\?13 
 
 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
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r 
 
 REPLY 
 
 COMPLAINTS URGED BEFORE THE LEGISLATIVE 
 COMMITTEE ON RAILEOADS, 
 
 IN RELATION TO THE 
 
 MAKAGEMENT 
 
 I iOSTON & ALBANY EAILROAD. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANY. 
 
 February 25, 1875. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 WEIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS, 
 
 79 Milk Street (couner op Federal). 
 
 1875. 
 
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REPLY 
 
 COMPLAINTS UEGED BEFOEE THE LEGISLATIVE 
 COMMITTEE ON EAILEOADS, 
 
 IN mSLATION TO THE 
 
 MANAG-EMENT 
 
 BOSTON & AUAM RAILROAD. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANY. 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 HE2791 .B74 1875 
 
 Reply to the complaints urged before the 
 
 olin 
 
 Febeuaet 25, 1875. 
 
 3 1924 030 125 516 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 WEIGHT <fe POTTER, STATE PEINTEBS, 
 
 79 Milk Steeet (coeneb op Fedeeal). 
 
 1875. 
 
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 R ? 1 7 3 t s 
 
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REPLY. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : 
 
 I have listened with patience, and I hope not without some 
 benefit, to what has been said during this protracted hearing, 
 and to the charges which have been made against the Boston & 
 Albany Eailroad Comijany. Many of these charges are of real 
 or imaginary grievances which have been, from time to time, 
 brought to the attention of the Railroad Commissioners, and of 
 former committees of the legislature, and have been duly con- 
 sidered by them. Many of them are of matters of detail in the 
 management of the vast and complicated business of the road, 
 which are of little importance, and certainly do not call for leg- 
 islative action. Some are vague, ill-defined, contradictory, — 
 not always preferred in good temper. No well-considered remedy 
 is proposed for such evils as are acknowledged to exist ; or, if 
 suggested, there are hardly any two persons who agree upon the 
 proper and sufficient one. I will only briefly allude to some of 
 these minor points before coming to the really important issues 
 before you. 
 
 Mr. Jones charges the company with neglect in not sooner 
 erecting their grain-elevators. The company was organized the 
 last of October, 1867. In January of the following year, the 
 plans were prepared, materials purchased, and work commenced 
 upon the first, which was completed and ready for use in 
 October following. These buildings are not card-houses to 
 be built in an hour. The foundations alone for the addition to 
 the East Boston elevator, now nearly completed, have cost 
 $100,000, and it took a year to build them. 
 
 Mr. Kemble complains that the system of through bills of 
 lading is injurious to the business of Boston and a blow at its 
 prosperity. These bills are given both ways for imports and 
 
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exports. Here are some resolutions passed by the Boston 
 Board of Trade, in 1870 :— 
 
 Whereas, Tliis Board by its own action and at commercial conven- 
 tions and meetings of the National Board of Trade in which it has 
 been represented, has eepeatedlt expressed its desire that Congress 
 would enact a law to facilitate the direct importation of merchandise 
 TO THE CITIES of the interior; and 
 
 Whereas, A bill is now before the Committee on Ccgnmerce of the 
 House of Eepresentatives, which provides for the immediate trans- 
 mission to the city of their destination of imported goods as soon as 
 landed from the vessels, etc. ; therefore. 
 
 Resolved, That the Boston Board of Trade would respectfully urge 
 upon Congress the early passage of the bill referred to, or of such 
 other bill as in its wisdom it may prepare, which will place the leading 
 cities of the United States upon an equal footing, so far as their geo- 
 graphical position will permit, in all the laws and regulations which 
 relate to the importation of foreign goods. 
 
 Acting in good faith in the line of policy here recommended, 
 the company has joined in issuing through bills of lading both 
 for imports and exports. Let these resolutions be repealed 
 before we are censured for doing just what we have been asked 
 to do. I recollect when some of my own townsmen opposed 
 the building of the Western Railroad, because they did not 
 want "Worcester to be made a way station. They have learned 
 something since that time. We all can remember when the 
 rails of connecting roads were torn up in Erie, Pa., for the 
 same reason. I am surprised to hear an intelligent merchant of 
 Boston advocate, for this great city so narrow a policy as that. 
 
 We are charged with unreasonable delay in adjusting claims, 
 and one gentleman said that he had never heard of a single 
 claim being settled by the road. It may be that sometimes they 
 are not settled as soon as desired by the claimant, and perhaps 
 not as promptly as they should be. But consider how numerous 
 they are, how various in character and amount, many of them 
 arising from losses or causes hundreds of miles away. They 
 cannot be paid without investigation, and it takes time to in- 
 vestigate. During the last year, 3,980 of these claims have 
 been examined and adjusted, and $53,000 paid in settlement of 
 them. 
 
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Mr. Nazro has spoken of a claim which he has against the 
 White Line, and for which he shall sue the Boston & Albany 
 ■Railroad Company unless Mr. Lincoln settles it. That claim is 
 this : two cars of oats were billed from the West to Boston. 
 By some mistake they were sent to New York. They were 
 never on our road at all, — never touched our iron. A bill was 
 made out against the White Line for damages amounting to 
 $890.81. It was examined, acknowledged, and paid in full by 
 the New York Central road. Here is the copy of the receipt. 
 Mr. Nazro, after receiving the money and giving the receipt, 
 made out a supplementary bill for |16.98 for interest which he 
 had omitted in the first account, and this, I understand, has not 
 been paid. All I can say about this claim is, that it does not 
 seem to me to be any of Mr. Lincoln's business, or of that of 
 the Boston & Albany Railroad Company, and that he would, 
 probably, be pretty plainly told so, if he undertook to interfere 
 with it. 
 
 Mr. Blanchard complains that the local passenger tariff of 
 the road, which was reduced a few years ago, was arranged by 
 the president for the express purpose of giving some advantage 
 to the New York Central in the division of through fares. I 
 am not able to see how the object was accomplished ; but the 
 answer to that charge is, that the change in the tariff at that 
 time was made upon the recommendation of the Railroad Com- 
 missioners, and by a vote of the directors, the president being 
 absent from the country ; and that the revision, which was of 
 the local tariff alone, had not the slightest reference to that of 
 any outside road. 
 
 The charge was distinctly made upon the first day of the 
 hearing that guaranteed bills of lading of grain had been given 
 as a matter of favoritism, while they were refused generally to 
 the trade, and that proof of the charge was abundant and would 
 be forthcoming. Mr. Crockett, who was afterwards called to 
 substantiate the charge, frankly admits that, although he received 
 a notice from a clerk that a claim for shortage would be paid, 
 he was satisfied that a mistake had been made in the use of the 
 terms, the intention being to refund the freight on the shortage, 
 instead of paying for the shortage itself. Here is the receipt in 
 the usual form upon a printed blank, signed by the party, in 
 which the elevator weight is deducted from the way-bill weight, 
 
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6 
 
 and the freight on the shortage allowed at 45 cents per 100 
 pounds. Judge you, gentlemen, of the fairness of preferring 
 charges against the company, with such evidence as that to 
 sustain them. 
 
