Mark J. Joe
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199205301
- eISBN:
- 9780191695612
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199205301.003.0018
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Corporate Governance and Accountability, Business History
The political problem of backlash is analogous to the economic problem of producing from a common pool. When a society has an asset that it uses in common, overusing it can destroy its value, and ...
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The political problem of backlash is analogous to the economic problem of producing from a common pool. When a society has an asset that it uses in common, overusing it can destroy its value, and private economic incentives militate toward overusing a commonly-owned asset. To keep claims on the polity from overly destabilizing production, political deals that work, like economic common pool deals that work, may not be pretty and may not be efficient when compared to the ideal. These problems are best illustrates by the destructive drilling in the East Texas oil fields in the 1930s.Less
The political problem of backlash is analogous to the economic problem of producing from a common pool. When a society has an asset that it uses in common, overusing it can destroy its value, and private economic incentives militate toward overusing a commonly-owned asset. To keep claims on the polity from overly destabilizing production, political deals that work, like economic common pool deals that work, may not be pretty and may not be efficient when compared to the ideal. These problems are best illustrates by the destructive drilling in the East Texas oil fields in the 1930s.
Jon R. Huibregtse
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813034652
- eISBN:
- 9780813038544
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034652.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
American historians tend to believe that labor activism was moribund in the years between the First World War and the New Deal. The book challenges this perspective in this examination of the ...
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American historians tend to believe that labor activism was moribund in the years between the First World War and the New Deal. The book challenges this perspective in this examination of the railroad unions of the time, arguing that not only were they active, but that they made a big difference in American Labor practices by helping to set legal precedents. The book explains how efforts by the Plumb Plan League and the Railroad Labor Executive Association created the Railroad Labor Act, its amendments, and the Railroad Retirement Act. These laws became models for the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act. Unfortunately, the significant contributions of the railroad laws are, more often than not, overlooked when the NLRA or Social Security are discussed. Offering a new perspective on labor unions in the 1920s, the book describes how the railroad unions created a model for union activism that workers' organizations followed for the next two decades.Less
American historians tend to believe that labor activism was moribund in the years between the First World War and the New Deal. The book challenges this perspective in this examination of the railroad unions of the time, arguing that not only were they active, but that they made a big difference in American Labor practices by helping to set legal precedents. The book explains how efforts by the Plumb Plan League and the Railroad Labor Executive Association created the Railroad Labor Act, its amendments, and the Railroad Retirement Act. These laws became models for the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act. Unfortunately, the significant contributions of the railroad laws are, more often than not, overlooked when the NLRA or Social Security are discussed. Offering a new perspective on labor unions in the 1920s, the book describes how the railroad unions created a model for union activism that workers' organizations followed for the next two decades.
James W. Cortada
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195165883
- eISBN:
- 9780199789672
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195165883.003.0008
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business History
This chapter describes how computers were introduced into two transportation industries: railroad and trucking, describing also the use of computers in these. It discusses applications, how work ...
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This chapter describes how computers were introduced into two transportation industries: railroad and trucking, describing also the use of computers in these. It discusses applications, how work changed, and the extent of deployment in each.Less
This chapter describes how computers were introduced into two transportation industries: railroad and trucking, describing also the use of computers in these. It discusses applications, how work changed, and the extent of deployment in each.
Gerald Berk
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199251902
- eISBN:
- 9780191719059
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199251902.003.0005
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business History
This chapter reinterprets Louis Brandeis's role in the crisis of progressive era railroad regulation. While others have implicated Brandeis in the crisis, the essay shows how he identified fatal ...
