Evening star., 1952-07-07
Colonial Air Lines
Considers Offer Of
Merger by Eastern
By Nelson M. Shepord

By Nelson N. Shepord
A merger of Colonial Air Lines
with Eastern Air Lines headed by
Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker. ap-
peared in the offing today.
Recently Colonial stockholders
blocked proposed merger with
National Air Lines and then, in
the hope of making a better deal
invited 10 airlineS which touch
Colonial'S route to submit offers
Result, announced today, was
an offer by Eastern which r.
Peter Ansberry of Washington.
chairman of Colonial'S Stockhold-
ers' committee said is "at least 20
per cent higher than any previous
Offer"
A merger with Eastern Air
Lines, he said in letter from the
committee to Branch T. Dykes of
New York. Colonial president,
would be "nnanifestly in the public
interest The Eastern offer, he
pointed out. vindicates the judg-
ment of the stockholders in oppos-
ing the National Air Lines deal.
Letter is Quoted.
Mr. AnSberry'S letter added:
Through one-plane service be-
tween Canada, Bermuda and the
Pennsylvania and New York points
served by Colonial, and all of the
far-f1ung and thoroughly covered
territory of Eastern, would be pro-
vided to the travelling public.
Eastern's relative standing as
the fourth largest airline would
not be affected by the acquisition
of Colonial.
In view of your statement that
Colonial cannot be successfully
operated as an independent air.
line. we believe that the Board of
Directors of Colonial have a duty
promptly to accept the Eastern
offer and do all in their power
to implement an early union with
Eastern. An early special meet
ing of Colonials stockholders
should be called"
The merger Offer if accepted,
must be approved by the Civil
Aeronautics Board. whose chair
man, Donald w. Nyrop, has been
somewhat critical.
Recent Rejection Cited.
Colonial's recent rejection of
National Air Lines offer. The in
vitation to the 10 other airlines toI
submit proposals brought from
the CAB chairman a censure of |
Colonial for placing itself on the
auction block" In warning that
any merger must have the board |
approval, he pointed out that CAB
was investigating the possibility of |
a merger with National although
the latter's offer had been rejected
by Colonial's stockholders.
Since then EaStern's more salts
factory offer was made. Mr..
Dykes also received a bid froml
Northeast AirlineS.
Colonial made public a state
ment today that in June the COM
pany established an all-time rec
ord in carrying 1900 passengers
to and from Bermuda, and 25,000I
passengers on its domestic system.
This is the record for June and
the second highest. for any other
month in ColonialS operations.
Bard Calls Meeting.
John A. Bard, president ofI
Washington Chapter, Nationall
Association of Cost Accountants,
has called a meeting of the Board
of Directors in the Willard Hotel
at 7::30 pm. Wednesday.
Two members of the Atlantic /
Life Insurance Co.'s Washington
agency placed among the top
contenders in the company's an
nual sales campaign in May andl,
June. Charles w. Phillips of Rich
mond. Va, president, announced
today. They are w. Neal McCord.
general agent, and Robert E. Wise.
AS a reward, the two men will
go to Richmond tomorrow, take
a fishing trip in the Chesapeake
Bay and visit several days at
Horse Point Inn, a resort near
Deltaville, Va.
American University announced
that MacGregor Aver, personnel
director of General Services. Inc.
Is teaching a course at A. u. in
Personnel Management in In
dustry.' He is also the former !
president Of the Washington Per-
sonnel Association. Il
Consumer prices for May reached
an Fall-time high, according tolc
the National Industrial Conference i
Board. The rise of O.3 per cent d
from April to May, due mainly to
increases in food costs, topped the {
previous record high established lG
in January. 1852. L
The index for all items for the 9
81 cities surveyed Q80.5 for May, 4
1852 was the highest ever re-
corded in the series, which goes
back to 1914. Base date of the
series is January, 1889, ass 100.
Over the year, May, 195l-Mav,
1852, the index has risen 3 perl
cent X