OPENING ARGUMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. MOODY MERRILL 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 COMMITTEE ON STREET-RAILWAYS, 
 
 FOR THE REMONSTRANTS, 
 
 AGAINST THE PETITIONS OF L. A. BIGELOW AND OTHERS, 
 AND CHARLES E. POWERS AND OTHERS, FOR 
 ACTS OF INCORPORATION AS ELEVATED 
 RAILWAY COMPANIES, 
 
 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1879. 
 
 REPORTED BY GEORGE C. BURPEE. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 3&antj, ^berg, & Co., Printers to tfje ®flmm 0 ntoeattf), 
 
 117 Franklin Street, 
 
 1879. 
 
Commerce. 2- 1 6 TauW D £ 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Committee, — 
 I suppose, on the matter of a petition of this character, it is 
 incumbent upon the petitioners to satisfy the committee and 
 the legislature that there is a public necessity or demand for 
 the granting of the charter asked for. Until they can satisfy 
 you that there is a public necessity, an exigency for the crea- 
 tion of such a charter, they fail in their petition. Now, as I 
 proceed, allow me first to consider the evidence, and its char- 
 acter,, that has been introduced here to show that there is 
 a public necessity in the city of Boston for such a charter. 
 The only evidence that has been introduced, so far as I have 
 heard, is the mere statement of the leading petitioner, Mr. 
 Powers, that the horse-railroads are all limited in the accom- 
 modations which they can furnish the inhabitants of the city. 
 He cites the Middlesex Railroad as having carried during the 
 past year about forty passengers per round trip. He says 
 they are having continual complaints, and requests for the 
 running of more cars, and better accommodations ; but they 
 are unable to furnish them on account of the orders of the 
 Board of Aldermen. Now, I think if the president of the 
 Middlesex Railroad would apply to the Board of Aldermen, 
 and say there is a public exigency for running more cars into 
 # the city as far as Scollay Square, his petition would be 
 1 granted without delay. I admit there was an order passed 
 last fall by the Board of Aldermen, limiting the street-rail- 
 ways in the number of cars which they could run around the 
 Cornhill circuit. I was present in the Board at the time ; and 
 I remember of suggesting to Mr. Powers, that, so far as limit- 
 ing the number of his cars to Scollay Square was concerned, 
 the chairman of the Board had said he did not intend to 
 limit them to that point ; and he had better speak to the 
 chairman, and have that struck out of the order. 
 
 P 
 
 243?t> 
 
4 
 
 Mr. Powers. In reply, I will say that I tried to have it 
 struck out, but they would not do it : they restricted us so 
 that we could not run the cars to Scollay Square that we 
 had previously run. 
 
 The Chairman. Mr. Merrill has the floor. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I am very glad to have interruption as I 
 proceed. If I am wrong, I am willing to be interrupted. 
 What I want is to state the facts honestly ; if I am not cor- 
 rect, I want to be corrected on the spot. Now, the Highland 
 Company can run cars as far as Temple Place without limit, 
 but we can run only a limited number around the Cornhill 
 circuit. If there is a demand in Charlestown for more cars, 
 
 I have no doubt that before next Monday night Mr. Powers 
 can get the Board of Aldermen to pass an order to allow him 
 to run the necessary number of cars to accommodate his 
 patrons as far as Scollay Square. 
 
 Mr. Powers. They won’t do it : I have asked them to 
 do it. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Not this Board of Aldermen? 
 
 Mr. Powers. ' Not this Board, to be sure. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. No board of aldermen, you can be assured, 
 would refuse to allow any company to run a sufficient num- 
 ber of cars to accommodate its patrons within certain limits 
 of the city, where there is no crowd ; and Mr. Powers 
 knows it. 
 
 Now let us look at the accommodations which are being 
 furnished by the other street-railways, for a moment. He 
 says that during the past year they have carried at the rate 
 of forty passengers per round trip. How is it with the High- 
 land and Metropolitan roads, which accommodate the South 
 End and the Highlands ? The average number of passengers 
 carried by the Metropolitan during the past year was less * 
 than thirty-two per round trip ; those carried by the High- 
 land were less than thirty-five per round trip. These com- 
 panies, which accommodate at least three-quarters of all the 
 people of the city in the matter of horse-railroad travel, can 
 accommodate at least six passengers more per round trip on 
 the average before you get them up to the number that he 
 carries in his cars. And, when you consider that these two 
 companies make three thousand trips per day, you will see 
 that they are able to cany something like eighteen thousand 
 
5 
 
 people per day more without increasing the number of cars 
 or the number of trips run. That shows you the accommo- 
 dation that is afforded with the number of cars that are run 
 to-day. 
 
 Now, besides the accommodations with which the city is 
 already furnished by way of their street-railways, we must 
 consider that within ten minutes’ walk of the centre of the 
 city, or the business portion, we have steam-railroad com- 
 munication entirely surrounding the city. You go to the 
 south, and you find the stations of the Providence Railroad, 
 the Boston & Albany, Old Colony, and New-York & New- 
 England, all within five or ten minutes of City Hall. You 
 find on the north side the Boston & Maine Railroad, the 
 Eastern, the Fitchburg, and the Boston & Lowell stations, 
 all centering within five or ten minutes walk of City Hall. 
 Now, how is it in New York? In New York there is no 
 steam communication within four or five miles of the City 
 Hall or the Battery. When you arrive at the Grand Central 
 Depot, you must then go four miles by horse-cars before you 
 can get to the centre or business portion of the city. When 
 you go to Harlem, where there is substantially no steam- 
 communication with down town, it is eight or ten miles, 
 and the only accommodation was by the street-cars. And you 
 know, if you have been to New York, that the street-car 
 accommodations in that city are greatly inferior to those in 
 the city of Boston. There is no city in the country, and I 
 may say there is none in the world, that is furnished with so 
 much and so good horse-railway accommodation as the city 
 of Boston. 
 
 Now I sa}r, if you take away the street-car accommodation 
 from the citizens of Boston, it is something that they would 
 not be satisfied to have done. I want to impress upon your 
 minds this fact, that, if you establish a system of elevated 
 railways in the city of Boston, you establish it at the cost 
 of the entire annihilation of the street-railways. If you 
 incorporate a company to furnish street-railway accommoda- 
 tions with elevated roads, with six millions of capital, it 
 strikes out of existence six or seven millions of capital 
 already in use for the accommodation of the people of 
 Boston. It is not the province of the legislature of Massa- 
 chusetts to pass any act which shall strike out of existence 
 
6 
 
 and annihilate or even jeopardize the interests of any corpo- 
 ration which has already been chartered for that purpose. 
 You have no right, when you have given me a charter to 
 furnish and to do certain things, unless I neglect and refuse 
 to furnish and do those certain things, to grant any charter 
 that is going to jeopardize or destroy the rights which you 
 have already granted. It is not within the province, and it 
 is not the policy, of the legislature, to inflict upon any rights 
 and privileges it has already given, a charter which is to de- 
 stroy rights already granted. It is your duty to guard that 
 interest, and to protect it ; and that is the purpose for which 
 you assemble here in this State House. When we come to 
 the matter of this petition, I wish to convince you that if 
 you pass an act of this kind you must consider that you 
 wipe out of existence the street-railway accommodations of 
 the city of Boston; and it is for you to judge whether the 
 people will be as well accommodated with the elevated road 
 as with the street-railways and the steam-railways as they 
 run, and environ the entire city. Boston is so situated 
 that she is encircled by steam-railway accommodations ; and 
 this fact we shall show by witnesses, and by a map which we 
 have prepared. 
 
 I wish you to understand that what I state to be the effect 
 upon these horse-railroads is not a myth or an assertion of 
 mine. It has been asserted, I know, that it has not materially 
 affected the street-railway companies in New York. I think 
 both petitioners have proceeded upon the assumption that it 
 has not materially affected them. In the early part of January 
 I learned from one of the petitioners, Mr. Powers, that it had 
 not affected them. Notwithstanding his assertion, I failed to 
 see how it was possible it could be so ; and I consequently 
 went on to New York for the purpose of ascertaining the 
 truth. I visited the street-railway companies, and I found 
 that one of these companies where this elevated railway 
 runs, — I would like to have }^ou mark this, — which had 
 earned $850,000 for the year before this elevated road was 
 built, after the elevated road commenced running its cars, 
 there was a reduction the first month in their receipts of 
 $11,384; the second month, $12,376; the third month, 
 $14,500; the fourth month, $17,300 ; the fifth month, $22,000 : 
 which makes for five months a loss of $77,760; and for the 
 
7 
 
 subsequent months it was in even a greater ratio. I was in- 
 formed by Mr. Powers that these companies had taken off their 
 one-horse cars, for the reason that their roads were so slightly 
 affected that they thought it was not necessary to run them, 
 and they could go back to the two-horse system. I asked 
 the president of one of the companies ; and he said they had 
 not taken them off, and the reason they did not take off any 
 more of the two-horse cars, and put on the one-horse, was 
 because their property was going “where the woodbine 
 twineth,” and the result would be that they could not go to 
 the expense to change. 
 
 Mr. Powers. Didn’t they take them all off? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. They are running all of them now ; but 
 did not make the entire change they proposed, for the reason 
 I have stated. 
 
 Mr. Powers. Not one : they were not yesterday. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Now, this is the effect of the elevated road 
 on this horse-railwa}^. What has been the result on the other 
 horse-railways and coach-lines? Not only has the bad effect 
 been seen on the horse-railways alone, but it has affected the 
 Broadway and Fifth-avenue coach lines fifteen and twenty 
 per cent in their receipts. That has been made public in the 
 newspapers. The presidents of the horse-railways said to 
 me, if anybody should come to them they should say, “ Ob, 
 we are all right.” “ It don’t do for us to let the impression go 
 around, that we are going to ruin. We tell it you as a rail- 
 road man, and you mustn’t use it so as to have it get back 
 to New York.” 
 
 Mr. Powers. What corporation ? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I will not tell you at present : I will tell 
 you and the committee in private. 
 
 Mr. Powers. Do you pretend to say it was any one of 
 the horse-railroad companies ? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I will tell you in private. 
 
 Mr. Powers. They tell me a different story. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. They never told you any thing about it, 
 for you never asked them : you would be afraid to, for it 
 would hurt your case. I do not care to tell it so that it will 
 get into the papers. I will go with you and the committee 
 to New York, and pay half the expenses of the committee 
 if you will pay the other half, and visit all of the railways 
 
8 
 
 and the property-owners, if there is any controversy about 
 the statements I make. I do not wish to state any thing to 
 the committee but what is true, and what I can back up. 
 
 Mr. Powers. All I have to say is, that yesterday I had 
 conversation with every one of these men. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Were you in New York yesterday? 
 
 Mr. Powers. I was. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Then we shall have to go on, for I don’t 
 believe a word you say. 
 
 Mr. Powers. I am ready to go any time. We will accept 
 your invitation. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Will you pay half the expense? (Mr. 
 Powers didn't answer .) 
 
 Understand, gentlemen of the committee, the figures I 
 have given you are from the books of the corporations. I state 
 that to the committee, but I ask the reporters not to make 
 any note of it, for I agreed not to have it appear in print in 
 the newspapers. 
 
 Mr. Powers. Do you pretend to say that you took these 
 figures from their books ? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I have made my statement, and there it 
 stands or falls. 
 
 Mr. Powers. It is a simple question whether you did or 
 not. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I have made my statement. 
 
 Mr. Powers. You say they came from the books? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I say I have made the statement. Any 
 statement I make, you can appoint any committee to go on 
 and prove ; and I will go with you, and pay half the ex- 
 penses. Now we will come to one more of these street- 
 railways. One of these elevated railways was opened in 
 August. In the month of October this street-railway com- 
 pany that had been accustomed to carry in the month of 
 October from three millions to three millions and a half of 
 passengers, carried during last October, after the elevated 
 railroad was opened, 1,461,878 passengers less than it did the 
 same month of the year previous. The elevated railroad 
 there, according to the reports of their managers, carried 
 over 1,900,000 passengers during that month, making an 
 increase of 600,000 passengers by the increased facilities. 
 It is well known by the people of New York that the Third- 
 
9 
 
 avenue railroad has been for years entirely incompetent to 
 accommodate the passengers on that line. They run cars 
 there on fifteen seconds headway, and the}^ did so for years ; 
 and with fifteen seconds headway it was impossible for them 
 to carry all the passengers. And, as Mr. Powers has already 
 stated to you, they pay thirty-six per cent annually on their 
 entire capital. Now, you can see that the company that 
 pays thirty-six per cent on its capital stock can lose one-thivd 
 of their travel, and still remain in existence. I have never 
 doubted that there was one street-railway in New York (the 
 Third avenue) that could exist, notwithstanding the ele- 
 vated railroad, and pay its six or eight per cent dividends. 
 
