The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-08-15
BOAT LINE FAILS.
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/ Mems club. III which mis- proposal was
made. said the deficit of the road, in
| round numbers, was $4,000 in 1919,
| was $50, 900 in 1920, and was S41 900 in
] 1921 1t is claimed by some of the Will
mington men that the records on file with
the public service commission show that
for the last 10 years at least the road has
! paid not only running expenses but inter
est on the bonds except that in two years
! the income paid the expenses and part
/ but not all of the bond interest.
| Mr.. Hartman attended the meeting
yesterday and repeated in substance the
| proposition made in his letter, to which
I he added some remarks. His whole at
titude was eminently fair and when he
| closed he was roundly applauded. The
! question had been thoroughly discussed
/ beforehand however, and long before the
| meeting began there wasn't a shadow of
doubt as to what the outcome would be.
The people regarded it as a life or
| death proposition so far as the future of
| the town was concerned, and they voted
! accordingly.
! There were two questions to decide.
| The first article was to see what action
| the town would take relative to discOn-
! tinuing the road from Nottingham as
! suggested in Mr.. Harriman's commune
| cation. and under it G.. II. Parmelee, a
well-known business man. introduced the
! following resolution:
I
| ton is opposed to the diScontinuance of
| the Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington rail
road from Nottingham as suggested in n
| recent communication from II. |. Harri-
man.
| The second article was to see what ac-
| ton the town would take relative to the
! diScOntinuance or continuance of any
! part of the railroad. and under this
| article W. a. Brown, another prominent
| business man. presented the following
resolution, which, like the first, was car
| ried by a unanimous rising vote:
! Resolved, that the voters of Whining
| ton here assembled are opposed to the
| discontinuance of the Hoosac Tunnel &
j, Wilmington railroad or any part there
| of"
Moderator Eli Porter called the meet
| ing to order in the town hall at ] O'Clock.
but the attendance was so large that
after Clerk o. Il. Butterfeld had read the
warrant Mr.. Parmelee moved an adj
| journment to Memorial hall, which mo-
! ton was seconded by f. 5. Crafts, and
was carried. In about five minutes
| Memorial hall was we'll filled.
! Noting that Mr.. Hartman was in the
hall, Moderator Porter, after taking up
the first article, invited him to tell the
voters just what his proposition was,
and Mr.. Hartman accepted the invita-
! ton. He said he did not come to argae
either for or against the proposition as
outlined in his letter to the Mems club
He said he wrote the letter making the
| proposition because he felt that the
| Power Co. and Wilmington were part
ners and that what was good for one
was good for the other. He thought it
only fair that Wilmington as a partner
should have the financial facts and as
sured those present that whatever action
they took the Power Co. would gladly &C.
cept the result and would act accord
ingly.
Mr.. Hartman said it would cost about
S250.000 to relocate the road, but that
/ if the company was not required to dc
that it would put in q boat line to cost
about $4,000 and divide the saving OF
| 100000 with the town. IF you accept
the 100000, however" said Mr.. Harri-
| man. 1T does not necessarily indicate
that the road will not be relocated. be-
| cause it is not in the power of the Power
! Co. or Wilmington to settle that point,
/ but the vote would have q strong intiu-
! ence with the public service commission
| if the question was taken there" He
| said both sides must work together, and
declared that if there was strong opposi-
tion to the offer no effort would be made
| to carry the plan into effect
| About three-fourths of the freight
earnings of the road. Mr.. Hartman
| said have come from the pulp mill at
| Mountain Mills, the paper mill at Reads,
freight of the Power Co. This plan did
not occur to me-" he asserted, until
May. when the fire destroyed the Reads
bOrO MILL which had contributed about
$4,000 a year to the gross earnings.
As there was only about five years sup.
ply of pulpwOod available for Mountain
Mills, activities there would cease in a
| few years whether the reservoir was
built or not The developments by the
| Power Co. at Somerset, Searsburg, No,
| ; plant at Monroe Bridge, the small
! plant at Readsboro and the Nottingham
| dam now under construction make about
| all the possible developments on the
! Deerfield so the Power Co. can give but
| little more freight to the road, making
| the future doubtful from a financial
| point of view" said Mr.. Hartman, 'un-
| less we can find some new industries
| with your assistance"
! If you decide to accept the offer the
! speaker added, you will get service, not
as good as now, but substantially as
good for seven or eight months, and you
4 will have one-half the saving, or $780,
/ 600 If you want the road relocated
/ we viii relocate it, but / want to empha-
! size the fact that you have got to help
! the railroad in every possible way, and
| we must practice every economy. If
any industry comes here it should be
| granted exemption from taxation, and
| the railroad will do its best to give good
service; you must give the road all pos
sible patronage. both freight and express,
because only in that way can the road
live. If you do not do so you will be to
blame. You must assume your share
| of the responsibility to see that the road
| succeeds. Don't make claims against
| the railroad just because it is railroad
The responsibility for its success rests
with us both. We pledge ourselves to
see that the road is run economically
and will do our best to bring in industry
L am glad of the opportunity to state
4 the bald facts just as ] see them.
At this point Mr.. Parmelee arose and
introduced the resolution above referred
to, ito bring the question fairly before
the meeting" he said
When Mr.. Parmelee had read the reso
luton and moved its adoption by a Iii
vision of the house DIR. s. +. Dunn said
he thought the motion was out of order