Show I f Merging Railroads Helps Public 4 0 By JOHN W. W OLEARY O'LEARY President of the U. U S S. S Chamber of Commerce The proposed marger of the NortHern Pacific and the Great Northern railways Is III Interesting testimony many mony to the change In the railroad situation In this country How this change may be expedited in the Interests both of the pUblic and the railroads la is out lin lined d here In a an auth authoritative ar article i le The has c me to remove the that obstacles t further ra railroad It Iti i now seven congress In the tI n act said to the interstate commerce commission in s substance We authorize you to per permit all ail or of the railroads In the the country to consolidate into a few large systems Plan Pian this w work rk in the publIc inter inter- est Preserve c Maintain existing routes an channels of trade and c mm Develop consolidated systems that will be neArly as possible possible pos pos- sible equa equa In strength and In earning power I Congress adopted this policy in 1920 Since then I Ithe the commission has made a persistent effort to prepare prepare pre pre- I pare pare the comprehensive plan caned called for by the act It first mapped out a tentative ve plan for railroad d consolidations and then held public hearings on this plan in all parts of the country at which representatives representatives of the railroad the shippers and the general public had full opportunIty to express their views These hearings have built up on n a comparable basIs a record of facts that will be of the greate t assistance to the commission when it undertakes to pass upon future applications for to con con- Thus the commission has already accomplished pUshed the chIef purpose that congress had in view when it If adopted the provisIon of the act requiring a comprehensive plan plan-it has studied the problem from a national viewpoint and has defined standards by which to measure a aty y pro osal for railroad consolidation con con- that th the railroads ds may make The com commission missIon i now urging c to repeal the plan provision of the act ct because it has really become a serIous obstacle instead of an aid to consolidation In this question It be kept kep in mind that is the natural process by every great in this country has developed developed de- de during the past eig years The New Central illustrates this statement In 1831 a was opened from Albany to Schenectady m miles les A few years years later others were built from Schenectady to Utica Utica to Syracuse Syra- Syra c se to Auburn uburn and so on In 1842 It was indeed ie for a passenger to travel from Albany to Buffalo by rail rall but he had to buy tickets from seven dIfferent railroads and change cars sIx times durIng dur- dur Ing the trip In 1853 railroads and three other short lines were consolidated into the original origin n nal 1 New York railroad The The- Pennsylvania system the Santa Fe the Southern the Illinois Central and many others have Mso grown by c consolidation I toda today twenty three of these great systems control groups of that In the aggregate perform 85 per cent of the total I railroad service of the country The advantages to the public that may be expected expected ex- ex fr from m a further systematic grouping of the railroads are those which have In large part beer been o obtained by many of the existing systems I. I e. e de- de of more uniformly strong and stable railroad rail rall- road systems simplified and Improved rate regulation regulation regula- regula tion economies s jn In construction operation maintenance n nance nce and accounting Improved car service and routIng rout rout- log Ing of tr and preservation of competition In ser ser- vloe There is n nOW w pending in congress congress a a the bill Parker Parker-Fess' bill H. H R. R and S. S that that 1110 pc poses ses to remove some of the existing obstacles to railroad consolidation It repeals the plan provision ot of the transportation act It makes every form of railroad merger unification lease and stock con con- ti-ol ti as well as technical subject consolidation to federal regulation It creates the corporate machinery machin- machin ery needed to effect a consolidation after arter it has been approved by the commIssion It makes adequate pro pro- vision for adjusting the claims of dissenting minority stockholders And it gives the commission express authority to dIsapprove any y proposed consolidation that does no not he de a particular road which ought In the the- public interest to be d. d It Is very desirable that congress co should pass this bill duIng the present session in order to assure to o the public effective and reasonable railroad trans trans- p 1 1927 27 Cosmos Newspaper Syndicate Inc |