Transportation Infrastructure Quotes
At the time, roads were built by the states. This was one of the first instances urging that the Federal Government take some responsibility for roads. This would culminate when President Eisenhower proposed and created the National Highway System and as Madison predicted, it would have a massive economic benefit for the nation.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910. Railroads were vicious monopolies at the time. One technique they used was to build the railroad to the next town. The town would not only prosper by being able to ship its goods and produce back to other towns and cities. Once the town prospered a little, the railroad would extend the line to another town. Then they would raise the rates dramatically for the previous town. If they complained or some farmers or merchants would no longer use the railroad, the railroad would threaten to bypass the town and never stop to pick up and deliver goods. There was no government regulation that said that all towns had to pay the same rate or even a rate that was rationally related to the distance. Often the rate hikes were continued until the town was ruined. The only safety was for the towns or cities at the end where the railroad had to stop there to get cargo from ships or transfer to them. There was no legal requirement for railroads to be fair or reasonable.
Explaining the origin of the Interstate Highway System:
The Elkins Act was a cornerstone of Roosevelt’s “Square Deal” program. It authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to impose heavy fines on railroads that offered rebates, and upon the shippers that accepted these rebates. The large corporations and monopolies would get rebates from the railroads and thus pay far less than their smaller competitors to ship their goods. It drove thousands of small companies out of business. This was a basic part of American law until the deregulation of the latter part of the 20th century. So what had been illegal, unethical, and immoral for almost a century, became legal, ethical and moral, but again discriminated against small companies.
