1. Library 
 
 AEWMENT 
 
 or 
 
 AMOS B. MERRILL, ESQ. 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 PETITIONERS FOR THE INCORPORATION 
 
 Citissetw’ Morse lUilroatl &a. 
 
 COMMITTEE ON RAILWAYS AND CANALS. 
 
 Wednesday Evening, March 4 , 1863 . 
 
 PHONOGRAPHIC REPORT BY J. M. W. YERRINTON. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 S. CHISM, — FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, 
 No. 112 Congress Street. 
 
 1 863 . 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILUNOl; 
 URBANA 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 STATEMENT OF CASE. 
 
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 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : The case now presented 
 is this : — The petitioners, being common carriers of passengers, by- 
 omnibuses, between the extremes of Boston proper, ask authority 
 of the Legislature to do their business in horse cars, on street rail¬ 
 roads, if the city authorities of Boston deem such a change advis¬ 
 able ; and they ask for an act of incorporation, in order to enable 
 them to present the question to the city authorities, who are the 
 best judges of the public exigency. This is the case; and upon 
 this statement of the question, — this being the whole effect of the 
 act we ask you to grant us,—it would seem, in view of the legisla¬ 
 tion of the State in favor of horse railroads, and the qniform refer¬ 
 ence of the question of their location on the highways to the 
 Selectmen of towns and the Mayor and Aldermen of cities, that 
 this whole question might be safely disposed of by an act which 
 refers it to the city authorities; and I have no question that a 
 general railroad act, allowing any parties who should obtain the 
 leave of a city or town to build a horse railroad within its limits, 
 to become incorporated under such general law, would be per¬ 
 fectly acceptable to the people of the State, and would relieve you 
 of the trouble and expense annually brought upon the Legislature 
 by these continued applications and hearings ; for, whatever takes 
 place here, the simple authority to use the streets has no effect 
 whatever, the final decision of the question being left to the Select¬ 
 men of towns or the Mayor and Aldermen of cities. Therefore, a 
 general law, simply giving corporate powers to a company, to enable 
 them to make application to the city or town authorities, would be 
 generally satisfactory to the people. We ask here for no specific 
 routes; we ask for no compulsory act upon the city of Boston — 
 which, if we did, the city of Boston, as the guardian of its high¬ 
 ways, would never regard, and cannot, consistently with our gen- 
 
 I I 3022 I 
 
4 
 
 eral laws, be called upon to regard. It would be perfectly safe, 
 then, to leave this whole question to the city authorities, who know 
 best the facts argued before you, giving us merely an act of incor¬ 
 poration. 
 
 But while we contend that a bill should be granted upon this 
 principle, we propose arguing the case as it has been heard on its 
 merits, and to present it to you precisely as if you were to have 
 the final disposition of the question of our having the right to run 
 upon horse railroads, without regard to the Mayor and Aldermen. 
 
 FITNESS OF CORPORATORS. 
 
 And, first, we are bound to show you that the corporators are 
 suitable men to be entrusted with such a franchise, and that the 
 public trust committed to them will be well executed. We 
 have presented the corporators to you, that you might see them. 
 Two of them — Mr. Hobbs and Mr. Hathorne — are men of great 
 experience as common carriers of passengers. One of them, Mr. 
 Hobbs, was one of the earliest pioneers in omnibuses, made a for¬ 
 tune in the business of carrying passengers, and retired. Mr. 
 Hathorne has had large experience in omnibuses and the introduc¬ 
 tion of horse railroads; and since their introduction, he was Sup¬ 
 erintendent of the Metropolitan road, and is now the proprietor of 
 a flourishing line of omnibuses, — the Citizens’ Line. The other 
 gentlemen, Mr. Pratt and Mr. Clark, are well known citizens of 
 Boston, merchants and men of wealth; and I apprehend that no 
 railroad charter or charter for any other corporation was ever asked 
 for by more intelligent, experienced, or able men, than ask for this. 
 The application is bona fide. These men ask for horse railroad 
 facilities, in order that they may use them. They ask for them for 
 the accommodation of their sections of the city, more particularly 
 than for any other cause; and I believe that if you grant this 
 charter to these petitioners, its provisions will be well executed; and 
 we wish that the clause that I have asked for to-night, prohibiting 
 the sale of the franchise or the road, should be inserted, not from 
 any fear that these parties or their associates will sell out, but be¬ 
 cause we want a perpetual prohibition upon those who may after¬ 
 wards become connected with the corporation. 
 
5 
 
 EQUAL EIGHTS OF COMMON CARRIERS IN THE HIGHWAYS. 
 
 The first proposition that we submit in this matter is,, that the 
 proprietors of the Citizens’ Line of omnibuses, as common carriers 
 of passengers on the public highways, are entitled, as of common 
 right, to the use of every part of the highway, and to all improve* 
 ments placed on it and made part of the public highway, subject 
 only to such regulations by the public authorities as the public 
 good requires to regulate travel; and it is but just for the Legisla¬ 
 ture to grant to one company of common carriers the same facilities 
 for transporting their' passengers in the public highways which it 
 grants to another company, having regard only to the public good 
 and to a fair compensation for the use of any improvements upon 
 the highway to the parties who first placed them there. I say, the 
 first principle is, that the railroad track becomes part of the high¬ 
 way ; and whoever places that track in the highway makes it part 
 of the highway, and does it not for the benefit of himself only, but 
 for the benefit of any company whatever that finds occasion to use 
 it, and who the public authorities think ought to travel on that 
 highway; and all that can reasonably be asked of such parties is, 
 that they shall make suitable compensation for, or contribution to* 
 wards, the improvements made; and this, these proprietors, as 
 shown by their bill, are willing to do. 
 
 LAW AND POLICY AS TO STREET RAILROADS. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, these principles have been strongly denied,—• 
 they are denied here to-night; but we apprehend that they have 
 become the settled law of Massachusetts, and settled policy with 
 the city of Boston; and it is because the original horse railroad bill 
 of the Metropolitan Company of 1853 did not secure these princi¬ 
 ples, that the corporators got no location. It was to secure these 
 principles, that Mr. Hathorne and other gentlemen appeared 
 before the Mayor and Aldermen of Boston and remonstrated 
 against any location under the original bill granted to the Metro¬ 
 politan Railroad, which should give them a vested and lasting 
 right; and it was only after the passage of the Act of 1854, which 
 gave the Mayor and Aldermen complete control over the road, 
 even to the extent of ordering up the rails at any time after one 
 
6 
 
 year’s use, that any locations were allowed in the city of Boston. 
 The Citizens’ Line of omnibuses have had, in securing that legis¬ 
 lation by what is called their factious opposition to horse railroads, 
 hut one object in view, and that was to secure a reasonable safe¬ 
 guard to the public and to themselves, as common carriers. Let 
 us examine the legislation and practice of the State and city on 
 those points. 
 
 The Statute of 1857, Chapter 285, and its several locations, 
 permitted the Suffolk road to run cars on the Middlesex Railroad, 
 the Cambridge Railroad, and the Metropolitan Railroad. The 
 Statute of 1862, Chapter 175, permitted the Suffolk road to run 
 its cars the whole circuit of Cornhill, Washington, Boylston, and 
 Tremont streets,—-say a mile and three-quarters,— on the Metro¬ 
 politan track. 
 
 Mr. Derby. It is a mile and a third. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Whatever the distance is, there are gentlemen 
 of Boston on the Committee, who know what it is. Then the 
 Statute of 1859, Chap. 205, and the Statute of 1862, Chap. 175, 
 and the locations under it, permitted the Middlesex road to run 
 cars on the Cambridge Railroad, the Metropolitan Railroad, and 
 the Suffolk Railroad, the whole circuit. The Statute of 1854, 
 Chapter 444, and the Statute of 1857, Chapter 216, and the Stat¬ 
 ute of 1861, Chapter 188, and the several locations under it (which 
 I shall refer to by and by), permitted the Broadway road to run 
 cars over the Dorchester Avenue Railroad and the Metropolitan 
 Railroad, round the circuit of Boylston, Tremont, Cornhill, and 
 Washington streets, — coming up through Beach street, — a mile 
 and a half; which they actually entered on and enjoy. So of all the 
 other out-of-town railroads that have been located toward Boston. 
 For example: the Lynn and Boston Railroad may come over the 
 Suffolk ; the Winnissimmet is allowed by its charter to come across 
 Charlestown bridge and over two miles of the Middlesex Railroad; 
 the Malden and Melrose was located over the whole of the Middle¬ 
 sex Railroad; the West Roxbury had a right to run over the Me¬ 
 tropolitan ; the Cliftondale has a right to run over the Middlesex 
 the same distance the Winnissimmet does. The Quincy has a right 
 to run over all the railroads it is connected with into Boston; and 
 the Chelsea and Charlestown Railroad has a right to run over the 
 
7 
 
 Middlesex Railroad to Boston, more than two miles: so that by 
 actual legislation, from an early period, this principle is established, 
 that any company which builds a railroad builds it for the benefit 
 of any other companies that the Legislature and cities or towns 
 permit to run over it, as common carriers of passengers, on reason¬ 
 able terms of compensation for the use. So much for the legisla¬ 
 tion in this particular. 
 
