State ownership of a railroad without state management is useless. State management may sink into political management which might be disastrous to the public, and to the railroad. But state control is a very different thing; precisely what legislatures have sought in vain to attain. We have endeavored to give it by special legislation, but all in vain; and yet just this is what we want. The idea is too firmly fixed in the public mind to be eradicated without a fair and conclusive trial, that fares and freights are now too high--that cheap transportation _is_ necessary, and can be furnished without interfering with a fair return for the capital invested. You cannot expect private corporations whose whole object is to make money for stockholders, to try this experiment fairly, and ascertain how cheaply transportation can be afforded. Railroad corporations do sometimes compete, but the sole object and purpose of such competition is eventual combination, and in that combination, the public must suffer. We want to establish a corporation which shall compete to increase its business without any ulterior view of combination to raise rates, and such a corporation is found under the plan presented by the minority of the committee. THE MINORITY BILL. This bill proposes first that the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Tunnel shall remain the property of the State. _Second._ That the State shall obtain by lease the control of the railroads forming the direct Tunnel line. We have reason to believe that this can be effected. We have assurances that the Fitchburg Railroad Company will assent to the terms of this bill. If the only result of this bill is to secure the control of the Fitchburg Railroad it will be worth the trial. The Fitchburg Railroad with its connection with the Tunnel, has a commanding position with reference to the railroads of the State. What we want to secure is a free system of competition, without the power of combination, which is now the bane of our railroad system, in the hands of private corporations. Rates are now fixed to a remarkable extent by combination, and not by competition. Every business man knows that the freight rates between important points are fixed at meetings of freight agents, who consider not what is a fair price for rendering the service, but what will best pay the corporations which control the business.