Consolidations

Amendment of the Esch-Cummins. Act so as to give the railroads from five to seven years to effect consolidations, after which consolidation would be compusory, is the policy advocated by Senator James E. Watson of Indiana, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce.

Last week Senator Watson, departing from Swampscott, announced that the President agreed with him.

So shocked were some business men that they found it difficult to credit Mr. Watson's words. For President Coolidge has consistently stood for a policy of "leaving business men alone."

Others regarded the Watsonian version of the President's sentiments as simply a warning to speed up mergers now under consideration, notably the Van Sweringen Nickel Plate.

The deliberations of the I. C. C. in the Nickel Plate and other cases, as well as the slow progress made in the rail valuations, have afforded a quite legitimate excuse to railroad heads for not accomplishing more mergers in recent months.