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 SPEECH 
 
 
 T. G. ( A R Y, 
 
 
 
 
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 Till 
 
 HOOSi,G TTNFEL, 
 
 In the Senate of Massachusetts, 
 
 M AY, 1 8V. .1 853. 
 
 (PUI;T,[>HI-;D TO COUI;I-;T A wuoxt; .\XD INJURIOUS m; 
 
 THAT 1IA> 1U-KX OLYKX OF WHAT WAS SAID OX THK SniJli- 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED 
 
 i;x'i; -or A si'KKcir. .AIADI: PIIER oc CON"- 
 
 TAI.v !!: ACCOUNT OF .THK. AH-: ALT If ITALISTS 
 
 OF EOSTOX, APPLICABLE- - COXSIDKRED IX 
 
 THE DEBATE OX THE TUXXEL. 
 
 BOSTO'X: 
 
 J, M. HEWES & CO., PRINTERS. 81 CORXIIILL. 
 1853. 
 
* 
 
 v 
 I 
 
SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 T. G. C A RY, 
 
 OX THE 
 
 ii 0f tju 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 HOOSAC TUNNEL, 
 
 In the Senate of Massachusetts, 
 
 MAY, 18, 1853. 
 
 (PUBLISHED TO CORRECT A WRONG AND INJURIOUS IMPRESSION 
 
 THAT HAS BEEN GIVEN OF WHAT WAS SAID ON THE SUBJECT.) 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH, MADE ON ANOTHER OCCASION, CON- 
 TAINING SOME ACCOUNT OF THE WEALTH AND CAPITALISTS 
 OF BOSTON, APPLICABLE TO QUESTIONS CONSIDERED IN 
 THE DEBATE ON THE TUNNEL. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 J. M. HEWES & CO., PRINTERS, 81 CORNHILL. 
 1853. 
 
til 
 
SPEECH, 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT, 
 
 IN offering what I have to say, I am desirous to consult the 
 wishes of the friends of the petitioners as to the time of present- 
 ing my views ; and that they may judge of this, I state distinctly, 
 now, that I am opposed to the passage of the bill before us. It is 
 not my design to raise new doubts about the means of making 
 tunnels, where a tunnel is wanted ; nor to cast ridicule on the 
 machine that is supposed to be successfully invented for this pur- 
 pose. But I expect to show that if the tunnel can be completed 
 within five years, as is said, and for the sum proposed, two mil- 
 lions of dollars, it will be found, then, that it can lead to no im- 
 portant result either to the City of Boston or the State at large. 
 
 Still, I should be very well pleased to vote for the bill if I could 
 do so with propriety ; and I propose to state my reasons for oppo- 
 sition at this early stage of the debate, that they may be consid- 
 ered in the discussion, and if they can be answered, I shall be 
 found to be a willing convert. I particularly desire to be enlight- 
 ened, if I am in error ; for few things would give me greater 
 pleasure, Sir, than to accompany my friend, the Senator from 
 Franklin, if we could be convinced that we ought to grant the aid 
 desired, and go with him among the farmers and manufacturers of 
 the north-western portion of the State, to carry the cheering 
 news that their wishes were to be gratified. For, Sir, I have old 
 associations with that region ; not so much within the border of the 
 State as beyond it, in Vermont, where I should still be recognized 
 as a member of the bar of Windham, having resided there for a 
 short period in early life, but long enough to be known in legal 
 practice and to direct the building of a well-known bridge over 
 
 M20794S 
 
what is called, in language descriptive of the mountainous range 
 which we are desired to penetrate, one of the " touchy streams " 
 that empty into the Connecticut. I know the waters of the Hoo- 
 sac and the Deerfield, and something of the grazing and farming 
 country in which they rise as well as of the fertile plains to which 
 they descend. It would afford me satisfaction to be instrumental 
 in promoting prosperity there ; and I have another motive, of sim- 
 ilar nature, to look with all possible favor on the plan proposed. 
 I have been a Director in the Vermont and Massachusetts Rail- 
 road, which it is proposed shall make the continuation of the new 
 line and share largely in the profitable business that it is supposed 
 we are to develop ; having, through the associations alluded to, 
 been urged to take that position by some of my old friends. I 
 look with sorrow on the depressed state of the stock in that road, 
 as the result of all our efforts in the direction ; although I do not 
 perceive, on a review of the whole, that we could have done any 
 thing much better than we did, and I should be really happy to 
 give it a favorable impulse ; for, to use the apt expression of the 
 counsel for the petitioners, it has suffered, I think, from " unkind 
 legislation." I do not, to be sure, believe that the tunnel would re- 
 move its greatest troubles ; and those who were with me in the di- 
 rection will remember that I have heretofore earnestly protested 
 against the use of any of its means to aid this project, beyond the 
 sum of $1,800, expended for a general survey of the country 
 near the Hoosac ; but in some degree that road would, no doubt, 
 be benefited if the tunnel should be made. I am ready, therefore, 
 to yield the floor to others, or proceed now, as may be preferred 
 by the friends of the bill. 
 
 [A wish was here expressed that all objections should be stated at once. 
 But as the hour for adjournment was at hand, the discussion was postponed 
 to the following day, the 18th, when it was renewed, as follows.] 
 
 I have always supposed, Mr. President, since this project has 
 been seriously agitated, that if a case could be made out parallel 
 to that of the necessity for the Western Railroad, the aid of the 
 State would be given to it. I have had little doubt that if we 
 had no other means of direct communication with the waters of 
 the Hudson and the great trade of the West but through the tun- 
 nel proposed, we should at any rate make the attempt to open it, 
 
even with all the difficulties before us that its opponents foresee. 
 I have, therefore, read attentively all that has been sent to me, or 
 that I have noticed in print, in favor of the project, to see how 
 nearly the two cases resemble each other. 
 
 Before the Western Railroad was opened, we had no direct 
 avenue, by land, for trade with the West, except the common 
 roads. We now have three. We had no means of bringing flour 
 by land from the Hudson but hi wagons, at the cost of three dol- 
 lars a barrel or more ; and by means of that road we reduced the 
 cost to about one tenth part of that. The difference was great. 
 We now propose to open a new road for the purpose of reducing 
 the cost from thirty-one cents per barrel to twenty-two cents, 
 (more likely to be over twenty-five cents,) and the difference is 
 not great. But in order to make even this reduction, such as it 
 is, it is indispensable that the quantity to be transported should be 
 greatly increased, as low rates of freight depend mainly on quan- 
 tity. The first inquiry of importance, then, is, what quantity of 
 produce from the West can we receive with advantage in the 
 market of this State ? There are various articles besides flour ; 
 but as that is, perhaps, the most important, and has been called 
 by the friends of the project " a key to the whole trade," we may 
 as well use it .as an illustration. 
 
 BOSTON, AS A MARKET FOR FLOUR. 
 
 Before the Western Road was opened, we received at Boston 
 large quantities of flour arriving coastwise from New Orleans, 
 Richmond and Baltimore, for the supply of the interior towns of 
 this State and part of New Hampshire, and for the supply of 
 Maine, in part, and of the British Provinces, as well as for our 
 ships bound on foreign voyages. Now, the towns in the interior 
 are supplied almost entirely by the three great lines of railroad, 
 with the cross roads between them, so that they depend no 
 longer on the market of Boston. The country is supplied be- 
 fore the city. The trade with Maine remains, for the present, 
 much as it was, and we cannot look for any material increase 
 there ; because the people of that State are engaged largely in 
 shipping, and as their vessels, bound on freighting voyages, dis- 
 
charge their cargoes at New York in numerous cases, and then 
 return light to Maine to refit, they can take flour from there at 
 very low freight. They thus carry from there a considerable 
 portion of what is wanted, and will continue to do so. The com- 
 munication, too, which they are opening from Maine with Canada, 
 by railroad, will have some effect in preventing any increase of 
 our trade in that quarter. As large quantities of flour are now 
 received in Boston by railroad from Canada, that flour is shipped 
 from here for the supply of the British Provinces, because Cana- 
 dian flour is admitted there free of duty ; while ours is subject to 
 a colonial duty of twenty-five cents at Halifax, forty cents in New 
 Brunswick, and even higher elsewhere. On the whole, then, 
 Boston is not now so great a market for flour as it has been ; and 
 in the statements made, to show the necessity for the tunnel, 
 cause and effect have been made to change places. The business 
 in flour at Boston is not falling off because the means of trans- 
 portation from the West are inadequate. The business of trans- 
 portation is falling off because the demand is diminished here for 
 Western flour. It deserves remark, too, that the diminution of 
 business in flour at Boston is produced by causes which have con- 
 tributed so materially to the prosperity of the city, by promoting 
 that of the State at large, that if this had been foreseen as a con- 
 sequence, it would still have been a profitable arrangement for 
 the city, to consent to part with a portion of that trade avowedly 
 on these terms. 
 
 When we hear, then, that the business on the Western Rail- 
 road is declining, and that there is little more of freight through 
 at this time than one half of what there was in 1847, (the year of 
 famine in Ireland,) a consideration rises that has an important 
 bearing on the question before us. If the route which requires 
 this tunnel had been decided on, instead of that selected for the 
 Western Railroad, there would probably have been shown, at this 
 day, much such a falling off in business there, as now appears on 
 the Western Road. For if it be supposed that such a saving 
 could have been made on the proposed route as to prevent the 
 opening of other roads, I shall probably convince the impartial, 
 before I sit down, that the supposition is a mistaken one. Those 
 other roads being built, however, they will be used to divide 
 
the business, whether it be with profit to the stockholders or 
 without. 
 
