Cherington Praises Merger Of New England Railroads

A merger of the Boston and Maine and the New York, New Haven, and Hartford railroads proposed recently by New Haven president Patrick B. McGinnis would "not necessarily be harmful to the economic interests of New England," Charles R. Cherington '35, professor of Government, said Monday night.

Meanwhile, Governor Christian A. Herter '15, alarmed at the merger, conferred yesterday with William J. Cunningham, the author of a 1930 study against a linking of the two roads. Herter said last week that he objected to the possibility of non-New England financial interests gaining potentially monopolistic control over New England rail transportation.

McGinnis, a New York financier who recently wrested control of the New Haven from Frederic C. Dumaine, Jr., stated last month that three of his friends had purchased controlling stock in the Boston and Maine. The New Haven president proposed at that time a merger of the two roads within the next three years.

Cherington, interviewed on Station WGBH-FM by Louis M. Lyons, Curator of the Nieman Foundation, called a linking of the two lines a "reasonable regional consolidation." "It doesn't seem to me," he said, "that the B & M and the New Haven are primarily competing properties. I think that they supplement each other's services, and control of both roads wouldn't necessarily be dangerous.

By making the B & M more efficient, McGinnis hopes to save the road from its serious financial troubles. Cherington called the earnings of the B & M during the last ten months "quite unsatisfactory" and said that "it takes a lot of nerve to pay $15 a share for common stock which will probably show a net loss in 1954. It would be an illogical expenditure to lose a million or two dollars."