The People's freight Railway Co. 
 
¥he People's freight Railway Co. 
 
 Cheap Transportation between the West and 
 the East, is the great want of the people of the United 
 States. The farmers of the West want it that they may 
 reap sufficient compensation for the products of their 
 farms. In the East the manufacturers want it that they 
 may procure food-supplies and raw material for their 
 manufactories at a price that will enable them to meet 
 the competition of foreign countries. The merchants 
 want it that they may undersell other countries in sup- 
 plying Europe with the large amount of cereals it must 
 import. The laborer and mechanic want it that the 
 wages they receive may bring greater comfort to their 
 homes. 
 
 It is obvious that our present system of railways can- 
 not relieve this want ; while canals, by the inflexibility 
 of their course, the limited area which thev can reach, 
 and the slow transit through them, afford only partial 
 relief. They are liable to serious interruption from break- 
 ages and leakages, and at the season of the year when 
 crops are harvested and transportation facilities most 
 needed, they become utterly useless through the action 
 of the winter frosts. From November until May the water 
 routes from the West to the East are closed and transpor- 
 tation facilities reduced one half, at the very time when 
 the granaries of the West are filled with produce await- 
 ing transportation, an opportunity which is always 
 eagerly seized for raising railroad freights to the highest 
 point, the consequence being that the farmer must 
 either hurry his crops to market before the close of nav- 
 igation, thereby producing a condition of things similar 
 to a glut in the market, or submit to extortionate winter 
 rates of transportation. 
 
 To meet this want, obviate these difficulties and afford 
 the desired relief, the People's Freight Kailway Com- 
 pany has been organized. 
 
VSIO 
 
 2 
 
 Its scheme is founded upon the theory that the General 
 Government alone cannot provide the desired means of 
 cheap transportation without establishing a precedent of 
 the most doubtful constitutionality. The right of emi- 
 nent domain within the jurisdiction of an organized 
 State, has never been exercised by it. Nowhere in the 
 United States Constitution is this right explicitly granted. 
 The advocate of strict construction of the fundamental 
 law would bitterly oppose the first attempt to exercise it, 
 on the ground that to do so would tend to such central- 
 ization of power in the Federal Government as would 
 inevitably destroy our liberties and end in despotism. 
 
 It is founded upon the further theory that any new 
 railroad between the West and the East, under private 
 corporate control, will furnish no material element in 
 solving the problem of cheap transportation, unless it be 
 provided with some certain protection against the con- 
 trol and influence of such great railroad corporations as 
 the Pennsylvania and the New York Central. 
 
 And upon the further theory, that a new railroad be- 
 tween the East and the West can be made to carry 
 freight as cheaply, if not more cheaply, than can be 
 done by water transportation, if it be honestly constructed, 
 for the ready cash, in the most judiciously economical 
 manner, of the three feet gauge, with double tracks and 
 low grades ; provided the railroad company owns the 
 road-bed and tracks, and individuals and firms who wish 
 to become common carriers own and operate the trains, 
 paying the railroad company prescribed tolls, the trains 
 being moved at a uniform speed of, say ten miles per hour, 
 and there being full business for the capacity of the road 
 thus managed. 
 
 And upon the further theory, that one such railroad 
 between the West and the East, thus built and managed, 
 will act as a regulator to compel existing lines, to aid in 
 accomplishing cheap transportation. And upon the the- 
 ory also, that if all those at the East as well as the West, 
 who are interested in cheap transportation, can be brought 
 into efficient co-operation, the task will not be a diffi- 
 cult one to build such a railroad for the ready cash, be- 
 cause 400,000 persons taking one hundred dollars worth 
 of stock each, will furnish all the capital necessary to 
 
3 
 
 construct it from New York Harbor to the Mississippi 
 River. 
 
 The usual practice in building railroads is this. Par- 
 ties who are interested in obtaining a contract, work up the 
 scheme, obtain a certain amount of local stock subscrip- 
 tions, and then procure the contract for themselves, 
 which is given at large prices. To raise the remainder of 
 the funds, which is usually a very large part, bonds are 
 prepared and sold at a great discount, often not realizing 
 to the company more than fifty cents on the dollar. The 
 New York Central Railroad was formed by the consol- 
 idation of a number of railroads which had been built 
 upon this plan. In the consolidation agreement, the 
 Troy and Schenectady Railroad, a road that was not nec- 
 essary to the formation of a through line of railroad, the 
 stock of the company being then worth only ten cents 
 on the dollar, was made the basis of the arrangement and 
 put into the concern at its par value Other links of the 
 line were allowed premiums varying from fifty to seventy 
 per cent. The stock of the Utica and Syracuse Co. was 
 put in at one hundred and seventy, while that of another 
 Company, organized to construct a road between Utica 
 and Syracuse, but which had done no work whatever, was 
 put in at one hundred and sixty-eight, and a similar one 
 between Utica and Schenectady, which had also done no 
 work, was put in at one hundred and fifty-five. In ad- 
 dition to the regular cash dividend of eight per cent, 
 per annum, there were frequent stock dividends, and 
 upon the top of all this the Vanderbilt regime have 
 added eighty per cent, more water. 
 
 The Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad Com- 
 pany is another whose road was built by selling 
 bonds at a great discount. When its road was leased 
 to the Pennsylvania Railroad Co., its stock was watered 
 to the extent of eighty per cent, of the original capital, 
 raising its apparent cost to $70,000 per mile. Many 
 hundreds of thousands of dollars have been expended in 
 changing the Pennsylvania road to the requirements of a 
 through line ; old expensive work being abandoned for 
 the new costly lines. That dividends may be paid on 
 all this watered and unjust capital stock, the produce of 
 the West must submit to enormous burdens in its transit 
 to the seaboard. 
 
4 
 
 A company which shall build for the ready cash, a 
 railroad to compete with such roads, and protect its stock 
 from the watering process, especially if it build with the 
 three feet gauge, will have to earn dividends on a capital 
 stock amazingly reduced as compared with those of the 
 New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad compa- 
 nies. The amount of business which a railroad can do 
 when built with double track and low grades, if the 
 trains are moved at a uniform speed of ten miles per 
 hour, is increased manifold over what can be accom- 
 plished by a road doing a mixed passenger and freight 
 business, where the freight trains spend much of their 
 time lying on side tracks or moving at high speed to get 
 out of the way of swift passenger trains. The wear, 
 tear, and breakage of freight trains moving at a uniform 
 speed of ten miles per hour, is infinitely less than that 
 of trains moving twenty and thirty miles per hour. The 
 average actual time on existing roads, of a fast freight 
 train between Chicago and New York, is eight miles an 
 hour, and to accomplish this, it is necessary much of the 
 time to run at the rate of thirty miles per hour, because 
 required so much of the time to lie on side tracks to 
 keep out of the way of swift passenger trains. When 
 the railroad company shall own the road-bed and track 
 of a double track railroad, and individuals and firms, 
 who wish to become common carriers, shall have the 
 right, on paying prescribed tolls, to place trains on and 
 use the tracks, by conforming to a uniform speed, great 
 reduction in the cost of transporting freight can be ac- 
 complished. Where a train is operated by a few indi- 
 viduals who are owners or part owners therein, vastly 
 greater economy would be practiced than is possible 
 where men are mere employees and one man attempts to 
 see that each of 10,000 or 20,000 cars is every day in the 
 year at just that point where it will earn most for the 
 company, that being what is required of the superinten- 
 dents of some of the existing railway companies. 
 
 When a Railroad Company, having a double track 
 road, undertakes only to furnish the road-bed and tracks 
 for others to place trains upon, and obtain its revenue from 
 tolls upon the trains, just as upon the great Erie Canal 
 tolls are levied upon the boats, its business is so simplified 
 as to greatly reduce the chances of waste and dishonesty 
 
5 
 
 in the management of its revenues. If the Railroad Com- 
 pany owns only the track and requisite switches, weigh- 
 ing scales and collection offices, it has digested itself al- 
 most entirely of perishable property, one of the worst 
 sources of leakage to any great corporation. The own- 
 ership of all warehouses and passenger stations should 
 be avoided by any railroad company, seeking to attain 
 the greatest economy in management. The Erie Canal 
 management is confined to furnishing the medium on 
 which to move boats. The business of the railway com- 
 pany should likewise be confined to furnishing the medi- 
 um on which to move trains. If the boatman and ware- 
 houseman are sufficient to transact the business through 
 the Canal, the trainman and the warehouseman should 
 be sufficient for the business passing over the railroad, 
 where it performs the same functions as the canal. 
 
 If a railroad built and operated in the manner above 
 set forth, could have full business for trains moving at the 
 rate of ten miles per hour, three and one-third miles 
 apart, freight could be moved over it at one-third the 
 rates now charged on existing lines between the West 
 and the East, and at the same time earn dividends 
 upon the capital invested in construction, at the rate 
 of ten per cent, per annum, while the common carrier 
 operating thereon would become rich in the business. 
 A railroad operated upon this plan would so reduce the 
 cost of transportation, that new and unknown demands 
 for transportation would spring up so as to fill the 
 capacity of the road. If thereby freight can be redu- 
 ced permanently to one-third existing rates, articles re- 
 quiring transportation can be carried three times as far 
 for the same money as may now be done. For 
 instance, under such reduced cost of transportation, the 
 owners of a cattle train could load with anthracite 
 coal for return freight, and deliver it upon the banks 
 of the Mississippi River at rates which would find an 
 unlimited demand, while giving the train men profit- 
 able renumeration for the transportation. A railroad 
 operated as aforesaid would effect such reduction in 
 the cost of transportation as would make it possible 
 for the producer to obtain more for his products, and 
 at the same time enable the consumer to purchase his sup- 
 plies cheaper. As it now is, the high rates of transporta- 
 
6 
 
 tion prevent the Western farmer from realizing the 
 advantage of high prices at the East, and the East- 
 ern consumer for the same reason fails to reap the bene- 
 fit of low prices in the West. Moreover reducing the 
 cost of transportation enlarges the foreign demand. 
 The question of foreign demand is a question of cheap 
 transportation, because it is thereby rendered possible 
 for us to undersell other countries which seek to supply 
 Europe with grain and other produce. The question of 
 increased production in the great West is one of cheap 
 transportation, because cheap transportation increases the 
 foreign demand for our produce at rates remunerative to 
 the Western producer. 
 
 A railroad operated as aforesaid, would open up an 
 immense field for those who might wish to engage in the 
 business of common carrier. Parties consisting of a half 
 dozen men, could be made up, to own and operate a train 
 upon the road. They would thus secure profitable and 
 pleasant employment for their time and labor, while re- 
 alizing handsome returns for the use of their money. 
 The fact that the road-bed is free to all, and that whoever 
 chooses, may put on a train and run it on the same foot- 
 ing as others, by the very competition it will engender, 
 will reduce the rates of transportation to the . proper 
 minimum. This competition on the same road-way will 
 settle the vexed question of pro-rata charges for carrying 
 freight, because there is no reason why a higher rate per 
 mile should be charged for running a small number 
 of miles over the road than a large number, as there is 
 no more wear of the road-bed in running over one mile by 
 itself, than if it is one out of a thousand. The cost of 
 handling will of course be governed by competition be- 
 tween common carriers and between warehousemen. 
 Immense amounts of capital would thus be brought into 
 the business of cheapening transportation, which would 
 never be entrusted to the custody of any transportation 
 corporation. The cost of a great trunk line of railroad 
 from New York to the Mississippi River, constructed 
 with the three feet gauge and double track, as herein- 
 before set forth, upon the route selected, is estimated at 
 $40,000,000. 
 
 The Route Selected for the Railway of The People's 
 Freight Railway Company, is, through its whole length, 
 
7 
 
 favorable for obtaining low grades, at slight cost, with a 
 small per centage of increase in distance over that by a 
 straight line. It is also favorable for throwing off bran- 
 ches over routes admitting of cheap construction and 
 light grades, to all the principal cities and centres of the 
 West, as well as to Baltimore and Philadelphia, in the 
 East, thereby rendering it easy to attract full business 
 for the road. Through this trunk line and such bran- 
 ches, railway routes may be opened from all the great 
 . cities and centres of the West to New York, Philadel- 
 phia and Baltimore, as short or shorter than existing 
 routes. The distance from New York to Pittsburg by 
 the new route, is sixty miles less than that by the Penn- 
 sylvania Railroad. Every mile of the new route from 
 the New Jersey, to the Ohio line, is filled with material 
 for profitable local freight, in the rich mines of coal and 
 iron ore which abound along the whole line. The new road 
 is precluded from passing directly through Philadelphia, 
 that city having established a park which extends from 
 the solidly built portion of the city to the Montgomery 
 County line, a distance in a straight Jine of about 
 twelve miles. A contract has been made between the 
 city and the State of Pennsylvania, whereby the State 
 is forever prohibited from authorizing any railroad to 
 be built across, or above, or under the park. For this 
 reason it became necessary to select a route for the new 
 road, from which Philadelphia must be reached by 
 a branch railroad. The distance, however, from Phila- 
 delphia to Pittsburg by the new route and the branch, is 
 practically as short as that by the Pennsylvania Rail- 
 road, owing to the more favorable grades of the new 
 route. 
 
 About seven hundred miles of railroad of the three 
 feet guage have been constructed in the United States, 
 within the last two years. These roads have proved 
 that for all kinds of freight, the cars of the three feet 
 gauge are all that is requisite, while the first cost of road- 
 bed, track and rolling.stock, as well as the operating ex- 
 penses, do not exceed two-thirds those of the standard 
 gauge of 4 ft. 8 1-2 in. The road-bed for a 
 double track road of the three feet gauge, is required to 
 be only two feet wider than for single track of the 
 standard gauge. The cost of a double track road, of the 
 
8 
 
 three feet gauge, exclusive of depot and station-houses, 
 would not exceed the cost of a single track road of the 
 standard gauge with stations and depots, and if the roll- 
 ing-stock is furnished by others than the Company, the 
 cost of a double track road of the three feet gauge would 
 be much less than the cost of an ordinary single track 
 road of the standard gauge. What may be accomplished 
 upon a double track road of the three feet gauge, operated 
 as aforesaid, may be judged from the following estimate 
 for a train consisting of a locomotive, twenty freight cars 
 and a caboose or living car, having a carrying capacity 
 of 200 tons, and operated by six men who are owners or 
 part owners of the train. 
 
 CAPITAL INVESTED IN TRAINS. 
 
 One 15 Ton Locomotive, - - • $7,500 
 Twenty Box Cars and Caboose, • 10,500 
 
 Total Cost of Train, - $18,000 
 
 Estimate of common Carrier's profit in transporting 
 200 tons of freight to New York Harbor from 'Chicago 
 or a point 1000 miles West of the Seaboard, at the rate 
 of 7 1-2 mills per ton per mile, allowing fourteen days 
 for the round trip. 
 
 Common Carrier's charge, - - $1,500 
 Deduct tolls of the Railroad Co., at 
 
 2 1-2 mills per ton per mile, - - $500 
 Deduct for wear and tear of train at ten 
 per cent, per annum on capital in- 
 vested in train, for the trip, - $70.00 
 Wages of six men for the trip, - $252.00 
 Fuel for the trip, .... $120.00 
 Incidentals for trip, .... $28.00 
 
 Total, - $970.00 
 
 Common Carrier's Profit, .... $530.00 
 Common Carrier's profit for 26 trips, 
 or for one year, on an investment 
 
 of $18,000 13,780,00 
 
 To the Railroad Co., with trains moving 
 at the rate of ten miles per hour, 
 three and one-third miles apart, with 
 full business, the revenue from tolls 
 for one day would be, 36,000.00 
 
9 
 
 Making the annual revenue from tolls from trains passing 
 
 one way, at the rate of ten miles per 
 
 hour, three and one third miles apart, - $11,232,000.00 
 Dividends on cost of road at the rate of ten 
 
 per cent, per annum, would amount to • $4,000,000.00 
 Leaving from the earnings of one year 
 
 after paying ten per cent, dividend on 
 
 cost of construction, - - - $7,232,000.00 
 
 A sum which it may reasonably be calculated will 
 vastly exceed what is necessary to pay all expenses for 
 taxes, salaries of collectors, superintendents, track re- 
 pairers, etc., and leave a balance for a sinking fund, 
 sufficient to build branches and re-build the road as often 
 as required. The times are favorable for building a 
 railroad which shall provide the cheapest possible trans- % 
 portation between the great West and the East. The 
 shrinkage in the value of iron and the cost of labor, 
 renders it possible to build a railroad much cheaper than 
 it is likely may ever be done hereafter. 
 
 If, by the construction and operation of a railroad be- 
 tween the West and the East, in the manner hereinbefore 
 set forth, transportation can be cheapened to the extent 
 claimed ; it is manifest that any company proposing to 
 construct such a railroad, must provide some certain 
 guaranty that it will be permanently maintained in the 
 interest of cheap transportation ; otherwise it will surely 
 fall under control of those having opposite interests, and 
 be operated in the interest of high transportation rates. 
 Such guaranty can only be secured through control of 
 the stock of the Company, and can be effected as follows : 
 
 If the owners of one half the stock convey the same 
 to a trustee in trust for a term of years, naming in the 
 deed of trust, the conditions upon which, and the manner 
 in which, such stock shall be voted at all elections of 
 or by the stockholders, making the conditions such that 
 no hostile corporation or party can ever acquire any con- 
 trol over the management of the affairs of the Company, 
 then the guaranty will be absolute. 
 