 Something' has been said about an increase of the rates at the 
 elevators, and that the object stated by Mr. Bliss or Mr. Lin- 
 coln was, to drive the grain business out of Boston, and thus 
 destroy the whole value of these elevators which we have built 
 at such immense cost ; while in the same brearth, we are charged 
 with refusing to deliver cars to the Freight Union Eailroad for 
 the purpose of forcing all grain into the elevators. Mr. Steb- 
 bins, I know, would not intentionally misrepresent any one, and 
 yet he has done me great injustice. About the time the rates 
 of storage were advanced, the elevators were nearly full of oats, 
 held by speculators for a rise in price. The room was very 
 limited. Neither of the buildings had been enlarged. The 
 consequence was, that we could not receive the large shipments 
 of corn which were arriving for export. At one time there 
 were three or four hundred cars in our yards waiting to be ele- 
 vated. The tariff was revised and changed in many particulars, 
 and this was the condition of things that led to it. If it was 
 advanced too much, it was afterwards reduced. 
 
 But it is said that wo will not deliver cars to the Union 
 Freight Railroad to be distributed over the city, or permit them 
 to be unloaded from the tracks ; aud Mr. Stebbins says that I 
 told him the reason was because the road would not give up the 
 elevator charge. The fact that we have required the grain in 
 cars hilled to Boston to go through the elevator, is true ; but the 
 reason assigned, so far as I am concerned, is an entire misap- 
 prehension or mistake. I could not have given that reason, for 
 I never had it in my mind. On the contrary, I have always 
 thouglit that Mr. Stebbius' situation was a peculiar one, and I 
 would most cheerfully have made an exception in his favor, if 
 I could have seen my way clear to it. He has an elevator and 
 grist-mill of his own. Originally a large amount of grinding 
 and milling was done at the Chandler-street elevator, until, upon 
 the complaint of Mr. Stebbius that it was interfering injuriously 
 with his business and that of others, the miller in the company's 
 elevator having an undue advantage, it was given up and the 
 machinery taken out. That certainly was not done for the 
 
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purpose of grinding Mr. Stebbins. The reason why we have 
 required grain billed to Boston to go into the elevator is this : 
 We have built these elevators at the urgent, unanimous and oft- 
 repeated request of the Board of Trade and to facilitate the 
 grain business of Boston. It is the universal custom, well 
 understood, that where there is an elevator at the terminal point, 
 owned by the road, that the grain going to that point is con- 
 signed to the elevator. There is an implied if not an express 
 contract. The bills of lading recognize it. Here is one in 
 which are the words : " All bulk grain consigned to a point 
 where there is an elevator reached by car tracks, will be subject 
 to elevator charges." All the roads require it and practise upon 
 it, because they are then sure of their weights, and secure 
 prompt unloading and return of their cars. The main trouble 
 with the elevators and the cause of all their unpopularity, is 
 because they have broken up the system of underbilliug, or 
 rendered it unprofitable, so far as the city trade is concerned. 
 •The grain that goes into the elevators, all pays freight. Before 
 track scales were put in at distributing or diverging points on 
 the road, a good deal escaped weighing and, of course, payment 
 of freight. Every consignee, knowing from their invoices that 
 ears were to arrive heavily overloaded, would naturally desire 
 to change their destination, so that they might be sent to some 
 other road or be unloaded on the tracks. Track scales have 
 been recently put in at Cottage Farm, and we have since then 
 freely furnished facilities, side tracks, and use of land, to 
 Powers & Melvin, for a private elevator of their own, at 
 Somerville, to which cars of grain are consigned every week, 
 and where we get no elevating. We have oiFered the same 
 facilities to Mr. Dimmick, for a flour mill at Cambridge. It 
 is not solely earnings from the elevators that we are looking 
 for, — it is responsibility for the cars, their prompt return, and 
 honest weights. If it was not for this practice of underbilliug, 
 you would have never heard of this complaint ; because, in that 
 case, Mr. Stebbins' business could easily have been arranged. 
 
 Frequent allusions have been made, during this hearing, to 
 certain irregularities, as they have been called, in the East- 
 Boston elevator. It is true that there were mistakes, blun- 
 ders, there a year or two ago, and the company promptly 
 assumed the responsibility, and settled all claims growing out 
 
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8 
 
 of them. So far as I know, every claim has been paid. Twelve 
 hundred dollars were paid to -Mr. Bartlett; a like sum to 
 Messrs. J. B. Brigham & Co. ; and I have a letter from the 
 house which he represented, in acknowledgment of the " very 
 fair" way in which their claim was adjusted. Whatever may 
 have been the cause of these blunders, it is easier for me to 
 believe them to have been accidental than intentional ; I prefer 
 to take the charitable view of the matter. But, however they 
 happened, they cost the company three or four thousand dol- 
 lars, and have all been settled long ago, and ought to be 
 dropped and forgotten. So far as the railroad company is 
 concerned, you are entirely welcome to all the details of the 
 matter whenever you desire to hear them. I challenge inquiry 
 into the manner in which the business at both of these elevators 
 is now conducted. I ask, here before you, Mr. Chairman, if it 
 is not done to the entire satisfaction of the members of the 
 Commercial Exchange. I have not heard a lisp of complaint for 
 a twelvemonth. If there are any grounds for complaint, I say 
 gentlemen are bound to bring them before the officers of the 
 company for correction or redress, before coming to the legis- 
 lature or going before the public with them. 
 
 Mr. Coffin, the inspector of the elevator, is, in no sense, the 
 agent of the railroad company. We have insisted that that 
 officer should be appointed by the Board of Trade, or Corn 
 Exchange ; or, what would be better, by the governor and 
 council, like other inspectors. But our suggestion was not 
 approved. The company then selected and appointed him, with 
 the unanimous approval of the members of the Corn Exchange, 
 and I have never heard that he has forfeited their confidence. 
 The company also claimed that his fees should be paid by the 
 owners of the grain, thus making him their agent, or at least 
 should be shared equally between them and the elevator, and, in 
 this manner, secure his entire independence and impartiality. 
 Neither of these propositions was satisfactory, and the elevator 
 has, of necessity, borne the charge alone, and now reproach is 
 cast upon the company, and discredit upon the statement of Mr. 
 Coffin, because of the manner of his payment, in which the 
 company has had no alternative, but has done just what it has 
 been compelled to do. 
 
 But I will not detain you longer with these minor matters. 
 
