Second Round

The knock at the door of the Interstate Commerce Commission sounded familiar. It sounded like the urgent rap of a man who knew his rights and wanted them fulfilled. It was the railroads again. Last year they had come seeking a 20% rate increase. They got 17.6%—a $1 billion boost in their annual revenues.

Last week, the railroads said they needed another billion in the form of an additional 16% average increase (25% for the eastern railroads, 15% for the southern and western territories); the first billion was all spent on higher wage and material costs. As an example of their need, the Pennsylvania Railroad turned out its pockets. It had lost $10,438,824 in the first five months of 1947.

The railroads had some cogent arguments: since 1939, rates had risen only 17.6%, but wages had risen 53%, materials 60%. The war-boom increase in traffic was no longer enough to make up the difference. Furthermore, 1,000,000 non-operating railroad workers are demanding a 20¢-an-hour pay boost, which would add $572 million a year to railroad costs; the railroad brotherhoods are demanding 44 changes in operating rules, which the railroads claim would cost another billion. If these increases are granted, said the railroads, even a 16% rate increase will not be enough.