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The

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Railroad is a main artery to the heart of the community

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From the beginning it has been a pioneer force

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For as the iron rails extended into the virgin land settlers who were at first reluctant

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Became eager to occupy the territories made accessible by the new dependable transportation

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For farmers admit a way to get the harvest and livestock to market

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Towns began to spring up along the lifeline of steel

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Basic industry became feasible

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For the lumber that was felled and the iron and copper that was mined could now be shipped and sold to broader and broader markets

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Manufacture and exchange were stimulated by growing needs

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As the nation flourished it spread out in all directions across the land, but the country remained indivisible

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Bound by the growing network of railroads that carried forth an uninterrupted flow of people

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the males and goods of all kinds to the far corners a

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new era dawned

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The economics of what was to become the largest producing and wealthiest nation in the world

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Was spurred by wheels spinning along the iron rails

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No area in the nation was more dependent upon the railroads for its economic growth than the Midwest

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The spreading lines of rails were forerunners of new enterprises and new communities in profusion

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In the middle of the 19th century

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This growing area was linked to another territory that had just discovered riches

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California this link was accomplished by the railroads cooperating with each other

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For when in

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1869 the Golden Spike was driven at promontory in Utah to forge the first rail connection between the Midwest and the far west

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The Chicago and Northwestern Railway had for two years been hauling the rails and supplies to Omaha

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Thus expediting the stretch of the Union Pacific lines westward

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Soon after came other Midwestern railroads to funnel goods from throughout the Middle West into the lifeline to the West Coast

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Agriculture and heavy industry found in the accessible railroads great incentive to locate and operate

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the rails push forward to stimulate growth with service and

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service fostered growth

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The Midwest became a foremost center of the nation's agriculture and industry

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Today many railroads link Chicago to California via the historic overland route each

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Interchanging freight with the Union Pacific at Omaha and Kansas City

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Like a giant tree turned on its side the regional railroads form the roots which course throughout the Middle West

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Carrying goods of all kinds to and from the trunk line that spans the West and branches out along the Pacific Coast

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In the past decade many of the nation's railroads have faced economic hardships

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They have had to fight an uphill battle to hold their own against new forms of competition

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Which are aided and abetted by government subsidies that are not available to railroads

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Trucks travel government-built highways and

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Barges sail rivers on which channels and other navigational aids are maintained by government

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Such inequities give an edge to competition while railroad resources are strained

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The brunt of these financial pressures have been borne by the regional railroads such as those of the Midwest

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Because of the low return on high-cost operations they render in providing vital branch line service to thousands of communities

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Much study has been given to the dilemma of how to strengthen the nation's essential rail transportation

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Merger is one solution that has fortified weaker systems

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By combining such roads it is possible to affect economies through the elimination of overlapping services and facilities

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by pooling resources

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Improvements can be made that individually the railroads could not afford but there are different kinds of mergers

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One type of merger can revitalize weak railroads and improve services

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Another could so injure competing roads as to leave a trail of havoc in its wake a

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Prime example of a merger that destroys rather than bills is the one that has been proposed between the Union Pacific and the Rock Island

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railroads

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Such a merger would have far-reaching consequences upon the economic climate of the Midwest

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The Union Pacific wishes to extend its main line which now terminates at Council Bluffs, Iowa

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directly into Chicago via the Rock Island tracks at present

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Freight is divided among the Midwestern railroads at Union Pacific terminal points at Omaha and Kansas City

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With entry on Rock Island tracks the Union Pacific would be in a position to monopolize this long-distance traffic

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It would also gain entry into other strategic gateways such as the Twin Cities

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Peoria and st. Louis traffic on the regional roads would shrink substantially

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In conjunction with its merger proposal the Union Pacific has agreed to sell the southern half of the Rock Island

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comprising some

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3,500 miles of railroad to another giant Western Railroad the Southern Pacific

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This would open to the Southern Pacific as well as the Union Pacific

