LLIC INTEHEST AND I’lUVATE MONOPOLY. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 DKLIVKltED HKFOKK 
 
 r 
 
 THE BOSTON BOARD OF TRADE, 
 
 OCTOBER 16, 1807. 
 
 JOSIAH QUINCY. 
 
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 HAVE TO SAY TO THE RAILWAY COMPANIES, 'YOU SHALL NOT HAVE A 
 ANENT .MONOPOLY AGAINST THE PUBLIC.”'—SiK Robert Peel. 
 
 
 BOSTON: 
 1867 . • 
 
 J. U. EASTBURN’S PRESS. 
 
i 
 
PUBLIC INTEREST AND PRIVATE MONOPOLY. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE 
 
 THE BOSTON BOARD OF TRADE, 
 
 OCTOBER 16, 1867. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSIAH QUINCY. 
 
 “WE HAVE TO SAY TO THE RAILWAY COMPANIES, ^YOU SHALL NOT HAVE A 
 PERMANENT MONOPOLY AGAINST THE PUBLIC:"-^in Robert Peel. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 1867 . 
 
 J. H. EASTBURN’S PRESS. * 
 

 
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 SPEECH. 
 
 Mr. President : 
 
 In the month of November, a year ago, I 
 submitted to the Board of Trade a communication on the 
 Kailroad System of Massachusetts. Your attention was called 
 to certain facts showing the immense waste of power, as well 
 as the unnecessary taxation of every citizen, Avhich results from 
 the present management of our railroads. By the English 
 estimates it was shown that it need cost but one hundred and 
 fifty-nine dollars to run a train for two hundred miles, the 
 distance between Albany and Boston, that twenty-seven 
 passengers at the present rates would pay this sum, thus 
 making it possible to carry nine hundred and seventy-three 
 passengers for nothing. By these estimates it appeared that 
 two hundred tons of freight could be carried two hundred 
 miles for one hundred and fifty-nine dollars, while twenty- 
 three tons at the jiresent rates would pay this sum, leaving one 
 hundred and seventy-seven tons which might be carried gratu¬ 
 itously. I showed you that the interest of the managers of 
 the Western Railroad was diametrically opposite to the interest 
 of the public,—the interest of the former being to do a small 
 amount of business at a large price, that of the latter that a 
 larsfe business should be done at a small one. It was shown 
 
 O 
 
 that the Board of Directors of this Railroad was in fact a close 
 Corporation, able to fill their own vacancies, and to keep 
 themselves in power forever. Thus it appeared that the State 
 of Massachusetts and her public spirited citizens had expended 
 millions to facilitate intercourse with the West, and then placed 
 their road in the hands of men whose interest it was not to do 
 the very thing intended by the State and the original subscri¬ 
 bers. In view of these things, I argued that the time had come 
 for the State to exercise the power she had wisely reserved, 
 and to purchase the Worcester and Western Railroads at a 
 price, which at that time, would have been about ^15,355,272. 
 
 If I had wanted any assurance that it was the duty of a 
 disinterested citizen to urge this purchase upon the State, such 
 a conviction would have been fully confirmed by subsequent 
 events. Let me call your attention to the extraordinary action 
 of the last Legislature in relation to the Western Railroad. 
 
 Under a bill to secure the union of that road with the Boston 
 and Worcester, a grant was made of about 3,836,328 to the 
 favored Corporation. The Legislators of thirty years ago knew 
 that the time mi^ht come when the State must control the 
 
 O 
 
 great thoroughfare on which her prosperity would depend. 
 To secure this on just and favorable terms to the State they 
 
 Ob 
 
4 
 
 conditioned the loan of their credit on an agreement by the 
 corporation that the State should at any time have the right to 
 take the road, on the payment of such a sum as would reim¬ 
 burse the amount of capital paid in, with a net profit of seven 
 per cent, per annum from the times of the payment thereof by 
 the stockholders to the time of such purchase. There was no 
 question concerning the right of the State. The law was 
 plain, and all who purchased the stock were bound in law to 
 look to the incumbrances on the property. But no sooner was 
 there a possibility that the State would carry out a bargain so 
 carefully recorded, than there was a great outcry. It was de¬ 
 clared tobe very hard that those stockholders (if there were any,) 
 who purchased property without investigating the title, should 
 suffer, just as common people suffer, for their want of fore¬ 
 thought. The Legislature were in some way persuaded to that 
 opinion, and granted for the benefit of the shareholders in case 
 of a purchase the sum of more than ^3,800,000 and by so doing 
 imposed, whenever this purchase is made, a heavy annual tax 
 on the business of the State forever. 
 
