530 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



Railroad was, at the beginning of 1887, dis- 

 posed of by the Governor and Council to the 

 Fitchburg Railroad Company, by authority of 

 chapter 297, acts of 1885. During the early 

 part of the negotiations the Lowell Railroad 

 Company began to compete for the consolida- 

 tion, and asked for a minimum price from the 

 Governor and Council. The reply was that 

 the State officials would not entertain any offer 

 not exceeding $5,000,000 in present market 

 value. The President of the Lowell road, 

 after a meeting of the Directors, made answer 

 that at that price he did not desire to bid at 

 all, and therefore he withdrew that road and 

 the Central Massachusetts from all competi- 

 tion. This left the Fitchburg Railroad the only 

 bidder, and the result of its negotiations is 

 given below. The basis of the consolidation is 

 that the State is to receive $5,000,000 of fifty- 

 year bonds, bearing interest at 3 per cent, 

 during the first five years, 8 per cent, dur- 

 ing the next five years, and 4 per cent, 

 during the remainder of its term. The State 

 is also to receive $5,000,000 in common stock 

 of the Fitchburg road. The road is to in- 

 crease its present issue of 52,866 shares of 

 stock one third, or 17,622 shares, making a 

 total of 70,488 shares, or $7,048,800, all of 

 which is to be preferred stock, and the extra 

 one third is to be divided among the present 

 stockholders, pro rata according to their hold- 

 ings. In return for this increase of one third, 

 the dividends on preferred stock to be paid 

 after the interest on the bonds, and to be 4 per 

 cent., and any surplus of earnings is to be di- 

 vided pro rata between the State on its five mill- 

 ions of common stock and the road on its 

 seven millions of preferred stock, i. e., the State 

 is to receive five twelfths and the road seven 

 twelfths of such surplus. The bonds are worth 

 par; but the value of the common stock that 

 the State is to receive is problematical. 



Political. The Republican State Convention 

 met in Boston on September 29, and nominated 

 Oliver Ames for Governor, and John Q. A. 

 Brackett for Lieutenant-Governor. The rest 

 of the State officers were renominated. The 

 following are the principal points of the plat- 

 form adopted : 



Recognizing in intemperance the destroyer of man- 

 hood, a means of corruption in politics, and the most 

 fruitful source of pauperism and crime, we impera- 

 tively affirm that both patriotism and philanthropy 

 demand the most strict enforcement of the laws enact- 

 ed to suppress this enormous evil. A practical diffi- 

 culty in dealing with cases for violation of the liquor 

 law is the great number of such actions which come 

 to the Superior Court on appeal from the inferior 

 courts. So numerous are they in some portions of 

 the Commonwealth that it is impossible to try them 

 all with the present facilities, and thus the constitu- 

 tional right of appeal, which can not be abridged, too 

 often secures immunity to law-breakers. This should 

 be remedied, and we urge the Legislature to provide 

 additional and frequent sessions of the Superior Court 

 wherever needful, and such other facilities as will in- 

 sure a speedy and thorough trial of all these cases. 

 We pledge ourselves to support, as a candidate for 

 office no man who is afraid or unwilling to do his 



whole duty in enforcing the laws ; and to favor at all 

 times such further legislation as may be necessary to 

 render the existing laws more effective. 



Believing, also, that whenever a great public ques- 

 tion demands settlement an opportunity should be 

 given to the people to express their opinion thereupon, 

 we i'avor the submission to the people of an amend- 

 ment to our Constitution prohibiting the manufact- 

 ure and sale of alcoholic liquor to be used as a bev- 

 erage. 



We give to the civil-service acts passed by a Re- 

 publican Congress and the Republican Legislature of 

 this Commonwealth our hearty approval and support. 

 We will oppose all open or covert attacks upon them, 

 and encourage no action which tends to impair their 

 efficiency. Fitness, not political influence, should 

 determine appointments to office ; removals should be 

 made for cause alone, and incumbents should be freed 

 from enforced partisan duty and assessment. We 

 favor the extension of these principles to all business 

 offices in the State and nation. 



Holding it to be a fundamental principle that the 

 best government is that which encourages and secures 

 the greatest liberty of individual action consistent 

 with the rights of others, the Republican party looks 

 with disfavor upon legislation which unnecessarily 

 interferes with such liberty. It does not hesitate, 

 however, to correct the evils growing out of inequal- 

 ity of condition, so far as they^ may he wisely changed 

 by legislation, and its record in behalf of the interests 

 of labor has no parallel. During the present year our 

 Republican Legislature has enacted laws requiring the 

 weekly payment of wages by corporations, reports of 

 accidents in factories, the posting of additional notices 

 of the hours of labor therein j that means of commu- 

 nication shall be provided with the engineers' rooms 

 and other rooms in manutacturing establishments 

 where steam is used as a motive power, and the act 

 establishing^ State Board of Arbitration. The solid 

 vote of the .Democratic members of the Senate against 

 the bill relating to the liability of employers for inju- 

 ries sustained by employes in their service, which 

 prevented its passage, was contrary to Democratic 

 professions and an injustice to workmen. Justice 

 and fairness demand a calm, dispassionate, non-par- 

 tisan examination of the principle of employers' lia- 

 bility, free from selfishness and demagogism, and the 

 enactment of a law which, while carefully guarding 

 the rights of employers, shall afford adequate protec- 

 tion to employe's. 



All men have the right to make lawful contracts, 

 including those of their own labor or that of others, 

 without interference or molestation^ and we condemn 

 as unjust and subversive both of private right a 

 public interest all attempts, by coercion or intir" 

 tion, to interfere with such right. 



We demand of the national Administration pror 

 persistent, and determined action in the settlement of 

 the dispute between this country and Great Britain, to 

 the end that our fishermen may no longer beunjus 

 harassed and despoiled of their property and depriv 

 of their occupation. 



We firmly maintain the principle of protection _ 

 American labor and American industries. While 

 anxious that inequalities in the tariff shall be corrected 

 and the duties on imports so adjusted as to conform 

 to the changes in the needs of the business of tho 

 country, and to provide a revenue equal to the just de- 

 mands of the Government, we oppose all horizontal 

 reductions and such mischievous attempts at inter- 

 meddling with the tariff as the so-called "Me 

 bill." 



We condemn the recent precipitate and pi 

 treatment by our national State Department of 

 sister Republic of Mexico, which caused the estrange- 

 ment of a neighboring power, with whom considera- 

 tions both of friendship and self-interest should have 

 impelled us to cultivate more intimate relations. 



We condemn the Democratic House of Representa- 

 tives in Congress for its neglect of our commercial in- 