 These, then, are the circumstances under which it is proposed 
 to make the tunnel, in order to promote the prosperity of Boston 
 and of all Massachusetts. And how is this effect to be produced ? 
 Even at a low rate of freight, how are we to enlarge the market ? 
 The country trade with the city is greatly diminished, and what is 
 lost cannot be regained. The same may be said of that to the 
 British Provinces. The trade to Maine may be increased possi- 
 bly a little, and not much. We are told, however, that a great 
 trade is growing up with California and Australia, and that large 
 quantities of flour will be wanted for it. But, in truth, there is a 
 great practical difficulty on that head. The Western flour gen- 
 erally cannot be carried, without serious injury, twice across the 
 tropics, in a long voyage to California ; or once across, and 
 through a long voyage afterward, to Australia. There is but 
 little flour that has been found yet to bear such navigation, and 
 that is brought here coastwise from Virginia. A careful selec- 
 tion, even from Southern brands, must be made. It is not merely 
 a* question of latitude. In one shipment of 1,100 barrels of South- 
 ern flour, but not of the brands alluded to, 1,000 were found, on 
 arrival in California, to be so much injured by the voyage as not 
 to pay the freight. The wheat that is suitable is said to be raised 
 on a peculiar soil, and is called "stronger" by the bakers. It 
 requires more water in the kneading and makes a lighter bread. 
 Other wheat, if kiln dried, may be used with the same security, 
 but is said to lose weight very much in the process. I hear it 
 said near me that there is flour brought from certain parts of 
 Ohio and Missouri that will answer as well. Why is it not used, 
 then ? The commercial witness of the petitioners stated to me, as 
 a grievance, that the merchants of Boston had been compelled 
 very lately to pay a dollar and a dollar and a half per barrel 
 above the regular market price for the choice Southern brands 
 that I speak of. Now, any of the Western flour that should be 
 selected as a substitute could be brought here from Albany at 
 three days' notice, at thirty-one cents a barrel ; and why was it 
 not done, if that would answer, to prevent extortion? Some 
 brands of flour from the West are far more valuable than others, 
 
8 
 
 for use by bakers here, but not suited for exportation so far as we 
 are yet informed. But however all this may be, long before we 
 can open the tunnel in any way, California will supply her own 
 wants, and Oregon will supply Australia. We see by the last 
 accounts that forty thousand acres of wheat are sown in Califor- 
 nia this year ; and the agricultural land there is so productive 
 that it is estimated to yield forty bushels to the acre. 
 
 On the other hand, it probably would be an advantage in the 
 trade to Brazil and South American ports generally on the Atlan- 
 tic side, so far as that goes, to have Western flour here at a lower 
 rate, as it can be carried into the tropic with safety, if sold there 
 at once for use. 
 
 In regard to our trade with England, the additional supplies 
 that are now coming from Canada, will, probably, be adequate to 
 any increase in that direction ; for unless there be injury to the 
 harvest, England does not receive much from any quarter, and 
 her supplies of manufactures to Canada are to be paid for, as far 
 as possible, in flour. The trade between them through Massachu- 
 setts, as appears from statistics furnished by our late Collector 
 in his letter to the merchants of Boston on retiring from office, is 
 rapidly increasing, with incidental advantages to us ; but the 
 quantity of Canadian flour is increasing as fast. 
 
 THE TUNNEL COMPARED WITH OTHER PUBLIC WORKS. 
 
 The demand being thus limited, we can derive no material ad- 
 vantage from reduction in the mere cost of transportation from the 
 Hudson, unless the reduction be so great as to cause a decided 
 change in the course of trade. An offer to transport cotton to 
 Canada for nothing would hold out no temptation to send it there, 
 because it would be in the wrong place ; and so it would be with 
 flour at Boston beyond the supply required. The class of com- 
 mercial men in Boston who are most urgent for the tunnel are 
 commission merchants, naturally desirous to increase their sales 
 by giving every facility to consignments of produce from the 
 West, and to the purchase of merchandize here for return. They 
 are a highly respectable and meritorious class of men ; but it is 
 
9 
 
 necessary to examine their statements with something of precision 
 that we may not attach an undue importance to them here. I 
 have, of late, taken some pains to present my own views openly, 
 rather more to the friends of the measure than to its opponents, 
 because I desired that, if my arguments could be refuted, it 
 should be done before I troubled the Senate with them. The 
 consequence has been that I have received several written com- 
 munications on the subject, and have had a conference of some 
 hours with the counsel for the petitioners. 
 
 In one of the letters sent me, a hope is expressed that we shall 
 not place ourselves in the absurd position of those who once talk- 
 ed, in ridicule, of " De Witt Clinton's Ditch," and lived to see its 
 completion and its grand results. I think we are in no danger, 
 as we have a very different case before us. When he and his as- 
 sociates undertook the great Canal of New York, it was, doubtless, 
 regarded as an agreeable incident, though not a leading motive, 
 that it might benefit the commission merchants in the city ; but 
 not by the petty rivalry now proposed, in which one party is to 
 gain advantages to the detriment of another. A leading consid- 
 eration was, the prosperity of the city of New York by an impulse 
 from trade newly created, by a clear addition to the commerce of 
 the State and of the world. This depended on another, which 
 was the opening of the vast and fertile region of Western New 
 York, that immense products of her own soil might reach the sea. 
 Beyond this, too, were the aspirations of a noble, a patriotic am- 
 bition, to open an avenue to the sea for the commerce of the great 
 lakes. 
 
 How is it with us ? Is it to bring into use some valuable pro- 
 duct of our own soil, which could not reach the sea by any other 
 means, that we are to make the tunnel ? Not at all. It is the 
 product of other States, chiefly, that is to pass through us as a 
 sieve. If it were for great products of our own, we might all 
 think alike on the subject. Is there the same grand object in 
 view with us to rouse a lofty patriotism to exertion, for the benefit 
 of sister States ? Not so. With their produce once on the Hud- 
 son, they need no aid from us to get it forward. It is the privi- 
 lege of selling it for them that we have in view, the permission to 
 fetch and carry for others and to take their orders. 
 2 
 
10 
 
 SAVING IN DISTANCE. 
 
 Do I overcharge the statement ? or, do I underrate the advan- 
 tages that are offered us ? Let us see. 
 
 Here is a pamphlet of 78 pages, containing a report of the 
 hearing on this subject before the joint Committee of the Legisla- 
 ture. I have been awake over it after midnight more than once 
 since it was laid here for our examination ; and its developments 
 are conclusive with me against the project, unless it can be shown 
 that I misapprehend them ; of which, as I have said, I am very 
 willing to be convinced. 
 
 A comparison between the two roads, the Western as it is, and 
 the new one through the tunnel, as it is intended to be, is, of 
 course, to be looked for there. The actual distance over the 
 Western Road, from Greenbush, on the Hudson, opposite Albany, 
 to Boston, is 200 miles. The distance from Troy to Boston, over 
 the new road proposed, will be 186 miles. The actual difference 
 of distance, therefore, is fourteen miles. But in the report it is 
 called twenty-two miles, because the distance by the Western 
 Road is cast, not from Greenbush or Albany, but from Troy, 
 which is higher up the river. Why this is done, I do not under- 
 stand, for the Western Road can have flour or other produce 
 from Albany to bring on, and at as low a price, without using the 
 additional distance to Troy. But it is so set down, and being de- 
 sirous to avoid altercation on small points, I so take it, with the 
 single remark, however, that if the Western Road is supposed to 
 run from Troy, and not to begin at Greenbush, opposite Albany, 
 all questions of difficulty about a ferry between Albany and Green- 
 bush are waived. Whatever advantage the new road will have 
 in starting from Troy instead of Albany, and that is supposed to 
 be something important, the Western Road will have the same. 
 The latter is subjected, at present, to two miles of carriage by 
 horse power for any merchandize in Troy ; but a short tunnel, 
 which is now in progress under another Company, will soon ob- 
 viate that. 
 
11 
 
 Let us call the difference of distance, then, as it is 
 
 stated, to be . . , ..:< . : <1. .... 22 miles. 
 
 The grades of the Western Railroad are higher and the 
 curves shorter than those on the new route are to 
 be, and these disadvantages, being reduced to miles 
 according to certain tables that are given, are taken 
 as equivalent to a further addition in length of . 43 miles. 
 
 Thus making an excess on the Western Road of . 65 miles, 
 over the route of the Troy and Greenfield Road, 
 which is to be . . . . . . . 186 miles. 
 
 The measure of the working power required on the 
 
 Western road, then, is . f 'Y . . . 251 miles, 
 instead ef the 200 miles of positive distance. 
 
 SAVING IN COST OF TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 If we were to concede this addition of 25 per cent, to the actual 
 length of the Western Road, in order to cover the disadvantages 
 which it is supposed to labor under, then I understand that each 
 one of those 251 constructive miles may be passed as easily and 
 as cheaply as each mile of the 186 on the new route. The pe- 
 titioners suppose that the actual cost of transporting a ton of 
 goods or a passenger one mile will be only half a cent. There is 
 reason to think that this is much too low. But supposing that 
 they are correct, then the cost of a ton or passenger over the new 
 route of 186 miles will be 93 cents, and over the Western Road, 
 now called 251 miles, will be 125J cents. As there are not 
 quite ten barrels of flour to a ton, the cost on the new route will 
 be about 10 cents ar barrel, (the counsel say 10 to 11 cents,) and 
 over the Western Road 13 J cents. The saving in cost of trans- 
 portation by opening the tunnel, then, even if we take the figures 
 of the counsel for the petitioners and their engineer, will be only 
 three cents and a fraction in bringing a barrel of flour from the 
 Hudson to Boston ! Sir, I made this statement recently to a 
 warm advocate of the bill before us, and he remarked, what I 
 think every body else must admit, on such a statement, that " this 
 is no saving worth making a tunnel for 1" But he went at once, 
 
12 
 
 as I supposed he would, to repeat my statement and ascertain 
 how far it could be refuted. He soon came to me, with the emi- 
 nent counsel for the petitioners, to convince me that it was erro- 
 neous. I said, " If sixty-five miles are not a sufficient addition to 
 cover the disadvantages of the Western Road, how many more 
 miles will you have ?" I was told that the difference could not be 
 reduced to miles ; and a scheme was laid open of local or way 
 business to be monopolized by the new road, to the utter defeat 
 of any rivalry from the roads already made, of which I can only 
 say that of all the plans that I have known to fail, in the varied 
 experience of my life, I have rarely heard of any that looked 
 more like dreamy speculation than that. I do not dwell on its 
 details, because others can do so if they see any advantage to be 
 gained by presenting them here. Since the interview that I 
 speak of, however, the engineer of the petitioners has published 
 his statement, with the table, in one of the newspapers, and it 
 confirms my calculation, excepting that he asserts that the sixty- 
 five miles are gained between the Hudson River and the Connec- 
 ticut only. So be it. I shall show that this advantage, which is 
 equivalent to only 3J cents on a barrel of flour, is all that can be 
 gained, because it will always be as easy and as cheap to bring 
 merchandise or passengers from Springfield to Boston as from 
 Greenfield to Boston. There is one grade on this side of Spring- 
 field fifteen feet higher than any on the other route, and it may 
 require the use occasionally of an extra engine ; but the distance 
 is less from Springfield to Boston than from Greenfield over the 
 Vermont and Massachusetts and the Fitchburg Roads. 
 
