Res 1293-60 RESOLUTION NO. 1293
BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Delray
Beach, Florida, (being the legislative body of said City), a
municipal corporation of the State of Florida, that this
Council does hereby find and declare:
1. That it is against the best interests and welfare of
this municipality and its inhabitants that Seabord Air Line
Railroad Company and Atlantic Cogst Line Railroad Company he
permitted to merge, as proposed in their recently filed Joint
Application to the Interstate Commerce Commission, Finance
Docket 21215.
2. That this City, acting through its legislative body,
should he and hereby declares that it is unalterably opposed to
any merger of said two railroads.
3. That certified copies of this Resolution be mailed by
the City Clerk of this municipality to the following:
(a) The Secretary of the Interstate Commerce
Commission, Washington 25, D. C.
(h) Florida Railroad and Public Utilities
Commission, Tallahassee, Florida.
PASSED AND ADOPTED in regular session this 21st day of
November, 1960.
ATTEST: '~" Ma~ro r
STATE OF FLORIDA
COUNTY OF PALM BEACH
CITY OF DELRAY BEACH
I, ROBERT D. WORTHING, City Clerk in and for the City of
Delray Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, do hereby certify that
the foregoing Resolution is a true and correct copy of Resolutior
relating to proposed merger of Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company
and Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company as duly adopted at a
regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Delray Beach
held in said municipality on the 21st day of November, 1960, as
the original of said Resolution appears in the official minutes
of said City in my official custody.
WITNESS my hand and official seal of said City this 21st
day of November, 1960.
Florida East Coast Railway Trustees State ~osition
Relative to Proposed Merger of
Atlantic Coast Line - Seaboard Air Line Railroads
J. Turner Butler and William A. Hallowes, extended to the people of the state, and has urged
Trustees of the Florida East Coast Railway, are that no action on the merger application be taken
of the opinion that the proposed merger of the until what is hoped to be accomplished is thoroughly
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Seaboard Air Line explained and understood.
Railroad places in serious jeopardy the reorganiza-
tion plan of the Florida East Coast Railway, which Certainly the shipping and receiving public should
has been in receivership and bankruptcy since be given the opportunity of weighing the effect
August, 1931. upon their freight charges and service of any plan
to turn over to one operating railroad (including
The properties of the Florida East Coast Railway the now fully controlled L. & N.) approximately
are scheduled to be released from trusteeship on 85% of the Class I mileage in the State of Florida.
January 1, 1961, under a plan of reorganization This is for all practical purposes a rail monopoly
approved by the Federal Courts and the Interstate in Florida--in fact, there will be one rail monopoly
Commerce Commission after many years of litigation, in the Soulheast--soulh of the Potomac and Ohio
Rivers and east of the Mississippi. And with a
Strictly a Florida railroad, the East Coast is monopoly, the public gets poorer service at a
dependent for its very existence on traffic inter- higher cost.
changed with connecting lines at Jacksonville, and
the great preponderance of traffic delivered by the The Trustees of Florida East Coast Railway are
East Coast is destined to points West Palm Beach endeavoring to gather all of the information it is
and south, where it is in direct competition with possible to obtain concerning the impact of the
the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. merger on the East Coast revenues and future
services. They are firm in their convictions that
Statements to the effect that existing routes
unless the merger is stopped, the ability of the
would be maintained under the merger plan do not
East Coast to continue to render service to the
mean that the interests of the Florida East Coast
public is seriously in doubt.
would be protected. It must be obvious to any
practical business man that with the tremendous They have advised the Interstate Commerce Com-
sales organizations maintained by the Seaboard, mission of their objections to the merger plan and
Coast Line ~nd Louisville & Nashville (now fully will continue to vigorously oppose the plan before
controlled by Coast Line) in all of the principal the Commission and through the Courts if necessary.
manufacturing areas of the United States, all-out
efforts would be made to divert to the merged As the shippers overwhelmingly testified in the
properties all traffic to and from the lower East East Coast Reorganization Proceedings, they will get
Coast territory. Moreover, routes have been effec- better service from a small independently-operated
tively closed in the past by the simple expedient Florida railroad. But, in order for this reorganized
of changing train schedules, so that trains of corn- East Coast to meet the fixed charges and other re-
peting railroads cannot make the necessary eonnec- quirements that are imposed upon it by the Interstate
tions. Commerce Commission in its plan of reorganization,
it is essential that none of the existing revenues be
The Florida East Coast Railway, along with other lost. Any substantial reduction of existing revenues
Southern Territory railroads, has already advised will defeat the plan. It may well force the reor-
the Interstate Commerce Commission of the serious ganized company back into the bankruptcy court
nature of the merger proposals. The Florida Rail- where it has been for the past 29 years, and from
road and Public Utilities Commission, in a letter which it is planned to emerge on January 1, 1961.
addressed to the Interstate Commerce Commission,
advised that Commission of its concern about the
effect of the merger upon the services now being Issued September 1. 1960.
railroad
MONOPOLY
~ in
A Florlda Industry FLORIDA
and Institution