Prior to their conferences with Mr. Peek the steel men had been given to understand that if a price scale satisfactory to both sides could be reached the Railroad Administration, then operating all the country’s transportation systems, would place necessary orders for steel, and this understanding accounted in large part for their readiness to meet the Government representatives halfway. The railroads, it was generally recognized, needed steel badly for rails, cars, locomotives, and other equipment. For years their purchases had been entirely inadequate to meet the growing needs of the country’s commerce, and their potential demand was therefore very large. In the then period of uncertainty it was felt that the purchasing of these railroad supplies would steady business and stimulate other demands, acting as a safety valve against a possible depression. But the Railroad Administration declined to honor the promise, expressed or implied, of the Government. Director-General Walker D. Hines claimed that the prices agreed on for rails were unreasonably high and the three-cornered dispute that followed between Mr. Hines, Mr. Peek, and the railmakers resulted in the dissolution of the Industrial Board and the withdrawing by the Government from any attempt to regulate the price of steel or other commodities. Followed a period of general business uncertainty, a let-up in buying activities felt keenly by the steel mills. The responsibility for this situation must be placed largely at the door of the Railroad Administration. The roads, with the possible exception of the farmers, are the largest consumers of steel and of many other products in the country. Prosperity was hardly possible in steel trade without railroad buying, that is, under normal conditions. There was no question that the railroads were exceedingly short of supplies and the practically unanimous opinion was that if they began to place orders covering their requirements it would have a stimulating effect on business generally and would dissolve the doubt and hesitation that hung over the financial world during the period of transition from war to peace. But the Railroad Administration declined to make any move. One of its highest officials informed the writer, who pointed out to him the importance of some definite action to help restore business balance, that he did not consider it the Railroad Administration’s duty to in any way “hold the bag” for business.