<--PREV Doc #746  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #748 Document #747; March 1, 1954 To Sinclair Weeks Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series ; Category: Memorandum The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XV - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part IV: "Pushing ahead along the broad center"; December 1953 to March 1954 Chapter 9: Fending off "the reactionary fringe"   A group of railroad people, headed by Mr. Faricy, came to see me the other morning to discuss a Bill now before Congress that affects the railway business. 1 The Bill is one that would require the Interstate Commerce Commission to give, within sixty days, an interim decision respecting applications for rate increases. The railroad people claim that through unconscionable delays in this kind of case they have lost, since World War II, more than one billion dollars. In other words, the Interstate Commerce Commission has finally come to the conclusion that the rate increases asked for were legitimate and proper, but the delay reaching the decision has worked great hardship on the railways.2 Probably you know all about this Bill, but in any event will you take an early opportunity to explain to me its different aspects so that I may know the position I should take with respect to it?3 1 On February 27 Eisenhower had met with William T. Faricy, president of the Association of American Railroads; Walter S. Franklin (A.B. Harvard 1906), president of the Pennsylvania Railroad; Fred G. Gurley (for background see Eisenhower Papers, vols. VI-XIII), president of the Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fe Railway; and Harry A. DeButts (B.S. Virginia Military Institute 1916), president of the Southern Railway. 2 Hearings on S. 1461 (known as the "time-lag bill"), had been held by the Senate Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee in 1952 and 1953; for background on its provisions see Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. X, 1954, pp. 504-5. 3 In his reply of March 3 Secretary of Commerce Weeks would explain that the "serious time-lag between application dates and the permanent granting of rate increases" had given "impetus" to the "need for change" (AWF/A). Delays, he said, were "largely due to the fact that ICC is very punctilious in hearing all who wish to be heard and in some cases there are as many as several hundred intervenors." Further delays, he said, in granting interim requests were caused by a statutory provision requiring the ICC to first evaluate the effect on the movement of traffic. "Commerce is strictly of the opinion that the legislation should be passed and we trust you will conform to this viewpoint," Weeks wrote. He went on to say, however, that the ICC saw no need to change its procedures; the Department of Agriculture opposed the bill, as did the General Accounting Office. Debate on S. 1461 would begin on May 11; on May 13 the bill would be recommitted to the Senate Commerce Committee by a 39 to 37 roll call vote. The vote would follow party lines, with Republicans arguing that the measure was necessary to assist railroads in meeting rising costs while Democrats would describe the legislation as a means for railroads to realize quick profits (Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. X, 1954, pp. 504-5; New York Times, May 14, 1954). For developments see no. 790. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Memorandum To Sinclair Weeks, 1 March 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 747. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/747.cfm <--PREV Doc #746  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #748

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