Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-06

tatorS mold the opinion that decisions
ne 1oIinuIaCed then represent the great
seC advance the Federal Government
mas ever made toward limiting State
autno[lIy. The instances most quoted
aIse rom railroad rate litigation orig
naClne IN Minnesota and in Louisiana.
w 1N.. Inc court, In opinions written by
% yuSClCe augneS, concluded that the
reueral Government, through the In
tersGate Commerce Commission, could
overdue States in regulating railroad
service ana charges. These are now old
ana Settled issues, but the language and
nnolngS USED then by Justice Hughes
are regarded as exhibiting him as a
strong advocate Of paramount Federal
An Interstate Commerce Commission
acIloIl tnis week has administered a Sc
w .i1eCh 10 any early progress toward
generai railroad consolidation. This is
the opinion of railroad REPRESENTATIVES
VINO nave given preliminary study to
tne formal notices sent out from the
commission TO the railroad organZa-
lions which have definitely committed
themselves 10 merger plans in the East
ern Ierrltory suggesting that action be
Spahooneo IN reference to them. c. D.
Mana1ne, nnance director of the COM
nIsSion' mas IN effect notified the Ches-
Speake q ONO, Baltimore &c Ohio Wa
oaSlI aIiu DelaWare d Hudson Co man.
agements that the separate nlans thev
nave prepared to buy connecting svs-
TENS ana expand their present opera
lions must all be rejected.
IL Is probable that this rulinr-if IL
aCIudily represents a ruling-Will be
tested out very soon by some new an
proach OF the rail organizations most
interested. 1t sets forth the point of
procedure That has been debated since
Ine commission announced a national
plan for throwing all of the coIIntrv's
rail system into 19 great considerations
what most rail- lawyers wanted to know
was whether the commission would al
low any group Of systems to proceed
with erecting merger, and would con-
slider modifying its plan should there be
conflict between the actual applications
and the paper scheme laid down by the
Government.
Now; under Director Mahaffie's no.
tices. 1t is becoming clear that the COM
mission intends to require a general ad-
vance on the problem, rather than a.
detailed one. It is probable there will
be some sort OF an appeal instituted to
the commission itself from this ruling
At any rate, while this position is main
tanned, advance toward rail consolida-
ZION VIII make another OF the dead stops
that have been rather frequent in the
history of the policy.
Sound pictures made as much Of a hit
with world theatergoers as they did
with picture fans of the United States,
1t can be said, now that the export rec
ords of moving picture Aim for 1929
have been rounded up. N. D. Golden of
the Commerce Department motion pic
ture division estimated that American
film exports of 1929 reached the total
of 282,215,000 feet, or about 100000
feet more than we're exported in 1919,
which was the previous high record
year. The existence of a common Ian
guage enabled the American talkieS to
make especially great progress last year
in Great Britain, Australia and New
Zealand, while even countries using
other languages we're found to be will
ing to accept English-speaking pictures.
las Of January l, approximately 1900