The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-03-28
NfEnLEN's CONFERENCE.
He Showed Great Grasp of New Eng
 land Situation.

Boston-One who was present at the conference between the directors of the Chamber of Commerce and the directors of the New Haven Rail road says:
 While we all agreed that the in formation placed before the direc- tors of the Chamber was confidential, to be used only in the report of the 1 directors of the Chamber, I think it violates no confidence for me to say | that President MelIen made a most favorable impression He was be- fore the directors from ten in the | morning until p. n1., with only an in terva1 for lunch. He showed abso- Iute mastery of his su- ject, and was | perfectly frank as respects facts, fig ures and policies. He showed the l effect of the knocking at the New Haven management in demoralizing the railroad service and increasing the 1 expenditures on the railroad lines of New England, and he put it into fig
 ures, which I am not at liberty now | to repeat.
 l "'I think his figures also demon 1 strated that the Boston & Maine was 1 not operated in. the interest of the | New Haven road, but when we asked | him what would be the effect of the state of Massachusetts taking over the Boston & Maine road he promptly re- | sponded that the effect would be to | put $35, 100000 into the New Ha- | ven treasury, thus putting the fnan- ces of the New Haven road in a spIen- did position, and he surprised us by intimating that he might not now be | opposed to such acquisition to the 1 New Haven treasury.
 ''Mr. Mellen surprised some people | by his declaration that neither the | Boston & Maine nor the New Haven 1 ever built any hotels or contemplated
 building any. He said that the Maine COn4To1 bod nfo al I critics and purchased land for a ho-
 tel at Bar Harbor, but that the Maine l Central was entirely in the territory
 of Maine, developing Maine resources
 and earning and paying its 6 per cent
 dividend.
 ''If the report to the members of the
 Chamber of Commerce is as full and complete as MT. Mel1en's presentation
 some of the chamber agitators will get
 an eye-opener. MT. Brandeis and the other Boston agitators have been de-
 nouncing the New Haven manage 1 don't think they realized that the
 Maine Central was entirely a state
 Of Maine concern.
 Some time the state of Massachu- 1 setts will wake up to what it has been | doing and permitting what is ininica
 to the other New England states.
 "I am not opposed to the state ot 1 Massa chusetts going into the railroad | business, but it looks to me as though 1 cur grand old commonwealth would
 soon have to put up or shut up, and l I am not sure but there will be a l proper demand upon the state of Mas sachusetts (after all the agitatfo we
 have tolerated here) for a. $5O,O0o,0OC loan to improve the Boston & Maine
 f'The way I figure, that Is exactly
 what the Boston &o Maine needs to-
 day. It has $22,OoO,OOO of unfunded
 debt, needs nearly $2O,O00,OOO for ad-
 ditional equipment, and needs more
 than SS, coo, 000 for freight terminals | and other improvements
 EfIf New England is to stay on the map, her railroads must keep abreast 1 of the times, and public criticism must give way to public co-operation.'