Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-24
NICKEL P[ATEL|NE
APPROVAL LIKELY
McChord's Resignation From
!. c. c. Gives Advocates
Slight Advantage.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE

BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILL
Changes of personnel in the Inter
state Commerce Commission are ex-
pected in the railroad world to be OF
decisive influence on the famous
Nickel Plate merger, now facing ap
prevail or disapproval before the body
Final arguments begin IN Washing
ton December IS.
Judge Charles c. McChord, who
has just resigned from the commits
sion, was considered an opponent Of
the plan promoted by the Van Swer-
ingen Brothers Of Cleveland TO merge
five lines into a great consolidated
trunk system.
With Judge McChord In oppOsi-
ton. the commission was said 10 be
GeadIocked on the merger question
II was counted five for approVa! and
FIVE for disapprovak The eleventh
member of the commission, Thomas
r. Woodlock of New York, who has
Just been renominated for a full-term
appointment by President Coolidge,
did not figure in the poll. The under
standing has been that as a former
director Of the Pere Marquette rail
road zone Of the Van Sweringen lines
lock would refrain from voting on
the merger when decision became
necessary.
If Judge McChord's nominated sue.
cessor, Richard Y. Taylor of Alabama
should not be confirmed by the time
the commission finally passes on the
merger, its approval by, d vote OF T.
is now deemed probable.
McChord's Resignation Surprise.
Judge McChord's intention TO resign
from the Interstate Commerce Com
mission took official Washington
wholly by surprise. He was In his
sixteenth successive year there, fol
lowing appointment by President Taft
in 1903, and was known to be exceed
'ngly fond of the work, at which he
had become an acknowledged and re
spected expert. Judge MCChord Is not
a man of large means, and his friends
explain his retirement "a due to d
desire to follow the many examples
set by former Federal officials, who
established law practices in Washing.
ton after long. but under-paid, service
as specialists in various Government
departments Few lawyers in the
United States possess Judge Me
Chords intimate acquaintance with
railroad Jurisprudence as it links up
with Government practices.
The Nickel Plate merger case Will
approach final decision with the be
ginning of arguments before the In.
terstate Commerce Commission next
week. Hearings, pro and con, have
been in intermittent progress since
last Winter. The merger is opposed
by minority stockholders groups of
the Chesapeake and Ohio and the
Railroad C'0r1 mics
which the Van Swearingens purpose
Incorporating in their consolidated
system. Eminent counsel will take
part in the arguments. Newton d.
Baker, former Secretary Of War, is OF
counsel for the Van SweringenS, in
favor of the merger. Col. Henry w.
Anderson of Virginia. now the
United States representative on the
Mexican Claims Commission. is coun-
sci for the protesting Chesapeake and
Ohio stockholders. ". A. Colston,
former director of finance Of the In
terstate Commerce Commission, who
is now general counsel of the Nickel
Plate system, will be associated with
Newton D. Baker on behalf of the
Sweringen interests. Some authorl-
ties predict a decision on the merger
by February 1, although often as
many as four or five months elapse
before the commission hands down a
verdict after oral arguments.
In Line With Consultations.
The Coolidge administration main
:ains its belief in the efficacy of ID
system of consultations among
American railroads. The President in
his recent message to Congress recon-
mended that the Interstate Commerce
Commission be empowered to approve
or disapprove consultations. The Van
Sweringen merger is consolidation
in effect, if not in law. If the com
mission decides that it is legal and
approves 1t, it will mean that in
dividual railroad consultations can
be effected without waiting for the
general plan OF consolidation that the
law, as II now. stands. calls for. The
Van Sweringen scheme does not speak
of a consolidation. The five lines
to be merged, or consolidated, are
taken over by the Van Sweringens
under long-term leases.
When the Van SweringenS in 1928
obtained Interstate Commerce Com
mission approval to acquire and
operate several of their present lines
the merger was bitterly opposed in Il
famous dissenting opinion by Com
missioner Joseph b. Eastman. A CO.
QlSSe nter was commissioner JO1n D.
ESch, former representative from Wis
consin and co-author. with Senator
Cummins, of the transportation act.
Many authorities call the Govern
ment's tentative plan of general con-
solidation, calling for 10 railroad sys-
TENS, impracticable and one doomed
never to be carried out. These same
authorities contend that the only real
solution of the consolidation problem
Is along the brilliant" lines of the
Van Sweringen scheme, which aims
at forging into existence a merger
that will compete at once with trunk
systems like the Pennsylvania the
New York Central and the Baltimore
and Ohio lines.
copyright. 1922