 Mr. Whittier. Do you think that because it is chartered 
 it ought not to be interfered with ? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I will say so, if it is doing its duty, and 
 furnishing the accommodations that are required, and satis- 
 fying the public. So you see a company paying thirty-six 
 per cent can lose one-third of its patronage, and still exist, 
 and pay six or eight per cent. I think you will find that the 
 company Mr. Fowler alluded to the other day can probably 
 maintain their road, and pay seven or eight per cent. 
 
 Mr. Powers. They pay quarterly, and paid that the last 
 quarter. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I understand ; but up to that time the 
 elevated road had been in operation but a short time. They 
 paid their dividend out of accumulated earnings then, but do 
 not know when they will pay another. 
 
 Mr. Powers. I have the facts. They earned fifteen per 
 cent, paid nine per cent to their stockholders, and their presi- 
 dent 120,000. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Well, we won’t have any controversy 
 about it. 
 
 Mr. Powers. I have got the figures. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Why don’t you give them, then ? 
 
 Mr. Powers. I will, before I get through. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. You ought to have given them in the first 
 place. 
 
 Mr. Powers. I did not think it was necessary then. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. You haven’t got any, or you would. 
 Now, for instance, there is another elevated railroad, which, 
 according to its own report, on one of the avenues, is getting 
 
10 
 
 a large share of public travel, — important enough from the 
 fact that on such an avenue the street-railway company now 
 only carries five thousand passengers daily, while the elevated 
 railway carries thirteen thousand daily. Now I am showing 
 you what the effect is upon the street-railways in New York. 
 Now, suppose we have an elevated railroad in Boston, run- 
 ning as they propose the whole length of Washington Street ; 
 with the street-railways, as you have already heard, now 
 struggling to pay their six and eight per cent with all the 
 business. How much travel have they got to lose in order to 
 make these companies non-paying companies? Suppose an 
 elevated railroad running as they propose up and down 
 Washington Street from Grove Hall to Haymarket Square, 
 and suppose they should cam fifteen or twenty thousand 
 passengers per day, — we will say twenty thousand, — that 
 would be at five cents fare about a thousand dollars a day, 
 or about $360,000 per year. I claim that if the elevated 
 railroad should carry that number, the road itself would not 
 pay expenses. But it would take one thousand dollars per 
 day from the Highland and Metropolitan roads. Now, the 
 Highland paid $24,000 in dividends during the last year. 
 The Metropolitan paid $120,000. We will suppose they paid 
 $150,000 in dividends, and that is all they earned. Now, if 
 you take out this thousand dollars a day, you are not only 
 going to take away their dividends, but how long will it be 
 before the capital is used up to pay expenses ? One thing is 
 sure : that, if you are going to have an elevated railroad in 
 the city of Boston, you must go to an elevated system alone 
 to accommodate the public travel. You cannot have the two, 
 in my* judgment. Now, if you are going to have the elevated 
 railway system to furnish accommodations for public travel, 
 you have got to have all the lines which Mr. Powers marks 
 out in his bill. Now, I do not believe that the people of 
 Boston desire a system of elevated railroads for the purpose 
 of furnishing the public with their sole method of transit. 
 It might be urged, perhaps, if it could be done independent 
 of any injurious effect it might have upon property. If you 
 could establish an elevated railroad, and still maintain the 
 street-railways, perhaps it would be a public convenience in 
 some cities ; although I do not think that it would be any 
 great advantage in Boston, because we are so surrounded 
 
11 
 
 with rapid transit already. Look at Grove Hall, the point 
 from which the Highland cars start ; in five minutes’ walk 
 you can take a steam -railway car on the New-England road. 
 People over to the Norfolk House can take the Boston & 
 Providence railroad-cars in five minutes’ walk. When you 
 go to Dorchester you can take the Old Colony cars, and be 
 landed between five and ten minutes’ walk of where you 
 want to go down town. When you go out on the north 
 of the city four or five miles, — the same distance that the 
 Grand Central Depot is from the business centre of New 
 York, — you will find stations there that will take you to with- 
 in five minutes’ walk of the centre of the city of Boston. 
 Then, I say, I do not see any public exigency or demand for 
 an elevated railroad, independent of its effect upon the 
 street-railways and other property. Why, the petitioners have 
 not introduced a single word of testimony to say that there 
 is any necessity for it. From up and down Warren and 
 Washington streets, from Grove Hall to Hay market Square, 
 has he brought anybody, has he brought man, woman, or 
 child, to testify that they want an elevated railroad ? I have 
 as little sentiment as anybody in the world, and I never was 
 placed in a position before where I had any regard for senti- 
 ment. But, gentlemen, my residence that I have built my- 
 self, and fitted up myself, with a hundred feet front on 
 Warren Street, is situated within five hundred feet of where 
 Mr. Powers proposes to build his terminal station. It is just 
 as pretty a place, probably, — there is one member of the 
 committee who has visited it, — as any in the Highlands. I 
 like it, and I have set out trees about it. If this road goes 
 along on my sidewalk, it will destroy my trees and my prop- 
 erty. Of course I have some sentiment in regard to that. 
 Now, I say, if you cannot find any one in the Highlands who 
 desires this as a mode of transit, why should you inflict such 
 a thing upon them ? If they say that they have got suffi- 
 cient accommodations there now, why should any one come 
 in here, and ask for an act of incorporation to give them 
 accommodations which they do not want ? You will not grant 
 a charter of this kind unless there is some public demand for 
 it. You will not grant it to please Mr. Powers or anybody 
 else who would like to build an elevated railroad to please 
 themselves. 
 
12 
 
 Now, passing from the effect it might have upon street- 
 railways, what effect will it have upon real property ? That 
 is one thing to be carefully considered. I was going to say, 
 before I proceeded, that if Mr. Powers can’t furnish accom- 
 modations to the people of Charlestown, with his horse-rail- 
 way, why don’t he apply for the right to build an elevated 
 railroad from Haymarket Square or Scollay Square to Charles- 
 town and Somerville, and let his people have a taste of it? 
 and if they find that it is a good thing, and they like it, and 
 it does not hurt his street-railway, then let us have it up in 
 the Highlands. Why should he want to put this boil on the 
 back of somebody’s else neck, if he thinks it such a nice 
 thing to have ? 
 
 Mr. Powers. Mr. Chairman, I am asking for that very 
 thing : other people with myself have asked for it. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Who has asked for it? 
 
 Mr. Powers. A large number. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Who are they? Here is Mr. Calvin A. 
 Richards, who lives on the Back Bay ; and he says he don’t 
 want it, and that there is no necessity for it. 
 
 Mr. Powers. If they examine him, we will take his 
 statement. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Mr. Chaffee lives in Cambridge. Mr. 
 Emery, President of the Union Road, says he would like a 
 charter, but is against its enforcement ; of course he don’t 
 want it built. Then Mr. A. F. Breed of Lynn, he does not 
 say that he wants it. Mr. W. F. Sears, I do not know 
 where he lives. I don’t know where William T. Hart lives, 
 but he don’t want it. Mr. S. A. Carle ton, he don’t live out 
 our way. 
 
 Mr. Powers. He lives at the South End. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Whereabouts? 
 
 Mr. Powers. Near the Roxbury line. 
 
 A Member of the Committee. He lives on Rutland 
 Square. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Our Highland cars bring him in twelve 
 minutes to Temple Place. That is not very long. If he 
 wants an elevated railroad, why don’t he come here, and tell 
 us why ? I don’t know as I object to one in Charlestown. 
 
 Mr. Powers. W ell, Mr. Merrill, I have asked for it ; and 
 if the committee see fit to grant that part of our petition, we 
 will take it. 
 
13 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Then my argument is for it in that direc- 
 tion. I say, if he wants it over there, I dofft know as I 
 object to it. I will say here, however, that, if there is to be 
 an elevated railroad, I think it is proper and right that the 
 street-railways should have authority to build it. I think 
 that the street-railway companies should be authorized, with 
 the consent of property-owners and the Board of Aldermen, 
 to construct this when it is necessary to be done. I don’t 
 think you will grant a charter with six million dollars capital 
 for somebody to ruin six or seven millions of other capital 
 already in use. 
 
 Mr. Powers. You don’t mean to advocate this. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I have prepared a bill of that kind. I 
 mean that the street-railways should be authorized, under 
 certain conditions and restrictions, to furnish these accommo- 
 dations when the public require it. It is a very simple bill, 
 to say that the street-railways are authorized, under certain 
 restrictions, to construct, maintain, and operate an elevated 
 railroad in the city of Boston. It seems to me the street-rail- 
 ways ought to have the opportunity, if the time ever comes. 
 If there should be a necessity, I do not think you ought to 
 wipe the street-railway* property out of existence, and allow 
 some new corporation to come in. I do not believe in the 
 policy of wiping out of existence a large amount of capital, 
 and bringing in new capital, unless the exigency absolutely 
 demands it. I am sure, gentlemen, so far as the interests of 
 my own corporation are concerned, — of course Mr. Powers 
 and I are two different persons, — but I do not believe that 
 I should accept a charter with my name in it, which I thought 
 was going to jeopardize the interests of my stockholders. I 
 have not the right to do it. I do not believe that I have any 
 right personally to sign a petition or ask for any thing that 
 may be of advantage to me, that is going to affect or jeopar- 
 dize the interests of my stockholders. I am put at the head 
 of the company as their guardian, and it is my duty to pro- 
 tect their interests. I have no right to put myself in any posi- 
 tion, or to become a member of any corporation, which might 
 influence me in any way, or would have any effect upon me, 
 to make my personal interests antagonistic to those of my 
 corporation. So that, as head of the Highland Railway Cor- 
 poration, I feel that I am bound to look upon every thing that 
 
14 
 
 I do personally just the same as I do officially. I have no 
 right to do any thing in. my personal capacity, unless I am 
 satisfied that it does not unfavorably affect the interests I 
 have been appointed to guard and protect. 
 
 Mr. Powers. I stand squarely on that, Mr. Merrill. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. We must differ on that. I claim that there 
 has been no public exigency shown for the granting of this 
 petition. There is nobody who wants it even now, and cer- 
 tainly no one could be found that would want it if it was to 
 do away with the street-railways. The question, then, is, 
 wdiether public necessity will warrant you in giving an act 
 that will deteriorate or injure a large amount of property. 
 To show you what the feeling of the people who own property 
 along this proposed line is, a remonstrance has been circulated 
 by one person for a very short time ; and I think he found 
 only one or two who refused to sign it, and they said they 
 did not care about it because they did not own any property 
 on the proposed line. I here present the remonstrance of 
 property-holders on Washington and Warren Streets and vi- 
 cinity, where it is proposed to build this road. First I will 
 present one signed by Nathaniel J. Bradlee, Charles Henry 
 Parker, Moses Williams, Harvey Jewell, Samuel C. Cobb, 
 William Sheafe, J. Ingersoll Bowditch, Edward Austin, Robert 
 M. Mason, Charles U. Cotting, William Minot, Francis V. 
 Balch, William Gaston, Peter C. Brooks, John L. Gardner, 
 C. F. Hovey & Co., Bigelow, Kennard, & Co., J. T. Brown 
 & Co., Shreve, Crump, & Low, Hogg, Brown, & Taylor, 
 Oliver Ditson & Co., John J. Clarke, Lemuel Shaw, Franklin 
 Haven, Henry Lee, William S. Dexter, J. T. Bailey, Edward 
 A. White, C. R. Ransom, Fred H. Bradlee, Jonathan French, 
 J. D. W. French, Otis Norcross, John Foster, Thomas B. Hall, 
 Edward D. Sohier, Charles A. Welch, Daniel W. Williams, 
 S. D. Weld French, Charles Rollins, W. J. R. Evans, Faxon 
 Brothers, Charles W. Galloupe, H. H. Hunnewell, C. W. 
 Loring, Thomas E. Proctor, Eben B. Phillips, John Amory 
 Lowell, John Jeffries, Thomas Wigglesworth, Peleg W. 
 Chandler, Henry G. Denny, Orlando Tompkins, Edward I. 
 Browne, W. Sohier, W. B. Spooner, E. Pierson Beebe, Trustee 
 Leonard Ware. These gentlemen represented taxable prop- 
 erty, May 1, 1878, amounting to $50,818,700. I will read 
 the remonstrance : — 
 
15 
 
 44 The undersigned, citizens and owners of real estate in the 
 city of Boston, respectfully represent that there is no public 
 necessity whatever for an elevated railroad ; and we most 
 earnestly protest and remonstrate against the granting of any 
 charter or privilege to any individuals or corporations to con- 
 struct or maintain an elevated railroad in or through any 
 street or avenue in the city of Boston.” 
 
