One great purpose of controlling one important line, is the effect
upon other lines. Our system of railroads is so interwoven that all
our railroads are to some extent competing, and the operation of one
railroad by a corporation in the interest of the public will to a
great extent control the whole railroad system of the State. The
direct Tunnel line probably now occupies the most important
controlling position of any in the State. It can be made a regulator
of the Western business of the State. It can by its connections with
the Cheshire and other Vermont and Massachusetts railroads, largely
control the northern lines.
It will, by its many connections, bring the whole State in direct
connection with the North and West. The great success of the so-called
Belgium system is founded on this principle,--the control of the whole
by the direct operation of a small portion. The position of our
Massachusetts railroads is, in this respect, not unlike that of
Belgium. Our railroads are so closely connected together that the
state control of one road will be felt throughout the whole system.