Ch. 14 Sec. 2

The Age of Railroads

Railroads Span Time and Space

Railroads make local transit reliable and westward expansion possible.

Governments provide large land grants for railroads to build upon.

National Network The transcontinental railroad

makes one single rail line from east to west.

The trans. railroad is completed in 1869.

Regional railroads multiply across the country.

Romance And Reality Because of railroads, many dream of

having land out west. Railroad is very dangerous for workers

including many Chinese and Irish Immigrants.

Dangers include attacks from Native Americans and thousands of work-related accidents.

Railroad Time Before railroads, there is no

standard time. Railroads support Prof. Dowd’s plan

of 4 time zones - Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific.

Eventually all American adopt the standard time zones.

Opportunities and Opportunists

Railroads help the growth of many related industries like iron, coal, steel, lumber, and gas.

Railroads also help the growth of new towns and markets.

Railroad companies explode in number and in the amount of scandal.

New Towns and Markets Most cities and towns are linked

with railroads. Cities like Chicago grow as their

products can reach distant markets. New cities like Denver, Colorado

pop up all throughout the west because of the railroads.

Pullman George Pullman develops a fully-

enclosed community for the people who work on his sleeper cars.

All aspects of a worker are controlled not being able to stand on their front steps or drinking.

Strict controls on workers pay leads to a violent strike in 1894.

Credit Mobilier Corruption becomes a large problem

with large railroad companies. Stockholders in the Credit Mobilier

company overcharge for track construction and pocket the money.

Many high-ranking government officials including the Vice-President of the US and many Congressmen.

The Grange and the Railroads

Farmers are angry with the railroad companies because of misuse of their power.

Farmers organize against the railroad in an organization called the Grangers.

Railroad Abuses RR companies sell land grants to

businesses instead of farmers. RR Comps. work together to fix

prices at a high rate. They charge higher rates if they

are the only RR option.

Granger Laws Grangers take political action against

RR’s by sponsoring local candidates and pushing for favorable legislation.

States create laws to regulate RR’s. This is upheld by the Supreme Court decision Munn v. Illinois.

The federal government stepping in to regulate private industry is a very important precedent.

Interstate Commerce Act Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

established a 5 member committee, Interstate Commerce Committee, (ICC) to regulate interstate commerce like RR’s.

Later Supreme court rules that the ICC cannot regulate RR rates.

Panic and Consolidation Many RR’s go bankrupt because of

corporate abuses, mismanagement, overbuilding, and competition.

Financial trouble of the RR’s pushes the whole country in to an economic depression.

Most of the RR companies are bought up by financial institutions like those owned by JP Morgan.