Editing Interstate Commerce Commission (section)

==Criticism==
[[File:Elisha Roosevelt sicketh the bears upon the bad boys of Wall Street.jpg|thumb|right|A ''Puck'' magazine cartoon from 1907 depicting two large bears named "Interstate Commerce Commission" and "Federal Courts" attacking [[Wall Street]].]]

The limitation on railroad rates in 1906-07 depreciated the value of railroad securities, a factor in causing the [[panic of 1907]].<ref>{{cite book |title= The Roosevelt Panic of 1907 |last= Edwards |first= Adolph |year= 1907|publisher= Anitrock |location= New York |page=66 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=R3koAAAAYAAJ&q=roosevelt%20panic%20of%201907&pg=PA1}}</ref>

Some economists and historians, such as [[Milton Friedman]] assert that existing railroad interests took advantage of ICC regulations to strengthen their control of the industry and prevent competition, constituting [[regulatory capture]].<ref>{{cite book |title=[[Free to Choose|Free to Choose: A Personal Statement]] |last1=Friedman |first1=Milton |last2=Friedman |first2=Rose  |year=1990 |publisher=[[Harcourt (publisher)|Harcourt]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-15-633460-0 |page=194 }}</ref>

Economist [[David D. Friedman]] argues that the ICC always served the railroads as a [[cartel]]izing agent and used its authority over other forms of transportation to prevent them, where possible, from undercutting the railroads.<ref>{{cite book |title=[[The Machinery of Freedom]] |last1=Friedman |first1=David D. |year=1989 |publisher=Open Court Publishing |location=LaSalle, Illinois |isbn=0-8126-9069-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/machineryoffreed00frie/page/41 41] }}</ref>

In March 1920, the ICC had Eben Moody Boynton, the inventor of the [[Boynton Bicycle Railroad]], committed as a lunatic to an institution in Washington, D.C.<ref name=WaPo>{{cite news |title=Shows His Single Track Mind Is A Sound One: E. Moody Boynton Given His Liberty |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42192524/proves_his_sanityinterstate_commerce/?xid=637&_ga=2.123054925.756377948.1578756119-2129257001.1535019961 |access-date=25 January 2020 |newspaper=[[Boston Globe]] |date=May 29, 1920 |page=1}}</ref> Boynton's monorail electric light rail system, it was reported, had the potential to revolutionize transportation, superseding then-current train travel.<ref>{{cite news |title=To Build Bicycle Railway: Single Track System In Massachusetts Will Have Speed Of 160 Miles An Hour |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42227654/boynton_on_rr_persistence_pr/?xid=637&_ga=2.17965951.756377948.1578756119-2129257001.1535019961 |access-date=25 January 2020 |newspaper=[[Washington Post]]|date=June 30, 1907 |page=4/148}}</ref> ICC officials said that they had Boynton committed because he was "worrying them to death" in his promotion of the bicycle railroad.<ref name=FallRiver>{{cite news |title=Wm. S. Greene Helps Boynton Get His Liberty |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/616801835/?terms=%22moody%2Bboynton%22# |access-date=25 January 2020 |work=Fall River Globe |date=May 29, 1920 |page=1}}</ref> Based on his own testimony and that of a Massachusetts congressman,<ref name=FallRiver/> Boynton won release on May 28, 1920, overcoming testimony of the ICC's chief clerk that Boynton was virtually a daily visitor at ICC offices, seeking Commission adoption of his proposal to revolutionize the railroad industry.<ref name=WaPo/>