Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-05-23
UNCLE SANS VOICE
IS PLAINLY HEARD
IN Equity Suit to Prevent New Haven
Gobbfng Boston & Maine and
to Get Out Of Trolley Lines.

Boston, May pa bill in equity t.
restrain the New York, New Haven 6
Hartford Railroad Co. from exercis.
ing any control over the Boston
Maine Railroad and to separate the
New Haven Road from the various
trolley lines it has acquired, was filed
i'll the United States circuit court here
at o'clock this afternoon by United
States District Attorney Asa T
French, acting for the federal govern
mcnt The documents in the case
which are voluminous and explicit to
the highest legal degree. were pre-
pared under the direction of Attorney
| General Charles J. Bonaparte and We're
| brought here from Washington by
James kratZ, a. special messenger of
| the district attorneys office.
The bill in equity was brought under
the Sherman act of 1890 and charges
that the New Haven Road acquired
numerous trolley lines and is attempt
ing to control the Boston & Maine
Railroad in restraint of trade. The pc
tition claims that if the New Haven
Road is not restrained from holding
lilC liollcy liIIcS anu NOtIIlS StcCh VI
the Boston & Maine Road that Sit
uation will be created with respect to
the transportation instrumentalities
and facilities of New England, which
will eventually enable the New Haven
Co. to control for all time the inter-
state transportation not only among
the New England states, but between
such states and the several oher states
of the union.
The defendants in the bill are the
New Haven Co., the Boston & Maine
Railroad Co., the Consolidated Railway
Co and the Providence Securities Co.
Boston, May ga suit in equity to
restrain the Now York, New Haven &
Hartford Railroad Co. from exercising
any control over the Boston & Maine
Railroad and to separate the New
Haven Road from tho various trolley
lines it has acquired was filed in the
United States circuit court for the dis
trict of Massachusetts at 357 o'clock
this afternoon. The documents in the
case, which are voluminous. and ex-
plicit to the highest legal degree, were
brought here from Washington by
James KratZ. a special messenger of
the district attorneys office.
The papers name the United States
of America as the complainant, and
the New York, New Haven & Hart
ford Railroad Co, the Boston & Maine
Railroad, the Consolidated Railway Co,
and the Providence Securities Co. as
defendants.
by the close of 1904" the report
roads in those states of New England
in which the defendant railroad COM
panies operates, and between those
states and the rest of the United States
had become vested substantially in the
following companies. The New York.
New Haven & Hartford Railroad Co,
the Boston & Maine Railroad Co, and
the Boston &, Albany Railroad"
so far as states of Maine, New
Hampshire, Massachusetts,, Rhode Is
land and Connecticut are concerned,
these three railroad systems were
and now are practically the only means
of transportation by steam railroad
among these states and between these
states and the rest Of the United
States"
The facts set forth in paragraph
four are those relative to certain
branch lines Of the New Haven Co.
and the Boston & Maine running east
and west through the state of Mass
achusetts, which brought the COM
panies into active copetition.
The complaint then deals with the
alleged methods by which the New
Haven. through the Consolidated
Railroad Co., and the Providence Sc
curities Co. obtained a practical mon
opoly of southern New England trans
portation by steam and electric rail-
ways.
The suppression of competition be-
tween the New Haven and Boston 6;
Maine systems is the subject of Par
agraph A. Referring to the allegation
concerning the manner in which the
New Haven Co. had acquired control
of the lines and companies mentioned,
the paragraph continues:
''The New Haven Co. in further
pursuance of the unlawful combina-
ton and unlawfully intending to en-
large the field of it's monopoly, and
to extend it so as to cover and em-
brace not only all the interstate lines
and instrumentalities for the carriage
Of persons and freight in the territory
described, but rs well the whole of the
New England states and between those
states and the rest of the United
States, did in the spring of 1907. ac-
quire a large interest in the capital
stock of the Boston & Maine Railroad
to wit, approximately 10000 shares
or about So per cent. of the total cap
ital stock, common and preferred Of
the Boston & Maine Railroad by
means of an exchange of it's own stock
share for share.
This exchange of stock having been
brought to the attention of the Leg
islature of Massachusetts, that body
passed law forbidding the acquisi- i
ton of any further interest in the
Boston & Maine stock by the New
Haven Co., and prohibiting the exer-
else of any control of the stock by the