 I repeat, then, that the whole saving by the tunnel route can- 
 not, by the showing of the petitioners, exceed three cents and a 
 fraction on a barrel of flour. The only error that I can discover, 
 is, that the addition of sixty-five miles makes too large an allow- 
 ance. But if that be admitted for argument, according to the 
 best information that I can obtain, ah 1 the difficulties on the West- 
 ern Road are fairly met and largely provided for. If I am in 
 error, and it can be shown that the difference in cost on the two 
 routes will be even twice or three times what I say, let it be 
 shown accordingly. 
 
f 1* 
 
 Whatever the saving on the new route may be, however, we 
 come to the inquiry, what will be the effect, for changing the 
 course of trade, of the lowest rate of freight which the petitioners 
 expect to establish ? 
 
 In the pamphlet of 78 pages, that I speak of, containing a re- 
 port of the hearing before the Committee of the Legislature, half a 
 page only, on the last leaf, is given to testimony on the commercial 
 bearing of the measure proposed. It is from one witness only, 
 a commission merchant, dealing chiefly in produce from the West, 
 but without personal experience in freight commerce. He says, 
 " The cost of transporting flour to New York is about twenty 
 cents less than to Boston. New York has great advantage over 
 Boston on this account. If we could get flour within ten cents 
 per barrel as cheap in Boston as hi New York, it would greatly 
 benefit the city ; it would increase exports to Europe, Nova Sco- 
 tia and New Brunswick. There have been a large number of 
 vessels sent from this port to California and Australia, laden in 
 part with flour. The shipments of flour to Liverpool are mainly 
 from New York." 
 
 Now supposing him to be correct in the belief, that " it would 
 greatly benefit the city" to have flour only ten cents higher in 
 Boston than it is in New York, how near are we likely to come to 
 that, on the plan proposed by the petitioners ? A few words will 
 be sufficient to show that, on their most favorable supposition, we 
 shall still be fifteen cents above New York. 
 
 I find in the Railway Times a letter from one of the petitioners, 
 Peter Clark, Esq., who is, I believe, a person of great experience 
 in railroads, in which he says that merchandise can be brought 
 from Troy to Boston by the new route at two dollars per ton, and 
 leave a fair profit. The President of the Vermont and Massachu- 
 setts Railroad being warmly interested in the project, and hearing 
 that Mr. Clark has expressed such an opinion, addresses him a 
 note inquiring whether that opinion is correctly reported ; and 
 Mr. C. answers that it is so, and that he is confident that it can be 
 done, if there should be 200,000 tons of merchandise annually, 
 (which is twice what has ever come over the Western Road, even 
 in the year of famine in Ireland,) and 100,000 passengers, (about 
 three times the number that ever came over the Western Road). 
 
14 
 
 If Mr. Clark is right, the charge for transporting a barrel of flour 
 from the Hudson to Boston, then, would be about twenty-two 
 cents. 
 
 COST DOWN THE HUDSON. 
 
 Now, since this bill has been under discussion in this house, I 
 have seen, here in Boston, the owner of a large quantity of flour 
 sent from Cleaveland in Ohio to Albany, who came here to ascer- 
 tain whether he had better let the flour come on to Boston for 
 sale, or send it to New York. He stated that the freight was to 
 be fifty-five cents per barrel, if he received it at Albany, or sixty 
 cents if he should choose to have it delivered in New York, the 
 place of its delivery being at his option. Here, then, is an actual 
 transaction to show the freight down the Hudson River to be only 
 five cents. It is also a matter of common information that the 
 freight from Albany to New York is rarely more than " a York 
 sixpence" (6| cents) per barrel, and it is sometimes much less. 
 If the petitioners could work cheap, then, by obtaining the enor- 
 mous quantity of freight and the number of passengers which they 
 dream of, and thus bring the merchandise at two dollars a ton, 
 they could not attain the object proposed in this testimony. With 
 a charge of about twenty-two cents from Troy to Boston and only 
 about one third of that from Troy to New York, we should, still, 
 be fifteen cents or more above New York. If the flour were 
 brought here at one dollar per ton, which is to be the mere cost 
 on the road, (and, as I think, much less than the cost,) without 
 any profit to pay dividends or interest, we should still be, usually, 
 five or six cents above New York. And if the Directors of the 
 four roads which make up the line from Troy to Boston should be 
 so obliging as to do it for nothing at all, bringing flour over the 
 road in New York, from Troy to our State line, over the road 
 through the tunnel to Greenfield, and over the Vermont and Mas- 
 sachusetts and the Fitchburg Roads, with no charge whatever to 
 cover expenses, then, we should be only five or six cents below 
 New York. Even that would be found to ofier no great induce- 
 ment for vessels to come on this side of Cape Cod for the flour. 
 A few might come, and not many ; for we are on the wrong side 
 
15 
 
 of the Cape, a stubborn geographical fact of potent bearing in 
 these matters. 
 
 But the Directors of these roads are not going to bring flour 
 here for nothing. It will not be brought merely for actual 
 cost over the new road which it is now proposed to make from 
 Greenfield to the State line of New York, whatever others may 
 do for rivalry ; for that road must have income to pay interest on 
 the loan that is to be made for the tunnel. It may seem to some 
 persons absurd to dwell a moment on the supposition that any 
 one could think of such a thing as transporting merchandise from 
 Troy to Boston for little or nothing. But they have not yet 
 heard the plan that I have alluded to for drawing such surprising 
 profits from the local business on the new line that it will enable 
 the Directors to pay their interest and even offer a drawback of 
 part of the freight to the purchaser of Western flour in Boston, 
 provided he will ship it ! This is not set forth before the Senate 
 as part of the scheme of the petitioners, but one may hear it else- 
 where from those who are in favor of the grant. It is necessary, 
 therefore, to take into view some characteristics in which the 
 trade of Boston differs from that of New York, and which are not 
 to be controlled by a trifling difference in the cost of flour. 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK COMPARED. 
 
 New York, from her position, has become commercially a great 
 central point for the Union, and for a large portion of our foreign 
 trade. Boston is geographically only a central point in commerce 
 for the larger part of New England.' New York is, of course, a 
 great place for agencies. Besides the business which may be 
 called her own, and which would make her a large city at any 
 rate, she is employed in transacting the business of other people ; 
 and this makes her the most populous city of the Union. The 
 business of Boston is necessarily original in its character, growing 
 out of the industry and enterprise of the people of Massachusetts 
 and of those who move in from neighboring States. She is a 
 principal ; employing, to no small extent, the agency that I speak 
 of in New York, and giving directions what shall or shall not be 
 done there. 
 
10 
 
 A voyage is planned quietly in Boston. The ship is fitted for 
 sea without noise or bustle, and sails, perhaps, for the other side 
 of the globe. At the end of ten or twelve months she returns 
 to New York ; richly laden, very likely with teas and silks ; and 
 then the bustle begins. The cargo is to be held or sold, as orders 
 may be given from Boston. The proceeds are to be disposed of 
 in conformity to orders from here. The profits belong here and 
 are remitted here, and the ship comes round here to be dismantled 
 and quietly refitted for another voyage. The basis of the whole 
 proceeding is very likely to be intelligence wiiich the merchant 
 of Boston has acquired by personal experience in the distant re- 
 gion to which the vessel is destined. 
 
 I speak from personal knowledge in this, having resided for ten 
 years in New York, representing there some of the most enter- 
 prising and successful merchants of Boston, until I was as famil- 
 iarly known among directors of banks and insurance offices as I 
 am here ; and it was within my own observation that Boston capi- 
 tal was, as it still is, at the bottom of much of the stir that is seen 
 there. When I have gone into Wall street and inquired what 
 was going on, the question has been put to me, in reply, " Who 
 should know if you do not ? You seem to be directing an impor- 
 tant part of what is going on." 
 
 I beg to be understood as speaking with entire respect of New 
 York. She has, as I have intimated, business of her own grow- 
 ing out of the sagacity and enterprise of her merchants sufficient 
 to make her great ; but the peculiar activity and a great portion 
 of the increase in population visible there, arises in the way that I 
 have described. It seems to me idle to compare Boston with 
 New York by increase of numbers, while they differ so widely in 
 the particulars mentioned. Boston has long been growing rapidly, 
 and continues to do so ; fast enough, I should think, to satisfy her 
 reasonable wishes. It does not seem to me desirable that her 
 population should be swelled to a vast multitude, not easily con- 
 trolled by wholesome regulations, perhaps, under institutions like 
 ours, if the increase is to come from mere agencies like a consid- 
 erable proportion of that in New York. Boston had but 18,000 
 inhabitants in my childhood. I have seen her population doubled 
 three times over, and it is now going on to be doubled a fourth 
 
17 
 
 time. She has become large enough to possess the characteristics 
 of a great city, and since that is so, I see no reason for concern. 
 It certainly was desirable that she should become so large that no 
 one need be troubled with the impression that each person knew 
 every body's business. But, now, she has attained that degree 
 of magnitude. No great performer of any description, no eminent 
 lecturer, no traveller worthy of distinction would come to the 
 United States without including Boston in his range of visits to 
 the great cities of the Union. If a person desires to fill a large 
 space in the public eye, by living for show, he may be gratified 
 here. If he wishes for privacy, he may live as retired as if he 
 were in any other city of the United States, or in the woods of Berk- 
 shire.* Why, then, should we be concerned at the growth of 
 other places, if we are prosperous ? It is said that only three 
 hundred houses were built in Boston the last year. I do not 
 know the truth of this, but what then ? If we could have a return 
 of all the houses that were built in the environs the last year, for 
 people who transact their business in Boston, and of new ware- 
 houses in the city, we should find a very different account. The 
 truth is that the stores are encroaching annually on the dwelling- 
 houses, and people are in a manner driven for residence into the 
 country, where the railroads furnish great facilities of access. 
 Street after street is given up to business for warehouses, till at 
 last the encroachment has come within view from this house. The 
 Masonic Temple is taken for business, and all the inhabitants of 
 Temple Place, opposite here, may consider that they have re- 
 ceived notice to remove. But if proof be wanted of our prosper- 
 ity, let any one look at our wharves, and (beside the old places 
 for ship building,) at the ship yards on East Boston and Chelsea, 
 where a fleet of clipper ships, the admiration of the commercial 
 world, has been launched, within three years, from places that 
 were milk farms but recently, to be sent on such voyages as I 
 have described. 
 
