Evening star., 1946-07-20
Letters to The Star
Bulwinkle Bill Condemned az
-xoI.-.x sTB
Legalizing Cartel System


ments of those who speak for monopo-
lists in the name Of free enterprise.
They have many spokesmen. A classical
example is the letter of Charles D.
Drayton to The Star. published July
IT., on the Bulwinkle BILL
What is the Bulwinkle bill? First of
all tthe insurance antitrust-immunity
legislation aside, 1t is the first all
out effort to provide the means and
methods by which a major industry
may be exempted from the antitrust
laws. There have been other efforts by
those who control the transportation
industry to secure immunity from those
laws, all of which have been unsuccess-
full due largely to Senate action. These
efforts were made in 1890, 1910, 1914
and 1S43, and related only to rate
making In transportation. But the Bull
Wrinkle bill as recently amended and
reported by the Senate committee pro-
vides the machinery for extending COM
plete immunity for every activity in all
forms of public transportation by land
and water. No such ambitious scheme
has been attempted since the enact
ment Of the Sherman Antitrust Act in
1890.
Extent of I. C. C. Regulation.
Before considering the implications
of such legislation, we might briefly
pause to note Mr.. Drayton's assertion
that transportation agencies are regu-
lated "as to every one of their actiyi-
ties" by the Interstate Commerce Com
mission. The short answer to this
statement can be found in the Com
missions Annual Report of 1888, which
reads: There is gross exaggeration In
the idea that every act of the railroads
is subject to regulation. The railroads
have large degree of initiative in the
making Of their rates, and have freely
made multitude of reductions to meet
competition. We have no power to con-
troll their passenger service, and exercise
very little control over their freight
service. They select and pay their Of
ficers without supervision or hindrance.
Nor do we undertake to tell them what
equipment and supplies they may buy,
how they shall operate their shops or
maintain their tracks, what rails, ballast
and ties they shall use. what stations
or other buildings they shall erect, what
construction contracts they shall let, or
how they shall manage their affairs In
many other ways"
Are most individual railroad manage
ments SO controlled that they are pre-
pared to surrender their right to exer-
else their managerial discretion in all
these matters to centralized group con-
troll? II So this means a domestic
transportation cartel, and the beginning
OF the end Of private enterprise in the
industry. Are shippers organizations
convinced that in their desire to con-
tinue the rate bureaus and rate confer
ences, they would subject themselves
TO such centralized control over trans
portation. an industry upon which all
other industries are dependent? II So
IN self-defense they, too. would be driven
to form cartels. And Is the public
prepared to have imposed upon it a
complete cartel economy? # so, can
any one doubt but what the American
its end?
All this Is implicit in the Bulwinkle
bill.
Effect on National Economy.
The Bulwinkle bill cannot be consid-
cred apart from its effect upon other
businesses and the national economy,
AS transportation is the basic industry
urN 8.
many other industries, it is clear that
those who control the transportation
cartel could dominate the national
economy.
Such cartel is now in existence. A
courageous Attorney General, Tom
Clark, and a fearless Governor Ellis
Arnall of Georgia. are fighting hard to
bring 1t to book. In the Governments
western railroad suit, it seeks to free
the West and the Nation from the trans
portation cartel dominated by the ira
ditional railroad bankers, ]. P. Morgan
& Co. and Kuhn, Loeb a Co.. and
related interests, through the Associa-
ton OF American Railroads. The Gov
ernment charges that this monopolistic
control OF transportation by a group
primarily concerned with protecting
industries and investments in which
they are financially interested, has sup
pressed the industrial development of
the West and depressed the national
economy. In broad outline, the State
OF Georgia's original suit in the Supreme
Court charges like conspiracy against
| Georgia and the South. Out of these
cases, now in process, arises the urgency
for the Bulwinkle bill. The transporta-
ton cartel under heavy attack wants
to be legalized.
= No public official or private citizen
who retains his poise would do any,
thing to impair the efficiency of our
transportation systems. All have recog-
nized that there Is lawful and legit-
innate area Of collaboration in the
making of transportation rates to facili-
tate commerce. But this is far CRY
from what is sought in the Bulwinkle
bill, which, in the final analysis, is the
last and final bid for continued domina-
ton OF transportation by the traditional
railroad bankers. ARNE C. WIPRUD.
Another Critic Heard From
| To the EDITOR The Star:
read Mr.. Melletts article on the
Bulwinkle bill and Mr.. Pelley's letter
tearing Mr.. Melletts article to shreds
by pointing out Mr.. Mellett's many mis-
statements of facts. Mr.. Mellett's arti-
Gle drew picture of vicious lobby
sneaking the Bulwinkle bill through a
Congress of saps in the dark of the
| raiuht Mnthirn Gould ha f,,rtho,. fror,,