Barrett Line, Inc. v. United States

The Chief Justice, Me. Justice Roberts, Me. Justice Frankfurter, and Mr. Justice Jackson,

dissenting.

The Court, in rejecting the refusal of the Interstate Commerce Commission to grant a permit as a contract carrier by water for charter purposes, is greatly influenced by an alleged conflict in the Commission’s determinations. Compare C. F. Harms Co., Contract Carrier Application, 260 I. C. C. 171; Russell Bros. Towing Co., Common Carrier Application, 250 I. C. C. 429; Moran Towing & Transportation Co., Applications, 260 I. C. C. 269, with Upper Mississippi Towing Corp., Common Carrier Applications, 260 I. C. C. 292. Assuming such a conflict, it is our business to deal with the case now here and not *202to be concerned with apparent inconsistencies in administrative determinations. If the Commission has kept within the bounds of the statute in this case, its order should be sustained. We think that the interpretation of § 302 (e) made by the Commission was proper. Certainly, the construction of this provision involves considerations so bound up with the technical subject matter that, even though the neutral language of the statute permits, as a matter of English, the construction which the Court now makes, the experience of the Commission should prevail. Compare Gray v. Powell, 314 U. S. 402.