Evening star., 1929-12-21
STREET ANALYzES
RAIL MERGER PLAN
Features of Reported DecF-
sion of !. c. c. Studied
by Observers.
BY CHARLES F. sPEARE.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, December 21.-Accept-
ing as for the most part accurate de-
tailed review published by one of the
news bureaus of the Interstate Com
merce Commission railroad conSolida-
ton plan, Wall Street set to work to
analyze its main features and to deter
mine whether they would be agreeable
to the individual lines and systems
which 1t most affects
The commissions proposal is for 19
major systems in the United States and
parts OF Canadian n-oWned roads. The
fight for q four-plan scheme in the
East has apparently been lost, as the
commission recommends five systems,
of which the Wabash is to be the CEN
ter of the fifth. There are a number
Of radical proposals which will disrupt
systems now in existence and lead to
bitter objections on the part of those
that have been years in working out
present line-ups.
Prominent among these are the di-
vorce of the Norfolk & Western from
the Pennsylvania, Of the Burlington
from the joint control of the Great
Northern and Northern Pacific, OF the
Mobile SE Ohio from the Southern Rail-
way and the Delaware Sc Hudson from
the Wabash.
Present Lineup.
The Pennsylvania owns a controlling
interest in the Norfolk & Western ana
has long considered 1t one of its best
investments, both from the standpoint
of the large income 1t receives on the
shares held of this soft coal property
and from that of its trafflc benefits
Under the proposed arrangement the
Norfolk & Western Is to go to the Wa
bash, which also gets The Seaboard Air
Line, and in this way, establishes a new
route from the Middle West to the ex-
treme South. The Wabash would, there
fore, be the only one of the five East
ern systems to penetrate deeply into the
territory south of the Mason and Dixon
line.
1t is the plan of the Interstate Com
merce Commission to permit conSolida-
ton OF the Great Northeri and Northern
Pacific, bringing these two parallel lines
under one management in their opera
tionS between the Twin Cities and the
North Pacific Coast. This. in effect,
means that they grant the application
now before them to merge these two
lines, but only as this is done exclusive
of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy,
which they jointly own. Separation OF
these three systems would involve very
complicated financial operation to which
the Great Northern and Northern Paci-
nc interests would most probably object.
The arrangement leaves the Burlington
IN somewhat orphaned position and
eliminated as transcontinental fac
tor, for 1t Is given no Pacific Coast outlet.
but, on the other hand, Is hitched up
with the Missouri i-Kansas-TeXas in the
Southwest. The Burlington has long
been the avenue OF the Great Northern
and Northern Pacific for business be-
tween Chicago and the Twin Cities.
The protest of the Chicago. Milwau-
kee, st. Paul 6s Pacific against the mer-
ger OF the Northern lines has been based
for the most part on the unfairness OF
the position in which 1t would be left
II Great Northern, Northern Pacific and
Burlington were allowed to become a
transportation unit With the Burling-
ton divorced from the other two lines.
therefore. the status of the "Milwau-
kee" Is improved. 1t Is to remain in its
present form with no additions or sub
fractions.
In fact, most of the readjustments,
aside from that in the Northwest, are
planned for territory east OF the Mis-
stssippi River. The Union Pacific would
be affected only in that 1t would have
the Kansas City Southern, a line with
which 1t has had some financial rela-
tionship in the past.
The Santa Fe" would get the Chi
cago Great Western, the Illinois Gen.