SUBJECT: PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY

The name of this corporation has been submitted for determination of its status as a carrier under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935.

According to Poor's and Moody's Manuals of Railroads and public Utilities from 1904 to date, the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey was incorporated in the state of New Jersey on May 6, 1903, to carry out a plan for consolidating the lighting and street railway interests of the State,

During its history the carrier has acquired by the methods indi­ cated the following named public utility corporations:

through purchase of capital stock Elizabeth, New Brunswick & Trenton Railroad Company (see below) Elizabeth, Plainfield & Central Jersey Railway

consolidation of Elizabeth City Horse Railroad Elizabeth Street Railway Plainfield Street Railway Rahway Electric Street Railway Westfield & Elizabeth Street Railway Voodbridge & Seweren Electric Street Railway Jersey City, Hoboken & Paterson Street Railway consolidation of Jersey City, Hoboken & Rutherford Electric Railway North Hudson County Railway Palisades Railroad Paterson Central Electric Company Paterson Horse Railroad Paterson, Passaic & Rutherford Electric Railway Paterson Railway Saddle River Traction Company White Line Traction Company successor of New Jersey Traction Company controlled through ownership of capital stock Bergen Turnpike Company New Jersey & Hudson River Railway & Ferry Company North Jersey Street Railway controlled through perpetual lease of property Consolidated Traction Company of New Jersey including lines of Jersey city & Bergen Railroad Jersey City, Harrison & Kearny Railroad Newark Plank Road New Jersey Traction Company controlled through lease of property New Jersey Passenger Railway Passaic & Newark Electric Railway absorbed Newark & South Orange Street Railway Orange & Passaic Valley Railway successor to Suburban Traction Company Public Service Railroad Company consolidation of Elizabeth, New Brunswick & Trenton Railroad Company (see above) Trenton Terminal Railroad controlled through lease of property Elizabeth & Trenton Railroad Company United Electric Company of New Jersey

through perpetual lease of property Camden & Suburban Railway controlled through ownership of capital stock Test Jersey Traction Company controlled through lease of property Camden Horse Railroad Company Elizabeth, Plainfield & Central Jersey Railroad (see above) Elizabeth & Raritan River Street Railway consolidation of East Jersey Street Railway Middlesex & Somerset Traction Company Essex & Hudson Gas Company Hudson County Gas Company New Jersey & Hudson River Railway & Ferry Company (see above) Orange & Passaic Valley Railway (see above) Paterson & Passaic Valley Railway Paterson & State Line Traction Company Peoples Elevating Company Riverside Traction Company Somerset, Union & Middlesex Light Company South Orange & Maplewood Traction Company

and a number of other transportation and non-transportation corporations not listed in the Manuals.

In August, 1907, the North Jersey Street Railway Company, the jersey City, Hoboken &. Paterson Street Railway Company, and the United Street Railway Company of Central Jersey were consolidated into a new corporation called the Public Service Railway Company. This corporation was controlled throughout its history by the Public Service corporation of New Jersey through owner­ ship of its capital stock. It operated all the street, suburban, and inter- urban electric railway lines of the Public service Corporation until January 31, 1928, when it was consolidated with the Public Service Transportation Company (originally incorporated November 14, 1917 as New Jersey Transportation Company to operate motor bus lines of the Public Service Corporation) to form the Public Service Coordinated Transport, which thereafter operated all the transportation lines of the Public Service Corporation.

During 1929 the Public Service Coordinated Transport purchased the interest of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company in the Pennjersey Rapid Transit Company, formerly owned jointly with the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company, and took over its operation. On September 17, 1927, the Public Service Interstate Transporta­ tion Company was incorporated in the state of New Jersey. It operates bus lines in the States of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, and practi­ cally all its capital stock is owned by Public Service Coordinated Transport. It appears also that the Public Service Corporation, probably through one of the above named controlled operating companies, also operated three ferries at various points in New Jersey, the Port Richmond 1 Bergen Point Ferry Company, the Riverside & Fort Lee Ferry Company, and the New Jersey & Hudson River Railway and Ferry Company (mentioned above).

The Public Service Corporation has never filed tariffs, concurrences or powers of attorney with the Interstate commerce Commission, covering its opereYTonsV nor has it ever made annual reports of operations to the commis­ sion in its own name or in the name of a subsidiary company. About 15 or 20 years ago the Commission went into the question of its possible jurisdic­ tion over the Public Service Corporation and declde_d that it was not subject to the Interstate Commerce Act.