 I present to you another of the same character, headed by 
 Peabody & Whitney, — a long petition from the owners of 
 property and doing business on Washington Street only, rep- 
 resenting, May 1, 1878, $5,294,700. Here is still another of 
 property-owners at the Highlands, on Warren Street, headed 
 by Samuel Little, and representing $3,294,200. These peti- 
 tions represent a total of $59,381,300 worth of property. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, in regard to the injury to property, I 
 would like to say : On my visit to New York about the 15th 
 of January, I took pains to inquire into the effect of the 
 elevated railroads upon property. And let me say that if 
 any gentleman should go to New York, who is not interested 
 in property, but who is in a huny, and wants to go down 
 town and get back so as to take the train for home that night, 
 he would find the elevated railroad a great convenience, and 
 when he got back to Boston he would say, 44 What a great thing 
 the elevated railroad is ! ” But anybody who goes there for 
 that purpose does not consider the injury to property : he 
 thinks it is a fine thing, and it is a great convenience. But 
 what may be a great, convenient, and an excellent thing in 
 New York "is not an excellent thing in the city of Boston. 
 There is a necessity for some system of rapid transit in New 
 York, but I think the people of that city think they made a 
 great mistake in adopting this elevated road. I saw a piece 
 of property on Fifty-third Street, which a gentleman paid 
 $30,000 for one year ago last August. He bought it for a resi- 
 dence ; but, when he found the elevated railroad was going 
 through that street, he sold it for $10,000. On Third Avenue 
 between Fiftieth and Sixtieth Streets, a gentleman sold a piece 
 of property for which he was offered $37,000 nine months 
 before : he sold it last November, for $17,000. I found the 
 depreciation of property so great on the lines of the elevated 
 roads, that I thought of -getting these owners to come on here 
 to testify ; but I found it was going to be a great expense, 
 
16 
 
 and I went and employed a stenographic reporter to go 
 around among business men of all classes on Third and Sixth 
 Avenues, Pearl Street, and Fifty-third Street, — among real- 
 estate owners, bank presidents, and every class of people, to 
 take a stenographic report of what they said. I told him I 
 would like to have him give me the testimony of at least 
 twenty-five, and I did not care if it was even fifty. He com- 
 menced on the 20th, and sent me on a hatch, about the 25th, 
 of thirty-five witnesses. He sent word he did not know as I 
 wanted to get more, but, if I did, it was good, and he would 
 like to get it. I told him to go on, and get another batch. So 
 he commenced, and worked a week longer, and then sent me 
 a batch of testimony from fifty-five witnesses. Now, gentle- 
 men, I would like to read some of this testimony. 
 
 Mr. Powers. I respectfully submit, that, if this is the 
 kind of testimony we propose to hear, this hearing will be 
 interminable. I will agree to furnish ten to his one in that 
 way. 
 
 The Chairman. This is substantially the same thing 
 we have had all the way through. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. You made statements from persons with- 
 out giving their names : I will give you authority for every 
 thing I read. You read statements from newspapers, and did 
 not give the names of the parties. 
 
 Mr. Powers. The statements I made were from New- 
 York railroad-companies that are obliged to make their re- 
 ports every month. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I have been very careful about these. 
 These are phonographic statements. If you see fit, I can tele- 
 graph the phonographer, and have him come here and swear 
 that he took them. I have had taken the name of each 
 person, his business, and his residence. It is perfectly com- 
 petent, and I will agree to go at any time with Mr. Powers, 
 and pay half the expenses, and give him an opportunity to 
 cross-examine these witnesses. I believe, after making that 
 offer, I ought to be allowed to put in some of them. I give 
 in every instance the name of the person, his business, and 
 where he can be found. This stenographer could have gone 
 on with his work until now without a lack of material, but I 
 felt that you would not want to listen to so much of it. 
 Now I will read some of these statements. 
 
17 
 
 Mr. Powers. I would like to inquire whether the sten- 
 ographer made his own selection. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I will give the numbers and the streets 
 as I read ; and the committee can see how they are situated 
 on the street, and whether they are scattered or together. 
 
 Mr. Welch. I cannot see why these are not better than 
 the newspaper statements which have been put in, and which 
 Mr. Powers might have written himself. 
 
 Mr. Whittier. I read the newspaper articles. 
 
 Mr. Powers. I did not read any newspaper articles. 
 
 Mr. Welch. I do not mean to say that they put them in 
 the paper; but I say they might have put them in, for all we 
 know. 
 
 Mr. Harmon. There is a report from one of the New- 
 York papers, dated in January, which Mr. Childs read. 
 
 Mr. Kittredge. Mr. Whittier not only put in newspaper 
 articles, but he brought the editor of one paper to testify. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Let me tell you the history of one of these 
 New-York elevated railroads. It was built in this way : The 
 construction of the road cost $400,000 per mile ; the legal 
 expenses cost $200,000 per mile. [Laughter.] Wait a mo- 
 ment ; don’t laugh yet. This was secured by a first mort- 
 gage^on the road. Then of course there were the corporators ; 
 and they took a mortgage at the rate of $900,000 per mile, 
 which made the cost $1,500,000 per mile ; then, on the top 
 of the $600,000 for the construction and the legal expenses, 
 and of the $900,000, they issued $500,000 in stock, per mile ; 
 and that was generally circulated among the newspaper peo- 
 ple. The road is so covered up with mortgages, that people 
 can get no damages against the road. They are going to try 
 to break the mortgages, on the ground that the damages are 
 a prior claim. 
 
 Mr. Whittier. Do you argue that Mr. Powers is going 
 to do any thing of that kind ? 
 
 Mr. Powers. We do not propose to do any such thing. 
 We propose to build it, and put in the cash : you can see the 
 difference. 
 
 Mr. Whittier. You will see that such ^corporations in 
 Massachusetts are very different. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Now, gentlemen, this testimony is from 
 the owners and occupants of property on the line of the 
 
18 
 
 New-York Elevated Railroad, East Side. The reporter is 
 Charles H. Requa, 109 Montague Street, Brooklyn. It is 
 said he is one of the best in New York, and a very honest 
 man. I never saw him, but I was recommended to employ 
 him. 
 
 Mr. Powers. We will agree that he can report short- 
 hand. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I will read the testimony of Henry Roth- 
 schild, 88 Bowery. 
 
 Mr. Powers. He is not one of the original firm of the 
 Rothschilds ? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I don’t know as to that, sir. [Reads.] 
 
 H. Rothschild (88 Bowery), Optician. 
 
 U Q. Will you be kind enough to tell me the effect which 
 the elevated railroad has had upon business and property 
 so far as your experience goes ? 
 
 44 A. Well, I have lived here twenty years. I know that it 
 injures property very much. The noise keeps up a continual 
 excitement. It is more annoying in summer, when we get 
 the gas and smoke from the engines. It has reduced the 
 value of this property, in my judgment, at least five thou- 
 sand dollars. If I had to buy here now, I would not come 
 here. There are societies of property -holders here in New 
 York, who are trying to get their taxes reduced because of 
 the reduction in value of their property. I have understood 
 that- an effort is to be made to reduce our taxes at the ex- 
 pense of the elevated road, and make them pay the rest of 
 our taxes.” 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I wish to say that I gave the stenographer 
 instructions to be sure and have the statements candid, and 
 such as could be fully justified ; to have them fair, and to 
 have the lowest estimates that could be made ; for I wanted 
 to see the worst that was against me. 
 
 Mr. Powers. Excuse me, but was he not instructed not 
 to report any thing in favor of the elevated roads ? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Whittier. Did he know who you were? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. No, sir: he did not. He was hired 
 through some one else. 
 
19 
 
 Mr. Powers. But you instructed him ? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I instructed this man to get this reporter. 
 
 Mr. Powers. For the Highland Road ? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. He knew I was president of the Highland 
 Road. I understood the tax commissioner considered that 
 the reduction of the value of property on Sixth Avenue, on 
 account of this elevated railroad, was $20,000,000 ; and they 
 were devising some plan by which they could take off a part 
 of this tax from the property, and put it on the elevated 
 railroad. They had been conferring with George Law to 
 see if they could not tax the ground upon which the posts 
 stood. One gentleman said to me, “ People ask me how it is 
 affecting property. Why, it is sending us to destruction. 
 We keep a strong upper lip, for, as soon as we should say 
 that property is ruined, tenants would not pay any reason- 
 able rent: so I cannot talk with you. We cannot afford to 
 say that our property is all going to ruin.” 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I read the testimony of 
 
 A. Cohn (44 Bowery), Clothier. 
 
 “ I think the elevated railroad injures property twenty per 
 cent. Business is more than one-third less than it was this 
 time last year. The elevated railroad has had all to do with 
 it. In summer-time it brings dust and smoke into the store. 
 I cannot keep my window open up stairs at all. I rent this 
 property this year, but certainly will not pay as much rent 
 for it next year as I do this, just on account of the elevated 
 railroad.” 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Here is the testimony of Edward Burke, 
 74 Bowery. 
 
 Mr. Powers. You skip thirty numbers. It would be fairer 
 testimony if you would go right on, and take ten or twenty 
 people together. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. If you will keep still, you will find that 
 he actually did that before I get through. 
 
 Mr. Powers. Is that man, Burke, a tenant, or an owner? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I do not know. 
 
 The Chairman. Let Mr. Merrill go on, or we shall never 
 get through. 
 
 .Mr. Powers. I desire that he should read all of their 
 statements. 
 
20 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I am reading every word. 
 
 The Chairman. You will have an opportunity to ex- 
 amine these. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. [Reads.] 
 
 E. Burke (74 Bowery), Shirts. 
 
 It is the most outrageous infliction tf\at has ever been 
 inflicted on a human being. It renders this house untenable. 
 We cannot open the windows on account of the noise created 
 by it. If they are left open to air the place, every thing is 
 covered with dust and dirt, and the gas comes in most 
 terribly, and goes through the whole house. It is per- 
 fectly terrible. It is just as if the legislature were to 
 decree that a drum-corps should be kept (Jown on your 
 premises tattooing all day ; or as if somebody were author- 
 ized to stand by a stove, and pour dirty water on it. Rents 
 will all come down this year, and that will be the cause of 
 it. People will insist upon it, and go elsewhere if they do 
 not get it. Those who signed the petition for this road all 
 own property in the upper portion of the city, and of course 
 it is an advantage to them ; but to those along the -street it is 
 a great disadvantage. You walk along the street, and, the 
 first thing you know, you get a whole shower of dirty water 
 down upon you. I had a coat completely spoiled by it. That 
 is more particularly the case when they start. It would not 
 be tolerated in any city in the world except New York. You 
 would not get any of the property-owners along the line of this 
 road to vote for Samuel J. Tilden, if he ever runs again. They 
 curse his name. He is the principal owner in this elevated 
 railroad. I suppose it has reduced the value of property 
 at least one-third ; that is my decided conviction. Then the 
 oil and stuff spills down from the engines. They do every 
 thing they can, I believe, to prevent that, but still it is not 
 done. Tilden was governor at the time the bill was passed 
 through the legislature. He engineered it through. It is a 
 fearful nuisance. There was an individual who came around 
 about a month ago to get the signature of the people along 
 the line of the road to the effect, that, now that the road had 
 come there, it was a great advantage ; but I don’t think' he 
 got a dozen signatures. The people on Second Avenue, I 
 understand, are going to give the road a vigorous opposition. 
 
