Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-01

Continued From First Page)
note that under the ALLEGATION Of lines
made by the commission in its CONSOLE
dalton plan advanced a year ago, the
Virginian was put in the New York
Central set up while the Western Mary
land was placed with a proposed Wa
besh-Seaboard system, a unification. by
the way, that has been eliminated In
the lineup on which the Eastern ex-
ecutives now are working. namely, B.
& O., Pennsylvania, New York Central
and Nickel Plate, which Is the Van
Sweringen grouping.
The commission at that time, en- banc,
proposed i've major systems, as against
senting opinion, Commissioner Porter
offered q four-system plan, under
which, he put the Virginian with the
New York Central, and the Western
Maryland with the Van Sweringen lay
out; while Commissioner Eastman, also
dissenting, offered nine-System plan
for the East, with the Western Mary-
land going to a so-called Reading
SYSTEM" and disposition Of the Viz
ginian left up In the air to certain
extent.
OF it, he said:
las to what had best be done with
this road, am in doubt At present.
my best thought Is to leave it alone, but
give it a physical connection with the
Kanawha & Michigan line of the New
York Central. (The bridge now author.
lied would do that) Possibly, if such
connection were made, and the
Chesapeake g. Ohio were converted into
an independent system, the Virginian
could be made part of the Chesapeake
& Ohio system without detriment to
the public interest"
Commission Personnel Changed. .
There have been three changes in
the commission personnel since the
consolidation report was presented and
the consolidation views of the new
members are not known. However,
eight members are hold-overs, includ-
ing Porter and Eastman, as well as
Commissioner McMananny, who, in,
principle, agreed with Eastman.
The commissioners differences, of
course, extended beyond the provisions
for the set-up in the East. as the conn
mission plan covered every road in the
ern, Southern and Western groupings.
Since, however, nothing is being done
in other parts of the country to put
into effect the commission plan, it Is
the move in the East that now alone y
engaging attention.
Eastman and McManamy, the record
shows, were critical of the whole sub
ject of consolidation, and for that rea-
son opposed cutting down the group
ings over the country to q minimum.
Eastman, while not desiring to min
imize possible benefits, said fatty that
such sentiment as appears to exist IN
favor of the consolidation of the rail@
roads into very few great systems, is,
believe largely artificial. y For the
most part / think it emanates from
financial circles which are likely to reap
large profits from the mere process of
putting the road together"
Again he said: There are strong
grounds for belief that the best results
secured when a railroad system Is small
enough so that the executive can MAIN
tain something like personal contact
with the employees all down the line and
also with the shippers in the territory
He argued against proceeding on q
''grandiose SCALE" and urged the COM
mission to move slowly.
McNdanany also expressed disapproval
Of the general :dea Of cutting the num-
Der of systems down to minimum, de-
claring he did not believe that was the
tent of Congress- that rather it was de-
sired, in general, to effect q grouping
that would strengthen weak lines and
give the public whatever advantage
might accrue from single instead Of
line hauls.
At the opposite pole, so far as the
East is concerned, was Porter, with his
four-system idea, which is much like
the executives plan, but all went along
with the majority on the f1ve-system
basis in the interest Of harmony and
to get a start in matter that has
been hanging fire 10 years.
OF the three varying views of the
however, 1t is noticeable
that none provided for the Virginian
and Western Maryland as now is sup
posed to be contemplated.
AS to other differences between the
reported set-up, and tlAe commissioners
ideas, there Is a feeling that no great
difhculties are likely tc be encounter0A
In reaching agreement.