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This chapter reinterprets Louis Brandeis's role in the crisis of progressive era railroad regulation. While others have implicated Brandeis in the crisis, the essay shows how he identified fatal flaws in Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) ratemaking and proposed a coherent alternative. Brandeis showed how rate-of-return regulation made false promises to measure the objective value of railroad property and gave the railroads perverse incentives to increase costs. Drawing on the work of scientific manager F. Lincoln Hutchins, Brandeis proposed to replace valuation with a benchmarking system by which railroads could compare their performance. Drawing on his work in Massachusetts natural gas, Brandeis proposed to set rates according to a system of ‘sliding scales’, in which railroads received higher dividends when they provided lower rates. In theory, Brandeis's system was superior to rate-of-return regulation because it provided railroads with incentives to improve and information, unavailable from the firm or the market, about how to improve.Less
This chapter reinterprets Louis Brandeis's role in the crisis of progressive era railroad regulation. While others have implicated Brandeis in the crisis, the essay shows how he identified fatal flaws in Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) ratemaking and proposed a coherent alternative. Brandeis showed how rate-of-return regulation made false promises to measure the objective value of railroad property and gave the railroads perverse incentives to increase costs. Drawing on the work of scientific manager F. Lincoln Hutchins, Brandeis proposed to replace valuation with a benchmarking system by which railroads could compare their performance. Drawing on his work in Massachusetts natural gas, Brandeis proposed to set rates according to a system of ‘sliding scales’, in which railroads received higher dividends when they provided lower rates. In theory, Brandeis's system was superior to rate-of-return regulation because it provided railroads with incentives to improve and information, unavailable from the firm or the market, about how to improve.
Sören Urbansky
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691181684
- eISBN:
- 9780691195445
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691181684.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
This chapter covers the introduction of more assertive policies to govern the international border at the turn of the twentieth century that were replacing long-pursued laissez-faire practices. It ...
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This chapter covers the introduction of more assertive policies to govern the international border at the turn of the twentieth century that were replacing long-pursued laissez-faire practices. It examines the framing of local disputes over territorial boundaries in national terms as well as the reorganization of customs and sanitary borders as part of a general evolution toward a territorial boundary. In particular, the chapter takes a look at how the introduction of railroads not only reorganized space but also cross-border relations and national development. After the construction of the Great Siberian Railroad had begun in 1891, Russia made use of railroad diplomacy to wield imperial influence in China's Northeast—at a time when a number of powers began to compete fiercely over influence in Northeast Asia. Russia's vehicle in this struggle for supremacy, the Chinese Eastern Railroad, was not simply a joint Sino-Russian railroad company that happened to operate on Chinese soil, but a colonial railroad, which in its Russian (and later Soviet) comanagement represented a typical expression of informal imperialism.Less
This chapter covers the introduction of more assertive policies to govern the international border at the turn of the twentieth century that were replacing long-pursued laissez-faire practices. It examines the framing of local disputes over territorial boundaries in national terms as well as the reorganization of customs and sanitary borders as part of a general evolution toward a territorial boundary. In particular, the chapter takes a look at how the introduction of railroads not only reorganized space but also cross-border relations and national development. After the construction of the Great Siberian Railroad had begun in 1891, Russia made use of railroad diplomacy to wield imperial influence in China's Northeast—at a time when a number of powers began to compete fiercely over influence in Northeast Asia. Russia's vehicle in this struggle for supremacy, the Chinese Eastern Railroad, was not simply a joint Sino-Russian railroad company that happened to operate on Chinese soil, but a colonial railroad, which in its Russian (and later Soviet) comanagement represented a typical expression of informal imperialism.
Samuel DeCanio
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300198782
- eISBN:
- 9780300216318
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300198782.003.0010
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This chapter examines the Compromise of 1877 between Republicans and Southern Democrats involving railroad subsidies that would extend Thomas Scott's Texas and Pacific Railroad into their districts ...
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This chapter examines the Compromise of 1877 between Republicans and Southern Democrats involving railroad subsidies that would extend Thomas Scott's Texas and Pacific Railroad into their districts in exchange for making Rutherford Hayes president. Initially documented by C. Vann Woodward in Reunion and Reaction: The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction (1954), the Compromise of 1877 involved not only the removal of federal troops from the South but also promises of federal aid to railroads. The compromise collapsed after Hayes became president and refused to provide railroad subsidies to the South. This chapter considers how the collapse of the Compromise of 1877 led Texas Democrat John Reagan to introduce a bill that culminated in the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission. It also explores the ramifications of railroad regulation championed by Reagan for American state formation.Less
This chapter examines the Compromise of 1877 between Republicans and Southern Democrats involving railroad subsidies that would extend Thomas Scott's Texas and Pacific Railroad into their districts in exchange for making Rutherford Hayes president. Initially documented by C. Vann Woodward in Reunion and Reaction: The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction (1954), the Compromise of 1877 involved not only the removal of federal troops from the South but also promises of federal aid to railroads. The compromise collapsed after Hayes became president and refused to provide railroad subsidies to the South. This chapter considers how the collapse of the Compromise of 1877 led Texas Democrat John Reagan to introduce a bill that culminated in the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission. It also explores the ramifications of railroad regulation championed by Reagan for American state formation.