 * This passage has been represented as if a wish had been here expressed 
 that Boston might always be confined to the diminutive state, convenient 
 for gossip, from which it is here asserted that she has already emerged. 
 3 
 
18 
 
 PROSPERITY OF THE STATE. 
 
 And from this view of the city, which exhibits such prosperity 
 and growth, let us look abroad through the State, and regard her 
 in her two-fold position with respect to the rest of the Union, in 
 territory and in political power. We hear a great outcry that 
 she is losing ground, and particularly in comparison with New 
 York, so that something must be done to sustain her. Beginning 
 with square miles, at one end of the list of the States, which vary 
 in extent from about 1,000 square miles to more than 100,000, 
 we find Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey and 
 Massachusetts to be the five smallest in successive order. Be- 
 ginning at the other end, with the division of power as the 
 States are represented in Congress, we find the five greatest to 
 be New York, the " Empire State," coming first, Pennsylvania, 
 the " Keystone State," next, then Ohio, the greatest free State 
 of the West, and Virginia, the "mother of States and Presi- 
 dents ;" while Massachusetts stands with them, the fifth in order. 
 With scarcely 8,000 square miles of territory, she is found still by 
 the side of Virginia, eight times as large, in this season of pros- 
 perity and power, as they stood together in the time of revolution 
 and danger. In the new apportionment of representatives under 
 the last census, only two of the old States do more than to hold 
 their own position. Pennsylvania, with all her great internal im- 
 provements by canal and railroad, is one, and Massachusetts the 
 other. Each of them gains a representative. New York loses a 
 representative by the result of growth for the ten years, and Mas- 
 sachusetts gains one ! Now, Sir, it seems to me to be an insult to 
 common sense* to say, in such a state of things as this, that we 
 ought to make a great struggle, in a measure of questionable 
 character, to prevent Massachusetts from falling behind in propor- 
 tion to the State of New York. 
 
 * This expression has been repeated without the least reference to the 
 connection in which it was used, with the result of the late census, and rep- 
 resented as if the assertion had been, that it would be an insult to common 
 sense to say that either the city or the State would be benefited by any 
 thing that might be done to promote their prosperity. 
 
19 
 
 If any one is surprised at this result, and desires to know how 
 it should be that Massachusetts continues to grow in numbers 
 while she is constantly sending out emigrants to the South and 
 West, and to all parts of the commercial world that are reached 
 by American ships, he may find an explanation by looking again 
 at the census. There are columns there showing the number of 
 those residing in any one State who were born in other States of 
 the Union. There are two States remarkable in this particular. 
 New York, of course, is one ; for people naturally remove there from 
 the other States, to take part in the varied intercourse that she main- 
 tains with all of them. Massachusetts is the other. She receives 
 recruits from the neighboring States of the North, who, regarding 
 her metropolis as the central point of New England, desire to 
 coine here. And let them come ! The lines on the map which 
 mark the boundaries of State government should be no barriers 
 against the entrance of those who desire to participate in the ad- 
 vantages which by the geography of the country belong naturally 
 to them as well as to us, but which the division of territory leaves 
 in our possession. We bid them welcome to join with us and 
 enter on the commerce of the ocean, to which we hold the avenue. 
 Even if they come to share in the distribution of the offices which 
 the common government of the nation has established in this me- 
 tropolis of New England, so long as they are good men, suited to 
 the places to which they are called, we bid them welcome still ; 
 cheerfully recognizing their right to share in benefits incident to 
 that importance which we have gained in part by intercourse with 
 them and from internal resources common to them and to us. 
 But, however any one may choose to account for it, the fact is 
 clear, that Massachusetts is not receding. Those who leave her 
 may look back upon her still, with all the satisfaction that has 
 ever been felt by those who have regarded her as their home and 
 pointed to her as such ; including Presidents of the United States, 
 heads of departments in the General Government, two recently of 
 of the highest distinction in the department of State, and foreign 
 ambassadors, three in succession recently representing us at that 
 Court in Europe, where, perhaps, we should be most desirous of 
 appearing advantageously, with eminent success. 
 
20 
 
 SUPPOSED REMOVAL OF COMMERCE FROM BOSTON. 
 
 "We are told that our great commercial houses are going to New 
 York. What is there in all that ? Stated with precision, it is, 
 not that our great houses are leaving us, hut that they find it con- 
 venient to establish branches. It is the consequence of our exu- 
 berant growth. Massachusetts makes more than she wants. 
 When there is competition among the buyers to get the goods, 
 they come here fast enough. When we have more goods than we 
 can readily sell, and become ourselves competitors on the other 
 hand, we employ our outposts of agency. But purchasers usually 
 prefer to deal with a principal rather than his agent, believing 
 that an agent acts usually under limits that might be somewhat 
 relaxed if the principal were on the spot. The principal, too, 
 looks more exclusively to his own concerns than agents sometimes 
 do, and at New York gains facilities in finance, also, that are not 
 always to be found here. We are, therefore, only conforming to 
 a necessity that always existed since we became manufacturers, 
 but which is found to increase with the increase of business. Five 
 and twenty years ago we tried " New England sales " here, in 
 the sanguine belief that purchasers would assemble at stated 
 periods and clear our warehouses in a day. But the plan was a 
 failure. An association formed to promote it, has been kept 
 alive to this day ; and holds an annual meeting, with no result but 
 a dinner, partly paid for from a small remnant of its funds, and 
 an annual conclusion that the channels of commerce are not easily 
 to be changed. 
 
 We are told that our young men are going away. So they 
 have always been going away, from a natural spirit of enterprise, 
 to secure that elsewhere which they could not gain here by any 
 change of circumstances that lies within our control, tunnel or no 
 tunnel. 
 
 EXPORTS OF THE UNION IN FLOUR AND GRAIN. 
 
 We are told by the majority of our Legislative Committee, who 
 report this bill, what a vast amount of produce reaches the Hud- 
 son from the West, and how small a portion of it we bring here ; 
 
21 
 
 and, then, they add, " This is humiliating to Massachusetts !" 
 Is it ? I am at a loss to know why, any more than it is humili- 
 ating, as some people think, that we raise so little wheat of our 
 own. Massachusetts knows how to do better than to transport 
 what she does not need, under the orders of others. She takes 
 what she wants for her own use, and leaves the owners to do as 
 they please with the rest. She is too wise and independent to 
 act from a fear of their comments. When we talk of humiliation 
 however, it would be well to bear in mind that she would be cer- 
 tain to meet it, if we should undertake this tunnel and fail to com- 
 plete it ! When we talk with so much ease of raising the 
 Western merchandise that is to arrive here from little more than 
 50,000 tons, now received over the Western Road, to 200,000 
 tons, it would be well to think of the humiliation that we might 
 feel if we should contrive to get that quantity, or a quarter part 
 of it, here in flour, (50,000 tons being equal to nearly half a 
 million of barrels,) and then find that we could not sell it ! Such 
 a glut for one year would give Boston a name and expose her to 
 ridicule from which she would not recover for years afterwards. 
 Of course, any great addition to what we now receive must come 
 in flour. The wool, leather, &c., that we require from the West, 
 for our manufactures, find their way here now, and cannot be in- 
 creased much, except as our manufactures increase. Now, 
 150,000 tons of flour would be equal to nearly a million and a 
 half of barrels ; and this would rather exceed the average quantity 
 annually exported from the whole Union for twenty years past, 
 leaving out one year of famine in Ireland,* and including three 
 other years of great scarcity there. We cannot expect any such 
 addition in quantity, then, for the purposes of foreign trade. 
 
 * Since these remarks were made, the question has been put, " If all 
 this be true, and we are not to become great exporters of flour and grain, 
 what is to be done with the vast quantity that is to be produced in the 
 West ?" The only answer seems to be, that we shall use most of it, as we 
 have done, for our own consumption. In general, each nation raises its 
 own breadstuff's. When there is a poor harvest in England, and there is a 
 great stir in Europe because she is importing grain, the importation rarely 
 amounts to five per cent, of her usual product. Her importation from all the 
 world in such cases is usually not more than what is equal to six or eight mil- 
 
22 
 
 CONTINUATION FROM TUNNEL OVER OTHER ROADS. 
 
 Yet an inquiry into the character of the roads that are to make 
 out the whole line from Troj will show that this immense increase 
 is indispensable to the low rates of freight that are talked of, and 
 that if the city or the State needs a new impulse, this tunnel can- 
 lions of barrels of flour, and much of this comes, of course, from the 
 north of Europe. We are acting as General Jackson once advised that 
 we should, whether it be in consequence of his advice or otherwise. He 
 placed agriculture first among the great interests of the nation ; but he 
 said it would never do for us all to be employed in tilling the soil. We 
 must create a market for the surplus within our own borders, by establish- 
 ing manufactures, he thought ; or, we should be in complete subjection to 
 other nations, both in buying and selling. This is what we are doing. 
 The single lact that the blast furnaces and iron mills throughout the Union 
 are once more in successful operation, after long depression, probably keeps 
 the price of flour where it is at this day. But, in truth, the increase of our 
 population is greater than the increase of wheat in the Union, as appears 
 by returns of the last census. 
 
 The following tables will be found interesting and convenient. They 
 are taken from the Boston Atlas of June 2d. The editor of that paper has, 
 heretofore, when in Congress, collected and published in his speeches valu- 
 able statistics on the subject, and seems to keep his attention alive to it. 
 It will be observed that there is no great increase in the export of flour for 
 twenty years, leaving out four years of scarcity in Ireland, and that the 
 increase is very unsteady ; while there is a great and steady growth in the 
 export of manufactures, excepting four years of depression. 
 
 Exports of wheat and flour, reduced to bushels, reckoning five bushels to 
 the barrel, with the value of the same for twenty-one years, from 1831 to 
 1851 inclusive. 
 
 Years. Bushels. Value. 
 