 Now, in the city of Boston, the Board of Aldermen make their 
 locations on condition, reserved in all charters, first, that the city 
 may revoke them at any time after one year, order the railroad out 
 of the street, and give the location to another company, if they 
 please; and second, reserved in all locations or secured under all 
 charters, that the Mayor and Aldermen may permit any other 
 horse railroad company to run over the tracks located, on paying 
 fair compensation, in some cases to be determined by the Mayor 
 and Aldermen, and in other cases by commissioners appointed by 
 the Supreme Court: the uniform mode now is by commissioners 
 appointed by the Supreme Court. On this point, I refer to the 
 third location of the Metropolitan road, made Dec. 31, 1859. 
 
 “ This location is granted under the further express proviso and 
 condition, that the Board of Aldermen reserve the right to permit 
 the Middlesex Railroad Company, and any other horse railroad 
 company, to run cars over the track so located, by authority of this 
 order.” (Municipal Register, 1862, p. 176.) 
 
 That is, the whole route through Cornhill, up Washington, to 
 Dover street. In their location of July 1st, 1862, under the bill 
 of last year, by which the remonstrants say they have secured the 
 omnibus route to the Northern depots and ferries, the same right is 
 expressly reserved. 
 
 Then, as to the locations of the Suffolk Road, to be found in the 
 Municipal Register, pp. 208, 210, and in City Document, Nos. 
 43, 64, 71, 90, 1862. There are seven locations of the Suffolk. 
 In its very first location are these words : 
 
 “ Also, under the further express proviso and condition that the 
 Board of Aldermen reserve the right to allow any other horse rail¬ 
 road company to run cars over the track, the location of which is 
 granted by this order.” 
 
 On the 210th page, precisely the same reservation is made in 
 
8 
 
 their next location; and, in fact, every location that the Suffolk 
 [Railroad has ever had has been granted on the express condition that 
 the Mayor and Aldermen reserve to themselves the right to locate 
 any other horse railroad over the track thus granted. 
 
 So in regard to the Middlesex Railroad. Its third location, 
 
 Dec. 31, 1859, and its fourth location, Oct. 29, 1862, both contain 
 that reservation. So the third and fourth locations of the Cam¬ 
 bridge Railroad contain that very proviso and condition. But 
 further than that, every one of these railroad charters, and various 
 others, to wit, the Broadway charter, the Dorchester charter, the ^ 
 
 Cambridge charter, the Middlesex charter, the Suffolk charter, the 
 Metropolitan amended charter, contain this provision, — that the 
 Mayor and Aldermen reserve to themselves the right, not only to 
 revoke the location, but to order the whole track to be taken out of 
 the streets. They are bound to remove the rails at any time the 
 authorities order them to; and it was not until these provisions 
 were inserted in horse railroad charters that the Mayor and Aider- 
 men would give a single location. Broadway charter, 1854, Chap. 
 
 444, § 9 ; Dorchester Railway charter, 1854, Chap. 435, § 8; 
 Cambridge amended charter, 1854, Chap. 205, § 1 ; Middlesex 
 amended charter, 1854, Chap. 434, § 1; Suffolk amended charter, 
 
 1857, Chap. 285, § 1; Metropolitan amended charter, 1854, Chap. 
 
 94, § 1. 
 
 VESTED RIGHTS. 
 
 Now, how do we stand with these vested rights ? Corporations 
 tried, in the first place, to get a vested right, a perpetuity, in the 
 public highways, but they could get no location; and when they did 
 get a location, it was only upon these conditions,— that the city 
 of Boston may allow any other carriers of passengers to carry their 
 passengers over those roads, and that, if they refuse to allow it, 
 the city shall have the right to order up all their tracks, and make 
 them remove them ; and then the city can give the location to 
 another company. I apprehend that this legislation and these 
 locations are a matter of bargain with these gentlemen ; and when 
 they put down a road, they put it down on those conditions, and 
 could not put it down under any other conditions ; and this con¬ 
 tract is at once the foundation and limit of their right. What do 
 
9 
 
 they become, then ? Mere licensees. They have no greater au¬ 
 thority than this omnibus line has. We carry passengers by license 
 of the city; these parties carry passengers by license of the city — 
 not otherwise. Then, as licensees, having no right to the highways 
 entitling them to object to other carriers using their tracks, but, in 
 fact, taking their licenses on condition that the city or town author¬ 
 ities may at any time revoke their locations and give them to an¬ 
 other, or locate other carriers over their tracks, on paying a fair 
 compensation for use, the question becomes wholly one of public 
 convenience and equal rights. We are brought to that. The ques¬ 
 tion is, what is for the public benefit, and what is due to the parties 
 applying as a matter of equal and common right ? 
 
 COMMON CARRIERS ENTITLED TO BEST MODES OF CONVEYANCE. 
 
 Here we say, that as common carriers of passengers, we have a 
 right to all the improved modes of conveyance of passengers ; and 
 as it is admitted that the conveyance of passengers by railroads and 
 cars is the safest, pleasantest, and best, that as carriers of passen¬ 
 gers, we are entitled to just as good facilities, for the conveyance of 
 our passengers, as any body else for the conveyance of theirs. The 
 petitioners are not — as they have been treated here, and like most 
 persons who apply for charters — applicants to be admitted to do 
 the business of common carriers. They are not applicants for ad¬ 
 mission. They are already established in the business. They have 
 the rights and are subject to the duties of common carriers. They 
 are lawfully doing business under a license from the city of Boston, 
 and are bound to afford to the public the best modes of convey¬ 
 ance ; they are bound to carry them safely; they cannot refuse a 
 passenger; and they are entitled to all the privileges, by common 
 right, that any common carriers enjoy. They have now been estab¬ 
 lished four and a half years for the accommodation of the citizens 
 of Boston, and for the accommodation of gentlemen from the 
 country who do business in Boston, and who wish to travel from 
 the several railroads to the extremes of Boston and to other depots. 
 They do their business by a through route, without any change of 
 cars; they do it for a single fare, and that a low fare. This busi¬ 
 ness they have been lawfully doing for four and a half years. 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 HOW citizens’ line arose. 
 
 You have heard it detailed how this business arose. The people 
 of Ward XI., and of the South End, signed petitions for the 
 incorporation of the Metropolitan Railroad Company, provided 
 they could be carried and accommodated by them as well as by 
 omnibuses, and at as low fares. They have detailed to you how 
 they were disappointed ; how they were not afforded means of con¬ 
 veyance, and how the company raised the fares to about double 
 what they had been accustomed to pay; that the new class of com¬ 
 mon carriers did not accommodate them, and that the best men in 
 the Ward, and almost as a Ward matter, signed a subscription 
 paper to take tickets in large quantities, to enable the new line 
 to start. It was started in the first place with only two omnibuses, 
 and it has been raised up to its present huge proportions. 
 
 citizens’ line as important and valuable as any in the city. 
 
 They have established a business as important to the public, 
 and as valuable to themselves, as that of any common carriers 
 in the city of Boston, that do the business of the city—horse 
 railroads or whatever they are. They have some 28 omnibuses, 
 21 sleighs, and 160 horses, all exclusively for Boston proper, its de¬ 
 pots and ferries. They run for fifteen hours daily, between those 
 depots and ferries at the North, West, and South Ends. They 
 make daily 240 round trips, or 480 passages, with their omnibuses, 
 passing a coach one way or the other every two minutes, through 
 Washington street. They furnish daily 5,760 through seats, and 
 they carry yearly 1,541,257 passengers. They net yearly from 
 $10,000 to $12,000, upon a capital of some $30,000 or $40,000, 
 making a dividend of over 25 per cent. They carry this entire 
 distance for 5 cents, single fare, or 7 tickets for a quarter — 3£ 
 cents each. 
 
 COMPARED WITH OTHER CARRIERS. 
 
 Now, compare this line with other roads, and see how import¬ 
 ant the business of these common carriers is. Eirst, take the 
 Metropolitan Railroad. They run exclusively in Boston, their 
 Neck Line, 12 cars. They run them to Cornhill — two-thirds 
 
11 
 
 the distance the omnibus line runs. They make 158 trips 
 a day, or 316 passages. Their cars, they tell us, average 
 18 seats to a car ; and as the cars on this Neck Line are some of 
 them small, the average cannot exceed 18, I think. I have taken 
 18 as a fair average. At that average, they furnish 5,688 seats to 
 Cornhill, being less than the number of seats furnished by the 
 Citizens’ Line; and ours furnish accommodation all through the 
 route, theirs only to Cornhill. I leave out, what accommodation 
 they furnish in the lines they run for Boxbury, Mount Pleasant, 
 Dorchester, and Jamaica Plain passengers, for two reasons. In the 
 first place, the accommodation that the city passengers get, they 
 get by crowding the passengers for those places; they get an ac¬ 
 commodation that is not provided for them, and, secondly, they 
 have to resort to standing. Their whole number of passengers 
 last year, on all their roads, was 6,163,877. This road consists of 
 four original corporations, the Brookline, the West Boxbury, the 
 Boxbury and Dorchester, and the Metropolitan ; two of them 
 bought and merged in the Metropolitan and the other leased, with 
 the right to buy. Averaging, then, their 6,163,877 between those 
 four lines, (and they do not give us any reliable data to make 
 another calculation upon,) the result would be 1,280,775 passen¬ 
 gers to each road — less than the number carried by our line. 
 Their fares are 5 cents a single trip or 28 for a dollar — 3f cents 
 each — while ours are sold by the quarter of a dollar, which makes 
 it more beneficial to poor persons, and carry for a longer distance. 
 
