The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-09-12

The whole future of our air com merce has been jeopardised by an American Cliveden Set in aviation" and by a powerful railroad lobby employing "underground" tactics to force Its way into commercial Nvia- ton, was the charge made today by c, nedell Monro, President of Penn- sylvania Central Airlines.
 'Through insidious methods these forces seek to further their owf selfilsh interests by attempting to 'scuttle' the Civil AeronauticS board,
 "The CAB is being vieiously at tackled in spite of its excellent record and its constructive policies based on our traditional system ot free enterprise and regulated com petition, This board Is administering the law in a manner consistent with sound and sincere American prin- ciples, But because 1t is not amen- able to the special interests of the railroads, and because 1t is not amenable to the special interests ot monopolists, attempts are being maQe 70 uo away WANA HtS SS"AN' he bluntly declared.
 Addressing Q combined meeting of the Flint (Mich) Chamber ot Commerce and the Flint Rotary club, MT, Monro declared that his company, PCA, as Q pioneer In cona- mercial aviation, wished to go on record as endorsing the progressive policies of the CAB which have been responsible for the orderly growth of our great system of trans portatio We decry these un-Am- erican attempts to sabotage a gov ernmental agency simply because that agency will not yield to selfish designs.
 of these sinister-and they are that efforts continue" he warned "the whole future of our air com merce, the very fulfillment ot the destiny of commercial aviation and with 1t Americas supremacy in this field will have been jeojardized."
 Congress, he said. should ana must keep aloof from the subter- ranean efforts of the railroad lobby and from the maneuvering of that group within aviation which had earned the dubious honor of being an American Cliveden Set, to put the CAB out of business.
 Any deviation of a development of air transportation through free enterprise will woefully limit our potential to the point of destroying American supremacy in air com merce. Today that jeopardy Is both real and apparent. Aviation has grown rapidly under the guidance of a sound law, with cur industry and the CAB cooperating on the broad policies essential to a sound development. I'm certain the m- dustry realizes that its progress un- der the jurisdiction of the CAB has been sound and in the public in- terest.
 'The Boards broad policies. as one can learn from its decisions and proceedings. certainly appear to talk the language of sound Am- erican business the language of progress in the public interest. Those broad policies would appear on one hand to be a protection against monopoly and on the other hand a barrier to undestricted growth and to any possible repeti- ton, in the air. of the chaotic muddle which the railroads orig inally got themselves into and from which no amount of controlling legislation could extricate them.
 "It seems unbelievable, but it is a fact, that certain carriers in the domestic air field who have been shouting the loudest against mono- poly in the international field are seeking not only to perpetuate but to increase the virtual monopolies which they now have in their ter ritory in the domestic field. Their actions have included vigorous op- position to the continuance of the CAB as a governing body.
 "The manner in which these spec ial interests are trying to overthrow the CAB is contrary to every ac- cepted principle of American busi- ness and is destructive Go the future of our industry. Yes, 6 sort ol Clivedon Set has arisen in commeE'