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They are of no account, and sink into insignificance compared 
 with the accusation, plainly miade, and applauded when made, 
 that the Boston & Albany Railroad Company "is carefully, 
 deliberately and systematically managed, so as to advance the 
 business interests of the city of New York, to the injury of 
 those of the city of Boston ; that the private and pecuniary in- 
 terest of the president of the road in the New York Central 
 Railroad, and in other foreign companies, is such, that he uses 
 his power and influence, as president of the Boston & Albany 
 Railroad, to promote that interest, at the cost of, and to the 
 injury of his own road, of the city of Boston, and of the Com- 
 monwealth ; and that, by necessary implication or inference, 
 the directors are powerless to prevent, or stand passively by 
 and see this great wrong committed. And it is furthermore 
 charged, that the road is managed in the sole interest of the 
 stockholders, that being the only interest the managers appear 
 to have in view, and that, in so managing it, they prefer to 
 do the smallest amount of business, at the least cost, and for 
 the largest amount of profit. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, these are grave and serious charges to make, 
 and I propose to meet them. I say that they are entirely 
 unwarranted by anything in the character or conduct of the 
 managers of the road. They are ungenerous, unjust and 
 without the slightest foundation in fact. They are not true of 
 the president ; they are not true of either or all 'of the gentlemen 
 who constitute the board of directors, whether representing the 
 State's interest or that of the private stockholders. Who are 
 these men against whom these accusations are made? First 
 and foremost, the president of the company, — a man honored 
 and respected in his own community, and beyond it, by all who 
 know him, who for a long lifetime has been thoroughly identi- 
 fied with almost every public enterprise designed to promote 
 tlie prosperity of Vestern Massachusetts, and especially with 
 this greatest of all, in which Boston and the whole State is so 
 largely interested. Of the vice-president, I will say only this : 
 that if he does sleep in the city of Worcester, — for that is about 
 all that he does there, a circumstance to which one of the 
 gentlemen has alluded, and does not seem to approve, — he has 
 inherited there, if nothing else, a debt of gratitude to the 
 merchants and business men of Boston, which he would most 
 2 
 
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10 
 
 gladly repay, by any services in his power to render to them. 
 Of the directors, it is sufficient to say, that there are among them 
 citizens of Boston, known everywhere and distinguished for 
 the fidelity with which they discharge every trust, public or 
 private, that is confided to them. They are not the sort of 
 men to be any man's tools in committing such an outrage as is 
 charged here. 
 
 The Order, under which this investigation is being made, is as 
 follows : — 
 
 Ordered, That the Committee on Eailroads inquire and report, 
 whether the Boston & Albany Raih'oad Company is furnishing proper 
 facilities for the transportation of merchandise, and for the promotion of 
 the trade and commerce of the Commonwealth, and particularly whether 
 its rates of freight, and other arrangements, are properlj'^adjusted, so as 
 to encourage the shipping of freight to and from the port of Boston. 
 
 The Boston & Albany Railroad Company was organized in 
 the fall of 1867. It has been in existence and operation about 
 seven years. At that time, its capital was $14,934,100, and the 
 total means applied to construction, including debt, was $18,- 
 378,000. Its capital stock now is $20,000,000, and the amount 
 applied to construction $27,738,686, an increase of $9,360,000 
 in seven years. Bear in mind, that there has been no watered 
 stock, and that during the last three or four years, while its 
 improvements and expenditures have been largest, no stock 
 or bonds have been issued to stockholders at par, even, for 
 money paid in, but all have been sold in the open market at 
 market prices. Dividends have not been increased in frequency 
 or amount. 
 
 What, then, has this vast expenditure of money been for? 
 What has been done with it? You may well ask. I am not 
 aware that any charge has been made during this hearing, that 
 any portion of it has been corruptly used or for improper 
 purposes ; and yet I have repeatedly heard it charged outside of 
 these walls, that the paid agents of the company are constantly 
 employed, and that its money has been and is largely used, to 
 affect, by legislation or otherwise, other roads and other 
 enterprises, which are, or are supposed to be, hostile or 
 prejudicial to its interests. I, therefore, take this occasion to 
 assert, that from the organization of the company to the present 
 
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11 
 
 time, not a dollar of its money has been expended, in any way, 
 directly or indirectly, here or elsewhere, to affect or influence 
 in any way, legislation relating to the Tunnel or its connections, 
 to the Boston, Hartford & Erie Railroad, to the Massachusetts 
 Central Eailroad, or to any other of the schemes of public 
 improvement which have been considered or acted upon here. 
 Not one dollar ; of that I am sure, certain ; certain sure, if 
 there is any difference in the meaning of the words, or any force 
 in putting them together. No railroad company in the country 
 has a cleaner record in this respect ; few so clean. 
 
 We have come here at times, as we are here now, in 
 obedience to your summons, by counsel or otherwise, explained 
 our case, whatever it may have been, and then left our interests 
 in your hands, confident that you would do us justice. 
 
 Has this money been foolishly wasted, or has it been wisely 
 and prudeutly expended in furnishing proper facilities for the 
 transportation of merchandise, and for the promotion of the 
 trade and commerce of the Commonwealth? In 1867 the road 
 entered the city of Boston through a narrow pass, barely 
 sufficient for two tracks, under low bridges, and with a road- 
 bed covered with salt water at every high tide. The managers 
 of the Worcester road had considered the feasibility of remedy- 
 ing these evils, and had decided, and wisely, that with their 
 short road and small capital, they could not afford the large 
 .expenditure necessary to accomplish the work. But in so 
 deciding, they gave up the argument against consolidation with 
 the Western road; because if the work was necessary to be 
 done, and they could not do it, they were bound to make way 
 for another company that would be able and willing to meet 
 the emergency. Within three months of the organization of 
 this company, that important work, the initial step in the long 
 list of improvemeiats which have since been made, was under- 
 taken. It required the raising and widening of the bridges on 
 the most important streets of the city, for which the company 
 paid the whole expense. It required an expensive sewer to 
 drain the road-bed, which is, as you probably know, six feet 
 below high water. The whole improvement was accomplished 
 at an expenditure of not less than six hundred thousand dollars. 
 The result is, that the company and the public have, practically, 
 a subterranean road, with four tracks, into the very heart of 
 
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12 
 
 the city, crossing no streets at grade, in nobody's way, and at a 
 comparatively small cost, — a result which millions of dollars are 
 being expended to accomplish in the city of New York. Was 
 the private interest of the stockholders the only end the 
 directors had in view in this large expenditure ? 
 
 The same year, the Chandler-street elevator was built at a 
 cost of $150,000, after the culpable delay of which Mr. Jones 
 has spoken. For years previous, there had scarcely been a 
 meeting of the Board of Trade without the passing of resolu- 
 tions calling upon the Worcester and other Boston roads to 
 build elevators. Well, the Albany road, in its first year, built 
 one, and in its second year built a second, and in its fourth and 
 fifth year enlarged the one, and its sixth and seventh years 
 enlarged the other, and has been constantly building and 
 enlarging ; and now, to judge from the general tenor of the 
 complaints that are made, I should think it would be an easy 
 thing to get resolutions passed asking the company to tear 
 them all down. They seem to be the source and cause of all 
 the woes of the grain trade, a hindrance rather than a help to 
 successful business. 
 
