More study has been made of railroad regulation and the technical side of railroading than of the history of transportation and the effects of the roads on the political and economic life of the people. An excellent single volume is John Moody, The Railroad Builders (1919), which devotes attention to the important personages of railroad history, discusses the growth of large systems and contains valuable maps; the best concise account of the history of the railways is W.Z. Ripley, Railroads: Rates and Regulation (1912). Chap. I; W.Z. Ripley, Railway Problems (rev. ed., 1913), is reliable; E.R. Johnson and T.W. Van Metre, Principles of Railroad Transportation (1916), has some excellent chapters and several informing maps; C.F. Carter, When Railroads were New, (1909), is a popular account; C.F. Adams, Chapters of Erie (1886), exposes early railroad practices; H.G. Pearson, An American Railroad Builder (1911), presents the career of J.M. Forbes as a railroad president; A.T. Hadley, Railroad Transportation (1886), is a classic, early account. Consult also E.R. Johnson, American Railway Transportation (1903); Frank Parsons, Heart of the Railroad Problem (1906); C.F. Adams, Jr., Railroads: Their Origin and Problems (1878, rev. ed., 1893); "A Decade of Federal Railway Regulation," in Atlantic Monthly (Apr., 1898). On the personal side, the following are valuable: E.P. Oberholtzer, Jay Cooke, Financier of the Civil War (2 vols., 1907); J.G. Pyle, Life of J.J. Hill (2 vols., 1917); Memoirs of Henry Villard (1909). On the subject of land grants and regulation: L.H. Haney, Congressional History of Railways (2 vols., 1910); S.J. Buck, The Granger Movement (1913), and the same author's The Agrarian Crusade (1920), are best on the relation of unrest among the agricultural classes to the railroad problem. The "Cullom Report" is in Senate Reports, 49th Congress, 1st session (Serial Number 2356), in 2 vols., and is a mine of information on early abuses. The most important Granger cases are in United States Reports, vol. 94, p. 113 (Munn v. Ill.), and vol. 118, p. 557 (Wabash case).
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[1] For example, an investor might contribute $100 in cash to an enterprise. The "paid in capital" or "actual" capital would, then be $100. He might receive in return $100 in stock and $100 in bonds, in which case the "nominal capital" would be $200; the additional $100 would be "water." If the enterprise paid interest on the bonds, and dividends on the stock, it would, of course, be paying a return on the water. The practice of stock-watering did not end with the days of Gould and Drew.
[2] In this connection Professor Farrand mentions the statement of a railroad magnate that "in Republican counties he was a Republican, and in Democratic counties he was a Democrat, but that everywhere he was for the railroad." Development of the United States, p. 290.
CHAPTER X
EXTREME REPUBLICANISM
That the election of 1888 differed from its predecessors since 1865 was due chiefly to the independence, courage and political insight of President Cleveland. Hitherto campaigns had been contested with as little reference to real issues as conditions rendered possible. Neither party had possessed leaders with sufficient understanding of the needs of the nation to force a genuine settlement of an important issue. That 1888 saw a clear contest made it a memorable year in recent politics.
It will be remembered that the tariff act of 1883 had been satisfactory only to a minority in Congress, because it retained the high level of customs duties that had been established during the Civil War. The congressional election of 1882 had resulted in the choice of a Democratic House of Representatives and had offered another opportunity for downward revision. Early in 1884, therefore, William R. Morrison presented a bill making considerable additions to the free list and providing for a "horizontal" reduction of about twenty per cent. on all other duties as levied under the act of 1883. The measure was defeated by four votes. Opposed to it were substantially all the Republicans and forty-one Democrats, most of them from the industrial states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The Democratic tariff plank of 1884, as has been seen, was practically meaningless, but the election of Cleveland, and the choice of a Democratic House gave another opportunity for revision. Again Morrison attempted a reduction, and again he was defeated by Samuel J. Randall and the other protectionist Democrats.
The entire matter, however, was about to receive a new and important development at the hands of President Cleveland and John G. Carlisle, who was the Speaker of the House during the four years from 1885 to 1889. Carlisle was a Kentuckian, a man of grave bearing, unflagging industry and substantial attainments. His tariff principles were in accord with those of the President, and his position as Speaker enabled him to determine the make-up of the Committee on Ways and Means, which would frame any tariff legislation. Cleveland had expressed his belief in the desirability of tariff reduction in his messages to Congress of 1885 and 1886, basing his recommendations on the same facts that had earlier actuated President Arthur in making similar suggestions. His recommendations, however, had received the same slight consideration that had been accorded those of his Republican predecessor. He therefore determined to challenge the attention of the country and of Congress by means of a novel expedient.
Previous presidential messages had covered a wide variety of subjects—foreign relations, domestic affairs, and recommendations of all kinds. Departing from this custom, the President made up his mind to devote an entire message to tariff reform. His project was startling from the political point of view, for his party was far from being a unit in its attitude toward reduction, a presidential campaign was at hand, and the Independents, who had had a strong influence in bringing about his success in 1884, sent word to him that a reform message would imperil his chances of re-election. This type of argument had little weight with Cleveland, however, and his reply was brief: "Do you not think that the people of the United States are entitled to some instruction on this subject?"