 1831 9,441,090 $10,461,715 
 
 1832 4,407,899 4,974,123 
 
 1833 4,811,061 5,642,602 
 
 1834 4,213,708 4,560,379 
 
 1835 3,944,742 4,446,182 
 
 1836 2,529,062 3,574,561 
 
 1837 1,610,898 3,014,415 
 
 1838 2,247,096 3,617,724 
 
 1839 4,712,080 7,069,361 
 
 1840 11,198,365 11,779,098 
 
 1841 8,447,670 8,582,527 
 
 1842 7,237,968 8,292,308 
 
23 
 
 not give it. The road through it comprises only forty-four miles 
 of the route. It is to be continued westward to Troy by a road 
 in New York, is to emerge eastwardly on the Vermont and Mas- 
 sachusetts Road, and be continued over the Fitchburg Road to 
 Boston. Instead of half a cent a ton or passenger per mile, it now 
 costs on one of these last roads, the Fitchburg, more than a cent, 
 
 Years. Bushels. Value. 
 
 1843 4,519,055 4,027,182 
 
 1844 7,751,587 7,232,898 
 
 1845 6,365,8GG 5,735,372 
 
 1846 13,061,175 13,360,644 
 
 1847 22,314,431 32,183,161 
 
 1848 12,631,679 15,863,284 
 
 1849 12,067,599 13,037,430 ' . 
 
 1850 7,535,901 7,742,315 
 
 1851 11,028,397 11,543,063 
 
 Value of the export of manufactures and of wheat and flour for twenty- 
 one years, compared. 
 
 Years. Manufactures. Wheat. 
 
 1831 $5,804,199 $10,461,715 
 
 1832 5,424,014 4,974,123 
 
 1833 6,888,229 5,642,802 
 
 1834 6,013,385 4,560,797 
 
 1835 6,937,999 4,446,182 
 
 1836 6,915,748 3,574,561 
 
 1837 7,811,848 3,014,415 
 
 1838 9,010,358 3,617,724 
 
 1839 8,019,271 7,069,361 
 
 1840 10.613,767 11,779,098 
 
 1841 10,775,586 8,582,527 
 
 1842 9,769,857 8,292,308 
 
 1843 7,354,726 4,027,182 
 
 1844 9,680,534 7,232,898 
 
 1845 11,007,121 5,735,372 
 
 1846 11,482,854 13,360,644 
 
 1847 11,847,288 32,183,161 
 
 1848 14,717,175 15,863,284 
 
 1849 12,947,705 13,037,430 
 
 1850 17,145,203 7,742,315 
 
 1851 22,209,262 11,543,063 
 
 Total $212,376,329 $186,740,962 
 
24 
 
 and on the other, over two cents per mile. Whatever they can 
 do, the Western Road can do. What the Western cannot do, 
 they cannot do. The annual returns, which are made under oath 
 by all the Companies, and have been laid before us, show that the 
 cost of transportation on the Western Railroad is about as low as 
 on the best roads of the State. The Western Road is under one 
 Company, and is equal in length to a combination of three of the 
 roads on the proposed route, which is a great advantage. Such 
 combination would be of peculiar importance to the new road now 
 proposed, to avoid opposition in interest. This road, which is to be 
 forty-four miles long, is to be considered, I understand, as fifty-four 
 miles in the division of receipts. That is, the tunnel, four miles in 
 length, is to be considered as fourteen miles, in consideration of in- 
 creased cost. But what security is there that such an arrange- 
 ment will be permanent ? I shall now show that if it were so, 
 something more would be necessary to secure the Commonwealth 
 for the use of her credit. 
 
 UTMOST PROBABLE RESULT FROM THE TUNNEL. 
 
 After what has been stated, unless it can be refuted, no reliance 
 can be placed, I think, on the expectation of 200,000 tons of 
 merchandise for the new road between Troy and Boston. If the, 
 scheme of drawing away from the Western Road every ton that it 
 now receives from the Hudson, to Boston or back, the quantity 
 being something over 50,000 tons, be admitted as feasible, and 
 the supposition admitted that it may be raised to 100,000 tons, 
 impartial people will probably think that more is allowed than will 
 be realized on the new route.. As to passengers, there passed the 
 last year to and from the Hudson 35,000, and it is supposed that 
 if the fare be reduced to two dollars, 65,000 more will come and 
 go. How this inducement is to operate to such an extent, it is 
 not easy to imagine. An increase of business, even as large as is 
 hoped for, is not likely to draw them ; for business is very easily 
 managed by mail and telegraph in these days, with only an occa- 
 sional visit from the principal. People who travel for pleasure 
 generally go where they prefer to go, without regard to a small 
 difference of fare. And people whose time is important probably 
 
would not coine out of their way to Boston, if they were to receive 
 two dollars instead of paying it. It would be a liberal allowance 
 to suppose that all the passengers were drawn from the Western 
 Road and increased to 50,000. What will the whole amount to ? 
 At half a cent a ton per mile, for cost, and the same for profit, 
 100,000 tons and 50,000 passengers would yield, as profit, for the 
 forty-four miles of the road proposed, through the tunnel, only 
 $33,000. But we are told that ten miles more are to be allowed 
 for the tunnel in the division of receipts. This would make 
 $40,500, and if we allow $10,000 for mails, (supposing that the 
 Western Road is to lose the mail contract also,) it would be $50,500 
 for profit. But the interest on the loan guarantied by the Com- 
 monwealth will be $100,000. Where is the rest to come from ? 
 We are told from local business. Let us look a little at this local 
 travelling and business. But allow me, first, to remark that, while 
 I have, all this time, been arguing on the supposition of the counsel 
 for the petitioners, that half a cent a ton or passenger per mile 
 would cover the cost of transportation, I have not met one practi- 
 cal man acquainted with business on railroads, whether for or 
 against this project, and I have talked recently with several, who 
 believed this supposition to be correct. I believe even Mr. Peter 
 Clark does not venture to say that. He thinks that two dollars 
 a ton would leave a fair profit, which is a safer mode of expres- 
 sion ; but to make the assertion, he is obliged to couple it with 
 his enormous estimate of business to be expected. If that ad- 
 vantage could be obtained, probably the rates on the Western 
 Railroad would be much lower than they are. 
 
 LOCAL BUSINESS. 
 
 In regard to local business, suppose that the turnrel were now 
 completed and the road open to-day. We are told that the town of 
 Adams, on the western side of the Hoosac Mountain, and Shel- 
 burne and Coleraine, on the eastern side, would send here a large 
 quantity of manufactured goods. Suppose they should, what 
 would become of them? The great complaint, now, about our 
 own manufactures here, which necessarily come first to Boston, is, 
 that they are sent forward to New York. Would not a large 
 
26 
 
 portion of those coining from the towns that I mention, go also to 
 New York ? Of course they would. And they can go there 
 now. I presume they do ; and that we should have but few of 
 them, if the tunnel were now finished. A railroad from Adams 
 opens the way, crossing the Western Railroad, to New York. 
 Another passes down the Connecticut River, also on the way to 
 New York, from Greenfield adjoining the towns of Shelburne and 
 Coleraine. The other towns in that region consist only of farm- 
 ing and grazing land, and I presume that much is not expected 
 from them. 
 
 DETRIMENT TO WESTERN RAILROAD. 
 
 This great local business, then, that is to help out the business 
 to and from Troy and Boston, is not, after all, to be found on the 
 immediate line of the new road, but is to be drawn through a 
 wide range of country and in a great measure from the Western 
 Railroad, a road in which the State has a deep interest. First 
 its long business is to be taken from it, and then its local business. 
 The scheme reminds one of a case that might serve to illustrate 
 the spirit in which the Commonwealth would seem to act, if aid- 
 ing to build up such a rival to her own property. When travel- 
 ling at the South, a few years since, I learned that a steam- 
 boat on the Mississippi, called the Diana, having passed, shortly 
 before, from a certain point in Arkansas, which is a favorite place 
 of starting for a trial of speed, and reached New Orleans in rather 
 a shorter time than any boat had ever run that distance before, 
 a man was then building a boat, which he swore, " by the 
 Eternal," should beat the Diana, or he would blow her out 
 of the water and himself in her ; the wonder being that the 
 same man owned the two boats ! While this new road is not likely 
 to do good by effecting any favorable change of importance in 
 the State, it would be likely to do some mischief. Our people 
 have embarked, debts included, more than sixty millions in rail- 
 roads, no one of which has any income to spare ; and it is better 
 for the community to pursue such a policy as will make that enor- 
 mous investment more productive, than to add new competitors in 
 the business. Professedly, the local business talked of for this 
 
27 
 
 road is to be drawn in a great measure from others, North and 
 South ; the basis being cheap freight on flour. When I have 
 stated that there can only be a gain of three cents and a frac- 
 tion, I have been told that even three and a half cents is an im- 
 portant difference on a barrel of flour. How does it happen, then, 
 that while three and half cents are so important on the Connecti- 
 cut River, a difference of ten cents at Boston is thought to be so 
 trifling between us and New York ? If three and a half cents, or 
 double that, if six or seven cents, on a barrel of flour, would offer 
 such an advantage that, by means of it, when the tunnel is fin- 
 ished, Greenfield might outgrow Springfield, how are we in Boston 
 to rival New York with a supposed difference of ten cents in 
 price, (which I have shown must be at least fifteen cents,) against 
 us ? Sir, this glowing picture of business on the way will not, I 
 think, bear examination any more than the other part of the 
 scheme, for diverting what is equal to the whole export of the 
 country, in flour, to Boston. But if it proves any thing, it is, that 
 the tunnel is far more likely to do injury to the Western Railroad 
 than it is to do any good whatever to this city, or to the State 
 at large. 
 
 CAUTION FROM RESULT OF WESTERN RAILROAD. 
 