 The company has erected large and expensive engine-houses, 
 freight-houses, machine and car shops, — models of their kind, 
 — all in the city of Boston ; has purchased the land and taken 
 initiatory steps for the erection of a new passenger-house, 
 which, but for the serious depression in business, would have, 
 been commenced the present year. Its purchases of land alone 
 in this city, for necessary terminal facilities, have absorbed 
 more than one and a ^half millions of dollars. It has con- 
 structed a third track to Brighton, five miles ; and has secured 
 a location and most of the land for four tracks to Charles 
 Eiver, there being no great difficulty in obtaining, hereafter, the 
 necessary land beyond that point. It has erected new and 
 commodious passenger-depots at very many points on the line 
 of the road, — at Brighton, Newton, Wellesley, Westborough, 
 
 Grafton, and 1 stop here ; to go beyond might get too near 
 
 Springfield or New York. It has erected and nearly completed 
 at Worcester — under compulsion there, by an Act of the legis- 
 lature — a union passenger-station for the use of all the roads 
 which meet in that city, at a cost of half a million. It has 
 spanned the Connecticut Eiver at Springfield with an iron 
 
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 bridge for two tracks, in place of the old single-track wooden 
 bridge, which a spark from an engine might have destroyed at 
 any time, causing almost a temporary meat-famine, or, at any 
 rate, a serious enhancement in prices in eastern Massachusetts. 
 Had the public no interest in this great improvement ? "Was 
 the interest of the stockholders the sole interest in view in 
 making it, or had New York anything to do with it? 
 
 The company has caused to be replaced, I don't know how 
 many, a dozen or more, of the old wooden bridges upon the line 
 of the road with substantial and expensive iron or stone struct- 
 ures. It has opened and developed, from the Hudson River 
 and the coal-mines beyond, an entirely new coal business into 
 the western and central portions of the State ; and I am not 
 sure but that our coal-trains will soon reach as far as the out- 
 lying districts of this city. Our cars have brought as many as 
 30,000 tons of coal in a single year as far as the city of Wor- 
 cester, in competition with the cheaper water-routes through 
 Norwich and Providence. No coal, Mr. Chairman, can be 
 carried to advantage from Boston westward to any considerable 
 distance, because of the higher rates of freight by water from 
 the coal ports to this city than to Norwich or Providence ; and 
 now a new fire has broken out, and Mr. Blood has found a new 
 coal port at New Bedford, better than either. Owners of 
 vessels, to use a familiar word, discriminate against Boston and 
 the Boston & Albany Railroad in favor of the ports I have 
 named. To be sure, they are a little nearer, the voyage is less 
 dangerous, the grades, so to speak, are easier, and so the out- 
 side freight is less to these ports, and Boston and the Boston & 
 Albany Railroad lose this business. 
 
 And, lastly, at Albany, the company has made very exten- 
 sive additions to its terminal facilities, and has contributed its 
 proportion to the cost, and aided in the construction of the 
 two bridges over the Hudson River, which are more important 
 to the trade and commerce of Boston and of Massachusetts than 
 all the other improvements which I have enumerated, large and 
 important as they are, put together. A few words about the 
 bridges. I will not occupy much of your time about them, 
 because the president will soon furnish you all desired informa- 
 tion on the subject. Those bridges were built and are owned 
 by a corporation organized under the laws 'of the State of New 
 
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14 
 
 York, consisting of the New York Central Railroad (the suc- 
 cessor of the New York Central Railroad and Hudson River 
 Railroad), which owns three-fourths, and of the Boston & 
 Albany Railroad, which owns one-fourth. The Boston & 
 Albany Railroad Company is a stockholder to that extent. 
 Not a share is owned by private individuals. The single share 
 which stands in the name of the president of this company to 
 qualify him to be a director, is the property of the company, 
 and made over to it. So much for the charges of private inter- 
 est in these bridges, which have been so industriously circulated. 
 Originally, toll was charged upon all^freight and passengers 
 carried over the bridge, and this was done by authority of the 
 State of New York, which established the tolls ; and a portion 
 of the money used in the construction of the second bridge 
 was earned by the first in this way. This was exactly what is 
 proposed with the Tunnel under the toll-gate system. That 
 has been for some years abandoned, on all joint or through 
 freight, in which both roads are equally interested. When it 
 was charged, it was not paid by the freighter, but was allowed 
 by the connecting roads to the bridge out of the joint earnings, 
 before division. New York freight was treated the same as 
 Boston freight. There was no discrimination in its favor. No 
 dividend has ever been paid to the roads owning the bridge 
 from its earnings. In consequence of the great cost of the 
 bridges and the expense of their maintenance, the roads owning 
 them are allowed two miles as constructive mileage in the sub- 
 division of the joint earnings upon through freight, — that is, 
 the Boston & Albany is allowed to divide upon 201 instead of 
 200 miles, the actual length of its road. That is all there is 
 about that matter : and is there any wrong or harm in that ? 
 There are charges for what is local freight on cattle starting 
 at West Albany ; and I have heard of something being said 
 about the tax upon the poor man's coal carried over the bridge. - 
 This coal comes from the Susquehanna road, which reaches 
 down into the coal districts of Pennsylvania. It owns no part 
 of the bridge or interest in it ; does not help maintain it ; and 
 cannot reach it except over the tracks of the New York Cen- 
 tral Railroad. If these cars and freight of one company are 
 hauled over the road and bridges of another, why should they 
 not pay a reasonable* price for the privilege and the service ? 
 
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15 
 
 How does it differ from the practice of the Grand Junction 
 Railroad? If the Fitchbilrg or Lowell roads want their cars 
 hauled over that road to East Boston, it is done, and they pay 
 for the service. 
 
 Mr. Atkinson proposes to construct a railroad to South Bos- 
 ton to connect with all the steam roads which enter the city, at 
 a cost of one or two or three millions of dollars. That enter- 
 prise will hardly be accomplished if his company cannot charge 
 a fair price for the use of it by other roads. The Union Freight 
 Railroad, now operated by the Old Colony Railroad Company, 
 charges from three to five dollars a car for transferring them 
 from one road to another ; and if I recollect right, this same 
 company, known as the Marginal Freight Railroad, long before 
 it was constructed, made a contract with a company some- 
 where down in Connecticut, selling the exclusive right, for ten 
 years, to draw cars over that road for $1.50 per car, empty and 
 full. At this very time 430 long coal-cars are on their way to 
 Carbondale to bring back coal over the bridge at Albany to 
 supply the market in this State. By no other route can a ton 
 of coal be brought into Massachusetts to-day. 
 
 In addition to all these improvements of which I have spoken, 
 the company, within these seven years, has increased its equip- 
 ment as follows : — ^Its engines, from 144 to 238 ; its passenger, 
 baggage and mail cars, from 127 to 243 ; and its freight cars, 
 from 2,334 to 4,816, — more than one hundred per cent. It 
 has adopted and generally applied the most important and well- 
 tested improvements and devices for the safety of its trains, and 
 the comfort and security of its passengers, — the Miller plat- 
 form, and the train-brakes. It has recently made a contract for 
 Hall's electric block-signals ; and the president is now negoti- 
 ating for a double line of telegraph wires over the whole road 
 for its exclusive use. It has covered three-quarters of the 
 main road with steel rails, and in a year or two, at farthest, the 
 whole line will be of steel. This is what this president, with 
 New York sympathies and New York interests, and these 
 puppet directors, have done with the company's money, with 
 the greed for personal gain, and hostility to Boston interests in 
 their hearts. 
 