 The affair was manao’ed with the sao-acitv that miorht have 
 
 O 0*^0 
 
 been expected from a corporation wealthy enough to retain the 
 choicest legal ability in the land. The managers professed to 
 laugh at the idea of a purchase by the State, but they well 
 knew that if the people could be made to understand that 
 without incurrino; the slio:htest risk, the interest on the State 
 debt could be paid, freight and passage money reduced from 
 one-third to one-half, and the road forever after run for the 
 largest interests of the public, that the purchase would not long 
 be delayed. The only chance of avoiding it was, to get the 
 legislation that was needed before the proposition was under¬ 
 stood by the masses of the people. 
 
 Advantage was adroitly taken of the general desire for 
 a union of two roads, and this enormous grant of nearly 
 84,000,000 was slipped into the last section of the bill, which 
 like the postcript of a lady’s letter, contained the gist of the 
 whole matter. 
 
 As far as I can learn there was, for some good reason, small 
 discussion upon this generous disposition of the public property. 
 A member stated that some lawyer had given it as his opinion 
 that the claim of the State to take the property at seven per 
 cent, had been waived by subsequent legislation. I asked him 
 on what legislation it was based, he replied that he did not 
 know, and that he never had seen the opinion. Yet such was 
 the legal authority on which nearly 84,000,000 of the peojdes’ 
 property was granted by this Legislature. 
 
 But this grant, enormous as it was, was not all the friends 
 of the monopoly desired or hoped for. The bill, as originally 
 
i 5 
 
 reported, contained a clause that the Commonwealth might 
 purchase by “paying therefor a sum equal to the amounts ex¬ 
 pended in construction by the original corporation or corpora¬ 
 tions comprising it, or by said Boston and Albany Company, 
 with a net profit thereon of ten per cent, a year from the times 
 of said expenditure to the time of the purchase.” That is, that 
 the shareholders should, in case of a purchase, receive not only 
 what they had paid, but in addition a sum equal to the amount 
 loaned by the State, with ten per cent, interest on the whole 
 amount for thirty years ! If this could have been passed the 
 State would have been put under bonds of some Fifty Millions 
 never to presume to interfere with the management of the 
 Boston and Albany Railroad. 
 
 I at once called the attention of the public to this provision 
 through the papers, and the bill was altered so as to conform 
 to the provision made in the case of other railroads. Of the 
 motives that led to the passage of this act I have nothing to 
 say. We live in Massachusetts, where, it is to be hoped, the 
 notorious immorality attributed to New York legislators is 
 unknown. Had this bill been proposed in Albany instead of 
 Boston, it would have put many thousands of dollars in the 
 pockets of a ring. I was accused of having insinuated that 
 some members of the committee were bribed. This I deny. 
 I know of no gift other than that which the President allowed 
 he had sent, in the shape of a free pass for the year, to every 
 member of this Railroad Committee, as soon as he knew of his 
 appointment. It was a small gift, and it does not follow that 
 he would have given or they have received a larger one. 
 
 But there is a way of perverting legislation which cannot be 
 called bribing, but may go under the more euphonious term of 
 influencing. This is done by professional lobby members who 
 first carefully select candidates at a primary meeting. Those 
 who remember the exertions which were made to secure 
 the nomination of members of the Railroad Committee of 
 the last Legislature by men who had never before been seen 
 at a primary meeting will recognize the importance of this 
 preparatory service. As soon as the members report them¬ 
 selves at the Capital, those living at a distance are provided 
 with free passes over all the Railroads that have any thing to 
 ask. An experienced lobbyist secures board at his own hotel 
 for those who remain in the city, and by some remarkable 
 eloquence persuades the landlord to take them at half price. 
 Here he has an opportunity of acting on them together, and of 
 using every effort to bring them in a solid phalanx upon what¬ 
 ever side of a public question accords with the interest of his 
 employers. Rooms are provided where members assemble 
 in nightly conclave. And while a genial feeling spreads 
 
