This post is a book review. The book’s title comes from a claim by companies that benefited from government regulation of transportation. Many trucking companies had a gold mine created by regulation. Any time someone would suggest changing things they’d claim that there was no reason to change “The Best Transportation System in the Word”.
I don’t think most of you would like to read this book. But it’s a fascinating part of my interest in railroading and some few of you might like it. Be advised, it was written by three academic historians who document what happened, but fail to provide background on the economic and commercial aspects of their subject… Beyond the political, they don’t really explain “Why” in economic or commercial terms. And I’m a guy who like to know “Why”.
Transportation is an economic activity that has been greatly shaped by political activity. That’s their focus. In my opinion, they do cover and explain the political shaping of the US transportation system in the 20th Century fairly well.
In 1916, while appropriating funds for the Army, the US government authorized itself to seize the railroads. Having authorized itself to grab power all the government needed was an excuse to do just that. They got the excuse with the First World War. Government operation of the railroads really didn’t improve anything but did result in much higher shipping charges. These higher charges were basically a tax increase. All costs are eventually borne by the end user.
(I have read many excuses for the government takeover of the railroads. But the fact remains that government operation didn’t really improve anything and did result in much higher freight rates. The government didn’t stop with seizing the railroads. They grabbed the telephone system and all operating radio stations. The US Post Office simply would not deliver periodicals that opposed government polices. &n
Need book title, authors, publisher, date to find more.
Of course the history of railroads and regulation did not start with WWI nor 1920. Charters, bonds, bonding authority, grants, land grants, eminent domain, etc. all go back to the virtual beginning of railroads. Actual ICC in the late 1800s the result of farmers through the Grange complaining enough about monopolistic rates and unfair shipping practices by the railroads. If none of that background is covered or mentioned, then there is probably a lot of flaws in their premise and conclusions I fear.
Mark H Rose (Author), Bruce E. Seely (Author), Paul F. Barrett (Author) , Publisher: Ohio State University Press
Softcover published by University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010 is also available from Amazon.
"About the author (2010)
Mark H. Rose is Professor of History at Florida Atlantic University. Bruce E. Seely is Professor of History at Michigan Technological University. Paul F. Barrett was Professor of History and Chair of the Department of Humanities at Illinois Institute of Technology"
Selected pages - 132 of them, which includes the Table of Contents, Index, the Preface and Acknowledgments, the (foot) Notes (60 pages worth, 241- 300), and Chapter 1 (i.e., basically everything except Chapters 2 - 9) - are available on-line here:
At least portions of this book also appear to be available on-line through Google Books as a result of a search for some of the key terms or concepts.
To emphasize what greyhounds wrote above - all 3 authors are Professors of History.
For my college senior year history class on “Modern American History - 1920 to date”, my term paper was on the Transportation Act of 1956 (as best as I can recall), which was an attempt at deregulation during the Eisenhower Administration that was sidetracked by a ethical scandal involving his Chief of Staff, Sherman Adams (as best as I can recall - see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Adams ). It was based
The book is not about railroads and regulation. It’s a book about how public policy (AKA politics) shaped all US transportation in the 20th Century. It’s interesting that you dis a book you haven’t read.
What is your evidence that the farmers and the Grange brought about the ICC? I have yet to see any valid complaint the farmers had against the railroads. They thought the railroads charged too much. So what? I think the restaurant where I had dinner this evening charged too much. There’s always a conflict between a buyer and a seller. That’s natural and healthy. The buyer keeps looking for better value and the seller wants more for what he delivers. It keeps everyone on their toes.
What I said was that the authors “Basically” pick up with the Transportation Act of 1920. I did not say that they did not deal with anything prior to 1920. They do deal with the farmers. They correctly point out that the railroads had developed a rate structure that gave a break to farmers. Early on the railroads realized that they could not charge the same amount for moving a ton of a very low value commodity such as grain as they could for moving a ton a a higher value commodity such as machinery. If t
Whether or not the farmers had any valid complaint, it appears that they were complaining. Whether or not their complaints, and the lobbying efforts of the Grange, had some sort of impact on Congress in creating the ICC, I don’t know, but wouldn’t be surprised.
Legislative drafting is a complex process. Overly detailed language raises cries of too-tight governmental regulation (and makes it easier for the regulated to make only trivial changes to circumvent the rule). Overly broad language raises complaints such as yours – it “will mean whatever you want ti to mean.” I personally prefer the latter approach – as long as the rule is interpreted by the Executive and enforced by the Judicial in a “Just and Reasonable” manner!
Did you ever consider that “by segregating the modes and preventing integration of the modes”, they fostered the growth of the then-fledgling air and highway transportation industries, by protecting them from the monopolistic transport goliaths of the day – the railroads? Otherwise, we might well today have only 7 “integrated” transportation companies in North America (NS Rail, NS Air, NS Trucking, NS Steamship Lines, & maybe NS Bus, for example), rather than 7 Class I RR’s (plus Amtrak), 19 major air carriers, 1 national bus company, at least 13 major trucking companies – most all independent and competing with each other. Just saying …
STOP PUTTING WORDS IN MY POSTINGS I DIDN’T SAY…I DID NOT DIS THE BOOK. I COULDN’T DIS THE BOOK BECAUSE YOU DID NOT TELL ME THE TITLE OF THE BOOK NOR ITS AUTHORS. OF COURSE I HAVEN’T READ THE BOOK IF ONLY BECAUSE I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE BOOK IS! DON’T MAKE ME OUT TO BE A DIMWIT WHEN YOU DIDN’T GIVE THE TITLE AND AUTHOR!
Those are good, intelligent points. I think you’re speculating, but I think it’s intelligent speculation.
The “Grange” or “Granger Movement” was short lived. It came about largely due to a downturn in the farm economy after the Civil War. The farmers sought a villain to blame for their misfortune and the railroads di