguard, appliance or
! device, unless the same burden
or duty were at the same time i'm
posed upon all the street railway com
panies of the state; that the lease does
not provide that the West End or any
/ other company using the subway is
made expressly subject, with respect
| to the railway and tracks located in
! the subway; and the equipment use
and operation thereof, and transporta-
/ tion thereon not only to the general
railway laws, but to ANY other laws
or acts which are or may be appli-
cable TO the party of the second part
/ lthe West End or such other com
, pany, not inconsistent with the specific
grants of the contract that the stipu-
lated rental is equivalent to the pay
ment by the lessee of an annual divi-
dend of about II per cent. to all the
stockholders of the West End ON the
par value of their shares. or of T. per
cent on the intrinsic value of the
common stock, no part of which could
by any possibility be diverted to any
corporate or public use; that ii opens
the way to a successive series of leases
of all the street railways within a
territory whose underlined limits will
expand with each new lease; that the
stipulated rental must be subtracted
from net earnings before they could
be any reduction of tolls or fares, and
it must be paid in full before more
than the minimum percentage of com
pensatiOn tax, as granted by the
statute, could accrue to the city or town
that the Legislature has refused to tie
its own hands, in respect of the subway
and the East Boston tunnel, or in any
way to foreclose the rights of public
regulation and control, at the longest,
for more than twenty-five years; and
that no one can venture to predict
what changed conditions will arise
upon the lapse of twenty or twenty
five wears. The commissioners say.
except upon the assumption that the
parties who shall then hold the lease,
fortified by the possession and control
of the West End system, can
prescribe the terms of the
contracts and adjustments to be
made for the seventy-tive or eighty
years beyond, the lease is an improvi-
dent contract. Should the Boston
Elevated Railway company throw up
its charter as is not impossible, it ap-
pears from the statute amending the
charter, of the company, that the East
Boston tunnel project falls through,
Another attempt at leasing the West
End system will be made before the
coming Legislature, at reduced rem,
tai and for a shorter term.