 Now, what is the result of all this work and of this expend- 
 iture of money? The passengers have increased during this 
 
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16 
 
 time from 3,622,114 to 5,889,382; tons of freight, from 
 1,319,059 to 2,668,403; tons carried one mile, from 121,348,- 
 891 to 290,672,369; barrels of flour, from 1,137,780 to 
 2,043,744; bushels of grain to Boston, — Mr. Chairman, note 
 that, if you please,— from 795,658 in 1868, to 5,028,702 in 
 1874. The total exports of wheat and corn from the whole 
 city of Boston, in 1866, were but 37,505 bushels. From this 
 company's elevator alone at East Boston, in 1874, were taken 
 for export 1,418,192 bushels, to which must be added what was 
 loaded into vessels somewhere else from wheelbarrows, of which 
 we have had interesting and instructive accounts. During the 
 last three months 500,000 bushels have been delivered from the 
 East Boston elevator for export. During these seven years 
 the average cost of transporting one passenger and one ton per 
 mile has been reduced from 2^6gYo to -'-AVo ^euts, a reduction 
 and saving to the public of 38 per cent. 
 
 The average rates per mile, received on through freights 
 between Boston and Albany and west of Albany, were as 
 follows : — 
 
 By Western and Boston & Worcester Railroads. 
 In 1855, '^Tih cents per ton per mile. 
 
 1 99 £( (( 
 
 1860, 
 1865, 
 
 08 2 
 
 By Boston & Albany Railroad, after Gonsolidation. 
 
 ly/ff cents per ton per mile. 
 
 XOIV, . 
 
 ■L 1 Tfff 
 
 1873, . 
 
 • 1t¥o 
 
 1874,* 
 
 • ItIAt 
 
 October, " . 
 
 ■ ItVV 
 
 November, " 
 
 • 1t¥;7 
 
 December, "■ 
 
 • 1tV«^ 
 
 The average rates received on freights between Boston and 
 points west of Buffalo, by the " lines," in December, 1874, 
 were, — 
 
 On flour and grain, to Boston, .... QJ^o^ cts. per ton. 
 Average on all through freights for same month was l-j\)V " " 
 
 • Year ending September 30. 
 
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17 
 
 Showing a discrimination in favor of flour and grain to Boston, 
 over average of through freight, 0^^^^ cents per ton per mile. 
 
 Hear what has been said from time to time by the Boston 
 Board of Trade. In their report, made January, 1872, I find 
 the following : — 
 
 " No one can look upon the activity which crowds our thorough- 
 fares, upon the extent of the territory (continually widening) which 
 is devoted to commercial pursuits, and especially upon the returns 
 of traffic upon all the railway lines convergiug in Boston, which 
 have just been made public, without arriving at the conclusion that 
 the general trade of the city has reached very large proportions, and 
 that its condition is thoroughly healthful. Year by year we are 
 selling more and more dry goods, ready-made clothing, boots and 
 shoes, groceries, fruit, fish, hardware, glass and crockery ware, and 
 other commodities to the Southern and Western States ; and the 
 proportion of the fabrics of our own manufacture sold in Boston, as 
 compared with those disposed of through the branch agencies in other 
 cities, is constantly increasing. 
 
 "• The Boston & Albany Eailroad Company, whose efforts in behalf 
 of our foreign trade during the past year cannot be too l^ighly com- 
 mended, is proposing, etc." 
 
 In January, 1873, the report speaks of what had been done 
 by the Cunard Line, and also says : — 
 
 " Many improvements in our railway travel and transportation, 
 with increased facilities for the rapid and cheapened landing of mer- 
 chandise for shipment at tide-water, have been originated, aided or 
 influenced by the action of this Board. 
 
 " The shipments of corn have more than doubled, and those of 
 bacon have increased to nearly fourfold, while almost every other 
 article shows a gain. It should be remembered that two years ago this 
 trade did not exist at all." 
 
 In January, 1874, it is said : — 
 
 " Already have our exports of provisions and bread-stuffs largely in- 
 creased, as will be seen by statements in another place, and the pros- 
 pects are decidedly encouraging for a still further increase during the 
 coming year." 
 
 Speaking of the large business in hogs, it says : — 
 
 " The product of these hogs is mostly shipped to Europe, and have 
 largely increased the export trade of our city ; but considerable is also 
 consumed at home. 
 3 
 
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18 
 
 " Oar receipts of flour include 266,359 barrels by the Grand Junc- 
 tion Railroad, nearly all of which was forwarded to Eastern markets, 
 or shipped direct to Liverpool." 
 
 In the report of this year it is said : — 
 
 " The provision trade is an exception to the general depression 
 which has prevailed in other branches of trade, and has been more 
 prosperous than any previous year for the past ten years." 
 
 "The receipts of hogs have been 613,874, against 901,137, last year. 
 The product of most of these hogs has been shipped to Europe." 
 
 And now I find in the report of the proceedings before the 
 legislature, on Tuesday of this week, the following : — 
 
 " A New European Steamship Company. — A petition was received 
 from W. H. Lincoln, C. L. Taylor & Co., Baldwin, Botume & Co., 
 John D. Parker, Frank N. Thayer, Thomas Dana & Co., Edward 
 Sands and Samuel G. Reed, merchants in Boston, representing that 
 they desire to form a corporate bod}-, under the name of the Boston 
 Navigation Company, for the pui-pose of building, for their own use, 
 equipping, furnishing, fitting, purchasing, chartering, running and 
 owning steam and sailing vessels, to be emplo3'ed in the service 
 between Boston and Liverpool, and the general freighting business, 
 and asking for an act of incorporation." 
 
 I ask now, in all fairness, if, in view of this record of work 
 and results, the private interests of the stockholders is the only 
 interest which the managers appear to have had in vie^v. Is 
 there any excuse or justification for the charge made here, 
 that they desire the smallest amount of business, at the least 
 cost, and with the greatest profit? or, if a motive to crush 
 out the business of Boston is very apparent. I say, on the 
 other hand (you must excuse me for saying what I would 
 not, except in vindication of the managers of the road from 
 these unjust assaults), that their plans have been comprehen- 
 sive, their policy liberal and progressive, and have been de- 
 signed to promote, and have promoted, to a very large extent, 
 the growth and prosperity of the Commonwealth, and especially 
 of the city of Boston. 
 
 I come now to the second branch of the inquiry, which is, 
 whether the rates of freight and other arrangements are properly 
 adjusted to eucourge the shipping of freight to and from the 
 port of Boston. 
 
