STATEME^^TS
BEFORE THE
Cflmraitícc ira llaÜtoajs ¡mir Canals,
ON THE
PETITION FOR AN ACT INCORPORATING THE
MARGINAL RAILROAD,
Marcli ae, 1867.
REPORTED BY J. M. \Y. YERRINTOÏT.
BOSTON:
WRIGHT & POTTER, PRINTERS, 4 SPRING LANE.
1 8 6 7.
THE MARGINAL RAILROAD.
STATEMENT OF HON. THOMAS RUSSELL.
I have only time, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, to indorse
what Mr. Bates has said, and, in advance, what 1 know Mr.
Crane will say, being very fully possessed of his ideas. It
seems to me that it would be a great relief to have the different
depots connected by rail with the wharves of the city ; it would
save a vast amount of daily expense in transporting freight,
and it would of course save a large amount that must other¬
wise be expended in building freight depots ; thereby saving
just so much to the public, for whatever is spent in that way
must be paid by those who travel over these roads or send
freight by them.
The prinbipal view that has interested me in this project is
its effect upon foreign commerce. It is a lamentable fact,
known to all, that the foreign commerce of Boston has decreased,
and is, in many branches, decreasing every year. One illustra¬
tion of that is to be found in the extremely low value of our
wharves. India Wharf and Central Wharf might be men¬
tioned. Several reasons, perhaps, have contributed to this
result, but the chief reason is want of freights. There are
reasons why Boston should be preferred, as a commercial city,
to New York. Its nearness to the ports of Europe is one
reason. I believe I can say that the custom-house facilities
have been greater here than in New York, and I hope they will
continue so, for the present, at least. But the want of return
freight, when a vessel comes here, outweighs these advantages.
To illustrate that : One of the largest ship-owners of Boston
told me, on Saturday, that he imports Manilla hemp into Boston
because he wants to help this city, but that every ship costs him
a thousand dollars more than it would if it went to New
York,—which he pays for the love he bears to Boston. Instead
of having a return freight, he is obliged to ballast her, send her
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round to New York by sail, or, more frequently, by steam, and
there the ballast is discharged. That expense, with the extra
insurance for going round Cape Cod, amounts to fully a thou¬
sand dollars on every ship that arrives here. Now, a thousand
dollars on a trip will turn the scale between Boston and New
York with most men, and that fact keeps a vast deal of com¬
merce from Boston. If we had such facilities as this road
will afford for loading and discharging freight, by placing a
car when it arrives with grain at the wharf and unloading it
by means of an elevator, it seems to me our foreign commerce
would be largely increased, and we should have millions of
bushels of grain, and those millions of hogs of which we heard,
although, unfortunately, it happens that we had only 65,000
hogs last year. Mr. Bates was probably looking forward to the
time when we should have this road built.
Mr. Bates. I spoke of the millions coming from the West.
They did not all come to Boston.
Mr. Russell. I can only add, that I have conversed with a
great many of the business men of Boston, and I never have
found a project that met with so much favor. They all seem
to feel it is just what we need ; and if this road should be
chartered, 1 have no doubt that the stock will be subscribed ;
and it will be a pleasure to me, for the sake of the business of
Boston, to give all the time and energy that 1 can to carry the
project through.
STATEMENT OP EDWARD CRANE.
1 think, gentlemen, that in order to a correct understanding
of the subject-matter now before us, it is desirable that we
should stand all of us at one common point, that we may arrive
at the same conclusions, with the same facts before us. The
first fact which 1 deem it essential to have well understood is
the amount of tonnage these railroads have actually carried
from and brought to the market of Boston during the past
year. 1 find by the annual returns made for the year 1866,
that the gross tonnage on all the railroads entering Boston is
2,775,545 tons. This freight is not all of it brought to Boston,
or carried from this city. It embraces the aggregate freight of
the Boston and Worcester Railroad, the Fitchburg Railroad,
the Boston and Maine Railroad, the Eastern Railroad, the
Lowell Railroad, the Boston and Providence Railroad, and the
Old Colony and Newport Railroad, leaving out the Boston,
Hartford and Erie Railroad, for the reason that the freighting
done on the part of their line from Woonsocket to Boston was
counted in the Worcester Railroad returns, amounting to
29,000 tons; embraced in the. returns of the Boston and Provi¬
dence Railroad, which during the last year did the freighting
on that line from Dedham to Boston, and therefore is properly
left out.
The aggregate tonnage, I say, of all these railroads, as sworn
to by the gentlemen who have made these returns, is 2,775,545
tons. Ten thousand tons per day would give us an aggregate
of 3,000,000 tons, allowing thr?e hundred business days to the
year; showing that the freight on these various railroads that
I have mentioned, including that from town % town, is less
than 10,000 tons per day.
Now, I have been a little curious to ascertain how much of
this 2,775,545 tons came and went over the Worcester and
Western Railroads, to and from points between Albany and
Boston ; and I have been utterly surprised and astounded at
the smallness of the aggregate amount of that tonnage. I find
that only 263,382 tons of freight were carried during the past
year between Albany and* Boston and Boston and Albany, by
the united efforts of the Western and Worcester Railroads.
I have gone a little further in these reports of the Western
and the Worcester Railroads, and I find that 79,950 tons of
this aggregate of 263,332, were actually received at points
this side of Albany, and never saw Albany—not a ton of it.
I find that the whole aggregate local business of the Western
Railroad to and from Boston was 79,950 tons. Taking out
this local business from the aggregate of 263,332 tons, it leaves
183,382 tons of through freight, back and forth. I could
hardly believe myself, until it was fortified by the sworn reports
of these directors, that it was possible, that with an investment
of about twenty millions of dollars to reach the canal interest
in the State of New York, and the railroad interest of that
State, the whole gross tonnage of that year was but 183,382
tons. It was so small an amount, that I could hardly believe
it possible ; and yet it is true.
