Command to Build

Before a railroad may build a new line, it must make application to its stern guardian, the Interstate Commerce Commission. The Commission may or may not look favorably on the petition of its ward. Last week for the first time the I.C.C., without waiting to be asked by a railroad, commanded the Union Pacific to build 185 miles of new line. This assumption that the Commission has positive as well as negative, executive as well as judicial power over the railroads of the land will probably be bitterly contested by the railroads.

The command to build was issued by the I.C.C. at the request of the Oregon Public Service Commission and over the protest of the Union Pacific. The new line would connect Crane, Ore., on the Oregon Short Line (subsidiary of Union Pacific) with Crescent Lake, Ore., on the Southern Pacific. Its proponents declare that it will open up a potentially rich region in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, while its railroad opponents see the new line as economically unsound. Cost of construction is estimated at $9,900,000. The fundamental principle involved--whether the I.C.C. can command as well as permit new railroad construction--will probably cause the Union Pacific to take the case into the courts. The Commission itself was not all sure, split 7 to 4 on the question. Dissenters were Commissioners Brainerd, Farrell, Porter, Woodlock.

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