 Such a plan has been adopted for securing the perma- 
 nent independence of the People's Freight Railway Com- 
 pany. This Company has been formed by the merging 
 together, under the general railroad consolidation law 
 
10 
 
 of Pennsylvania, of The Bendersville, The Bendersville 
 Extension, and The Sherman's Valley Railroad Com- 
 panies, the same being corporations existing under the 
 laws of Pennsylvania, and authorized to construct rail- 
 roads, which will, when constructed, connect together and 
 form a continuous line of railroad across the State of 
 Pennsylvania, from New Jersey to Ohio. These three 
 Companies, by virtue of their charters and the laws of 
 Pennsylvania, were invested with powers, which being 
 combined, furnish in connection with the general railroad 
 laws of New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, all re- 
 quisite corporate authority to construct a great trunk rail- 
 road from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River. Cor- 
 porations may be organized under the general railroad 
 laws of each of those States, and consolidated with The 
 People's Freight Railway Company, so as to form one 
 corporation, with power to construct and operate a con- . 
 tinuous railroad from the Atlantic to the Mississippi 
 River ; ample consolidation laws for that purpose being 
 on the statute books of each of the States named. The 
 People's Freight Railway Company has been so organ- 
 ized that the formation of companies in the States other 
 than Pennsylvania, and consolidation of them with it, is 
 a merely formal matter. In order to get one-half of the 
 stock of The People's Freight Railway Company into 
 hands able to convey it to a trustee, it was necessary to 
 take it out of the legal ownership of the Company and 
 make it full paid, and free from all assessments or liens. 
 The arrangement for accomplishing this being such that 
 when completed, all the equitable interest in all of the 
 common stock of the Company, and all right to dividends 
 thereon, would still remain in the Company ; the voting 
 power only having been conveyed in the deed of trust. To 
 accomplish this, The Bendersville Railroad Company, 
 whose capital stock, in conformity with the provisions of 
 its charter, had been increased to, and fixed at 2,000,000 
 shares, one-half preferred, and one-half common stock, 
 made an agreement with a responsible party, to give him 
 the whole of its common stock which had not been sub 
 scribed for, full paid and free from all installments or 
 liens, in consideration of his agreeing to procure the re- 
 mainder of the shares of said common stock from the 
 owner or owners thereof, and cause the consolidation of 
 
11 
 
 The Bendersville Extension Railroad Company and The 
 Sherman,s Valley Railroad Company, and their stocks,* 
 property and franchises, with those of The Bendersville 
 Railroad Company, such merger and consolidation to be 
 effected so as to form the People's Freight Railway 
 Company, and in further consideration of his agreeing 
 to cause the whole of the common stock of such People's 
 Freight Railway. Company to be conveyed to a Trustee 
 in trust for a term of years, by a deed of trust, of which 
 the following is a copy : 
 
 COPY OF DEED OF TRUST. 
 
 Whereas, The Bendersville Railroad Company, and 
 The Bendersville Extension Railroad Company, and The 
 Sherman's Valley Railroad Company, have heretofore, 
 by due compliance with the laws of Pennsylvania, been 
 organized to construct railroads in Pennsylvania, which, 
 when constructed, will connect together and form a con- 
 tinuous line of railroad : 
 
 And, Whereas, The said Railroad Companies by due 
 compliance with the laws of Pennsylvania in such case 
 made and provided, have become merged and consolida- 
 ted together into one Company, styled " The People's 
 Freight Railway Company," with a perpetual charter, not 
 subject to forfeiture, with power, among other things, 
 to construct and operate a continuous line of railroad 
 across the State of Pennsylvania, from the New Jersey 
 to the Ohio State line, and power to control corporations 
 to be organized under the general railroad laws of New 
 Jersey, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, so as to control, con- 
 struct, maintain and operate a continuous line of railroad 
 from the City of New York to the Mississippi River ; 
 
 And, Whereas, The capital stock of The People's Freight 
 Railway Company has been fixed at 2,000,000 shares, of 
 fifty dollars each, whereof one-half is classed as pre- 
 ferred stock and one-half as common stock, both classes 
 of said stock being entitled to equal privileges at all 
 elections or meetings of or by the Stockholders, but the 
 preferred stock actually issued to be entitled to receive 
 dividends out of the net earnings, if any, in any year, at 
 the rate of seven per centum per annum, before the com- 
 mon stock can receive any dividends out of the net earn- 
 ings for such year ; 
 
12 
 
 * And Whereas, — 
 
 has, by virtue and in pursuance of the terms of the 
 terms of the agreement of merger and consolidation be- 
 tween said three Companies, become the legal owner and 
 holder of the whole of the common stock of The People's 
 Freight Railway Company. 
 
 And Whereas, The said —in 
 
 common with many other good citizens of the United 
 States, desires that the Railway of The People's Freight 
 Railway Company, from New York to the Mississippi 
 River, shall be honestly constructed for the ready cash, 
 in the most judiciously economical manner, and maintain- 
 ed and operated as a line of railway independent of all 
 control or influence of or by existing or other Railway 
 and Transportation Companies, and be kept free, so that 
 all who desire to engage in the business of common car- 
 riers, may, by paying prescribed tolls, place their trains 
 thereon, to be moved under uniform reasonable regula- 
 tions of the company ; 
 
 Iherefore, Know all men by these presents; That I, 
 
 , aforesaid, have assigned 
 
 and transferred, and by these presents do assign and 
 transfer to the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company of New 
 York, trustee, one million shares of the common capital 
 stock of The People's Freight Railway Company, to be 
 held by the said Farmers' Loan and Trust Company and 
 its successor or successors, in trust, for nine hundred and 
 ninety-nine years from the date hereof, for the use and 
 benefit of the said People's Freight Railway Company as 
 cestuique trust*, under the deed of trust and for the spe- 
 cial purposes and upon the trusts hereinafter mentioned ; 
 
 That is to say ; upon the trust that the treasurer of The 
 People's Freight Railway Company shall receive all divi- 
 dends that may from time to time become due and pay- 
 able upon the said common stock, and distribute the 
 same ratably among the persons or parties who, at the 
 time such dividends may be declared, may have become 
 the equitable owners of the said common stock by sue 
 cessive transfers from The People's Freight Railway Co., 
 as cestuique trust, duly made on the proper book to be 
 prepared and kept by the company, for the transfer of 
 
 • Cestuique trust (pronounced set-a-ka trust) a legal phrase, meaning the party or parties 
 for whose benent the trust is held.— See Bouvier's Law Dictionary. 
 
13 
 
 the equitable interest in the said common stock held in 
 trust ; and, upon the further trust, to transfer the whole 
 of said common stock, absolutely and unconditionally, 
 at the expiration of the said term of nine hundred and 
 ninety -nine years, fully discharged from the said trust, to 
 the person or persons, party or parties, who may have 
 become the equitable owners thereof, by transfers duly 
 made as aforesaid from time to time, appearing on the 
 said book for the transfer of the said equitable interest. 
 
 And upon the further trust, that, during the existence 
 of the said trust, the whole of the said common stock, to 
 wit : one million shares thereof shall be voted at all elec- ■ 
 tions or meetings of or by the Stockholders of the said 
 The People's Freight Railway Company, by proxy to be 
 named in writing, by the President of the United States, 
 the American Cheap Transportation Association, the Na- 
 tional Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry in 
 the United States, and by the Boards of Trade of the 
 cities of Chicago, Illinois ; Cincinnati, Ohio, and St. Louis, 
 Missouri. The President of the United States the said 
 American Cheap Transportation Association, the said 
 National Grange, and the said Boards of Trade to be en- 
 titled to one vote each in the election or naming of said 
 proxy. The majority of all of said six votes being re- 
 quisite to choose the proxy to vote said one million shares 
 of said common stock ; but no part of the said common 
 stock shall ever, during the existence of said trust, be voted 
 so as to give to any company or companies, corporation 
 or corporations, party or parties, which may own, control 
 or operate any competing or other line of transit or travel, 
 any power or control over the management of the affairs 
 of The People's Freight Railway Company, directly or 
 indirect! v, or so as to defeat or embarrass the construction, 
 maintainance and operation of its lines of railway inde- 
 pendent of all lines now existing or which may hereafter 
 exist, or so as to encumber The People's Freight Railway 
 Company, its property or franchises, by any lease, bond, 
 mortgage, or other lien of, or upon its property or fran- 
 chises, or so as to accomplish what is known as watering 
 the stock of the Company, or so as to dispose of any of 
 the preferred stock of the Company or the interest as 
 cestuique trust of the Company in any of the common 
 stock of the Company, except for the par value thereof, 
 
14 
 
 to be paid into the treasury of the Company in cash or 
 its just equivalent. And no part of said common stock 
 shall ever, during the existence of said trust, be voted 
 for any person to be President, Vice-President, or Direc- 
 tor of said People's Freight Railway Company, who shall 
 not have first subscribed and sworn or affirmed to, a 
 solemn oath of the form following, to wit : 
 
 FORM OF OATH. 
 
 I, of desiring to become a Director of The 
 
 People's Freight Railway Company, do hereby solemnly 
 swear that I have no interest in, or connection with any 
 company, corporation or party engaged or interested in 
 transportation, which may be or become a competitor of 
 The People's Freight Railway Company. That I have 
 no interest directly or indirectly, in any contract with 
 The People's Freight Railway Company, whether for con- 
 struction of any of its railways or for furnishing material 
 therefor, or for transportation thereon, or otherwise, and 
 that if I shall be elected or appointed to the position of 
 Director of said People's Freight Railway Company, I 
 will, during my occupancy of the said position of Director, 
 discharge its duties faithfully, to the best of my ability. 
 That I will neither do any act, or cast any vote, while in 
 the position of Director of said company, calculated to 
 give to any other company, corporation or party, any 
 control over the management of the affairs of The People's 
 Freight Railway, or to create any lien upon the company, 
 its property or franchises, whether by lease, bond, mort- 
 gage or otherwise, except for wages, construction and t 
 materials, and then not beyond an amount to pay for 
 which funds have previously been provided by sales of 
 the Company's stock. That 1 will do no act, nor cast any 
 vote to render myself directly or indirectly interested, 
 nor collusively to render any of my friends interested in 
 any contract for the construction or operation of its rail- 
 ways, or in furnishing material or supplies to the com- 
 pany, or in the business or transportation as a common 
 carrier of freight or passengers over the works owned, 
 leased, controlled or worked by the People's Freight Rail- 
 
15 
 
 way Company ; or to accomplish what is known as water- 
 ing the stock of the company ; or to dispose of any of the 
 preferred stock of the company or the interest of the com- 
 pany as cestuique trust in any of the shares of the com- 
 mon stock of the company, otherwise than for the par 
 value thereof, to be paid into the Treasury of the company 
 in cash or its just equivalent, or to promote any collusive 
 or other arrangement with any company, corporation or 
 party, whereby to hinder or prevent the Railway line of 
 The People's Freight Railway Company from being con- 
 structed, maintained, and operated in the most judiciously 
 economical manner, independent of all other lines, so that 
 all who wish to engage in the business of common carrier 
 may place their trains thereon to be moved in conformity 
 to uniform reasonable regulations of the Company. That 
 I will, while such director, faithfully endeavor to so dis- 
 charge the duties of the position as to reduce transpor- 
 tation between the West and East to the minimun of cost, 
 while making it earn proper dividends upon the actual 
 cost of constructing the railways of the company. 
 
 In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and 
 seal, this day of r- 
 
 And, if any vote shall ever, during the existence of said 
 trust, be cast upon any of said common stock otherwise 
 than as hereinbefore prescribed and limited, such vote 
 shall be absolutely void. It being understood and agreed 
 that the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company aforesaid, 
 shall in no manner be responsible for the effect of votes 
 cast at any election or meeting by the Company, or for 
 any act or acts of the Treasurer of the Company. 
 
 If, for any reason, the said Farmers' Loan and Trust 
 Company shall ever, during the existence of the trust, 
 cease to exist, then a successor or successors thereto may 
 be appointed by the same parties in the same manner that 
 the said proxy is to be appointed. The owner or owners 
 of any of the preferred stock to be issued by The People's 
 Freight Railway Company, shall be entitled to all legal 
 and equitable remedies for the enforcement of the pro. 
 visions of this trust as fully as if he or they were a party 
 
16 
 
 thereto. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my 
 
 hand and seal, this day of 1874. 
 
 Signed in the ) 
 presence of J 
 
 All the conditions of said contract were fulfilled. The 
 foregoing deed of trust conveying the common stock was 
 executed and delivered to the Trust Company and the 
 power to vote the whole of the common stock of the 
 company was thereby conferred upon the President of the 
 United States, the American Cheap Transportation Asso- 
 ciation, the National Grange and the Boards of Trade of 
 Chicago, Cincinnatti and St. Louis, for nine hundred and 
 ninety-nine years, to be exercised as prescribed in the 
 deed of trust. All other interest in all the common stock 
 whether in dividends which may be earned thereon, or 
 otherwise, was vested in the company. The Directors 
 of the company were prohibited from selling the same 
 otherwise than for its par value, to be paid into the Treas- 
 ury of the company, hence, the common stock can only 
 be used for the interest of the company. If it shall be 
 found for the interest of the company to sell its interest 
 as cestuique trust in any of the shares of the common 
 stock, the same may be sold and transferred to any pur- 
 chaser thereof, by a transfer in such form as the following : 
 
 "For value received, The People's Freight Railway 
 
 Company hereby sells, assigns and transfers to A. 
 
 B. its interest as cestuique trust in one hundred 
 
 shares of the common capital stock of The People's Freight 
 Railway Company, subject to the conditions of the deed 
 
 of trust from to the 
 
 Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, dated the day 
 
 of 1874. 
 
 Witness the corporate seal of the company, attested 
 by the signatures of the President and Secretary, this 
 day of A. 1). 
 
 The purchaser from the company, of its interest as 
 cestuique trust in any of the shares of the common stock, 
 becomes by such purchase, the cestuique trust as to the 
 number of shares purchased, and may transfer the same 
 
 • The party to whom the common stock was thus conveyed, holds himself ready for the 
 consideration of one dollar to convey it to the trustee. 
 
17 
 
 to others by a form of transfer similar to that above given 
 for the company. The company may issue to any pur- 
 chaser of the common stock in trust a certificate of own- 
 ership, which will entitle the holder thereof to receive 
 all dividends and other benefits to which the number of 
 shares of the common stock in trust purchased by him 
 may be entitled, in such a form as the following : 
 
 THE PEOPLE'S FREIGHT RAILWAY COMPANY, 
 
 Common Capital Stock. Shares, $50 each. 
 
 This is to Certify, That the interest as cestuique trust 
 of The People's Freight Railway Company in one hun- 
 dred shares of the common capital stock of said Rail- 
 way Company has been duly transferred to A. B. of 
 
 on the proper book for the transfer of common stock 
 
 in trust of said company, and that the same is now held 
 by the Trustee to which the common stock has been con- 
 veyed, for the use of the said A. B. , subject to 
 
 the conditions of the deed of trust endorsed hereon,* 
 transferable only on the said book (subject as aforesaid,) 
 
 by the said A. B. or his attorney, at the office 
 
 of the Railway Company in the City of New York, on 
 the surrender of this certificate. 
 
 Witness the Corporate Seal of the Company, attested 
 by the Signatures of the President and Secretary, this 
 day of A. D. 
 
 The common stock, in the condition in which it has 
 been placed, is not entitled to receive dividends until 
 after the preferred stock, but the Company, by the terms 
 of its charter, is empowered, if deemed best, to guarantee 
 such dividends thereon, as will place the common stock 
 in trust, upon equal footing with the preferred stock, and 
 
 *A copy of the Deed of Trust is printed on the back of the Certificate [C] 
 
18 
 
 as the common stock in trust, as well as the preferred, 
 can only be sold at par, for cash, it may be equitable 
 thus to place them on the same footing. 
 
 Subscriptions to the preferred stock of the Company 
 are made to a subscription contract in form as follows, to 
 wit : 
 
 M The undersigned hereby severally and respectively 
 subscribe to the number of shares in the preferred cap- 
 ital stock of The People's Freight Railway Company, 
 (formed by consolidation together of The Sherman's 
 Valley Railroad Company ; The Bendersville Railroad 
 Company, and The Bendersville Extension Railroad 
 Company,) set opposite our respective names, and do 
 hereby convenant and agree each for himself, his execu- 
 tors and administrators, to and with the said Company, 
 to pay the sum of Fifty Dollars, in installments of Five 
 Dollars each, for each and every share of said stock, as 
 the same may be called for by the directors, provided 
 that not more than one installment shall be called for 
 and paid within any one period of thirty days. 
 
 This subscription is subject to the arrangement, where- 
 by the whole of the common stock of the Company has 
 been made full paid and conveyed by the owner thereof 
 to a trustee, in trust for 999 years and to the conditions 
 of said trust. 
 
 The interest of the cestuique trust in said common 
 stock having been donated and transferred to the treas- 
 ury of The People's Freight Railway Company ; this 
 subscription is also subject to the right of the Company, 
 to sell said interest in said shares of said common stock, 
 and guarantee interest on the same not exceeding seven 
 per centum per annum. 
 
 In witness whereof, we have hereunto severally set 
 our hands and seals at the several dates written against 
 our names respectively." 
 
 The distinction between the two classes of stock (com- 
 mon and preferred,) was created to produce a condition 
 of things which would make the contract whereby the 
 common stock was taken out of the ownership of the 
 company, a reasonable contract, and also to provide a 
 convenient method of distinguishing the stock which 
 had been placed in trust from that which had not been 
 so placed. 
 