H. Roger Grant
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501747779
- eISBN:
- 9781501747793
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501747779.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This book offers a history of the Wabash Railroad Company, a once-vital interregional carrier. Like most major American carriers, the Wabash grew out of an assortment of small firms. Thanks in part ...
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This book offers a history of the Wabash Railroad Company, a once-vital interregional carrier. Like most major American carriers, the Wabash grew out of an assortment of small firms. Thanks in part to the genius of financier Jay Gould, by the early 1880s what was then known as the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway reached the principal gateways of Chicago, Des Moines, Detroit, Kansas City, and St. Louis. In the 1890s, the Wabash gained access to Buffalo and direct connections to Boston and New York City. One extension fizzled, and in 1904 entry into Pittsburgh caused financial turmoil, ultimately throwing the Wabash into receivership. A subsequent reorganization allowed the Wabash to become an important carrier during the go-go years of the 1920s and permitted the company to take control of a strategic “bridge” property, the Ann Arbor Railroad. The Great Depression forced the company into another receivership, but an effective reorganization during the early days of World War II gave rise to a generally robust road. In the 1960s, the Wabash, along with the Nickel Plate Road, joined the prosperous Norfolk & Western Railway, a merger that worked well for all three carriers. Immortalized in the popular folk song “Wabash Cannonball,” the midwestern railroad has left important legacies. Today, forty years after becoming a “fallen flag” carrier, key components of the former Wabash remain busy rail arteries and terminals, attesting to its historic value to American transportation.Less
This book offers a history of the Wabash Railroad Company, a once-vital interregional carrier. Like most major American carriers, the Wabash grew out of an assortment of small firms. Thanks in part to the genius of financier Jay Gould, by the early 1880s what was then known as the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway reached the principal gateways of Chicago, Des Moines, Detroit, Kansas City, and St. Louis. In the 1890s, the Wabash gained access to Buffalo and direct connections to Boston and New York City. One extension fizzled, and in 1904 entry into Pittsburgh caused financial turmoil, ultimately throwing the Wabash into receivership. A subsequent reorganization allowed the Wabash to become an important carrier during the go-go years of the 1920s and permitted the company to take control of a strategic “bridge” property, the Ann Arbor Railroad. The Great Depression forced the company into another receivership, but an effective reorganization during the early days of World War II gave rise to a generally robust road. In the 1960s, the Wabash, along with the Nickel Plate Road, joined the prosperous Norfolk & Western Railway, a merger that worked well for all three carriers. Immortalized in the popular folk song “Wabash Cannonball,” the midwestern railroad has left important legacies. Today, forty years after becoming a “fallen flag” carrier, key components of the former Wabash remain busy rail arteries and terminals, attesting to its historic value to American transportation.
Rachel St. John
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691141541
- eISBN:
- 9781400838639
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691141541.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter describes how ranchers, miners, investors, laborers, railroad executives, and innumerable economic actors integrated the border into an emerging transnational economy and began to create ...