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Now, any man who will take the report of the Western Rail¬
road, will find the aggregate tonnage between Worcester and
Albany (which embraces the branches of the Western Rail¬
road, which ■ they legitimately own and control,) to be
884,564 tons. Where does that freight all go to ? One man
will tell you it is freight that comes from the West, and stops
at Worcester and Springfield, and other places on the line, and
does not go to Boston. Now, if you will deduct from that
884,564 tons of freight on the Western Railroad last year,
the 263,332 tons, which is all the Worcester road received
from and delivered to that road, of every name and kind, the
balance is what you may term the local business of that road,
independent of all foreign accounts, and independent of the
city of Boston. Of what is it» made up ? It is not from the
West. It is possible that there is more freight distributed
every year oft the line between Albany and Worcester, than
between Worcester and Boston. What do we find? If you
go to the city of Hudson, you will find those boats, running
every night during the summer season between New York City
and Hudson, loaded with products to go into Western Massa¬
chusetts. What are those boats loaded with ? West India goods,
groceries, all sorts of wearing apparel, dry goods ; and these
are taken from that point and distributed all through the western
part of our State, and on the west side of the mountain.
Then if you will go with me to New Haven, you will find what
takes place there. A steamboat runs every night from the city
of New York to New Haven, and the freight it carries is
distributed up and down the Western Railroad, and in the
Connecticut Valley. There they receive large accessions of
freighting business. Then if you go to the city of Hartford,
you will find another steamboat running every night from New
York to that city ; and you will see the cars of the Hartford
and New Haven Railroad by the side of that steamer, receiving
freight. Look at that freight, and see what it is. West India
goods, dry goods—such articles as we have got in abundance
here in Boston. Why is it distributed over the Western Rail¬
road from that point, instead of going from Boston ? I leave
it to the people of this Commonwealth, and to the legislature,
in session to-day, to get an answer to that question, and see
where our true interests lie, as a State and commercial com-
7
munity, and apply the proper remedy. Rumor says that these
boats, and these interests, are largely owned by the gentlemen
who control to-day our lines of railroad reaching from
Worcester to Albany.
Gentlemen, I want you to feel about this matter as I do. I
have no personal feeling other than as a citizen of this Com¬
monwealth. I harbor no ill-will to any of our great public
means of transportation, to any railroad, or to any city ; but I
do feel to my fingers' ends, as one of the people of this State,
that we are taxed to support eighteen millions of investment
between Boston and Albany, for the accommodation of our
citizens, and are really letting the West run by our doors, and
allowing New York to supply our citizens with dry goods,
groceries, and various other articles, simply because a few men
are growing rich out of it. If occasion requires, put your fin¬
gers on the men. No man should grow rich at the expense of
the body politic. It is the duty of the representatives now in
this State House to see not only that the public receive no
harm, but that our railroad interests are so managed as to bring
the greatest good to the greatest number. The aggregate of
the whole State aid of Massachusetts to the Western Railroad
is employed to-day in doing what ? In distributing West India
goods and groceries from the city of New York, and in bring¬
ing Western products to this metropolis, and carrying back our
manufactures to the extent of 183,382 tons.
Why, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Committee, the
West India goods trade ought to send not less than 200,000
tons of freight every year from this, city to the Western Rail¬
road, to be distributed, first, in the western part of the State,
and its tributaries, and secondly, reaching to Albany and the
West. Why is it not done? Let your increased railroad
tariffs answer this question. 183,000 tons of freight carried to
and fro, while our locomotives are dragging back empty cars
over our rails ! And what is the reason ? Because it would
interfere very much with the steamboat interest of Hartford
and New Haven and the city of Hudson to do otherwise.
Then another item which astounds me still more is the
aggregate local business coming on to the Worcester Railroad
from the Western—79,000 tons ! The little towns of South-
bridge, Sturbridge, and Charlton, that feed into the Worcester
4
8
road, furnish nearly one-half of that amount annually. You
may take Westborough, Southbridge, Sturbridge, Brimfleld,
Monson, and Wales, and those little towns alone, properly
developed, will bring to the Worcester road more freight than
the Western road has brought the past year.
Now, gentlemen, while we are talking about this Worcester
Railroad, and Western Railroad, and Marginal Railroad, and
all these interests, I would I could make you understand what
these figures mean ; that our sixty or seventy millions of dol¬
lars invested are transporting only 2,775,000 tons to and from
this city every year. It is but a drop in the bucket. , Every
man woman and child in this Commonwealth is taxed to-day
for the support of these lines of railroad, with a local business,
and not a foreign business. We are doing nothing for foreign
export. Two hundred and some odd thousand barrels of flour
were exported last year, out of our fifteen hundred thousand
and odd barrels. What is that? It amounts to nothing. I
say this, gentlemen, that you may take this simple statement
and go down to the Worcester Railroad, and I will bring you
merchant after merchant who will say, " I have sent for freight
to the Worcester Railroad, and they have told me my cars were
up on the side tracks, and would be reached in a few days.
The railroads say, ' Complaints are made that our little business
cannot be accommodated ; that there is not room to store it,
and the merchants make storehouses of our cars!'" This little
aggregate of freight on the Worcester Railroad, 621,232 tons,
what is it ? Go down to the depot and see it. The streets are
crowded, and Boston to-day employing between two and three
thousand horses, and bringing grain from Illinois to feed them,
at 11.25 a bushel. You have got an amount of machinery and
paraphernalia to carry on this business in this city that cannot
be found in another city to-day on the seaboard. There is not
one that is managing its business so slovenly and so expen¬
sively, or that manages to get so many charges and percentages
out of every barrel of flour, box of sugar, and chest of tea.
Who pays these charges ? It comes out of the pockets of the
people, the consumers of these articles.
Mr. Plummer. We are as well off as New York in that
respect, are we not ?
9
Mr. Crane. I say you cannot find a city on the seaboard
whose business is so poorly and so slovenly managed as ours is
to-day, with one qualification, which I am now going to make—
with the facilities we have for having it otherwise.
Now, we have got the aggregate of what these railroads are
doing, and I should like to put one other question. I know it
is easier to put questions than to answer them, but I would like
to have the gentleman look into this subject a little further, and
see how much is done by these great through lines. Begin
with the Fitchburg, which carried, next to the "Worcester, the
largest amount of freight—512,874 tons. What are the Fitch¬
burg and these other lines capable of doing, consistently with an
economical and judicious management of their local business ?
