See Governor Claflin's testimony, 7th Hearing, page 26. " J. T. Joy " " " " 37. " C. F. Adams, Jr., " " " " " " N. C. Nash " 9th " " 4. " Q. A. Vinal " 14th " " 10. " Col. Faulkner " " " " 12. " J. W. Brooks " 17th " " 13. The Northern line has been of very great value to the business of Boston and Massachusetts; more than any other it has effected that reduction of rates which has returned to Boston within the past few years a portion of the export trade. It forms the shortest line at present existing between Boston and the Lakes, and while lake navigation is open substantially controls the rates over the other lines. Mr. Nathaniel C. Nash says (9th hearing, page 6), "We have derived more advantage from that line than from any other source." (See Railroad Commissioners' Report of 1870, page 36.) While the Lowell railroad provided the terminus and the representation in this Commonwealth, the other railroads in the line have cooperated in producing this result. It has cheapened food to the people of this Commonwealth, and of all New England. The Lowell Railroad is bound by contracts to continue in this Northern line for twenty years to come. Although some of the corporations are under financial difficulties, this does not affect the operations of the line. The railroads still exist and must continue to do business, and so far as the advantage of the traffic extends, it matters little who owns or operates the railroads. So impressed are the majority of the committee with the importance of maintaining the northern line that they impose upon the Lowell Railroad Company, as they say, the conditions of withdrawing from the Northern line, and make provision for transfer of the business to another line--the Boston and Maine. They propose to do this in a manner which seems to us weak and futile. The majority bill provides for repeal of the charter of the Great Northern Railroad Company, passed in 1869, which authorized the Boston and Lowell Railroad Company to consolidate with certain companies in New Hampshire, with authority to lease or purchase other railroads leading to Ogdensburg and other points in the North and West, and lines of boats on the lakes. As all the other companies in this consolidated line are in New Hampshire this charter was ineffective without the cooperation of New Hampshire, and to this bill New Hampshire has never assented--not from any hostility to through lines, but because it contained objectionable features, such as the consolidation of competing lines, the creation of a monstrous corporation with power to combine in one gigantic monopoly all the railroads within her borders. This charter is mere waste paper, and its repeal would have no more effect than the burning of waste paper. The Lowell Railroad remains