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This chapter describes how ranchers, miners, investors, laborers, railroad executives, and innumerable economic actors integrated the border into an emerging transnational economy and began to create binational communities on the boundary line. With the completion of the first transborder rail line—brought on by the joining of the Sonora Railway and the Arizona and New Mexico Railroad at the international boundary line—ranchers and miners secured an easy way to move stock and ore to markets. As more people realized this, the borderlands experienced nothing short of a capitalist revolution. The capitalist development of the borderlands would, in turn, spur the creation of an array of new transborder ties. By the early twentieth century, the border has become a point of connection and community in the midst of an emerging capitalist economy and the center of a transborder landscape of property and profits.Less
This chapter describes how ranchers, miners, investors, laborers, railroad executives, and innumerable economic actors integrated the border into an emerging transnational economy and began to create binational communities on the boundary line. With the completion of the first transborder rail line—brought on by the joining of the Sonora Railway and the Arizona and New Mexico Railroad at the international boundary line—ranchers and miners secured an easy way to move stock and ore to markets. As more people realized this, the borderlands experienced nothing short of a capitalist revolution. The capitalist development of the borderlands would, in turn, spur the creation of an array of new transborder ties. By the early twentieth century, the border has become a point of connection and community in the midst of an emerging capitalist economy and the center of a transborder landscape of property and profits.
Richard J. Orsi
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520200197
- eISBN:
- 9780520940864
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520200197.003.0015
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter summarizes how the Southern Pacific Railroad affected the course of human affairs in its territories. Its contributions to water supply, environment and resource conservation, land ...
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This chapter summarizes how the Southern Pacific Railroad affected the course of human affairs in its territories. Its contributions to water supply, environment and resource conservation, land grants, agriculture, and irrigation are highlighted. The chapter also shows the decline experienced by American railroads after the Second World War; the Southern Pacific Railroad is shown to be one of the most affected companies. It notes that the Southern Pacific Railroad effectively shut down on September 11, 1996.Less
This chapter summarizes how the Southern Pacific Railroad affected the course of human affairs in its territories. Its contributions to water supply, environment and resource conservation, land grants, agriculture, and irrigation are highlighted. The chapter also shows the decline experienced by American railroads after the Second World War; the Southern Pacific Railroad is shown to be one of the most affected companies. It notes that the Southern Pacific Railroad effectively shut down on September 11, 1996.
Samuel DeCanio
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300198782
- eISBN:
- 9780300216318
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300198782.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This book examines how political elites used high levels of voter ignorance to create a new sort of regulatory state with lasting implications for American politics. Focusing on the expansion of ...
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This book examines how political elites used high levels of voter ignorance to create a new sort of regulatory state with lasting implications for American politics. Focusing on the expansion of bureaucratic authority in late-nineteenth-century America, the book's archival research examines electoral politics, the Treasury Department's control over monetary policy, and the Interstate Commerce Commission's regulation of railroads to examine how conservative politicians created a new type of bureaucratic state to insulate policy decisions from popular control.Less
This book examines how political elites used high levels of voter ignorance to create a new sort of regulatory state with lasting implications for American politics. Focusing on the expansion of bureaucratic authority in late-nineteenth-century America, the book's archival research examines electoral politics, the Treasury Department's control over monetary policy, and the Interstate Commerce Commission's regulation of railroads to examine how conservative politicians created a new type of bureaucratic state to insulate policy decisions from popular control.
Charity Vogel
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801449086
- eISBN:
- 9780801469763
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449086.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
On December 18, 1867, an eastbound New York Express train derailed as it approached the high truss bridge over Big Sister Creek, just east of the small settlement of Angola, New York. The last two ...
