Refunds?

If a Kansas City manufacturer ships his product to New York for export, the railroads grant him a special low export rate. During the war the nation's biggest export shipper was the Government; but its shipments never carried their foreign destination, and were often held for weeks at inland storage points to prevent port jams. Says the Government: it usually paid the full freight rate. For such "overcharges," Attorney General Tom Clark last week asked the Interstate Commerce Commission to make U.S. railroads refund "between $1 and $3 billion."

Railroad men yelped in pain as well as anger. What stung them most were murmurs by Government men that railroaders had infiltrated the Army & Navy transportation services and had been able to bill the Government to benefit their companies. Snapped New York Central's President Gustav Metzman: "The Government was not in any instance charged a higher rate than commercial shippers . . . I would like to testify to the conscientious service rendered by our railroad men."

In four war years the railroads earned, according to Franklin Roosevelt, "the gratitude and admiration of the entire American people." They also earned a fat $2,893,000,000 profit that hauled many a road out of receivership and is now paying for its postwar re-equipment program. If Tom Clark won his suit, many a road would be threatened with bankruptcy.

At week's end the railroads got a reprieve. Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall asked that his Intelligence officers be allowed to screen Clark's 4,000-page brief, lest potential enemies learn too much about the strategic use of the railroads. Railroad men hoped that Army red tape might delay the suit indefinitely.

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