The Bingham County news. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1918-1930, 1923-04-06
Statement of Judge Robert S. Lovett
on Regrouping Of Transcontinental Roads

If In a rival group. The Holden plan VI
so would run counter to the legisla
o ton under which the Union Pacifi
!, land Central Pacific were constructe'
T. as one continuous line, by assigning
l, Ito the Southern Pacific half interes
: in the Denver C Rio Grande Western
e and Denver & Salt Lake, which, will
the lines of the Rock Island from Col
: orado Springs and Denver to the Mis-
!. souri, river and Chicago would maxi
= it to the interest of the proposed
e Southern Pacific group to tear dowr
r instead of build up the Ogden route
: Of the Union and Central Pacific.
l In addition, he said, Both the I'm.
S ion Pacific and Southern Pacific are
( sent far afield into territories where
= they have never been, where they
l have no business or connections and
2 where apparently there is no shadow
, of reason for them to go. The Union
Pacific is sent down into Tennessee,
, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas
: and Oklahoma with lines to New Or
leans, Laredo, on the Mexican Dor
der and to Ell Paso and again into
Northern Michigan. The Hill lines,
; however, are treated very conserva-
lively in this respect and the only new
territory in which they venture is
from Fort Worth to Houston, Texas,
and over the Kansas City Southern,
and another short line to New Or
leans"
With vafnrnnpo RI Mr. Hn1don,c GrIh
stitution of the Chicago, Milwaukee &
st. Paul for the Chicago & North
western for consolidation with the
Union Pacific, Judge Lovett pointed
out that the former is competitor OF
the Union Pacific for traffic to and
from the Puget Sound country while
the Chicago & Northwestern is a con
nection.
"The substitution would not only
disrupt existing routes and channels
of the trade but would run counter to
another requirement of the law that
competition be preserved as fully as
possible. Again, the consolidation ct
the Union Pacific and Chicago, Mil
waukee & st. Paul would be link
ing Of the two weakest Puget Sound
lines while the Northern Pacific and
Great Northern which are the oldest !
and strongest lines in that territory,
would be consolidated under the Hol-
den plan. Such an alignment would
certainly not be in the interest Of i
ing the Puget Sound country the best
competitive service"
Concluding this portion of his tes-
timony, Judge Lovett said, "the COLI
solidation of the Hill lines with their
subsidiaries into single syst IN |
would so far overshadow it's compel
itors and any other railroad system |
proposed in the United States in size
and financial strength and possibi.i-
ties that one might infer desire to
meet this objection had something o
do with the -jumbling of the Interna-
tional and Great Northern, Texas &
Pacific and st. Louis-San Francisco
systems with the Union Pacific and
Of the Missouri Pacific, Toledo, Pc
oria G. Western and the Missouri,
Kansas & Texas and various other
lines with the Southern Pacific, in
order that there should be othe sys-
TENS equal in mileage and invest
ment to the Hill combination, howev-
err unequal in solidarity, financial
strength and prospects and in traffic
and operating relationships"
Judge Lovett complimented highly
the manner in which Prof. Ripley and
the commission had worked out the
direction of congress for a plan for
consolidation of the railway porper
tics of the United States. He said that
while there were defects and mistakes
here and there which must be correct
ed if great injury to public as well
as private interests is to be avoided
that yet the tentative plan Of the
commission affords the basis and the
ground work which should be follow
ed and from which departures should
be made only with great caution. He
said he doubted whether railroad men
themselves could have formulated
plan so fair and workable because
they could not have Invested them
selves of their environment and their
affection for lines with which they
had spent many years.
Judge Lovett opposed the sugges-
ton that all lines in western territory
should be consolidated into four sys-
TENS saying -Four systems compris-
ing from 10000 to upwards Of $4,000
miles each extending from Puget
Sound or the Pacific ocean to the
Great Lakes, to the mouth Of the Ms
sissippi river and the Gulf Of Mexico,
and trayersing most Of the informed
late states, make the combinations en- {
tirely too large for efficient manage {
ment and service for the welfare Of
the corporations themselves, tn AZ Is
creditors and stockholders and for the II
public good; and present situation {
which probably would be source Of t
much undesirable friction and In l
many ways a constant menace, espec- t
ally in csc of failure" 4
He answered Mr.. Holden's argu- i
nent, based on the fact the traffic o
handled by the New York Central i
IA Doo-ox,11yo 10 roonoofivo1u 10 oyIh- I,,