I find the Fitchburg line to-day, as a line east and west, unsur¬
passed in point of capacity to do a through Western business.
That line connects itself with the Erie Canal at Schenectady,
thirty miles west of Albany, where the canal boat avoids twenty-
eight locks to get down to Albany, and it costs less for those
boats to reach that point than any other point below it. I find
that that road carried an aggregate of through business, to and
from the canal, of about 30,000 tons for the twelve months.
That one line of railroad, gentlemen, is capable to-day of carry¬
ing not less than a million and a half of tons annually, in
addition to the freight they are now carrying, and without hin¬
drance to their local business. The cars come alongside of the
canal at Schenectady, so that you may have more than a mile
of canal front if you please, with the grain in the boats lying
within two feet of the floor of those cars, and you can load any
amount of grain-at scarcely any cost. There is no place where
it can be loaded so cheaply as at Schenectady. At Albany, the
grain has to be lifted from the river up to the point where the
Western Railroad comes in. I say, that one line is capable
to-day of adding a million and a half tons of freight to its busi¬
ness, simply by the addition of cars and engines, with scarcely
any other outlay of capital.
Now I turn to the Lowell Railroad, which is the next great
line. I find that that road carried 419,666 tons, which includes
all the local as well as the through freight. That is their entire
tonnage for the year 1866. If you will analyze it as I have
done, and find where it goes to, and where it comes from, you
2
10
will be surprised to find how very little comes from the West
to the East, or goes from the East to the West, through. You
may take that Ogdensburg line to-day, and if you, gentlemen,
will give your attention to just that one subject, and ascertain
what is the capacity of that one line of railroad for the trans¬
action of freight business from the lake, which is the battle¬
ground of the West for trade, you will come unanimously to
the conclusion, if you will cite the evidence and hold your
minds to that one point, that you have got by your investments,
a through line which is a unit in action, and which, with some
additional turn-outs upon it, is capable of the transportation of
two million tons of freight from the lake to tide-water at Bos¬
ton, and from the East to the West, in addition to their present
local business. Now, gentlemen, what have they done the last
year ? 1 believe less than 100,000 tons were carried back and
forth, on a line of railroad costing in the aggregate rising thirty
millions of dollars. To-day, it is doing nothing, comparatively.
I say, comparatively nothing, because, when a road does only
one-twentieth what it has the capacity to do, it is unwise to let
it remain in that situation long, if it can be avoided. Suppose
a man builds a cotton mill, and constructs his dam, and erects
his tenements, and provides every means for running 20,000
spindles, and when he has got it all completed, he says, " I can't
put in but one thousand spindles ; I haven't the means ; " and
then expects out of those thousand spindles to make enough to
pay the interest on all his capital invested. That is a good
illustration of the way this railroad is managed between Boston
and Ogdensburg. That property, capable of paying an inter¬
est of eight per cent, on fifty millions of dollars, has been lying
dormant for years, doing only a business of 50, 75, or 100,000
tons tbrough freight a year ; and yet we find the people of
Massachusetts, with these 400 miles of railroad, and thirty
millions of capital invested, denying to the Lowell Railroad the
right to widen its bridges, for fear that six gallons of tide¬
water may be pressed out somewhere ! And when they come
up here and ask for power to enlarge their depot grounds, to
enable them to take care of this freight, tiiey meet with this
response, " Get out of the way ! You are a private corpora¬
tion. We cannot give you this privilege." They are treated in
this way, and the people of New Hampshire, Vermont, and on
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the line of the Ogdensburg Railroad, if there was any other
way of sending their freiglit, would not allow their cars to
remain loaded with lumber, as they have day after day and
week after week, on the railroad.
Let us come down next to the great line to the West, which
is the Boston and Worcester and Western line. That line of
railroad I know ; I helped build it ; I have worked upon all
parts of it ; its curves and grades are as familiar to me as my
daily walks to my house. The line from Albany to Boston,
with a double track, is capable of doing a through business, not
of 183,382 tons, but of three millions of tons annually. I
speak advisedly when I say, it has a capacity in rails, grounds,
and everything, except cars and engines, to do that amount of
business ; and I say this line is a fair counterpart of the man
who builds his factory and then puts in only machinery enough
to do one-twentieth part the work of which it is capable.
Go and put in your machinery, put on your engines and cars,
and then what ? You have got a capacity of three millions on
the Western Railroad ; you have the Ogdensburg, with a capac¬
ity of two millions ; you have the Fitchburg, with a capacity
of a million and a half,—that is, 6,500,000 tons annually.
Now, what does that amount to ? Why, you can hardly
carry it in your brain. It is more than all the freight of the
Erie Canal, during the year of navigation last past. Thirty-
three million bushels of wheat will weigh about a million of
tons. Multiply six and a half by thirty-three, and see what
you have, if it was all reduced to grain. Now, gentlemen,
notwithstanding this enormous tonnage that we have the means
of doing to-day within our grasp, go down to the station of the
Worcester Railroad on the one hand, the Fitchburg on the other,
and the Lowell on the other, and you will find that we, the
people of Massachusetts, have treated them as if they were pri¬
vate corporations, and as if every facility we gave them for
track, for depot grounds, and for the economical handling of
the business of the Commonwealth, was given, to a private
corporation.
Now, gentlemen, you ask me if that is the capacity of these
railroads, and this the tonnage that we now have, where is this
thing to end ? Gentlemen, it will end just here. In 1900, at
the close of this century, when you and I shall be dead and
12
gone, the young men here will lire. One hundred millions oí
population, grain reapers, threshing machines, talent and skill,
with an inexhaustible fertility in the soil, will make America,
within ten years, the granary of the world, and we shall send
grain to Europe by the fifty millions and hundred millions of
bushels a year. What is the trouble to-day ? The trouble lies
just here, gentlemen, and we may as well look it in the face.
It lies in the expense of transportation. It costs three cents a
bushel to get grain from the Worcester depot to Commercial
Wharf. That is one item. Then you will find every railroad
man through the whole length and breadth of the line trying
to see how much he can tax it, and still keep the business.
