1. Railroads and Government Regulation
Corrupt Practices by Railroad Managers

2. Railroads and American Politics
Agenda for Topic 7: Railroads and Government Regulation:
The “Railroad Problem”
State Regulation of Railroads
Supreme Court Rulings on Railroad Regulation by the States
The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
Enforcement Problems
Regulatory Acts of Congress and Strict Regulation after 1903

3. Corrupt Practices by Railroad Managers
Financial Schemes:
Railroad Directors Form their own Construction Company and sign Contracts with Themselves!
Railroad Directors/Promoters sell more stock and/or bonds than the actual value of the railroad. They then declare big dividends driving up the value of the stock which they then sell for a big profit.
Railroad Directors use their insider knowledge of the Railroad route to buy land which they then sell back to the Railroad at a huge profit.
B. Examples: PA RR under Thomson, Scott, and Carnegie
Sleeping Car Company
Keystone Bridge Company
Telegraph Company

4. C. Major Public Railroad Scandals
The South Improvement Company –
The “Erie Railroad War” –
The Use of Land Grants – especially the Union Pacific Railroad
The Northern Securities Trust and the near collapse of Wall Street

5. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

6. John Edgar Thomson (1808 – 1874), PA RR

7. Tom Scott (1823 – 1881), PA RR

8. The Pennsylvania Railroad

9. John D. Rockefeller (1839 – 1937), Standard Oil

10. Railroads in the Pennsylvania Oil Regions 1865-73

11. Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794 – 1877), New York Central Railroad

13. The New York Central Railroad

14. Daniel Drew (1797 – 1879), Erie Railroad

15. James Fisk, R. (1835 – 1872), Erie Railroad

16. Jason “Jay” Gould (1836 – 1892) Erie Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, etc.

17. The Erie Railroad

18. New Amsterdam (New York), 1660

19. Wall Street, 1820

20. The “Big Board” About 1860