Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-11-25
CAB Hearings on Fares
Drones Into I'd Week
By CHARLES YARBRoUGH


Already weishty and tedious.
but still only in the beginning
stage. the Civil Aeronautics
Board hearings on airline fares
enters its second week today.
For all its droning monotony.
the Importance and the dollar
implication overshadow any
other procedure in CAB history.
There have been more mas
sive cases. from sheer weight
Of transcript. but none touch
the billion dollar stakes on the
great long conference table in
Room 5S5S Of the Department
Of Commerce.
Over it. dangled there by
opening airline testimony. hangs
the sword Of economic chaos
and q dubious jet age. ready to
plunge unless the Board makes
additional revenue possible
through fare increases.
Pattern Is Set ]
American Airlines, opening
the proceedings last Monday by
virtue of its alphabetical pri-
GRITTY. set the pattern likely to-
be followed by the other major
air carriers of the Nation.
American President C. r.
Smith put it this way:
"In outlining our financial
problem / am compelled TO
speak on matters which nor
rinally would not be made public
at this time. ! and other Wit
nesses shall speak of equip
rnent plans which, under other
circumstances. for connective
reasons. would not have been
disclosed until the last possible
minute. / know Of no other
way to bring to the board
the fullest realization Of our
problem.
That opening touched of q
week of legalistic parrying
which at times seemed to bog
down by weight Of words alone.
Phrase by phrase. it moved
over the stenographer's SEEM
ingly endless tape "break-
even load factors profit
suueezes obsoleting of
equipment industry on a
plateau all-expense operat-
ing ratio =. +"
Sits in Judgment
About the long table sit is o.
IS ATTORNEYS. one of them CAB
Counsel George Cossin, ir.,
whose. duty it is to examine
written testimony. point by
point and draw out the witness
in cross-examination to help
the board determine whether
the airlines might be over
stating their case.
Tempers grow short. But
not the hours. There was even
a minor wrangle over chang
ing the hearing time from 10
am.
At one early point. President
Smith was asked by CAB Ex-
aminer Ralph L. Wiser II he
understood question put 70
him by Counsel Cossin.
mo / don't and neither does
he" Nh. Smith snapped.
Over all this, calm and
patient, sometimes an arbiter
but always a judge in the
sense that he will make a final
recommendation to the board
on whether the airlines should
get their higher fares, sits Al
year-old Examiner Wiser. A
George Washington University
law graduate, a World Wa II
Navy veteran and a CAB attor-
ney since 1910. excluding the
war years.
Plea No Surprise
No one in the room is any
more aware of the importance
of the decision in the case. 1t
isn't his longest procedure
one which only now is in its
waning stage after $4,000 pages
of transcript-but from dollar
significance. it is his biggest.
Airline passenger revenues
crossed over 81 billion last
year.
The approach the airlines
made in opening presentation
was no surprise to anyone.
With fares generally un-
changed in the last 20 years.
the pleas for more revenue has
been growing more audible in
the last year.
Speaking Of jet planes COM
mitments, Americans Presi-
dent Smith was blunt:
The purchases already signed
Tor will require us to spend
an additional 5000 million be-
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