The morning journal-courier., 1908-05-08
Friday, May s, 1908.
THE BOSTON AND MAINE MERGER.

The necessary steps to secure the legal right to merge the Boston and Maine Railroad company with the New Haven Railroad company con tinue to be taken, but taken slowly. hatever may be said of previous merging undertakings, it may be said of this one, that by the time 1t has either been affirmed or denied the whole ground of inquiry and lnves- tigation will have been covered. This may be attributed to the new idea which has overtaken halls of legisla- tin, that in matters so vitally affecting the life of a great community as. the grants of power given transportation companies too much inquiry Is impos- sible. If this continues to be the pub lie state of mind, then 1t may be said soon that the day has passed when corporations, owing their existence 10 the favor of government, can con tinue to exist without the closest pos sible partnership with the state. writ ten expressly into terms of law.
 In almost every respect the propos- ed merging of the Massachusetts Railroad company with the Connecu- cur company, in the progress or the lack of progress it has made, has re- vcaled more completely than has oth- erwise been done the modern spirit which Is to control the relationship which must exist between chartered corporations and the state If gov- ernment ownership is to be avoided and escaped. The facts in the case lie clearly before one. The owners of the Boston and Maine, for reasons which need not necessarily be re- hearsed, wish to dispose of their prop erty President Tuttle of that road has explained that 1t is because the attitude of the state of Massachusetts is not favorable to the intelligent con- duct of railroad properties that the railroads themselves have sought out side ownership. It has been specific ally stated that the Boston and Maine, the last of the Massachusetts railroad Mohicans, is destined to pass into the control of outside parties, or into the hands of the state itself. It has been furthermore agreed to-, permitted to hold the stock it has ac- qulred and merge as 1t has planned to merge. and the state of Massachus- etts remains disinclned to take over and manage the property it will ine- vitably pass into hands more or less indifferent to the industrial life of the commonwealth. It has finally been pointed out that of all the possible and probable owners of the Boston and Maine the New Haven IS to be preferred.
 And yet in spite of these facts, which are substantially denied in no quarter, the greatest difficulty has attended the progress of the negotiations It is impossible to believe that the manu- lecturers and agriculturists and wage earners are so blind to the obvious necessities of the situation in Massa- chusetts that they do not see and real ize in which direction their interests lie. They do not want the property to pass into the hands of the New York Central, which has done so poor" ly with the Boston and Albany. They do not want it to pass into the hands or corporation, which derives it's ernment, nor do they want it to come under the ownership and con- tro of Mir. Hartman, who would gladly take 1t. They have no idea of introducing the government owner ship of railroad properties into the political life of Massachusetts. There must, then, be some practical explan- ation of the movement of resistance to merging with the New Haven other than q blindness of vision II is prob ably true that the consensus of opin- ion in Massachusetts Is favorable to the proposed merger, but evidently what that consensus of opinion means to bring about is a kind of merger which will vet leave Massachusetts in a position to protect itself against, not probable, but at all times pos sible railroad mismanagement from the standpoint of the welfare of the Commonwealth The various propos- itions, which are under consideration, to make this protection sure are