Gentlemen, this is not a private matter, but a public matter,
and one in which every man throughout the length and breadth
of the land is interested. We want to raise the greatest amount
from the earth and to sell the greatest amount to the nations
of Europe who want it, with the least possible expense. Then,
as a nation, we shall grow rich. But when you find one class
of the community devoting their attention to reaping, mowing,
and all sorts of machinery to. save labor, and another class at
work to see how much they can tax these articles, because they
have been raised so cheaply, and get rich out of it, that is all
wrong. It is high time that not only the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, but every other State, should understand that
this question of transportation is one that affects the whole
land, from one end of it to the other.
Now, gentlemen, I want you to go with me a single step fur¬
ther. Let us analyze a little, and see what was brought to this
city of Boston the past year. I will refer you for my figures to
the Shipping List Report, condensed,, for the year 1866. I
believe these statements are as nearly accurate as any state¬
ments of that kind can be.
The aggregate number of barrels of flour brought into Bos¬
ton was 1,504,262. I felt a little curious to ascertain how that
was brought here, and I made the inquiry of one of our flour
merchants. " Seven-eighths of it came by rail," said he.
"Are you sure of it?" "Yes." I wanted to get an exact
statement, and I find that it came from the following points :—
New York city, 313,230 barrels. How did that get here ? By
water, from New York. Where did New York get it ? Brought
13
it over the Erie Railroad. New Orleans, 62,250 barrels. "Where
did they get that ? Down the Mississippi, and ships brought it
round to Boston by water. Philadelphia, 19,587 barrels ;
brought here by water. Baltimore, 47,437 barrels. Portland,
—that city to which, ten years ago, we were sending flour by
hundreds of thousands of barrels, for the State of Maine,—is
now actually sending flour to Boston, to the amount of 273,880
barrels a year. Mobile, 889 barrels ; Liverpool, 400 ; George¬
town, 950. Making a total of 718,123 barrels of flour brought
to our city by water. If you will take also the flour brought
by the Erie Railroad to Jersey City, by water here, and by the
Grand Trunk Railroad to Portland, by water here, thefb are
500,000 barrels annually ; and our railroads stand looking on !
There is one other point, gentlemen, to which I wish to call
your attention, because I have a personal interest in it with you
and every gentleman in the room. I eat my due allowance of
flour every year, and I try to buy the best flour ; and I find
that the best flour comes from St. Louis to Boston. I ask
myself this question : Why do the West send us their flour,
instead of sending us their wheat ? True economy would lead
the people of Massachusetts, as they are situated to-day, to buy
the raw material, and manufacture it on their own ground, and
keep their boys at home. England does not buy flour of
America. Why not ? Because her statesmen, her rulers and
her merchants understand, what we of Massachusetts have not
yet come to understand, and that is, that the cheapest way to
get flour is to buy the wheat and manufacture it where you
want to consume it. Your wheat will keep dry and clean
without barrels ; and, furthermore, the bran and shorts will
nearly pay the cost of transportation from St. Louis directly
down to Long Wharf. We do not raise in Massachusetts what
we want to consume here. We are buyers of everything for
food. We are manufacturers, not producers. Our farmers
buy lean cattle, work them, and buy shorts and bran and a
little meal to feed them, and pay for the transportation of all
this material over the various railroads of our State. There is*
not an operative in a mill to-day, anywhere in New England,
who is not buying his flour in the most expensive way he can
buy it, simply because you cannot bring your grain to Boston
in bulk ; or, if you do, you cannot take care of it. Suppose,
14
instead of bringing these 1,500,000 barrels of flour, you bad
brought the wheat. Five bushels of wheat make a barrel of
flour. Multiply 1,500,000 by 5, and you have the number of
bushels of wheat. And what is passing strange to me is, that
notwithstanding the fact, that the bran and shorts from the
wheat ground here at home will very nearly pay the whole
transportation, yet we insist on going abroad, to New York and
St. Louis mills, for our flour, while I can take you down to a
mill right here in our midst which is second to no mill in the
country in point of machinery ; and if you ask the miller why
it is not running, he will tell you, " We can't get any wheat,
sir ; waiting for navigation to open." Our laborers and
mechanics are to-day living on poor flour and damaged flour,
, whereas they might eat the very best flour, at a lower price.
Why do they not have it ? Because our railroad men and rail¬
road directors say they cannot bring wheat here, for they have
no place to put it.
Now let us go one step further. I find there were imported
into Boston last year 10,537 bushels of wheat, and 525,680
bushels of shorts. We Yankees are very smart! We buy
flour at St. Louis and leave the shorts, and then go down where
there are men smart enough to grind grain, and buy their
shorts, which they send here by thousands of bushels. Go
down to the Lowell Railroad, and you will find them elevating
shorts with a little elevator. Is it not passing strange that
Boston should buy shorts and flour, instead of buying wheat
and running that mill on Commercial Wharf, and hundreds of
other mills ? It is not economy ; and my object to-day is, if I
can, to get this Railroad Committee so thoroughly impressed
with this subject-matter, that they will rise up in their places
in the legislature and make every man who owns a factory, and
every mechanic who is doing a day's work, understand these
points as I understand them, and tiiey will find a remedy very
speedily, which will be the best kind of a protective tariflf.
We bought last year 190,658 bushels of barley, 37,864
busbels of rye,, and 1,219,717 bushels of oats. The bulk of
these oats came from Vermont and New Hampshire, but very
few from the West. They came from New England mostly,
and by rail ; yet when they come to Boston, see how they are
treated. It costs one, two or three cents a bushel to get them
15
where you want them. Who pays all this expense ? Every
man who uses a bushel of oats pays his proportion.
Now, in regard to corn, which is a commodity we have to
buy largely in New England. I find that the total amount
arriving in Boston was 2,157,292 bushels. .Where does it come
from ? I asked a grain dealer, " Wliere does your corn come
from ? " " The great bulk of it comes by rail." " How does
it get here ? " " Well," says he, "uve bag it. We send our
bags out West. They won't send it to us in bulk, but we send
them the bags and they bag it, and when it gets here, the
Lowell Railroad have got an elevator, and they will put it up
into a cockloft for us. It comes here in various ways." But
he could not give me an intelligent answer.