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New territories and create a depressing effect on existent railroads in those areas

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In the main this is a device which the Union Pacific is using to invade new sections of the country

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It would enable the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific to blanket the Western two-thirds of the United States and

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whereby introduce the threat of railroad monopoly

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The Union Pacific's professed reason for merger is that it could give better

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transcontinental service and compete more effectively with trucks

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But it's hidden and real reason was revealed in a subpoenaed document which was compiled by the Union Pacific itself

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Clearly showing that the potential gain would come not from the Rock Island

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Not from trucks, but by diversion from many other railroads

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The Union Pacific's own study reveals that such diversion could reach the staggering amount of

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229 million dollars a year

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the combination of the Union Pacific with the Rock Island and the Southern Pacific with the Rock Island

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Would provide opportunity for additional diversion of traffic not contemplated in the Union Pacific study

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The problems that could emerge from this Pandora's boxcar are

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incalculable

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the Midwestern railroads

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service thousands of communities with mainly marginal operations

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branch lines providing industry and agriculture with much-needed rail conveniences are costly to maintain

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For such roads as the Northwestern

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The Chicago Omaha route offers one of the few long hauls in the Midwest where freight traffic is

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Concentrated and heavy enough to help offset the high-cost operation of marginal branch lines

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With the proposed merger the revenue that has sustained the regional railroads would be appropriated by the already favored Union Pacific and

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Southern Pacific

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the loss of revenue would do irreparable damage to the many

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Midwestern and Southwestern railroads as well as other lines whose average hauls are substantially less than

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those of the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific a

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decrease in revenue

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represents the difference between profit and deficit for a number of key railroads

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They would become vulnerable targets for the competition of trucks and water carriers

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Those most acutely affected might be forced into bankruptcy

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While others would have to curtail services and defer maintenance and improvements in order to keep solvent

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This merger would permit the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific to skim off the cream of the long haul business while assuming no

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Responsibility for maintaining the extensive services now being rendered throughout this territory by railroads. They would harm

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The Midwestern railroads have always been involved in the development and continued prosperity of this region

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They have been instrumental in locating thousands of industries along their lines

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Representing hundreds of millions of dollars in investments by these companies

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With long haul revenue diverted from these roads something would have to give

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Industries which have grown up with the regional railroads would find unavailable

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Railroad services which they have come to rely upon

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Reduced numbers of branch lines less frequent runs

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scarcity of specialized freight cars and switching facilities

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Breakdowns due to aging equipment and less maintenance all would be a deterrent to existent

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Let alone new services

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Industry

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Marginal branch lines which are needed seasonally or in times of big harvest

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May have to be abandoned in order to reduce expenses as total revenues of each railroad diminish

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Long-term investments to upgrade facilities and equipment would decrease

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Commuter services

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So indispensable to the solution of urban congestion would suffer a setback

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Trains would run less frequently and make fewer stops

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Equipment which has been modernized for optimum efficiency and comfort would deteriorate

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Already crowded highways would become cluttered

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Payrolls would shrink with traffic

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Loads

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With spreading stagnation

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school districts

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Municipalities and states in the middle and southwest would feel the pinch of declining railroad and industrial taxes

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Merger benefits for a few towns along the rock island would be offset many times over

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By losses to other communities and by the waste of existing railroad facilities slumping into disuse

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a

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Union pacific rock island merger would weaken the nation's transportation

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By upsetting the vital rail system at its center

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The disaster would reverberate far and wide

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It is not in the public interest to make the union pacific and the southern pacific

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Already favored and wealthy land-grant railroads richer and more powerful at the expense of the marginal railroads

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Which with present traffic volume can continue efficient operation only by resourceful management

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It is not in the public interest to trigger the decline of the midwestern railroad system

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Which is integrally a part of the well-being of this region

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It is in the public interest to insist upon the development of a strong growing and progressive

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midwestern railroad system

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Serving the core of our nation its large and small industries businesses farms

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And the people who depend on them

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You