Age of Railroads

1. What problems did employees of the railroad companies face?
Employees of the railroad companies faced many problems.  Many of the Irish workers faced disease and Native American attacks while the Chinese workers have climate issues.   One of these types of issues was the snow and cold temperatures that surrounded the camps and workplaces of the workers.  Another problem was that the Chinese workers had to supply their own food.  Also, there were often long hours for railroad workers, such as from dawn to dusk.

2. What was it like to live as a Pullman employee in the town of Pullman?
Living in the town of Pullman as a Pullman employee was a little like living a city.  The apartment buildings were made of brick and the fact that each one contained many windows made them very nice apartments for the time.  No one was allowed to drink alcohol or hang around on the front steps of buildings.  Those were just two examples of the control over the town.  The rent was also set by Pullman.  This town also consisted of shops, doctors' offices, and a field for athletics.

3. Who was involved in Crédit Mobilier, and what was the purpose of this company?
The Republican Party, mainly representatives in Congress around 1867, Vice-President Schuyler Colfax and James Garfield, were involved in Crédit Mobilier, as well as Crédit Mobilier and its stockholders.  Garfield was a congressman at the time, but would later become president.  The purpose of Crédit Mobilier was to have the stockholder that were part of the Union Pacific Railroad make a contract with Crédit Mobilier to have railroad tracks produced for much more than they actually cost.  Then the stocks were given out as bribes to members of congress and other parts of the government.  The company was mainly created to create large profits and bribe the government while doing very little and getting away with it.

4. In what ways did the railroad companies use their power to hurt farmers?
Railroad companies used their power to hurt farmers.  They would not sell the government land grants to settlers, although this was what the government had wanted.  Instead, they would sell to businesses.  Also, railroads tried to make prices hard on farmers so they would stay in debt.  Tied into this is the fact that they would charge less for long hauls than short hauls because there was not other choice for short hauls. That was how the railroad companies used their power.

5. Why didn’t the decision in the Munn v. Illinois case succeed in checking the power of the railroads?
The Munn v. Illinois case did not succeed because the federal government still had control over business between states.  So if the railroad was going between states, the states could not regulate the railroad and decrease the amount of discrimination.  Since many of the trips were between states, the case did not really succeed in checking the power, which would mean making prices fair, of the railroads.

6. Why didn’t the Interstate Commerce Act immediately limit the power of the railroads?
The Interstate Commerce Act did not limit the power of the railroad immediately.  This is because there were many legal procedures that had to be completed before they could limit the power.  Also, the railroads were resisting the government limiting their power and many almost went bankrupt in the 1890s.  Then, in 1897, it was decided by the Supreme Court that a maximun fair for railroads could not be set.  All of these events contributed to the ICC not truly being effective until 1906.