 Next, take the Union Bailroad, which is a corporation running 
 all the roads that pass through Cambridge. They have five 
 roads, I think. They run the Cambridge, the West Cambridge, 
 the Brighton, the Watertown, and the Newton roads. Their 
 whole number of passengers per year is 2,746,419. The average 
 to each road is 549,284 ; one-third less than are carried by the Cit¬ 
 izens’ Line. Suppose they carry from Cambridge one-half the 
 passengers. That will give 1,373,209; less than are carried by 
 our line. 
 
 Then there are the dividends. The dividend on the Metropoli¬ 
 tan road was 8 per cent., I think ; the dividend on the Union road 
 is 8 per cent. These, compared with ours, show an immense 
 difference in our favor. 
 
 LIBRARY ’—-— 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
12 
 
 Take the Middlesex Railroad. That runs the Boston and. 
 Chelsea, the Medford and Charlestown, the Malden and Melrose, 
 the Somerville and Middlesex, — five corporations. The number 
 of passengers they carry in a year, according to the rate they have 
 carried for the last eight months, is 3,211,791. The average to 
 each road is 642,891. Suppose that the Middlesex carries in 
 Charlestown one-half, that would be 1,600,000, just about what 
 we carry; and I suppose that is too much to allow them, consider¬ 
 ing their proportion of territory. 
 
 Take the Broadway road. The Broadway road carried 1,- 
 412,034 passengers. This is a Boston road, running from South 
 Boston to Scollay’s building, and carrying nearly as many passen¬ 
 gers as the Citizens’ Line carries ; the difference is about 100,000. 
 They have divided 12^ per cent. 
 
 The Lynn and Boston road carries 745,000 passengers ; the 
 Dorchester road 639,000 ; the Suffolk road 427,000, not a third of 
 our number; the Newton road 220,000; the Dorchester Exten¬ 
 sion 127,000 ; the Quincy road 122,000 ; the West Cambridge 
 71,000; the Stoneham 35,000. We carry more than double 
 the number any other single road carries, except the Broadway, 
 and more than that. We carry more than any single corpor¬ 
 ation, — the three that exceed us being made up by the pur¬ 
 chase or lease of other roads. So that I apprehend my position 
 is correct, that this class of common carriers is quite as important 
 as any other class of common carriers in the country, or any one 
 road, or any one branch of road. It has been heretofore the only 
 line that has devoted itself exclusively to the carrying of Boston 
 travel, and to carrying it between the extremes of the city. 
 
 NECESSITY FOR FURTHER ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 Our next position is, then, that the travel accommodated by the 
 Citizens’ Line being as important as any other class in the city or in 
 the State, that there is still a pressing necessity for increased ac¬ 
 commodations at low prices. The fact of its travel is one thing, 
 and shows that it has as much travel as any other road, and accom¬ 
 modates the public as much as any other road or branch of a road. 
 But I say there is a pressing necessity shown, apart from what 
 is manifest from the number of passengers carried by this line, for 
 
13 
 
 increased accommodations at low fares. For the people who tra¬ 
 vel in Boston between the extremes of the city, there have been 
 furnished 5,760 seats daily, and these have been furnished only by 
 the Citizens’ Line. 
 
 TRAVEL FROM DEPOTS AND FERRIES. 
 
 Now, the whole number of passengers arriving and departing 
 daily at the northerly depots and ferries is 36,026; and, 
 adding the number at the southerly depots, the whole number 
 arriving and departing daily by steam railroads and ferries at the 
 extremes of the city is 46,882. The testimony shows that our 
 omnibuses cannot carry one quarter of the passengers who need 
 conveyance back and forth ; and the superintendent of one of the 
 railroads has told you that he needs several cars at his depot on 
 the arrival of trains, to take passengers ; and if we had a city line 
 and a city express to carry baggage to different points, there is no 
 reason why the great proportion of this travel should not be carried 
 by horse railroads. This is one of the sources that supplies travel. 
 
 TRAVEL BETWEEN EXTREMES OF CITY PROPER. 
 
 Besides that, the extremes of the city proper, themselves, furnish 
 passengers enough to support any line. They afford a larger field 
 to support omnibuses than any other one horse railroad branch has. 
 For example : By the Census of 1860, the Northern wards, I., III., 
 V., and a half of IV., contain 46,039 inhabitants. The Southern 
 wards, XI., X., IX., and a half of VIII., 50,742 inhabitants. The 
 evidence is that the communication between these two sections of the 
 city is as great as it would be between two distinct cities of the same 
 size situated at the same distance. It is, in fact, greater.. The peo¬ 
 ple who do business at the North End, live at the South End, and 
 there is constant travel between the two sections. There is a field 
 large enough, if properly developed, to support a line, without 
 reference to the depots and ferries, larger than is afforded to any 
 line that runs out of Boston. 
 
 COMPARED WITH OUT-OF-TOWN POPULATIONS. 
 
 Compare the population in the respective places, and it will be 
 
 
14 
 
 demonstrated. The population of South Boston is £4,291, and 
 the Broadway railroad has carried 1,400,000 passengers, and made 
 l£l per cent, dividends. The connection between the South End 
 and the North End is similar to that. Take the Union Railroad. 
 The population of Cambridge, Brighton, Watertown, and West 
 Cambridge, according to the Census of 1860, is 35,386. Take 
 the Metropolitan out-of-town line. Take Dorchester (give them 
 all of Dorchester, although the evidence is they could accommo¬ 
 date but part of it), Roxbury, Brookline, and West Roxbury ; 
 their population is 46,380. Then take the Suffolk Railroad, which 
 accommodates East Boston with her population of 19,356, and 
 which is important enough for a horse railroad charter. So that 
 when you regard the populations to be accommodated, the popula¬ 
 tions of the North and South Ends far exceed any of these places to 
 which horse railroad facilities have been extended. 
 
 CHANGE AND INCREASE IN EXTREMES. 
 
 But there is another fact here that it is extremely important to 
 consider. The South End and the North End sections of the city 
 are rapidly changing. The South End is increasing. The Back 
 Bay, the Water Power, and the lands that the city is filling up, are 
 rapidly increasing the population of the South End, and the proba¬ 
 bility is that it will be doubled within the next decade ; whereas, 
 at the North End, the people are removing South, and that section 
 of the city is being devoted entirely to business. The deep water 
 is all there, and if horse railroad facilities could be furnished to 
 develop that part of the city, it would be turned into the most 
 profitable part of the business property in the city of Boston, and 
 would be used for that purpose entirely. 
 
 CARS AND OMNIBUSES CROWDED. 
 
 Now, apart from these sources of supply, and what we know of 
 the growth of the city, the evidence before you is overwhelming 
 that there is a pressing need now of greater accommodations for 
 those who wish to travel on these lines. The evidence is that at all 
 the hours, when people are travelling, both omnibuses and cars are 
 crowded to overflowing. When people want accommodation, at 
 
15 
 
 the hours they travel, the cars are crowded and the omnibuses are 
 crowded. In the words of Mr. Homer, one of the remonstrants 5 
 witnesses, they are so crowded that a fly can’t hold on. The evi¬ 
 dence of some of the witnesses is, that the passengers hang by a 
 foot on the steps of the cars and the platforms. We have heard of 
 from forty to sixty being the usual number in the cars at these 
 hours; we are told of having from twenty to thirty in the omni¬ 
 buses, and that they are crowded and loaded down. We have had 
 Roxbury and Mt. Pleasant passengers complaining that they are 
 crowded out by the Neck people, and the Neck people complaining 
 here that they cannot get in at all, but are crowded out by the 
 facilities given to the Roxbury people; that they often walk down 
 town and up town without a car reaching them. Now, it is no 
 answer to this positive evidence that these things are so, and that 
 men ride in the cars and cannot get a seat one time in ten—which 
 such men as Benjamin Smith, Samuel Topliff, Thomas Adams, and 
 a score of witnesses from South End, Mt. Pleasant, and Roxbury, 
 say are facts not to be controverted — for the Metropolitan Road to 
 come here and say that when people do n’t want to ride they send out 
 cars with plenty of vacant seats, or that they furnish them on lines 
 where nobody does ride, and bring in those cars which they send 
 out at such times to make up what they call an average. All the 
 cars that they run on these profitless lines in the country, all those 
 that they run in the middle of the day, when people do not want 
 to ride, they bring in to make up their average; and they have 
 picked out a day that they call an average day in February, and 
 bring it in here to illustrate the facts. If the Committee will 
 look at the Report of the Metropolitan Railroad Company for the 
 last year, they will see that they carry fewer passengers and receive 
 less money in February than in any other month ; and that in some 
 months they carry double the number that are carried in that 
 month. It would have been more satisfactory if this company had 
 brought in their daily record of passengers, for which we have 
 called, and had further given us their daily number of free passen¬ 
 gers, that crowd their cars. If further evidence is wanted on this 
 matter of want of accommodations, you have the evidence of your 
 own senses, for this Committee can see these cars and these omni¬ 
 buses crowded to overflowing every day, notwithstanding the cars 
 
16 
 
 added when this Committee is in session on the “ Hobbs petition.” 
 Common carriers are bound to furnish the means of conveyance 
 when people want to go, and to the places to which they wish to 
 go. That is their duty to the public. It is nothing to me that 
 they run a line where I do n’t want to go or when I do n’t want 
 to go. It is when the public need it that they should do their 
 duty. 
 