over all, a skilful manipulator instructs them,' without their 
 being conscious of it, in the vote that is to be given. To 
 convince them that the popular sentiment is in accordance 
 with the wishes of the lobbyist and his employers, a number 
 of persons are provided who by calling one after another, and 
 expressing the same opinion, make the member believe that 
 the public demands the measure, that only a few interested 
 applicants desire. The effect of such a continued impression 
 is shown in the well-known story of a party of students agree¬ 
 ing to speak to one of their number of his pale and cadaverous 
 appearance until at length his imagination sent him to a sick¬ 
 bed. I do not insinuate that any members of the Railroad 
 Committee of the Legislature were consciously influenced 
 in these or any other wavs. But for their interest, as well as 
 that of the public, I regret that they refused to have printed 
 the important evidence that was given before them, which a 
 skilful stenographer had been employed to report. 
 
 But it is useless to dwell upon the past. Let us look rather 
 to the future which is still Avithin our poAver. Let me cite a 
 question that AAdll be brought before the Legislature soon to be 
 elected. It can hardly fail to call your attention to the temp¬ 
 tations to AA’hich manao;ers of our railroads and members of our 
 Legislature are exposed by the existence of these giant 
 monopolies. 
 
 On the 25th of January, 1866, the Directors of the Western 
 Railroad, made a report to their stockholders, Avhich concluded 
 as folloAvs; “For the purpose of completing and equipping 
 the roads, and, should opportunity offer, to pay in advance of 
 maturity any of the indebtedness of the Corporation, leaA^e 
 should be obtained from the present Legislature to increase the 
 capital stock to such an amount as may appear reasonable.” 
 This report Avas signed by eight Directors, among the rest by 
 Mr. Georire A. ShaAv, Avho beino- a member of the Leo-islature, 
 
 0^0 O' 
 
 asked and obtained leaA^e to introduce a bill increasino; the 
 stock to ten millions of dollars. 
 
 Noav AAdiat is meant by increasing the capital of a railroad? 
 It is simply obtaining from the Legislature a right to impose 
 a tax on the business of the State. That this grant Avas made, 
 as it only could be made, for a valuable consideration appears 
 from the phraseology of the bill. It provides that the shares 
 shall be “ of one hundred dollars each,” and “ before anA'’ sale 
 of the neAv shares authorized to be created by this act ” the 
 directors are required to give thirty days notice and then “ the 
 CommonAvealth and other stockholders may take at the par 
 value thereof their proportion of such increased shares, .... 
 and if any shares then remain unsold, the said corporation may 
 dispose of the same at not less than the par value thereof^ 
 
hr 
 
 / 
 
 That such was the understanding of the directors appears by 
 the report made to the shareholders on the second day of Jan¬ 
 uary, 1867, which was signed by the board. In this it is stated 
 that “ This increase icas ashed for hy the corporation in order 
 to provide funds for the completion of the second tracks to make 
 such addition to the facilities of the road as the increasing 
 business should render necessary^ and to purchase as opportu¬ 
 nity may offei\ any of the outstanding obligations of the cor¬ 
 poration. This act xvas formally accepted by the corporation.^'^ 
 Had they stated that this stock was to be used for a gratuitous 
 distribution amons; their shareholders the act authorizino; the in- 
 crease would have been repealed as soon as a bill could have 
 been reported. The Legislature adjourned on the thirty-first 
 day of May, and on the fourth of June, five days after, these 
 directors made a dividend of two million of dollars in stock, 
 and divided it among their shareholders without requiring one 
 cent in return. By this act, the directors gave the president, 
 if he holds the amount of stock popularly attributed to him, at 
 least fifty thousand dollars, and divided among the shareholders 
 the balance (at the market price of the stock) of two million 
 eight hundred thousand dollars, and imposed a tax (if the road 
 is not purchased by the State) of two hundred thousand dollars, 
 per annum, forever upon the business of Massachusetts. 
 