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 The Grand Junctiou railroad and wharf property has been 
 purchased, reconstructed, and put in full and successful operaT 
 tion by these managers, at a cost of $2,000,000 for that very 
 purpose, and for no other. I will not detain the Committee, 
 now to describe this road and property, or the uses to which it 
 is put. It is sufficient, generally, to say that it is a road nine 
 miles long, passing through Cambridge, Charlestown, Somer^ 
 ville, Chelsea to East Boston, increasing the facilities for 
 business, and contributing to the wealth and prosperity of 
 each of them. That it comprises a territory of thirty-three, 
 acres, upon which are extensive warehouses, mostly new, a 
 grain-elevator nearly completed, with a capacity of 1,000,000 
 bushels, extensive wharves, and the finest dock, confessedly, 
 in the city, for commercial purposes. We hope, at some future 
 day, when the season is more advanced and the weather is more 
 propitious, you will examine for yourselves, and decide whether 
 these " other advantages " are properly adjusted or not. Cer- 
 tain things over there are within our own control. No charge 
 is made for wharfage on merchandise which has come or is 
 going over our own road. We take all ocean-bound freight 
 the additional distance to East Boston at Boston rates. We 
 have bonded our road " to encourage imports " into the port of 
 Boston, which some gentlemen think we should not have done. 
 We receive, weigh in, store ten days, deliver and insure while ' 
 in the elevator, all grain for one and one-fourth cents a bushel, 
 which is one-half a cent a bushel less than is charged by the 
 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, whose arrangements are so highly 
 complimented by the Committee upon the improvement of the 
 South Boston Flats, for liberality to the merchants of Balti- 
 more ; and I presume, though I do not know the fact, that their 
 higher price does not cover insurance. A year or two ago, I 
 could not find a single elevator in any of the great grain centres 
 of the West which insured the grain while in store. For each 
 additional ten days, or part of the same, one-quarter (^) of a 
 cent per bushel. Now, I ask again if these arrangements and 
 these facilities have been furnished for the sole benefit of the 
 stockholders, or if they inure in any way to the advantage of the 
 commerce of New York? What have thSse managers done all 
 this for ; made this vast expenditure of money ; piled up this load 
 of debt, to be increased millions more, without another dollar iu 
 
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 over its own New York York Central road, if it comes to 
 dividends, or the hope of it ? They have done it simply in what 
 they have deemed the proper and faithful discharge of their 
 duty, both to the public and to their stockholders, whose rights 
 and interests they are bound alike to care for and promote. 
 They have done it to get business, to create it, to build it up, 
 and not to crush it out and destroy it ; and business they mean 
 to have, if it can be fairly and honorably obtaiued. They do 
 not intend that these magnificent terminal facilities shall remain 
 idle or useless when there is business to be done, nor can they 
 afford to have them remain unproductive. 
 
 But there is the matter of discrimination, as it is called, of 
 five cents per one hundred pounds in favor of New York. 
 That, so far as the established and recognized tariff goes, is 
 certainly true. There is in the tariff this difference of five • 
 cents in favor of New York. I regret it, and wish it were 
 otherwise. The tariff from the West to Baltimore is five cents 
 under New York, just as New York is five cents under Boston. 
 This difference is based upon the geographical position of these 
 different cities. '™ Abstractly speaking,iyou cannot say that this 
 difference, or some difference, is not just. It certainly does 
 cost more to move freights the longer distance, the conditions 
 being the same, and much more, if the conditions are adverse 
 to the long line. From Chicago to Boston, via Lake Shore, 
 New York Central, and Boston & Albany Eailroads, it is 1,038 
 miles ; from_ Chicago, by the same route, to Albany, and thence 
 by the Hudson Eiver Eailroad to New York, is but 981 miles, 
 fifty-seven miles less. From Buffalo to Albany, over the New 
 York Central Eailroad, is but 298 miles. All freights are divided 
 among the different roads that make up the line, pro rata, accord- 
 ing to theirmileage. If the freight, therefore, comes to Boston, 
 the New York Central Eailroad will get ^^j^^- parts, while if it 
 goes to New York, it will receive |-|| parts for hauling it from 
 Buffalo to Albany, in addition to its earnings over the Hudson 
 Eiver Eailroad, an additional 138 miles. At forty-five cents 
 per 100,^the rate being the same to Boston and to New York, 
 the New York Central Eailroad will receive, if I have cast it 
 correctly, $25.83 on a car of ten tons, if the freight comes to 
 Boston,'%hile if it goes to New York, it will earn $40, a differ- 
 ence of $14.17. It will receive $1.03 less for hauling the car 
 
 "o 
 
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 Boston , than if it went to New York. It has to worli so much 
 cheaper for Boston than for New York business. Now, gentle- 
 men, put yourselves in Commodore Vanderbilt's place, at the 
 head of a great New York road, surrounded by New York 
 merchants as deeply interested in the prosperity and business 
 of their city as we are in ours, or, perhaps I should say, as you 
 are in yours ; and then decide, if it is not asking a liberal con- 
 cession from him, and if it is not obtaining a liberal concession, 
 if we get it, to wipe out this difference of five cents. It is 
 very easy to talk about " putting your foot down," which, I 
 suppose, is another term for coercion ; but my impression is, 
 that President Chapiu, if he should try that game, would find 
 the Commodore's foot quite as heavy as his own. That is not, 
 in our judgment, the best way to accomplish your and our 
 ends, for we all desire and need the same thing. By argument, 
 by cooperation, by appeals to interest, and, I have no doubt, 
 by personal influence, the president of this road has already 
 secured valuable concessions to Boston interests, for which he and 
 those who have granted them, deserve thanks rather than 
 abuse, and we may soon, we can hope, get more and greater. 
 It is, we say, and try to prove, manifestly for the interest 
 of the New York Central Eailroad to work for us and with 
 us for Boston business, on a little less profit than on their 
 freight to New York, because on Boston business they are, at 
 least, sure of it over two-thirds of their road, while if it goes 
 to New York, their great rivals may take it all from them. It 
 will be a sad day for Massachusetts interests and Boston 
 interests, when there shall be any serious quarrel or contro- 
 versy between the managers of the New York Central and 
 Boston & Albany i-ailroads, — at all events, until there are more 
 and better means of communication between us and the West 
 than now exist. Sooner or later, this difference will be given 
 up, and the great cities on the seaboard will all stand on terms 
 of equality for the business of the West, so far as distance is 
 concerned. It is our interest, as it is yours, to hasten that time. 
 It has been said, rather faintly to be sure, here, that if our 
 connecting roads will not join with the Boston & Albany Eail- 
 road in removing this difference and sharing the loss, it is the 
 duty of this company to assume it all, itself. It is a sufficient 
 answer to such an absurd proposition to say, that after doing so, 
 
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 there would, at present rates, remain the sum of $7.42 to the 
 road for hauling a car of ten tons from Albany to Boi^on, 200 
 miles, over its mountain grades, with the privilege of hauling 
 the car back empty. 
 