By the same report in the Shipping List, it appears that
Maryland contributed, of these 2,157,292 bushels, 102,886
bushels; Pennsylvania, 228,462; Delaware, 78,050; New
York City, 1,090,047. How did they get it? They do not
grow it in New York City, or on Long Island, or anywhere
about there; it comes from tlie West, and Boston brings it
through New York City. Virginia, 53,500; New Orleans,
69,002 ; and all the railroads together brought in 585,845.
Ask the Western Railroad how many bushels of corn they
brought from Albany and distributed in the western part of
Massachusetts, how many bushels they brought to Worcester,
and how many bushels went up and down the Connecticut
River, and you will find that the aggregate of our consumption
in Massachusetts to-day, over and above what we raise, is rising
four millions of bushels. Do you not see that every man has an
interest in the handling of these two millions of bushels that
come to Boston ? Where does it go to ? You will find one
mill turning out 2,000 bushels a day. Where does that go to ?
It is consumed within a circuit of ten miles round Boston. Go
to anotlier mill, and you will find it grinding 1,500 bushels,a
day. Where does that go to ? It is circulated all about here ;
and we, the people, are taxed to keep up all this paraphanalia,
to a large amount. Every bushel of corn brouglit to Boston
by rail costs four cents more than there is any occasion for it
to cost, simply on account of the bad mefliod of handling this
freight, laying aside all other questions.
16
Now, I want to take up another item that comes in here.
The number of hogs, in the round, brought to Boston last year
was 65,301, out of an aggregate of 2,425,253. Those hogs
were brought iu mainly by the two great Western lines. A
part of the through freight of the Western Railroad and the
Fitchburg is made up of these hogs. Instead of carrying the
salt to the hogs, we brought the pork to the salt, which is the
right way of doing it. Ifc is true economy to bring the hogs
here as they are killed, where the portion of the hogs not
tised in packing amounts to nearly enough to pay the freight.
The number of barrels of beef brought here was 32,067 ; pork,
43,763; hams, 9,388; barrels of lard, 43,397. These are items
that came to the city of Boston. Where do they go to ? They
go out into the country, and every charge of five cents a barrel
put on in Boston for truckage or storage, or any other item,
comes out of the consumers ; and therefore I say the consumer
has a direct interest in the handling of all these items which we
have got to handle with the utmost economy.
Now, the number of tons of coal brought here was 835,756.
That coal comes by water—none by rail ; and it is taken by the
Lowell Railroad, the Eastern Railroad, the Boston and Maine
Railroad, and the Worcester Railroad, and delivered to our
manufacturing establishments and scattered among the people
in the vicinity of Boston. That is a very important item,
because it goes into every man's household, and it becomes us
to see in what way that coal can be handled and managed so
that it shall produce the greatest results with the least possible
cost. Now, in regard to the handling of that coal, you will
find these facts. It arrives here by vessel, and if it is bound
to the Worcester station, it has got several draw-bridges to go
through, and every one of those draw-bridges adds from ten to
fifteen cents per ton extra charge to the coal. Who pays that ?
It is added by the seller to the price of the coal, and it comes
right out of every man's pocket who burns a pound of that coal,
in proportion to the amount he consumes. Another ship-load
finds its way round to the Lowell Railroad and the Fitchburg
Railroad, through draw-bridges. With a fair wind, you will
sometimes find a whole fleet of coal vessels coming in the same
day, and the railroads have got to find a place for tliem to
discharge. IIow can they do it best ? I would have this Mar-
ginal Railroad, when it is established, say at once, " We will
take all your coal, to be delivered anywhere between South
Boston Bridge and Charlestown Bridge, at a specific price."
What is the result ? The result will be that you will handle
this coal with the greatest ease and economy, and deliver it at
any wharf where it is wanted, provided you can take a little
steam dummy, after the business hours of the day are over,
and, beginning at one side of the city, take the cars that want
to go to the Eastern Railroad down there, and then take the
cars that want to go to the Worcester road round there. The
expense would be materially less than it costs now to get
through the bridges, to begin with. Let this work of distribu¬
tion be carried on at night, and you have the means of handling
millions of tons of coal in Boston with the utmost ease, only do
not persist in concentrating this freight around the stations,
to the great injury of the railroad and great expense to the
public. I would handle this item of coal in that way.
But hère comes an item, gentlemen, that is very astounding
to me ; and that is, that Boston to-day handles about as many
tons of sugar and molasses, to feed our Yankee population, as
she does tons of flour. All this is brought in by vessels.
Where does it go to ? It does not go to Albany ; it does not
go to Western Massachusetts ; it does not go to Lake Cham-
plain. It is consumed right round here, within a circle of
sixty miles, and we, the people, pay for every unnecessary
charge put upon this sugar and molasses. Our merchants buy
it abroad, we buy it of them, and they make their profit. There
were last year, of molasses, 68,445 hogsheads brought into this
city. I should like to have you look this matter over with me.
Where does that go to ? Go down to the bonded warehouses
on Boston Wharf, and you will find molasses stowed there by
the cargo. Tiiey take that from the vessels, and roll it into
sheds prepared for it ; economieally, I grant ; there is no
complaint of that ; it could not be done more economically.
But then it seems as if all idea of economy was lost. They
take a truck with two horses, put three hogsheads on the truck,
and go trundling along, down to this man's store and that man's
railroad, and there deliver it. Can you give me any good
reason in this world why a man in Worcester, if he wants a
lot of molasses, should not have a car taken on the rails to the
18
bonded warehouse, have the molasses put on it, and then have
the horses take it directly to the Worcester Railroad,—instead
of three hogsheads, carrying ten ? There is no answer in the
world. You will do it more economically ; the two horses
will do tiie work of ten. Who pays for this unnecessary
expense Y The man who buys the molasses. Why do we not
send molasses to Western Massachusetts ? They say it will
cost nearly as much to cart a hogshead of molasses across the
city to the Worcester Railroad, as it would cost the railroad to
carry it to Pittsfield, and then wonder why the people of
Western Massachusetts do not get their supplies from Bos¬
ton ! I say, let that cease. Let us require of these railroads
that they put down tracks where the people can manage this
freight with the greatest economy. If they have not sense
enough to do it, let us see that the legislature make them
do it.