 In the report of the testimony before the Legislative Commit- 
 tee, there is a passing remark by one witness (Mr. Degrand) 
 which deserves attention. He was called to testify concerning 
 the summit cut on the Western Road and the rate of charges 
 there. That witness has credit for sagacity, and I think deser- 
 vedly so. He took an early and warm interest in the road and 
 helped to sustain it in disastrous times. It was he, I believe, who 
 proposed and ably urged the establishment of the sinking funds 
 for the debt and liabilities of the State incurred for the road. 
 He has always been a great advocate for low fares and charges ; 
 and his advice, in that respect, has been adopted and carried so 
 far, if not on the Western Road on others, that the extreme was 
 reached, and necessity compelled the Directors to raise them. 
 He now speaks with disappointment of what he finds to be the re- 
 sult of all that he did for so great an undertaking ; and it appears 
 
28 
 
 that if he had foreseen it, he " would not have started a peg in 
 urging it forward." What shall we infer from this ? Is the road 
 mismanaged ? Is the President ignorant and unfit for his place ? 
 Are the agents incompetent or unfaithful ? If so, where are the 
 Directors on the part of the State, chosen annually in our Con- 
 vention of the two Houses, to look after our interests ? It is not 
 so. There is no mismanagement. But, with all his foresight, it 
 seems he was merely mistaken. Like men of greater sagacity 
 than he, or I, or any one here, he finds that human judgment is 
 fallible, in railroads and in commerce, as the lives of distinguished 
 men show it to have been in statesmanship and war. As he was 
 mistaken once, he may be so again. And as he " would not have 
 moved a peg," if he had foreseen the whole, I think our only safe 
 conclusion from his testimony is, that we had better not " move a 
 peg" in this business, until we hear clearer reasons for it than 
 have yet been given. 
 
 One may hear strange things said, by the advocates of this 
 measure, in the streets and about this chamber. Whether they 
 are to be urged here I cannot say, but as I am speaking in antici- 
 pation of the friends of the bill, I am obliged to notice and answer 
 some of them, now, that I may not be forced to trouble the Senate 
 a second time in this debate. 
 
 INFLUENCE OF PRICES ON TRADE. 
 
 It is said that what we want is to "turn the scale" against 
 New York; and that vessels actually go there from Maine 
 for flour instead of coming here. How are we to " turn the 
 scale " by a route that confessedly leaves us with a considerable 
 difference of price against us ? Suppose a coaster of 100 tons 
 to sail from Maine for flour, after the tunnel is finished. The 
 most desirable rate aimed at by the petitioners is that she might 
 find it to be only ten cents a barrel cheaper in New York than 
 here. Yet as she would carry 800 or 1,000 barrels, this is a 
 gain of $80 or $100 to be made by going there, and quite suffi- 
 cient to induce her to pass us by. If, as I say, the difference is 
 to be fifteen cents, the gain is half as much more. Now, the last 
 year we had an urgent application here to restrict the fees of 
 
29 
 
 pilots ; and it was testified, as an inducement, before a Committee 
 of the two houses, of which I was Chairman, that the mere differ- 
 ence in pilotage, a trifle comparatively, not a fourth of what I have 
 mentioned in flour, was sufficient in some cases to cause vessels 
 from Nova Scotia to go to New York instead of coming here ! How 
 can we expect vessels from Maine, then, to come here with such a 
 difference against us in flour ? When I assert that no reliance can 
 long be placed on trade to California and Australia, whatever it may 
 be just now, because one will supply herself and Oregon will sup- 
 ply the other before the tunnel can be made, even if five years 
 will be sufficient to complete it ; I hear it answered, " Then we 
 must look for some other new countries." And where, in the 
 wide world, are these new countries to be found ? Is Massachu- 
 setts to make a tunnel for trade with countries that are yet to 
 be discovered ? 
 
 MEANS FOR TRANSPORTATION WESTWARD. 
 
 I have been told, repeatedly, that there is pressing necessity 
 for this tunnel, because means are wanted to transport westward 
 the goods that are purchased in Boston, the Western Railroad 
 being unable to do the business required ; that if the goods could 
 only be carried away, western traders would be glad to come here 
 and purchase their heavy goods ; and that you have on your 
 table, Sir, a petition in aid of this measure, signed by dry goods 
 dealers and others in Boston, whose capital exceeds thirty mil- 
 lions of dollars, and who urge the passage of the bill before us 
 especially on this ground. I have been requested to see one of 
 them, in particular, who, it was said would give me correct infor- 
 mation on the subject. I have seen him. Availing myself of the 
 early adjournment of the Senate, two days since, I went to his 
 place of business ; and I believe that I shall throw light on the 
 matter before us, in several important points, by stating just what 
 passed. The firm occupies the greater part of three large stores, 
 opened into one extensive establishment. It was, I may say in 
 common phrase, a sight to see, showing the magnitude of the 
 operations in business here. The principal partner was seat- 
 ed in a position where he had a view of every person who entered, 
 
30 
 
 and of the direction that might be given to each purchaser, ac- 
 cording to his inquiries. I told him that I had come in conse- 
 quence of this petition signed by him, understanding that he could 
 give me important information to aid me in deciding how to vote. 
 He remarked that he really knew very little about the tunnel ; 
 and that he had signed the paper offered him, as he should any 
 other, because he was informed that it tended to promote the 
 prosperity of Boston, which he had much at heart. I told 
 him that I was not surprised to hear this, and that I supposed 
 others had signed it much in the same way ; but that I understood 
 that he could give me accurate information of the difficulties at- 
 tending the transportation of goods westward from here. On 
 that, he answered that he had much to tell me ; that he could 
 not say that he had a letter of complaint as often as every day, 
 but such letters were numerous ; that he happened to be answer- 
 ing one of the sort when he was applied to, to sign the petition re- 
 ferred to, and he did it the more readily on that account. He then 
 offered to read me one. It was dated at Lexington in Kentucky. 
 The writer complained of great wrong because the goods which 
 he had bought here had not reached Cincinnati at the time fixed. 
 He could not get them over from there in due time. His custom- 
 ers, therefore, had gone to Louisville and supplied themselves 
 there ; and his Spring trade, which might have been excellent if 
 his purchases had arrived, had turned out ill. He, therefore, re- 
 lied on the honor and honesty of the parties in Boston, who were 
 answerable, for voluntary and prompt redress. He had suffered 
 as much or more, he said, in regard to Ms goods from New York, 
 but had no hope of justice there, if a lawsuit for damages could 
 possibly be defeated ! Of Boston, he hoped .better things. I then 
 inquired whether these delays, which seemed to be common to 
 New York and Boston both, had really occurred on our Western 
 Railroad. The principal of the firm was unable to tell me, but 
 obligingly summoned his shipping clerk, a very intelligent person. 
 I explained to him the object of the inquiry, and the importance 
 of ascertaining with precision whether the trouble arose on the 
 route between here and Albany, or on that between Albany and 
 Buffalo. He answered that it was neither on one nor the other ; 
 that the delay had taken place between BUFFALO and CLEAVE- 
 
31 
 
 LAND ! I then inquired whether any case had occurred in which 
 a customer of the firm had suffered from delay on this side of 
 Albany ; and he answered none. I asked if he knew of any such 
 case among other firms, where the fault lay with the Western Rail- 
 road ; and he answered that he did not. I expressed my readi- 
 ness to receive any such information, if, on conference with other 
 dealers, it could be furnished ; but I have received none. 
 
 You have the whole story, Sir, and it hardly requires com- 
 ment. All the papers on your table establish nothing to show 
 that the tunnel is required to furnish additional facilities for trans- 
 porting merchandise from here to the Hudson, on the ground of 
 any delay on the Western Railroad ; nor is there a tittle of evi- 
 dence elsewhere, to that effect. 
 
 The commercial witness of the petitioners testified to nothing 
 of the sort before the Committee. He speaks of some flour that 
 was detained at Ogdensburgh ; but every body knows that busi- 
 ness was deranged on the Vermont Central Road by a fire which 
 destroyed some of their cars and by other difficulties in its affairs ; 
 and the delay may have been owing to that. But it has no bear- 
 ing on the point in question. 
 
 If any one will take the trouble to inquire into the real mean- 
 ing of these petitions in aid of the bill before us, it will prob- 
 ably be found that they are to be taken only as the expression of 
 a wish for any thing that is likely to promote the prosperity of the 
 city, provided that it is proper to grant it. If any Senator will 
 ask whether the subject has been thoroughly examined by those 
 whose signatures he sees there, and whether they can assure him 
 that, on the oath he has taken, it is his duty to vote for this bill, he 
 probably will meet a decided negative. If we could make it out 
 that it would be wise so to use the credit of the State that west- 
 ern produce could be brought here for the mere cost of transpor- 
 tation ; and, as the cars must return, that goods purchased here, 
 for the West, should be carried as far as Troy for nothing at all ; 
 the dealers here would, no doubt, be very well pleased. The 
 nearer we can come to that, the better for them. Even ruinous 
 rivalry between the roads might help their business. But they 
 consider that the responsibility is with us. While they let us 
 know their wishes, if it would not be proper to grant what they 
 
want, they expect us to refuse it. They suppose that we are se- 
 lected and placed here for our wisdom and intelligence ; and giving 
 us credit, perhaps, for quite as much of either as we can claim to 
 possess, they, like the rest of the community, expect that we 
 shall exercise sound discretion. They do not offer aid themselves 
 by taking stock in the tunnel route. The Tremont House was 
 completed by the aid of business men, who wished that purchasers 
 from a distance should have comfortable accommodations ; but 
 they did not aid in building rival hotels. There was general con- 
 tribution to make the Western Railroad, but nobody contributes 
 to this. Yet the same spirit exists in the community as I have 
 proofs to show, if necessary. The bill is guarded by some con- 
 ditions that stock shall be secured and work done before the aid 
 of the State is given. But these conditions may all be removed 
 by future enactments, with such importunity as is used here. 
 
 FERRY AT ALBANY. 
 
 The ferry at Albany has been spoken of as causing a serious 
 addition to the cost of transportation on the Western Road. The 
 produce coming eastward, however, is delivered on one side or the 
 other of the river, as the owner prefers, without additional cost, 
 just as coal or cotton is delivered at one wharf or another in Bos- 
 ton, as is preferred, even at a loss sometimes of a day or more to 
 the vessel that brings it. 
 
 Yet the counsel for the petitioners informed the Committee that 
 he could prove this ferry to be equal to an addition of 100 miles 
 in railroad travel. He had claimed an addition, before, of sixty- 
 five miles for grades and curves, and has since said that is not 
 enough. How much shall we add, then? Suppose we add 
 about one half to it, and call this latter item also 100 miles. 
 Then we shall have 200 miles of constructive distance, and 200 
 of actual distance. When I have alluded to something of extrav- 
 agance in the argument of the counsel on this and other matters, I 
 have been asked if I cannot allow a little for the zeal of an advo- 
 cate in arguing his cause ? To be sure, I can. But if his zeal 
 makes 400 out of 200 so easily, I look elsewhere with greater 
 care and precision, on that account, for the truth of the case. 
 
