Financial History Issue 112 (Winter 2015) | Page 14
EDUCATORS’ PERSPECTIVE
leadership had won a decisive victory, and
grain began to flow into the South. By the
1990s, Southern Railway alone was, according to Morgret, “moving nearly eight million tons of grain a year into the Southeast,
10 times the amount handled in 1960.”
While southern cattle ranchers were
slow to embrace the reality of lower grain
prices, the poultry industry in the South
grew rapidly after the introduction of
lower rail rates for grain. Saunders contends that lower grain prices led to a significant change in America’s diet because
chicken, which had been relatively expensive, became much more affordable with
the increase in poultry production.
In 1980, Brosnan was inducted into the
Georgia Transportation Hall of Fame. At
the induction ceremony, it was noted that
poultry production was Georgia’s largest
agribusiness in 1978. A representative of
one of Georgia’s leading poultry producers
claimed, “Had it not been for Mr. Brosnan’s Big John capacity and greatly reduced
freight rates, the massive southeastern
broiler industry of today would still be a
relatively small industry.” Brosnan’s battle
with the ICC had much broader implications for railroads. Saunders wrote:
Many believe it was the sheer stupidity
of the ICC’s vendetta against Big John
that set in motion the bipartisan move
to d \