 Complaints are also made that rates of freight to Portland 
 have been less than Boston rates. That may be, occasionally ; 
 but it is a cut, a violation of the tariff, and not the established 
 rate. The Grand Trunk Railroad, I believe, make Portland 
 rates 5 cents less than Boston, and so they should by their line. 
 They are cutting the corners of our Western connections at all 
 points, and occasionally, I suppose, to retaliate, the agents of 
 those roads take freight for Portland at Grand Trunk rates. 
 They must take it so, if at all ; and do you care to say by legis- 
 lation or otherwise, that no Massachusetts road "shall do any 
 Western business with the city of Portland. I have a great re- 
 spect and a great liking for that very enterprising city, but I do 
 not think that there is yet much cause for the petty jealousy that 
 has been manifested here at her reviving prosperity. Rejoice in 
 her good fortune, if she has any. Boston cannot fail to reap a 
 large share of it in some way. Of one thing you may be sure, 
 that under no circumstances will the Boston & Albany Railroad 
 Company ever consent, that any tariff which it has any power 
 to control, shall give a preference to Portland over Boston. 
 
 And now, Mr. Chairman, will yoii believe me when I tell 
 you that during all the time you have been engaged in this 
 hearing, the managers of the Boston & Albany and New York 
 Central railroads have been, and are now, actually taking 
 freight from Boston to Chicago and the West from 10 to 25 
 cents per 100 pounds less than the current rates from New York. 
 Not 5 cents merely, but from 10 to 25 cents. Here is a copy of 
 the tariff in force to-day — (on colored paper, because, I suppose 
 that business is done by the colored lines) : — 
 
 
 1st Class. 
 
 24 Class. 
 
 34 Class. 
 
 4th Class. 
 
 Special. 
 
 Present rates New York to Chicaga, 
 " " Boston to Chicago, 
 
 %\ 00 
 
 75 
 
 §0 90 
 
 70 
 
 fO 75 
 
 60 
 
 fO 60 
 45 
 
 fO 45 
 35 
 
 Difference, 
 
 $0 25 
 
 fO 20 
 
 ?0 15 
 
 ?0 15 
 
 ?0 10 
 
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23 
 
 Rates from Boston to the West are always as low as from 
 New Ydi'k. There is certainly uo discrimination against the 
 manufactures and mechanics of the State. That, at least can be 
 said for the roads, if anybody cares to find, or to say anything 
 in their favor. This whole matter of rates of freight is gov- 
 erned almost entirely, or largely, by competition. You have 
 probably read Mr. Garrett's recent letter to Mr. Scott, charg- 
 ing him with breach of faith in this business, and Mr. Scott's 
 reply denying that he did it, and saying that Mr. Garrett was 
 the man. At this hearing, Mr. Shumway told you that the 
 Baltimore & Ohio agent offered him a cut of 10 cents under the 
 Boston & Albany rate, and here I have a letter signed by that 
 agent, saying that he is no such man, that that statement is not 
 correct. I will not read it. All I can say about this whole 
 matter of competition, or cutting under for freight, is, that I 
 hardly pretend to understand, much less to explain it. 
 
 Complaint is again made because our rates to the West are 
 sometimes higher than by the longer lines. All, without ex- 
 ception, admit that our line is the best, and that they would 
 much prefer to, and should send our way, if the price was the 
 same. Of course they would. But if the price is all that is in 
 the way, the management, the personnel of the road, cannot be 
 so bad after all. Our line, they say, is the shortest, the quickest 
 and the best, and the freight would all go by it at the same 
 price. That is the explanation of the lower price by the poorer 
 route, and the onl}' one. It does not make any difference what 
 our price is. Our neighbors seeing us do all the business at 
 the same price, must and will cut under, whatever that price 
 is, to get any. Mr. Chairman, if your neighbor has a poorer 
 horse or machine, or any article of inferior quality of the same 
 kind to sell than you have, he must sell at a less price if he sells 
 at all, or somebody will be cheated. 
 
 The comparison has been frequently made here, between the 
 Baltimore & Ohio and the Boston & Albany railroads. In any 
 such comparison, proper allowances should be made for the 
 widely differing conditions and circumstances in which those 
 roads are placed. The city of Baltimore has a very large 
 pecuniary interest in the Baltimore & Ohio road, amounting, 
 I believe, to several miUions of dollars. The city of Boston, as 
 a municipality, has contributed nothing to the Boston & 
 
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 Albany road, and doesnot own any interest in its stock. The 
 Baltimore & Ohio road is permitted to use the streets of the 
 city with the freedom, almost, with which it uses its location 
 elsewhere, laying its tracks across, or in, and along them for 
 miles, as its conveniences require. 
 
 The Boston & Albany road holds with difficulty, and may 
 lose at any time, its present connection across three or four 
 sti-eets to its wharves and warehouses in East Boston. It can 
 find no practicable way to unite its road and terminal facilities 
 in Boston proper with the South Boston flats, because of the 
 restrictions imposed upon it about crossing the public streets. 
 I do not speak of this by way of complaint, but to show how 
 much more exacting public sentiment or public convenience 
 and interest is, in one case than in the other. The Baltimore 
 & Ohio road has the advantage over the Boston & Albany road 
 in having the absolute control of a through and unbroken line 
 to the West, and with a saving also of two hundred miles or 
 thereabouts in distance. And more important than all, so far 
 as regards the cost of running its trains, coal costs upon its 
 engines but a dollar and a half a ton, instead of $7 or $8 
 as when delivered upon the line of the Boston & Albany Eail- 
 road. The time was, when Boston might have had its unit 
 through line, at least to Buffalo, without the expenditure by 
 the State of $20,000,000, if nine men of sagacity and pluck, 
 and disposition and means, could have been found to join the 
 tenth to secure it. I have no doubt the men were here at that 
 time, but unfortunately they were not found. 
 
 The rebate or drawback on freight for exportation, 1 do not 
 propose to discuss here, unless you desire it. It is well under- 
 stood what it means. Whatever the managers have been able 
 to do in this direction has been in the true and best interest of 
 the commerce of the city of Boston ; and their only regret is 
 that they could not do more. They have nothing to conceal, 
 although there has been an effort to make it appear so. If you 
 think the practice objectionable, you have only to say so. One 
 thing more only I will say about it. The unfriendliness or 
 caprice of the New York Central railroad is not the " slender 
 thread" upon which the continuance of this rebate depends. 
 The Pennsylvania Central and Erie railroads have quite as 
 much to say about the tariff from the West to New York as the 
 
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 New York Central road. As yet they care little for Boston 
 freight, and insist upon the discrimination between Boston and 
 New York. When you proclaim to them that one line has de- 
 parted from the recognized tariff, for your benefit, — although 
 only to a partial extent, — they feel themselves justified in 
 making a corresponding reduction to New York, to reestablish 
 the difi'erence ; and the New York Central has to follow, or lose 
 all business to that city, and Boston is then as badly off as if no 
 rebate was made. 
 