 METROPOLITAN’S REMEDY-PROMISES AND DEFAULTS. 
 
 But the Metropolitan Bailroad say that although this has been so 
 in the past, they can now, having got the right to go on 
 our* omnibus route to the depots and ferries, furnish all the 
 necessary accommodations. Well, what do they propose to do? 
 They tell us that they are going to add eight cars to their 
 twelve on their Neck and Tremont Lines, and run by Berkley 
 street and the depots and ferries at the North End with the twenty 
 cars; and they propose that these shall supply the place of the 
 omnibuses. But those eight cars will not carry any more than 
 sixteen of our omnibuses now carry. They would need twelve cars 
 for the passengers that our omnibuses carry alone; and the evi¬ 
 dence is, that the business presses on us so hard that we shall be 
 obliged to add ten omnibuses next year, and we have only been 
 kept from it thus far by the hope of getting horse railroad facilities. 
 They suppose that these eight cars are going to furnish accommo¬ 
 dation to the 46,000 people who come in at the depots and ferries 
 and return daily, and to all the increasing travel between the 
 North and South End. That is what they propose to do — that is 
 all they propose to do; and they propose to drive off the omnibus 
 line so as not to encumber the streets with it. The people, they 
 admit, are growling for additional accommodations; and the Met¬ 
 ropolitan Bailroad Company proposes to throw a bean into the 
 mouth of the lion! They have not risen to an appreciation of 
 the wants of the public. There is more than all these carriers can do, 
 if they are all kept running. But, let us see how the Metropolitan 
 Company are going to get along with their proposed system. In 
 the first place, the city has not given them any location through 
 Berkley street, and by the Providence depot. They say they have 
 made application, but the city has not given them the location, and 
 
17 
 
 it is very uncertain whether they will, unless they perform their 
 duties better. Now, the Metropolitan Company proposed, at the 
 outset, to give the people of Ward XI. all these accommodations. 
 They have promised them every year that we have been making 
 this application to the Legislature; and they have not given them 
 yet; and there is no certainty they ever will, whatever they may 
 vote to do. The omnibus line still remains, as it has been from its 
 establishment, the only means of accommodation that we have got. 
 
 Let us look a little further. On the 19th of August, 1861, 
 the Committee on Paving reported a location for the Metropolitan 
 Railroad, to run down to the ferries and depots on the track which 
 they had given the Suffolk company, and which the Suffolk 
 company built two years ago next May. (City Doc. 48, 1861.) 
 They never called that report up in the Board of Aldermen to be 
 acted on. The Committee the same day reported in favor of 
 making their temporary location through Harrison Avenue a per¬ 
 manent one. That they called up, and the order was passed. 
 The Suffolk company, when they got that location, got it subject 
 to the right of the Metropolitan road to run over it, on condition 
 that it should consent to the Suffolk road running its cars round the 
 circuit of Boylston street. (Suffolk R. R.; 3d Loc., Municipal 
 Register 1862, p. 209.) Well, gentlemen, you will find that this 
 location was not consented to by the Metropolitan company. So 
 that while the Metropolitan company, ever since 1861, could 
 have run down to the depots and ferries, and accommodated this 
 through business, if they would consent that the Suffolk company 
 should go round the circuit of Boylston street, they refused that 
 consent, in order to prevent the Suffolk going round there, and did 
 not do the business. That track was not used by either the Suf¬ 
 folk, who had the location given them, or the Metropolitan road. 
 When the Suffolk company came last year to the Legislature and 
 asked for a compulsory location round Boylston street, where the 
 city of Boston had located them, the Metropolitan company ap¬ 
 peared here and opposed that location ; and when a minority bill 
 was reported, the Metropolitan company opposed it, and it was not 
 until a compromise was made between the two, by which a new lo¬ 
 cation was secured on the route of the Citizen’s Line of omnibuses, 
 that the bill itself was carried. For one year they have had the 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 right to make that location, but there has been delay about it. It 
 is said here, that in one week of pleasant weather that road could be 
 built, and they would build it. Well, we have had, since the location 
 was granted, last November, pleasant weather enough to build the 
 road. 
 
 REMEDY DOES NOT MEET THE CASE. 
 
 But, Mr. Chairman, suppose these two lines of road were 
 actually built and in operation, how is the public want met to 
 these depots ? They have their location, their right to carry pas¬ 
 sengers there, and are carrying them. Where is the Citizen’s Line 
 of omnibuses ? It remains as before, a common carrier of passen¬ 
 gers, still carrying its passengers in the streets and to the depots. 
 It has its million and a half yearly that it transports, and the same 
 necessity exists for supplying them then with the best modes of 
 transportation that exist to-day. That these two roads carry their 
 passengers by railroad to and from the depots and ferries, does 
 not give the Citizens’ Line of omnibuses railroad facilities for 
 their passengers, and the want exists then just exactly as it 
 does to-day. Do they suppose, that by this location on the line 
 that the Citizens’ Line of omnibuses travel, they are going to drive 
 these omnibuses off? They will find themselves greatly mistaken. 
 They will never realize their self-deluding hope, nor that other 
 pitiable suggestion set forth in their Annual Report, concerning the 
 omnibus line : “We may well hope that their petitions, if pressed 
 at all in future, will be urged more with a view to sell their, equip¬ 
 age, than from any rational hope of success.” No ; these common 
 carriers, who have built up this business, will still maintain and 
 have that business. They will carry on their business the same 
 as before, and they will then want to use the streets to which they 
 are entitled, for the best modes of transportation, precisely as 
 much as they would if these two companies had not anticipated 
 them last winter, and undertaken, by a combination, to get this 
 route away, and to carry passengers through the city. If such is 
 the purpose or would be the effect of the combination, then the 
 Citizens’ Line are entitled to this bill for their protection, as a mat¬ 
 ter of fair dealing. So far, then, as regards the Citizen’s Line, 
 their claim, as a question of equal rights, remains precisely the 
 
 same. 
 
y 
 
 19 
 
 HIGH FARES. 
 
 But this route will not accommodate the people in the particular 
 of fares. By their location of December 9, 1862, it is provided 
 that they may charge five cents on that route. In City Document, 
 No. 87, which gave them their right of location, it is gtated, page 
 4, that it is made “ under the express provision and condition, that 
 the said Metropolitan Railroad Company shall not charge for a 
 single fare, in the aforesaid Boston Neck or Tremont street cars, 
 over the route set forth in this order, to and from Camden street 
 and the stations of the said steam roads or ferries, a sum exceeding 
 five cents.” As late as December 9, 1862, then, in getting the 
 location to these ferries, the Metropolitan company got five cents 
 established by the city government as the rate of fare, and nothing 
 is said about the issuing of tickets twenty-eight for a dollar ; and 
 by their other charters, it is provided that they shall not charge 
 exceeding five cents, except with the consent of the Mayor and 
 Aldermen of the city of Boston. The consent relates to a charge 
 of over five cents; they have the right to go to that limit, unless 
 the city resorts to the extreme measure of removing their tracks to 
 compel them to reduce their fare. 
 