21 
 
 If they know their own interests they will. An hour after 
 you open your windows or doors, you can write your name in 
 the coal-dust on every thing in the room ; and there is the 
 horrible stench besides. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. In regard to Mr. Tilden, Mr. Powers tells 
 me that he has made a million dollars in these elevated roads. 
 
 Mr. Powers. Over ten millions. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Mr. Tilden and Mayor Wickam pushed it 
 through, and people have some feeling against them. [Reads.] 
 
 Theodore Wilkins (67 Bowery). 
 
 “ If I rented property I would move away on account of the 
 noise. Besides that, it frightens horses. It took some time 
 for ours to get used to it. I should think it would injure the 
 rental-value of property greatly, though, as the rental time 
 has not come round yet, you can hardly tell.” 
 
 Mr. Whittier. That is the first of May ? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Yes, sir, on the first of May. 
 
 Mr. Whittier. Then this is a matter of opinion ? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. It is facts and opinion both. 
 
 The Chairman. Go on, Mr. Merrill. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I think if I read right along you will un- 
 derstand me better. All these owners are careful about what 
 they say. You could not get this testimony, probably, unless 
 it was to be used in Boston or outside*of New York. [Reads.] 
 
 Jeremiah Riorden (36 Bowery, “Temperance House”). 
 
 “ Some of our guests complain of the noise, especially 
 strangers. At night I find it necessary to put my guests in 
 the back part of the house, because they say the cars wake 
 them up early in the morning. Parties prefer the back end 
 of the house to the front. In summer-time we get a smell 
 of gas which is unpleasant.” 
 
 New- York Label Publishing Co., Jacob Schmitt (94 
 
 Bowery). 
 
 “ I don’t believe in signing other people’s rights away. I 
 don’t know how it affects property generally. I only know 
 that I came along after the elevated road was up, and 
 
22 
 
 believe that I got this place for less rent on that account. I 
 believe that the owner could have got more for it, but for the 
 elevated railroad. That is all I have to say about it.” 
 
 . Edwin M. Ferry (132 Bowery Photographer. 
 
 “ It is a noisy thing. It shuts off our light. In the summer, 
 when we have our windows open, we can hardly stand it. 
 We have to stop our coloring of pictures until the trains go 
 by, and that is quite often. Whenever the wind blows, if the 
 windows are open, the gas comes right into the house. I 
 think it has depreciated property along the whole route, and 
 I also think it has damaged business along the whole route. 
 So far as this property is concerned, I believe that to-day, if 
 the tenants were out of it, it would not bring half the rent 
 that it now does. There was a dining-saloon below, on the 
 first floor, kept by a man by the name of Reynolds. He 
 moved away a week ago on account of it. He was paying 
 two thousand dollars a year for it, but the landlord had to 
 take it off his hands. We will not pay as much rent another 
 year as we are paying now, — decidedly I will not, because 
 I know that it has injured our business. It is a perfect 
 nuisance. When the windows are open, we have to stop 
 short right in the middle of conversation until the trains go 
 by, on account of the noise : we cannot hear ourselves speak. 
 Everv time that a wheel strikes the end of a rail where it is 
 joined to another one, it makes a great noise. Where a sky- 
 light faces the road, you might as well get out ; for, every 
 time that a train goes by, it darkens the room, and might 
 necessitate taking a picture over again. It is money in the 
 pockets of the capitalists who own the elevated railroad, but 
 that is all, though there is millions in it for them.” 
 
 Mrs. Caroline Perser (154 Bowery), Gents’ Furnishing 
 
 Goods. 
 
 u I think that the elevated railroad injures property and 
 business, and is a nuisance. When the door is open we 
 cannot hear customers talk, on account of the noise. _ We 
 have to stop right still : it is a nuisance. It decreases the 
 rental-value of property, of course. Houses in this block, 
 that brought twenty-one hundred dollars before this elevated 
 railroad was put up, are now bringing only twelve hundred 
 
23 
 
 dollars. I believe that people could throw up their leases 
 where business is decreased so by the elevated railroad. If 
 they put up one in Brooklyn, they will kill their business 
 completely.” 
 
 Adolph Rauth (168 Bowery), Jeweller. 
 
 “ A man came here three weeks ago with a petition in favor 
 of this elevated railroad, and wanted me to sign it. A good 
 many signed it, not knowing what it was. I would give five 
 hundred dollars out of my own pocket if I could take the 
 elevated railroad away. They are scoundrels, — the legis- 
 lature, the aldermen, and all those fellows who take a man’s 
 property without his consent ! When the snow comes, they 
 have some process of melting it on the track with steam ; 
 and it makes it so foggy that you cannot see people passing 
 by. If you want me as a witness against the elevated rail- 
 road, I will come, and bring hundreds of others with me. 
 You cannot sell property at all. Who is going to buy? My 
 wife was offered 162,000 for this house and store two years 
 and a half ago. I do not believe it would bring over 822,000 
 now, if it would bring that. Property in the next block was 
 sold recently for 822,000 or 822,500, which was considered 
 worth 855,000 before the road came here. People tell me 
 that they don’t come on the Bowery so much now, on account 
 of the elevated railroad. The man of whom I have spoken, 
 who came around with the petition in favor of the road, re- 
 ceived a good many signatures here ; but they were obtained 
 by fraud or through ignorance. I do not understand Eng- 
 lish perfectly ; and they had the word 4 incommode ’ in that 
 petition, and I thought that it meant not convenient for me, 
 and so I was just going to sign it myself ; but a friend of mine, 
 an American, was standing by, and he said to me, 4 Rauth, you 
 are going to sign a petition that is right against you ’ So I 
 did not sign it. They begin to run about five o'clock in the 
 morning, and run till one and two o’clock some nights. Last 
 week, cinders from one of the engines fell upon and set fire 
 to a lap-robe spread over two gentlemen out here in a wagon. 
 When the atmosphere is heavy, the gas is pressed down, and 
 there is a very bad smell. That is the case whenever it is 
 stormy, or the atmosphere is heavy. 
 
 4k A tenant of mine has lost his trade by the elevated rail- 
 
24 
 
 road coming here. He was in the gents’ furnishing goods 
 business, and has had to give np his business, and get out. 
 Property will not rent for as much next year on account of 
 it. I am going to rent property for three hundred dollars, 
 and even four hundred dollars, less, if I can get a good 
 tenant, on account of the elevated railroad. There are a 
 class of people who, if struck, cannot strike back : they just 
 go away. So are these people. We cannot fight the ele- 
 vated railroad. It comes here, and strikes us ; and we have 
 to go away. They are scoundrels ! I feel what I say ; I am 
 talking from my heart. We are half ruined by this elevated 
 railroad.” 
 
 The Chairman. I suppose this evidence is all accumula- 
 tive, is it not? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I have not got into the rich part of it yet. 
 
 The Chairman. I think, if there is any thing rich about 
 it, we had better have it ; but I don’t think the committee 
 desire to hear the whole of this read. 
 
 Mr. Powers. I am sure I care nothing about it. 
 
 The Chairman. I take it for granted that all these people 
 will testify that their property is damaged. 
 
 Mr. Powers. I think there is a difference of opinion. 
 
 Mr. W hittier. I do not dispute that. 
 
 Mr. Powers. You heard the testimony of the gentleman 
 from New York whom we introduced. He testified that he 
 opposed this thing with all his might, and spent money to 
 defeat it; but he favors it now. Of course there is a differ- 
 ence of opinion there ; and we can get just as many on one 
 side as on the other. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Well, Mr. Powers, if you talk in that way 
 we will go right into the business ; and you know I can get 
 ten to your one. 
 
 Mr. Powers. I can get these same stenographic report- 
 ers to do it. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. What kind of a case is this? We came 
 here, and put in our case perfectly, making a strong case; 
 and then the other side get up‘ and say, We haven’t got any 
 evidence, but we can furnish just as much as the other side 
 has furnished of the opposite kind of testimony. Are you 
 going to grant a charter based upon that theory ? 
 
Mr. Powers. That is not the case. We have offered you 
 a live witness from New York, who owns property, and who 
 originally opposed the elevated railroad. 
 
 Mr., Merrill. He is interested in your car business, is he 
 not? 
 
 Mr. Powers. No, sir ; not at all. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. He is interested in the compressed-air 
 patent ? 
 
 Mr. Powers. I never saw him before. But you produce 
 no witnesses from New York. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. This man is interested in the compressed- 
 air business, and is consequently supposed to have an interest 
 in this petition. 
 
 Mr. Powers. He stated here that he had a little interest 
 in the pneumatic engine, — a very small interest. 
 
 Mr. Kittredge. And this road is to be operated by com- 
 pressed air ? 
 
 Mr. Powers. W e propose to use it if we can. And, with 
 reference to coal-gas and cinders, it will all be obviated, prob- 
 ably, if that is successful. 
 
 Mr. Chairman. Mr. Merrill, the committee take it for 
 granted that all your witnesses will testify to the same facts 
 that you have read. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. No, sir: they cover still other facts. 
 
 The Chairman. We cannot spend the whole winter 
 hearing this matter : there must be some limit. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Well, the other side has spent four days 
 in putting in their side of the case ; and, it seems to me, we 
 might have one in a case involving so many millions of 
 property. 
 
 The Chairman. I say, the committee are t*eady to accept 
 the statements so far as they are written there, — that all 
 these people whose statements you have not read will testify 
 substantially the same facts as those you have read. 
 
 Mr. Kittredge. Would not the committee go further 
 than that, and not only admit what they would substantially 
 testify to, but also that this is the general sentiment of prop- 
 erty-holders upon the avenues? 
 
 The Chairman. So far as the case stands now, yes. I 
 think the committee will agree that the people along the 
 line of these roads would say that property was depreciated 
 by them. 
 
26 
 
 Mr. Merrill. There is more that I would like to read. 
 You understand that I have testimony from owners of prop- 
 erty on the Bowery, on Pearl Street, Church Street, Sixth 
 Avenue, Third Avenue, and Fifty-third Street. Perhaps the 
 Committee will bear with me if I pick out and read testimony 
 from the different localities. 
 
 The Chairman. Very well, sir. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Perhaps I had better have the whole of it 
 printed. I think the committee would find it so interesting 
 that they would take time to read it. Now, Mr. Powers’s 
 proposed structure, in my judgment, is going to affect prop- 
 erty more than Mr. Whittier’s. It is going to pass right 
 along on the sidewalk. Now, in my case, I own property on 
 Warren Street, and the house is near the sidewalk. Mr. 
 Little, our treasurer, Mr. Hayden, a director, and Dr. Ken- 
 nedy, who owns three thousand feet frontage on Warren 
 Street, all own property that comes up almost to the line of 
 the sidewalk. This track will run right by the second-story 
 or the upper windows. I happened to have the misfortune 
 to be sick last Februarjq and I will say that even the horse- 
 cars running by troubled me. Now, if an elevated road runs 
 by my window, you can judge for yourselves what the effect 
 would be. So, I say, I not only appear here to represent the 
 railroads, but also to represent a large amount of property 
 on the line of this proposed structure. The fact is, people 
 are almost wild about it there. I will read here the state- 
 ment of the president of the Fulton Bank, on the corner of 
 Pearl and Fulton Streets, New York. [Reads.] 
 
 Felton National Bank (corner Pearl and Fulton Streets), 
 Thomas Monahan, President . 
 
 “ The elevated railroad affects us badly : it could not be 
 worse ; that is all. It has made one side of our building 
 utterly useless for business purposes. In the first place, 
 it destroys our light, and the noise is almost incessant when 
 trains are passing about every one and a quarter minutes. 
 It distracts people’s attention from their business. Writing 
 a letter here, we have to stop about every other minute. In 
 my opinion, it is just a confiscation of propert}^. Property 
 that used to rent for three thousand dollars ($3,000) below 
 here, they are now offering for seven hundred dollars (1700), 
 
27 
 
 and cannot get that for it. There have been removals all 
 
 O 
 
 along the line of the road in consequence of it. It is the 
 general complaint around, that it destroys business. 
 
 “ I consider this property depreciated by the elevated rail- 
 road fifty per cent. There is no doubt that the elevated 
 railroad injures property to a material extent. Take the 
 second stories, and they are only bringing one-half to one- 
 third what they brought before the road came here. I rent 
 a nice office for three hundred dollars' ($300) that never was 
 let for less than six hundred dollars before the road came. 
 
 a The noise is a great objection, and the darkening of the 
 stores is also a great objection. 
 
