On certain points the committee were unanimous. _First:_ That the State should own and control the Tunnel in such manner as to secure to the whole State the ultimate benefit to be derived from its construction, and to secure to all persons and corporations seeking to use it, equal rights. _Second:_ That to attain the highest benefit to be derived from this new line, a corporation strong enough to provide sufficient equipment and terminal facilities should be formed, able to command connections with roads outside of the State and to compete with a fair share of success with the existing corporations. How best to attain these ends with a view to cheapness of transportation and efficiency of action the members of the committee differ. The majority reported a bill providing for the consolidation of the Boston and Lowell Railroad Company, the Fitchburg Railroad Company, the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad Company, the Commonwealth and the Troy and Boston Railroad Company into one corporation, with authority to purchase or lease certain other roads, which will make a capital of not less than twenty-five to thirty millions and give control to about five hundred miles of railroad. From this plan the minority have dissented and reported a plan which will place the direct line from Boston to Troy substantially under one direction, and subject it not to state management but to _state control_. THE BILL OF THE MAJORITY. To the bill reported by the majority of the committee we have the strongest objections. _First._--It sanctions an enormous inflation of capital. It authorizes a consolidation upon the basis of an appraisal of the value of the several properties to be made by the parties themselves. The railroads of this Commonwealth are prohibited by law from making stock dividends, and yet here stock dividends are allowed to such extent as the parties think proper. One of the greatest impositions ever practised upon the public, from which the people of this Commonwealth now suffer, is the watered stock of the railroads between Albany and Chicago. The amount of stock in these roads issued without any equivalent, upon which our traffic is now taxed, is variously estimated at from forty-four millions to one hundred and five millions. The annual tax levied is from three millions to six millions, of which we pay a large share. The majority bill provides for just such a watering of stock, to the extent of perhaps ten millions, according to the appraisal by the parties in interest. We believe this to be all wrong, and should not be sanctioned by the Commonwealth. _Second._--We utterly dissent from the opinion of the majority in allowing the Boston and Lowell Railroad to come into such a consolidation. The Boston and Lowell forms no part of the Tunnel line. Every witness before the committee, except the agents of the corporations themselves, was emphatic against such a consolidation.