Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-03-27


lators Of stock axe capable of doing,
with the only one object in view-to
have the county reject all of these pro-
posals. in which they were most sue
cessful, and the county rejected all. inc
result was the county dropped an l.S
fnarcial interest in the road and only
had as an asset left debt or $ooo.oo' Oh
which they are paying annuaily $-o'u'o'
This | assure you is quite Il purdei i'i
our county. The original company Ho'''
| sold their holdings 10 the MAINE N'ei
| trail Railroad Company Tor the sum vi
| 50, 200 600 Right here | wish 10 say 'he
Maine Central Railroad Company c'hii''
| they do not own this road. You see theS
own it and they do not own IL. lireS
! are Ike the Jew who said: Il am d
partner if profit. but am not partner
| if a loss" l think every officer III thlS
road at the present time, excepting one
| from the president down. are off1ccrS
Of the Maine Central and Boston q
| Maine Railroad Companies. read from
the railroad commissioners report.
| Would they be likely to serve as oll-
| GERS of this company if they dli ho'
| own the road?
Two wears ago the citizens of WASH
| incton county backed by petitioii
| comnrising nearly every voter, came 10
tho Legislature asking for Z-c"ht
mileage book. At that time the rate
| wac TWO and three-QuarterS. The Name
Cartral officials said: "If you Will not
| rresc this we will voluntarily make
| re ,,uction." and upon this promise tne
| parties did not press the matter iui
| Their, expecting to get a 2-cent po'h'
Last season, about August, the ques
ton being agitated by both politlcal
rarties in our county, the Name Cei',
| tral reduced the mileage from TWO dii"
Ithree-uuarterS to two and One-quartei'
| This does not satisfy the people. hty
/ feel it is a discrimination that siouiu
| not exist. The Maine Central Raliiodo
Company own this line, our peciie
should have the same rates tnat tiieS
give over all the other branch me"
| and they now come before TINS Lesis-
loture asking that this be grah'eo'
realizing the fact that this Dill may
! seem that such legislation would DC
trespassing upon the rights OF TINS cor
poration, / wish to say that corpoi
a.ion which gets its life ana existence
| FROM a LEGISLATURE is unlike n private
individual and a Legislature that grants
| those rights to a corporation, Sald cor
| noration is fully under the control Oh
that body as per the following section:
| ChaDter 50, Section l, Revised Stat
| utcs. "Any railroad corporation may
! establish and collect, for its sole pche-
| fit fares. tolls and charges, upon all
| messengers and property conveyed ana
| fra nsported on it's railroad, at such
| rates as NAV be determined by the dl-
rectors thereof, and may from time 10
| Tina nv its directors regulate the use
of its road provided that such rates OF
fares tolls and charges, and regulations
are at all times subject to alterations py
the Legislature or by such officers or
| rersons as the Legislature may appoint
for the purpose, anything in tire char-
ter CT such corportion to the contra
ry Notwithstanding.
Consequently. the citizens Of this
countv feel they have q just and cqui-
table right to come to this body and
ask that they be treated fairly ana
lenui1ably and not be obliged to cay
more Tor mileage books than is charged
on all the other Maine Central branches.
IT eaying Bangor going east the train is
made up of Washington and Hancock
ington Junction the Hancock people
continue to the end Of the travel over
the Bar Harbor branch on two-cent
mileage books. The same conductor on
the same train then goes through the
cars and collects for the remainder OF
| the travel from the Washington coun-
ltv people two and a quarter mileage
hooks. The Bucksport and Belfast
a c
the Bar Harbor branch have two-cent
mileage books. The Maine Central Rail-
road Company claims there was a de-
felt of $29.s7O on last years opera
tions, but to make this they
added to the general expense act the
construction OF the road from Calais to
Woodland, trackage of six miles in
length, which made this act $115, $500,
about $1,000 per mile for the whole road.
In addition to this they charged equip
mcnt, 3l,202; culverts and bridges,
SO O3S Do you wonder this little road
showed a deficit? In this general ex-
pense act they did not add any new
rolling stock it consisted of repairs
and building this new read.
The towns of Franklin, Gouldsboro,
Steuben and Cherryfield have a popula-
tlOl Oh iUDU IneSe towns are located
from ) 10 % miles from the Maine Cen
trail Railroad. So the Washington
County gets only this amount Of mile
age. The Maine Central on all this
| business through gets 40 miles. The
! extreme end the Washington County TO
the Maine Central is 102 miles on the
| through business the Maine Central
gets 40 miles. would ask you if the
Maine Central is benefited by this road?
Cut the Maine Central up in 100 mile
| blocks, would these pay? We claim
| this railroad is a part of the Maine
| Central. This altogether makes Il
| whole. Is it not enough for this county
TO be located $50 miles from Portland to
the most eastern point to be obliged to
pay the extra mileage 10 reach western
points without paying an additional
| rate? Do all these branches make Il
| full train on the main line?
| The railroad company admits that
| one-fOurth u cent reduction will only
| make a difference to the company of