 “ I had a loft next door, and had to move out on account 
 of the bad light ; and I had the liveliest time renting it that 
 you ever saw. I tried about twenty-five different men before 
 I could let it. I had to take them in between the trains. A 
 man would go in to look at it, and a train would go down on 
 the other side. He would say, 4 It doesn’t make it so dark, 
 does it?’ But just then a train would come up on our side, 
 and he would say, 4 1 didn’t think the elevated railroad 
 made it so dark ! ’ They would not take it on that account, 
 but I finally let it to a man who didn’t need much light. 
 
 44 An elevated railroad will ruin any street in Brooklyn 
 that it runs through. It has injured Sixth Avenue here 
 seriously, and that is a very wide street.” 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I now read the statement of the president 
 of the Market National Bank of New York. [Reads.] 
 
 Market National Bank (2d Pearl Street), Robert 
 Bayles, President . 
 
 44 We think that our real estate has been materially dam- 
 aged by the elevated railroad. This building cost us seventy- 
 five thousand dollars ($75,000) : I doubt very much whether 
 we could get forty thousand dollars ($40,000) for it to-day, 
 though the decrease in value may not be entirely owing to 
 the elevated railroad. It is a nuisance. It makes an in- 
 tolerable clatter in summer-time, when the windows are open, 
 and darkens our light so that after four o’clock in the after- 
 noon it is with the greatest difficulty that we can write a 
 letter here, on account of this continual passing by of 
 
28 
 
 shadows that are injurious to the eye. And then in wet 
 weather there is a continual dripping from these girders and 
 other parts of the structure. 
 
 “ There is an unpleasant smell emitted from the engines ; 
 a gaseous smell, which comes into the buildings, and makes 
 it very unpleasant. 
 
 “We would gladly move away, if we could sell our build- 
 ing for any thing like a reasonable valuation. 
 
 “We would gladly enough take fifty thousand dollars, and 
 move out.” 
 
 Mr. Merrill. You will find that all these witnesses are 
 very candid. I will say, further, that when I was in New 
 York I found there was a great deal of trouble from dripping. 
 The snow gets in among the crevices of the structure, and as 
 it melts it drops down ; and the president of one of the 
 street-railways told me that ladies who would not ride in the 
 cars of the elevated road at first are now doing so on ac- 
 count of the dripping from overhead. Said he, “ Look at 
 my cars.” I looked at them, and saw that they were black 
 on the top ; and I said to him, “ Why did you paint the tops 
 of your cars black ? ” Said he, “ That is not paint : it is oil 
 and dirt from the elevated road.” Ladies had become so dis- 
 gusted with the drippings on them, that they would go and 
 walk up forty steps to take the elevated cars to avoid it. 
 Another thing is this melting of snow, which makes it 
 almost unsafe to walk along the streets. So you see the 
 objection to Mr. Powers’s structure running along on the 
 sidewalk. 
 
 Mr. Powers. The dripping comes from the steam. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. No, sir ; simply from the melting of the 
 snow on the structure. 
 
 Mr. Powers. Well, the steam does it. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. No, sir: the snow will melt on any warm 
 day without steam-power. 
 
 Mr. Welch. You mean to stop the snow by compressed 
 air; do you, Mr. Powers? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. When the sun comes out, the snow will 
 melt. It will produce dirty and rusty water, and will drop 
 down upon your clothes. Suppose you go up and down 
 Washington Street with your road: would it be safe for peo- 
 
29 
 
 pie to go along the sidewalk with this melting snow dropping 
 all over them ? 
 
 Mr. Welch. At the present price of ladies’ bonnets, I 
 am sure no family gentleman would want them injured. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I would like to read a few extracts from 
 the testimony of a physician. There are statements here 
 from a real-estate man up town, whose business is renting 
 real estate. I will make a statement of what he says. 
 He says that he has charge of a large number of houses on 
 the upper part of Third Avenue, where there are stores un- 
 derneath. He says it affects them materially: tenants are 
 all moving out ; and, if he can get a new tenant, it is of an 
 entirely different class from that he had before, and at a 
 greatly reduced rent. When I was in New York, I was look- 
 ing across the street, and a gentleman said to me, “ See those 
 cards in the windows: those are houses that were never 
 vacant before.” He said that some people, perhaps, had 
 nerve enough, and would stand it with a reduction of rent; 
 but the majority will not stay with any amount of reduction. 
 Here is the statement of a physician who lives at 127 West 
 Fifty-third Street, where there are fine residences, and the 
 elevated railroad has nearly destroyed the property. 
 
 Mr. Powers. It puts the property to a different use. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Well, there is no business there: it cor- 
 responds with our Chester Square and the Back Bay. This 
 physician says : [Reads.] 
 
 Salvatore Caro (127 West Fifty-third Street). 
 
 “ The only thing that I can say concerning the elevated 
 railroad and its effect on property is, that we cannot sell and 
 cannot rent on account of it. I think property has fallen 
 seventy per cent (70%), at least, by reason of it. We can- 
 not do any thing with our ‘houses. 
 
 “ I can say, by comparing the rentals of the previous year 
 with the rents last April, that there was even then a reduc- 
 tion of at least twenty-five per cent (25^). I was letting a 
 house for two thousand dollars ($2,000), and had to let it for 
 fifteen hundred dollars ($1,500). This year I cannot tell 
 how much it will be. Those in the houses now will leave 
 here shortly, and a great many have left here already. I 
 own these two houses, Nos. 127 and 129 West Fifty-third 
 
30 
 
 Street. I live in one of them myself, and the other I let. I 
 do not know whether the tenant will stay another year, or 
 not. We have to do whatever tenants want ns to. We can- 
 not demand any price, because people complain at once of the 
 elevated railroad. 
 
 “ They say that they will construct this branch through 
 West Fifty-third Street without noise, by taking all measures 
 to reduce sound and noise. But this morning they were 
 running these hand-cars on it, and it made more noise than 
 steam-cars. Indeed, I really thought that they had com- 
 menced running the road already ; and I said, If this little 
 thing makes such a noise, how much more will a regular 
 train of cars make ? Now, sir ; I consider that if some relief 
 is not given to us, — either by the company’s paying our 
 damages, or by the legislature, in some shape or form, — we 
 are totally lost. Any house in this block to-day, put under 
 the hammer, I am sure would not bring more than fifteen or 
 twenty per cent of its value, on account of the elevated rail- 
 road. These two houses of mine cost me sixty-five thousand 
 dollars ($65,000). I would be very glad indeed if anybody 
 would give me thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) for them ; 
 but I know they would not, on account of the elevated rail- 
 road. Some of those fine brown-stone houses across the way, 
 that were formerly let for fourteen or fifteen hundred dollars 
 to private families, are now let out as tenement property, at 
 ten or fifteen dollars per month.” 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I will now read the statement of Charles 
 H. Leale, one of the most eminent physicians in New York. 
 [Reads.] 
 
 Charles A. Leale (239 West Fifty-third Street). 
 
 “ In regard to the side streets — narrow streets — I feel that 
 the elevated railroad has depreciated the value of property 
 to a very great extent. 
 
 “ Q. In what respect? 
 
 “ A. Because it obscures the light, and renders the street 
 almost impassable for horses. And they are continually drop- 
 ping oil, as a gentleman told me the other day. 
 
 “ My baker, when he drove down town some time ago, had 
 his horse’s mane set on fire by a spark falling from the engine ; 
 
31 
 
 and, as you know, quite a number of awnings were set on 
 fire in the same way last spring. 
 
 “ But I consider the great mischief of the elevated road will 
 be its prejudice to the health by the constant noise. In win- 
 ter that is not so much noticed ; but I had to remain in the 
 city all last summer, and saw the bad effects of the noise of 
 this road upon those who were not accustomed to such noise. 
 
 “ The upper part of New York, between Forty-fifth Street 
 and Central Park, along the line of Sixth Avenue, is built on 
 solid rock. Most of the houses consequently have as a foun- 
 dation solid rock; and the noise 'from this road is more in- 
 tense, conveyed along such a conductor of sound as that 
 would be. And in the side-streets, which have been set 
 apart as places of residence of our wealthy people, between 
 Fifth and Sixth Avenues, property has been very much de- 
 preciated in value, — I should judge, at least, twenty per 
 cent. In the middle of a block between Fifth and Sixth 
 Avenues, on one street I was compelled to send a patient 
 away during midsummer, in consequence of the noise. And 
 nearer the line of the elevated railroad I was compelled to 
 put another patient, who was nervous, in a room removed 
 from the free ventilation of air, or else send her to the luna- 
 tic-asylum. 
 
 “ Dr. Loomis, at one of our medical meetings, said that 
 his house was one hundred and fifty feet from the railroad, 
 and he was compelled to sleep in the back part of his house, 
 and keep his front windows closed to enable him to get any 
 sleep. 
 
 “ The constant noise is prejudicial to health. New-York- 
 ers have always as much as their nervous systems will bear, 
 to go through the ordinary wear and tear of the excitement 
 of American life. And if they do not get sufficient rest to 
 allow their brains to recuperate, they are sure to notice the 
 bad effects by depression, melancholia, and a variety of kin- 
 dred manifestations, which always ensue. 
 
 “ Now, I know that these men that have made this elevated 
 road say there is no unpleasant effect produced by it. But 
 the very men who say that are the very men who have de- 
 lightful country residences of their own ; who can go off at 
 four o’clock in the afternoon, and return at ten o’clock the 
 next day. We can easily understand why it does not affect 
 
32 
 
 them. But the very large proportion of people are those 
 who live in the city, and even well-to-do people, and the large 
 proportion of those along the line of these roads will suffer. 
 It is the inevitable consequence of such a noise. Take, for 
 instance, a child without reasoning powers, during the period 
 of dentition, — teething. The child half of the time is just 
 on the verge of convulsions ; and the noise made by the 
 whistle of the engine, and the roar of a train of cars going 
 by, would be an additional cause to send that child into con- 
 vulsions. You take the mother, — the young mother, — ■ and 
 there is a time when she is very susceptible to such an influ- 
 ence ; the shock, noise, &c. There are many times when the 
 dropping of a ten-pound weight on a floor would send a 
 woman into a convulsion, and make her lose that equilibrium 
 necessary to keep her in a sane condition ; and the noise is 
 so intolerable in summer, that to the poor unfortunates, who 
 are compelled to remain alongside of it, these consequences 
 will ensue. 
 
 “ I was speaking recently to an old New-Yorker, one who 
 has lived here over sixty years, and one who, through force 
 of circumstances, is compelled to live along the line of one of 
 these elevated railroads. He complains most bitterly of his 
 inability to sleep, and the tortures, the consequent excite- 
 ment of the brain, produced by this noise. The directors of 
 these elevated railroads say, when we tell them of these 
 things, 6 Let them go away ! ’ That they can do ; but it is 
 not every one who can take up his bed, and walk. 
 
 “ A large number of people along the lines of these roads 
 have purchased residences at the expense of half a lifetime 
 of labor, in the anticipation of making themselves comfort- 
 able as they grew older, and to provide for their latter days. 
 These, of course, have lost every thing. The elevated rail- 
 road steps in, and confiscates their property, places its up- 
 rights on their very sidewalks, sends its trains of cars directly 
 by the second-story windows ; and it is impossible for them 
 to have the ordinary light without submitting themselves to 
 the gaze of passengers in the cars, who can look directly into 
 their houses. The noise wakes them up at all hours of the 
 night, and keeps them in a constant dread of it. 
 
 “ Rapid transit I look upon as something absolutely de- 
 manded for New-York City ; but the means adopted by these 
 
33 
 
 elevated railroads I look upon as one of the most pernicious 
 rights ever granted or ever vested in any corporation. And 
 I believe that no other city on the earth except New York 
 would tolerate such a gross injustice to the property-owners 
 as we have to bear. We along the line of the road have 
 sought redress. We have employed eminent counsel who 
 have promised to defend us, or to procure damages for us. 
 But no amount of damages, as can be easily understood, can 
 compensate a man for the loss of his home, and for the loss 
 of health. And we are now told that, even should success 
 crown the effort of those who have brought these proceed- 
 ings, the road has been so arranged, that, if a foreclosure 
 should take place, the first mortgage bondholders would step 
 in and buy the road, and leave all others out in the cold. A 
 provision has been made, I believe, to that effect, so that, 
 even if damages should be obtained by means of the courts, 
 nothing could be collected. It is a virtual confiscation of 
 property, without, apparently, any redress, and one of the 
 greatest injustices that ever was perpetrated upon the citi- 
 zens of any country. 
 