In the annual reports of the New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners, operating revenues are given for the three operating sub­ sidiaries of the Public Service Corporation, the Public service Railroad Company, the Public Service Railway company, and the letter’s successor, the Public Service Coordinated Transport. Reports of all these companies show large revenue from transportation of passengers, but no revenue what­ ever from the transportation of freight; nor does it appear that any of the companies ever engaged in any but the transportation of passengers and service incidental thereto.

It does not appear that either the Public Service Corporation or any of its subsidiaries listed has ever been controlled by any common carrier by railroad subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, nor that any of them have themselves controlled or been commonly controlled with such a carrier.

In view of ell these facts, it is my opinion that the public Service Corporation of New Jersey falls within the exemption proviso con­ tained in Section 1 (a) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935, and there­ fore is not subject to that Act, being ana having been throughout its history nothing more than a holding and operating company of street, sub­ urban, and interurban electric railrods.

I recommend, therefore, that service performed for the public Service Corporation of New Jersey not be creditable under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935.

(Signed) Fleet C. Hathorn, Jr. o?& }

MEMORANDUM

SUBJECT: PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY Subsidiaries Owned and Controlled

The following listed subsidiaries of the public Service Corporation of New Jersey,, acquired by outright ownership, owner­ ship of capital stock, or perpetual lease of property, have been checked through the card index systems of the Section of Tariffs and the Bureau of Statistics at the Interstate Commerce Commission, and it has been discovered that none of them filed tariffs, con­ currences or powers of attorney, nor annual reports of their opera­ tions with the Commission.

Bergen Turnpike Company Camden Horse Railroad Company Camden & suburban Railway E^st Jersey Street Railway Elizabeth City Horse Railroad Elizabeth, New Brunswick & Trenton Railroad Company Elizabeth, Plainfield & Central Jersey Railroad Elizabeth & Raritan River Street Railway Elizabeth 8c Trenton Railroad Essex &. Hudson Gas Company Hudson County Gas Company Jersey City & Bergen Railroad Jersey City, Harrison 8c Kearny Railroad Jersey City, Hoboken &, Paterson Street Railway Jersey City, Hoboken 8c Rutherford Electric Railway Middlesex 8c Somerset Traction Company Newark Plank Road Nev/ark & South Orange street Railway New Jersey 8c Hudson River Railway 8c Ferry Company New Jersey Passenger Railway New Jersey Traction Company North Hudson County Railway North Jersey Street Railway Orange &. Passaic Valley Railway Palisades Railroad Passaic 8c Newark Electric Railway Passaic 8c Newark Electric Traction Company Paterson Central Electric Company Paterson Horse Railroad Paterson, Passaic, 8c Rutherford Electric Railway Paterson 8c Passaic Valley Railway Paterson Railway Paterson 8c State Line Traction Company Pennjersey Rapid Transit Company Peoples Elevating Company Plainfield Street Railway Port Richmond & Bergen Point Ferry Company Public Service Coordinated Transport Public Service Interstate Transportation Company Public service Railroad Company Public Service Railway Company Rahway Electric Street Railway Rapid Transit Street Railway of Newark Riverside & Fort Lee Ferry Company Riverside Traction Company Saddle River Traction Company Somerset, Union & Middlesex Light Company South Orange & Maplewood Traction Company Suburban Traction Company Trenton Terminal Railroad United Electric Company of New Jersey Westfield & Elizabeth Street Railway West Jersey Traction Company White Line Traction Company Woodbridge &. Sewaren Electric Street Railway

In view of the fact that neither the public Service Corporation of New Jersey nor its three operating subsidiaries, the Public service Coordinated Transport, public service Rail­ road Company, and Public Service Railway Company, appear ever to have owned or operated any other than street, suburban, and interurban electric railways and motor bus lines, and the further fact that no subsidiary listed has ever filed any tariffs, con­ currences or powers of attorney, or annual reports of operations with the Interstate Commerce Commission, it appears that none of the subsidiaries of the public Service corporation of New Jersey listed above operated any more than a street, suburban or interurban electric railway, as contemplated in the exemption proviso contained in Section 1 (a) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935.

An idee of the intercorporate relationship and assign­ ment for operation of each of these subsidiaries may be obtained by seeing my memorandum on the public Service Corporation of New Jersey, to which this memorandum is attached.

In view of all these facts, I recommend that service performed for any and all of the companies listed above not be creditable under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935.

(Signed) Fleet C. Hathorn, Jr.

Note:- The following companies were inadvertently omitted in the above list, but the same state of facts and recommendation apply to them also:

Consolidated Traction Company of New Jersey Elizabeth Street Railway