Like a doting grandfather who has fed the youngsters too much candy, the Interstate Commerce Commission was getting alarmed at its own generosity to U.S. railroads. Since war's end, it had given them six freight-rate boosts. Yet freight revenues were declining; in the first half of January, carloadings were 11.2% below last year. Last week, in its annual report to Congress, ICC guessed why. It thought that railroads might be pricing themselves out of business.
Because of higher rates, the railroads were losing more & more business to trucks, which were hauling 12% more than a year ago, and barges, which...
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