ICC Quotes
The Elkins Act was a cornerstone of Roosevelt’s “Square Deal” program. It authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to impose heavy fines on railroads that offered rebates, and upon the shippers that accepted these rebates. The large corporations and monopolies would get rebates from the railroads and thus pay far less than their smaller competitors to ship their goods. It drove thousands of small companies out of business. This was a basic part of American law until the deregulation of the latter part of the 20th century. So what had been illegal, unethical, and immoral for almost a century, became legal, ethical and moral, but again discriminated against small companies.
This is one of the best statements on one of the major reason that terrible leaders stay in power in much of the world but especially Africa. In Uganda, they got rid of the maniacal dictator, Idi Amin, by allowing him to keep some of the money he stole and giving him asylum from world prosecution in Saudi Arabia. It was an unjust and unfair solution as he was never accountable for his crimes against humanity, and he lived well on the money he stole, but thousands of lives were saved and Uganda then was able to grow and develop. It is a Hobsen’s choice for Africa and the World. Both solutions are terrible, and few have ever been able to choose the pragmatic route that was taken in Uganda.