 It was stated here, gentlemen, by the counsel and witnesses for 
 the Suffolk road — and I wish to call the attention of the Commit¬ 
 tee particularly to this point — that they were under obligations, in 
 the first place, to carry passengers from the Revere House to 
 Boylston street for a cent and a half a passage. I shall not under¬ 
 take to say how it was attempted to be explained afterwards; the 
 impression was given to the Committee that it was an extremely 
 low rate of about a cent and a half to Boylston street, or at most, 
 two and a half cents per passenger. The counsel for the Metro¬ 
 politan road here to-night have told you that a passenger could be 
 carried there for three cents, from any point on the Cambridge 
 road. Now, I propose to give you the truth as to that matter, and 
 to explain it as it is. I am aware, gentlemen, that I am using dry 
 statistics, but they are facts which cannot be denied, and they are 
 to the point. By the sixth location of the Suffolk road, October 
 20th, 1862, which was made over the Cambridge tracks, the Suf¬ 
 folk road were to take the checks of the Cambridge road sold to its 
 
20 
 
 passengers in its cars, good to Boylston street and return , or to 
 depots and ferries and return , and tlie tickets sold by the Cam¬ 
 bridge road, at any point on its route good in the Suffolk cars, for 
 any point on the Cambridge road where they ran, to depots and 
 ferries, or to Boylston street, and settle with the Cambridge road 
 for such passengers at five cents for checks and three cents for 
 tickets. That is, the Cambridge road are to issue checks, saying 
 “ good to depots and ferries and return,” or “ good to Boylston 
 street and return,” in which case they were to pay to the Suffolk 
 Company for those checks five cents. This “ and return ” means 
 good on the return route, and nothing else. The passenger goes 
 beyond Boylston street or goes beyond depots and ferries, and it 
 makes one passage; and the “ good to return ” means, to pass him 
 by Boylston street or by the ferries, on the return route, and they 
 take the checks when he gets out. It means one passage beyond 
 Boylston street or the ferries on their route. Now, as to the tick¬ 
 ets. They (the Suffolk B. B. Co.) are to take tickets to the ferries 
 and to Boylston street, or either of them, and settle with the Cam¬ 
 bridge road for three cents. This whole provision relates to their 
 transactions with the Cambridge road and how they shall settle 
 with them ; but what does the passenger get them for ? That is 
 the question. It is answered in the location of the Cambridge road, 
 which is found in City Document No. 72, 1862, where it is pro¬ 
 vided that the Cambridge road shall sell its tickets and checks each 
 for five cents. Therefore, it is not true, as stated here, that a pas¬ 
 senger could go from Bowdoin square to the depots or ferries, 
 or to Boylston street, for 1J, 2J, or 3 cents; he is obliged to pay 
 5 cents for it. 
 
 Now, I present to the Committee this consideration, that these 
 roads, while they pretend to you that they mean to reduce their 
 fares and carry for a low price, really mean no such thing. That 
 the very last opportunity they had of fixing their rate, (no longer 
 ago than last December,) they provided that these tickets and these 
 checks shall cost the passenger five cents. In the location of the 
 Metropolitan road, as I have already shown you, they have put the 
 fare at five cents, and it is their intention, if they can destroy the 
 omnibus line and competition, to return to the fare of five cents 
 throughout the city. I refer to the Beport of the President of the 
 
21 
 
 Metropolitan Company for 1862, and call your attention to what 
 he says on page eighteen of that report: “ Should our currency 
 continue to depreciate and prices to advance, it will become a 
 serious question whether it will not be (ultimately) necessary to 
 effect a change in the price of tickets.” And here I will call 
 your attention to the case stated by Mr. Huntress, of the old lady 
 who took their cars at Park street for Harrison Avenue, and was 
 compelled by the conductor to pay two fares of five cents each in 
 the same car; one to their office, corner of Bromfield street, and 
 another in Cornhill, notwithstanding the provision of their charter, 
 that their fare shall be but five cents between any two points in 
 the city of Boston. They have it, therefore, now in contemplation 
 to make a change in their prices, and I say, taking what they say 
 in their report, taking what they indicate in their location, and 
 taking the price that is fixed in the location of the Cambridge 
 road, it is conclusive that they mean to have a fare of five cents, 
 and that between as many points in Boston as they can get the 
 Board of Aldermen to fix as termini of their routes. Now, gen¬ 
 tlemen, they can come and make statements here with the fear of 
 the omnibuses and the Legislature before them, but when these 
 are withdrawn, they act as they please; and it is this disposition 
 on the part of the Metropolitan Railroad that has determined the 
 people of the South End and of Boston generally, to have an inde¬ 
 pendent line. 
 
 PUBLIC GAIN BY TRANSFER. 
 
 I call the attention of the Committtee, now, to considerations that 
 are apart from the increased accommodations that will be furnished 
 by a readier mode of transportation. It is for the benefit of the 
 public, on other grounds, to allow the Citizens’ Line to do their 
 business on horse-cars instead of with omnibuses. By a change 
 from omnibuses to horse-cars, the great inconvenience we are now 
 experiencing in consequence of the use of the same streets by two 
 different lines of omnibuses and cars, will be avoided. These incon¬ 
 veniences are, narrow streets, blocking them up, collisions, crossing 
 railroad tracks for passengers, loafing of omnibuses on cars to catch 
 passengers, heavy wheeling and hard sleighing by reason of snow 
 cleared from the tracks in winter, rutting and crushing the pave- 
 
22 
 
 ment, and the difficulty of subjecting both companies to uniform 
 regulations. All these difficulties will be obviated by the use 
 of cars instead of omnibuses. In the document that has been 
 referred to by the counsel on the other side, the Report of Mr. 
 Otis Clapp, all these difficulties and dangers are pointed out as 
 things that would be avoided by the substitution of cars for omni¬ 
 buses. 
 
 In City Doc. No. 58, 1859, he says: “One great object and 
 use of the common railroads seems to be to bring the million to 
 the city, while that of horse railroads is to distribute them, as well 
 as our own citizens, through the city.” “ No means of commu¬ 
 nication has yet been devised which can transport so large a num¬ 
 ber of persons through the streets, with so much ease and so little 
 public inconvenience.” The presence of the railroad track, as a 
 fixture in the streets, has its disadvantages ; it has also its ad van- 
 ages. “ The very fact of its being a fixture enables the driver of a 
 carriage to govern himself accordingly.” “ It is a well-established 
 fact, that crowded streets, with horse railroads in them, are less 
 liable to be blocked than those which have none, for the reason 
 that the cars help to keep an open communication.” “ It is also 
 well established that there is no mode of conveyance less liable to 
 accidents.” “ The number of passengers carried upon our rail¬ 
 roads for the last year was nearly eight millions.” “ The trans¬ 
 portation of this number through the streets by omnibuses, or any 
 other kind of carriages, would operate as a thorough blockade.” 
 He arrives at the conclusion, and reports to the Mayor and Aider- 
 men of Boston, that “ Horse railroads, in large thoroughfares, are 
 a relief, as well as a convenience, rather than an obstruction.” 
 
 You have had the testimony of Mr. Hathorne as to the col¬ 
 lisions that have happened during the last week. He spoke of 
 three cases where his omnibuses have been smashed by such col¬ 
 lisions. He spoke of the danger of getting into omnibuses when 
 a car was coming along. Mr. Turner has told you of the rutting 
 up of the street by the omnibuses and the danger resulting there¬ 
 from ; and it is admitted by the Metropolitan company that the 
 omnibuses now do more harm to the rails than would be done to 
 them if the Citizens’ Line carried its passengers in cars on their 
 tracks. If that is so, why do they object to any common carrier 
 
23 
 
 using their tracks and doing them less damage, but paying them 
 a toll rather ? They have received their locations and the right 
 to put down their rails on condition that the city may allow any 
 other cars to run over them. The omnibuses are doing them 
 damage now, and wearing out their tracks and the streets, and 
 still they come here and object to the omnibus company running 
 cars on their lines. They run one wheel on now, why should they 
 not run on both ? These persons do not ask to go on gratis ; they 
 are willing to pay a fair compensation. That compensation would 
 probably be such a proportion of the interest on the outlay as the 
 tracks are used by these cars in proportion to .their own. The 
 principles are well fixed and well settled. This income and sav¬ 
 ing to them would enable them to reduce their price of fares and 
 carry cheaper, and it would be better for the public in that respect. 
 
 It has been testified to you that these omnibuses are noisy, that 
 the running of both cars and omnibuses in the same street is a 
 nuisance; and it is admitted; and the abatement of this nuisance 
 would be one public benefit that would result from the transfer 
 proposed. Indeed, so desirable is it to remove the omnibuses, that 
 the city of Boston made the second location of the Dorchester Av- 
 nue, the third location of the Middlesex, and the third location of 
 the Metropolitan railroads on the express condition that they shall 
 run no omnibuses within the city limits. [Mun. Beg., pp. 195, 
 104, 197.] And the Metropolitan company, in their annual re¬ 
 port for 1862, say “ that the pavement is often crushed by their 
 weight and momentum.” It is further agreed by all, that by allow¬ 
 ing the Citizens’ Line to run cars instead of omnibuses, they can 
 carry double the number of passengers with the same number of 
 vehicles, and by confining them to a fixed track, and by passing 
 them in a continuous line, the capacity of the narrow streets of 
 Boston will be largely increased. 
 
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 With all these inconveniences to be obviated and all these 
 advantages portrayed to you, what are the objections that have been 
 brought by this company to the granting of this charter ? They 
 have but two. The first is, that one car will loaf upon another. 
 
