The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-18
TIE B411Ro4D MERCER.

4 A h dAAAOdD D 1u EhGE Eh4
 The obvious inability of President Mellen to take the public into his con- fidence with regard to his enterprising plans for the further development of the old New York and New Haven rail- road compels him to enter denials at various stages of the negotiations. He appears to be very much in the fix of a voluntary witness before a legisla-
 tive committee some years ago, who
 was under the impression that all bus mess before the general assembly was conceived in the technical form of a
 bill. To his surprise he found that the business which called him to the capi-
 tol was neither a bill nor a resolution.
 It was a petition, differentiation which caused him no end of trouble at the hands of the opposing counsel, who made the most of his ignorance.
 ] Just what form President Mellen is taking to acquire the Boston and Maine railroad relfains a mystery so far as the reading public is concerned, and we do not see how he is to relieve the popular curiosity, nor are we sure that it makes any practical difference,
 if in the end the two railroads reach such an association of interests that
 the New Haven railroad is in control l of the transportation business of New England. It made no practical differ ence whether the business which called 1 the witness to whom we have referred l to Hartford was a bill, a resolution or petition; it was the main question which was of common interest If l President Mellen's choice is between a denial and an impolite refusal to say
 a word, he has probably acted wisely 1 in choosing the former, but that need
 not lead the rest of us to doubt that the steps are being taken which will finally add the Boston and Maine to the New Haven outfit, and enable it's progressive administration to impar- 1 italy care for the manufacturing in- terests of New England, whose actual security in the future rests with the
 railroad in control of their territory
 Assuming, as we safely can, that the merger will be carried out in some l form, and that the dream of MT, Mel- len will be realized, there is left to | be considered only the attitude of the l public towards this great corporation, and that should be taken carefully and with a full understanding of the prob
 able results to be achieved. We by no means lack in sympathy for the more
 or less apprehensive feeling on the part l of men that in the long run these great combinations of cap ital will revolutionize the social order of things as we have all known it in simpler times, but this does not justify us in lamenting the departure of old ideas or in failing to take full advantage of the benefits hopeful men promise us. We have lived to see the independent railroads of the state, with two insignificant exceptions, con- solidate; we have lived to see the old tradition that the president of the Consolidated railroads should be a l Connecticut bred man upset without 1 trouble ensuing; we have lived to see the home terminal pushed to the city of Boston by two through routes; we have lived to see the financial respon- abilities transferred to the great money center of the country and many other changes made which would have lalarmed the directorate of genera ton ago, and while the changes have by no manner of means brought with them everything desired of men, it would be absurd to deny that they have increased the hold of New Eng land upon the markets of the world.
 The Journal and Courier looks to see this new extension of railroad power add further to the industrial suprem- acy of New England. Our especial in- terest is manifestly the well being of the state of Connecticut and the well fare of the city of New Haven, but we are not so shortsighted as to forget that the interests of the six states of New England are bound indissolubly ] together and that an injury done one