 “ In England they purchase the right of way. I was there 
 year before last ; and in crossing one of the most important 
 parts of the city, where trains are passing every five or ten 
 minutes, not a sound was to be heard although I stood for 
 some time under the solid masonry. They have solid ma- 
 sonry and solid archways ; you pass under them, and see 
 nothing of them. 
 
 “ Our lunatic-asylums are now crowded with lunatics. We 
 have over three thousand (3,000) lunatics, within a radius 
 of five miles of where you are sitting. Lunacy is vastly on 
 the increase ; and here we allow, in one of the most beautiful 
 cities of any continent, one of the most disturbing elements 
 that can possibly be brought to bear to impair the lives and 
 health, and destroy the mental soundness, of our citizens. 
 
 “There is no compensation to property-owners for any dam- 
 age sustained. They come in and remove a man’s awnings 
 from his store, put up their stations at the corner, monopolize 
 the sidewalk, and do just as they like. 
 
 “ They say that they can come up to a man’s very front 
 door step ; that they can use as much of the sidewalk as they 
 like ; that it is public : and this, too, in a street where the 
 
34 
 
 property has been bought from curb to curb by the property- 
 owners ; where it 'is owned by them, and simply held in trust 
 by the city for the use of a public highway ; where the prop- 
 erty-owners have paid in assessments for opening and grading 
 the street, that it should be forever held as a thoroughfare, 
 and never be closed under any consideration. 
 
 “ A man in New York or Brooklyn is now afraid to buy 
 property. He does not know where to locate himself. He 
 is afraid to buy himself a residence, for he does not know 
 but that in two or three years a line of freight-cars or steam- 
 cars will be running through his place. Some of the pleas- 
 antest parts of New York are now lying idle in consequence 
 of that. 
 
 “ I can show you elegant houses near the elevated railroad, 
 costing in the region of a hundred thousand dollars, now 
 unoccupied ; finished in the most elaborate cabinet manner, 
 and it is impossible to rent them. Who is going to pay fifty 
 thousand dollars for a nice residence, and be annoyed by the 
 steam, cinders, and constant noise of a train passing every 
 two minutes ? 
 
 “ My opinion is, that it will revolutionize the whole city 
 of New York. It may be an advantage to the upper parts 
 of New York, but at the sacrifice not only of those along the 
 line, but all those below a certain part of the city. 
 
 “Fifth Avenue is exempt from all these things, because 
 they have secured through the legislature an act whereby no 
 road can be put on Fifth Avenue. 
 
 “In England I saw a recent decision in a case where a man 
 had built a house, and it simply interfered with the light of 
 his neighbor. The injured man brought suit, and recovered 
 damages. Now, our light is interfered with, our peace is 
 interfered with, aud still what do we receive? No recom- 
 pense whatever. 
 
 “The great mistake of New Yorkers was, in not having 
 unity of action. If there had been such along the line of 
 Sixth Avenue and the side-streets, — down, for instance, in 
 Church Street, where property is so much injured, — sufficient 
 force could have been brought to bear to prevent the passage 
 of any bill authorizing an elevated railroad through the 
 main avenues of the city.” 
 
85 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I would say I happen to know that the 
 elevated railroads in London have to buy the right of way. 
 They are allowed to use thirty feet right through the city, 
 and then they have to purchase thirty-three feet on either 
 side, which make a right of way of ninety-six feet; then 
 they can have an underground, a surface, or an elevated 
 railroad, or all of them. 
 
 A Gentleman in the audience. Is it not true that 
 there is no elevated railroad in London, but that they are 
 simply steam-railroads entering the city ? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. That is true. 
 
 Mr. Powers. Mr. Merrill, please read this memorial 
 signed by fifty of the best physicians of New York. 
 
 Mr. Whittier. From “ The New York Observer.” 
 
 Mr. Kittredge. They may all be stockholders. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. They may have some of this stock that is 
 scattered around. [After perusing the article. ] I have 
 looked this over, and I don’t know any of them, nor have I 
 ever heard of them. I am presenting testimony of persons 
 who have felt and know the effects of these roads ; and a 
 statement in regard to any new project, signed by fifty men 
 who are paid for doing it, is not so good as that of men who 
 have realized and felt its effects. 
 
 Mr. Powers. They were appointed to make this exami- 
 nation by the Commission on Lunacy of New York. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I have no doubt the fifty men were all 
 lunatics. One thing more : you will see that in New York 
 City the distances are so great, that there is some necessity 
 for an elevated railroad. The number of transient people 
 there who ride in the cars is greater than the whole popula- 
 tion of Boston. The people that go in and out of New l£ork 
 City daily produce more traffic than the whole population of 
 the city of Boston. The number of passengers carried on 
 the street-railways in New York in 1877 was 128,000,000 
 against 44,000,000 in Boston. Then, of course, there are the 
 lines of coaches, and every thing of that kind : therefore what 
 may be a necessity in New York is not a necessity in Boston. 
 
 I have only one witness I would like to call, — Mr. L. Fos- 
 ter Morse. I find the subject is so vast that it will take two 
 or three days to do it justice. 
 
 Mr. Ingraham. Your idea is that you could carry the 
 
86 
 
 40,000,000 of passengers on the street-cars here in Boston, 
 but could not carry the 120,000,000 that have to be carried 
 in New York. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. That is the way I look upon it. Then 
 there is the matter of distance : in New York you cannot get 
 within four miles of the Battery by steam-cars, and here you 
 can come within five minutes’ walk of the centre of business. 
 
 Mr. Powers. Three miles to the Battery. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Four miles, I know. You are determined 
 not to know nor state any thing correctly. 
 
 The Chairman. The Committee will now adjourn to ten 
 o’clock to-morrow morning. 
 
 * 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 TESTIMONY OF L. FOSTER MORSE. 
 
 Thursday, Feb. 20. 
 
 Q. (By Mr. Merrill.) Do you live in the Highlands ? 
 
 A. I do. 
 
 Q. What is your business ? 
 
 A. Real estate. 
 
 Q. You are one of the assessors also ? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. You have lived there all your life? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. And have a full acquaintance with all the people at 
 the Highlands? 
 
 A. I have. 
 
 Q. Since this elevated-railroad matter came up, have you 
 taken pains to inquire into what the feeling is in regard to 
 it at the Highlands ? 
 
 A. I have looked into it somewhat. 
 
 Q. Have you talked with the people there about it? 
 
 A. I have. 
 
 Q. Have you found anybody who is in favor of it ? 
 
 A. I have not found anybody in favor of it on Warren 
 Street. 
 
 Q. Have you found any one opposed to it? 
 
 A. Every one is opposed to it. 
 
 Q. How do they look upon it ? 
 
 A. Well, they say, if they want a steam-railroad they can 
 have one in Boston, without taking the best street in the 
 Highlands. 
 
 Q. How are they situated with regard to steam -railroads? 
 
 A. Boston is peculiarly situated with regard to rapid 
 transit. I have a map here of Boston, and I have — what it 
 is pretty difficult to get — a good map of New York, which I 
 propose to leave with the committee. I have no doubt that 
 an elevated railroad in New York is a necessity, Manhattan 
 
38 
 
 Island being thirteen miles long, and the Grand Central Depot 
 being four miles from the Battery. New York, you see, is a 
 long narrow island, having a population of over a million, 
 and with Jersey City, the city of Brooklyn, Astoria, and Ho- 
 boken has a larger population than the entire State of Massa- 
 chusetts. So the place is entirely different from Boston. 
 The whole of the island is about a half a mile wide at the 
 upper part, and perhaps two miles wide at the lower portion. 
 No doubt they needed something in the way of rapid transit. 
 In Boston we have nine depots for rapid transit, — the Old 
 Colony, the Boston & Albany, the Providence, the New 
 York & New England, and the Boston, Revere Beach, & 
 Lynn, — which is virtually a depot, having a ferry going across 
 to East Boston, — the Fitchburg, the Boston & Maine, the 
 Lowell, and the Eastern ; nine depots within three-quarters of 
 a mile. So when the time comes that we shall have a popu- 
 lation equal to New York, we are prepared for rapid transit. 
 A great many people use these roads now, I have no idea how 
 many. Here is a map of Boston and vicinity. These spots 
 here represent the stations within the limits of the city of 
 Boston. 
 
 Q. These show the steam -railroad stations? 
 
 A. The stations of the steam-railroads ; they are all within 
 three-quarters of a mile of City Hall. [Referring to the map.] 
 There is South Boston, that is Crescent Avenue, that is Har- 
 rison Square, that is Savin Hill, that is Atlantic, and that is 
 Wollaston. Six miles from City Hall you get to Quincy. 
 On the six-mile circuit you get outside of Boston. 
 
 Q. (By Mr. Ingraham.) What would be the radius of 
 a circle around New York? 
 
 A. I call the centre of New York, City Hall, which is 
 away down there. [Referring to the map.] It is almost 
 impossible to say where the centre of New York is. Within 
 two miles of the city of New York there are four cities, and 
 then you must include the whole of Manhattan Island, 
 which is New York City. If you should go beyond, of 
 course it would be a great deal more; but the city of New 
 York, the city of Brooklyn, Long-Island City (formerly 
 called Astoria), Jersey City, and Hoboken, give you a larger 
 population than the whole State of Massachusetts. 
 
 Q. Well, that circle would be how much? 
 
39 
 
 A. Six miles from City Hall. 
 
 Q. What is the population of New York City? 
 
 A. One million forty-six thousand. 
 
 Q. (By Mr. Merrill.) How many depots are there in 
 our city limits, on the south side ? 
 
 A. Thirty-one ; but there are fifty stations in a less dis- 
 tance than Manhattan Island. Remember, this includes 
 the stations in Quincy and Brookline. 
 
 Q. (By Mr. Welch.) You haven’t gone out to Arling- 
 ton, or Belmont, or Waltham ? 
 
 A. No, sir; but I am very particular for our section. 
 Southward the star of empire takes its way, in Boston ; 
 and I don’t want it stopped by an elevated road going 
 through our best street. 
 
 Q. You have not made any calculation about the stations 
 on the north ? 
 
 A. No, sir: the growth has stopped at the north. You 
 go outside of Boston into Somerville, and perhaps it is 
 different. I only know in a general way about the other 
 parts of the city. 
 
 [Adjourned.] 
 
 Friday, Feb. 21. 
 
 Mr. Morse. Mr. Merrill is not present, but I think I will 
 go on. This map represents the stations outside of the limits 
 of the city. There are thirty-one steam stations within the 
 limits of the city of Boston, outside of the main depots. 
 There are fifty stations within a circle of five miles, in the 
 southern portion of the city. On the other side of Charles 
 River I understand there are people who will show what 
 accommodations are there. I appear more particularly to 
 oppose the elevated railroad running through Boston High- 
 lands, formerly Roxbury. On the line as laid out, or as 
 suggested by Mr. Powers the other day, starting from War- 
 ren Street, at the corner of Clifford, and running to Hay- 
 market Square, every party that I have seen upon the line 
 on Warren Street; Roxbury, — which is a street the widest 
 portion of it sixty feet wide, and in some portions fifty-four 
 or fifty-five feet wide, as opposite Walnut Avenue, — every 
 party I have seen is opposed*, in toto , to an elevated railroad 
 going through that street. If the road should be built as 
 
40 
 
 suggested by Mr. Powers, the cars being ten feet wide, — 
 though they shrink every day, and the other day got down 
 to six feet wide, — but it is to be a single-track railroad, set 
 on posts on the sidewalk; and on a street sixty feet wide 
 the sidewalks are ten feet wide, and the cars would come in 
 very near the buildings. In some cases bay-windows would 
 have to be cut off. We have also a number of fine trees on 
 Warren Street that would have to be cut down. There are 
 some on the Neck ; and if this scheme should be adopted it 
 would necessitate the cutting-down of the trees the entire 
 length of the street, the trees being set on the sidewalks by 
 the edgestones. People oppose it on that ground. 
 