19 
 
 The common stock of The Bendersville Railroad Com- 
 pany being in the nature of a depreciated stock, owing 
 to the preference given to the preferred stock, it was rea- 
 sonable to convey so large an amount of it as a consider- 
 ation for the protection thereby secured to the manage- 
 ment of The People's Freight Railway Company, into 
 which The Bendersville Railroad Company was to be 
 merged, a protection without which the success of The 
 People's Freight Railway Company was utterly imposs- 
 ible. The holder of the common stock of The Benders- 
 ville Railroad Company became, by the terms of the con- 
 solidation agreement, the owner of the whole of the 
 common stock of The People's Freight Railway Com- 
 pany, free from all assessments or leins, and therefore able 
 to convey the same to a trustee in trust, so as to secure 
 protection and independence to the management of The 
 People's Freight Railway Company. 
 
 The power to vote the common stock of The People's 
 Freight Railway Company has been conferred upon the 
 National Orange and the Boards of Trade of Chicago, 
 Cincinnati and St. Louis, because the interest of the 
 farmers will always be on the side of cheap transporta- 
 tion, and. because the Boards of Trade represent commer- 
 cial interests that in the nature of the case must always 
 continue to favor cheap transportation. 
 
 THE METHOD ADOPTED for KAISING- FUNDS 
 
 with which to build the railway of The People's Freight 
 Railway Company for the ready cash, is this : The Com- 
 mon Stock in Trust is to be sold by the company, and 
 the money obtained from such sales invested in United 
 States five per cent, registered bonds, to remain so invested 
 until the sum of $15,000,000 shall have been raised by 
 the company, from sales of its stock, the company 
 meanwhile guaranteeing dividends upon such common 
 stock sold, at the rate of four per cent, per annum. In 
 case the sum of $15,000,000 shall not have been raised 
 by the company within eighteen months from the first day 
 of January, lcS74, then the United States Bonds, which 
 the company may have thus acquired, are to be sold and 
 the money returned to the purchasers of the common 
 stock, in exchange for their common stock. 
 
 Whenever the sum of $15,000,000 shall have been 
 raised by the company from sales of its stock, the num- 
 
20 
 
 ber of miles of its railway, commencing at New York 
 Harbor, which such $15,000,000 will build, shall be put 
 under contract, and when thereafter, $5,000,000 more 
 shall have been raised, the number of additional miles 
 which such $5,000,000 will build, shall be put under 
 contract, commencing at the end of the first section, and 
 in like manner similar connecting sections for each addi- 
 tional $5,000,000 raised, shall be put under contract, 
 until the whole line to the Mississippi River is completed. 
 While each allotment of $5,000,000 is being made up, 
 the guaranty of four per cent, dividend shall extend to 
 the same, but when the section of railway on which the 
 $15,000,000 or $5,000,000 allotment is to apply, is 
 put under contract and the work of construction com- 
 menced, the guaranty of four per cent, dividend shall 
 cease, and the holder of each share of the common stock 
 in trust, of such allotment, shall have the right to ex- 
 change the same for a like share of the preferred stock 
 of the company. The net earnings of each of such sec- 
 tions of the railway shall be kept separate and belong 
 and be paid in dividends to the holders of the stock 
 which made up the respective allotment which built the 
 same, until the whole line to the Mississippi River is 
 built, when all the allotments will be placed on one 
 common footing. 
 
 The reason for this plan is, that thereby the purchaser 
 of stock of the company will be ensured that the money 
 he pays for such stock, will not be frittered away in 
 futile attempts to build a railroad. As the work of 
 construction is only to be commenced when the money 
 to pay therefor has been raised, such advantage can be 
 obtained in making contracts for construction, as will 
 enable the company to build its railway for the minimum 
 of cost, thereby giving the purchaser of the stock rea- 
 sonable prospect that it will earn good dividends and 
 be a valuable investment. Until the work of contrac- 
 tion commences, every share of stock so purchased will be 
 secured by a like amount of United States Government 
 Bonds. While the funds remain invested in Govern- 
 ment Bonds, the company will be able to guarantee four 
 per cent, dividend, because it will be receiving between 
 four and five per cent, from the United States Govern- 
 ment, upon a like amount of Government Bonds. No 
 
21 
 
 more than four per cent, will be guaranteed, because it 
 would not be wise for the company to guarantee to the 
 full amount of interest received from the Governent, as 
 there must be some expense attending it. 
 
 The reason why the four per cent, guaranty is made to 
 cease when the work of construction is commenced, is, 
 that the interest received from the government will cease 
 when the bonds are sold and the funds used in the work 
 of constructing the road. The reason why the common 
 stock is first sold and afterward exchanged for preferred 
 stock is, that many persons living immediately upon the 
 line of the railway, or desiring to have the railway loca- 
 ted near them, will subscribe for the preferred stock 
 without requiring any guaranty of interest thereon. 
 This arrangement is so, that all who take the preferred 
 stock shall stand, when they take it, upon the same foot- 
 ing with each other. The reason why the money obtain- 
 ed from sales of stock is first put into United States 
 Government Bonds is, that thereby the United States is 
 made the trustee of the funds while the amounts of the 
 respective allotments are being made up, and until the 
 funds have gone into the construction of the road. No 
 trust or safe deposit company is so secure as a registered 
 bond of the United States Government. If in 
 practice it shall be found best that the railway company 
 shall furnish the motive power, charging the common 
 carriers therefor, as is done by some canal companies, for 
 the reason that a locomotive will not bear to be con- 
 stantly run, as a stationary engine may, the result will 
 not be materially different from that shown in the fore- 
 going tables. 
 
 In the selection of the route for The People's Freight 
 Railway, it is regarded as an absurdity to pretend to 
 build an Air Line Railroad a thousand miles long. In 
 a long line it is not the gradual sweep that increases 
 the distance, but the numerous short curves. In a line 
 of one thousand miles, a gradual divergence at the center, 
 of fifty miles, increases the distance only six miles. In 
 any attempt to build an Air Line Railroad to New York 
 from any given point on the Mississippi River, in Illinois, 
 the inevitable short curves which the surface of the coun- 
 try would compel in the numerous unfavorable locations 
 which such an arbitrary choice of line must necessarily 
 
encounter, there would be added not less than one hun- 
 dred miles to the distance. The location of The People's 
 Freight Railway follows the trend of mountains and great 
 water sheds so as to secure by gradual sweep, the fewest 
 short curves, the smallest per centage of increase over a 
 straight line, and at the same time, low grades, and a line 
 admitting of cheap construction and small expense for 
 maintenance of roadway. 
 
 Leaving New York, the route reaches the Delaware 
 River by a line very direct, over level ground, entirely 
 avoiding the mountain ranges of New Jersey. At the 
 Delaware, it enters the Tohickon Creek Valley, which, 
 with other connecting valleys, furnishes a direct route to 
 Auburn, in the heart of the anthracite coal region of 
 Pennsylvania, thence it passes through a succession of 
 very straight valleys, in a very direct line to Bedford, 
 Pa., thence in a direct line, the route is carried along a 
 plateau running transversely across the Alleghany Moun- 
 tains, the Laurel and Chestnut Ridges, to Pittsburg. An 
 easy and direct route from Pittsburg leads out upon the 
 great water shed between the lakes and the Ohio River. 
 Following the course of this water shed, very level land 
 for the location of the road all the way to the Mississippi 
 River, opposite Burlington, Iowa, is found, only inter- 
 rupted by the Wabash and Illinois Rivers. By follow- 
 ing these great water sheds, and thus avoiding the cross- 
 ing of streams, the expense of constructing and main- 
 taining bridges is greatly reduced, as is also the necessity 
 of adhering to the courses of streams and thereby 
 lengthening the line by their various windings. From 
 this great water shed, an infinite number of natural and 
 easy railroad routes lead down, making it possible to tap 
 the whole adjacent country, by cheap narrow gauge 
 roads, connecting with the trunk line. 
 
 The line is projected to Burlington, because at that 
 point, the whole Iowa system of railroads is coveniently 
 tapped. A branch from the trunk line can be built to 
 St. Louis over very level country, admitting of cheap con- 
 struction, also a similar branch, over similar country to 
 Chicago, also one to Indianapolis, one to Toledo, one 
 to Cincinnati, one to Columbus, and one to Cleveland, 
 all over ground favorable for low grades, and cheap con- 
 struction and maintenance of roadway. 
 
23 
 
 On Leaving New York, the first gradual trend of the 
 line of the road to the south, makes it convenient to 
 reach Philadelphia by a short branch. The next trend to 
 the North taps the anthracite coal region. The next, to 
 the South, follows the line of richest iron ore, taps the 
 Broad Top and Cumberland coal fields, and makes it 
 convenient to reach Baltimore by a branch. A few miles 
 of branch railroad will reach the Western terminus of 
 the Western Maryland railroad, and through that rail- 
 road and the People's Freight Railway, a line from Chi- 
 cago to Baltimore can be opened shorter than any now 
 in existence or building. The People's Freight Railway 
 will open an avenue from the Cumberland and Broad 
 Top coal fields to New York, sixty miles shorter than any 
 route now used. From Bedford to the Ohio line 
 and some miles beyond, the route passes through the 
 heart of the best bituminous coal lands in Western 
 Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. The amount of freight 
 which the bituminous coal field, as well as the anthracite, 
 will furnish to the road, is incalculable. While the loca- 
 tion of The People's Freight Railway does not follow an 
 air line, with that reckless disregard of mountains to be 
 ascended, valleys to be spanned, and consequent expense 
 to be incurred, which such a line involves, the line is not 
 appreciably longer than such an air line must be, while 
 the grades are far lower, and the capital required for 
 construction is far less. The line has been located with 
 reference to making it a great trunk line or artery which 
 may tap the whole West, at the smallest cost, and give 
 it the cheapest access to the largest area in the East. 
 There is no doubt that the location selected is the best 
 that could be made for that purpose. The greatest econ- 
 omy in transportation can be attained with a double 
 track road, if supplied with full business, therefore 
 the line is now projected only so far as full business is 
 likely to be immediately secured. It may be extended 
 beyond the Mississippi whenever demanded. The cheap- 
 ness with which narrow gauge roads can be built will 
 induce their construction from all points along the great 
 trunk line. 
 
 While it is not believed that it will take the eighteen 
 months mentioned to raise the $15,000,000, nor even one 
 year, this length of time is given to allow ample oppor- 
 
24 
 
 tunity, in event of unexpected delay, and the money is 
 invested meanwhile in interest bearing bonds, so that 
 subscribers may have the amplest protection against loss. 
 A method can be suggested whereby it may be raised in 
 much less time than even twelve months. 
 
 While in the foregoing statement a speed of ten miles 
 per hour, with trains three and one-third miles apart is 
 mentioned, it is not pretended that such a rate is the arbi- 
 trary point at which the most etTective and economical 
 management of the road can be attained. A speed of 
 twelve or thirteen miles per hour may be found perfectly 
 consistent with economical management. The figures 
 given demonstrate what may be accomplished upon a 
 double track railroad, when the speed is moderate and 
 uniform, and there is full business for the road. All 
 local business should be received and discharged on side 
 tracks, so that the moving trains would be least inter- 
 fered with. Trains coming upon the tracks should be 
 required to enter the tracks only when they will not in- 
 terfere with moving trains. 
 
 While simplicity in management of the road dictates 
 that all local business should be done through ware- 
 housemen, and the company relieved from the ownership 
 and management of station depots and side tracks, (the 
 company owning the switches,) it will still be requisite 
 that the company shall furnish ample terminal facilities 
 at the seaboard, so that trains may be expeditiously un- 
 loaded, and the common carrier shall incur the smallest 
 waste of time in making his trip. The most ample sea- 
 board terminal facilities may be provided by the railway 
 company, and not thereby cause the cost of the railway 
 and seaboard terminus to exceed the estimate hereinbefore 
 given of $40,000,000. 
 
 The first allotment of $15,000,000 will be sufficient to 
 construct a railway from New York to Pittsburg, with 
 double track, of the three feet gauge, with steel rails 
 weighing forty lbs. to the lineal yard. At Pittsburg the 
 navigation of the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers 
 are reached, thus opening, before the construction of the 
 other section of the road, cheap transit, to a certain de- 
 gree to a large part of the great West. The business 
 which the road would secure at Pittsburg and in the anth- 
 racite, the broad top or semi-anthracite, and the Somerset 
 
25 
 
 bituminous coal fields, on the completion of the first 
 section, would enable the company to pay legal interest 
 upon the cost of the section the first year. 800,000 tons 
 of the three kinds of coal, moved over the whole line or 
 its equivalent, is not an extravagant calculation for busi 
 ness on the first section, within the first year after ith 
 completion. To this may be added large freight in carry- 
 ing grain, meat, cotton, tobacco and other Western and 
 Southern products to the Atlantic seaboard, and in carry- 
 ing merchandise to the West, while the local freights, in 
 iron ore, pig metal, lumber, tan bark and local merchan- 
 dise would be immense. 
 
 The Broad Top Coal Field covers an area of eighty 
 square miles in the Counties of Bedford, Huntington and 
 Fulton, Pa., lying immediately in the track of The 
 People's Freight Railway. The coal is found in great 
 abundance above the water line, in veins varying from 
 five to twelve feet in thickness. Its purity and freedom 
 from sulphur and other deleterious substances renders it 
 especially valuable for the manufacture and working of 
 iron. It is also an excellent coal for generating steam 
 and for domestic uses. The demand for it in the Eastern 
 cities has never been fully supplied, owing to insuffi- 
 cient transportation facilities. The People's Freight Rail- 
 way will bring it sixty miles nearer New York than by 
 any existing route, and practically as near as the anthra- 
 cite coal fields now are. Various analyses of this coal, by 
 Prof. W. R. Johnson and others, in State reports and 
 elsewhere give sixteen per cent, of volatile matter and 
 77 1-2 per cent, of carbon. The report of the President 
 of the Huntington and Broad Top Railroad Company 
 to the Stockholders, on February 6th, 1872, states that 
 " the most serious impediment to an increase in coal ton- 
 nage is the want of anything like an adequate supply 
 of cars ; and until the Pennsylvania Railroad Company 
 furnish these more abundantly the business of all its 
 coal tributaries will be limited to a small annual in- 
 crease." The number of tons of coal sent to tide water 
 from Pennsylvania may be indefinitely increased. 
 
 The inspector of coal mines in Pennsylvania, in his 
 report for 1870, estimates that 25,000,000 tons annually 
 will be required for home use. To this may be added 
 the immense demand in the cities of the West, the de- 
 
26 
 
 mand all along the Ohio "River and on the great plateau 
 between the lakes and the Ohio River where coal does 
 not exist and timber is becoming scarce. The supplying of 
 all these regions will furnish freight to the first section 
 of The People's Freight Railway, before the others are 
 completed. The Somerset Coal Field extends over the 
 whole of Somerset and Westmoreland counties, in Pa., 
 which The People's Freight Railway will bisect centrally. 
 The best gas coal in the United States is found in these two 
 counties, in veins varying from four to twenty-two feet in 
 thickness and easily accessible. 
 
 While the raising of the first allotment of the capital 
 stock o£ The People's Freight Railway Co., amounting to 
 $15,000,000 will be the nucleus which will make sure the 
 completion of the whole line ; the building of the first 
 section will be a success in itself, owing to the economy 
 with which it may be built, by building for the ready 
 cash, and by the use of the three feet gauge, which can 
 be built and operated at a greater profit than a road of 
 the standard gauge can. The widely known Festiniog 
 railroad, in Wales, whose gauge is one-half inch less than 
 two feet, is operated with locomotives which safely attain 
 a speed of twenty-five miles per hour. It earns for its 
 owners, annually, thirty per cent, net upon its cost. The 
 Denver and Rio-Grande railroad, in Colorado, which has 
 a gauge of three feet, is the great railroad success of 
 America. Its cost for construction was $13,500 per mile, 
 and it is regularly earning, above all expense for opera- 
 ting, fourteen per cent, per annum upon its cost. 
 
 Whoever has gone through the foregoing statement 
 carefully, will have seen, 
 
 1st. That this project is based upon the want of cheap 
 transportation — the prime necessity of the business of 
 the country and the immediate interest of the great 
 masses of the people. 
 
 2d. He will have seen that no other measure but the 
 building of such a railroad as this People's Freight Rail- 
 way, can ever bring the desired relief ; because, so long 
 as the present system of railroads must be depended 
 upon to do the carrying of the country, with their enor- 
 
27 
 
 mous cost of construction and maintenance, not to speak 
 of their exaggerated stock, or their antagonistic corporate 
 interests, they must necessarily exact high rates in mere 
 self defense, and no amount of legislation, however 
 honest or wise, unless it be absolutely oppressive and 
 ruinous to that class of interests, can ever secure the de- 
 sired end. They must earn their dividends. 
 
 The only way to cure the evil is, to throw the whole 
 matter right into the hands of the people, and put it on 
 such a basis that every man who chooses, can carry for 
 himself, and that he who cannot do so, may choose his own 
 carrier over the common public thoroughfare. This will 
 effectually accomplish the end in view, by means entirely 
 just and justifiable, without years of exciting conflicts 
 and wearisome delays. Its success will make a new era 
 in railroad enterprises, and in agricultural prosperity and 
 general advantage to all classes. 
 
 3d. He will have seen that by this plan of a common 
 roadway, open to all, inviting free competition, giving to 
 those who are dissatisfied with the charges of others, 
 the privilege of carrying for themselves, rates of trans- 
 portation cannot fail to be brought down to the closest 
 approach to the actual cost that is possible. A purely 
 co-operative system could not more surely secure the de- 
 sired end. 
 
