The Railroad Week

To railroaders last week came many a piece o'f news. Of the new developments, major and minor, in railroad affairs, these stood out:

P: On Saturday, Nov. 9, the New York Central's zoth Century Limited made its 10,000th trip between New York and Chicago. In 27 years its passenger list has been 3,080,000, its gross receipts over $100,000,000.

P: Last week the I. C. C. authorized the reopening of the 17 1/2-mile Hill City Railway. Armour and Co. recently sold it to the citizens of Hill City, Minn., for a bargain price: $1.00.

P: Two weeks ago George Hannauer, late President of the Boston & Maine, died of heart failure while watching the Yale-Dartmouth game. Last week the B. & M. elected Board Chairman Thomas Nelson Perkins, Harvard Fellow, as acting President. Mr. Perkins has been an outstanding lawyer in Massachusetts for some 35 years. He was the first American member of the Reparations Commission, and in the Reparations Conference last spring he was alternate to Owen D. Young. That he is a Boston aristocrat does not weigh too heavily on his shoulders. He is noted for his democracy and humor.

P: For many months the Eastern consolidation struggle has resembled a chess tournament in which a master plays several opponents simultaneously. Shrewd, lean, aggressive William Wallace Atterbury of the Pennsylvania is the chess wizard. Three boards confront him. Behind one sits quiet-voiced Patrick Edward Crowley of the New York Central; behind the second sits energetic Daniel Willard of the B. & O.; behind the third sit the chubby brothers Oris Paxton and Mantis James Van Sweringen. On each of the three Boards a different consolidation game is being played. Last week two bold moves were made on the Van Sweringen board. Master Atterbury made the first when he captured a valuable pawn, the Pittsburgh and West Virginia. His Pennroad Corp. bought for $50.000,000 from Frank E. and Charles E. Taplin the controlling interest in the road. The loss of this key road is a setback to the Van Sweringen merger plans, which does not displease the Brothers Taplin, arch-enemies of the Brothers Van Sweringen. The sale also means that the Taplins have given up their aspirations for a Great Lakes-Atlantic seaboard system. Two days later the Brothers Van Sweringen gathered in a desirable pawn themselves, the Wheeling and Lake Erie. The I. C. C. authorized the Nickel Plate to issue $20,000,000 in promissory notes and to buy control of the Wheeling with the proceeds. This victory was only partial: the Commission gave to the Van Sweringens financial, but not operating, control over the Wheeling. There was a significant difference between the two moves: Master Atterbury made his move on his own initiative without consulting the I. C. C., whereas the Van Sweringens made their move through the Commission.