The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-27
RoCKLAND WANTS MoRETR AIMS.
Business Men There Demand Better
Facilities-Ex-Commiss oner Mortland's
Remarks.

facilities-Ex-Commissi oner Mortland'f
Remarks.
hockland business men are trying tt
geo additional railroad facilities. They
calm That they received assurances from
Vhe MAINE Central management that the
Ors'in Sc fVlce to and from that city woule
10 improved but that these assurances
have not been carried ont
flfteen or twenty prominent business
men assembled Friday afternoon andafte1
discussing the situation voted to telephone
General Manager Evans of Portland and
ask II, IN his opinion, anything would be
gained by delegation of business men
gong there to make their requests in
person. Mr.. Evans wired back that it
would be useless; that the directors had
talked the matter over and the decision
not to put on the extra service was their
| ultimatum.
| This led to another earnest discussion
at Rockland with the result that the fol-
lowing communication, signed by about
100 leading citizens, was prepared and
forwarded
| "Rockland, Me-, May %, '97.
'Hon. F. A. Wilson, Pres. Maine Cen
| trail r. r., Bangor, Me.
Dear SRA few weeks ago the citizens
of Rockland and vicinity were Informed
that during this summer season they
were to have very materially improved
passenger and freight service from the
Maine Central r. r.. We have lust
| learned that the management has deter
mined to make no change, and propose
| to give us only such service as we received
! from the Knox & Lincoln R. r. 20 years
| ago. This decision causes universal dis
| satisfaction in this section, and we feel
that the interests of all concerned would
| be promoted by more liberal and enter
prlsing policy on the part of the road,
and one better calculated to give service
more in accordance with the business de-
mands
'.We believe that careful investigation
will show that during the summer season
at least, additional trains arriving at end
leaving Rockland in the evening at reas-
enable hours would prove to be suffi-
Gent source of revenue to justify their
maintenance. We understand that the
existing freight service is considered by
all interested, railroad officials and
patrons of the road, to be inadequate. 1t
is cause of from twelve to twenty four
| hours delay in receiving and delivering
through freight. A freight train leaving
here at night and arriving early in the
morning would obviate nearly all of this
difficulty, and would inevitably increase
| the5business Of the road, and better serve
| its patrons.
"We believe that the best interests Of
the road, as well as the convenience and
| accommodation of the public in this
vicinity, require prompt and favorable
action upon these suggestions"
The Rockland Courier Gazette prints
this week interviews with number of
gentlemen on this question, among them
being Hon. D. N. Mortland who says:
s'Having lost my official head by reason
of expressing an honest opinion in the
line of my duties as Railroad Commits
sioner, am somewhat reluctant to enter
upon the discussion of such subjects, but
being now merely a private citizen,
L may, perhaps, venture to
say, as I have before said at times as
Commissioner, that railroad corporations
are too apt to forget that such corpora
lions are not strictly private corporations
or created wholly for private purposes or
gain. They are by their charters vested
with extraordinary powers and privileges,
and are subject, in many important re
spects, to public control, and though
strictly speaking they are private corpora
tions, yet they hold their franchises and
property in trust for public uses. and
they should be operated SO far as posi-
BILE to meet the public demands. Fortu-
nately, and may say generally, there is
no incompatibility between these private
and public interests. The same line of
policy which promotes the one necessarily
tends to promote the other.
"Rockland, with its many lines of
steamboats, running to and from it, has
hpoO11,0 al 1u ~
the most important points in the state of
Maine. Its citizens have in the past
made great sacrifices and have burdened
themselves with heavy taxation to secure
reasonable railroad facilities. They re-
ceived such under the management Of the
old Knox & Lincoln railroad. They
parted with their interests in that road
with the assurance that they would in
future be afforded equal if not better, rail
road facilities than they had receievd in
the past. This assurance, regret to say,
has not been fulfilled. For the last three
or four years. for sight or nine months
of the year. we have had but two passen-
ger trains in or out of the city, with cor
responding mails. No passenger or mail
can leave the city by railroad after Satur-
day noon till the following Monday at
$50 a. IN. No one, / think, will contend
that such railroad facilities are adequate
to the needs of city like Rockland
II believe that the Maine Central Rail
road corporation are pursuing an unwise
and mistaken policy in furnishing just SO
many trains as apparently pay for run
ming and no more; especially is this true
when the railroad at this point, is in
direct competition with fine line of
steamboats, to and from Boston. 1t seems
to me it would be wise policy on the part
of the railroad corporation, as they now
have an existing road that they must
operate to some extent, to give to travellers
and merchants at all seasons of the year
such railroad facilities as naturally would
induce travel and shipment of merchan-
disc by rail rather than by boat, and not
pursue policy that would naturally
divert such travel and shipments in other
directions. N
II hope that the railroad management
will, on more careful consideration of the
situation, and the wants of our people,