Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-01-23

10 pay nothing more than a fair sb,
Fcrhaps 1t will be well to consider
Tor moment what a corporation is
aEo what railroad corporation is
'eehhicaily corporation is an artif;-
'iai iSon. created under authority of
law from Il group or succession of ra+
urai persons. and having continuous
existence irrespective of that of its
1870 = ana powers and liabilities
o',eien' from that of its members.
"u' III broader and more compre-
iiehaiNc sense, railroad corporation is
hothihg but an association of individ-
uais VINO contribute. in VARYING sun,s
iioii thelr private means. TO q con,
mon fund, so that a fixed capitaI ana
"a borrowing credit are thereby es,ah.
i'saed. sufficiently large for the con
structlon and operation of railway
l!h@S capable of adequately suppIving
'nc pubic need of regular, prompt and
"a { transportation of persons hnd
property at fixed times and at reasan-
able rates. q,
The business OF this railroad .enr
poration is. therefore. the seiIino. Dog
puplc transportation, and il has M
o'her' ana the governing laws of sup
ply ana demand, and the relations of
producing cost TO selling price. are as
liSIo and absolute in this as they are
IN any other kind of trade or business
ne inception and growth of the rail
fo@a was simply an answer to the hith
eito unsupplied demands for a general
S'atehl OF public transportation under
"hich the farmer, artisan or merchant
'ouid entrust his products and goods
10 otAers whose sole business it should
re TO cause them to be regularly. expe-
d.tlolsly and safely transported 10 mr.
chasers. or to the general marts of
trade, whence they could be again die-
tlibuted by like means to a more wide
~ separated client2gc Of dealers and
consumers.
No" DO you know, gentlemen OF the
committee, that up to about the wear
lHdo there was not, anywhere in the
world, the civilized world. any such
general system of transportation as
that? Down through the times of the
beginning of the last century the mea
gre and indefinite means of trans
ppftatlon made it necessary for the
merchant to follow his goods to their
destination and TO provide for personal
attention to their sale upon the SPOT
In those days an excess of farm pro
ducts or of manufactured goods simnlv
spoiled and rotted or We're useless 100
or $50 miles away from the point whore
there was famine and a dearth Of
the Very products and manufactured
goods that were spelling for lack c--
transportation over a distance that We
would call but slight under present
conditions
In 1873 ii occurred to q Society of
Friends. at the head OF which was a
ca tain Mr., Peasc. living in Darling
ton, England. in Durham county. that
the cost of carrying coal which they
were mining at the pits about a dozen
miles north of Darlington on Pease
FNer, was disproportionate to the dis
tance over which they were obliged to
carry II for shipment at Stockton. also
on~the Pease river. and Mr.. Pease con
eeiveti the idea of building a railroad.
Previous to that time for Il hundred
years there had been tramways in all
parts of Great Britain. principally for
hauling coal and ore by horses and nv
Pre- duction. such as the mine or collierv
or perhaps. if the mine or colliery was
situated near tide water. for hauling
the product of the mine or collierv to
the point Of shipment on tide water.
Mr. PeaSe, as ] say. conceived the
Idea of constructing a railway which
should be operated partly by station
airy engines and partly by horses SO
that he might carry the produce of the
PITS down to Stockton, where il was
put on shpboard for distribution 70
different portions of the English mar
kct.
The plan for constructing this rail-
road was made in 1918. but nothing
was done about it until 1922. when Mr.
George Stevenson was engaged. the
noted engineer-noted since but no;
noted then-engagej to construct this
railway. and he conceived the idea of
putting upon ii steam locomotive
which he had invented. The result was
the building and opening in 1925. Of
the Stockton & Darlington Railway.
about Is or 20 miles long. Mir Steven
son engine was so successful that
within q month from the time the rail-
road was opened they put on passen-
ger coach to carry passengers from
Stockton to Darlington and back. or
from Darlington to Stockton and back
once day as a regular thing.
That was the beginning. the birth Of
public railway transportation in the
whole world. It's success Immediately
Great ted considerable amount of en-
thusiasm because Of this difficulty to
which l have referred. Of the farmer
and the producer getting his product
into the market except at enormous
cost and enormous delays: and the
construction of railway was arrang-
ed for between Manchester and Liver
pool, and Mr.. Stevenson was made the
engineer of that. This road was open
ed in 1890. And we may say that from
that time railway service cast off it's
swaddling clothes of infancy and be
gan to become, what ii has since fully
become the fulcrum upon which rests
the complex levers that move and con-
troll the trade of every prosperous ma
ton on the face of the earth.
The railways went on in Il somewhat
deSultory way in this county, until the
needs of the government for transport
ing troops during the Civil War gave it
a new birth; and since 1865 probably
nothing has been of so much import
ance to the commercial success of
every individual in this country.
whether he be 4 farmer or Il mechanic