Now take the item of sugar, which comes into the consump¬
tion of every man, woman and child. 65,327 hogsheads ;
10,136 barrels ; 69,792 hags; 76,481 boxes. See how that is
handled. That is brought here by water, and the hogsheads
go mainly in bond over to Boston Wharf, and there it is
trucked round through Commercial Street to East Boston, and
all around to the various railroads. It is a system of truck¬
ings, and handling, and re-handling, that is very expensive ;
whereas, that sugar is capable of being put directly on the cars
that come here loaded with grain from the West, as soon as
tliey are unloaded, and they can be immediately sent on their
way home. We are managing our business in the most extrav¬
agant way, because we have so little through freight. You
will find the cars of the Boston and Worcester Railroad going
loaded into Worcester, and returning empty to Boston for
another load, because the return freight is wholly insufficient ;
and so it is with the Fitchburg road ; and so it is with the
Lowell road ; their freight is substantially all one way.
Now let me put one other question to you : If we make
such mistakes, and create such expenses, in doing the business
we are now doing, what are we going to do when these rail¬
roads are worked to their full capacity ? I wish the author of
the article signed " Common Sense," in the Advertiser of this
morning, was here. "Ten thousand tons of grain," he says.
19
" to be bandied between sun and sun ! Preposterous !
Seven miles of cars, of ten tons each, would be required to
move it." If this man has never been out of Boston,—as I
rather think he never has,—I would like to have him go to
Philadelphia, and see 20,000 tons of freight a day handled and
disposed of without any fuss whatever. Twenty thousand tons
by one corporation alone I Then, if he goes to another one, he
will find 10,000 tons a day handled with perfect ease ; it is
hardly felt. I suppose that man thinks we are going to take
this grain that comes in bulk, and cart it and handle it as it is
handled to-day, and put up elevators that will raise a bushel at
a lift ! My way of doing this business would be, to take a car
loaded with ten tons of grain, and run it right up on the sec¬
ond floor of your store-house, open the trap door, and out goes
your deposit. In that way, you can handle your grain cars as
fast as they do their coal cars in Philadelphia to-day, where
they are handling, as I have said, from ten to twenty thousand
tons with perfect ease, and can handle twenty thousand more,
if necessary. I say, there is no freight that can be handled so
economically as corn and wheat in bulk, if you will only nse a
little brain work. Arrange your cars with trap doors, and you
can empty them as fast as you please ; your elevator keeps on
working, day and night, and there is no stopping for cars to
unload. What do you find now ? You put a car at the eleva¬
tor of the Lowell Railroad, and four or five men get in and
poke out the grain. I would have a trap door opened, and the
grain would run out before a man could get in ; or, if he got
in, he would have to jump out quick, to escape being carried
down, too. Who pays for these laborers, and all these other
expenses ? I pay for them ; you pay for them ; we, the people
of the Commonwealth, pay for them. It is a slovenly way of
doing business, and it is time it was stopped. I should like to
take a whole train load of our " Common Sense " men, who
write such articles, and carry them to Philadelphia, keep them
out of Boston six weeks or two months, and let them see
the world. It would take the conceit out of them pretty
thoroughly, and give them a little practical common sense.
Now, gentlemen, I will come back to the subject-matter in
hand. I want Massachusetts to see to it that her railroads are
doing all they can do, and then to see to it, that when they get
20
their freight here, it is managed with the utmost economy.
Then what ? It seems to me that all these plans for going
round to East Boston, for filling up Boston Harbor, and for put¬
ting our capital into dead estate, are uncalled for, when we
have two miles and a half of the best water-front of any city
lying upon the seaboard, and allow those storehouses to be
rented for $800, $900, or $1,000 a year, which ought to com¬
mand $3,000. Who owns them ? They are owned all over
this State. Once let this Marginal Railroad start, and have the
opportunity of going from the Worcester road round to the
Lowell road, and you give increased value to these storehouses,
and to all your wharf property. Do not bring any more flour ;
bring your grain in bulk from Ogdensbiirg. It costs you noth¬
ing to load it there ; it loads itself ; it unloads itself here ; and
then it is simply the expense of bringing it from the granaries
of the West to the hungry consumers. You may receive
30,000 tons of grain a day and empty it with the most perfect
ease ; not in the way " Common Sense " would propose, of lift¬
ing it by spoonfuls, but by letting it run. The power of grav¬
itation will do the work, only put your cars where you ought
to put them. And then your grain will be where that three
thousand ton ship that I saw at South Boston to-day taking in
her machinery, can come alongside of the wharf and be loaded
in three hours. " Common Sense " would say, " That is too
quick." " Common Sense " would say, " Take a truck, and be
a month loading that ship." " Common Sense " thinks he is
wise ; thinks he understands matters ; but it is because he does
not go abroad. I tliink 30,000 tons can bè handled daily with
less complaint than is now made in handling this little amount
of freight that is transported to and from our city annually.
And then what ? You will want every truck-horse in Boston
that you have got now ; you will not need to sell one of them.
You are not going to diminish the consumption of grain in
Boston. The only difference will be, you will do ten tons of
business where you do one to-day, with the same amount of
machinery, and horses, and men. You will put your brains to
work, and will take an eighty or one hundred horse-power
engine and drive an elevator, instead of getting a little bit of a
donkey machine to lift shorts !
21
I have referred only to the Worcester road and the Lowell ;
but the same results will follow on the Fitchburg road, going
to Schenectady. How many weeks will it be after this system
goes into operation, before tiie merchant in Salem will say, " I
will buy my West India goods on the line of that road ; it saves
truckage " ? These two horses will do the work of ten, and
somebody has had to pay for those ten horses. It will not be a
month before some man will say to the Boston merchant, " You
have a ship going to New Orleans ; we want that ship to come
to our wharf ; we have got deep water." " I can't go there.
