Roberts & McInnis Legal Files

The records of the Washington, D.C. law firm of Roberts and McInnis, accession no. 1783, span the years 1955 to 1959 and concern the plight of New Jersey and New York commuters into New York City in the face of New York Central Railroad Company's bid to close down its Weehawken ferry service and consequently its entire West Shore Division of rail service. The records were generated by the various courts and commissions that gave hearing to the matter as well as by the law firm itself. They fall into five main categories: (1) law file (pleadings -- briefs, petitions, notices, court decrees, etc.); (2) correspondence; (3) transcripts of hearings; (4) memoranda (e.g. notations of various kinds. digests of opponents' briefs, etc.); and (5) exhibits (time tables, maps, passenger surveys, revenue reports, annual reports, company magazines and, giving perhaps the best overview of the matter, newsclippings in both separate folders and in folders containing correspondence).

Due to the concurrent nature of the cases relating to the West Shore line and Weehawken ferry, records of a miscellaneous nature such as memoranda, correspondence and exhibits remain in the mixed order in which they were received. However, records relating to the three main theaters of contest, i.e. the New Jersey Public Utilities Commission vs. NYCRC, the New York Public Services Commission vs. NYCRC, and the Interstate Commerce Commission (hearings involving NJPUC and the US Supreme Court) are fairly distinct from each other. These records comprise the bulk of the collection and are fairly evenly distributed across the time span of the collection. When given to Rutgers University in February 1960 by Roberts and McInnis, the records were approximately 10 cubic feet in volume. With reboxing and the segregation of duplicates, their volume is currently record center cartons.

According to a preliminary accession note based on a discussion with attorney Roberts, the collection is fairly complete as to category (1) (see above) with respect to case no. 17160 involving the New York Public Services Commission, and less complete for the other cases. The various cases are designated by the docket numbers of the Public Utilities Commission of New Jersey, the Public Services Commission of New York, and the federal Interstate Commerce Commission.

The cases involve hearings before the above-mentioned utilities commissions, and finally before the United States Supreme Court. The attorneys for the railroad were Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer and Wood, the opposing attorneys being Roberts (Col. Roberts) for the duration of all cases, and in chronological succession Ortman, Howell, Paradise, Turlington and Kennedy Roberts et al. represented Bergen County, Rockland County, a number of municipalities in the affected area (including Hudson County) and the commuters' group Citizens United Transit Committee (CUTC) formed in 1956 in direct response to the threat of cessation of West Shore service. Significant figures in the CUTC were chairmen James P. Birth (1956-57), Joseph G. Eitner (1958-59) and Public Relations representative Anna A. Trulli.

Quoting from the preliminary accession note concerning these records: "Apart from the value of the papers in relation to the history of northern New Jersey, railroad transportation, etc., Colonel Roberts emphasizes the significance of the papers in another light -- as an illustration of the futile efforts of individuals and small municipalities to obtain recourse against the action of large, wealthy, and influential corporations. He describes the cases as revealing a defect in the democratic system. As he explained, the municipalities and other interested groups individually were inexperienced, insufficiently organized and without the financial resources to handle the problem successfully. Colonel Roberts states that several of the parties have failed to pay their share of the expense, while others are still in arrears. Colonel Roberts also laid stress on the lack of effective participation by the states concerned, New Jersey and New York, whose resources might have been decisive. The lack of success in this and in other cases of citizens dealing with large corporations, Colonel Roberts believes, is related to the influence of one kind of another which the corporations exert upon the elected and appointed representatives of the people..."

Other issues that appear to have amplified the significance of the West Shore matter are (1) the passage of the "Transportation Act of 1958" (U.S. Senate no. 3778) which settled not only West Shore in NYCRC's favor but was feared would have a domino effect on other passenger rail routes -- indeed a scan of NY Times Index listings for subsequent years shows the steamrolling effect of this Act (among other causes) upon passenger rail routes around the nation; (2) questionable liaisons between federal representatives and private industry, two ICC officials having given notice within the time span of these records to accept lucrative posts in railroad companies; (3) concern for rapid and efficient evacuation from large metropolitan areas in the event of a civil defense crisis; and (4) "strangulation" of highways in general.

About three-fifths of the records are law files and two-fifths are a miscellany of related materials. Among the principle correspondents are Milton T. Lasher (counsel for Bergen County), James P. Birth (CUTC chairman), Marjorie Zehrfeldt (secy. treas. of CUTC), Carl J. Steinmetz (chairman, Council of Mayors of Bergen County), Kent Brown (counsel for NYPSC), and Stephen Doig (counsel for Rockland County). Also figuring in the cases and correspondence with less prominence are NJ Governor Robert B. Meyner, NJ Senator Harrison Williams and NJ Representative Clifford Case.