 4th. He will have seen that by the gauge adopted, and 
 the cash system adhered to, the expense of rolling stock 
 and passenger depots avoided, etc., the roadway can be 
 constructed for the lowest possible cost, and will there- 
 fore be able to reduce its tolls to the lowest possible 
 rate. 
 
 5th. He will have seen that the route chosen, opening 
 up access to all prominent points, in both the West and 
 the East, and traversing a region overflowing with ma- 
 terials to furnish business for the road, tapping all the 
 greatest business centers of the country and opening up 
 a channel to create business with the old world, cannot 
 fail to be crowded with freight to its full capacity, from 
 the first moment of its completion, and therefore able to 
 put its rates down to a mere nominal figure and yet make 
 its stock a good and paying investment. 
 
28 
 
 6th. He will have seen that the diffi culity attending such 
 an enterprise, namely, that of protecting itself against 
 the control of the opposing interests, with their formida- 
 ble array of capital and power, has been at last com- 
 pletely overcome. That the conveyance, to a trustee, of 
 the power to vote one-half of the capital stock, on the 
 conditions and with the limitations and through the 
 channels, in which it has to be done, makes it forever 
 utterly impossible for any opposing interest to control, 
 or interfere with, or in any way embarrass its action. 
 This will be seen to be a most essential and all-important 
 advantage, when it is recollected that such an enterprise 
 could not possibly be launched in any other way, with- 
 out soon finding itself swallowed up by its enemies, who 
 would swarm around it in countless numbers and either 
 secretly purchase enough of its stock, or else sap away 
 its supports by corrupting its guardians, and buying up 
 its franchises or in some way or other secure its direct 
 control and thus defeat its object, disappoint its friends, 
 derange its finances and dishearten its advocates for 
 all future endeavor. No other protection is practicable, 
 which would not soon leave the enterprise at the mercy 
 of its foes. 
 
 7th. He will have seen that the fact of this enterprise 
 being already in complete organization, armed with all 
 needful legislation, fully ripe for immediate action, is 
 another most important advantage. For, let suitable 
 legislation be applied for now for this purpose, and just 
 as surely will its enemies scent it from afar and strangle 
 it in its birth as the blood-hound scents his game, or 
 the anaconda crushes his prey. Like reinforcements 
 appearing on the field at the decisive moment to carry 
 the day, this legal authority presents itself full-armed, 
 at this seasonable juncture to meet the grand uprising of 
 a great people and give them the means of undoubted 
 success and deliverance. 
 
 8th. He will have come to the inevitable conviction that 
 the immediate adoption of this measure by all the friends 
 of cheap transportation and of those seeking the true 
 interests of agriculture, commerce and manufactures, in 
 the country, is of the utmost importance. What is now 
 
29 
 
 needed in order to the efficiency and success of the friends 
 of cheap transportation is, something that will center 
 their energies and combine their power. Let their vast 
 numbers and united strength be concentrated on one well- 
 devised project, properly secured, fully commanding their 
 confidence and enlisting their enthusiasm, and, like a 
 well-disciplined army they are irresistible, while without 
 such concentration, their power is like that of a mob, 
 aimless, ill-directed, scattering and fruitless. This, enter- 
 prise is therefore commended to their consideration, to 
 be taken up as their own enterprise, carried through and 
 managed by themselves, for their own advantage and 
 with no other limitations but such as have been herein- 
 before set forth as essential to its safety and success. 
 
 If each member of the order of Patrons of Husbandry 
 will make this project his own, and take but one share 
 of the stock, fifty dollars, the whole capital needed to 
 build the road from New York Harbor to the Mississippi 
 River will be at once secured, and the work may be car- 
 ried on simultaneously throughout its whole length, and 
 in less than two years completed and put into active 
 operation. It is in " the power of the littles " to accom- 
 plish the grandest results, as was shown by the raising 
 of the first war loan of the United States Government, 
 which was instantly taken in fifty dollars bonds, by the 
 people, and as has been seen repeatedly in France, by the 
 raising in small sums, of Government loans, even to the 
 extend of $2,000,000,000. One share of stock for every 
 two-and-a-half members of the Order of Patrons of Hus- 
 bandry, would raise the first $15,000,000 to build the 
 road to Pittsburg, i. e. two-fifths of a share ($20) to each 
 member. Seven cents a bushel, on the surplus grain 
 raised in the Northwest in one year, amounting to 600,- 
 000,000 bushels, will build the whole road, and this 
 amount would be saved by the grain-growers many times 
 over in one year by the reduction in freight and the ad- 
 vance in price realized by the existence of the road. 
 
 9th. The attentive student of these facts will also 
 have seen that in a road, built for the ready cash, and to 
 meet a universal demand, such as there is for this, there 
 cannot occur a condition of things seriously detrimental 
 to its prosperity and progress, especially if this unanim- 
 
30 
 
 ity of effort and combination of means can be effected. In 
 the case of any ordinary road built in the usual costly man- 
 ner, with its bonds flooding the market, any financial fluc- 
 tuation or sudden revulsion in the commercial world, pros- 
 trates its credit and wrecks its interests. But in such a 
 method as is here contemplated, no panic can effect it, be- 
 cause where the cash is in hand, what fear is to arise from 
 tightness in the money market ? Indeed, the only dif- 
 ference it could make, is to reduce the prices of labor and 
 materials, which would be a positive advantage. Let 
 this measure be taken up by the friends of cheap trans- 
 portation, and united purpose will take the place of their 
 longing and waiting. Earnest enthusiasm will fire all 
 hearts and the universal demand will be supplied. Let 
 every man, therefore, resolve to do his part and give the 
 enterprise his hearty support, and its success is assured. 
 Let resolution, then, be the watchword. The hour for 
 ' action has come. The demand of the moment is imme- 
 diate combination and vigorous work. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 i 
 
 CONTAINING THE ORGANIZATION OF " THE PEOPLE'S FREIGHT RAILWAY 
 COMPANY," AND THE LAWS AUTHORIZING THE SAME. 
 
 AN ACT 
 
 To INCORPORATE THE BENDERSVILLE RAILROAD COMPANY. 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the Com- 
 monwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted 
 by theaut hoiity of the same, That Algernon S. Cadwallader, Joseph A. Van Horn, 
 John F. Brown, George Justice, Thomas S. Cadwallader, James Auderson, and 
 Charles Sopris, or a majority of them, be, and they are hereby appointed com- 
 missioners to open books, receive subscriptions, and organize a company by 
 the name, style and title of the Bendersville Railroad Company, with all the 
 powers and restrictions prescribed by the act entitled " An act regulating Rail- 
 road Companies," approved February 19, A. D., 1849, and the several acts sup- 
 plementary thereto. 
 
 Sec. 2. That the capital stock of said Company shall consist of two thousand 
 shares of fifty dollars each ; and the Stockholders of said Company, at a meeting 
 thereof, called especially for that purpose, may increase said capital stock to 
 such amount as they may deem expedient, and issue the same in one or more 
 classes, as to preference, if deemed for the best interest of said Company. 
 
 Sec. 3. That said Company shall have power to lay out, construct aucl operate 
 a railroad from some point near Gettysburg, through the Valleys of Conewago 
 and Opossum Creeks, to the village of Bendersville, Menallen Township, Adams 
 County, and to the iron mines in the vicinit}' thereof; and if said railroad shall 
 not have been completed within three years from the passage of this act, the 
 right to construct the same under this act shall be void, except as to the parts 
 thereof which may then have been constructed. 
 
 Approved March 11, A. D., 1871. 
 
 A FURTHER SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 To the Act incorporating the Bendersville Railroad Company, approved 
 
 t 
 
 A. D., 1871. 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly me':, and it is hereby enac- 
 ted by the authority of the same, That il shall and may be lawful for the Benders- 
 ville Railroad Company to issue any of the shares of the increased capital stock 
 authorized by its charter, and guarantee interest thereon, during the construction 
 of its railroad, or otherwise, not exceeding seven per centum per annum upon 
 the par value of said shares, to be paid out of any funds iu the treasury of said 
 Company ; and if any owner or owners of any of the shares of such increased 
 capital stock of said Company shall, for the purpose of promoting the con- 
 struction of its railroad, place the same in trust, it shall be lawful so to do, and 
 if the equitable interest iu such shares so placed in trust as aforesaid, shall ever 
 come into possession of said Company by gift or otherwise, it shall be lawful 
 for said Company to sell such equitable interest in such shares, and guarantee 
 interest thereon, not exceeding seven per centum per annum upon the par value 
 of such shares, to be paid out of any funds in the treasury of said company. 
 
 Approved March 20, A. D., 1872. 
 
34 
 
 A FURTHER, SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 To the Act approved March 11, A. D., 1871, entitled "An act to incorpo- 
 rate the Bendersville Railroad Company," authorizing said Company to merge 
 its 6tock, franchises, property and railroad, with and into other companies, 
 and to lease its stock, franchises, property and road, or to become the lessees 
 thereof from other companies. 
 
 Sec. I. Be it enacted, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby 
 enacted by the authority of the same, That it shall be lawful for said Benders- 
 ville Railroad Company to unite, consolidate and merge its stock, franchises, 
 property and road with or into other companies, and to lease such franchises, 
 properly and road to, or to become the lessees thereof, from any other company, 
 which by special or general law of Pennsylvania, or otherwise, may be authorized 
 to construct a railroad or railroads which, directly or by intervening railroads, may 
 connect with its railroad, although such railroads may be unconstructed. Such 
 merger shall be effected in accordance with, and in conformity to the provisions 
 of the act approved March 24th, A. D., 1865, entitled "An Act supplementary 
 to an act regulating railroad companies,' approved the 19th day of February, 
 A. D. 1849, and the time for the completion of the railroads so merged shall be 
 that of the Company, party thereto, having the longest time for the completion 
 of its railroad. 
 
 Approved April 3, A. D., 1873. 
 
 PATENT OF THE BENDERSVILLE R. R. COMPANY. 
 Pennsylvania, ss. 
 
 *=fln /Ae warne arte/ tfAe attt^oktttf if^e 
 J. F. Hartranft. 
 
 (Virtue, Liberty and Independence.) 
 COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 John F. Hartranft, 
 Governor of said Commonwealth. 
 
 To ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, SENDS GREETING. 
 
 Whereas. An act of the General Assembly of this Commonwealth, enti- 
 tled "An act to Incorporate the Bendersville Railroad Company," approved 
 the eleventh day of March, A. D., 187 1, • provides for the organization of a 
 company by the name, style and title of the " Bendersville Railroad Company," 
 subject to the provisions and restrictions of an act entitled "An Act regulating 
 Railroad Companies," and approved the nineteenth day of February, A. D., 1849, 
 and the several supplements thereto, by which Act the Governor of this Com- 
 monwealth is authorized and required to issue his Letters Patent, in the manner 
 and at the time therein specified. 
 
 And Whereas, The stipulations, conditions and things in the said Act directed 
 to be performed, have in all respects been fully complied with. 
 
 Now, Know Ye, That in pursuance of the power and authority to me given 
 by law, I, John F. Hartranft, Governor of the said Commonwealth, do by 
 these presents, which I have caused to be made patent, and sealed with the 
 great seal of the State, create and erect the subscribers to the stock of the said 
 Company, for the number of shares by them subscribed, viz : 
 
 Joseph A. Van Horn, Three Shares. 
 
 Thos. S. Cadwallader Ten Shares. 
 
 Robert R. Corson Five Shares. 
 
 John F. Brown Three Shares. 
 
 George Justice Ten Shares. 
 
35 
 
 John Jamison Three Shares. 
 
 Charles Follen Corson Three Shares. 
 
 D. W. Cadwallader Three Shares. 
 
 Lewis B. Clark Three Shares. 
 
 H. M. Hamilton Three Shares. 
 
 Charles Sopris ■ Three Shares. 
 
 A. B. Gillette Three Shares. 
 
 Wm. Cadwallader, Jr Three Shares. 
 
 Thos. George Morton Three Shares. 
 
 James Stuart, Jr Three Shares. 
 
 A. S. Cadwallader. .One thousand nine hundred and thirty -nine Shares. 
 Amounting in the whole to two thousand shares. 
 
 And also those who shall afterwards subscribe, into one body politic and 
 corporate, in deed and in law, by the name, style and title of " Bendersville 
 Railroad Company," and by the said name the subscribers shall have perpetual 
 succession, and all the privileges and franchises incident to a corporation. 
 
 And the said subscribers and those who shall afterwards subscribe, their sue- 
 successors and assigns, are generally to be invested with all the rights, powers 
 and privileges, with fall force and effect, and subject to all the duties, requisites 
 and restrictions specified and enjoined in and by the said acts of the General 
 Assembly, and all other laws of this Commonwealth. 
 
 Given u rider my hand and the Great Seal of the State 
 at Harrisburg, this 18th day of August, in the 
 year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
 and seventy-three, and of the Commonwealth 
 the ninety-eighth. 
 
 By the Governor, M. S. Quay, 
 
 Secretary of the Commonwealth. 
 
 AN ACT 
 
 TO INCORPORATE THE ShEBALAN'S V ALLEY RaILBOAD COMPANY. 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby 
 enacted by the authority of the same, that Henry Foulk, Henry Brown, B. 
 F. Hall, Abram Bower, James Galbraith, John Stambaugh, D. B. Milliken, W. 
 W. McClure, A. M. Egolph, Samuel Spotts, Samuel Shoemaker, A. Farnham, 
 George Hencb, Jacob Bixler, John Martin, George M. Loy, George Johnson, 
 E. A. McLaughlin, Josiah Espy, of Perry County, or any five of them are ap- 
 pointed commissioners to open books, receive subscriptions and organize a 
 company, with power to construct a railroad from or near the borough of 
 Marysville, in the County of Perry, by way of Shermansdale and Landisburg, 
 to or near Loysville, in Tyrone Township, in the County of Perry. 
 
 Sec. 2. The capital stock of said Company shall consist of two thousand 
 shares, of fifty dollars each ; Provided, That the said Company may from time 
 to time, by a vote of the Stockholders, at a meeting called for that purpose, 
 increase the capital stock if it shall be deemed necessary, to an amount suf- 
 ficient to carry out the true intent and meaning of this Act. 
 
 Sec. 3. That when any section of three miles of said road shall be comple- 
 ted, the said Company may use, employ and enjoy the same in the same manner 
 as when the entire road shall be constructed. 
 
 Sec. 4. Said Company shall have all the powers and be subject to all the 
 restrictions of the act, entitled "An Act regulating railroad companies," ap- 
 proved the 19th day of February, A. D., 1849, and the several supplements 
 thereto, except so far as the provisions of this act may provide. 
 
 Approved March 7, A. D., 1872. 
 
3G 
 
 PATENT OF THE SHERMAN'S VALLEY R. R. COMPANY. 
 
 Pennsylvania, ss. 
 
 J. F. Haeteanpt. 
 
 (Virtue, Liberty and Independence.') 
 COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 John F. Haeteanft, 
 Governor of said Commonwealth. 
 
 TO ALL TO WHOil THESE PEESENT3 SHALL COME, SENDS GEEETING. 
 
 Wheeeas, An act of the General Assembly of this Commonwealth, entitled 
 " An Act to incorporate the Sherman's Valley Railroad Company," approved 
 the seventh clay of March, A. D., 1872, provides for the organization of a com- 
 pany by the name, style and title of "Sherman's Valley Railroad Company," 
 subject to the provisions and restrictions of an act. entitled "An act regulating 
 Railroad Companies," and approved the nineteenth day of February, A. D., 
 1849, and the several supplements thereto, by which acts the Governor of this 
 Commonwealth is authorized and required to issue his Letters Patent in the 
 manner and at the time therein specified. 
 
 And Whekeas, The stipulations, conditions and things in the said act directed 
 to be performed, have in all respects been fully complied with. 
 
 Now, Kkow Ye, That in pursuance of the power and authority to me given 
 by law, I, John F. Hartkakft, Governor of the said Commonwealth, do by 
 these presents, which I have caused to be made patent, and sealed with the 
 Great Seal ot the State, create and erect the subscribers to the stock of the said 
 Compauy, for the number of shares by them subscribed, viz: 
 
 W. VV. Snyder : Twenty Shares. 
 
 Anthony Furhman Twenty Shares. 
 
 John A. Bower Twenty Shares. 
 
 Aaron Egolf Twenty Shares. 
 
 F. W. Gibson Twenty Shares. 
 
 D. B. Milliken Twenty Shares. 
 
 Abraham Bower Twenty Shares. 
 
 W. VV. McUlure Twenty Shares. 
 
 Jacob Sheibly Ten Shares. 
 
 Adam Wentz^l Ten Shares. 
 
 George A. Shumau Ten Shares. 
 
 B. F. Hall Ten Shires. 
 
 Samuel Murray One Share. 
 
 Amounting in the whole to two hundred and one shares. 
 A.nd also those who sh ill afterwards subscribe, into one body politic and 
 corporate, in deed and in law, by the name, style and title of "Sherman's 
 Valley Railroad Company," and by the said name the subscribers shall have 
 perpetual successi n, and all the privileges and franchises incident to a corpo- 
 ration. Aud the Riid subscribers and those who shall afterwards subscribe, 
 their successors and assigns, are generally t > be invested with all the rights, 
 powers and privileges, with full force and effect, and subject to all the duties, 
 requisites and restrictions specified and enjoined in and by the said acts of the 
 General Assembly, and all other laws of this Commonwealth. 
 
 Given under my hand and the Great Seal of the State, 
 at Harrisburg, this twenty-ninth day of May, 
 in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight 
 hundred and seventy-three, and of the Common- 
 wealth the uinety-seventh. 
 
 By the Governor, M. S. Qttay, 
 
 Secretary oj the Commonwealth. 
 
