The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-04
Railway History and Legislation in
Massachusetts,.

Massachusetts.
In 1905 the General Court of Massa-
chusetts adopted an order under which
a joint special committee, consisting of
four members Of the Senate and eleven
members of the House, was authorized
to sit during the legislative recess ito
revise, consolidate and arrange the gen.
eral laws of the Commonwealth per-
tanning to railroad and street railway
corporations" and "to consider the
expediency of such legislation in amend
ment thereof and in addition thereto as
will better protect the interests of the
public and of the investors in said cor
porations." The report of this commit
tee was presented to the General Court
last month, and it proposes a radical
change in'the law which now prohibits
the acquisition of street railway COM
panies by railroad corporations, 80 that
in the future such mergers may be
permitted. Already many street rail-
ways have been bought up by the New
York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
Company, and the merger bill" recon-
mended by the committee is intended
"to permit directly what has already
been accomplished, or is being accom-
plished indirectly"
1t is pointed out that in seventy years
the policy of the Commonwealth toward
its railroad corporations has changed
materially. At the beginning of rail-
road construction competition was en-
couraged, it being believed that rival or
parallel lines between important points
would result in low passenger and freight
rates. The Commonwealth itself con-
tributed to the expense of building com
peting, roads between Boston and the
West, but experience showed that the
benefits expected from competition were
not obtained. Then the State sought
to promote the public interest by grant
ing ~monopolies to single corporations
along their natural rights of way, the
Government maintaining a strict super
vision over the management and opera
ton of the corporations. This change
in policy was followed by an EZRA of
railroad consolidation, under special
and general laws, and the amalgamation
Vi thC VI SoiiPOpihB > III ou1bI
until three corporations now control
practically all the roads in the Common
wealth. The committee says that this
policy was found to result in economy
of administration, improved roadbeds,
better train service and lower passenger
fares and freight rates" The State
maintains proper control over the cor
porations through the Board of Railroad
Commissioners, which has had a highly
creditable history.
Like the steam roads, the street rail-
ways, beginning with the horse car
lines, went through a period of compe-
tition which was followed by extensive
consultations. When electricity was
applied to street car systems many
independent corporations were formed,
which" says the report, during the
last few years, after varying fortunes,
verging oftentimes on insolvency, have
in their turn shown a tendency to fall
into the control of a single company.
Here, as in the case of the railroads,
the tendency to consolidation has been
accompanied by better accommodations
and cheaper fares, or longer rides for
the same fare"
Until fifteen years ago the sole func.
ton of the street cars was the transpor-
tation of passengers along city and
suburban streets, or "the street car was
but an omnibus running on tracks, "
and the advent of electric cars was re-
garded from the legislative standpoint
merely as a stage in the evolution of
the street car The old laws governing
street car lines needed but slight change
to meet the new conditions. Now, how
ever, new problems have arisen. Elec-
trio lines connect distant towns. Their
cars maintain high speed, they carry
freight, and their projectors want them
to run over private rights of way and
not on the highways, and meanwhile the
Legislature has carefully adhered to
the fundamental principle that these
cars are street cars, and should there
fore leave the highways only for good
cause, although several special acts have
been passed authorizing street railway
companies to lay their tracks oil private
land. This development of electric trac-
ton brings the companies operating
i these lines into direct competition with
the steam roads. OF this the commit
tee says:
They compete not for a house TO house franc.
but for a through trafnc. Though one system is
operated In long trains hauled by a locomotive.
and the other by single cars, which receive motive
power from a central station. both are designed
to accomplish the same general purpose. and differ
only In the nature OF the service which they offer
tn the public. The interurban car to day
indeed Is not even n variation OF the old street
Lear. but a totally new species Of vehicle"
This new species Of vehicle, bearing
less resemblance to street cars than to
| the steam roads. has made itsslf felt by