 At the approaching session this gross contempt of the inten¬ 
 tion of the State, and of the interests of the people will be brought 
 before a Legislature which has the power to “alter, amend, or 
 repeal the charter of any railroad,” or to purchase its property 
 and franchise. Now I do not mean to sav what the manao:ers 
 of this corporation will do, or what Kepresentatives may be 
 induced to do. But I will state what they both will be tempted 
 to do. The object will be to obtain such “ subsequent legisla¬ 
 tion” as will endorse the action of the board and confirm this 
 enormous amount of money taken from the people to the 
 directors and shareholders forever. What can a corporation 
 afford to pay for votes for such an endorsement? According 
 to the New York tariff thev would be Avorth from five to 
 
 4 / 
 
 twenty thousand dollars a piece, the larger sum being for 
 the chairman and influential members of Kailway Committees. 
 The managers Avould have the poAver to make these payments, 
 and a majority of the shareholders AAmuld be tempted by pecu¬ 
 niary interest to sustain them in so doing. What is the temp¬ 
 tation on the other side,—a member comes from the country, 
 he has a mortgage on his farm, a lobby member whispers to 
 him that if he Avill vote for a certain bill, or only Avithdraw on 
 a division, his note shall be returned and his rnorto-ao’e cancelled. 
 Lest this be thought extravagant I quote from a correspondent 
 of the Daily Advertiser a description of the legislation in a 
 neighboring State. I omit names as'not material to my purpose. 
 
8 
 
 “ In the New York Legislature are several posts of honor, namely: the speak¬ 
 ership, the chairmanship of these committees—ways and means, banks, colleges, 
 judiciary. There are also places of emolument, such as the committees on rail¬ 
 roads, affairs of cities, claims, canals, insurance companies, commerce and naviga¬ 
 tion. The chairmen of these committees are ‘high-priced’ men. The same thing 
 is often true of the corresponding committees of the Senate, The money is made 
 from corporations and men seeking for charters. When tliere is no good ‘reason’ 
 for withholding acts of incorporation, there is assessed upon it its share of black 
 mail, and it is allowed to pass. But the ‘lobby’ has become quite a secondary 
 affair. The members of the committees, and cliques in the House form ‘ rings,’ 
 which will not suffer bills to be reported or passed till they shall have been satis¬ 
 fied. But alas! for men seeking grants or charters when they encroach on the 
 field of a corporation already existing. The latter has the leading members of 
 particular committees in pay; and then is accomplished the oracular word of 
 ‘More money is made by killing than by passing bills.’ We can obtain no new 
 
 railroad grants in New York, because-,-,-, and-have 
 
 the field, and demand the lion’s share. These men control the Legislature, Com¬ 
 mon Council, Supervisors, and newspapers of New York. Talk about democracy 
 —the right and ability of the people to govern themselves—not a bit of it. New 
 York is an oligarchy; and her railway kings are her lords and noblemen. The rest 
 is but ‘ leather and prunella,’ jMen go to the Legislature poor and return rich. 
 ‘ You ai’e a good fellow, M.,’ said a New York democrat to a western member of 
 Assembly, ‘ but my expenses in Albany are large—far greater than S3 per day. 
 
 -has been along, and now you understand Avliy I cannot vote for 
 
 your bill.’ A State Senator one spring invested 8120,000 in city bonds in the 
 name of his wife; another, a year or two later, bought a handsome farm, though 
 not greatly ‘ forehanded ’ till that time. ‘ They say you cleared 840,000 last 
 winter.’ ‘ It is not so ’ was the reply; I ought to have made 826,000, but was 
 cheated out of 811,000 in one case.’ ‘ How did you do V ‘ When a bill having 
 money in it Avas introduced, I made my terras Avith its friends—so much for report¬ 
 ing it and so much for passing it through the House. They might leave Albany 
 till it got to the Senate; after that they must look out for it themseh'es. I took 
 so much myself, and gaA’e so much apiece to certain members of my committee, 
 and they AA^ere generally satisfied.’ For ten years past legislation has been em¬ 
 phatically a matter of traffic and sale. The result is that the people have become 
 callous to it; those familiar Avith the evil make a jest of it; and the faith is fast 
 ebbing aAA’ay that things AA'ill CA'er be any better. Republican institutions generally 
 perish when the people lose confidence in this Avay.” 
 
