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Show UMON. PACIFIC'S POSITION It Specific answers to "FIVE REASONS" promulgated by the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce Nov. 7, 1922, for retention of Central Pacific by Southern Pacific fl fl First Reason: "To prevent the domination of this state and intermountain sect ion by any single transportation agency." xi The independent operation of the Central Pacific or its control by the Union Pacific would not create a transportation monopoly, because of the existence of f two paralleling lines, the Western Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande Western. Under competitive conditions, a monopoly is i.-nponsible. The omission of any men- X t tion of these two standard railroads tends to a concealment of two of Utah's valuable assets. No mention is mode of the power of the Interstate Commerce Xt ! Commission to prevent discrimination in rates. Even if these safeguards were lacking, the investment of capital fov the purpose of development would require t XX that a fair return on that capital be earned, and this wuld be impossible if rates were unreasonably high. An extortionate rate basis would kill the business which f must be developed. No incentive exists to create any line of business for the purpose of destroying it. With competition provided bv oarallel lines, protection X from unreasonable rates afforded by the Interstate Commerce Commission, and a fair return required on invested capital, the State of Utah need have no fear of f X? rail line domination. TT if Second Reason: "To hold an open gateway at Ogden as an invitation for the west ward extension of other railroads in Utah." IX if The status of the 0?den gateway is made definite and certain by the official announcement of the Prudent of the Union Pacific System to the effect that XX ff the gateway wold remain open. It would be clearly to the interest of the Union Pacific-Central Pacific Lines to maintain an open gateway at Ogden east if and west in competition with the Western Pacific. aiso with the El Paso Route and the Santa Fe on the south, so that al other lines in addition to the Union if Pacific east of Ogden would continue to bring traffic to that junction ; and also receive it there from the Central Pacific eastbound. In other words, the Central X if Pacific would welcome all the help it could get to meet this competition. Ii I Third Reason: "To hold competition against if Union Pacific routes to Los Angeles and Portland terri- Tf tories." if After the testimony submitted in the Union Pacific f and Southern Facific unmergar case, the Supreme Court l found there was no competition between these routes. The X Court went even further and specifically authorized the if Union Pacific to acquire the Central Pacific, if The Southern Pacific has never maintained through X competing rates between Utah and Oregon, nor between Xt Utah and Southern California via the very much longer f route through Sacramento, the value of economy in transit trans-it . portatlon being thereby recognized. ? If and when the railways of the United States are if grouped (as provided by the Transportation Act) into not f f more than twenty railway systems, it will be for the pur pos.- of routing. freight over the most direct lines, in order if that the cost of transportation may be kept at the lowest if practicable point, and that rates shall reflect economies of t operation. Railroad valuations as established by the In- terstate Commerce Commission w'll bp"ome the basis of fair and equitable rates, and traffic will be moved wher-yf wher-yf ever practicable by the shortest line between an- two if points. , if Fourth Reason: "To insure a market competi- if tion betwetn western and eastern territories for Utah if products." if This argument presupposes that railroad traffic men if can wave magic wands a-id create a demand for products it where it does not exist. Traffic moves to points where if the demand is, as every business man knows, and market X competition determines the direction of traffic. Further-Xf Further-Xf more, there is the Western Pacific-Denver & Rio Grande -if Western competition, and the Interstate Commerce Com-f Com-f mission ready and willing to remedy rate maladjustments, ft Competition would be maintained were the Central ft Pacific operated independently, yet this important alter- f $ native is given slight considfrotfo". Th" Un:on Pacific's if position in this matter is set fo-th in President .Carl Jt. f Gray's statement of June 10, "0?2: XT The I'nlon Pnclflc In willing o buy the Control Pacific If from the Southern Poclfic. It fnlr nnd reasonable term enn he iT mrrrd upon. Hut It la not seeking to liny tUc Ci-ntrnl rnclfic. iT B,.d t not iiecosNnry for n coirtnHi'.Rce with the decree of iX the Supreme Court that It .ihculd. All the I'nlon Pacific -ill! nk X 1 Hint the CentrnI Pnclflc he made on Inoenenden t Hue to be 5 operated nn liuch, and that It perform II" dntlea, n (he Union A -Pacific Im perlormlan lf flutlCH un?ler the letflHlatlon by which T they were both contracted, nod tht If It In to be merited Into liny syHtem, under plann belnir worked out by the Interfttnto T Commerce Commission, It he merged with the Union Pacific, T wllh which It forms n eontlnuoim trans-continental line, com-Xt com-Xt pellnn; with nil others. " The fear is expressed that "Ogden, Salt Lake and if Provo will become way stations" should the Union Pacific f acquire the Central Pacific and the Denver & Rio Grande if Western-Western Pt-.cific be acquired by some other f strong line. Growing cities like Ogden, Salt Lake and jX Provo are destined to become larger and more prosperous. f For the Union Pacific to do anything which would retard if their development would be a contradiction of its record if in the past and ro'i'Tary to all good business principles. For f.t v several years, the Missouri Pacific, Denver & Rio Grande f and Western Pacific were operated as one connected con- ff tinuous line from St. Louis to San Francisco; likewise the if Union Pacific and Contral Pacific were operated as one f continuous line from Omaha to San Francisco. It was dur- As the Union Pacific Views It. A railroad has only one commodity to sell transportation. trans-portation. The value of the transportation is measured by the quality of the service. A railroad is a business concern and when it builds into a section of country and develops that section it establishes a mutual interest in its development with all the people. The Union Pacific has developed Idaho. ! has developcJ ro . 