The Portland daily press., 1899-02-24

to develop the water power ut Union
Falls. A million dollars was to bs ex-
pended In Q man ufsoturing industry
there. but charter was refused beoaus
Of an objection TO the investment OF
foreign capital He believed that the
time is now near ut hand when York
county will become a network OF electric
roads The projectors Of the Sanford q
Cape Porpoise road want 30 extend their
line here, IL Biddeford will only let them
in. The country trade along the ssco
river wo uld naturally flow to Biddeford.
All the farmers In that section used 30
come here with their produce and to do
their trading, but Of late years the num-
Der of country teams coming into town
had been small.
Mr.. Hamilton declared his belief that
the promoters Of the Saco River road
mean business, and 10 snbstantiate that
declaration read letter from n. A.
Hobart Of Boston, president OF the corpo-
ration, stating that the contract for
building the load has been placed with
Isaac A. Walker g. Co., Philadelphia, and
the road will be ready for operation June
ID. MIR. Hamilton also read a oommuni-
cation from about thirty prominent citi-
zens of Buxton, expressing great interest
in the projected road and hope that Bid
deford authorities will grant the desired
location.
"we believe the present board Of alder
men will grant the permit" added MIR.
Hamilton, "but w, don't wan. to be too
sura A year ago we thought We had
things all solid. but we were terribly
fooled"
J. W. Stockman, who lives In Saco and
does business in Biddeford, made q
characteristic speech, in which he said he
had thought the Ssoo River Electric
road was dead and buried, but he had
just been up country, and he found the
sentiment up there red hot in favor Of the
road. He said ths.oompany' stock will
find a quicker market II Biddeford is
made the terminus of the roal. Saco has
$500 people, but they sleep most OF the
time, and Biddeford, with It's 1900 In
habitants ought not to be. left out In the
enterprise. He said tbs light Of prosperity
can be seen over the hilltops toward the
west and he wanted Biddsford to be In
position to avail itself Of the new bust
ness impetus.
Ex- Representative Benjamin Il. Hamil.
ton was the next speaker. he said he
wanted the new road to come up to Five
Points, where hs lives, and to extend to
the Goose Rocks, where he spends some
of his time In the summer. He didn't be-
lieve the residents of either Of those sec
tions would object to sight OF electrics
passing their doors. 1, his opinion, Bid
deford has not only failed to hold Its own,
In the last few dozen years, but has been
going back ward, In all industrial sense
1t has lost its stove foundry and some Of
it's shoe factories and less money 10 being
paid out by the cotton manufacturing
industries now than few years ago. We
need readjustment of our enterprises,
and the Saco River electric road will be
one step In the line of progress
Col Luclus Ii. Kendall, Republican
nominee for mayor, was called on for
speech He had taken a seat in the audi
ence, but was invited to join the delega-
tlon on the stage, and he accepted the in
yitation He said 1t would hardly be fit
ting for him, under the circumstances, to
say much on this question, but he had
from the first been in favor Of the new
electric road coming into Biddeford, aud
he also believed In extending open arms
to the Sanford and Cape Porpoise road. II
its promoters desire to extend their line
here.
Brief addresses in favor Of the Saco
River road were also made BY Henry l.
Lord, Frank ]. Smith and Alfred Bon
neau.