Evening star., 1939-01-25
Meyers Record l. c. Service
Spent in Ideal Career
72-Yeor-OId Commissioner to Return to
Private Life on AmIie's Confirmation
BY ]. A. FOX.

BY ]. A. FOX.
Balthasar Henry Meyer, whose
membership on the Interstate Com
merce Commission has spanned the
years since the Taft administration,
Is preparing to drop the tasks that
to him were ideal and return to
private life.
Commissioner Meyers term ended
December 81, as he rounded out his
9th year on the commission for the
longest official service on record
there. Monday the White House an
nounced he would be succeeded by
Thomas r. Amlie, former Progress
sive member of the House from
Wisconsin, who made an unsuccess-
full race for the Senate nomination
last fall. Mr.. Meyer, appointed from
Wisconsin as a Republican by Presi-
dent Taft, holds ONCE until Mr..
Amlie qualities.
The Amlie nomination, which
must be confirmed by the Senate,
came as surprise in TRANSPORTATION
circles. It had been assumed that
Commissioner Meyer would be re-
appointed, despite the fact that he
will be 70 in May. OF huge frame,
his years have rested lightly, ard
it was only few weeks ago that a
vigorous dissenting opinion he de-
lvered in a proposed consolidation
proceeding attracted wide attention.
Was Professor Of Sociology.
1t was with a background as a
professor of sociology and political
economy at the University of Wis
consin-the State of his birth-and
as chairman of the Railroad Com
mission there, that Mr.. Meyer came
to the Federal agency. In his nearly
three decades of service he has seen
transportation revolutionized as the
railroads rose to the industrial
heights and then fell before new
competition.
These things were recalled as the
commissioner celebrated his silver
jubilee.
rs there anything you would
rather have done these Is years
than your work here?" he was asked.
Nothing" he responded. 1T has
been everything I expected it might
be. I hope the last day of the Is
years will be just like the first. I
feel I'm good for Is years more,
and I like to go along day after day,
just working"
To Go to Wisconsin Farm.
And this was not a figure of
speech, for the commissioner has
lost just half day because of ILL
ness in that quarter of a century,
and only that because a doctor en-
forced this idleness. In addition to
his duties in the commission, where
he is member of the important
finance division. Commissioner
Meyer has written a great deal on
transportation problems. Comes
summer and he turns to manual
labor on his farm at Brule, Wis.
Given to keen appraisal of any
problem, Commissioner Meyers re-
cent striking dissent came in the
proposed partitioning of the Mime
apolis & st. Louis, which the COM
mission refused TO permit.
Under this plan, nearly third of
the line-which is in receivership-
would have been abandoned and the
other 1000 miles merged with other
Mldwestern carriers, some of which
also are in receivership. in an effort
to strengthen the entire rail struc-
ture in that area where highway
competition has been particularly
severe.
AS is usual in any plan involving
rail changes, protests poured in and
the commission majority needed.
Warning that this disposition only
"postpones the day of reckoning" ;"
Commissioner Meyer bluntly added:
Barring basic changes in the
status of our railroads, the country
as whole probably faces the great
est salvaging operations of all time
The case of the Minneapolis & ST.
Louis is only one of many. '''
Takes Preservation Stand.
Looking at this country as it
stands today, do not believe it can
yet get along without the railroads,
ignoring for the present questions
of national defense. If that is true
it follows that to have railroads we
must preserve them It is only
by authorizing abandonments where
public gains outweigh private losses
that the most essential railroad
mileage of the country can be pre-
served. "*s
In my opinion there is no other
way out of the present railroad
situation than to rearrange much of
the remaining railroad mileage and
to coordinate its operations within
itself with other agencies, especially
with the highway. The unavoidable
property losses accompanying rail
and highway readjustments must be