 I pray you to ponder these statements, and then consider 
 what per centage it would be for the interest of the managers 
 of the AYestern Eailroad to pay to confirm the title of their 
 shareholders to two million eight hundred thousand dollars 
 worth of stock, Avhich they confess was authorized'only for the 
 purchase in money of bonds of the State and for the completion 
 and equipment of the road. Such are the temptations to which 
 both parties will be exposed at the next session. Is it right 
 for Massachusetts to permit, if she can avoid it, the existence 
 of temptations which the sad experience of other States shows 
 there has not been virtue enough to resist. 
 
 But is it said, that this corporation has nothing to ask of the 
 Legislature, that all they want is to be let alone ? Then I 
 ssLY that no Legislature can be justified in not bringing them 
 to an account. The State entrusted this board with stock 
 worth two million of dollars, for a specific purpose. They 
 divided it between themselves and their shareholders. See 
 how what has been done, if passed over without notice, will 
 
0 
 
 
 affect the future. The two millions appropriated by the direc¬ 
 tors were intended “ to make such addition to the facilities of 
 the road as the increasino' business should render necessary.” 
 The time has come when the business that is waitino; to be 
 done demands increased facilities. Two millions would provide 
 the most admirable depot accommodations in the world on the 
 State flats at South Boston, but how can they be obtained ? 
 Perhaps the directors may petition for an increase of stock for 
 this specific purpose. They may state over their own names, 
 while the Legislature is in session, that their petition was 
 granted for that very object, and then five days after adjourn¬ 
 ment, they may divide the spoil among the shareholders, im¬ 
 pose a tax forever upon the people, set the Legislature at 
 defiance, and justify all by this precedent. 
 
 But perhaps some shareholders may say, “What can the 
 Legislature do ? Our directors whether justified or not have 
 issued twenty thousand shares, propose to divide a hundred 
 thousand dollars upon them next January, and semi-annually 
 for ever after, and will tax the people for it. By transfer, these 
 new shares have been so mixed up with stock upon which a 
 hundred dollars has been paid that they cannot be distin¬ 
 guished, and the State has no remedy. A power exists 
 greater than the Legislature in the giant monopoly they have 
 created!” There is, however, one way by which the people 
 can escape from this unauthorized taxation. The State can 
 purchase the road at the price authorized by the last Legisla¬ 
 ture, and accepted by the corporation. The directors have 
 increased their capital by a dividend of stock amounting to 
 two millions—in the settlement dividends are to be deducted, 
 which will place the shareholders precisely where they were 
 and give them about one hundred and fifty dollars a share for 
 the stock which before the action of the last Lesfislature, in 
 case of a j)urchase, would have netted them but ninety-seven 
 dollars. 
 
 Seeing that this purchase is imperatively demanded by the 
 highest interests of the State, patriotic citizens will ask the 
 terms on which it can now be made. 
 
 The following statement I believe to be essentially correct. 
 
 WESTERN RAILROAD. 
 
 Capital stock, Nov. 30, 1866, - - - - 
 
 Interest on shares at 10 per cent., to January, 1867, 
 
 'I 
 
 Deduct dividends and taxes paid for shareholders. 
 
 $6,710,800 
 
 13,064,379 
 
 19.710,179 
 
 9,736,690 
 
 To be paid to shareholders at about $149 per share,- 
 
 9.978,489 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 Amount brought forward^ - - ^9,978,489 
 
 Additional property transferred to State, 
 
 Surplus, ----- $1,267,^58 
 
 Assets held by corporation, - - - ],8(t5,972 
 
 Sinking fund to Nov. 30, 1866, - 3,417,203 
 
 “ “ estimated to Nov. 30, 1867, 250,000 
 
 6,741,033 
 
 Deduct debt, ----- 5,945,020 
 
 Balance in favor of the State, - 796,013 
 
 BOSTON & WORCESTER RAILROAD. 
 