24 
 
 and there will be a delay in travel. Now this loafing, it is admitted 
 by their own witnesses, exists already on their tracks. Every one 
 who has been called to testify on this subject — Mr. Stiles, Mr. 
 Page, Mr. Studley, Mr. Bonney, Mr. Hathorne — testify that the 
 loafing comes from their own drivers; that it is the ambition and 
 rivalry between their own drivers that produces this loafing. They 
 say they loaf now on one another ; that the difficulty exists, and 
 they cannot stop it; and they testify that if any additional cars 
 were put on, the same loafing would take place. Then, it is in 
 evidence that there is no loafing when rival lines are permitted on 
 the same tracks. It is testified that the Broadway cars do not loaf, 
 and there has been no complaint on that ground. It is testified 
 that the omnibuses loaf more on cars than cars do on cars, and 
 he cars have no way of retaliating so as to force good conduct* 
 *T submit that this loafing would be stopped most effectually, by 
 more efficient regulations, if the money obtained by it went into 
 the pockets of different companies, not of one company alone. 
 
 The other objection that the Metropolitan company have made, 
 is that it is difficult to collect the compensation. Well, gentle¬ 
 men, the reason of that is set forth in the Report of the Metro¬ 
 politan railroad. They undertake to give the history of this diffi¬ 
 culty on page 12 of their Annual Report, (1862,) and I will 
 give you what they undertake to say. They state that their 
 claim upon the Broadway railroad has been left to commissioners 
 to hear the case and award compensation, and that those commis¬ 
 sioners award to them an annual toll of $2,396, “ which falls be¬ 
 low the reasonable expectations of your Directors.” They say, 
 “ They undertake to fix the cost of the tracks used by the Broad¬ 
 way line, exclude counsel fees from this computation, and add to 
 it all payments made by us for widening and paving the streets 
 upon the section in question, most of which we charge to current, 
 annual expenses. After aggregating these sums, they apportion 
 simple interest on the capital thus found, together with the annual 
 cost of maintaining the section, upon all the cars using the same; 
 and as the Broadway Railroad Company supply rather more than 
 one-fifth of the cars which traverse this section, they require that 
 company to pay to us one-fifth of such interest and cost of maintain- 
 ance, as an annual toll.” Now, of this fair compensation they 
 
25 
 
 complain, and they give this reason for it. They say, that “ In 
 fixing the toll upon steam railroads, under similar provisions of 
 law, it has been a very general practice not to pay interest upon 
 cost, but to give each railroad the greater part if not the whole of 
 the net earnings of others upon its line.” So, that it is the rapacity 
 of the Metropolitan company that has caused this difficulty in 
 getting their compensation; it is because they demand the whole 
 income earned on their road, and demand that railroad companies 
 should pay its costs of counsel and lobby in fighting them here, and 
 before the city government, although such companies are, at length, 
 the 'prevailing party. Then, they abuse the commissioners for hav¬ 
 ing awarded what I say is a just and fair sum. 
 
 Another objection suggested by one of the Committee is, that 
 the three hundred feet regulation cannot be observed. The evi¬ 
 dence is that it is not observed now, and cannot be ; and Mr. Speare 
 tells you it is an unwise regulation. But they admit they must 
 put on more cars, and can it be better observed if they and not we 
 put them on ? I apprehend that it would be better for the other 
 travel on the street if the cars went four or five together, rather 
 than singly. Let one car, going to the Norfolk House, one to 
 Warren street, one on the Citizens’ Line, and one to South Boston, 
 go together, and let them leave a thousand feet between them and 
 those that follow, instead of three hundred feet between each one, 
 and I submit that that would be infinitely better for other travel¬ 
 lers. They could pass much easier with such an arrangement than 
 by undertaking to dodge between them. It has been shown to 
 you that it is perfectly impracticable to keep them at equal dis¬ 
 tances, and that they do run along now very generally half a dozen 
 together, and then with a long interval; and I say that is altogether 
 the better way. They move at the rate of only four or five miles 
 an hour, and they can be stopped in half the length of a car. At 
 all events, if the companies do not regulate the matter, the city, 
 with whom it is left, will. 
 
 These are the only objections to the use of their track: loafing, 
 the three hundred feet regulation, and their not being able to col¬ 
 lect the required compensation. These are the only three objec¬ 
 tions that are urged against all these great public advantages. 
 They will let their track be ruined, as the president says in this 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 Report, by the crushing of the rails caused by the omnibuses pass¬ 
 ing of them ; they will let collisions occur ; they will keep anoth¬ 
 er common carrier dodging across the track when it meets a car 
 coming in the opposite direction ; they will let passengers endan¬ 
 ger their lives by undertaking to enter an omnibus or car when the 
 other vehicle is coming; they will let the noise and confusion that 
 arises from the omnibuses still continue to exist; they will pre¬ 
 vent the streets from affording the fullest accommodations possible, 
 by refusing to allow the omnibuses business to be transferred to 
 cars — and all because, they say, there may be some little loafing, 
 which already exists with them, because they cannot collect their 
 compensation, when the trouble is in their demanding the whole 
 earnings instead of a proportionate part of the interest on the out¬ 
 lay, and because of the three hundred feet ordinance, which they 
 do not observe and cannot observe. We must be deprived of the 
 use of the streets, to which we are entitled, the public be incom¬ 
 moded, and their own stockholders suffer, on groundless pretexts 
 like these. If they should save their tracks, if they would take 
 as compensation a fair proportion of the interest on the outlay, for 
 the parts of their track used, they could reduce their fares, and 
 pay as large a per centage as the omnibuses do now, or as the 
 Broadway company pays. 
 
 It has been represented here that the Metropolitan company 
 have recently increased their capital a hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars, making $750,000; and the supposition has been that it 
 was to provide cars and equipment for this route ; but on turning 
 to their Report you will find that they have used this capital to pay 
 debts with, to build a stable near the Norfolk House, to accomo¬ 
 date the West Roxbury route, and to build a grist mill! They 
 have not raised one dollar to provide for any new equipment, as 
 is shown by their Report. 
 
 COMPETITION. 
 
 • 
 
 But it is said that the granting of this charter will bring a com¬ 
 petitor into the field—that this will be a competing route. It is 
 now a competing route the whole distance to Cornhill, and has been 
 for four years and a half. If it is to be a competing route beyond 
 Cornhill to the depots and ferries, it will be a competition caused 
 
27 
 
 by their own action in getting a location for a railroad to the ferries 
 and depots on our route, when they already had one. The com¬ 
 petition is their competing against our route by coming on to our 
 line and trying to draw off from us the business which we have 
 developed. But grant that ours is a competing route ; all history 
 teaches that competition is the life of a people, monopoly its death. 
 To its continuance we in Boston must owe all the accommodations 
 we shall get at fair rates. The bill of last year, gentlemen, was in¬ 
 tended for more than simply to bring them into competition with us; 
 it was intended to drive us off entirely and destroy the route by filling 
 up the streets that we run through and endeavoring to get the Board 
 of Aldermen to drive us out of the way. I have now answered 
 every objection that has been brought to this route. I have shown 
 that they have no sort of claim to be heard at all, here, because they 
 took their locations upon the condition that the city might run any 
 other line of railroad that they thought proper on their track, and 
 that the city authorities, with whom they made their contract, are, 
 by our bill, to determine the question. I have shown, further, 
 that the loafing which is complained of exists on their own route 
 more than it does on any of the lines that run over it. I have 
 shown that the three hundred feet ordinance cannot be enforced ; 
 and that the reason they have not got their compensation readily is 
 because they demanded all the earnings of the road. 
 
 MONOPOLY. 
 
 I propose now to say something on the question of the 
 tendancy of this corporation. The great objection to the Metro¬ 
 politan company is that its whole purpose appears to have 
 been, from the outset, to destroy all competition, to establish a 
 monopoly of the transportation of passengers by horse railroads, 
 and to build up a company powerful enough to defy oppo¬ 
 sition, and control the government and legislature on this 
 subject of horse railroads. I say that this is the main tendency 
 and purpose of the company to-day; and that their opposition for 
 years to the request of the Citizens’ Line, for reasonable accommo¬ 
 dations, has arisen from this disposition. It will be remembered, 
 that in their first charter, they had the option granted them, 
 either to become a city railroad or an out of town railroad run- 
 
28 
 
 ning into the city. It provided that they might bring Roxbury 
 passengers into Boston through the city, or that they might build 
 their route wholly in the city ; and they elected to bring Roxbury 
 passengers in. That was the position they started on. Their first 
 route brought them into Boston to the Granary burial ground; 
 and in getting that location, they got a location over the three great 
 avenues at the South End, one of which, the Suffolk street, they 
 did not build, but they got the location to keep off ail competition ; 
 and the successive steps that they have taken since then have 
 been to get complete control of the carrying business and to 
 shut out competition. In pursuance of this plan, they have extend¬ 
 ed their tracks by location after location, eagerly seizing any that 
 the petitioners have, at hearings here, pointed out and asked for 
 themselves, and they have bought the Brookline road, and the 
 West Roxbury road, and have leased the Dorchester road, with 
 the right to purchase, and control all the roads that come in on 
 that side of the city. They mean, if they can compass it, to force 
 the Suffolk and Broadway to sell out to them, and the proof is that, 
 while they admit that the three corporations are now authorized to 
 run on our omnibus route and on the same tracks, they are con¬ 
 stantly harping on a necessity for one corporation to do the whole 
 carrying business in Boston. They lay down the principle here 
 that they must own them all, they must get control of them, 
 and that they shall surely swallow up any little road. They 
 offer to buy off the omnibuses; and the whole scope and object 
 of the corporation is to control the business, and that for the 
 purpose of keeping up the fares. Now, when these branch 
 roads that have not been opposed by the Metropolitan com¬ 
 pany have got their charters, they have usually had in them a 
 clause giving the corporations a right to sell, and members of the 
 Metropolitan company havd- themselves usually been corporators, 
 or interested in getting up these roads. Afterwards, they are sold 
 out to the Metropolitan, and when the Metropolitan has purchased 
 a road it adds the capital of that road to the capital given by its 
 charter. Its original capital was $500,000, and they claim now 
 that they have a capital of $1,200,000. On page 6, of their Re¬ 
 port for 1862, they say, “The company, by its charter and the 
 purchase of the franchises of the Brookline and West Roxbury 
 
