The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1907-05-24
COMPLAINTS
WERE MANY
Local Freight Situation
Sharply Criticised.
FORMAL ACTION TAKEN
At Meeting of Board of Trade Friday
Evening Committee Appointed to
Bring Matter to Attention of Rail
road Commission If Necessary.

BTattlebUrO s dlssatlslacIoh WIN
the shipping facilities furnished by the
Central Vermont railroad was torclbly
EXPRESSED at a meeting in Festival hall
last Friday evening when upwards oi
100 members Of the board Of trade
gathered for the purpose OF determlh'
ing the best method of bringing about
relief from the present unbearaple
railroad conditions. After nearly two
hours had been consumed in discussing
the situation from various points OF
view a committee consisting of DENIM
son Cowles, Arthur f. Roberts ana
George Z. Fox was appointed to col
lect data and if necessary bring the
matter to the attention of the state
railroad commission.
The meeting was called to order
shortly after 5 o clock by Charles o.
Robbins who stated that four or five
written complaints in regard to Local
railroad conditions had been sent 10
the board of trade and that the orga'
nization had taken up the matter with
General Manager G. G, Jones of the
Central Vermont railroad. a letter to
Mr.. Jones was written by George r.
Fox, secretary of the board OF trade,
calling attention to the present block,
AIDED condition of the freight yard and
suggesting more trackage as Il rem
edy To this letter Mr.. Jones replied
in general way to the effect that
the Central Vermont was doing every,
thing in its power to restore norman
conditions in BrattleborO. The reply,
however, was not satisfactory and MI
Fox wrote a second time, laying stress
on the fact that normal conditions
were not satisfactory to local shippers
and intimating that the railroad com
panv's sincerity could be shown IN no
easier way than by the immediate con
struction of more side tracks. AT tine
time of the meeting no answer to Mr..
Fox's second letter had been received
| Chairman Robbins then called up
/ Clarke c. Fits to explain the powers
of the state railroad commission. Mr..
Fits said that the law which author
| lied the present commission was as
strong as any in the country, giving
/ the commission the power to issue or
ders and allowing an appeal to the su,
preme court only on points OF law. II
the commission gave a hearing in Brat
/ tleboro, said Mr.. Fits, it would doubt
less take into consideration the gen,
eral congestion of freight traffic all
over the country but the fact that the
railroad company owns plenty OF land
on which to build more sidings would
be a strong point in favor of the town
since ties and rails can be secured
without difficulty. Mr.. Fits said he
had no doubt Brattleboro could make
out a strong case against the Central
Vermont but it should be borne IN
mind that the railroad commission is a
court and that complaints must be
made in legal form, preferably through
the state S attorney. The petition
should be carefully drawn and every
instance of poor service specifically
cited. Every citizen ought to draw
his individual complaint in specific
form and file it with the secretary Of
the board of trade. In closing Mr.,
Fits said that the belief that it was
difficult to fight a railroad company
was fallacy, for if a strong case were
made as a general thing it never came
to trial. "Get your gun loaded and
pointed" he said, "and the coon will
come down..
The next speaker was J. E. Hall,
shipping clerk for the Estey Organ
company. who said he had experienced
the greatest difficulty in getting organs
away from the local freight yard. As
a general rule he had found it com
paratively easy to secure cars but the
trouble came in getting the cars away
from Brattleboro after they had been
loaded. Mr.. Hall also mentioned the
delay in getting material unloaded af'
ter it had reached here and said that
as result of the generally bad condi'
tions instruments that ought to have
been installed weeks ago had not been
shipped from the factory.
D. p. Dewitt spoke of the trouble
the Dewitt Grocery company had had
in getting goods, mentioning particu
larly the damage caused by delay OF
perishable freight He spoke of an in
stance where car of sugar had beer
on the road three weeks between Pal
mer and Brattleboro.
L. E. Holden's belief was that the
Central Vermont did not pay wages
! enough. He said it was simply train
ing school for the Boston & Maine anC
other companies. The principal need
he thought, was more engines instead
. of more cars or more sidings.
William H. Vinton said the presen
congestion of freight traffic obliged hi
concern to carry on hand about three
times as much raw material as wa
i. necessary under ordinary conditions
Of late, he said, goods shipped from
Boston did not arrive here inside of 81
! days while one car shipped from Ne7
York Jan. Is did not reach Brattle
boro until March Is, He mentione'
u also the difficulty in shipping freigh
: away from Brattleboro, saying tina
while it usually took two days TO
5 goods to reach New York from six t
10 days were now required.
In response to an inquiry fror
George W. Pierce Secretary Fox rea
. letters of complaint which the boar
s of trade had received from E. Crosb
& Co., the Carpenter company and j
= E. Mellen.
|. Chairman Robbins then called on MI
= Mellen, who spoke at some length i
regard to conditions as he had foun
them in the local yard. Lack of suit
II able sidings was in Mr.. Mellen's opir
q ion the chief cause of all the trouble i
" the Brattleboro yard. He said tn
present trackage was hardly enough t