Having expended so large a sum on the Tunnel, the question arises, How shall we use it to derive the greatest good to the whole people? The State now holds, as owner substantially, the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and the Tunnel, at a cost of about twelve millions. Its value depends wholly upon the future development of business, but its relations are such to other railroad interests, that I have no doubt that, if the State desires to sell the Tunnel, notwithstanding its great cost, negotiations could be made to dispose of it at a price that would return to the State the moneys expended, but it would be at the risk of sacrificing the prosperity of its own industrial interests. There are various and conflicting opinions expressed in regard to the business that may be done. Some parties who appeared before the committee declared that the completion of the Tunnel could only be compared to the removal of a dam, to be followed by a flood of business beyond our power to properly care for; while others were equally confident that the traffic now flowing through other channels would be diverted to the new one only through the influence of time and energetic labor. All, however, agreed in the opinion that, under proper management it was destined to become, at no very distant day, perhaps, the great avenue for trade between the East and West. The eagerness with which various railroad corporations seek its control by "_ways_ and _means_," if honest, should be convincing proof of the great importance of the Tunnel to the public, and if not honest, it should merit the condemnation of every honest man in the community. POSITION OF THE COMMITTEE.