Court Opinion

ID: 9419520
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 22:49:56.344225+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:18.776326
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Douglas:
I would decide this case differently. I think this decision and Vinson v. Washington Gas Light Co., 321 U. S. 489, pretty well emasculate the provision of the Act of October 2, 1942 (56 Stat. 765) which prohibits “any general increase” in utility rates unless notice is given to the federal agency in charge of inflation control and that agency is allowed to intervene in the proceedings. As I stated in my dissent in Vinson v. Washington Gas Light Co., supra, Congress intended by that provision that there should be as great an accommodation as possible between established standards for rate-making and existing wartime necessities. General rate increases were not to be allowed unless, for example, it was shown that they were necessary to preserve existing facilities under war conditions. I agree with Judge McLaughlin and Judge Meaney of the three-judge court that this emergency legislation *525required the Commission “to give full effect to wartime conditions and the stabilization legislation.” It was that policy which was reflected in Executive Order 9328 promulgated by the President on April 8, 1943 (8 Fed. Reg. 4681,4682) and providing as follows:
“The attention of all agencies of the Federal Government, and of all State and municipal authorities, concerned with the rates of common carriers or other public utilities, is directed to the stabilization program of which this order is a part so that rate increases will be disapproved and rate reductions effected, consistently with the Act of October 2, 1942, and other applicable federal, state or municipal law, in order to keep down the cost of living arid effectuate the purposes of the stabilization program.”
That policy is once more disregarded. The Interstate Commerce Commission proceeds to grant rate increases on the basis of peacetime standards. It justifies the increase under the Act of October 2, 1942, by saying that the increase per consumer is negligible. By the same token every item in the list of consumer necessities could be increased a like percentage. What was negligible item by item would soon be substantial in the aggregate. That which first appears as a small trickle may eventually undermine the dam.
But though I disagree with the result reached, I think it is precisely what Vinson v. Washington Gas Light Co. intended. That case and Davies Warehouse Co. v. Bowles, 321 U. S. 144, give preferred treatment to a few businesses by allowing them to gain advantages from war conditions. I would overrule them. But so long as they stand I do not see how we can deny the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to do for the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Co. what another commission was allowed to do for the Washington Gas Light Co.
Mr. Justice Murphy joins in this opinion.