The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-12-14
saturday, December IA, 1907.
HE xEw HAVEN B4IIRoJD.


 The State of Connecticut has larger interest in the settlement of the Massachusetts merger controver- sy than any other State in the Union 9or the reason tlaat~ the New Haven road is a creature of Connecticut leg islation. In that sense the State of Connecticut is responsible for it's con duct. If it is good conduct the people of this State would have reason to feel gratined at the wisdom of those who originally issued the charter un- der which the company does it's bus- mess and those who have since added to ifs powers If 1t is bad conduct it would at once become the business or the people of this State to ascertain what their responsibility is in the premises and what steps they should take to correct an evll of demonstrat- ed proportions. As President Mellen himself once said before the General Assembly in asking for enlarged rights. "The creator is greater than its creature"
 Without being fully informed as to the details of the new situation, as a possible but not likely result of which The movement to merge the Connecti- cut company with the Massachusetts company may fail, the people of this State will not accept voluntarily as true the insinuation that the abridged statement made by President Mellen and printed in the columns of The Journal and Courier Is "a bluff" de- signed to scare the General Assembly of the State of Massachusetts. That would accord so poorly with the standard of managerial ability attrib- uted to the official head of the New A9sfsven, Railroad company by common consent as to provoke iustitiable re- sentiment at such conduct. Local pride, in other words, may be said to demand the home view that in all Likelihood President Mellen is proceed ing with this important matter with a due regard for the slze of his job, on the one hand, and, on the other, with n fine sense of what his company owes the State of Connecticut. And it is this normal view which de- prives the earnest editorial attitude of the Boston Transcript of it's proclaim cd seriousness. Says the Transcript for example: Tt is incumbent upon MT. Charles S. Mellen, the president of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad, to make it clear to the people of Boston that the offer for the Boston and Maine stock now held by his company from competi- tive interest is genuine and above board" It is inconceIvable from the viewpoint of a Connecticut man thai he should proceed with the business In hand in any other way, for tc proceed in another way would be tc bring down about his ears a reputa' tion built up with great care and mucf physical sacrifice.
 It would be more to the point fol the State of Massachusetts to make i clearer to all concerned what its at titude towards the New Haven rail road means, in view of the condi tions as they lie and are testified t by competent judges of the situation As we understand it, there Is no likeli hood of the Boston and Maine con tinuing its independent existence. Pres ident Futile has declared that the poi icy of the State of Massachusetts i opposed to such an Independent re lationship. Instead then of question ing the motives of President Mellen who is yet to be convicted of ras cally conduct in this or in any othe connection, should not the popular in quiries be directed at legislative bod which, having clearly before it tn limited number of roads to trave persists in not taking that which the most logical and attractive of tn lot? If there are dangers In the pro posed merging of the Boston al Maine with the New Haven compan which justify government objection it is surely easy to state what the are. By the same token it is not dii ticult to show wherein the withdrawa of the New Haven from all negotia tions would inure to the public benefi The State of Massachusetts is in flu control of it's faculties and can proteC
 self against designing railroad me
 bout the slightest trouble. T
 bogey men where there are n
 men may be a refreshing CT
 tnment but it can hardly |
 q profitable one, So the theor