Champion of the Rails
THE most dynamic spokesman and "lobbyist" for Washington the nation's troubled railroads is James Miller Symes, 61, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the nation's largest (1958 revenue $844,200,000). Husky (5 ft. 8 in., 180 lbs.), highballing Jim Symes was the driving force behind the Smathers act, which gave the railroads some Government help and a measure of relief from overregulation. But he thinks the railroads can do much more to help themselves — by merging. Last week Jim Symes proclaimed that he still has an urge to merge, deplored the New York Central's scrapping of a plan to join with the Pennsy, which would have saved the roads "$100 million a year." Said Symes: "I would be interested in any proposition on mergers." Symes thinks that the Smathers act is just a start in the railroads' battle for relief from overregulation and "discriminatory" taxes. He has asked for the creation of a Secretary of Transportation, suggested Government purchase of new rolling stock that would be rented to the roads. He believes that the long-haul rail passenger is a vanishing breed (Pennsy's 1958 passenger deficit: $44 million) and that the only way to save commuter service is to have communities pay the losses. The Pennsy and Philadelphia are now trying such an experiment. Many western railroadmen disagree with Symes's plan for subsidy and equipment purchase, but admit that the eastern roads have so much more trouble than others that they may need such help. Says Symes : "We have every problem there is. You name it, we got it."
FROM his Philadelphia office, Symes shoots down to Washington several times a month in his private railroad car (with cook, steward, three bedrooms, dining room, observation lounge). Nattily dressed and usually puffing a Camel (his male secretary always carries extra packs), Symes tickles legislators with his hearty humor and ready store of anecdotes, sways them with his sharp intelligence, collars Congressmen for private talks, is always ready to testify before a congressional committee.
He is not afraid to tangle with politicians. When Pennsylvania's Governor George Leader told Michigan's Governor Mennen ("Soapy") Williams that he would swap him the Pennsy for Michigan's General Motors, Symes wrote a cheerfully insulting letter to Leader, saying he would gladly give Leader to Michigan "and ask nothing in return." Then he invited Leader to lunch. Before it was over, Symes got a promise from Leader to build a $1,500,000 state road to lure into Pennsylvania a new Hammermill Paper Co. plant, which will eventually create 3,000 new jobs and more business for the Pennsy.