 Q. (By Mr. Merrill.) Would it affect those blocks of 
 Dr. Kennedy’s? 
 
 A. Well, Dr. Kennedy’s block is built immediately on the 
 line of the street. Warren Block is on the line of the street. 
 He is planning to build on Warren Avenue, on the line of 
 the street ; but it will probably never be built if this elevated 
 railroad goes through there. Beyond there, the dwelling- 
 houses set back a little from the street, — some six, eight, or 
 ten feet, — but they do not want to be obstructed. I have 
 vacant land to sell on the line of that street ; and the 
 parties owning it, living in New Hampshire, wrote me 
 the other day, and wanted me to oppose the elevated 
 railroad. The general sentiment is, that we don’t want 
 an elevated railroad in that section. Thete is no necessity 
 for it there. We have two horse-car lines, — the High- 
 land and the Metropolitan, — both running down Warren 
 Street, and now they give ample accommodation. The 
 Highland has been running six years, I think, and we have 
 increased a great deal. Then, again, there is a difference be- 
 tween New York and Boston. The streets of Boston are 
 narrow, and we haven’t any room for steam-cars. The 
 streets of New York are wide. 
 
 Q. This passes right by Dr. Kennedy’s residence ? 
 
 A. Yes, sir; he owns on Warren Street nine or ten es- 
 tates. He owns an estate on Washington Street, near the 
 corner of Chester Park. He owns an estate on Warren 
 Street, — Kennedy Hall, 89 to 97 Warren Street. He owns 
 Warren Block, 110 and 113 Warren Street; a lot of land on 
 the corner of St. James Street ; a lot of land on the corner 
 
41 
 
 of Walnut Avenue and Warren Street ; a large estate on the 
 corner of Clifford and Waverley Streets ; a vacant lot of land 
 on Woodbine Street ; a large lot of land just opposite Grove 
 Hall in Dorchester. 
 
 Q. He must own three thousand feet of frontage ? 
 
 A. That family represent about $400,000 worth of real 
 estate on Warren Street. They oppose elevated railroads, 
 and all their property would be affected by elevated railroads. 
 There are other men. Mr. W. H. Milton owns the City 
 Hotel estate. He is in New York; but I had a letter from 
 him the other day, telling me to oppose the elevated road 
 night and day. 
 
 Q. (By Mr. Whittier). Where is that letter ? 
 
 A. It is at my office. 
 
 Mr. Whittier. Well, don't give us hearsay evidence. 
 
 Mr. Welch. I would like to know what we have had but 
 hearsay. You read from newspapers, and I dare say you 
 wrote the articles. 
 
 Mr. Morse. Mr. N. J. Bradlee owns at the corner of 
 Dudley and Warren Streets the finest building in the High- 
 lands. Mr. Sheaf e owns Hotel Comfort, the Washington 
 Building, and Hotel Dartmouth. Mr. Walker owns a large 
 estate on Warren Street. In fact, every man I have seen on 
 Warren Street is opposed to this railroad. I have not seen a 
 single man who is not opposed to it. 
 
 Q. (By Mr. Merrill.) What effect do you think it 
 would have upon my estate ? 
 
 A. It would ruin it for a place of first-class residence, as 
 nice a place as there is on the avenue. In fact, every thing 
 on Warren Street is as nice as on any street in Boston ; it is 
 high land, and it is rocky land : so, if the testimony given the 
 other day is true (and no doubt it is), if the rail-posts were 
 set on the solid rock it would make still more noise than if 
 set on soft land. There is not any question but that prop- 
 erty must be damaged by elevated roads on narrow streets. 
 We have grown in this part of the city. A majority of the 
 people of Boston reside south of Dover Street. I made an 
 estimate of the population the other day. Taking South 
 Boston, the South End, Roxbury, Dorchester, and West Rox- 
 bury, and running a line across the Back Bay, I found that 
 some half the people of the city reside south of Dover Street. 
 
42 
 
 Q. (By the Chairman.) Are the existing steam and 
 street railway lines sufficient to accommodate the people in 
 that part of Boston ? 
 
 A. I never heard any complaint. It would be a matter 
 of guess-work, but I should say we have four times the num- 
 ber of cars on Warren Street that we used to have ; in fact, 
 I know that. There are six times the number of cars run- 
 ning on Warren Street to-day that there was five years ago. 
 
 Q. And in your opinion there are a sufficient number of 
 cars of both kinds to accommodate all those who desire to 
 ride ? 
 
 A. The present population can be accommodated. The 
 time may come when we shall need something else : but the 
 time has not come yet. 
 
 Q. (By Mr. Merrill.) Before the Highland road was 
 chartered, was there some proposition to build a steam-road? 
 
 * A. Oh, yes, sir ! 
 
 Q. What was that? 
 
 A. The first was to start a steam-railroad from the corner 
 of St. James and Washington Streets, run around what we call 
 Tommy’s Rocks, cross Warren Street and Walnut Avenue, 
 and connect with the Hartford & Erie Railroad in the city 
 proper. Another was to strike the Boston & Providence 
 Railroad, and have a depot near the residence of William 
 Whiting. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. On Warren Street, where I live, I am 
 within six or seven minutes of the Hartford & Erie Bird- 
 street station, and I can walk it in five minutes. 
 
 Mr. Morse. I am glad you asked that question, because 
 I have here a map of the route proposed. On Washington 
 Street it is only five minutes’ walk over to the Providence 
 station. Four years ago there was a proposition to build a 
 steam-railroad starting from Jamaica Plain, going out across 
 Jamaica-Plain line to the land of Quincy A. Shaw, keeping 
 down below Hog Bridge, across the Providence, and across 
 Myrtle Street, to the edge of Washington Park, Walnut 
 Avenue, coming up to W arren Street, and then to the Hart- 
 ford & Erie Railroad. It would be a steam-railroad of about 
 three miles ; it would bring in this vacant land within three 
 miles from where we now stand. They thought that perhaps 
 we should need steam, and they started this. I made an esti- 
 
43 
 
 mate for the land-damages, which amounted to $600,000, and 
 they said it would not pay. Now these gentlemen come in 
 here to grab a route worth a million, for nothing. They have 
 not got it yet, however. 
 
 Q. (By Mr. Whittier). You don’t blame us for trying? 
 
 A. Oh, no ! business is dull this year, and lawyers take 
 chances. 
 
 Q. How is it in real estate ? 
 
 A. Very dull. It would be duller on Warren Street if 
 this elevated road went through. This is a profile drawn 
 under the direction of William E. Baker. The time may 
 come when we have one hundred thousand population in 
 that locality, and may need this steam-road I speak of. 
 
 Q. (By the Chairman.) Any thing further, Mr. Morse? 
 
 A. I have nothing more. 
 
 The Chairman. Is there any thing more you want to ask 
 him, Mr. Merrill ? 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I think that is all. 
 
 The Chairman. Now gentlemen on the other side, if 
 they want to cross-examine Mr. Morse, may do so. 
 
 Q. (By Mr. Whittier.) How long have you been a 
 resident of the Highlands ? 
 
 A. Forty years. 
 
 Q. You are acquainted with the property ? 
 
 A. Thoroughly so. 
 
 Q. How much unoccupied land is there in that vicinity, 
 suitable to be built upon ? 
 
 A. I don’t know. 
 
 Q. How many more people can be accommodated in Rox- 
 bury? 
 
 A. I should say we had room for three times the popula- 
 tion we have now. 
 
 Q. They have all the facilities they want for getting into 
 Boston ? 
 
 A. I think so. 
 
 Q. The Highland road did it ? 
 
 A. The Highland started it. 
 
 Q. The competition which you get did it? You think it 
 is so far along it would not do you any good? You said 
 yesterday, and you said something more this morning, about 
 the difference between New York and Boston. I understand 
 
44 
 
 you to say that because New York is long and narrow, and 
 Boston spreads out, that that which is a necessity in New 
 York is not a necessity in Boston : is that so ? 
 
 A. I think it is. 
 
 Q. What do you think about comparing Boston with 
 Brooklyn ? 
 
 A. It does not exist in Brooklyn : there is great oppo- 
 sition to it. 
 
 Q. I am talking facts. 
 
 A. You are getting into theories. 
 
 Q. You are not well acquainted with Brooklyn ? 
 
 A. Not so well. 
 
 Q. Do you know any thing about Philadelphia? Do you 
 think they need an elevated- railroad in Philadelphia ? 
 
 A. I think not. Philadelphia is a pretty large city, and 
 perhaps they may need it. 
 
 Q. You did not know that they were moving for an ele- 
 vated road in Philadelphia? 
 
 A. They are moving here for it. 
 
 Q. And are going to have it ? 
 
 A. I did not know it. 
 
 Q. You did not know there was going to be an elevated 
 road in Brooklyn ? 
 
 A. I knew there was opposition to it. I read the papers. 
 There is a great deal of feeling out there, almost as much as 
 in Boston. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. Boston people are on there fighting for the 
 road, but nobody in Brooklyn favors it. 
 
 Q. (By Mr. Whittier.) Your theory is, that where a 
 city is long and narrow, with the business at one end and the 
 residences at the other, it might be a good thing ? 
 
 A. And with no steam depots in the heart of the city — 
 put it altogether; yes, sir. I say there maybe a necessity 
 for a steam road. If I lived in New York, and owned prop- 
 erty on the line of the railroad, I should oppose it. 
 
 Q. I have no doubt — for the same considerations? 
 
 A. Yes, I would. It would affect the value of property. 
 
 Q. You think it might be a necessity? 
 
 A. I think it is a necessity to keep the population of 
 New York on the island, and to build up the suburbs as they 
 have built up Jersej r City and Brooklyn. They have lost 
 their population of people who do business in New York. 
 
45 
 
 Q. Population is increasing in New York ? 
 
 A. Yes, sir, it is increasing. 
 
 Q. Is it not decreasing ? 
 
 A. I haven’t seen any such figures ; but the suburbs are 
 increasing to a larger extent. 
 
 Q. Are you prepared to say that a state of things might 
 not arise, wherein the public convenience might not demand 
 that some of the property-holders should give way? 
 
 A. I should say that in the city of Boston, in the locality 
 I am speaking more particularly about, I do not think any 
 state of affairs would arise in which we would need a steam 
 elevated railroad from the Highlands. 
 
 Q. You don’t think so? 
 
 A. No, sir ; because we can get in here by running a steam- 
 railroad on the ground, where it belongs. 
 
 Q. But you think the time is coming when they have got 
 to have more steam communication at the Highlands than 
 they have now? 
 
 A. There may be a time when a new steam-railroad will 
 be needed to connect the present steam-railroads that exist, 
 from the Boston & Providence to the Hartford & Erie. 
 
 Q. Don’t you think that you might have stated so ? 
 
 A. No, sir : I never thought we needed it, because the lay 
 of the land is such that you cannot get a railroad within half 
 a mile. 
 
 Q. Are you quite sure about it ? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. What did you say in 1872? 
 
 A. I said that some time there might be a necessity for a 
 steam-railroad. 
 
 Q. You don’t think so now ? 
 
 A. I said so, and produced that plan. That was thought 
 of four years ago, and I made the estimate of land-damages. 
 
 Q. Is that the plan of the road thought of at the time the 
 application was made for the charter of the Highland road ? 
 
 A. No, sir: there was another steam-railroad projected 
 before the Highland Railroad was built ; and the legislature 
 granted a bill, I think, about 1867 or 1866, to built a steam 
 road to start from a station at the corner of St. James Street 
 and Shawmut Avenue, now Washington Street. 
 
 Q. If I correctly understand the testimony that you gave 
 
46 
 
 before this committee in the winter of 1872, I think you 
 stated that you agreed with Mr. Ritchie, and Mr. Ritchie had 
 stated that he thought the time was coming when steam com- 
 munication with the Highlands would be necessary? 
 
 A. I stated in 1872, if I remember correctly, that we 
 needed more accommodations from the horse-railroads. We 
 were having about eight cars on Warren Street; and if you 
 will read my testimony you will see what I said. 
 
 Mr. Whittier. I would like to read a paragraph from 
 Mr. Ritchie’s testimony first. Mr. Ritchie said : [Reads.] 
 