37 
 
 ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION 
 
 TO INCOEPOEATE " THE BENDEESVILLE EXTENSION RAILBOAD COMPANY." 
 
 Made and signed this ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord, one 
 thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, under and in pursuance of an act 
 of the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, approved the fourth 
 day of April, A. D., one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, entitled "An 
 act to authorize the formation and regulation of railroad corporations. 
 
 Be it remembered, that we, Harrison 0. Wright, William B. Burr, D. W. 
 Cadwallader, Robert R Corson, William Cadwallader, Joseph S. Burr, Cyrus 
 S. Detre, Thorns S. Cadwallader, A. S. Cadwallader, the subscribers hereto, 
 citizens of Pennsylvania, being desirous of forming a company for the purpose 
 of constructing, maintaining and operating a railroad for public use in the con- 
 veyance of persons and property, have made and signed, and do hereby make 
 and sign these Articles of Association, in pursuance of, and in compliance 
 with the aforesaid act, to form a company for the purpose of constructing, 
 maintaining and operating a railroad for public use in the conveyance of persons 
 and property, and do declare as follows, to wit : 
 
 1. The name of said Company shall be "The Bendeesville Extension 
 Raileoad Company." 
 
 2. The said Company shall continue for the period of nine hundred and 
 ninety-nine years. 
 
 3. The said Road is to be constructed, maintained and operated from a point 
 on the Beudersville Railroad, near Bendersville, Adams County, to a point on 
 the Sherman's Valley Railroad, near Landisburg, in the County of Perry. 
 
 4. The length of such r >ad, as near as may be, is intended to be sixty miles, 
 to be made through or within the Counties of Adams, Cumberland, Franklin 
 and Perry. 
 
 5. The amount of capital stock of said company shall be six hundred thou- 
 sand dollars, tbe same being at the rate of ten ihousand dollars for every mile 
 of road proposed to be constructed, and the capiral stock shall consist of twelve 
 thousand shares, of fifty dollars each. 
 
 6. The name of the President is William B. Burr, who resides in Philadel- 
 phia, Pennsylvania, aforesaid. The name and residences of nine Directors of 
 said company aieas follows: 
 
 Harrison C. Wright, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Wiliiam B. Burr, do do 
 
 D. W. Cadwallader, ... do do 
 
 Robert R.Corson, do do 
 
 "William Cadwallader,. Yardleyville, Pa. 
 
 Who shall manage its affairs for the first year, and until others are chosen in 
 their places. 
 
 In witness whereof we have hereunto set our respective hands with the places 
 of residence of each of us. at the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this ninth 
 day of October, A. D., 1873. 
 
 Harrison C. Wright, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 "William B. Burr do do 
 
 D. W. Cadwallader, do do 
 
 Robert R. Corson, do do 
 
 William Cadwallader, Jr., , Yardleyville, do 
 
 Joseph S. Burr, Philadelphia, do 
 
 Cyrus S. Detre do do 
 
 Joseph S. Burr, 
 
 Cyrus S. Detre, 
 
 Thomas S. Cadwallader 
 A. S. Cadwallader, .... 
 
 Philadelphia, do 
 do do 
 Yardleyville, Pa. 
 do do 
 
 Thomas S. Cadwallader, 
 A. S. Cadwallader, 
 
 Yardleyville do 
 do do 
 
38 
 
 We, the undersigned, do hereby subscribe for, and agree to take the number 
 of shares of the capital stock of The Bendersville Extension Railroad Company, 
 set opposite our respective names, and pay for the same into the treasury of 
 said Company, as required by law and the Directors of said Company. 
 
 NAMES. SHARES. 
 
 William B. Burr Five Shares 
 
 Harrison C. Wright Five Shares 
 
 D. W. Cadwallader Five Shares 
 
 Robert R. Corson Five Shares 
 
 William Cadwallader, Jr Five Shares 
 
 Joseph S. Burr.. Five Share3 
 
 Cyrus S. Detre Five Shares 
 
 Thomas S. Cadwallader Five Shares 
 
 A. S. Cadwallader Eleven thousand nine hundred and sixty Shares 
 
 State of Pennsylvania, } D. W. Cadwallader, 
 
 * ss. Harrison C. Wright, 
 
 County and City of Philadelphia.) A. S. Cadwallader. 
 
 Three of the Directors named in the foregoing Articles of Association, being 
 duly affirmt-d according to law, depose and say that ten thousand dollars of 
 stwck for every mile of Railroad proposed to be made has been in good faith 
 subscribed to said Company, and that ten per centum of said subscribed stock 
 has been paid in cash thereon to the Directors named in said Articles of Associa- 
 tion, and that it is intended in good faith to construct, maintain and operate the 
 road mentioned in said Articles of Association. 
 
 D. W. Cadwallader, 
 Harrison C. Wright, 
 A. S. Cadwallader. 
 
 Affixed and subscribed before me this thirty-first day of October, A. D., 1873. 
 
 Wm. P. Hibberd, 
 
 -JSEAL J- Alderman. 
 
 Before me, the subscriber, an Alderman of the State of Pennsylvania, resid- 
 ing at Philadelphia, personally came, D. W. Cadwallader, Harrison C. Wright, 
 A. S. Cadwallader, three of the within named Directors, who, for themselves 
 and their associates, in due form of law, acknowledged the within articles of 
 association to be their own act and deed, and that they desire the same to be re- 
 corded as such for the purpose therein named. 
 
 In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this thirty -first 
 day of October, A. D., 1873. 
 {/ ^a^ s) Wm. P. Hibberd, 
 
 | SEAL | Alderman. 
 
 Filed and recorded in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, at 
 Harrisburg, on Tuesday, the fourth day of November, A. D., 1873. 
 
 M. S. Quay, 
 Secretary of the Commonwealth. 
 
 (Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, 
 ( Harrisburg, November 4th, A. D., 1873. 
 
 Pennsylvania, 8.8. 
 
 I do hereby certify that the foregoing and annexed is a full, true and correct 
 copy of the original articles of association of the "Bendersville 
 'Extension Railroad Company," and of the affidavit thereto an- 
 nexed, as the same remains on file and of record in this office. 
 
 In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
 (caused the seal of the Secretary's office to be affixed the day and 
 year above written. 
 
 M. S. Quay, 
 Secretary of the Commonwealth. 
 
CONSOLIDATION AGREEMENT. 
 
 Joint Agreement made the seventeenth day of November, A. D., 1873, be- 
 tween the Directors of " The Bendersviile Railroad Company," and the Directors 
 - of " The Bendersviile Extension Railroad Company," and the Directors of 
 " The Sherman's Valley Railroad Company." 
 
 Whereas, By an act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Phil- 
 adelphia, entitled " An Act to incorporate The Bendersviile Railroad Company," 
 approved March 11, 1872, and the due performance of all things thereby re- 
 quired, there was created a corporation by the name of The Bendersviile Rail- 
 road Company, with authority to lay out, construct, and operate a Railroad 
 from some point near Gettysburg, through the Valley of Conewago and 
 Opossum Creeks, to the Village of Bendersviile, Menallen Township, Adams 
 County, and to the iron mines in the vicinity thereof. 
 
 And Whereas, By an act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of 
 Pennsylvania, entitled " An act to incorporate The Sherman's Valley Railroad 
 Company, approved March 7th, 1872, and the due performance of all things 
 thereby required, there was created a corporation by the name of "The Sher- 
 man's Valley Railroad Company," with authority to construct a Railroad from 
 or near the Borough of Marysville, in the Coun'.y of Perry, by way of Sher- 
 mansdale and Landisburg, to or near Loysville, in Tyrone Township, in the 
 County of Perry. 
 
 And WnEREAs, In and by certain articles of association made and signed by 
 Harrison C. Wright, William B. Burr, D. W. Cadwallader, Robert R. Corson, 
 William Cadwallader, Jr., Joseph S. Burr, Cyrus S. Detre, Thomas S. Cadwal- 
 lader and A. S. Cadwallader. 
 
 On tbe Ninth d*y of October, 1873, and duly acknowledged and filed and 
 recorded in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, on the Fourth day 
 of November, 1873, under and by virtue of a certain act of the General Assem- 
 bly of Pennsylvania, entitled " An act to authorize the formation and regulation 
 of Railroad Corporations," approved the 4th of April, 18(58, and the due per- 
 formance of all things by the said act required, there was created and now exists 
 a Corporation by the name or title of the " Bendersviile Extension Railroad 
 Company," with authority to construct, equip, operate and maintain a railroad 
 from a point on the Bendersviile Hailroad, near Bendersviile, Adam County, to 
 a point on the Sherman's Valley Railroad near Landisburg, in the County of 
 Perry, a distance of about sixty miles. 
 
 And Whereas, The railroads of the three Companies may and will form, 
 when constructed, a continuous line of railroad with each other. 
 
 And WnEREAs, It is believed that the public objects for which the said Rail- 
 roads of the three Corporations, parties hereto, have been authorized can be 
 best promoted by a consolidation and merger of the said companies so that all 
 the property, rights, franchises and privileges, now by law vested in the "Ben- 
 dersviile Railroad Company," and the " Sherman's Valley Railroad company " 
 and the Bendersviile Extention Railroad Company may be united, merged, and 
 consolidated together so as to form one company. 
 
 Now Therefore, In pursuance and by authority of the act of the General 
 Assembly of this Commonwealth, approved the 2Gth of April, 1870, entitled 
 "An act further supplementary to an act regulating Railroad Companies," 
 approved the 19th day of February, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred 
 
/ 
 
 40 
 
 and forty-nine, and of every other lawful power and authority, the parties 
 hereto enabling the Directors of the said companies, parties hereto, have jointly 
 agreed, and by these presents do make tnd enter into this joint agreement to 
 unite, merge, and consolidate together all the corporate rights, powers, privileges, 
 franchises, corporate stock and property of the "Bendersville Railroad Company, ' 
 and the '•Sherman's Valley Railroad Company," and the " Bendersville Exten- 
 sion Railroad Company" so that the said companies may be consolidated, and 
 all the said corporate rights, powers, franchises, stock and property uovv vested 
 by law in the said "Bendersville Railroad Company" and said "Sherman's 
 Valley Railroad Company" and said " Bendersville Extension Railroad Com- 
 pany " may be united, merged, and consolidated together so as to form and be 
 one company, to be called " The People's Fkeigiit Railway Company " as by 
 the laws or this Commonwealth is provided, on the terms and conditions follow- 
 ing, to wit : 
 
 1st. That said " Bendersville Railroad Company " and said " Sherman's Val- 
 ley Railroad Company " and said "Bendersville Extensiou Railroad Company," 
 shall deliver up and surrender all their books, accounts, stock, certificates, stocks 
 and property of every description to the said, "The People's Freight Railway 
 Company," and that all the stock of the said three first mentioned companies 
 actually subscribed shall be cancelled. 
 
 2nd. That " The People's Freight Railway Company " shall and will issue to 
 the several owners aud holders of, or subscribers to the stock of the " Benders- 
 ville Railroad Company," and the stock of the "Bendersville Extension Rail- 
 road Compauy," and the said several owners and holders of, or subscribers to 
 the stock of the two last named companies, shall be entitled to receive for every 
 share thereof and in full payment for the same, a certificate for one full paid 
 share of the co:i mon stock of "The People's Freight Railway Company," the 
 sa'ul owners or holders of, or subscribers to the stock of the said " Bendersville 
 Railroad Company," and said "Bendersville Extension Railroad Company" 
 shall thereafter and iu consideration therefor, be released absolutely from all 
 further liability to pay any assessments or dues to any of the companies named 
 in this agreement, or to any other party or parties whatsoever. 
 
 3d. That " The People's Freight Railway Company " shall and will issue to 
 the several owners and holders of. or subscribers to the stock of the "Sher- 
 man's Valley Railroad Company," and the said spveral owners aud holders of 
 or subscribers to the stock of the " Sherman's V>Uley Railroad Company," shall 
 be entitled to receive for every share thereof, and in full payment for the same, 
 a certificate for one-tenth of a share of the preferred stock of "The People's 
 Freight Railway Company," such tenth of a share of said preferred stock to be 
 free from all liability for unpaid or uncalled installments or assessments which 
 the stock of the "Shermr.n's Valley Railroad Company," so exchanged therefor 
 was liable for. 
 
 The corporate lights, powers, obligations, duties, and franchises existing 
 under the several acts of the general Assembly of this Commonwealth, relating 
 to the- said corporations, parties hereto, respectively which shall continue in, be 
 transferred to and be vested in "The People's Freight Railway Compauy, ' are 
 specified as follows, to wit : 
 
 J. All the rights, powers and franchises secured to the said Bendersville 
 Railroad Company by letters pateut, issued to the said company under the hand 
 of the Governor, and seal of the Commonwealth, under an act of this Common- 
 wealth entitled "An act regulating Railroad C >mpanies," approved the ID Ik of 
 February, 1840, continuing from the date of the said letters patent. 
 
 2. All the rights, powers and franchises secured to the said "Sherman's 
 Valley Railroad "Company " by letteis patent issued to the said company, under 
 the hand of the Governor and seal of the Commonwealth, under tne act of the 
 General Assembly of this Commonwealth entitled "An act Regulating Railroad 
 Companies," approved the 19lh of February, 1840, continuing from the date 
 of the said letters patent. 
 
 3. The right, power and obligation to build, construct, equip, operate and 
 maintain the railroad authorized by the said act incorporating the " Bendersville 
 Railroad Company " and also the Railroad authorized by the said act incorporat- 
 ing, aud the said supplement to the said act incorporating the "Sherman's 
 Valley Railroad Company," and also the Railroad mentioned and described in 
 the said articles of association, to incorporate the " Bendersville Extension Rail- 
 road Company " and to construct, own and operate the said Railroads as one 
 
41 
 
 continuous and consolidated line of railroad, to be completed within the farthest 
 limit of time for the completion of the railroads of the " Sherman's Valley RaiL 
 road Company " prescribed by the several acts of Assembly having reference 
 thereto. 
 
 4. The right and power to construct, operate and maintain such branches 
 from its main line of railroad as it may deem necessary to increase its business 
 and accommodate the trade and travel of the public, being a right vested in the 
 said 44 Bendersville Extension Railroad Company" and which, under and by 
 virtue of this agreement and the laws of this Commonwealth is hereby trans- 
 ferred to and vested in the said 44 The People's Freight Railway Company." 
 
 5. The right to connect its road with roads of a similar character within 
 this Commonwealth, or on the line thereof, upon such terms as may be agreed 
 upon by those who have the management of said roads ; being a righ!, vested 
 in the 4 4 Bendersville Extension Railroad Company," and which under and by 
 virtue of this agreement and the laws of this Commonwealth, is hereby trans- 
 ferred to and vested in the said 4 4 The People's Freight Railway Company." 
 
 6. All the rights, powers and privileges granted and conferred by an act of 
 the General Assembly, approved March 20th, 1872, entitled 14 A further supple- 
 ment to the act to incorporate the 44 Bendersville Railroad Company," approved 
 1871, and an act of the General Assembly, approved the 3rd day of April, 1873, 
 entitled 44 A further supplement to the act approved March 11th, 1871, entitled 
 * 4 An act to incorporate the Bendersville Railroad Company," 44 Authorizing 
 said company to merge its stock, franchises, property, and railroad with and 
 into other companies, and to lease its stock, franchises, property and road, or to 
 become the lessees thereof from other companies, so far as the said acts are 
 consistent with the exercise of all the rights and power herein before specified." 
 
 7. The affairs of 44 The People's Freight Railway Company," shall be 
 managed by a board of management, to be composed of twelve Directors and a 
 President, who shall be elected by the Stockholders of the company. The 
 officers of the company shall be a President, a Vice-President, a Treasurer, a 
 Secretary, and such other officers and agents as the board of management may 
 from time to time prescribe. 
 
 The names of the first Directors of 41 The People's Freight Railway Com- 
 pany " are, A. S. Cadwallader, who resides in Yardley ville, Pa. 
 
 Harrison C Wright, 4 4 44 44 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Edwin A. Ford, 4 4 44 4 4 Bordentown, N. J. 
 
 John Jameson, 4 4 4 4 4 4 Beverly, N. J. 
 
 Robert R. Corson, 44 4 4 4 4 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 W. W. Corbett, 4 4 44 4 4 Chicago, 111. 
 
 W. C. Flagg,, 4 4 44 44 Moro, Madison Co., 111. 
 
 Joseph S. Burr, 4 4 44 4 4 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Joseph Bailey, 44 44 4 4 Bailey sburg, Perry Co., Pa. 
 
 Samuel R. Toy, 44 4 4 4 4 Camden, N. J. 
 
 George C. Caughlin, 44 > 4 4 4 4 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 George Justice, 44 " " Yardley ville, Pa. 
 
 The name of the President is William B. Burr, who residesln Phila., Pa. 
 The name of the Vice-President is 
 
 The name of the Treasurer is Edwin A. Ford, who resides in Bordentown, N. J. 
 The name of the Secretary is Robert R. Corson, who resides in Phila., Pa. 
 
 The capital stock of 44 The People's Freight Railwav Company " shall consist 
 of 2,000,000 shares of the par value of fifty dollars each, of which one-half, to 
 wit, 1,000,000 shares thereof shall be classed as preferred stock, and one half, 
 to wit, 1,000,000 shares thereof shall be classed as common stock. Both classes 
 of stock shall have equal privileges at all meetings and all elections by the 
 Stockholders, but the preferred stock actually issued shall be entitled to receive 
 dividends out of the net earnings of the Company, if any in any year, at the 
 rate of seven per cent, per annum, before the common stock shall be entitled to 
 receive any dividends out of the net earnings for such year, and when the pre- 
 ferred stock actually issued shall have received seven per cent, out of the net 
 earnings in any year, and the common stock shall have received seven per cent, 
 for such year out of the net earnings in such year, or otherwise, each share of 
 each class of the stock actually issued shall be entitled to an equal amount of 
 any net earnings for such year which may remain. 
 