29 
 
 railroad companies, appears to be empowered to hold a capital of 
 $1,200,000.” That is the statement Mr. Derby made. Now, if 
 they take that for their capital now, and if they buy the Dorchester 
 and Roxbury road, there would be $200,000 more; if they buy 
 the Suffolk road — and the Suffolk road seems to be ready to be 
 sold, its President seems to be of the opinion that all these smaller 
 roads are prepared to be swallowed, and that is their normal con¬ 
 dition, and the Suffolk road had a clause put into its charter giving 
 the company a right to sell — there would be $200,000 more ; and 
 if to that is added the Broadway road, there would be $250,000 
 more — making an aggregate of nearly $2,000,000 of capital. 
 
 Mr. Derby. All added by the Legislature. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Very well; that is one of the troubles — that 
 they get influence enough, through their large stockholders and 
 others, to overrule the voice of their small stockholders, and the 
 small stockholders are injured by their operations. Instead of be¬ 
 ing the most profitable line that could run, as profitable in propor¬ 
 tion as the omnibuses are, they do not get half the net profit that 
 they should from the field they have got. They get all their 
 stockholders to bear upon committees of the Legislature, to force 
 through their bills, and it is this that they seek — power as well as 
 profit. Why! now, we find them sending their stockholders, year 
 after year, to Committees and members of the Legislature, dinning 
 into their ears — “ you must take care of me! ” instead of regard¬ 
 ing what is for the public interest. 
 
 But it is by no means certain that one corporation, by buying 
 the franchise of another, which is authorized to sell, acquires the 
 corporate right to add the capital of the acquired corporation to its 
 own. 
 
 Now, it is very significant, that the Metropolitan road should 
 take this way of getting capital. In 1859, the Legislature passed 
 a bill allowing them to increase their capital $400,000, but 
 put in the condition that it should have the right to repeal, 
 amend, or annul their charter at any time ; and if the Metropolitan 
 company had accepted it, they would have come out from under 
 the protection of the fifty years’ grant, as they thought, and I have 
 never seen any record yet that that bill has been accepted by them. 
 They thought they should strengthen their position a little by hav- 
 
30 
 
 ing a charter running fifty years, and they would not accept that 
 bill, because the right was given to the Legislature to repeal their 
 charter. I think they would have done better to accept it, for the 
 power that the city of Boston retains of ordering up their rails, 
 would render their charter of little value in case of abuse; but 
 they did not do it, and so they seek by this roundabout way to get 
 up a capital and issue what they please. Thus they defy the Leg¬ 
 islature as to their amount of capital, as last winter they defied the 
 city of Boston, in removing the snow from their tracks, when 
 prohibited. Now, one would think, from the manner in which 
 the Legislature and the city government have passed upon 
 their fundamental rights, and upon the compact by which the 
 city allows them in the streets, that there would be an end 
 of their talk about vested rights ; but still they come before 
 every Legislature and say that there are certain rights vested 
 n them, that they have paid for them, that they have a right 
 to protection in them, and that neither the city government nor the 
 Legislature can lawfully allow anybody else to use the public 
 streets as they may find the public convenience requires, because 
 of their own vested rights. They promulgate this doctrine con¬ 
 stantly. It is a dangerous doctrine; and it was against this doc¬ 
 trine that the Suffolk and the Citizens’ Line contended last year. 
 The true principle was vindicated in the House and Senate, and 
 both bills would have been carried through the Senate had it not 
 been that, in an evil hour, the Suffolk company consented to a 
 compromise with the Metropolitan company to secure their rights, 
 and deserted the principle ; and this year they come in and 
 back up the Metropolitan company in the very doctrine that 
 they fought against last year. This shows the dangerous influ¬ 
 ence of these monopolies and of these corporations. Either 
 under a promise of purchase or of giving some exclusive ad¬ 
 vantages to them, or of aiding them, they have taken one 
 advocate of true and correct principles and brought it over to 
 advocate and sustain their false and dangerous policy. . And 
 they cheated the Suffolk company in the bargain. They con¬ 
 sented that they should have a circuit round through Boylston 
 street. That is the first thing. What has been the value of it to 
 them ? They have run it for a year, and the testimony is that they 
 
31 
 
 do not get five passengers a day on that route, and that it would 
 not pay them for the lubricating material they use on their wheels. 
 What else did they promise them ? They promised that they might 
 go up to the Providence depot, if the Metropolitan company got a 
 location. Well, they have got no location, and so the Suffolk 
 company have gained nothing there. They promised them that they 
 might go uf) to the Worcester and Old Colony depots, but they 
 caused the insertion of a clause into the bill providing that they 
 should not go there without the consent of the Broadway company, 
 and the Broadway company will not consent, so that the Suffolk 
 railroad can carry no passengers whatever from the North End to 
 the depots at the South End. All railroad companies now enter¬ 
 ing Boston were established to bring suburban passengers into the 
 city proper. It is in evidence that the Middlesex, Cambridge, 
 Broadway, and .all others but the Metropolitan and Suffolk, are 
 each content to develop and do the business for which they were 
 established. We think it would be for the public benefit for the 
 Suffolk to devote itself to develop and accommodate the business from 
 East Boston and its environs, with such as it may have on its way 
 to its best selected terminus. If it should unfortunately fall into 
 the hands of the Metropolitan Railroad, East Boston would be 
 treated as South End has been. The Metropolitan has an ample 
 field enough in Norfolk County, with such city travel as it 
 naturally takes on her city route. In trying to do more, she neg¬ 
 lects her established field. But we make no objection whatever to 
 any routes they may deem to be for the advantage of their passen¬ 
 gers or the public, and cheerfully offer in our bill all our routes to 
 them on the terms we ask from others. All the petitioners want 
 is equal rights. Our citizens ask a road solely for Boston proper 
 and considering that our streets have been heretofore so generously 
 given up to out of town roads, it would seem but little to give 
 them one road of their own. 
 
 ABUSE OF THEIR OPPONENTS. 
 
 There is another objection to the Metropolitan Railroad Com¬ 
 pany, and to its course of proceeding. When any persons or any 
 class of people advocate the true and correct principles of political 
 economy and of government, and when they dare to enter the field 
 
32 
 
 against their pretensions, they cover them with obloquy and abuse, 
 I refer to their Annual Report, under the head, “ Relations to the 
 Omnibus Line,” for proof of that position. They have, in this 
 report, propagated abuse and slander of the proprietors of the Citi¬ 
 zens’ Line. They have there represented these men as resorting 
 to political influence for the purpose of getting their bills 
 through. Of the Metropolitan, that tale is told. ^They have 
 stated that three successive committees of the Legislature 
 have been satisfied that it was not proper to grant this bill, 
 but still these men get some influential politicians to take hold of 
 the matter in their behalf, and they hope to sell out their line by 
 this means. The intimation is, that they are working only to sell 
 out their line of omnibuses. It is stated in this report that the 
 judgment of three Legislatures has been against us, and that is the 
 position that has been taken by counsel here to-night. How is that ? 
 The truth of the matter is, that while a majority of the committee, 
 having been in the interests of the Metropolitan or the Suffolk road, 
 have not given us a Report, an honest minority has always been 
 found to resist the influences that have been brought to bear, who 
 have given us a Report, and that Report has been, every time, car¬ 
 ried triumphantly through the House of Representatives. The 
 first year it was carried four to one ; the next year it was 
 carried by a very large majority, I should think a third or 
 more; and last year, even after having the Minority Report killed 
 in the Senate, by great effort on the part of the Metropolitan com¬ 
 pany (and I only state what I know), it was carried through the 
 House by a large majority. Its friends were in the majority in the 
 Senate, but it was taken up on an occasion when some were got 
 out of the way, and killed. Its opponents had not the courtesy to 
 allow it to be put over to another day, and decided on its merits. 
 I say that any bill which can stand against the Metropolitan com¬ 
 pany and its agents, brought here from every county in the State, 
 to use their influence against it, must have merit in it; this is the 
 evidence of its merits. 
 
 WANTS OF SOUTH END. 
 
