Partition Petition

Sorriest Class I railroad in the U. S. is Minneapolis & St. Louis ("The Peoria Gateway"). It has been in receivership for twelve years, owes accumulated interest equal to one-fourth of its assets, which are largely nominal, and is still indebted to the Government for loans from the Wartime Director General of Railroads. In desperation RF Chairman Jesse Jones proposed to partition M. & St. L. among eight more solvent neighbors (TIME, Oct. 29). Last week after a year of dickering, the eight systems petitioned the Interstate Commerce for permission to start carving.

Actually the petition was presented by Associated Railways Co., a jointly-owned corporation set up to buy M. & St. L. for $7,200,000--to be furnished by Mr. Jones. After abandoning one-third of M. & St. L.'s 1,500 miles of line. Associated Railways proposed to parcel out the rest for the partitioning carriers to operate--429 mi. to either Chicago Great Western or Milwaukee; 197 mi. to Burlington; 140 mi. to Chicago & North Western; 92 mi. to Rock Island; 47 mi. to Great Northern. In addition there are several proposals for joint operation, some of which include Illinois Central and Soo Line.

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