The Value of Railroads.

When the first American railroad experiments took place near Baltimore in the 1830s, horrified stagecoach drivers clamored for protection, fearing their livelihood was coming to an end in the face of the iron horse. Less than a century later it was the railroads' turn to scream for help. The Depression's impact on transportation was felt most notably in the railroad system, in which the number of carloads dropped from an average 4.5 million in 1929 to approximately 3 million in 1932. Due to a 1922 decree of the Interstate Commerce Commission, railroad operators were not allowed to exceed a profit of 5.75 percent on their investments, yet even in the best years of the late 1920s they hardly reached that limit. Railroads complained of overregulation; local, state, and federal taxation rules; and financial ratings lower than those of...