42 
 
 There shall be an annual meeting of the Stockholders of the Company on the 
 first Monday in January in each year, at the office of the Company, in the 
 City of Philadelphia, at which the Board of Management, consisting of twelve 
 Directors and a President shall be chosen by the Stockholders, to hold their posi- 
 tions or offices for one year, and until others are elected in their places, each 
 share of each class of stock actually issued entitling the holder thereof to one 
 vote in person or by proxy, at all Stockholders' meetings, and at all times and 
 places where the sense of the Stockholders is to be taken. All other officers and 
 agents of the Company shall be elected by the Board of Management at the 
 annual meeting or as soon thereafter as convenient. 
 
 The Board of Management shall have power to make such By-Laws and reg- 
 ulations for the government of the Company as they shall deem expedient, not 
 inconsistant with the laws of this Commonwealth or those of the United States. 
 
 8. To have, hold, possess, exercise and enjoy all the rights, powers, privi- 
 leges and property which either party hereto might or could do under any other 
 law of this Commonwealth if this agreement did not exist. 
 In Testimony Whereof, the Directors of the "Bendersville Railroad Company," 
 and the Directors of the " Sherman's Valley Railroad Company," and the Direc- 
 tors of the " Bendersville Extension Railroad Company," have caused the re- 
 spective corporate seals of the said Companies to be hereunto affixed, attested 
 by the President and Secretary of each Company, this 17th day of November, 
 A. D., 1873. 
 
 [L. S.] ABRAHAM BOWER, 
 
 President of the Sherman's Valley Railroad Company. 
 
 Attest : BENJAMIN F. HALL, 
 
 Secretary of the Sherman's Valley Railroad Company, 
 
 I, Benjamin F. Hall, Secretary of the Sherman's Valley Railroad Company 
 do hereby certify, that a meeting of the Stockholders of the said company was 
 held at Shuman's Hotel, in the Village of Landisburg, Perry County, Pennsyl- 
 vania, on Monday the 17th day of November, 1873, for the purpose of consid- 
 ering and voting for the adoption or rejection of an agreement made between 
 the Directors of the Bendersville Railroad Company, and the Directors of 
 the Bendersville Extension Railroad Company, and the Directors of the 
 Sherman's Valley Railroad Company (of which the foregoing is a true copy,) 
 in pursuance of due notice of the time, place and object of the said meeting 
 which was given according to and as required by law, the said agreement was sub- 
 mitted to the Stockholders at the said meeting, duly considered by them, and a 
 vote by ballot taken for the adoption or rejection of the same as prescribed by 
 the laws of this Commonwealth. The number of votes cast'at the said meeting 
 was one hundred and ninety-nine, each vote representing one share of the stock 
 of the said company, of which one hundred and nine-nine were cast in favor 
 of adopting said agreement, and none for the rejection of the said agreement, 
 and I certify the fact that more than two-thirds of all the stock of the company 
 entitled to vote was cast at said election, in favor of said agreement of consoli- 
 dation and merger. 
 
 In testimony thereof, I have hereunto set my hand 
 and the corporate seal of the company, this 
 17th day of November, A. D., 1873. 
 
 B. F. HALL, Secretary. 
 
 [X.S.] A. 8. CADWALLADER, 
 
 Pruident of the Bendersville Railroad Company. 
 
 Attest :— ROBERT R. CORSON, 
 
 Secretary of the Bendersville Railroad Company. 
 
 I, Robert R. Coeson, Secretary of the Bendersville Railroad Company, do 
 hereby certify that a meeting of the Stockholders of said Company was held 
 at No. 106 North Third Street, in the City of Philadelphia, State of Pennsyl- 
 v ania, on Friday the 14th day of November, A. D. 1873, for the purpose of con- 
 
43 
 
 sidering and voting for the adoption or rejection of an agreement made between 
 the Directors of the Bendersville Railroad Company, and the Directors of the 
 Bendersville Extension Railroad Company, and the Directors of the Sherman's 
 Valley Railroad Company, of which the foregoing is a true copy. In pursuance 
 of due notice of the time, place and object of the said meeting which was 
 given according to and as required by law, the said agreement was submitted 
 to the Stockholders at the said meeting, duly considered by them and a vote by 
 ballot taken for the adoption or rejection of the same, as prescribed by the laws 
 of this Commonwealth. The number of votes cast at the said meeting was 
 nineteen hundred and fifty-four; each vote represented one share of the stock 
 of the said company, of which nineteen hundred and fifty-four were cast in favor 
 of adopting said agreement and none for the rejection of the said agreement, 
 and I certify the fact that more than two-thirds of all the stock of the Company 
 entitled to vote was cast at said election in favor of said agreement of consolida- 
 tion and merger. 
 
 In testimony thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and the corporate seal of 
 the company, this 17th day of November, A. D., 1873. 
 
 [_L.S.] ROBERT R. CORSON, Secretary. 
 
 [L.S.] WILLIAM B. BURR, 
 
 President of the Bendersville Extension Railroad Company. 
 
 Attest :— ROBERT R. CORSON, 
 
 Secretary of the Bendersville Extension Railroad Company. 
 
 I, Robert R. Corson, Secretary of the Bendersville Extension Railroad Com- 
 pany, do hereby certify that a meeting of the Stockholders of said Company 
 was held at No. 106 North Third Street, in the City of Philadelphia, State of 
 Pennsylvania, on Friday the 14th day of November, A. D., 1873, for the pur- 
 pose of considering and voting for the adoption or rejection of an agreement 
 made between the Directors of the Bendersville Railroad Company, and the 
 Directors of the Bendersville Extension Railroad Company, and the Directors 
 of the Sherman's Valley Railroad Company (of which the foregoing is a true 
 copy,) in pursuance of due notice of the time, place and object' of 1 the said 
 meeting which was given according to and as required by law. The said 
 agreement was submitted to the Stockholders at the said meeting, duly consid- 
 ered by them, and a vote by ballot taken for the adoption or rejection of the 
 same, as prescribed by the laws of this Commonwealth. The number of votes 
 cast at the said meeting was eleven thousand and nine hundred and fifty-five, 
 each vote representing one share of the stock of the said company, of which 
 eleven thousand niue hundred and fifty-five were cast in favor of adopting said 
 agreement, and none for the rejection of the said agreement, and I certify the 
 fact that more than two-thirds of all the stock of the company entitled to vote 
 was cast at said election in favor of said agreement of consolidation and merger. 
 
 In testimony thereof I have hereunto set my hand 
 and the corporate seal of the company, this 
 17th day of November, A. D., 1873. 
 
 ROBERT R. CORSON, Secretary 
 
 I, Robert R. Corson, Secretary of the People's Freight Railway Company 
 do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the joint 
 agreement of consolidation between the Directors of the Bendersville Railroad 
 Company, and the Directors of the Bendersville Extension Railroad Company, 
 and the Directors of the Sherman's Valley Railroad Company, and also true and 
 correct copies of the certificates annexed to said joint agreement of the respec- 
 tive Secretaries of the companies parties to said joint agreement. 
 
44 
 
 In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and the corporate seal of 
 the People's Freight Railway Company, this 12th day of December, A. D., 1873. 
 
 [L. S.] ROBERT R. CORSON, Secretary. 
 
 Filed in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth at Harrisburg, on 
 Saturday, the thirteenth day of December, A. D., 1873. 
 
 M. S. QUAY, 
 Secretary of the Commonwealth. 
 
 Office of the Secretary of the Co\tmon wealth,) 
 Harrisburg, December 16, A. D., 1873. > 
 
 Pennsylvania, s.s.: 
 
 fL. S.] I do hereby certify that the foregoing and annexed is a full, true 
 and correct copy of the joint agreement of consolidation and merger by and 
 between the Bendersville Railroad Company, the Bendersville Extension Rail- 
 road Company and the Sherman's* Valley Railroad Company forming the Peo- 
 ple's Freight Railway Company, as the same remains on file in this office. 
 
 In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of 
 the Secretary's office to be affixed the day and year above written. 
 
 M. S. QUAY, 
 
 Secretary of Commonwealth. 
 
 The following law together with the charter and sup- 
 plements thereto, of the Bendersville Railroad Company, 
 is authority for the arrangement whereby the common 
 stock of the People's Freight Railway Company has 
 been made full paid. 
 
 AN ACT 
 
 To authorize the President and Directors of any Railroad Company to deter- 
 mine by resolution, the manner in which, and the persons to whom, the in- 
 creased capital thereof may be sold, and the amounts of the installments there- 
 on, and the times and manner of this payment. _ 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby 
 enacted by the authority oi the same, That in all cases where any Railroad Com- 
 pany is authorized to increase its capital stock, and such increase has been, or 
 may be, authorized by the Stockholders, it shall and may be lawful for the Presi- 
 dent and Directors to determine, by resolution, in what manner, and by whom, 
 the same shall be subscribed, or to whom the same shall be issued or sold, and 
 the amounts the several installments to be paid thereon, and the times and man- 
 ner in which the same shall be paid. 
 
 Approved April 10, A. D. 1867. 
 
45 
 
 AN ACT 
 
 Supplementary to an Act, regulating Railroad Companies, approved the 19th 
 day of February, A. D., 1849. 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby 
 enacted by the Authority of the same, That it shall and may be lawful for any 
 Railroad Company or Corporation, organized under the laws of this Common- 
 wealth, and operating a railroad, either in whole within, or partly within, and 
 partly without this State, under authority of this and any adjoining State, to 
 merge and consolidate its capital stock, franchises and property of any other 
 railroad company, or companies, or corporations, organized and operated under 
 the laws of this, or any other State, whenever the two, or more railroads of the 
 companies or corporations, so to.be consolidated, shall, or may, form a continu- 
 ous line of roailroad, with each other, or by means of any intervening railroad : 
 Provided, That railroads terminating on the bank of any river, which are, or 
 may be, connected by ferry, or otherwise, shall be deemed continuous, under 
 this act : And Provided further, That nothing, in this act contained, shall be 
 taken to authorize the consolidation of any company, or corporation, of this 
 Commonwealth, with that of any other State, whose laws shall not also author- 
 ized the like consolidation. 
 
 Sec. 2. Said consolidation shall be made under the conditions, provisions, 
 restrictions, and with the powers, hereafter in this act mentioned and contained, 
 that is to say ; 
 
 First, The Directors of the several corporations, proposing to consolidate, 
 may enter into a joint agreement, under the corporate seal of each company, 
 for the consolidations of said companies and railroads, and prescribing the terms 
 and conditions thereof, the mode of carrying the same into effect, the name of 
 the new corporation, the number and names of the Directors and other officers 
 thereof, and who shall be the first Directors and officers, and their places of 
 residence, the number of shares of the capital stock, the amount, or par value, 
 of each share, and the manner of converting the capital stock of each of the 
 said companies into that of the new corporation, and how and when Directors 
 and officers shall be chosen, with such other detail as they shall deem necessary, 
 to perfect such new organization and the consolidation of said companies, or 
 railroads. 
 
 Second. Said agreement shall be submitted to the Stockholders of each of the 
 said companies, or corporations, at a meeting thereof, called separately, for the 
 purpose of taking the same into consideration ; due notice of the time and place 
 of holding such meeting, and the object thereof, shall be given by written or 
 printed notices, addressed to each of the persons, in whose names the capital 
 stock of said companies stands on the books thereof, and deliver to such per- 
 sons, respectively, or send to them by mail, when their post office address is 
 known to the company, and also, by a general notice, published in some news- 
 paper, in the city, town or county, where such company has its principal office, 
 or place of business; and at the said meeting of Stockholders, the agreement of 
 said Directors shall be considered, and a vote by ballot taken for the adoption or 
 rejection of the same, each share entitling the holder thereof to one vote ; and 
 said ballot shall be cast in person or by proxy ; and if two-thirds of all the votes 
 of all the Stockholders shall be for the adoption of said agreement, then that 
 fact shall be certified thereon, by the Secretary of the respective companies, 
 under the seal thereof ; and the agreement so adopted, or a certified copy threof 
 shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and shall, 
 from thence, be deemed and taken to be the agreement and act of consolidation 
 of the said companies ; and a copy of said agreement and act of consolidation, 
 duly certified by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, under the seal thereof, 
 shall be evidence of the existence of said new corporation. 
 
 Sec. 3. Upon the making and perfecting the agreement and act of consolida- 
 tion, as provided in the preceding section, and filing the same, or a copy, with 
 the Secretary of the Commonwealth, as aforesaid, the several corporations, 
 parties thereto, shall be deemed and taken to be one corporation, by the name 
 provided in said agreement and act, possessing within this Commonwealth, all 
 the rights, privileges and franchises, and subject to all the restrictions, disabili- 
 ties and duties of each of such corporations, so consolidated. 
 
46 
 
 Sec. 4. Upon the consummation of said act of consolidation, as aforesaid, all 
 and singular, the rights, privileges and franchises of each of said corporations, 
 parties to the same, and all the property, real, personal and mixed, and all debts, 
 due on whatever account, as well as of stock, subscriptions, and other things in 
 action, belonging to each of such corporations, shall be taken and deemed to be 
 transferred to, and vested in such new corporation, without further act or deed ; 
 and all property, all rights of way, and all and every other interests, shall be as 
 effectually the property of the new corporation, as they were of the former 
 corporations, parties by said agreement ; and the title to real estate, either by 
 deed or otherwise, under the laws of this Commonwealth, vested in either of 
 such corporations, shall not be deemed to revert, or be in any way impaired by 
 reason of this act : Provided, That all rights of creditors, and all liens upon 
 the property of either of said corporations, shall be preserved unimpaired, and the 
 respective corporations may be deemed to continue in existence, to preserve the 
 same ; and all debts, liabilities and duties of either of said Companies, shall 
 thenceforth attach to said new corporation, and be enforced against it, to the 
 same extent, as if said debts, liabilities and duties had been incurred or con- 
 tracted by it. 
 
 Sec. 5. Such new Company shall, as soon as convenient, after such consolida- 
 tion, establish such offices as may be desirable, one of which shall be at some 
 point in this Commonwealth, on the line of its road, and may change the same 
 at pleasure, giving public notice thereof, in some newspaper published on the 
 line of said road. 
 
 Sec. 6. Suits may be brought and maintained against such new Company, in 
 any of the courts of this Commonwealth for all causes of action, in the same 
 manner as against other Railroad Companies therein. 
 
 Sec. 7. That portion of the road, of such consolidated Company, in this 
 Commonwealth, and all its real estate and other property, shall be subject to 
 like taxation, and assessed in the same manner and with like effect as property 
 of other Railroad Companies within this Commonwealth. 
 
 Sec. 8. Any Stockholder of any Company hereby authorized to consolidate 
 with any other, who shall refuse to convert his stock into the stock of the con- 
 solidated Company, may, at any time within thirty days after the adoption of 
 the said agreement of consolidation, by the Stockholders, as in this act provided, 
 apply by petition to the Court of Common Pleas of the County in which the 
 chief office of said Company may be kept, or to a judge of said Court, in vaca- 
 tion, if no such Court sits within said period, on reasonable notice to said Com- 
 pany, to appoint three disinterested persons to estimate the damage, if any, 
 done to such Stockholder by said proposed consolidation, and whose award, or 
 that of a majority of them, when confirmed by the said Court, shall be final and 
 conclusive, and the persons so appointed shall also appraise said stock of such 
 stockholder, at the full market value thereof, without regard to any depreciation 
 or appreciation, in consequence of the said consolidation, and the said Company 
 may, at its election, either pay to the said Stockholder the amount of damages 
 so tound and awarded, if any, or the value of the stock, so ascertained and de- 
 termined, and upon the payment of the value of the stock, as aforesaid, the 
 said Stockholder shall transfer the stock so held by him, to said Company, to be 
 disposed of by the Directors of said Company, or be retained for the benefit of 
 the remaining Stockholders ; and in case the value of said stock as aforesaid, is 
 not so paid within thirty days from the filing of the said award and confirma- 
 tion by said Court, and notice to said Company, the damages so found and con- 
 firmed, shall be a judgement against said Company, and collected as other 
 judgements in said Court, are by law recoverable. 
 
 Approved March 24, A. D., 1865. 
 
 AN ACT 
 
 Further Supplementary to an act regulating railroad companies, approved the 
 19th day of February, A. D., 1849. 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby 
 
47 
 
 enacted by the authority of the same, That it shall and may be lawful for any 
 Railroad Company or corporation duly organized under the laws of the State, 
 for the purpose of constructing a railroad, either wholly within or partly within 
 partly without this State, under authority of this and any adjoining State to and 
 merge and consolidate its capital stock, franchises and property with any other 
 railroad company or companies, or corporations organized under the laws of this 
 or any other State, whenever the two or more railroads of the companies or 
 corporations so to be consolidated shall or may form, when constructed, a con- 
 tinuous line of railroad with each other, or by means of any intervening rail- 
 road ; and such consolidation may be effected in accordance with the laws of 
 this Commonwealth, either under special or general statutes of other States. 
 Approved April 26, A. D., 1870. 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby 
 enacted by the authority of the same, That it shall and may be lawful for any 
 Railroad Company created by and existing under the laws of this Common- 
 wealth, from time to time to 'purchase and hold the stock and bonds, or either, 
 of any other Railroad Company or Companies, chartered by or of which the 
 road or roads is or are authorized to extend into this Commonwealth ; and it 
 shall be lawful for any Railroad Companies to enter into contracts for the use or 
 lease of any other Railroads, upon such terms as may be agreed upon with the 
 Company or Companies owning the same, and to run, use and operate such 
 road or roads in accordance with such contract or lease : Provided, That the 
 roads of the Companies so contracting or leasing, shall be directly, or by means 
 of intervening Railroads, connected with each other. 
 
