The Utopian Vision of Frederick W. Taylor MARCH 28, 2012 by
HAROLD B. JONES JR. “A MILLION DOLLARS A DAY!” the headlines
roared. That is what attorney and future Supreme Court justice
Louis Brandeis said the railroads could save by giving up
familiar methods and adopting the latest efficiencies. Increase
rates for the sake of purchasing rolling stock and repairing the
roadbeds? Nonsense. The rates are too high already, Brandeis
told the railroads; just do a better job of managing your
workers, and you will have more than enough. This was the
substance of the winning argument in what is now remembered as
the Eastern Rate Case. The Hepburn Act of 1906 had empowered the
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to put a ceiling on rates,
and in 1910 the railroads were trying to get the ceiling raised.
Brandeis, already famous for his ability to cloud the issues
with great masses of data and the latest terminology, said their
request was out of line. They did not need to charge more, he
insisted. They just needed to a