 Capital, _ _ - - - $5,000,000 
 
 Interest to January 1, 1868, - - 12,117,000 
 
 17,117,000 
 
 Deduct dividends, &:c., 9,033,516 
 
 To be paid to shareholders of B. & IV., about $160 a share, 8,083,984 
 
 To be paid by State for both roads, - - - 18,062,473 
 
 Worcester surplus and assets transf’d to State, 1,860,128 
 Western, “ “ “ “ 796,013 
 
 - 2,656,141 
 
 Total cost to State, ----- $15,406,332 
 
 The cost to the State when depots and locomotives 
 are provided will not exceed twenty million dollars, 
 which can be borrowed on her credit at 5 per cent, 
 on gold, or 6 per cent, on currency. According to the 
 last returns, which did not give the full amount of 
 income, as many items were charged to expense j 
 
 which belonged to construction, the net receipts of 1 
 
 the Western were, ----- $1,406,790.71 ^ 
 
 the Worcester, - ------ 490,201.00 ^ 
 
 1,896,991.71 I 
 
 As in case of the purchase the interest would be pro¬ 
 vided for, and no excise or State tax be charged to 
 the State. There should be added on the Western 
 these and the amount paid annually to the sinking fund, 506,255.55 
 On the Worcester, U. S. Tax, , - - - 48,370.(;7 
 
 State Tax, by estimate, - - - 52,OO0 00 
 
 2,503,617.33 
 
 Interest at 6 per cent, in currency, - - - - l,200,000.ot) 
 
 Leaving a balance in favor of the State of - - $ 1,303,617.33 
 
11 
 
 And this balance can be applied to payment of the interest on the 
 State debt, and to an immediate reduction of freights and fares 
 on the line of the road. 
 
 X 
 
 In the above statement I have taken no notice of the stock 
 ) dividend of two millions of dollars—as I have before said, 
 
 ' if it is added on the one side as stock it will be deducted 
 on the other as a dividend, and have no other effect than to 
 reduce the shares from $150.23, to $115.74. It in fact gives 
 a bonus or discount of two millions of dollars to the State 
 whenever she makes the purchase. 
 
 Should the Legislature confirm the last issue, the year’s 
 profit will be— 
 
 Legislative grant of difference between 7 and 10 
 
 per cent. ------- $3,836,328 
 
 Directors’ gift at market price of $140, - - 2,800,000 
 
 $6,636,328 
 
 I Giving an increase of the value of the corporations property, in 
 ! one year of more than Six million six hundred thousand 
 DOLLARS, for which it has not paid one cent—but upon 
 ; which the people may be called upon to pay interest forever! 
 i The State can easily obtain money to make this purchase. 
 
 A good name is rather to be chosen (on the exchange) 
 
 I than great riches. And how does the Bay State stand? 
 1 While the other States paid their interest in green-backs,— 
 3Iassachusetts paid in gold I They kept the word of promise 
 to the ear, but broke it to the hope. Massachusetts kept her 
 faith both in the letter and the spirit. Her promise, based on 
 I a property paying at the present time more than double the 
 amount of the interest, and constantly increasing in value, will 
 be the best security in the world, and her five per cents will 
 I command a premium both in Europe and America. A sink¬ 
 ing fund will pay the whole debt in twenty-five years, and 
 leave the property unincumbered to the State, 
 j But is it said that Pennsylvania sold out her public works 
 i to joint stock companies? I ask you to look at the result! 
 The Pittsburgh and other Pennsylvania papers of the last year 
 were full of earnest complaints, it was openly said that all 
 internal improvements were stopped that could by possibility 
 interfere with the interests of the Pennsvlvania Central,—that 
 a majority of the Legislature were openly bribed, and were 
 merely used to register the decrees of a corporation,—that in 
 ' short for all practical purposes of internal improvement, the 
 j president of the railroad was the autocrat of the State. Let 
 us beware how we permit such an overgrown power to exist 
 in Massachusetts. 
 
12 
 
 As Illustrating a clIiFerent policy, look at the working of the 
 Xew York Canal. DeWitt Clinton and his compeers asked 
 only, how can the State and the people be most benefited? 
 They never thought of personal speculation but only how they 
 could accomplish the greatest good to the public. The 
 revenues of the canal have paid the interest on its cost, the i 
 losses sustained by the State on bankrupt railroads, and the | 
 principal down to the balance of fifteen millions of dollars. ’ 
 Besides this it is estimated from data obtained in 1852, that 
 these canals, as compared with railroads as then and now 
 managed, saved by cheaper transportation at least twelve 
 millions of dollars a year to the people. These canals and 
 their management have been decried by corporations and their 
 tools, but thev stand and will forever stand a monument to the 
 wisdom and patriotism of the men who devised them, and of 
 the system which they established. Twenty years ago to 
 prevent their being purchased, like the- public works of Penn¬ 
 sylvania, by covetous speculators and venal Legislators, New 
 York put the provision in her Constitution that “the canals of 
 the State should never be leased or sold, but should remain 
 the property of the State and under its management forever.” 
 What is the result ? While corporators and railway man- j ' 
 agers are irritating the people by impositions, producers and 
 consumers are merely sorry that the canals freeze up, and 
 a little impatient that freights that travel so well can travel no 
 faster. 
 