 Approved April 23, A. D., 1861. 
 
 Supplementary to an act relating to certain corporations, approved the 23d 
 day of April, A. D., 1861. 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Com- 
 monwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted 
 by the authority of the same, That it shall and may be lawful for any railroad 
 company or companies, created by or existing under the laws of this Common- 
 wealth, from time to time, to purchase and hold the stock and bonds, or either, 
 or to agree to purchase or guarantee the payment of the principal or interest, or 
 either of the bonds of any other railroad company or companies chartered by 
 it, or existing under the laws of any other State. 
 
 Approved March 17, A. D., 1869. 
 
 Companies organized under the Free Railroad Laws of 
 Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, to build the Ohio, Indiana 
 and Illinois Divisions of The People's Freight Railway 
 
 AN ACT 
 
 Relating to certain Corporations. 
 
 AN ACT 
 
f 
 
 48 
 
 When the Ohio, Indiana and Illinois Divisions are con- 
 solidated with it, The People's Freight Railway Company 
 will be an interstate corporation and a proper subject for 
 congressional control. 
 
 A corporation organized under the Free Railroad law 
 of New Jersey, to construct the New Jersey Division of 
 The People's Freight Railway may be consolidated with 
 the People's Freight Railway Company after its railroad 
 has been constructed. The foregoing: last two laws show 
 how the New Jersey Division may be controlled while 
 being constructed. 
 
 AN ACT 
 
 To Authorize the formation and Regulation of Railroad Companies. 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby 
 enacted by the authority of the same, That any number of Citizens of Penn- 
 sylvania not less than nine, may form a company for the purpose of construct- 
 ing, maintaining and operating a railroad for public use in the conveyance of 
 persons and property, or for the purpose of maintaining and operating any 
 unincorporated railroad r.lready constructed for like public use ; and for that 
 purpose may make and sign articles of association, in which shall be stated the 
 name of the company, the number of years the same is to continue, the places 
 from and to which the road is to be constructed, or maintained and operated, 
 the length of such road as near as may be, and the name of each County in the 
 State through or into which it is made or intended to be made, the amount of 
 the capital stock of the company, which shall not be less than ten thousand 
 dollars for every mile of mad constructed or proposed to be constructed, and 
 the number of shares of which said capital stock shall consist, and the names 
 and places of residence of a President, and not less than six nor more than 
 twelve Directors of the company, who shall manage its affairs for the first year, 
 and until others are chosen in their places ; each subscriber to such articles of 
 association shall subscribe thereto his name, place of residence, and the number 
 of shares of stock he agrees to take in said company : on compliance with the 
 provisions of the second section of this supplement, such articles of associa- 
 tion shall be acknowledged by at least three of the Directors before some offi- 
 cer competent to take acknowledgements of deeds in the County where the 
 principal office is designed to be located, and may be filed in the office of the 
 Secretary of the Commonwealth, who shall endorse thereon the day on which 
 they were filed and record the same in a book to be provided by him for that 
 purpose ; and thereupon the said articles of association shall become and be a 
 charter for the said company. And the persons who have so subscribed such 
 articles of association, and all persons who shall become Stockholders in such 
 company, shall be a corporation by the name specified in such articles of asso- 
 ciation or charter, and shall possess the powers and privileges following, to wit : 
 
 First, To have succession by its corporate name for the period limited in its 
 articles of association. 
 
 Second, To sue and be sued, complain and defend in any court of law or 
 equity. 
 
 Third, To make and use a common seal and alter the same at pleasure. 
 
 Fourth, To hold, purchase and convey such real and personal estate as the 
 purposes of the corporation shall require, not exceeding the amount limited in 
 the articles of association. 
 
 Fifth, To appoint such subordinate officers and agents as the business of the 
 corporation shall require, and to allow them a suitable compensation. 
 
 Sixth, To make by-laws not inconsistent wfth any existing law for the man- 
 agement of its property and regulation of its affairs, and for the transfer of its 
 stock. 
 
49 
 
 Sec. 2. Such articles of association shall not be filed and recorded in the 
 office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth until at least nine thousand dol- 
 lars of stock for every mile of railroad proposed to be made is subscribed there- 
 to, and ten per centum paid thereon in good faith and in cash to the Directors 
 named in said articles of association. Nor until there is endorsed thereon or 
 annexed thereto an affidavit made by at least three of the Directors named in 
 said articles that the amount of stock required by this section has been in good 
 faith subscribed and ten per centum paid in cash thereon as aforesaid, and that 
 it is intended in good faith to construct or to maintain and operate the road men- 
 tioned in such articles of association ; which affidavit shall be recorded with the 
 article of association as aforesaid. 
 
 Sec. 3. A copy of an article of association filed and recorded in pursuance 
 of this act or of the record thereof, with a copy of the affidavit aforesaid en- 
 dorsed thereon or annexed thereto and certified to be a copy by the Secretary 
 of the commonwealth or his deputy shall be evidence of the incorporation of 
 such company, and of the facts therein stated. 
 
 Sec. 4. When such articles of association and affidavit are filed and recorded 
 in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Directors named in said 
 articles of association shall in case the whole of the capital stock is not before 
 subscribed, keep open books of subscription at their general office, and at 
 such other places as they may deem expedient to fill up the capital stock of the 
 company, giving such notice a%they may deem expedient, and shall continue to 
 receive subscriptions until the whole capital stock is subscribed ; at the time of 
 subscribing every subscriber shall pay to the Directors ten per centum of the 
 amount subscribed by him in money, and no subscription shall be received or 
 taken without such payment. 
 
 Sec. 5. Whenever the forgoing provisions have been complied with, the 
 persons named as corporators in such articles of association are fully authorized 
 to carry into effect the objects named therein, as fully as any corporation here- 
 tofore created under any special act of the Legislature ; and said corporation 
 thus created shall be entitled to exercise all the rights, powers and priviliges and 
 be subject to all restrictions and liabilities of the act regulating railroad com- 
 panies, approved the nineteenth day of February, one thousand eight hundred 
 and forty-nine, and the several supplements thereto as fully and as effectually 
 as if said powers were specially incorporated in said charter ; and the said com- 
 pany shall commence -the proposed road if not more than fifty, miles in length 
 with at least one track, within two years from their organization as aforesaid, 
 and prosecute the work on the same with due diligence, and open and complete 
 the same within five years, and shall have an additional six months to complete 
 their road for each twenty-five miles more than the fifty mile^ aforesaid, Pro- 
 vided, the road shall be opened for use in all cases when fifty miles in length 
 of track are laid. 
 
 Sec. 6. Whenever any railroad company created and incorporated under the 
 provisions of this act shall, in the opinion of the Directors thereof, require an in- 
 creased amount of capital stock in order to complete and equip their road and 
 carry out the full intent and meaning of their charter, they shall, if authorized 
 by a majority of the Stockholders at a meeting called for that purpose, file 
 w r ith the Secretary of the Commonwealth a certificate setting forth the amount 
 of such desired increase, and thereafter such company shall be entitled to have 
 such increased capital as is fixed by said certificate ; provided, that the origi- 
 nal amount of stock and increased capital shall in no case exceed the sum of 
 sixty thousand dollars per mile. 
 
 Sec. 7. The number of managers of any company incorporated in pursu- 
 ance of this act shall be a President, and not less than six nor more than twelve 
 Directors, as shall be fixed by the corporators thereof, at their first meeting to 
 choose Directors of said company, a majority of whom shall be citizens of this 
 Commonwealth. 
 
 Sec. 8. The President and Directors of any railroad company created under 
 this act, shall have power to borrow money not exceeding the amount of capital 
 stock subscribed, and issue the bonds of the company therefor in such amounts as 
 shall not exceed double the amount actually paid up of the capital stock sub- 
 scribed, the proceeds whereof shall be actually expended in the construction and 
 equipment of their road ; these bonds to be payable at such time not exceeding 
 fifty years after the date thereof, and at such place and at such rate of interest 
 
50 
 
 not exceeding seven per centum, as said Directors may deem best, and may 
 secure the payment of said bonds and interest by a mortgage on the said road 
 and franchises. 
 
 Sec. 9. Any company incorporated under this act shall have authority to 
 construct such branches from its main line as it may deem necessary to increase 
 its business and accommodate the trade and travel of the public. 
 
 Sec. 10. Companies formed under the provisions of this act shall have the 
 right to construct roads so as to cross at grade the track or tracks of any other 
 railroad in this Commonwealth ; provided, however, that the cost of making 
 and keeping such crossing in repair shall be borne by the company whose road 
 crosses the track or tracks of another: and provided further, that the company 
 whose road crosses the track or tracks of another shall keep at such crossings 
 as many persons as may be requisite to give the necessary signals to prevent 
 accidents. 
 
 Sec. 11. Companies whose roads shall be constructed under the provisions of 
 this act shall have the right to connect their roads with roads of a similar 
 character within this Commonwealth or at the line thereof, upon such terms as 
 may be agreed upon by those who have the management of said roads ; and m 
 case of failure of an agreement on the part of those having the management 
 of said roads then, and in that case either of said parties may apply to the 
 Court of Common Pleas within the jurisdiction in which said connection is 
 proposed to be made, whose duty it shall be to appoint a jury of three disin- 
 terested men, who shall determine and fix said terms, which, when approved 
 by said court, shall be conclusive. 
 
 Sec. 12. This act shall not be so construed as to authorize the formation of 
 street passenger railway companies to construct passenger railways under or by 
 virtue of its provisions in any city or borough of this Commonwealth, nor to 
 authorize any corporation formed under this act to enter upon and occupy any 
 street, lane or alley in any incorporated city in this Commonwealth without 
 the consent of such city having been first obtained. 
 
 Sec. 13. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed, 
 so far as they may affect any corporation that may be organized under this act|; 
 and the Legislature hereby reserves the right to alter, amend or repeal this act 
 at anytime in such manner however as to do no injustice to corporators. 
 
 Approved April 4, 1865. 
 
 AN ACT 
 
 Regulating Railroad Companies. 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Com- 
 monwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted 
 by the authority of the same, That whenever a special act of the General As- 
 sembly shall hereafter be passed, authorizing the incorporation of a Company 
 for the construction of a railroad within this Commonwealth, the Commission- 
 ers named in such act, or any five of them, shall have power to open books for 
 receiving subscriptions to the capital stock of such Company, at such time or 
 times, and at such place or places as they may deem expedient, after having given 
 at least twenty days notice, in one or more newspapers, published in the county 
 where books of subscription are to be opened ; and at the times and places so 
 designated and named in the public notices to be given, as aforesaid, the said 
 Commissioners, or any two of them, shall attend and furnish to all persons duly 
 qualified, who shall offer to sub&cribe, an opportunity of so doing ; and it shall 
 be lawful for all such persons, and for all firms and copartnerships, by them- 
 selves or by persons duly authorized, to subscribe for shares in said stock; and 
 the said books shall be kept open at least six hours in every day, for the term of 
 three juridical days, or until there shall have been subscribed the whole number 
 of shares authorized by the special act ; and if at the expiration of three days, 
 the books aforesaid shall not have the number of shares therein subscribed, the 
 said Commissioners may adjourn from time to time, and to such places as they 
 may deem proper until the whole number of shares authorized, as aforesaid, 
 shall be subscribed, of which adjournment the Commissioners aforesaid shall 
 
51 
 
 give such public notice as the occasion may require ; and when the whole num- 
 ber of shares shall be subscribed, the books shall be closed ; Provided, always, 
 That no subscription for such stock shall be valid unless the party or parties 
 making the same, shall, at the time of subscribing, pay to the said Commission, 
 ers five dollars on each and every share subscribed, for the use of the Company^ 
 
 Sec. 2. That when ten per centum on the capital stock, as provided by any 
 special act of incorporation, shall have been subscribed, and five dollars paid on 
 each and every share, as aforesaid, the said Commissioners or such of them as 
 shall have acted, shall certify to the GoverDor, under their hands and seals, the 
 names of the subscribers and the number of shares subscribed by each, and 
 that five dollars on each share have been paid, whereupon the Governor shall, 
 by letters patent, under his hand and the seal of the Commonwealth, create 
 and constitute the subscribers, and if the subscription be not full at the time, 
 those who shall thereafter subscribe to the number of shares aforesaid, their 
 successors and assigns, into a body politic and corporate, in deed and in law, 
 by the name, style, and title designated by the special act of Assembly ; and by 
 the said name, style and title, the said subscribers shall have perpetual succes- 
 sion, with all the privileges, franchises, and immunities incident to a corpora- 
 tion, and be able to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, in all courts 
 of record and elsewhere, and to purchase, receive, have, hold, use, and enjoy to 
 them and their successors, goods, chatties, and estate, real and personal, of 
 what kind or nature soever, and the same from time to time, to sell, exchange, 
 mortgage, grant, alien or otherwise dispose of, and to make dividends of such 
 portion of the profits as they may deem proper ; and also to make and have a 
 common seal, and the same to alter and renew at pleasure, and also to ordain, 
 establish, and put in execution such by-laws, ordinances and regulations as shall 
 appear necessary or convenient for the government of said corporation, not be- 
 ing contrary to the Constitution and laws of the United States, or of this Com- 
 monwealth, and generally to do all and singular, the matters and things which 
 to them it shall lawfully appertain to do for the well being of said corporation, 
 and the due ordering and management of the affairs thereof ; Provided, that 
 nothing herein contained shall be construed as in any way giving to such cor- 
 poration any banking privileges whatever, or any other liberties, privileges or 
 franchises, but such as may be necessary or convenient to the procuring, own- 
 ing, making, maintaining, regulating and using the railroad, the locomo- 
 tives, machinery, cars and other appendages thereof, and the conveyance of 
 passengers, the transportation of goods, merchandise and other commodities 
 thereon; and provided further, that such company shall not purchase or hold 
 any real estate except such as may be necessary or convenient for the making 
 and constructing of their railroad, or for the furnishing of their railroad, or for 
 the furnishing of materials therefor, and for the accommodation of depots, offi- 
 ces, warehouses, machine shops, toll houses, engine and water stations, and other 
 appropriate appurtenances, and for the persons and things employed, or used 
 in and about the same. 
 
 Sec. 3. That the Commissioners named as aforesaid, or such of them as shall 
 have acted, shall as soon as conveniently may be after the said letters patent 
 shall be obtained, appoint a time and place for the subscribers to meet to or- 
 ganize the company, and shall give at least two weeks notice thereof in the 
 manner provided for in the first section of this act ; and the said subscribers, 
 when met, shall elect, by a majority of the votes present, to be given in person 
 or by proxy, a President and twelve Directors, the President and a majority 
 of whom shall be resident citizens of this Commonwealth, and shall be owners 
 respectively of at least three shares in the stock of such company ; and the 
 said President and Directors shall conduct and manage the affairs and business 
 of said company until the second Monday in January then next ensuing, and 
 until others are chosen ; and may make, ordain and establish such by-laws, 
 rules, orders and regulations, and perform such other matters and things as are 
 by this act authorized ; provided, that in case of the resignation, death or re- 
 moval of the President, the Directors shall, by a majority of votes, supply the 
 vacancy until the next annual election. 
 
 Sec. 4. That the Stockholders of such company shall meet on the second 
 Mouday in January in every year, at such place as may be fixed on by the by- 
 laws, of which notice shall be given at least two weeks previously by the Sec- 
 retary, in the manner before mentioned, and choose, by a majority of the 
 votes present, a President and twelve Directors, qualified as aforesaid, for the 
 
52 
 
 ensuing year, who shall continue in office until the next annual election, and 
 until others are chosen ; at which annual meeting the said Stockholders shall 
 have full power and authority to make, alter or repeal, by a majority of votes 
 given, any or all such by-laws, rules, orders and regulations as aforesaid, and 
 do and perform every other corporate act authorized by their charter ; the 
 stockholders may meet at such other times and places as they be summoned 
 by the President and Directors, in such manner and form, and giving such no- 
 tice as may be prescribed by the by-laws ; and the President, on the request in 
 writing of any number of Stockholders representing not less than one-tenth in 
 interest, shall call a special meeting, giving the like notice, and stating specifi- 
 cally the objects of the meeting; and the objects stated in such notice, and no 
 other, shall be acted on at such special meeting 
 
 Sec. 5. The elections for Directors provided for in this act, shall be con- 
 ducted as follows, to wit : at the first election the Commissioners shall appoint 
 three stockholders to be judges of the said election, and to hold the same ; and at 
 every succeeding election the Directors, for the time being, shall appoint three 
 stockholders for the like purpose ; and the persons so appointed by said Com- 
 missioners and Directors shall not be eligible to an election as a Director at 
 said election, and shall respectively take and subscribe an oath or affirmation 
 before an Alderman or Justice of the Peace, well and truly and according to 
 law, to conduct such election to the best of their knowledge and ability ; and 
 the said judges shall decide upon the qualifications of voters, and when the 
 election is closed shall count the votes and declare who have been elected ; and 
 if at any time it shall happen that an election of Directors shall not be made at 
 the time specified, the corporation shall not for that reason be dissolved ; but it 
 shall be lawful to hold and make such election of Directors, on any day within 
 three months thereafter, by giving at least ten days previous notice of the time 
 and place of holding said election in the manner aforesaid ; and the Directors 
 of the preceding year shall in that case continue in office, and be invested with 
 all powers belonging to them as such, until others are elected in their stead ; in 
 case of the death or resignation of a Director, or a failure to elect in case of a 
 tie vote, the vacancy may be filled by the Board of Directors ; at all general 
 meetings or elections by the stockholders, each share of stock shall entitle the 
 holder thereof to one vote, and each ballot shall have endorsed thereon the num- 
 ber of shares thereby represented ; but no share or shares transferred within 
 sixty days next preceding any election, or general meeting of the stockholders, 
 shall entitle the holder or holders thereof to vote at any such election or 
 general meeting ; nor shall any proxy be received or entitle the holder to 
 vote, unless the same shall bear date, and have been duly executed within the 
 three months next preceding such election or general meeting. 
 
