RAILROADS: Downed Again

In the long and complicated race for control of the bankrupt Missouri Pacific, Railroad Juggler Robert R. Young has had the throttle wide open, but so far has gotten nowhere. Young has been battling an ICC plan which would turn over the now profitable road to the bondholders and wipe out MoPac’s 828,395 shares of common stock, more than half of which are owned by Young’s Alleghany Corp. (TIME, Dec. 10). Last week Young lost his fourth attempt to block the ICC plan, when the U.S. Supreme Court turned down requests by him and four others to review the case.

The decision put Young down but not out. ICC now has a panel at work deciding whether its reorganization plan should be reconsidered to see if MoPac’s earnings were bigger than the 1949 plan allowed for. If the panel decides yes, the whole MoPac receivership battle, already 19 years old, may begin all over again.