 Now, we of Ward XI., and the South part of the city, are almost 
 unanimous on this subject. Every Representative we have had 
 
33 
 
 since I have lived in that Ward, of whatever party, has supported 
 this measure. The people sent more than 4000 signatures 
 one year to the petition, and last year 2500 of our best men signed 
 the petition, but the committee was of such conplexion on these 
 matters that it was not regarded. Now, the people of Ward XI. 
 have come here this year, asking to have justice done them in this 
 matter. The proprietors of the Citizens’ Line of omnibuses, and 
 the people of Ward XI. wish horse railroad facilities and the best 
 modes of transportation. That is what we ask at the hands of the 
 legislature. We say it is unjust that we should be obliged to sup¬ 
 port expensive lines in the country by our fare, when we could 
 have a line that would carry us for 3 cents the whole distance in 
 the city. We point to the Broadway railroad as an example. 
 They make 12J per cent, on less passengers than we carry. They 
 have only 24,000 population; we have these two large sections 
 with a population of 46,000 and 50,000 respectively, and we have 
 all these depots and ferries to carry from, and here are responsible 
 men who are willing that a clause should be inserted in the bill 
 providing that they shall carry between any two points in Boston 
 for 3J cents. We want a through city line at low fares. We say, 
 further, that; we are not coming in to set up a new business ; we 
 are doing the business now, and we ask from you the same privil¬ 
 eges that you give to others. If Malden, or Melrose, or Stoneham, 
 or Lexington, or West Cambridge, comes here and asks for a horse 
 railroad to do their business, you give it to them; but when these 
 petitioners who want railroad facilities between the North and 
 South End, come here and ask for them, not only for their own 
 benefit but for the benefit of people in the country who do busi¬ 
 ness in Boston, they are abused. We have had a specimen of that 
 abuse here. Mr. Thomas Adams, the late sheriff of Norfolk 
 County, and Mr. Moses Clark, have been abused because they sold 
 out Mr. King’s Boxbury line. What are the facts ? The estab¬ 
 lishment of the Metropolitan railroad had made the owner of this 
 line, which was worth $200,000, insolvent. Mr. Moses Clark and 
 Thomas Adams were assignees in insolvency, and they had to sell 
 the line of omnibuses to pay the insolvent’s debts. Its value was 
 so depreciated that it was not safe for the assignees to run it, 
 even if their authority had been adequate. The Metropolitan com- 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 pany bought it to remove competition and prevent competition. It 
 was not sold for private emolument. The money was distributed 
 among the creditors. Has that anything to do with this question ? 
 Then they say that Mr. Hobbs sold out his line to Mr. Hathorne. 
 He did; but that was before the railroad was thought of. They say 
 he gave a bond to Mr. Hathorne. If he has ever violated his bond, 
 Mr Hathorne has his legal remedy. He has never intimated such 
 wrong. Then they say that Mr. Hathorne sold out his old line of 
 omnibuses to them, and they have got bonds from him. If this evi¬ 
 dence had not been ruled out by the Committee, I might have shown 
 you how they cheated Mr. Hathorne, by getting his line, which cost 
 him $100,000, for $60,000, by false pretences ; how the stock was 
 watered , and go over that whole transaction, and put that thing 
 right; but it is only necessary to say to you that if they have got 
 Mr. Hathorne’s bonds, and if he has done them any wrong or any 
 damage, let him pay for it. If they could have shown in truth any 
 cause of action against him, they would have pursued him long 
 ago. But it is not so. It has been asserted that these men got 
 the Citizens’ Line up, but that is not so. The line was got up by 
 citizens of Ward XI., in consequence of the failure of the Metro¬ 
 politan company to give them accommodations. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 It is unpleasant to me, gentlemen, to have to say anything to 
 the disparagement of any corporation or any class of men ; but 
 when in their annual reports, in order to build up their monopoly, 
 they abuse not only their own referees for their judgment, but res¬ 
 pectable citizens of Boston, simply because they are in favor of 
 cheap fares and through routes, and are true to sound principles 
 of legislation, it becomes my duty to take notice of such efforts. 
 
 I am obliged to you, gentlemen for your attention. If I had 
 had time, I should have presented the facts of the case more clear¬ 
 ly, but I trust you will give this matter the consideration it de¬ 
 serves, and will be guided by nothing which counsel on either side 
 have said, unless it is supported by the evidence. In that case, 
 we shall be satisfied that you have done your duty, however your 
 results may accord with our convictions of what we are justly enti¬ 
 tled to receive at your hands, and at the hands of the Legislature. 
 
% 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Population of Southern, Northern, and Western extremes of Boston, to be 
 
 accommodated by proposed horse railroad, — Census of 1860: 
 
 SOUTH OF ESSEX AND BOYLSTON STREETS. 
 
 Ward XI.20,519 
 
 “ X.13,430 
 
 “ IX. 10,428 
 
 “ VIII. (h) . 6,365 
 
 Rapidly increasing. 50,742 
 
 NORTH OF STATE, COURT, AND CAMBRIDGE STREETS. 
 
 Ward I. 17,189 
 
 “ III.14,901 
 
 “ V. 10,425 
 
 “ IV. (h) . 3,524 
 
 46,039 
 
 Increase in Ward XI. from 1850 to 1860. 10,039 
 
 Population outside of city accommodated by Metropolitan railroad : 
 
 Dorchester... 9,769 
 
 Roxbury.25,137 
 
 Brookline. 5,164 
 
 West Roxbury. 6,310 
 
 46,380 
 
 Increase from 1850 to 1860. 17,531 
 
 Population accommodated by Cambridge railroad and branches (Union R. R.) : 
 Cambridge, Brighton, Watertown, West Cambridge, excluding 
 
 Newton. 35,386 
 
 Increase from 1850 to 1860.. 13,766 
 
 Population accommodated by Suffolk: 
 
 East Boston.19,356 
 
 Rapidly increasing. 
 
 Population accommodated by Broadway. 24,921 
 
 Rapidly increasing. 
 
 Daily travel on railroads and ferries in and out of Boston, as given by the com¬ 
 panies (by estimate), for 1862 : 
 
 SOUTH END. ,- trains.—^ ,-passengers. -s 
 
 Arrive. Depart. Total. Arrive. Depart. Total. 
 
 Worcester railroad. 32 33 65 2,195 2,261 4,456 
 
 Providence railroad. 21 21 42 1,700 1,700 3,400 
 
 Old Colony railroad. 15 15 30 1,500 1,500 3,000 
 
 Total. 5,395 5,461 10,865 
 
3 0112 062230443 
 
 36 
 
 WEST END. 
 
 Lowell railroad. 
 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 1,591 
 
 1,591 
 
 3,182 
 
 Eastern railroad. 
 
 ...13 
 
 13 
 
 26 
 
 2,480 
 
 2,480 
 
 4,960 
 
 Boston and Maine railroad 
 
 ...21 
 
 21 
 
 42 
 
 2,753 
 
 2,753 
 
 5,506 
 
 3,800 
 
 Fitchburg railroad. 
 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 1,900 
 
 1,900 
 
 Total.. 
 
 
 
 
 8,824 
 
 8,824 
 
 17,648 
 
 NORTH END. 
 
 Chelsea Ferry, about. 
 
 
 
 
 
 3,750 
 
 7,590 
 
 East Boston Ferry, about.. 
 
 
 
 
 
 2,489 
 
 4,978 
 
 People’s Ferry, about. 
 
 
 
 
 ... 2,700 
 
 2,700 
 
 5,400 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 
 
 ... 8,939 
 
 8,939 
 
 17,878 
 
 Railroads and ferries bring daily to the city.23,158 
 
 “ “ carry daily from the city. 23,224 
 
 Total to and from the city daily. 46,386 
 
 Number arriving and departing at Southern depots .. .*.10,856 
 
 “ “ “ western and northern depots and ferries, 35,530 
 
 CITIZENS’ LINE OF OMNIBUSES. Established Sept. 6, 1858. 
 
 Runs 15 hours, 28 omnibuses, 21 sleighs, 160 horses. Licensed by city of Bos¬ 
 ton for 25 omnibuses. 
 
 ROUTES. 
 
 1. Concord street through West End to Charlestown bridge. 
 
 2. Concord street through West End to East Cambridge bridge. 
 
 3. Concord street to Chelsea Ferry. 
 
 DAILY TRIPS. 
 
 1. South End to West End and Charlestown bridge, 160 trips, 320 passages. 
 
 2. South End to West End and East Cambridge bridge, 20 trips, 40 passages. 
 
 3. South End to North End and Chelsea Ferry, 60 trips, 120 passages. 
 
 Total, 240 round trips, 480 passages, — passing an omnibus through Washington 
 
 street, down or up, every two minutes. 
 
 Accommodation provided, (12 seats to a coach: 
 
 West End and depot routes.2,160 each way, 4,320 
 
 North End and ferry routes. 720 “ “ 1,440 
 
 Total daily seats.5,760 
 
 Receipts for 12 months ending January 1, 1862 . $61,650 29 
 
 Profits, between $10,000 and $12,000. 
 
 Price of fares (all through), 5 cents single passage. Tickets, 7 for 25 cents; 
 29 for $1.00 
 
 Passengers for year ending January 1, 1862. 1,541,257