HIGH GRADES. 
 
 The high grades that have been spoken of require, perhaps, no 
 further comment. The additional power that they render neces- 
 sary can be furnished by two extra engines, the cost of which 
 would be, with allowance for deterioration, only $5,000 a year 
 for each. In all these matters the main question is, what will be 
 the comparative cost of freight. The Western Road now brings 
 flour at 31^ cents the barrel. The petitioners do not pretend 
 that they can bring it for less than 21 cents, and probably no im- 
 partial person, who looks into the subject, will believe that they 
 can pay interest on their loan even at 25 or 28 cents. 
 
 You may hear a calculation, Sir, that the Western Road and 
 the Worcester, making the route from Albany to Boston, cost, to- 
 gether, more than the four roads which are to make up the route 
 from Troy to Boston will have cost when the tunnel is completed ; 
 and, therefore, they can afford to carry merchandise cheaper on 
 the latter route. There is less in this than might be supposed. 
 It only affects dividends. The main question still is, what will 
 each road carry freight for. With sharp rivalry on the two 
 routes, there will probably be little profit on either. But the 
 tunnel road must charge something beyond actual cost, for the in- 
 terest on its loan, and the Vermont and Massachusetts cannot 
 go much below two cents, instead of half a cent in mere cost, with- 
 out a greater business than it is likely to get. If the Fitchburg 
 and the New York road are to work for cost only, the Western 
 can do it as well as either. 
 
 MACHINE FOR TUNNEL. 
 
 I remarked that it was not my intention to throw doubts on the 
 means of making a tunnel, when one is really wanted. But it 
 was not my intention to admit that the one proposed could be 
 made within the time or for the sum proposed, although I have 
 only undertaken to show that if it could be so made, there would 
 be no such results from it as are anticipated. I believe that it will 
 cost more money than is said, and require more than double the 
 5 
 
34 
 
 time. I said that I should cast no ridicule on the machine that 
 has been invented for boring. I know that our people, who work 
 in stone, show a remarkable faculty for overcoming difficulties, 
 and it would not surprise me if this machine were found to be of 
 some use, though it deserves remark that nobody seems disposed 
 to try this invention, for tunnels elsewhere. But one thing should 
 not be passed without particular notice. It is probable that even 
 the petitioners are not more confident of its success than of Mr. 
 Ericsson's. His success is held up by their counsel, in argu- 
 ment, as a reproach against all those who are slow to believe in 
 new improvements. Now, if Mr. Ericsson is really successful, it 
 cannot be long before we shall have propellers on his plan between 
 Boston and Albany. As more than one half the labor and 
 three quarters of the fuel necessary for steam are to be saved by 
 his mode of using heated air, no railroad through the tunnel could 
 come in competition with it for cheapness, nor secure any impor- 
 tant advantage in speed, for the mere transportation of mer- 
 chandise. <* 
 
 SECTIONAL CLAIM FOR AID. 
 
 It is urged, in a tone of complaint, that this measure is wanted 
 for a part of the country for which nothing has been done, while 
 the State has done a vast deal for the benefit of others by aiding 
 the Western Railroad and lending its credit elsewhere. That 
 road, however, was not made to oblige the farmers of Berkshire 
 and Hampden, although it was an agreeable incident that they 
 were to derive benefit from it. If there had been no other object 
 in view than their profit, the road would not have been made up 
 to this time. In making it, the State was not asked to go below 
 daylight and encounter unknown difficulties in the dark. While 
 she has shown readiness to open proper avenues and has assisted 
 to do it, until the railroad interest may be supposed able to take 
 care of itself, she has given no encouragement to expect her aid 
 in unprofitable rivalry, like what is proposed here. All that could 
 have been reasonably asked of her, unless the Hoosac route had 
 been selected as the first avenue to the Hudson, would have 
 been assistance to make a common railroad from each side of the 
 
85 
 
 mountain, toward the Connecticut on the cast, and toward the 
 Hudson on the west. I should be as ready as most people to 
 give moderate aid for such an object, if it were shown that it is 
 indispensablj necessary in order to secure a share in the general 
 prosperity for the towns in that quarter. But the reverse is 
 shown. Their growth and importance are dwelt upon, in the 
 case of the petitioners, to show the value of local business on the 
 route. They seem to be already on a footing with the average of 
 the State. I hear it said, to be sure, that much of the farming 
 land there has not increased at all in value ; and the same may 
 be said of thousands of acres within twenty miles of this city, 
 which are not favorably situated in reference to the railroads that 
 centre here. They are really of little more value, if any, than 
 they were in the last century, before we had any supplies of agri- 
 cultural produce from the West to come in competition with our 
 own products. 
 
 It seems to be thought that there is improper interference here 
 from the Western Railroad. It does not seem so to me. I 
 have no interest to prompt me in defending its Directors ; but 
 their remonstrance is such as I think it was their duty to make, 
 and it contains important arguments, coinciding with some views 
 that I have now presented, which have not been answered or no- 
 ticed. If the route through the tunnel had been preferred and 
 opened by the aid of the State, those who might have had the 
 management of it would certainly have neglected their duty, if 
 they had failed to present a true statement of objections in oppo- 
 sition to any similar claim that might have been made here for aid 
 in opening a rival route ; where the Western Road now runs, for 
 instance. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 I look for great evil to come from the rivalry that would be en- 
 gendered by this measure, in poverty of equipment and increased 
 danger to life, against which we have recently had solemn warn- 
 ing ; though, on the Western Road, there have been as yet but 
 few accidents of importance, since one or two at the outset. 
 
36 
 
 Common arithmetic shows that the scheme is unsound and un- 
 called for, in the present condition of the State. It shows that 
 we can save but three cents and a fraction in transporting a bar- 
 rel of flour from the Hudson to Boston ; and that the price in 
 New York will be, then, fifteen cents per barrel lower than the 
 price here. If any Senator means still to' maintain that we need 
 a tunnel to aid us, on the pretence that we are going behindhand, 
 I trust that he will prove that I am in the wrong, by the census, 
 the State valuation, and the course of business. 
 
 Unless that be done, I shall feel bound to vote under the con- 
 viction that no emergency exists requiring a new impulse in our 
 affairs that would involve such cost and risk, and that the impulse 
 could not be given by the tunnel, even if it were required. The 
 attempt to show that this case resembles those in which States 
 have heretofore wisely lent assistance, appears to me to be a total 
 failure. Since w r e have discontinued the policy of using the pub- 
 lic credit for the aid of railroads, any petition for it, now, should 
 present a case of greater benefit to the whole community, as a 
 result, than most that have preceded it. But this has far less of 
 that than most of them, to recommend it. With the exception of 
 moderate local benefit to one section, all that we find in it is a 
 poor plan of opposition between neighboring interests, calculated 
 to take away from some one nearly all that is given to another, 
 instead of a clear addition to the instruments of wealth, tending 
 to the benefit of the whole ; and while it would be " humiliating" 
 and even culpable, in this age of progress, to neglect any means 
 within our control for promoting the prosperity and growth of 
 both city and State, the inaptitude of this scheme for any such 
 purpose is a prominent objection to the grant of aid that is 
 desired. 
 
37 
 
 FROM THE FITCHBURG REVEILLE OF MARCH 16TH, 1853. 
 [Reported for the Reveille ] 
 
 REMARKS OF HON. T. G. GARY, OF SUFFOLK, 
 
 IN THE SENATE OF MASSACHUSETTS, ON THE GENERAL LAWS FOR 
 ESTABLISHING MANUFACTURING CORPORATIONS, MARCH 1, 1853. 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT : A Senator from the Committee on Manufactures, 
 who thinks that this law should be brought into general use and that special 
 acts should be refused, told us, yesterday, that the opponents of the law had 
 probably never examined its provisions ; that they probably never would 
 give it proper attention, until they were compelled to do so, by the rejection 
 of their petitions ; and that they would then find that they had no reason 
 for complaint. He, therefore, gave us a comparison between the special 
 acts heretofore granted, and the provisions of this general law. I was glad 
 to have the explanation from one of its friends. I take his view of it ; and I 
 think it obvious, from that view, why people are unwilling to use it, and 
 why those who have much property will prefer to invest it elsewhere, even 
 out of the State, rather than in manufactures here according to its terms. 
 
 My remarks are made for the purpose of showing that this general law 
 tends to deter capitalists from taking shares in our corporations. But some 
 persons seem to have an impression that the rich men of this State, and 
 particularly of the cities, have made their money through the favor of this 
 Legislature, in granting them acts of incorporation for manufacturing pur- 
 poses ; and that they are, therefore, in a manner bound to do with it some- 
 what as the Legislature directs. * * * * I shall presently show this 
 supposition to be an egregious error. 
 
 I deny that there is any partiality shown here towards the rich, or that 
 the rich have been made so by the favor of the Legislature. Who are 
 they ? Look up and down this Beacon street where we are, and look over 
 this city and regard the men individually. They will be found to be almost 
 invariably what are called " self-made men," who began life with small 
 means, most of them engaging in foreign trade, going abroad for informa- 
 
tion, even among nations the most uncivilized and barbarous, and using that 
 information with sagacity and success. They have collected here the 
 wealth that they have gained elsewhere, much of it on the other side of the 
 globe. They have employed that wealth here, by renewing their enter- 
 prises in navigation from our ports, in a way that has given impulse to all 
 business, and increased the value of every farm in the State, and of every 
 heifer and steer that helps to stock it. They have invested part of the 
 property thus gained in factories, and given employment to tens of thou- 
 sands. They have taken shares in railroads to open the interior, and in 
 other public works. They have founded hospitals, and aided in the cause 
 of education. While the stock-lists of the corporations would show num- 
 bers of such men, I might with confidence challenge any one, to show us in 
 the list of proprietors of all the millions of property at Lowell, five men of 
 any considerable property who can be said to have made their money by 
 manufacturing. 
 
 I have in my mind, at the moment, a man well known in the councils of 
 the nation for ability and wisdom, who lives in a beautiful house, near here, 
 drives a fine carriage, or his wife does, and has every thing about him that 
 intelligence can desire from wealth. He is President of two or three large 
 manufacturing corporations, and concerned in others. And this man lived 
 in the same house and in the same way, rich from his own acquisitions, 
 when all Lowell was farming land, and not a spindle had been seen there. 
 He did not grow rich by manufacturing, then. 
 