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On December 18, 1867, an eastbound New York Express train derailed as it approached the high truss bridge over Big Sister Creek, just east of the small settlement of Angola, New York. The last two cars of the express train were pitched completely off the tracks and plummeted into the creek bed below. When they struck bottom, one of the wrecked cars was immediately engulfed in flames as the heating stoves in the coach spilled out coals and ignited its wooden timbers. The other car was badly smashed. About fifty people died at the bottom of the gorge or shortly thereafter, and dozens more were injured. The next day and in the weeks that followed, newspapers across the country carried news of the “Angola Horror,” one of the deadliest railroad accidents to that point in U.S. history. This book tells the gripping story of the train crash and the characters involved in the tragedy. It weaves together the stories of the people caught up in the disaster, the facts of the New York Express's fateful run, the fiery scenes in the creek ravine, and the subsequent legal, legislative, and journalistic search for answers to the question: what had happened at Angola, and why? The book sets the Angola Horror against a broader context of the developing technology of railroads, the culture of the nation's print media, the public policy legislation of the post-Civil War era, and the culture of death and mourning in the Victorian period.Less
On December 18, 1867, an eastbound New York Express train derailed as it approached the high truss bridge over Big Sister Creek, just east of the small settlement of Angola, New York. The last two cars of the express train were pitched completely off the tracks and plummeted into the creek bed below. When they struck bottom, one of the wrecked cars was immediately engulfed in flames as the heating stoves in the coach spilled out coals and ignited its wooden timbers. The other car was badly smashed. About fifty people died at the bottom of the gorge or shortly thereafter, and dozens more were injured. The next day and in the weeks that followed, newspapers across the country carried news of the “Angola Horror,” one of the deadliest railroad accidents to that point in U.S. history. This book tells the gripping story of the train crash and the characters involved in the tragedy. It weaves together the stories of the people caught up in the disaster, the facts of the New York Express's fateful run, the fiery scenes in the creek ravine, and the subsequent legal, legislative, and journalistic search for answers to the question: what had happened at Angola, and why? The book sets the Angola Horror against a broader context of the developing technology of railroads, the culture of the nation's print media, the public policy legislation of the post-Civil War era, and the culture of death and mourning in the Victorian period.
James G. Lochtefeld
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195386141
- eISBN:
- 9780199866380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386141.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter details Hardwar’s mundane history, gleaned from multiple sources. For centuries, Hardwar’s primary attraction was a spring bathing festival—which has drawn larger numbers for the Kumbha ...
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This chapter details Hardwar’s mundane history, gleaned from multiple sources. For centuries, Hardwar’s primary attraction was a spring bathing festival—which has drawn larger numbers for the Kumbha Mela at least since the late 1600s—but this pattern shifted late in the 1700s. During the early nineteenth century, the Hardwar fair (the bathing festival) was also north India’s largest marketplace, creating unprecedented wealth. Later, the Upper Ganges Canal and the railroads radically altered Hardwar’s local and religious environment. Each major change also generated conflict—whether between the warrior ascetic bands (akharas) that battled for control over Hardwar’s rich marketplace, or for control over Hardwar between local elites and a colonial administration worried that festivals were breeding grounds for cholera epidemics. The most important struggle came in 1914–17, when Hindu groups led by Madan Mohan Malaviya forced the British to modify plans to dam the Ganges.Less
This chapter details Hardwar’s mundane history, gleaned from multiple sources. For centuries, Hardwar’s primary attraction was a spring bathing festival—which has drawn larger numbers for the Kumbha Mela at least since the late 1600s—but this pattern shifted late in the 1700s. During the early nineteenth century, the Hardwar fair (the bathing festival) was also north India’s largest marketplace, creating unprecedented wealth. Later, the Upper Ganges Canal and the railroads radically altered Hardwar’s local and religious environment. Each major change also generated conflict—whether between the warrior ascetic bands (akharas) that battled for control over Hardwar’s rich marketplace, or for control over Hardwar between local elites and a colonial administration worried that festivals were breeding grounds for cholera epidemics. The most important struggle came in 1914–17, when Hindu groups led by Madan Mohan Malaviya forced the British to modify plans to dam the Ganges.
John M. Giggie
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195304039
- eISBN:
- 9780199866885
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304039.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, History of Religion
This chapter studies how Delta blacks confronted the rapid growth of the railroad as the one of the most important and visible engines of economic progress and racial segregation in the region. It ...
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This chapter studies how Delta blacks confronted the rapid growth of the railroad as the one of the most important and visible engines of economic progress and racial segregation in the region. It shows how they integrated the sensory experience of traveling by rail into their spiritual lives and created new words, visions, songs, blues lyrics, and sermons based upon it; converted forsaken depots into houses of worship and waiting platforms into revival stages; and took advantage of train travel to organize regional gatherings of individual churches and spread news and gossip about leaders and movements. By popularizing railroad travel as a metaphor for African American freedom, Delta blacks eventually refigured its popular symbolism as a vehicle of racial restriction.Less
This chapter studies how Delta blacks confronted the rapid growth of the railroad as the one of the most important and visible engines of economic progress and racial segregation in the region. It shows how they integrated the sensory experience of traveling by rail into their spiritual lives and created new words, visions, songs, blues lyrics, and sermons based upon it; converted forsaken depots into houses of worship and waiting platforms into revival stages; and took advantage of train travel to organize regional gatherings of individual churches and spread news and gossip about leaders and movements. By popularizing railroad travel as a metaphor for African American freedom, Delta blacks eventually refigured its popular symbolism as a vehicle of racial restriction.
