THE EFFECT OF STATE CONTROL OF THE TUNNEL LINE.
One great purpose of controlling one important line, is the effect upon other lines. Our system of railroads is so interwoven that all our railroads are to some extent competing, and the operation of one railroad by a corporation in the interest of the public will to a great extent control the whole railroad system of the State. The direct Tunnel line probably now occupies the most important controlling position of any in the State. It can be made a regulator of the Western business of the State. It can by its connections with the Cheshire and other Vermont and Massachusetts railroads, largely control the northern lines.
It will, by its many connections, bring the whole State in direct connection with the North and West. The great success of the so-called Belgium system is founded on this principle,—the control of the whole by the direct operation of a small portion. The position of our Massachusetts railroads is, in this respect, not unlike that of Belgium. Our railroads are so closely connected together that the state control of one road will be felt throughout the whole system.
THE POPULAR FEELING IN FAVOR OF STATE CONTROL.
It cannot be denied that the popular feeling has been steadily growing in favor of state operation of railroads in spite of all that has been said of the danger of corruption and of the inefficiency of state management. The people, confident in their own integrity and their own power, have not indistinctly shown their desire to fairly try the experiment, and the circumstances are more favorable for such an experiment than will probably again occur. The State now owns the important part of the line,—that part which is necessary to change the line from a disconnected local line of railroads to a great through line. It has been built at great cost. Its opening gives great value to the connecting roads. If it was worth the cost of construction, this value can only be shown by a development of business which will require a series of years, and will be attended with corresponding advantages to all connecting roads. This development of business can hardly be expected without substantially giving up the control of the Tunnel to the line which operates it. The majority bill does give such a control. We deem it the best way for the State retaining the Tunnel to obtain upon fair terms the control of the connecting roads, and fairly try the experiment of operating a railroad to ascertain how cheaply transportation can be furnished, and yet return a fair remuneration for the capital employed. The public demands such an experiment to be tried, and a better opportunity to try can never exist.
Of this there can be no reasonable doubt, for a corporation formed under the provisions of the minority bill possesses all the advantages that can be obtained by consolidation under one private corporation, as authorized by the majority bill, and the additional advantages of state and corporate management combined, which would be efficient and reliable, beyond that of ordinary railroad corporations, inasmuch as their acts would be most carefully watched and criticised by others than stockholders, and the honor of securing a successful result to so great an experiment and enterprise in the interests of the people, would be a far greater incentive to even political ambition, than the compensation received; for "great deeds foreshadow great men," and the people are not slow in their rewards to those who are honest and earnest in their service.
Why, Mr. President, if I had the ability to manage this enterprise, I should hold the honor of making this enterprise in the interest of the State a success of more importance than the honor of being the governor of Massachusetts. And when a man's reputation is thus at stake, he cannot afford to cheat himself by withholding from the State his best talents and energies. It has another and still greater advantage,—the endorsement of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which furnishes power and capital for terminal facilities, equipment and the improvement of the line at a cheaper rate than any consolidated company can procure it; and cheap capital in disinterested hands secures cheap transportation.