The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-01-11
ReUisited .EC Still Same OUer
 Marry Years
l LReUisited
nv rREDERTCK Q. OTHNAN

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 Washington. Jan li-CUP)-It was raining outside. The telephones were quiet for minutes at a time. No press conferences. No Congress. Nothing.
 It was my cnance to make a sen- tlmental Journey of about three blocks to the Interstate Com merce Commission, where I covered the news many a long year ago. Mostly it was financial page copy, but usually there were Q few mug gets, too.
 The railroad engineers in Hawaii once presented a petition, bound in blue and tied with red ribbons, praying the commission to order installation of softer seats in en- zine cabs. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers wrote me plaintively, saying my dispatch about the tenoer anatomies of the membership wasn't fair. The Brotherhood said how would I feel bouncing on board all day and all night in steam engine7
 Cow Wrecks Locomotive
 Little railroads with big names always were going bankrupt. One line in New Hampshire asked for permission to abandon itself be- cause its one locomotive had bump- ed COW and was a total wreck. So was the COW, the brief continued, and its owner was threatening to sue. The ICC was a wonderful place.
 am happy to report that it hasn't changed It even smells the same, giving of a pleasant aroma of furniture polish, ink, and roast beef from the restaurant in the cellar. Dignified commissioners are still hearing the same complicated arguments about freight rates in the paneled chambers with the blue leather chairs. The same courteous attendants are there to take the overcoats of lawyers and reporters and to give them pencils when they've forgotten their own. For a while I listened to an elegant ar- gument about the cost of shipping syrup in carloads from Indiana polls.
 It seemed like old times, when l got around to the docket; the ICC still was in there pitching. With no further ado I'll tell you about Da- vid c. Bintliff, the Houston, Tex, banker, his brother, Chester, and their scheme to buy some boats from the Navy and put them to work hauling stuff now that we don't need lem for killing enemies
 50 Witnesses Heard
 Leonard Why, the ICC examiner had listened to more than 50 wit nesses, and here was his report on the BintliT's plans to buy some LCT's, known more formally aS Landing Craft CTank) for moving freight on the Gulf Intracoastal waterway between Mobile, Ala. and Brownsville, Tex.
 Examiner Way reported that banker Bintliff was worth $l ,300,' 900 and that his brother was ( shipping man of long experience a' well as an Army officer in charge of several European ports during the war. He said they were respons' ible financially and morally.
 He told how they planned to buy the boats at around @l65,000 each and use them to haul loaded trail CTS, which would roll off the ramp' that once unlcaded vehicles of war He listed the protests of the rail roads and other boat operators. H' said the BintNff's were aware tha their warships might cause danger ous waves in the canal if the! travelled too fast. He said h. thought they had a good idea aI1t suggested that the commissioner give them a go-ahead order a soon as they were ready to hau freight.
 So be it. If all goes well, tn Navy sells some surplus boats ant Texas gets a new industry. gues 1t wasn't dull day at all; jus looked that way at first.