Community civics and rural life . hose who live in the most remote rural communities have avital interest in the nations transportation system, includingrailways and steamship lines. As we have seen(p. 203), there was the closest relation between interest inthe building of railroads and the opening of the transporta-public lands. The market of the farmer and thesource of his supplies are not merely the neighboring tradingcenter, but in far distant parts of the country and of the railroads the farmer, the manufacturer, and the citymerchant would alike be helpless. 266 COMMUNITY CI
Community civics and rural life . hose who live in the most remote rural communities have avital interest in the nations transportation system, includingrailways and steamship lines. As we have seen(p. 203), there was the closest relation between interest inthe building of railroads and the opening of the transporta-public lands. The market of the farmer and thesource of his supplies are not merely the neighboring tradingcenter, but in far distant parts of the country and of the railroads the farmer, the manufacturer, and the citymerchant would alike be helpless. 266 COMMUNITY CIVICS While our government has at times given direct aid to encour-age the building of railroads, as by the gift of public lands, theyGovernment nave Deen developed chiefly by private are owned by private corporations which dobusiness under charters granted by the state gov-ernments (rarely by the national government) and regulated bylaw. Control over them has been exercised chiefly by the state control ofrailroads. A Railroad Yard Congested with Coal Trains at a Time when Near-byCities were Suffering from Lack of Fuel governments, except in matters affecting interstate commerce,which falls under the control of Congress. As the parts of ourcountry have become more closely bound together and inter-dependent, largely by the influence of the railroads themselves,an increasingly large part of commerce has become interstate in character, and railway transportation has become more andmore a national concern. The result is an increasing controlby the national government. In 1887 Congress created an Interstate Commerce Commis-sion with power to inquire into the management of the businessof common carriers, such as railroads, steamship lines, ROADS AND TRANSPORTATION 267 and express companies. It was later given power to fix rateswhich such carriers could charge. Other laws were passed,such as the Sherman Act, or Anti-Trust Law, interstateof 1890, which made unlawful any
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