 A brother lives near him, of whom much of this may likewise be said, 
 except that, now, too far advanced in age to take any share in the business 
 of life, he is chiefly known for acts of wide beneficence ; like another indi- 
 vidual* of the same description, whose late residence is within sight from 
 this building, and who has closed a long life of usefulness and benevolence 
 in peace and charity, with all mankind, to the sorrow of the unfortunate 
 while we have been sitting here. Both of them might well say, on the bed 
 of death, in the language of Job, 
 
 " When the ear heard me, then it blessed me ; and when the eye saw me, 
 it gave witness to me. Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the 
 fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that 
 was ready to perish came upon me ; and I caused the widow's heart to sing 
 for joy." 
 
 A similar instance is found in the distinguished statesman who latelyrep- 
 resented the country as our ambassador in England. Many people would, 
 doubtless, listen with amazement to the assertion that he did not derive his 
 wealth through a commercial house always depending solely for business 
 on its agency for factories. Yet it is perfectly well remembered that the 
 house in question for some time declined any such agency, from an un- 
 willingness to relax its attention to foreign business, which had made it 
 
 * The late Amos Lawrence, Esq. 
 
rich. We must look behind any action of our Legislature, then, to discover 
 the origin of that wealth from which he has founded and munificently en- 
 dowed the Scientific School at Cambridge ; contributing liberally, all the 
 time, to other public institutions and works of charity. 
 
 Who was it, I might ask, too, who led the way in establishing Normal 
 Schools among us ? A merchant* who had, no doubt, much to do with 
 manufactures, but who was rich before. From whom have we had a house, 
 I might almost say a palace, for the blind ? From another, of whom the 
 same might be said, with more emphasis. Who gave a hundred thousand 
 dollars in one sum to the General Hospital, open to all parts of the Com- 
 monwealth, as much as to Boston ? Another,f who had nothing to do with 
 factories. 
 
 If we look into the second generation, to see what the heirs of such men 
 do with the money which they inherit, we find instances that tend to estab- 
 lish a high character for them, as a class. The manj who moved forward, 
 hand in hand with the Commonwealth, to establish the State Reform School 
 at Westborough, was the son of one who had acquired all his great wealth 
 by ships sent on long voyages into distant seas ; and thus a part of his earn- 
 ings was finally disposed of. Another, whose wants were provided for by 
 inheritance, but whose active and sagacious mind had increased his proper- 
 ty by his own enterprise, dying far away, childless and alone, when the ties 
 of conjugal and paternal affection had been dissolved in the death of those 
 who looked to him for protection, was found to have provided in his latest 
 aspirations for the improvement of his native State. A noble fortune was 
 left as a foundation for the Lowell Institute, which draws to us the phi- 
 losophers and men of science of the Old World, while it elicits and liberally 
 compensates the efforts of our own learned men. It may be heard from 
 your Teachers' Institutes, Sir, with what gratification and improvement an 
 occasional lecture is received there from distinguished professors, who never 
 would have visited this country but for that munificent bequest.|| 
 
 And such instances taken for illustration, do not show half the aggregate 
 of general contribution for liberal purposes in the whole community, made 
 up by the combined action of those who readily follow such examples, but 
 necessarily contribute in smaller sums. With such a spirit apparent, when 
 we hear it said that privileges are sought for by the rich to the exclusion of 
 the poor, and when capital is represented as arrayed in opposition to labor, 
 it really seems as if it might be said with greater truth, that the capitalist 
 thinks more kindly of the laborer than laborers do of each other, except 
 when they combine against their employer as if he were a common enemy. 
 If our laws were framed to keep property in unbroken descent, by entail- 
 ment and the like, there might be a reason to regard it with jealousy. But 
 
 * The late Hon. Edmund Dwight. f The late John M'Lean, Esq. 
 
 t The late Hon. Theodore Lyman. $ The late John Lowell, Jr., I 
 
 || The other persons alluded to are still living. 
 
40 
 
 the accumulation of one man is divided and subdivided by those who follow 
 him and soon disappears in the mass. 
 
 It is not my purpose, in the allusions that I have made, to claim for those 
 who become rich among us any merit for fanciful or poetic disinterested- 
 ness. But it has been said here within a twelvemonth, by a late colleague 
 of the Senator and a political associate of his, that it is not desirable to 
 have large fortunes among us. Now, a true statement of facts tends to 
 show that there is nothing in the mode of acquisition or the use of wealth 
 here that is detrimental to any body ; while there is much, both in the ac- 
 quisition and the use of it, that promotes welfare and prosperity throughout 
 the State, even if it be true that the" rich manage their affairs merely as 
 men of business, looking to their own advantage alone. 
 
 Suppose the largest stockholder in the corporations at Lowell, for in- 
 stance, instead of liberally aiding others (as he has), had never assisted any 
 one purposely, but looked solely to his own interest. Was it not, still, a 
 benefit to the community that he acquired property elsewhere and planted 
 it there in a way that tended to advance the value of land in that vicinity a 
 hundred fold or more, to increase the numbers and activity of our popula- 
 tion, and of course to increase our political influence, as well as the general 
 valuation of the State ? Before the commencement of this century, in a 
 spirit of vigorous enterprise, he went abroad into various countries, estab- 
 lished a commercial house at Canton (from which a score of rich men have 
 issued since, and brought back fortunes to the United States), and was one 
 of the foremost to open a great trade, which enables us to say, among other 
 things, when our prosperity is attributed to the staples of the South, that of 
 the wealth of New England, more, probably, has been gained by carrying 
 rice from the islands in the Indian Ocean to feed the Chinese, than from the 
 rice of the Carolinas. In a long series of enterprises fitted out from here, 
 he gave advantageous employment to various branches of business; and in 
 investing the property thus acquired, helped to furnish profitable occupation 
 in factories for which millions on millions have been paid in wages ; while 
 no laborer there, man or woman, ever lost a dollar that was due for work, 
 by failure or delay of payment. Does any man believe that if the action of 
 such an individual, for half a century and more, could have been withdrawn 
 from here, and his enterprises had been carried on from New York or Phil- 
 adelphia, this State would be the better for his absence ? 
 
 Again, if any great undertaking should be stopped for want of means, 
 if a railroad company, for instance, should become embarrassed, afid, re- 
 quiring the aid of capital for relief, should apply to some agent in financial 
 transactions to procure money to a large amount, to whom would such an 
 agent be likely to resort ? I do not mean for assistance to a company who 
 build their road where it never can be profitable to the stockholders, though 
 it may increase the value of property all along its line but to aid a com- 
 pany who can offer good security and liberal remuneration for a heavy ad- 
 vance. The agent or broker would be very likely to go to some man who 
 
41 
 
 in youth began the business of life by a sea voyage as a mariner, rose to be 
 master of a ship, went among savages, perhaps, on the shores of the Pacific, 
 at the risk of his life, traded for sea-otter skins, or the like, carried them to 
 China, converted them into teas and silks, which he brought home, and re- 
 newing his enterprises from here, sent others to repeat the operation. Do 
 we find cause to regret that his accumulations are here as a resource in such 
 emergencies? Certainly not. By arbitrary restrictions we may drive 
 capital away, but when it is gone, and our people begin to feel the want of 
 its presence, they will hardly believe that their true interests have been 
 consulted bv this course. 
 
 The Senator says, that this general law was no party measure. I have 
 no doubt that he honestly believes what he says ; and yet I think that he is 
 mistaken. 
 
 And Avhat do we lind to be the consequence of its provisions ? The pe- 
 titioners for the bill now before you tell the story. They are mechanics, 
 praying to be incorporated in the old way, for the purpose of making steam 
 engines on so large a scale of work that the aid of capitalists is necessary. 
 They are asked why they do not organize under the general law. They 
 answer, that capitalists dislike its provisions and will not join them on the 
 terms required. If we refuse their prayer, then, the work that they seek 
 the means to execute here, must be done in some other State, under laws 
 more favorable to general prosperity than our own, and our mechanic:* 
 arc made the victims of bHnd opposition to capital. 
 

 INDEX, 
 
 Page. 
 
 BOSTON AS A MARKET FOR FLOUR, f> 
 
 Trade with Interior Towns, 5 
 
 " Maine, . . ... . . 5, 7, 28 
 
 41 " British Provinces, 6 
 
 " " Canada, -G 
 
 tc England, 8 
 
 " " Australia and California, . . . 7, 8, 13, 29 
 
 " " Brazil, &c., 8 
 
 Difference between Southern and Western Flour, ... 7 
 
 THE TUNNEL COMPARED WITH OTHER PUBLIC WORKS, 4, 8, 23, 2-1 
 
 Saving in Distance, . . . . . . . . 10 
 
 " " Cost of Transportation, . . 11,13,14,25,33 
 
 Cost down the Hudson, 14 
 
 Freight and Passengers required for the Tunnel, ... 13 
 " " " likely to be obtained, . . 24,25 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK COMPARED, 15 
 
 Prosperity of Boston, 16,17 
 
 PROSPERITY OP THE STATE, 18 
 
 Testimony before the Legislative Committee, . . 13, 27 
 
 SUPPOSED REMOVAL OF COMMERCE FROM BOSTON, ... 20 
 EXPORTS OF THE UNION IN FLOUR AND WHEAT, . . 20, 22 
 
 CONTINUATION FROM TUNNEL OVER OTHER ROADS, ... 22 
 UTMOST PROBABLE RESULT FROM THE TUNNEL^ . . . 24 
 
 LOCAL BUSINESS, 25 
 
 DETRIMENT TO WESTERN RAILROAD, . . 26, 3; 
 
 Caution from result of Western Railroad, .... 27 
 
 INFLUENCE OF PRICES ox TRADE, 28 
 
 MEANS FOR TRANSPORTATION WESTWARD 20 
 
 Wishes of Petitioners in aid, * 31 
 
 FERRY AT ALBANY, ... .... 10, 32 
 
 GRADES, ... .,....' 12, 33 
 
 MACHINE FOR TUNNEL, : . 1, 34 
 
 SECTIONAL CLAIM FOR AID, . 34 
 
 CONCLUSION, 35 
 
 WEALTH AND CAPITALISTS OF BOSTON, . . 37 
 
M207945 
 
 VI 703 
 
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