 I advocate the purchase of the Albany and Boston Railway 
 by the State for many reasons. The comparison I have made 
 between the Pennsylvania Central, and 1 might add all other 
 trunk roads, and the Erie Canal, show that the State can 
 manage them for the interests of the people far better than j 
 private corporations. Had the Erie Canal been sold to a cor¬ 
 poration, who would have owned the boats, and made a charge 
 for every article they carried, does any one suppose that the 
 public would have been as well and as cheaply served as at 
 present. Is it said that cars are different from boats, and that 
 it would be impossible, even if under the entire control of the 
 managers, to have those owned by Individuals run safely on 
 the roads? To whom then do the Express and Red Line and 
 Blue Line and White Line of cars belong? When managers 
 have an interest in the immense profits made by them, there is 
 no difficulty and no danger. Let the public be placed where 
 such directors are, and no insurmountable difficulty will be 
 experienced. From the nature of things, the interests of the ) 
 shareholders and of the public can never be identical. It 
 shareholders can earn ten per cent.,, directors will not trouble 3 
 themselves to reduce fare for the benefit of the people, but will " 
 
rather strive to see how by becoming part owners in pet lines 
 of express and private cars they can put into their own pockets 
 what under the true system should belong to the public. The 
 right of putting on cars by private individuals, would, under 
 the present system, amount to nothing, as those belonging to 
 j individuals or companies who shared with the managers would 
 go through regularly, and those owned by men not belonging 
 fto the rins: would be detained or left behind. 
 
 What mio:ht be the advantag-e of Government management 
 of railways, is shown not only in the canal system of New 
 York, but even more strikingly in the post-office arrangements 
 of England and this country. The post-office conveys our 
 letters on one system by Government management, the rail¬ 
 way companies our persons and our property on one totally 
 different. The first is conducted primarily for the public good, 
 and incidentally for profit. The second exclusively for the 
 benefit of the managers and stockholders in the corporations. 
 By the one I can send a book from here to San Francisco for 
 
 four cents. Bv the other I cannot send the same from here 
 
 •/ 
 
 to New York for less than fifty. If I am dissatisfied in the 
 one case I can fvpply to a man whose interest it is to see every 
 abuse at once corrected. In the other, at best, I am sent from 
 one employe to another, until trouble and vexation make me 
 submit to imposition. 
 
 The telegraph system in Switzerland is full of suggestions 
 on this kindred subject. 
 
 That country is covered with a network of telegraph wires, 
 and the whole is under the control of the Federal Government. 
 The charge is twenty cents for twenty words, forty for fifty, 
 sixty for one hundred, and the government has resolved after 
 the first of January, 1868, to reduce the charges fifty per cent., 
 when a dispatch can be sent to any part of the country for 
 half a cent a word. Let our merchants who would pay five 
 dollars and five cents for sending a hundred words to Wash¬ 
 ington, meditate on the difference between the government 
 management in Switzerland, and our private monopolies. 
 
 We do not yet realize the vast capacity of the railroad for 
 the transportation of freight. Up to the present time the 
 speed that can be attained has attracted almost exclusive atten¬ 
 tion—and the transportation of goods, which should have been 
 the first interest, has been of secondarv consideration. The 
 public will one day demand the construction of roads devoted 
 exclusively to freight. The amount of business that could be 
 done on such roads under the direction of the State, and with 
 ample depots at its termini, is almost incalculable. There are 
 at present bills before Congress which, if passed, will revolu¬ 
 tionize the trade, and bind together in indissoluble bonds of 
 