 Sec. 6. The President and Directors of such company, for the time be- 
 ing, are hereby authorized and empowered to exercise all the powers granted 
 to the corporation ; they shall meet at such times and places as shall be by them 
 deemed most convenient for the transaction of their business, and when met, 
 seven shall be a quorum to do business ; the President, if present, shall preside 
 at all meetings of the Board, and when absent, the Board shall appoint a Pres- 
 ident pro tern.; they shall keep minutes of their proceedings fairly entered in a 
 suitable book to be kept for that purpose ; they shall choose a Secretary and 
 Treasurer, and may appoint or employ all such officers, engineers, agents, super- 
 intendents, artisans, workmen or other persons as in their opinion may be neces- 
 sary or proper in the management of the affairs and business of said corpora- 
 tion at such times, in such manner, and under such regulations as they may 
 from time to time determine ; they shall fix the amount of th • salaries and wa- 
 ges of such officers and persons employed by them, and they may require bond, 
 with security in such amounts as they may deem necessary, of each or any of 
 said officers or other persons by them appointed or employed, for the faithful 
 discharge of their duties, and generally to do all such other acts, matters and 
 things, as by this act and the by-laws and regulations of the said company 
 they may be authorized to do. 
 
 Sec. 7. The President and Directors of such company first chosen shall 
 procure certificates or evidences of stock for all the shares of such company, 
 and shall deliver one or more certificates or evidences, signed by the President, 
 countersigned by the Treasurer, and sealed with the common seal of the cor- 
 poration, to each person or party entitled to receive the same, according to the 
 number of shares by him, her or them respectively subscribed or held ; which 
 
53 
 
 certificates or evidences of stock shall be transferable at the pleasure of the 
 holder in a suitable book or books to be kept by the company for that purpose, 
 in person or by attorney duly authorized, in the presence of the President or 
 Treasurer, subject, however, to all payments due or to become due thereon ; 
 and the assignee or party to whom the same shall Lave been so transferred, shall 
 thereupon be a member of said corporation, and have and enjoy all the immu- 
 nities, privileges and franchises, and be subject to all the liabilities, conditions, 
 and penalties incident thereto, in the same manner as the original subscriber 
 would have been : Provided, that no certificate shall be transferred so long as 
 the holder thereof is indebted to said company, unless the Board of Directors 
 shall consent thereto. And provided, that no such transfer of stock shall have 
 the effect of discharging any liabilities or penalties theretofore incurred by the 
 owner thereof. 
 
 Sec. "8. The capital stock of such company shall be divided into shares of 
 fifty dollars each, and shall be called in and paid at such times and places, and 
 in such proportions and instalments, not however, exceeding five dollars per 
 share in any period of thirty days, as the Directors shall require, of which pub- 
 lic notice shall be given for at least two weeks next preceding the time or times 
 appointed for that purpose, in the manner above mentioned ; and if any Stock- 
 holder shall neglect to pay such proportion or instalment so called for at the 
 time and place appointed, he, she, or they shall be liable to pay, in addition to 
 the proportion or instalment so called for, at the rate of one percent, per month 
 for the delay of such payment ; and if the same and the additional penalty, or 
 any part thereof, shall remain unpaid for the period of six months, he, she, or 
 they shall, at the discretion of the Directors, forfeit to the use of the Company 
 all right, title, and interest in and to every and all share or shares, on account 
 of which such default in payment may be made as aforesaid, or the Directors 
 may, at their option, cause suit to be brought before any competent tribunal, 
 for the recovery of the amount due on such shares, together with the peualty 
 of one per cent, per month as aforesaid ; and in the event of a forfeiture, the 
 share or shares so forfeited may be disposed of at the discretion of the President 
 and Directors under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the by- 
 laws. No Stockholder shall be entitled to vote at any election, nor at any gen- 
 eral or special meeting of the Company, on whose share or shares any instal- 
 ment or arrearages may be due more than thirty days next preceding said elec- 
 tion or meeting : Provided, That no forfeiture of stock shall release or discharge 
 the owner thereof from any liabilities or penalties incurred prior to the time of 
 such forfeiture. 
 
 Sec. 9. That the dividends of so much of the profits of such Company as 
 shall appear advisable to the Directors shall be declared in the months of July 
 and January, in each and every year, and be paid to the Stockholders or their 
 legal representatives, on application at the office of such Company at any time 
 after the expiration of ten days from the time of declaring the same ; but the 
 said dividends shall in no case exceed the amount of the net profits actually 
 acquired by the Company, so that the capital stock shall never be impaired 
 thereby ; and if the said Directors shall make any dividend which shall impair 
 the capital stock of the Company, the Directors consenting thereto shall be 
 liable, in their individual capacities, to such Company for the amount of the 
 capital stock so divided, recoverable by action of debt as in other cases ; and 
 each Director present when such dividend shall be declared, shall be considered 
 as consenting thereto, unless he forthwith enter his protest on the minutes of the 
 Board, and give public notice to the Stockholders of the declaring of such 
 dividends. 
 
 Sec. 10. That the President and Directors of such Company shall have power 
 and authority by themselves, their engineers, superintendents, agents, artisans, 
 and workingmen, to survey, ascertain, locate, fix, mark, and determine such 
 route for a railroad as they may deem expedient, not, however, passing through 
 any burying-ground or place of public worship, or any dwelling-house in the 
 occupancy of the owner or owners thereof, without his, her, or their consent, 
 and not except in the neighborhood of deep cuttings, or high embankments, or 
 places selected for sidelings, turnouts, depots, engine or water stations, to exceed 
 sixty feet in width, and thereon to lay down, erect, construct, and establish a 
 railroad, with one or more tracks, with such branches or lateral roads as may be y 
 specially authorized, and with such bridges, viaducts, turnouts, sidelings, or 
 other devices as they may deem necessary or useful between the points named 
 
54 
 
 in the special act incorporating such Company, commencing at or within, and 
 extending to or into, any town, city or village, named as the place of beginning 
 or terminus of such road ; and in like manner, by themselves, or other persons 
 by them appointed or employed as aforesaid, to enter upon and into, and occupy 
 all land on which the said railroad or depots, warehouses, offices, toll-houses, 
 engine and water stations, other buildings or appurtenances hereinbefore men- 
 tioned may be located, or which may be located, or which may be Decessary or 
 convenient for the erection of the same, or for any purpose necessary or useful 
 in the construction, maintenance, or repairs of said railroad, and thereon to dig, 
 excavate, and embank, make, grade, and lay down, and construct the same ; 
 and it shall in like manner be lawful for such Company, their officers, agents, 
 engineers, contractors, or workmen, with their implements and beasts of draught 
 or burden, to enter upon any land adjoining or in the neighborhood of* their 
 railroad, so to be constructed, and to quarry, dig, cut, take, and carry away 
 therefrom any stone, gravel, clay, sand, earth, wood, or other suitable material 
 necessary or proper for the construction of any bridges, viaducts, or other build- 
 ings which may be required for the use, maintenance, or repairs of said railroad : 
 Provided, That before such Company shall enter upon or take possession of any 
 such lands or materials, they shall make ample compensation to the owner or 
 owners thereof, or tender adequate security therefor : Provided further, That 
 the timber used in the construction or repair of said railroad shall be obtained 
 from the owner thereof, only by agreement or purchase : And provided further, 
 That whenever any company shall locate its road in and upon any street or 
 alley, in any city or borough, ample compensation shall be made to the owners 
 of lots fronting upon such street or alley, for any damages they may sustain, 
 by reason of any excavation or embankment made in the construction of such 
 road, to be ascertained as other damages are authorized to be ascertained by 
 this Act. 
 
 Sec. 11. That when the said Company cannot agree with the owner or owners 
 of any lands or materials, for the compensation proper for the damages done or 
 likely to be done to, or sustained by any such owner or owners of such lands or 
 materials, which such Company may enter upon, use or take away, in pursuance 
 of the authority hereinbefore given, or by reason of the absence or legal incapac- 
 ity of any such owner or owners, no such compensation can be agreed upon, the 
 Court of Common Pleas of the proper county, on application thereto by petition 
 either by said Company or owner or owners, or any one in behalf of either, 
 shall appoint seven discreet and disinterested freeholders of said county, neither 
 of whom shall be residents or owners of property upon or adjoining the line of 
 such railroad, and appoint a time, not less than twenty nor more than thirty 
 days thereafter, for said viewers to meet at or upon the premises where the 
 damages are alleged to be sustained, of which time and place ten days' notice 
 shall be given to the petitioner to the said viewers and the other party ; and the 
 said viewers or any five of them having been first duly sworn or affirmed, faith- 
 fully, justly, and impartially to decide, and true report to make concerning all 
 matters and things to be submitted to them, and in relation to which they are 
 authorized to inquire in pursuance of the provisions of this Act, and having 
 viewed the premises, they shall estimate and determine the quantity, quality, 
 and value of said lands so taken or occupied, or to be so taken or occupied, 
 or the materials so used or taken away, as the case may be, and having 
 due regard to and making just allowance for the advantages which may 
 have resulted, or which may seem likely to result to the owner or owners 
 of said land or materials, in consequence of the making or opening of 
 said railroad, and of the construction of works connected therewith ; and 
 after having made a fair and just comparison of said advantages and dis- 
 advantages, they shall estimate and determine whether any, and if any, 
 what amount of damage has been or may be sustained, and to whom payable, 
 and make report thereof to the said Court ; and if any damages be awarded, 
 and the report be confirmed by said Court, judgment shall be entered thereon ; 
 and if the amount thereof be not paid within thirty days after the entry of such 
 judgment, execution may then issue thereon as in other cases of debt, for the 
 sum so awarded, and the cost and expenses incurred shall be defrayed by the 
 said Railroad Company ; and each of said viewers shall be entitled to one dollar 
 and fifty cents per day for every day necessarily employed in the pertormance 
 of the duties herein prescribed, to be paid by such Railroad Company. 
 
55 
 
 Sec. 12. That whenever, in the construction of such road or roads, it shall be 
 necessary to cross or intersect any established road or way, it shall be the duty 
 of the President and Directors of the said Company, so to construct the said 
 road across such established road or way, as not to impede the passage or trans- 
 portation of persons or property along the same : and that for the accommoda- 
 tion of all persons owning or possessing land through which the said railroad 
 may pass, it shall be the duty of such Company to make or cause to be made, 
 a good and sufficient causeway or causeways, whenever the same may be neces- 
 sary to enable the occupant or occupants of said lands to cross or pass over the 
 same, with wagons, carts, and implements of husbandry, as occasion may 
 require ; and the said causeway or causeways, when so made, shall be main- 
 tained and kept in good repair by such Company ; and if the said Company 
 shall neglect or refuse, on request to make such causeway or causeways, or 
 when made, to keep the same in good order, the said Company shall be liable to 
 pay any person aggrieved thereby, all damages sustained by such person in con- 
 sequence of such neglect or refusal ; such damages to be assessed and ascertained 
 in the same manner as provided in the last section for the assessment of dam- 
 ages ; Provided, That the said Company shall, in no case, be required to make 
 or cause to be made, more than one causeway through each plantation or lot of 
 land, for the accommodation of any one person owning or possessing land 
 through which the said railroad may pass ; and where any public road shall 
 cross such railroad, the person owning or possessing land through which the 
 said public road may pass, shall not be entitled to require the Company to erect 
 or keep in repair any causeway or bridge for the accommodation of the 
 occupant of said land. 
 
 Sec. 13. That if any such Railroad Company shall find it necessary to change 
 the site of any portion of any turnpike or public road, they shall cause the 
 same to be reconstructed forthwith at their own proper expense, on the most 
 favorable location, and in as perfect a manner as the original road : Provided, 
 That the damages incurred in changing the location of any road authorized by 
 this section, shall be ascertained and paid by such Company in the same manner 
 as is provided for in regard to the location and construction of their own road. 
 
 Sec. 14. That in all suits or actions against such Company, the service or 
 process on the President, Secretary, Treasurer, Engineer, Agent, or any Direc- 
 tor of the same, shall be good and available in law ; but no suit or action shall 
 be prosecuted by any person or persons, for any penalties incurred under this 
 Act, unless such suit or action shall be commenced within two years next after 
 the offence committed or cause of action accrued ; and the defendants in such 
 suit or action may plead the general issue, and give this Act and the special 
 matter in evidence, and that the same was done in pursuance and by authority 
 of this Act. 
 
 Sec. 15. That if any person or persons shall wilfully and knowingly break* 
 injure, or destroy, any railroad authorized by special Act of Assembly, or any 
 part thereof, or any edifice, device, property or work, or any part thereof, or any 
 machinery, engine, car, implement, or utensil, erected, owned, or used by such 
 Company, in pursuance of this Act, he, she or they so offending, shall forfeit 
 and pay to such Company, three times the actual damage so sustained, to be 
 sued for and recovered with full costs, before any tribunal having cognizance 
 thereof, by action in the name and for the use of the Company. 
 
 Sec. 16. That if any person or persons shall wilfully and maliciously remove 
 or destroy any part of the road, property, buildings, or other works, belonging 
 to such Company, or place, designedly and with evil intent, any obstruction on 
 the line of such railroad, so as to jeopard the safety of or endanger the lives of 
 persons traveling on or over the same, such person or persons so offending shall 
 be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction, be imprisoned in 
 the county jail or penitentiary, at the discretion of the court, for a term not 
 more than three years ; Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent 
 the Company from pursuing any other appropriate remedy at law in such cases. 
 
 Sec. 17. That at each annual meeting of the stockholders of any such Com- 
 pany, the President and managers of the preceding year shall exhibit to them a 
 full and complete statement of the affairs and proceedings of the Company tor 
 such year, with all such matters as shall be necessary to convey to the stock- 
 holders a full knowledge of the condition and affairs of said Company ; and the 
 said President and Directors of every such Company shall, whenever required, 
 
56 
 
 furnish to the Legislature, or either branch thereof, a full and authentic report 
 of their affairs and transactions, or such information relating thereto as may be 
 demanded of them. 
 
 Sec. 18. That upon the completion of any railroad authorized as aforesaid, the 
 same shall be esteemed a public highway for the conveyance of passengers, and 
 the transportation of freight, subject to such rules and regulations, in relation to 
 the same, and to the size and construction of wheels, cars and carriages, the weight 
 of loads, and all other matters and things connected with the use of said railroad, 
 as the President and Directors may prescribe and direct : Provided, That the 
 said Company shall have the exclusive control of the motive power, and may 
 from time to time establish, demand, and receive such rates of toll or other 
 compensation, for the use of such road and of siid motive power, and for the 
 conveyance of passengers, the transportation of merchandise and commodities, 
 and the cars, or other vehicles containing the same, or otherwise passing over or 
 on the said railroad, as to the President and Directors shall seem reasonable: 
 Provided, however, nevertheless. That said rates of toll and motive power char- 
 ges so to be established, demanded, or received, when the cars used for such 
 conveyance or transportation are owned or furnished by others, shall not exceed 
 two and one-half cents per mile for each passenger, three cents per mile for each 
 ton of two thousand pounds of freight, three cents per mile for each passenger 
 or baggage car, and two cents per mile for each burden or freight car, every 
 four wheels being computed a car : and in the transportation of passengers no 
 charge shall be made to exceed three cents per mile for through passengers, and 
 three and a half cents per mile for way passengers. 
 
 Sec. 19. That if any Company incorporated as aforesaid, shall 
 not commence the construction of their proposed railroad within 
 three years, and complete and open the same for use, with at least 
 one track, within the term, prescribed by the special act authorizing 
 the same, or if after completion the said railroad shall be suffered to 
 go into decay, and be impassable for the term of two years, then this 
 charter shall be null and void, except so far as to compel the said 
 Company to make reparation for damages. 
 
 Sec. 20. That if any Company incorporated as aforesaid, shall at any time 
 misuse or abuse any of the privileges granted by this act. or by the special act 
 of incorporation, the Legislature may revoke all and singular the rights and 
 privileges so granted to such Company ; and the Legislature hereby reserves the 
 power to resume, alter or amend any charter granted under this act, and take 
 tor public use any road constructed in pursuance of such charter; Provided, 
 That in resuming, altering, or amending said charters, no injustice shall be done 
 to the corporators ; and that in taking such roads for public use, full compensa- 
 tion shall be made to the stockholders. 
 
 Approved — The nineteenth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and 
 forty-nine. 
 
I;x IGtbrta 
 
 SEYMOUR DURST 
 
 "t ' 'Tort nivuw ^Amjierda.-m, oj> Je Mat&atans 
 
 FORT NEW AMSTERDAM. 
 
 'When you leave, please leave this hook 
 
 Because it has heen said 
 " Ever' thing comes t' him who waits 
 
 Except a loaned hook." 
 
 Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library 
 Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library