 There remains the matter of guaranteed bills of lading, and 
 here I frankly admit the evils of the present method of doing 
 business. Some system should be adopted to prevent this 
 gross and inexcusable carelessness or fraud, whichever it may 
 be, of which so much complaint has been made. It is not, 
 however, peculiar to the trade with Massachusetts. The pam- 
 phlet handed to you by Mr. Locke, speaks of underbilling as a 
 general practice in the trade at the West. There is very little 
 of it, if any, now at Chicago. At Toledo, also, the grain is 
 generally billed correctly, but not always. At other places 
 which I might name, the business is done with a degree of 
 looseness discreditable to all concerned. I will give you a few 
 samples of elevator weights compared with way-bill weights. 
 A lot of wheat from Chicago, in thirteen cars, fell short but five 
 bushels in 5,200; another lot of 7,200 bushels, in eighteen 
 cars, was short but six bushels. In a lot of wheat from Toledo, 
 in seven cars, billed at 2,800 bushels, the shortage or shrink- 
 age was but six bushels; while in a lot of corn, in six cars, 
 from the same place, way-billed as 2,160 bushels, there was an 
 excess of forty bushels in each car. The invoices are rarely or 
 never shown to be compared with the bills of lading. In point 
 of fact, this system of underbilling is not what has afiiected 
 most the trade of the Boston grain-dealers. Much less escapes 
 weighing at local points than they suppose. For many years, 
 Boston enjoyed the monopoly of the retail grain-trade of the 
 central and eastern part of the State, and it was, of course, very 
 pleasant and profitable. You know how, formerly, the tariff 
 was so arranged that it cost less to bring Western freight 
 through to Boston than to leave it at Worcester, at Springfield, 
 or even at Pittsfield, one hundred and fifty miles nearer the 
 starting point, by the same route. That was discrimination. 
 
 4 
 
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 The consequence was, that my neighbor, or the neighbor of the 
 president of the road, could come here, buy his flour and corn, 
 ship it back at local rates to Worcester or Springfield, cheaper 
 than he could stop it in transit ; and this continued until the 
 legislature interposed and passed a law to prevent it, and, with 
 the passage of that law, Boston necessarily lost the monopoly 
 she had so long enjoyed. I can count now no less than five 
 small elevators and grist-mills, which have been erected within 
 a few years, upon the line of the road east of Worcester, for 
 the supply of the local markets. Of course, no one will come 
 here from Westborough, or Ashland, or Natick, or Newton, to 
 purchase corn or meal, when he can get it as cheap at home, 
 and save one handling and local freight. The building of 
 branch and connecting local roads has also contributed largely 
 to a change in the course of business. The Framingham & 
 Mansfield Railroad, during the second year of its existence, re- 
 ceived from the Boston & Albany, at South Framingham, 
 300,000 bushels of oats and 900,000 bushels of corn, for the 
 southern counties of Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth. Undoubt- 
 edly, a large portion of that business had been previously done 
 by Boston dealers. Now, we may regret this, so far as our 
 Boston friends and customers are concerned. I regret it on 
 account of our road. We should prefer to bring it all here. 
 We should make a little more money by so doing, not beino- 
 obliged to divide with the Framingham & Mansfield Railroad ; 
 but we can't help it, and we niust accept the situation and ac- 
 comodate ourselves to it. What is our loss is somebody's o-ain, 
 and, as we are all of one family, it don't appear that the com- 
 munity, as a whole, is the loser. This company is doing, and 
 will continue to do, everything in its power to protect the Bos- 
 ton dealer from unfair competition by this system of under- 
 billing, until the practice is broken up. 
 
 The matter of shortage only remains. It is an evil which 
 should be remedied, and I hope will be as soon as possible. The 
 remedy will perhaps come by degrees, if it will be lawful to 
 make partial arrangements. I can see no good reason why, if 
 both parties are disposed, grain coming from an elevator under 
 the control of the road at the shipping point to either of our 
 elevators in Boston, should not be guaranteed. With grain 
 coming from points where there is no responsibility for weights, 
 
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 there will be greater difficulty in making satisfactory arrange- 
 ments. It has been stated here that the New York Central 
 Railroad guarantee bills of lading of grain over their road to 
 New York. Mr. Rutter, the agent of that road, denies this 
 statement in the most positive manner. He says the guarantee 
 bills referred to are given by the elevator at Buflalo sometimes, 
 for a consideration, and the propeller lines do the same thing, 
 but that the railroad company has not and will not give them. 
 I have unfortunately mislaid Mr. Rutter's letter, and cannot 
 produce it. As there seems to be some contradiction or differ- 
 ence between Mr. Locke and myself upon this point, I should 
 be obliged to you, Mr. Chairman, if you would have your clerk 
 write to Mr. Rutter for his statement upon the subject. I 
 have received a letter from President Chapin upon the subject, 
 which I will read, as more satisfactory' than anything that I can 
 say:— 
 
 Speingpield, Mass., February 13, 1875. 
 
 D. W. Lincoln, Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Your favor of yesterday is received. Formerly, as you 
 will recollect, our grain trade was wholl}' with the canal, taken 
 through our elevator at East Albany to the cars. While this was the 
 course of trade, we weighing all the grain as it was taken from the 
 canal-boats, I do not recollect that we ever heard of short weights, 
 or underbilling. In case of break-down or loss or damage from defec- 
 tive car, we held ourselves responsible, as we now do, for like 
 causes. The matter of guaranteeing weights would, I am satisfled, 
 be for our interest, and we have always stood ready, as we now are, 
 to make this the rule throughout ; and I am in hopes we shall be able 
 to bring our connecting roads to agree to it. Whether we can 
 accomplish in that line what we have thus far failed to get, I cannot 
 say ; but we can, and I think we may well pledge ourselves to continue 
 our efforts until the object is accomplished. This underbilling, I 
 trust, we will be able to stop, as we have now got in scales, so that 
 very little of it can escape us. In doing this we not only have the 
 best wishes, but the aid of all the honest dealers. 
 
 Yours trnly, 
 
 C. W. Chapin. 
 
 The Boston & Albany Railroad Company is doin"' an im- 
 mense freight and passenger business, amounting to many 
 millions of dollars each year. Its labor and responsibility, and 
 the difficulties of its position are vastly increased by being the 
 
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28 
 
 terminal point instead of merely a connecting link in the long 
 line of railroads with which it connects. All mistakes, blun- 
 ders, losses occurring upon any part of this long line over 
 which it has no control, are too often charged to its account. 
 Its own system is not and never will be perfect ; its officers 
 and agents are but men. It is impossible that the business of 
 such a vast concern should be conducted without occasional 
 mistakes and blunders. We freely acknowledge it. It is our 
 duty to correct them, and so far as possible prevent their re- 
 currence. But that the affairs of this corporation are in any 
 way managed to advance the interests of the city of New York 
 to the injury of the city of Boston, or with that effect, or for 
 the private interest or benefit of any of its officers, or in the sole 
 interest of the stockholders, and without a due regard to the 
 rights and interests of the public, we emphatically deny. We 
 claim that the company is endeavoring to furnish, and is fur- 
 nishing, proper facilities for the promotion of the trade and 
 commerce of the Commonwealth, and that it is doing all that 
 it reasonably can do to encourage the shipping of freight to 
 and from the city of Boston. 
 
 I regret that I have occupied so much of your time. I have 
 brought no counsel with me, but have said, in my own way, 
 what has seemed necessary in vindication of the management 
 of the affairs of the company with which I am connected, and 
 for which I am in part responsible. If in so doing I have given 
 offence to any, I regret it, and I hope it will be excused. 
 
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GAYLAMOUNT , 
 
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