14 
 
 interest the several sections of the Union. Their object is to 
 have railways constructed by the United States which should 
 be traversed at a regular and comparatively slow rate of speed, 
 and be open to free competition “ for all persons, companies, or 
 corporations who may desire to put passenger, freight, or mail 
 trains thereon, being subject to such regulations, and liable to 
 such tolls as Congress may establish.” The calculations as to 
 the results are thus stated in a letter from Governor Pierpoint, 
 of Virginia;— 
 
 “ It is estimated that the Erie Canal, worked day and night, has only a tonnage 
 capacity of 8,000,000 tons for seven and a half months of the year, being frozen 
 the residue, that is four million each way, and this is based upon an assumption 
 that each boat shall be moved one mile and a half per hour. This is a liberal 
 calculation in favor of the canal. The New York Central Railroad last year car¬ 
 ried 1,602,197 tons; the Pennsylvania Central and branches carried 3,452,718 
 tons ; the Baltimore and Ohio about 2,000,000 tons. A railroad constructed with 
 double track and equal rate of speed for all trains, has the following capacity:— 
 Railway, eight miles per hour and two miles space between trains, 7,008,000 each 
 Avay; total tonnage capacity, 14,016,000. Railway, ten miles per hour, space tAA'o 
 miles between trains, 8,760,000 tons each way ; total tonnage capacity. 17,520,000. 
 Raihvay, ten miles per hour, space one mile between trains, 17,520,000 tons each 
 way; total tonnage capacity, 35,040,000. Railway, eight miles per hour, space one 
 mile between trains, 14,016,000 tons each way; total tonnage capacity, 28,032,000. 
 Railway, eight miles per hour, space half a mile‘between trains, 28,032,000 tons each 
 way ; total tonnage capacity, 56,064,000, Railway, ten miles per hour, space half 
 a mile between trains, 35,040,000 tons each way, total tonnage capacity, 70,080,000. 
 It is not difficult to perceive that on a rate of eight miles per hoiir, the speed at 
 which lateral friction nearly ceases, a freight capacity four times that of the Erie 
 Canal can be achieved with entire success. It only remains to take care of the 
 economic arrangements in combination to accomplish the reduction of freights in 
 an inv erse ratio someAvhat corresponding to the increased capacity of the road. 
 This data is given by scientific men Avho have paid great attention to the subject.” 
 
 In conclusion I need hardly say that I am conscious of no 
 personal feeling towards the Directors of the Western Railroad, 
 or to the Leo-islators who were induced to favor them at the 
 expense of the public. I could have wished that the necessity 
 of makins: statements to their disadvantao;e was not connected 
 with the dutv I owe to mv native State and Citv, and 
 incidentally to the larger community with which these are 
 connected. But circumstances have compelled me to make 
 the fullest statement of a truth that li^reafter it will seem 
 incredible any one could have doubted. By placing the road 
 bed of the Boston and Albanv Railroad under the direction of 
 the State, by providing power and ample depot accommodation 
 upon the State flats at South Boston, by laying down a third 
 track exclusively for down freight, and then inviting the same 
 competition that exists upon the Eric Canal, the business that 
 has left our metropolis would return, and Massachusetts would 
 command material resources worthy of her character and 
 position. But a local business prosperity is the smallest part 
 of the real advantao-e of the o-reat railroad reform wliich 
 
15 
 
 I trust we shall here commence. We shall remove from a 
 large class of shrewd and enterprising men throughout the 
 nation, temptations which they have been unable to resist. 
 We shall' give the poor man comforts which he cannot at 
 present command. By reducing the necessary expenses of 
 living, we shall give intellect the priceless gift of time for its 
 cultivation and development, and promote that domestic life 
 upon which the true success of a nation depends. To accom¬ 
 plish this, there is only needed that public spirit once charac¬ 
 teristic of the merchants of Boston and the yeomen of the State. 
 There is only needed that sentiment of public duty which leads 
 men to recognize the collective interest of the many as superior 
 to the interest of a few, and to be worth some sacrifice of 
 individual taste. We must contend for a time against a cor- 
 poration wielding all the influence that great wealth can give, 
 and able to command all the talent that money can secure. 
 But if the old spirit of disinterested 23atriotism exists among 
 us the issue is certain. 
 
 To that spirit I make this appeal. 
 
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