Dale Maharidge
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520262478
- eISBN:
- 9780520948792
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520262478.003.0008
- Subject:
- Anthropology, American and Canadian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter talks about when the authors entered the one-time Western Pacific Railroad rail yard in Sacramento. It was October 20, 1995, thirteen years after they had first jumped on a train from ...
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This chapter talks about when the authors entered the one-time Western Pacific Railroad rail yard in Sacramento. It was October 20, 1995, thirteen years after they had first jumped on a train from the same place. They walked the tracks, climbed atop railcars, sat in the shadow of the icehouse. It was a reunion: they had not seen each other or talked by phone very much for a few years. They had grown a bit estranged because their 1980s had been so fierce—each of them was a reminder to the other of troubled times. In the 1980s, they had covered the war in El Salvador, where they had some bad experiences, and the revolution in the Philippines, among a slew of other intense projects. They had also produced two more books on poverty in America.Less
This chapter talks about when the authors entered the one-time Western Pacific Railroad rail yard in Sacramento. It was October 20, 1995, thirteen years after they had first jumped on a train from the same place. They walked the tracks, climbed atop railcars, sat in the shadow of the icehouse. It was a reunion: they had not seen each other or talked by phone very much for a few years. They had grown a bit estranged because their 1980s had been so fierce—each of them was a reminder to the other of troubled times. In the 1980s, they had covered the war in El Salvador, where they had some bad experiences, and the revolution in the Philippines, among a slew of other intense projects. They had also produced two more books on poverty in America.
Andrew B. Arnold
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814764985
- eISBN:
- 9780814724958
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814764985.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
If the railroads won the Gilded Age, the coal industry lost it. Railroads epitomized modern management, high technology, and vast economies of scale. By comparison, the coal industry was ...
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If the railroads won the Gilded Age, the coal industry lost it. Railroads epitomized modern management, high technology, and vast economies of scale. By comparison, the coal industry was embarrassingly primitive. Miners and operators dug coal, bought it, and sold it in 1900 in the same ways that they had for generations. In the popular imagination, coal miners epitomized anti-modern forces as the so-called “Molly Maguire” terrorists. Yet the sleekly modern railroads were utterly dependent upon the disorderly coal industry. Railroad managers demanded that coal operators and miners accept the purely subordinate role implied by their status. They refused. This book shows how disorder in the coal industry disrupted the strategic plans of the railroads. It does so by expertly intertwining the history of two industries—railroads and coal mining—that historians have generally examined from separate vantage points. It shows the surprising connections between railroad management and miner organizing; railroad freight rate structure and coal mine operations; and railroad strategy and strictly local legal precedents. It combines social, economic, and institutional approaches to explain the Gilded Age from the perspective of the relative losers of history rather than the winners. It examines the still-unresolved nature of America's national conundrum and asks how to reconcile the competing demands of national corporations, local businesses, and employees.Less
If the railroads won the Gilded Age, the coal industry lost it. Railroads epitomized modern management, high technology, and vast economies of scale. By comparison, the coal industry was embarrassingly primitive. Miners and operators dug coal, bought it, and sold it in 1900 in the same ways that they had for generations. In the popular imagination, coal miners epitomized anti-modern forces as the so-called “Molly Maguire” terrorists. Yet the sleekly modern railroads were utterly dependent upon the disorderly coal industry. Railroad managers demanded that coal operators and miners accept the purely subordinate role implied by their status. They refused. This book shows how disorder in the coal industry disrupted the strategic plans of the railroads. It does so by expertly intertwining the history of two industries—railroads and coal mining—that historians have generally examined from separate vantage points. It shows the surprising connections between railroad management and miner organizing; railroad freight rate structure and coal mine operations; and railroad strategy and strictly local legal precedents. It combines social, economic, and institutional approaches to explain the Gilded Age from the perspective of the relative losers of history rather than the winners. It examines the still-unresolved nature of America's national conundrum and asks how to reconcile the competing demands of national corporations, local businesses, and employees.
