New-York tribune., 1922-11-12
Believes Great Northern.
North ern Pacific and
Milwaukee Roads Should
be Independent Lines
Would Maintain Rivalry
e., nj. & St. p. Should BE
Z % ma b ined With the
Union Pacific, He Thinks

much better together, and that the G.
M. d st. P. should be merged with tho
Union Pacific. BY such merger com
petition would be better maintained
than under the proposed plan. The
Union Pacific. however, does not want
20 merge with any road. 1t takes the
position that the road terminates at
omaha, at which point it can keen an
open gateway and exchange traffic
Freely with any and all railroads tar.
minating there.
There are six roads between CHICAGO
ana Omaha, with approximately the
same mileage between the two cities.
among them being the Illinois Central
IN which the Union Pacific has a large
ownership. The Union Pacific man
agement believes that the interest of
US stockholders, as we'll as of the pub
iic along its connecting lines, is best
served by this free interchange. As
Stunning that it may legally be done. is
~ wise TO substitute the judgment of
congress and the Interstate Commerce
commission for that of the security
holders who have money invested in
the respective properties?
During the car shortage Of 1872
"hate the present transportation act
was being formulated. every shipper
located on weak road thought he could
get very much better service il the
weak line on which he was dependent
were absorbed by strong COMPANY. II
was this thought prevalent at the time
which dominated in the framing of ths
law. Senator Cummins, who is the man
responsible for this particular proyi-
SION, is understood to be contemplat-
ing the addition Of some mandatory
provision which will put teeth into hi
consolidation scheme. The only thought
thus far mentioned is to provide for
compulsory Federal incorporation on
the part Of the railroads. This Federal
incorporation act is to contain the pro-
vision that companies taking the bene-
fits Of 1t must be willing, more or less,
to consolidate with other corporations
in accordance with the instructions of
the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Presumably companies which will not
incorporate under such an act may be
turned over as prey to the various
state commissions or be thrown to the
wolves!
Many doubt that compulsory consol-
idation is practicable without consti-
tutional amendment. Whether such an
amendment would meet with popular
approval and be accepted by thirty-six
Of the Legislatures out of the forty
eight states is uncertain. Assuming all
this can be done, compulsory consoli-
dation is at least ten years ahead of
US. In the mean while, no doubt, vol
untary consolidation will proceed just
as soon as the railroads achieve rea-
sonable amount of prosperity. Now
that the labor problem does not look
SO ominous, possibly consolidation
along established lines may proceed.
Previous Combines
Looking at the railroad map of the
United States we find that consid-
cradle consolidation actually did take
place prior to the enactment of the
Sherman law, which prohibits the con
solidation of competing lines. Up to
about 1900 it was generally assumed
that the Sherman law was not intended
to apply othe railroads, and consolida-
strong systems was steadily reducing
the number Of corporations. All of
New England was divided up among