 Q. (By Mr. Whittier.) Have I misstated your testi- 
 mony, Mr. Morse ? Did that reporter misstate it ? 
 
 A. Yes, sir: that report was made by the Metropolitan 
 Railroad Company. That is not half my testimony : I was on 
 the stand an hour and three-quarters. I said, no doubt we 
 did need steam; I saj^ so to-day: but we don’t need steam 
 upon our main avenues. When we want steam, let them buy 
 the right of way. 
 
 Q. Down Washington Street ? 
 
 A. You cannot buy it down Washington Street. 
 
 Q. You don’t want us to go down Washington Street? 
 
 A. No. 
 
 Q. You have had a great deal of talk at the Highlands 
 about the necessity for this road, haven’t you ? 
 
 A. I have had some. 
 
 Q. You have had the same experience that that stenog- 
 rapher had in New York, — you could not find any one in 
 favor of it? I refer to what you said yesterday. 
 
 A. I say, at the time of the charter of the Highland Rail- 
 road there was talk about such a thing, but the people would 
 not approve of it. 
 
 Q. Haven’t you heard of a single individual* Mr. Morse* 
 who is in favor of an elevated road to the Highlands? 
 
 A. I haven’t seen any. I have seen people come into the 
 office, and say, “ There is no danger of getting this elevated 
 road?” and I said, “No, I don’t think there is.” 
 
 Q. Then you went on, and asked them if they thought 
 there was danger ? 
 
 A. I asked them what they would think about it, and 
 they would tell me. 
 
 Q. Then you are a man of large acquaintance, and you 
 
47 
 
 haven’t found a man in favor of an elevated road in the 
 Highlands ? 
 
 A. Not on that location. I represent people owning prop- 
 erty on Warren Street more than any other location, and they 
 are opposed to it. 
 
 Q. They are opposed to having it on Warren Street? 
 
 A . Yes, sir: I also object to it personally from being 
 located on Harrison Avenue, because I have property there. 
 
 Q. Now, your theory is that the men on the line of the 
 road are the men to control this entire thing ? 
 
 A. Oh ! by no means. 
 
 Q. If that is not it, what is it ? 
 
 A. The people of the Highlands are opposed to having 
 their streets used for elevated railroads, and to taking the 
 public streets, and using them for steam-cars. 
 
 Q. There is no objection to their being used for surface- 
 cars ? 
 
 A. Oh, no ! that is only improved pavement. Anybody 
 can use it. 
 
 Q. Who is the Dr. Kennedy you refer to ? 
 
 A. He is a gentleman who owns a large amount of prop- 
 erty in Roxbury. I purchase property and do business for 
 
 him. 
 
 Q. You are his representative ? 
 
 A. His son represents him. Dr. Kennedy is in Europe. 
 His son came to see me the other day. I sell him real estate 
 when he wants it : I sold him fifty thousand dollars’ worth 
 last year. 
 
 Q. How long does it take a car to make a trip from 
 Grove Hall to Scollay Square ? 
 
 A. I don’t know the running-time. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I can give you that exactly. 
 
 Q. (Ity Mr. Whittier.) Do you think, if the means of 
 transportation could be furnished to the people of the High- 
 lands that would enable them to get down town in one-third 
 of the time with twice as much comfort, that would be any 
 advantage to the people of the Highlands ? 
 
 A. Oh! if such a thing could be devised which would be 
 no damage to property. 
 
 Q. Never mind about the damage to property: just 
 answer my question. Do you think it would be any ad- 
 vantage ? 
 
48 
 
 A. Why, any man would say it would be an advantage. 
 If he takes half an hour now to get down town, and could 
 get down town in fifteen minutes, he would be benefited by 
 fifteen minutes. 
 
 Q. Would such facilities improve the value of property, 
 generally speaking, in the Highland district ? 
 
 A. Well, in some locations it might. 
 
 Q. Wouldn’t it, except in the precise localities through 
 which this line passed ? 
 
 A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. You are sure about that ? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. What do you base that opinion on ? 
 
 A. Anywhere near the railroad, property would be in- 
 jured ; and on the main avenues land is pretty well filled up. 
 
 Q. Is there not room enough in the Highland district to 
 support a population three times as large as it now has ? 
 
 A. Yes, sir, taking the whole of it. 
 
 Q. And wouldn’t it be likely to fill up ? 
 
 A. I don’t think it would increase any more than it has. 
 
 Q. You think it has got to the limit? 
 
 A. No, no. We have gained seventy-seven per cent in 
 ten years, and we propose to gain the same in the next ten 
 years. 
 
 Q. An elevated railroad would not help it? 
 
 A. The accommodations we have are ample to-day. Our 
 increase in population is owing to the fact that we have no 
 railroad-crossings at grade nor any stream to cross. I think 
 an elevated railroad would keep people from moving out 
 there. 
 
 Q. You are in such a comfortable condition that you 
 don’t want any thing at present, and in all human proba- 
 bility you never will ? 
 
 A. I do not know what we will want. 
 
 Q. You thought six years ago that you wanted steam. 
 You don’t think so now? 
 
 A. You get steam and elevated railroads mixed up. 
 
 Q. No, I do not. 
 
 A. There is a difference between steam and elevated 
 roads. 
 
 Q. Isn't the difference the difference between coming 
 down quickly and slowly ? 
 
49 
 
 A. No, sir : we can get down in twenty-five minutes. . 
 
 Q. Is it a difference of population ? 
 
 A. The streets of Boston are not wide enough to take 
 this road. We have thirty-one steam stations now in Boston. 
 We have a number in the Highlands. There is a large tract 
 of land that may need a steam-railroad to connect it with the 
 Hartford & Erie and Providence Railroads, which can be 
 built. That will take care of our surplus. 
 
 Q. Then you do not think there is any necessity at the 
 present time for an increase of facilities for getting down 
 town ? 
 
 A. Not at present. 
 
 Q. You think people are satisfied to take half an hour? 
 
 A. It takes me about twenty-five minutes. 
 
 Q . You think it is perfectly satisfactory? 
 
 A. Certainly. 
 
 Q. It is of no benefit whatever to lessen that time? 
 
 A. It gives an opportunity for conversation, and to read 
 the morning paper. 
 
 Q. Do you think you have all the competition that is 
 needed? 
 
 A. I think so. 
 
 Q. There is no need of any more ? 
 
 A. I don’t think there is : we have got two live lines. 
 
 Q. There was one other point. You thought it was going 
 to injure property at the Highlands by running over the 
 sidewalks, cutting down trees, and making things unpleasant 
 generally. How wide is Warren Street? 
 
 A. The widest portion is sixty feet. 
 
 Q. What is the narrowest ? 
 
 A. Fifty-two feet. 
 
 Q. Is it absolutely necessary for an elevated road to run 
 on the sidewalk? 
 
 A. No ; I do not know as it would be : if they had money 
 enough, they could buy the whole street, and put it in the 
 middle. You would want to buy all the property on the 
 side of it. 
 
 Q. Why? 
 
 A. To pay for the damages. 
 
 Q< Don’t you think the law will take care of that ? 
 
 A . I don’t know : if I owned property, and you had a 
 charter, I would find out. 
 
50 
 
 Q. You think the railroad could be put in the middle of 
 the street? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Well, then the objection with regard to the trees would 
 be obviated? 
 
 A. You would not have to cut down quite so many. 
 
 Q. Have you got trees in the middle of the street out 
 there ? 
 
 A. No ; but the branches come way over. Come out and 
 see it. 
 
 Q. It could be put in the middle of the street? 
 
 A. It could be put on the sidewalk. 
 
 Q. Couldn’t it be put in the middle of the street? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Have you seen them in New York? 
 
 A. I have, sir. 
 
 Q. You admit that by putting it in the middle of the 
 street, the objection would not be so great ? 
 
 A. If the road was in the middle of the street, the cars 
 would not come so near the houses. 
 
 Q. And the trees are on the sidewalk ? 
 
 A. That is true; but the nuisance would exist in the 
 street, with steam-cars elevated sixteen or seventeen feet in 
 the air. 
 
 Mr. Merrill. I will admit that I would prefer to have 
 it in the middle of the street, rather than on the sidewalks, 
 I should prefer to have your scheme, rather than that of Mr. 
 Powers. 
 
 Mr. Whittier. Well, of course it is understood that 
 there is no practical difficulty in putting it in the middle of 
 a street. In general they are put in the middle of the street, 
 unless it is a very wide street. 
 
 Q. (By Mr. Whittier.) If the road were put in the 
 middle of the street, and if, by these increased facilities, 
 people could get down town in one-third of the time, with 
 greater comfort, and the same expense, what would be the 
 effect upon the surface-roads, in your opinion ? 
 
 A. Well, I don’t know : I never ran a surface-road. 
 
 Q. In your opinion ? 
 
 A. I don’t think it would be so convenient as the present 
 accommodations that we have. 
 
51 
 
 Q. It would not make much difference ? 
 
 A. It would not be so convenient. 
 
 Q. Well, of course, if we had two roads running, and you 
 could get down town in one-third the time at the same ex- 
 pense on the elevated road, to some extent it would interfere 
 with the horse-railroads ? 
 
 A. I think so. 
 
 Q. But you do not think it would affect the bulk of the 
 travel ? 
 
 A. Well, in some locations it might, and in some it might 
 not. 
 
 Q. But you don’t agree with our brother Merrill, that it 
 would ruin the horse-railroads ? 
 
 A. I shouldn’t wonder if he is right. He most always is . 
 
 Q. But you don’t think so ? 
 
 A. I have not examined. 
 
 Q. You have not formed an opinion? 
 
 A. I am talking about real estate, which I think I know 
 something about. 
 
 Q. Do you know any thing about real estate in Cam- 
 bridge ? 
 
 A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Or the facilities for getting there ? 
 
 A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Then your objections are those of people on Warren 
 Street ? 
 
 A. And at the South End, out on the Neck, and up that 
 way. 
 
 Q. You represent property on Harrison Avenue, Warren 
 Street, and Washington Street. Other than that, you have 
 no objection ? 
 
 A. Yes, sir, a general objection. 
 
 Q. What is that general objection? 
 
 A. The general objection is that it decreases the value of 
 property wherever the road runs. 
 
 Q. What makes you think so ? 
 
 A. I know so. 
 
 Q . How ? 
 
 A. By observation. 
 
 Q. Where ? 
 
 A. In New York. 
 
52 
 
 Q. How long has your observation extended in New 
 York? 
 
 A. W ell, more or less, for fifteen years. 
 
 Q. I mean, in regard to elevated roads ? 
 
 A. Every time I go to New York I ride on one. 
 
 Q. How much depreciation of property on account. of 
 them do you know of in New York ? How long have you 
 been examining that subject ? 
 
 A. From the first time, seven or eight years ago, when I 
 saw the Greenwich road. I looked it over then, and I said to 
 myself, “ I hope they will never try to have one in Boston.” 
 
 Q. You think it depreciated property on Ninth Avenue ? 
 
 A. T have no question about it. 
 
 Q. But, besides your experience on Greenwich Street and 
 on Ninth Avenue, what other experience have you had? 
 
 A. I have rode on the Third-avenue road. 
 
 Q. How long have you been examining that? 
 
 A. I never rode on that but once. 
 
 Q. As a matter of fact, it has not been in operation more 
 than six months ? 
 
 A. I think I rode there last September or December. 
 
 Q. Do you think it is safe to form an opinion, which is to 
 be really an opinion, on six months’ experience ? 
 
 A. I don’t think there is a man that makes real estate a 
 study, who has seen an elevated railroad in New York, who 
 will not arrive at the same conclusion : that a road running 
 seventeen feet up in the air, with steam-cars going past the 
 front doors and front windows, is a damage to property. I 
 think it is fair to form an opinion. 
 
 Q. Now, I will ask you to answer that question over 
 again. Do you think it is safe for a man of large experience 
 to form and express an opinion, on six months’ operation of a 
 road ? 
 
 A. I think it is safe to form an opinion on a steam ele- 
 vated railroad, in one week. 
 
 Q. That will not be changed ? 
 
 A. That cannot be changed. The man does not live that 
 will go to New York, and see them, and form a different 
 opinion. 
 
 Mr. Whittier. If you have made up your mind for all 
 time to come, I have got through with you. 
 
53 
 
 Mr. Morse. There is no doubt about it. 
 
 The Chairman. Mr. Powers, do you want to ask any 
 questions of this witness ? 
 
 Mr. Powers. I believe not. 
 

 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I