Edward L. Ayers
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195086898
- eISBN:
- 9780199854226
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195086898.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
The chapter discusses the naming conventions which showed various signs of deference, condescension, and even affection towards blacks and whites. Customs and even laws served to segregate the two ...
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The chapter discusses the naming conventions which showed various signs of deference, condescension, and even affection towards blacks and whites. Customs and even laws served to segregate the two races. Nonetheless, humane relations still existed between whites and blacks but such instances were regarded as exceptions. Rural race relations were delineated affecting every aspect of life in the New South. Segregation was fast becoming the norm and segregation laws swept the nation. The railroad system was the point of most contention as regards segregations as it was the main form of transportation during that time. Racial discomfiture sometimes leads to overt conflict and even violence. Thus, statewide railroad segregation peaked during this time. The chapter also discusses the significant change on interracial social relations particularly in terms of sex and marriage.Less
The chapter discusses the naming conventions which showed various signs of deference, condescension, and even affection towards blacks and whites. Customs and even laws served to segregate the two races. Nonetheless, humane relations still existed between whites and blacks but such instances were regarded as exceptions. Rural race relations were delineated affecting every aspect of life in the New South. Segregation was fast becoming the norm and segregation laws swept the nation. The railroad system was the point of most contention as regards segregations as it was the main form of transportation during that time. Racial discomfiture sometimes leads to overt conflict and even violence. Thus, statewide railroad segregation peaked during this time. The chapter also discusses the significant change on interracial social relations particularly in terms of sex and marriage.
Kathryn C. Lavelle
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195174090
- eISBN:
- 9780199835287
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195174097.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter explores the origins of global equity markets that in fact have deep historical roots. Stocks were created to finance trade and expansion overseas as part of the European imperial ...
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This chapter explores the origins of global equity markets that in fact have deep historical roots. Stocks were created to finance trade and expansion overseas as part of the European imperial project, yet prior to the imposition of direct rule. Later, equity finance in the industrial era brought together large amounts of capital to finance industrial projects overseas such as railroads, electric projects and water projects. The structure of global equity markets mirrored the structure of the markets within the colonial metropole; hence the chapter emphasizes the role ofand linkages with British, French, and Dutch colonial rule.Less
This chapter explores the origins of global equity markets that in fact have deep historical roots. Stocks were created to finance trade and expansion overseas as part of the European imperial project, yet prior to the imposition of direct rule. Later, equity finance in the industrial era brought together large amounts of capital to finance industrial projects overseas such as railroads, electric projects and water projects. The structure of global equity markets mirrored the structure of the markets within the colonial metropole; hence the chapter emphasizes the role ofand linkages with British, French, and Dutch colonial rule.
Frederick Douglass Opie
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813033716
- eISBN:
- 9780813038735
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813033716.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
In the late 19th century, many Central American governments and countries sought to fill low-paying jobs and develop their economies by recruiting black American and West Indian laborers. This book ...
