Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-06
Washing ton Ticker
BY CLINT TON COFFIN,
Associated Pre- SIS Financial Writer.

congressional leaders interested IN
| the Interstate Commerce Commission
| plan for general railroad consolidation
| now deem it M .cesSary to inquire into
| the modern St tuS of railroad owner
| snip and the Importance of holding
| and investment corporations in the con-
| troll of rail ste cks before proceeding to
| legislation. a series of conferences
among those 4 nost concerned has tenta-
| lively assigned to the House committee
on interstate commerce responsibility
! for proceeding with the matter. Con-
! sldering all the possibilities, it seems
| likely that he inquiry will explore a
colorful and. relatively unknown area of
modern flna ace.
I'VE are having a resolution of in
quiry prepa red and will ask the House
| for authort ~ to look into the question
| of how far holding and investment cor
porations nave come to dominate rail-
road opeiS iting companies" Chairman
Parker OF the House committee de-
clared, "fu nd we shall also endeavor to
! inquire I'M % the holding corporation ac-
tivity in public utilities. The Inter
i state Con tnerce Commission has asked
| that the facts be investigated, and this
seems td--b be a proper time to proceed.
| OF courS e, it will be necessary to obtain
the app .oval of the House, but we do
not exp ,ct opposition"
What links the holding investment
compan inquiry up to rail consolidation
is that the most prominent of these
new Ct cations are apparently accumu-
latirga railroad stocks with an eye to
etfect1rlg consultations. The two most
noteot institutions of the kind, the Allie
ghanE Corporation, controlled by. the
Van 2; Weringen interests of Cleveland,
and the Pennroad Corporation. domi-
| natet>i by the Pennsylvania Railroad, are
repoI ted to own, respectively. almost
domi mating blocks of stocks that would
be nportant in the mergers the COM
meIl ,e commission has designed around
the Chesapeake & Ohio and the Wabash
syst ems. AS to the public utilities, the
rap id sweep of mergers has linked en-
teri )rises of communities all over the
| COZ ntry and there has been little or no
Fe' ieral intervention in the process.
/! Senator Tess, Republican, Ohio, who
ha been interested in consolidation
le sislation, declares his approval of the
| Barker program for looking into the
q ctual status of rail ownersh1ps, but
d as one comment to make.
! "These devices in a large degree
6 perate to make market for railroad
IF securities" he observed, land guaran-
n tee the ability of operating carriers to
7 obtain the continuous supplies of new
capital that are necessary to maintain
] efficient transportation. We want the
facts as to them, but do not believe
| that Congress will ever wish to hamper
investment mechanism by putting them
UunO6T ike lIldG lI1DOSeQ
Fupon operating railroads until it is
, demonstrated that there is obvious
=, need. Any move to subject the owner
: ship Of railroad securities to commits
sion regulation will need to be most
carefully considered, and. personally, I
should oppose to the limit the applica-
= ton of such reEulat ton to corporations
9 engaged in buying, selling AMI holding
r securities of railroads along with Sc
s curities of industrial and utility enter
1 prises."
r Another Of the transport contro-
verSies of serious importance pending
which the reconvening session of Con-
: gress promises to settle relates to bus
: and rail differences. Last week the
n Pickwick- Greyhound Lines, one of the
= great highway pasSenger-carrying sys-
= TENS raised and defined the issue by
:. complaining to the Interstate Com
S merce Commission that the Union Pa
a cific Railroad had purchased COM
e peting bus line and that such ac-
o ton constituted definite discrimination
:, against interstate commerce. On sew
1 eral points the petition argued that
= steam carrier could not operate bus
= system in interstate transport without
violating law and without unfairly dis
eliminating as between rail and high
way passengers in rates.
Though there are two or three de-
cisions of the courts and the commits
sion apparently confirming rail carrier
:. rights to operate bus service, transpor-
tation lawyers conceded that the Grey
= hound company's frontal attack on the
q system had some merit. At the same
time. there are bills pending in Con-
gress, notably the Parker measure to
Il confer upon the commission right to
: regulate highway passenger transport,
: which propose to wipe out the entire
h ground for controversy.
THE enactment of our committee
bill on bus regulation would absolute