The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-02-11
LET CONTRACT NEXT WEEK
Santa Fe Not Worried About Getting
Authority to Build Satanta Line.

Authority to Build Satanta Line.
Announcement is made that the
Santa Fe will receive bids next week
for the construction of the Satanta ex-
tension and that work on the line will
be started as quickly as possible. Con-
tractors and engineers have been go
ing over the proposed route OF the
new branch during the past two weeks,
and notices required by the interstate
commerce commission have been pub
lished in the official papers of Has
kell, Grant and Stanton couEtes, the
counties thru which the liRe will be
built,
Altho there appears to be some de-
lay in getting permission to build the
line from the interstate commerce
commission, Santa Fe officials say
there is no doubt but that the nee
essary authority will come in time to
prevent any delay in the construction
schedule. That there should be any
delay at all, however, in getting ACTON
from the commission, has been a sur
prise in Santa Fe circles as well as in
the territory which the proposed line
will serve.
In a telegram which Clyde NJ. Reed,
then in Washington, sent to the Santa
Fe legal department early this week,
the chairman of the Kansas utilities
commission stated that while he was
not opposed to the Santa FEES extern
sion he desired uniform treatment of
other railroad projects in Kansas"
Reeds telegram came in reply to
request that he join with Governor
Allen in pressing the commission for
favorable decision imme diately.
Reed had been before the commission
and presented his views, the message
said.
The governor had previously wired
the commission that the project was
a worthy one and asked that authority
to build the line be granted at once
without the usual formality of a hear
ing. He made the request after re
ceiving the usual query from the COM
mission in regard to such matters and
after looking over the petitions which
the railroad company filed with the
utilities commission. The petitions
are lengthy and form unanimous leX-
preston from the citizens of Grant
and Stanton counties in favor of the
road being built.
Questioned upon his return from
Washington concerning his wire to
the Santa Fe's legal department, Reed
again stated that he was not opposed
to the Santa Fe's extension but that
he and the interstate commerce COM
mission at Washington were in accord
on insisting that every proposition of
this kind must be considered on its
own merits, and that there were many
different matters to be entered into
DeIOr6 authority cOuIQ De granted ny
either the state utilities or the inter-
state commerce commission.
There are four of these projects
in western Kansas at the present
time said Reed. I'm addition to the
Santa Fe's proposed Satanta branch,
there is the Golden Belt which would
consist of a line from Hays south to
Great Bend, and the two Byers pro-
jects, one from Liberal to Hugoton
and on west, and the other from
Waugh north to Lacrosse. What we
propose to recommend in these cases
has not been decided but I have dis
eussed them with the interstate COM
merce commission and we must insist
that every proposition of this kind,
under the present conditions, must be
considered on its merits