There is a railroad on the other wharf, and I can have my cot¬
ton taken directly from the ship and put on a car, and sent up
to Lowell or Manchester." Who pays for the expense on that
cotton ? It comes out of the consumer in some way, or we
have got to raise our tariff on foreign goods to pay tiiis extra
price. By this plan, that expense will be sa%'ed, and you may
reduce your tariffs. I say, instead of going to the Lowell
Railroad and having them buy land at two or three dollars a
foot, in order to be able to store this cotton, or to get a place
for teams to turn round in, have your cotton taken directly
from the wharf to the car, and sent at once on its way to the
mill where it is tó be epnsunied. If men would but understand
their interest, they would revolutionize this whole matter of
loading and unloading freight, to such an extent that every
railroad would be crying out, " Give us your lumber ; give us
your freight ! " You may start from Prison Point and go
round to South Boston Point, and you have got all this terri¬
tory to deposit the lumber from New Hampshire upon. I say,
this plan will equalize these expenses, and we the people will
have the benefit of that equalization. I hope, therefore, it will
be carried out.
Now, sir, with regard to the matter before us here. You are
asked to grant a charter for a railroad from the Worcester
depot round through certain streets. Why are you asked to
locate this railroad ? Because every man has a deep interest
in its location. If you build this railroad in one way, the cars
from the Michigan Central Railroad, or the Illinois Central,
arriving in Boston, cannot turn the corners, on account of their
construction, and that would create the necessity for unloading
them. I think we need to keep this thing in mind,—that we
3*
22
are preparing a highway for the cars that run across this conti¬
nent, and for all the intermediate lines of railroad whose gauge
is the same as ours. The narrow-gauge will go across the con¬
tinent. People have very different modes of constructing cars.
Some build them so that they will turn a short corner of sixty
feet radius, but there are a great many cars that cannot turn
on so short a radius. We wish this line of railroad laid out in
such a way that a locomotive built at Taunton, Springfield, or
anywhere else, may pass directly, at night, over any part of
that line to any railroad whose tracks are connected with this
Marginal Railroad ; and any curve that will pass that locomo¬
tive, will pass any railroad car that may come to you from any
part of the West. That is the reason we ask to go through the
head of Rowe's Wharf, where the street is of such an angle
that it is impracticable to get a curve over which a locomotive
can be run. That, and an archway through India and Central
Wharves, or perhaps taking out one store, will remove all diffi¬
culties until we strike the Lowell Railroad. At that point, it
becomes a difficult matter ; but we hope that the counsel for
the Commercial Railroad will see that the plan of those of us
who have embarked in this matter is a feasible one, whereas
their location is an impracticable one to be carried out ; and
we hope that a compromise may be made that will be satisfac¬
tory. Then we propose to lay a double track, with connecting
turn-outs every 500 feet, so that if the track is obstructed at
any point, we shall be able to pass by the obstruction and go
on. I have had a conversation with the mayor of the city of
Boston in relation to this subject, and he asked this question—
" Why do you put in this provision about steam ? Have you
any idea of using steam ? " " Yes, sir, we have. I may as
well tell you frankly, that the parties who go into this project,
intend to reduce the cost of transportation to the lowest possi¬
ble point ; and to do that, it will require all the horses we have
to do the day work, and at niglit, when the streets are quiet,
we wish to take the freight by steam and deliver it at all these
wharves. It is a great deal better that the freight should arrive
at the time when it can be handled cheapest, and the cheapest
time is at night. Your elevators will be run day and night ;
and if we can take a dummy engine, while the citizens are
asleep, and transport this freight, is there any good reason why
23
it should not be done, if it will diminish the cost of transporta¬
tion of a bushel of wheat or a barrel of flour." He said,
" That is perfectly satisfactory. The city will not be found in
opposition to you on any of these questions." He said, also,
this : " It solves one other question—these South Boston flats.
If this whole margin is made available, as it can be by this proc¬
ess of economy, when this business grows, then you can go to
filling in, and keep on filling." When the heart, and the arte¬
ries, and the veins are all full, and commerce begins to spread
out beyond these wharves. East Boston will feel it. South Bos¬
ton will feel it,—the suburbs will all feel it,—and a healthy
circulation will make Boston what she ought to become—the
first and foremost of the seaboard cities as connected with the
West.
Gentlemen, this may look to you like digression, but it is all,
to my mind, directly in point. The position which we occupy
is not for us and for to-day, but for the generations that are to
come after us. Those trees on Boston Common were not
planted by you or me, but we have the benefit of them. What
planted them ? Forecast, forethought, wisdom. Let us take
up and consider these matters of legislation in accordance with
the dictates of a wise policy. To my mind, it is just as inevi¬
table that our General Government will be called upon to open
a highway from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, as that the waters
run over the falls to-day. When New England understands
this question of economy in transportation, her representatives
will be, to a man, in favor of making a free canal from Lake
Ontario through to Lake Erie ; and when you have got that,
there is no way in which grain in bulk can be carried so cheaply
toward Europe as it can be by these cars taking it from the
lakes in the summer season, and depositing it upon our wharves,
or directly in ships for Europe.
Now, gentlemen, on this subject of a ship canal, the West
will be united ; and when the West are united, we of the East
must be united ; and I long to see the day when Western farm¬
ers, wiio till those soils, instead of having their products all
eaten up in transportation, shall receive the pecuniary benefit of
their toil and labor, by the high prices in Europe and on the sea¬
board. Where lies our true interest as a State ? It lies directly
here. Tap Lake Ontario again. You have got one point
24
where you do tap it. Make the shortest line that can be made
from Boston to Lake Ontario, and that shortest line will pass
directly through Worcester, Springfield, Albany, and so on to
the lake. If you have money to spend, you can reduce that
transportation, to-day, in point of distance, sixty miles. That
is a suihcient saving to make the difference of an import and
export point between this and Europe. Let the roads be
worked exactly as our coal roads are worked, and one and a
half cents per ton per mile will pay all expenses and all the
dividends that the law allows to the line doing that business,
whatever may be said to the contrary by railroad men. So
important do I regard this matter, that I would stop the wheels
of government, and take to-day the most wise and learned and
skilful men we have among us, and appoint them a commission
to give Massachusetts just what it costs our roads and other
roads similarly situated to carry grain in bulk from the lake to
the seaboard, per ton per mile ; and when I had done that, I
would see to it that the people had all its benefits. I say that
one and a half cents per ton per mile, from the lake to the sea¬
board, ignoring all your local business, and with no return
freights, will pay ten per cent, and over, annually, on the net
cost of a double-track railroad, with all its paraphernalia.
