Benjamin N. Cardozo

“ In 1932 the barge movement amounted to over 500,000 tons, about ten times as much as moved all-rail from Louisiana to the north. Of the water borne traffic, by far the greater part was carried by the Federal Barge Line, which has acquiesced in the new schedules, perfering to let the rail carriers fix the rate level. The residue has been carried, part of it by this appellant, part by the American Barge Company, and part by tramp or contract operators. During the year 1932, one railway company, the Illinois Central, lost about half a million dollars by traffic thus diverted. ”

“ The appellant makes its own rates from port to port, and may increase or lower them at will. What has been done by the Commission affects the carriers by rail alone, at least in its immediate consequences. Transportation by water may feel the repercussions of regulation elsewhere. It has not been regulated directly. Even for transportation by land, the Commission has done no more than establish a permissive minimum, and this a minimum sufficient to give assurance that the carriage of the sugar will not involve a loss. ”

“ Read in the light of the context, they are not a finding at all, but a summary of the grounds of protest, an outline of the pleadings, or of what amounts to the pleadings before an administrative body. This being so, we do not now consider whether the destruction of a rival through the mere force of competition is legally a wrong, unless 'disinterested malevolence' (American Bank & Trust Co. v. Federal Reserve Bank, 256 U.S. 350, 258, 41 S.Ct. 499, 65 L.Ed. 983) , or something akin thereto, has supplied the motive power. ”