In the progress of the hearing certain points were made tolerably clear.
First, That the tunnel itself should be so far held and controlled by the State as to insure its use on equal terms by all parties.
Second, That some consolidation of the line or lines working through the tunnel was essential to secure efficiency of action, and to provide for the great business awaiting the completion of the tunnel.
Third, That to provide equipment and terminal facilities for such a business, the weak and disjointed separate corporations were inadequate, and that it was particularly desirable that some action should be taken at the present session of the legislature.
The policy of direct state ownership was strongly pressed upon the Committee by the railroad commissioners and other parties. The address of Mr. Adams, in behalf of the commissioners, upon this subject, is contained in the printed report, and is a clear and able statement in behalf of this policy. While the experiment has been tried in other States, and under other circumstances has failed, we do not think it is to be condemned for this reason. These experiments were tried before the development of the railroad system, and generally in thinly-peopled States, where state construction of railroads was a political necessity to supplement private capital that could see no inducement for investment.
In the days when state management failed, corporation management failed to quite as great an extent.
The statement of Mr. Adams, in regard to the results of the system in Belgium, are very striking, and in England the current seems to be settling in favor of the assumption of the railroads by the government.
To any careful observer of the railroad development of the past twenty-five years, there can be little doubt of a like progressive increase in this business in the future.
If the benefit of this increase in business can be secured to the people who furnish the traffic, instead of to the corporations who provide the capital, an immense public benefit will follow. The most valuable experiment to be tried at the present day is to ascertain how cheaply railroad transportation can be afforded. Corporations formed to make money for their stockholders, can hardly be expected to fairly try this experiment. The greatest need of this Commonwealth is cheap transportation. To secure this the Hoosac Tunnel has been constructed at a cost of $12,000,000 of public money.
We are fully convinced that to secure to the people the full advantages to be derived from the construction of this new avenue to the West, and to secure equal lights to all parties desiring to use it, the State must not part with the control of the tunnel. We are equally convinced that to secure efficiency in the lines working through the tunnel, consolidation is necessary, and that the tunnel itself must be worked and managed for all parties using it, by one head.