2. The Railroading of the American People

The railroads experienced both enormous growth and enormous government intervention. Land was closed off from settlement, causing farmers to oppose the privileged railroads. Markets were skewed. Waste and inefficiencies were high. Graft and corruption were rampant. Only the Great Northern by James Hill was built with private monies. It became the of the few transcontinental railroads not to go bankrupt.

Lecture 2 of 13 presented in Fall of 1986 at the New York Polytechnic University.

The full series:

1. The Civil War and Its Legacy
2. The Railroading of the American People 
3. The Decline of Laissez-Faire
4. The Rise and Fall of Monopolies
5. Pietism and the Power Brokers
6. Tariffs, Inflation, Anti-Trust and Cartels
7. Theodore Roosevelt: Master Reformer
8. Regulation and Public Utilities
9. The Progressive Era?
10. Cartelization of Banking: The Fed
11. Woodrow Wilson and World War I
12. The Great Cooperation
13. Politics and the Power Elite