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In the late 19th century, many Central American governments and countries sought to fill low-paying jobs and develop their economies by recruiting black American and West Indian laborers. This book offers a revisionist interpretation of these workers, who were often depicted as simple victims with little, if any, enduring legacy. The Guatemalan government sought to build an extensive railroad system in the 1880s, and actively recruited foreign labor. For poor workers of African descent, immigrating to Guatemala was seen as an opportunity to improve their lives and escape from the racism of the Jim Crow U.S. South and the French and British colonial Caribbean. Using primary and secondary sources as well as ethnographic data, the author details the struggles of these workers who were ultimately inspired to organize by the ideas of Marcus Garvey. Regularly suffering class- and race-based attacks and persecution, black laborers frequently met such attacks with resistance. Their leverage — being able to shut down the railroad — was crucially important to the revolutionary movements in 1897 and 1920.Less
In the late 19th century, many Central American governments and countries sought to fill low-paying jobs and develop their economies by recruiting black American and West Indian laborers. This book offers a revisionist interpretation of these workers, who were often depicted as simple victims with little, if any, enduring legacy. The Guatemalan government sought to build an extensive railroad system in the 1880s, and actively recruited foreign labor. For poor workers of African descent, immigrating to Guatemala was seen as an opportunity to improve their lives and escape from the racism of the Jim Crow U.S. South and the French and British colonial Caribbean. Using primary and secondary sources as well as ethnographic data, the author details the struggles of these workers who were ultimately inspired to organize by the ideas of Marcus Garvey. Regularly suffering class- and race-based attacks and persecution, black laborers frequently met such attacks with resistance. Their leverage — being able to shut down the railroad — was crucially important to the revolutionary movements in 1897 and 1920.
Edward Dallam Melillo
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300206623
- eISBN:
- 9780300216486
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300206623.003.0006
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
This chapter focuses on Henry Meiggs, a Yankee engineer who profited from the California gold rush before becoming the Golden State's most notorious debtor. When his high-stakes financial gambles ...
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This chapter focuses on Henry Meiggs, a Yankee engineer who profited from the California gold rush before becoming the Golden State's most notorious debtor. When his high-stakes financial gambles collapsed in 1854, Meiggs fled San Francisco for South America, where he built an extravagant new life replete with a million-dollar mansion and an entourage of devoted followers. He traveled to Peru, where he pioneered the enganche debt peonage system and coordinated an unprecedented geographical rearrangement of Latin American commerce, demography, and mobility. As the so-called Yankee Pizarro of Latin America, Meiggs reshaped Chile's working class by recruiting and relocating thirty thousand Chilean workers to build the first railroad lines across the Andean Cordillera. A majority of the debt peons who toiled on these high-altitude engineering projects eventually migrated to Chile's Atacama Desert, where they mined the sodium nitrate that fertilized California's turn-of-the-century citrus bonanza. Meiggs was thus a human vector, precipitating both exchanges and influences between California and Chile.Less
This chapter focuses on Henry Meiggs, a Yankee engineer who profited from the California gold rush before becoming the Golden State's most notorious debtor. When his high-stakes financial gambles collapsed in 1854, Meiggs fled San Francisco for South America, where he built an extravagant new life replete with a million-dollar mansion and an entourage of devoted followers. He traveled to Peru, where he pioneered the enganche debt peonage system and coordinated an unprecedented geographical rearrangement of Latin American commerce, demography, and mobility. As the so-called Yankee Pizarro of Latin America, Meiggs reshaped Chile's working class by recruiting and relocating thirty thousand Chilean workers to build the first railroad lines across the Andean Cordillera. A majority of the debt peons who toiled on these high-altitude engineering projects eventually migrated to Chile's Atacama Desert, where they mined the sodium nitrate that fertilized California's turn-of-the-century citrus bonanza. Meiggs was thus a human vector, precipitating both exchanges and influences between California and Chile.
Cindy S. Aron
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195142341
- eISBN:
- 9780199849024
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195142341.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This book offers a full-length history of how Americans have vacationed. In the early 19th century, it shows that vacations were taken for health more than for fun, as the wealthy traveled to ...
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This book offers a full-length history of how Americans have vacationed. In the early 19th century, it shows that vacations were taken for health more than for fun, as the wealthy traveled to watering places, seeking cures for everything from consumption to rheumatism. But starting in the 1850s, the growth of a white-collar middle class and the expansion of railroads made vacationing a mainstream activity. The book charts this growth with grace and insight, tracing the rise of new vacation spots as the nation and the middle class blossomed.Less
This book offers a full-length history of how Americans have vacationed. In the early 19th century, it shows that vacations were taken for health more than for fun, as the wealthy traveled to watering places, seeking cures for everything from consumption to rheumatism. But starting in the 1850s, the growth of a white-collar middle class and the expansion of railroads made vacationing a mainstream activity. The book charts this growth with grace and insight, tracing the rise of new vacation spots as the nation and the middle class blossomed.
