Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-12-12

be provided ny the New Haven on very
reasonable terms.
The effect ~ this arrangement Is 10
supplement the White mountain service OF
tho New Haven from New York, over
which passenger traffic IL already very
great and to open up tho Green mountains
and Lake Champlain TO these same pas
sengers. not to mention the advantasps
derived from connecting its lines In tho
east Of the State with the Rutland o. the
west side, and the profitable frtigh. chan
mel thus opened. The Gran1 Trunk gets
an improved line 20 the sAa at ", Low
Ion and way Into BOSTON. With its hne
louble tracked a both ords ot thn strip
~ road from Montpelier to White River
Junction. the Central Vermont would
practically be forced 10 double track that
Competition is as free as It could be, tho
only diff ference being that the roads will
compete over tho same rails lnstead O:
being at the expense Of building and
maintaining n separate roadway.
VERMONT on TrYE FRONTIER
when the Grand Trunk began 70
,rope it's way through Nav England
towerd tidewater, a railroad war was
known to lie imminent. Tho frontier
n this struggle wss Vermont. Tn.
Brattleboro contest, wnich ragged fn
he Vermont Legislature two years
cgo. was hailed as tho opening battle
This preliminary grapple over q COM,
pa ratively short bit Of track gave some
!ntimation to the contend!ng conpan-
les Of the expense and wastefulness OF
, Who'll. campaign along like lines. It
also brought them 10 q clearer outlook
upon tho facts.
The facts on one side actually were
hat the vast Grand 1runx system with
is sources OF traffic somewhere in the
wheat fields of western Canada must
get some outlet for its freight whore
ships coull come ana 20 twelve months
n the year. and since there was no
feasible outlet OF this KIND in Canada
il must be ohtelncd on The New Eng
land coast. The facts on the Other
side were that tae New Iiavcn system
having covered an area, none too rich
with about ali tho service tho traffic
would bear. coul ilI-afford to have It's
lines duplicated and the traffic divid ID.
The expense of extending tho Grand
Trunk roadway through the rich md
thiclSlv inhabited suburbs of Boston
was shown TO be almost prohibitive.
and the only prospect OF n profitable
return on such an Investment was
shown to liz in the creation Of an
.othcr MONOPOLY upon the burial place
of it's New laven rival an alien oc-
topus in foreign cemetery.
There were the further facts OF Can
adian opposition Ia the canadian n
roads building up ports outside Can
ada. resulting in unusually strong
political pressure and New England
sentiment in favor of such an inva-
sion causing political thumbscrews to
he threatened in case the New Haven
should attempt TO impede II. out of
his state of affairs came the meeting
between both Sides and Governor ]. a.
Mead In Boston duriu;, February, 1911,
and at this meeting the New Haven
made an offer which the representa-
tivcs of the Grand Trunk took under
advisement.
Tho peace proposal made by :ho
New Haven at that TIM was very
nearly the so-callod Mellen Chamber
lain deal of the present Its terms
included double tracking by both sys-
TENS in the Connecticut valley. double
tracking from Montpelier 10 Essex
Junction. and. within these limits
trackage privileges for each over the
others lines. The one important poin,
! II difference was that the proposal as
/ first made said nothing about tho linc
to Boston, but instead included an Of
| fer on the part OF the New Haven to
improve the road and grant tracka &c
privileges from Palmer on the New
; London and Northern. a Grand Truni
subsidiary TO Rhode Island.
This proposal was taken under consid.
Grafton, and in the meantime the wal
Continued on page H.