Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-04
AWAIT
MERGER DECISIONS
Carriers Ready to Pursue Ex-
pansion Programs If Su-
preme Court Approves.
Special Dispatch to The star.

Special Dispatch to The Star
NEW YORK, April 4.-The early re-.
assembling of the United States SUI
preme Court after the Spring recess
Is expected to bring forth decisions
tnat VIII be OF great interest to Wall
Street. One of these has to do with
the st. Louis & O'Fallon Railroad case.
which has been forgotten In the midst
Of SO much furorc over Federal Reserve
policies and the unsettled condition OF
the stock market.
Railroad lawyers still fear that the
opinion viii not be conclusive one and
that the. vital elements In this legal
controversy win nave to be fought over
for period of years. The speculative
interest In the decision centers In its
effect on railroad stocks when It is
rendered. This will be heightened or
modified by the general trend of the
market on the i day the decision Is
handed down.
Other Important Questions.
There Is also hope that before the
Summer recess OF the Interstate Com
merce Commission comes around this
body may clarity some OF the i'm
portant questions that are now before
1t. Although the plan Of consolidation
Of the Baltimore 81 Ohio and Nickel
Plate systems has been before the
commission for weeks, no date has yet
been set for hearing the arguments
sustaining the program of unification
proposed by the two Eastern lines. In
asmuch as the mergers as set up IN
the recent plan carry out a number Of
the recommendation made in the
tentative consultations program spon-
Rnxsk Tat Re
mission, railroad men cannot under
stand why the commission shows such
hostility TO the fulfillment Of suggeS-
lions which it originally had made.
The position of the commission in re-
gard to the holdings by the Pennsyl-
vania Co. Of the. Wabash and Lehigh
Valley is another one that remains to
be oficially established. So far, only
limitations have been given that 1t does
not favor the purchase of these roads
by the Pennsylvania. The attitude OF
the Pennsylvania is understood to be
one Of resistance TO any effort to dis
rupt this investment and, II necessary.
to take the question to the United States
Supreme Court for adjudication.
Mergers Involved.
other matters that are hanging fire
before the commission concern the Bal
timore & Ohio's holdings Of the West
ern Maryland, the Wheeling 81 Lake
Erie holdings now vested with the
Nickel Plate interests, the right OF the
BE o. to retain the Buffalo. Rochester
g. Pittsburgh, which it bought from
Van Sweringens, and the price at which
the Chesapeake g. Ohio is to be per-
mitted to sell additional stock as well
as the figure at which 1t may purchase
Pere Marquette stock. Then there is
the merger of the so-called Northern
lines, in which the argument for the
railroads was completed three months
ago and whose outcome is anxiously
awaited not only in the territory OF
these roads. but in railroad and bank
ing circles.
A decision In any one Of these major
cases would indicate trend Of thought
or policy tending to relieve the present
unsettled situation, whose effects are
beginning to be felt in the personnel Of
the railroads involved. They are also
causing delay in making important
commitments for new construction and
betterment work involving many mil
lions Of dollars.