'hern Utah. It is developing southern Utah and will, if it operates the Central Pacific, develop western ULn.h r.ni Nevada and with such development will find markets for the products of the sections served. Without markets the capital invested in-vested would be barren of results. Competition between Utah and the Sacramento Valley and Bay sections of California Cali-fornia now exists between the Western Pacific and Southern Pacific, parallel lines all the way. Competition will always exist whether the Central Pacific is operated as an independent railroad or by the Union Pacific, or by the Southern Pacific. Thr Western Pacific is an active and formidable competitor of the Central Pacific. To illustrate: The Western Pacific on its own initiative reduced rates on coal from Utah to the Pacific Coast, thus affording a market for thousands of tons of Utah coal. The Central Pacific can be operated on a self-supporting basis. It will be a keen competitor in California and will, with the added solicitation by Union Pacific and lines east thereof, secure business which is now going to the Southern routes. All lines east of Ogden and Salt Lake will be feeders to th e Central Pacific. The Union Pacific has never opposed the ownership and operation of the Central Cen-tral Pacific as an independent railroad, but it has opposed op-posed and will continue to oppose, its retention by the Southern Pacific, for- the very sound reasons set forth by the Supreme Court in its decision. The Union Pacific will aid the Central Pacific to operate successfully as an independent in-dependent railroad, to the end that traffic unrestrained shall be permitted to move by the most direct and shorft est route. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." The people of Arizona and New Mexico are not to be blamed for wanting Southern Pacific control of Central Pacific, and by the same token the thousands of people in Nevada and Utah should not be blamed for wanting the Central Pacific to' have the business it is entitled to by reason of its constituting the shortest and most direct route from central California to the east. II. V. PLATT, General Manager, Union Pacific System, Salt Lake City. ing these vears that the cities of Salt Lake, Ogden and f ; Provo had a period of greatest development. The Union fi' Pacific is not in the business of tearing down but of build- f ! I ing up- fo , , Fifth Reason: To prevent-"the domination of f;; this western unit H2th Federal Reserve District) by any single transportation agency." Domination of this western unit by a single transpor- ;f tation agenev is imr"";h!" because of comnetinnr lines now existing and which will continue to exist and com- f ; pete, no matter what disposition is made of the Central !! Pacific. x Reference is m? o th"i finincin"' Vw Pncifif Coast capital of the steel srd oth?r industries in Utah. A change tj in ownership of the C"ntral Pacific line would not prevent J!! the influv of canitl f--om anv sortion. as enmnetitive ' transportation conditions ""'M itil! ey'st. As far as the . steel irdn.strv is concerned the Unin" Pacific is the onlv Xj railroad that, is doin nnvthire tnncible to devolon it. The f i Union Pacific 's stf-'-Mrxr tn build a R5-ttv1- line from Lund to Cednr City to o-pt tVi ?ryn oro and hn"l it t fce nring- Xj; ville blast furfcop. Tt wi1' inin with tHo nther lines in f J rnnVirtfr rn(,rti'1' rnfo" o obe ' "iruifC- T ' ' tured art-'-'' nt rf f-v'np,T''lp. jjfT"he stiiwwtion that f- the Union Pacific is trvi' TrvM trv to stifle the steel industrv is untppfhle nnd -'?tr-d. Why rhculd it? Whether cipiuM rcmr to Utih-.t""! n any other in- dustrv depends not on who owr- n iar-.ular railroad but Aj; On the hv'-rr'-p s-on-r.-t- '--5"tors of t" the entemrise. This is elemental. If the development nf anv indiiKft' ;" TT'" A Ar- .ipo-n whth.''" hn Ce"tral '!! . Pacific is owned by tr TTnSon Pae'fffc o" bv thp So'ithem f Pacific, or is 0T,.oT''t.''rl '' 'l'-nr"-'ntli' vpn TT'"ri nffs a poor )ndnc"m"t -for the investmcnt'of capital Sn -'--' r,r f any other industry. f. : i! Additional Facts Considered "Tonnage figures I show that 62 of Southern Pacific business to and from ;; California during 1921 moved through Ogden." X;; It is evident that these figures have been furnished j to the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce by the Southern f Y, Pacific. We have no record of the movement through El Paso and no way of verifying the figures. If the infor- X;; mation is correct, it furnishes the best illustration that X" traffic when permitted to do so, moves via the shortest if and most direct route and whore the best service is ob- i tained. If the solicitation Instructions of the Dircc- tor cf Traffic of all the Southern Pacific lines have not f f resulted in holding the greater percentage of traffic mov- f ing to and from Fastern points, to the Sunset-Ghlf route, f t then it follows that an independently operated Central Pacific would at once bo in a self-supporting position. The f fact is, however, that as late as April, 1022, Director of l Traffic L. J. Spence admitted that the Southern Pacific ? was diverting nil traffic pnrs.ible via the Sunset-Gulf Route through El Paso and Tucson. Regardless of the ft nronovtion of the business whic is using the Ogden and Xi El Paso gnteways, the conclusion is inescapable tf and the Suoreme Court in effect so found that if the re- if straint of the Fl Tao-Tucson l;ne were removed it would tt ' divert thousands of carloads via Utah that are now going ii through Arizona and New Mexico. f i: It is a matter of record that no line has ever come under the control of the Union Pacific which :: l: has not been improved in facilities and service to the public, ;: We shall furnish additional information from time to time. f I Umien PacMic System J ij , SALT LAKE CITY j |