REGULATING RAILROADS: The ICC Is Not Up to the Job

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Knowing that the ICC always likes to grant less than asked for, the railroads habitually ask for more than they need. Six months ago, the railroads asked for a 45% increase for carrying first-class mail. But when Postmaster Arthur Summerfield start ed giving more business to planes and buses, the railroads backed down fast, were glad to take a 10% hike. Railroadmen feel that if they could set their own rates and shave them quickly to meet competition, the ICC could concentrate on preventing regional discrimination, stopping cutthroat competition and guarding against shenanigans in railroad management.

In one area, the railroaders feel that the ICC should have more power; it should be able to overrule state rail way commissions on whether a money-losing rail run should be eliminated. A study, made in 1951, showed that 1,200 passenger runs were falling short, by $84 million a year, of even paying their direct operating costs (without counting company overhead). In the next two years, 314 runs were abandoned, but the railroads were unable to drop many others because the state railway commissions had overruled the ICC's recommendations to do so.

When confronted with railroaders' complaints on the commission's shortcomings, the ICC has a stock answer: insufficient appropriations and too small a staff. Actually, appropriations have gone up over the years, though not as fast as salaries. Thus, the number of employees has dropped. What the ICC needs is not just more employees, but up-to-date laws and rules, fresh ideas and an overhaul of its administrative machinery.