A. L. Mechling Barge Lines, Inc. v. United States

In December 1958 the appellee railroads published and filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission tariffs establishing through combination rates, from grain producing areas in Northern Illinois to certain Eastern destinations, which were lower than local or flat rates for the same commodities from Chicago to the same destinations. Since these tariffs would be in violation of the long- and short-haul provisions of §4(1) of the Interstate Commerce Act,1 the railroads simultaneously applied for the *326administrative relief which is authorized by the first proviso to § 4 (1).2 Timely protests were…