But what facilities have these railroads for doing the local
business ? Why, sir, these cars that carry cotton to Manches¬
ter and to other points in New Hampshire, have comparatively
no return freights. Their loads are all up—from the East to
the West ; whereas, the business of the Western Railroad is
from the West to the East. We want to give them a return
business from East to West. Let our railroad men take up
this subject, and understand it. When they do, that same car
which takes cotton to New Hampshire, will pass directly on to
its destination at the lake, for a load of wheat, and then return
here.
Now, Mr. Chairman, an objection may be made to this Bill
by some railroad officer, who will say, " We don't like this
phrase, ' shall connect their tracks.' " I like it. The public
have not got to go to the superintendents and directors of the
several railroads and ask them whether they will connect with
this road or not. The Bill requires that it shall be done ; and
I think it is about right. Then the truckmen will say, " You
• w
25
are going to destroy our business." All I can say to that is,
that when the Providence Railroad was opened in 1834 or '35,
opposition stages were running, and dirt flying, and men said,
" Horse flesh is going to be good for nothing ; sell your horses
cheap." We all know the result.
The city of Boston should not complain, for the rise in prop¬
erty that has been lying dormant for twenty years will diminish
the taxation on other property, and the keeping in repair of
those streets through which this line passes will diminish their
expenses, and there will be a vitality and power infused here
which will make themselves felt throughout the Commonwealth,
I am much obliged to you, gentlemen, for the courtesy
you have extended to me.
STATEMENT OF HARVEY SCÜDDER.
Mr. Chairman :—Mr. Crane has been over the ground so
thoroughly, that it probably is not necessáry I should say any¬
thing ; but I desire to add a few words, simply as a merchant.
I have been in business in Boston for twenty-flve years, and
have been connected with the grain and flour business of the
West ; and of course all I have to say is what I understand to
be the facts in regard to carrying on this business. Mr. Crane
has presented a great many features, but he has omitted a
great many. There are a good many things connected with
this matter which might be said, in favor of the granting of a
charter for this railroad.
When I first commenced business in Boston, I recollect we
used to bring our grain here in vessels, and we would take a
gang of five or six men, and get out 2,000 or 2,500 bushels a
day. It is so now. Take a gang of five or six men, and place
them on the cars of the Worcester Railroad, and they can get out
2,000 or 2,500 bushels a day, if they work sharp, and have plenty
of bags. One thing is certain : we cannot get the business, as
things are managed now ; and I say the members of the legisla¬
ture ought not to go for ihdividual profit, but for the good of
the State. We cannot do the grain business of the West, unless
we have facilities different from those we have had for the last
twenty-five years. We bring our cars into the Worcester
depot, and they lie there. Here is a man who buys perhaps
4
26
five hundred bushels of grain, and says he will send his bags
there at a certain time. We go there with a gang of men,
and he is not there, and we must wait for the bags. Of course,
it takes up time, and these men, who are hired by the hour or
by the day, have got to be paid, whether they work or not. It
is very evident, that with this railroad in operation, the grain
could be carried down to all these wharves, and discharged at
once.
I have had letters this last month from people at Toledo,
who say, "We cannot ship our grain to Boston, because the
railroads won't take it in bulk. They say you have no facil¬
ities in Boston to discharge this grain, and they keep it in their
cars so long, that we won't send it there." Of course, we
ought to act for the interest of Boston. The reason why our
grain business has gone to New York, is because they have got
facilities for taking the grain and unloading it. There are
hardly a thousand bushels sold in Boston now to the State of
Maine, where there were fifty thousand when I first com¬
menced business. It is because New York has facilities that
we have not got. Everything here has to be carted. Our
vessels cannot be hauled round to these railroads without
going through a great many bridges ; but when our railroads
can discharge their grain upon the wharves where vessels can
come in, then we can bring back the Maine business we
have lost.
Let this writer who signs himself " Common Sense " go out
West, and he will be as astonished as one of our fish merchants
was. He took a tour, and his ideas were enlarged. Says he,
" They have got an elevator at Chicago that will hold eighty
thousand bushels of grain ! " Says I, " My friend, it isn't pos¬
sible ! You must be mistaken ! " " No," said he, " I am
right." Said I, " No, you are not. It is eight hundred thou¬
sand bushels." * I suppose they have got elevators now that
will hold twice that amount. Look at the facilities at Ogdens-
burg, Buffalo, and other points ; and here is Boston, seemingly
out of the question entirely. Why is the export business to
Europe done in New York? Because they have got facilities
for handling the grain, and putting it on board their ships.
It seems to me the only thing Boston needs is to have some
♦ 24,000 tons.
27
enterprising man take hold of this thing and carry it
through, and then we can have our lines of ships carrying our
freight back and forth, and carrying our grain to Europe ;
and a great many people have said that it is cheaper to carry
goods from Europe to New York through Boston, than to have
them shipped directly to New York.
Now look at Commercial Wharf. I used to pay 1700 rent
for a store there ; I believe the same store rents now for $500,
for the fish business. It was formerly used for the grain busi¬
ness, when fiour and grain came here by vessel. They have
put an elevator on that wharf to do the grain business, and
one of the proprietors told me, within a week, that they had
sunk $3,000 a year ever since they put it there, and it is now
advertised for sale. What is the reason ? Because they can¬
not get the grain. A little comes by vessel, but if we had this
railroad, so that we could take this grain at the West, and
bring it to Boston, and deliver it on our wharves by means of
elevators, (without resorting to the improved plan suggested
by Mr. Crane,) we should be able to compete successfully for
the business of the West. Unless something is done of that
sort, you may depend upon it that Boston will not be able to
compete for the grain business, even with Portland. Look at
Portland, Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore. You will
find that their railroads all connect with the wharves, so that
this business is done advantageously, and they draw it. Bos¬
ton will never draw business from the West until she has
facilities for doing it.