The Coal Business on the Pennsylvania Railroad
The Coal Business on the Pennsylvania Railroad

Author: UNKNOWN. AUTHOR

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-06-28

Total Pages: 33

ISBN-13: 9781330447284

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Excerpt from The Coal Business on the Pennsylvania Railroad: A Communication Addressed to the President, Directors, and Stockholders of the Pennsylvania Railroad, on the Cost of Transportation Having been instrumental in the organization of coal and lumber companies now in operation, or about to commence operation on or near the Pennsylvania Railroad; having exerted myself for years to encourage the investment of capital in such companies for the purpose of establishing a business which I considered essential to the success and satisfactory operation of your road, I hope that no apology will be required for this communication. A period of service embracing nearly ten years in the various offices of Assistant Engineer, Superintendent, Chief Engineer and Director, has now terminated, and my connection with the road has ceased. I have also withdrawn either entirely or partially from several of the companies which I assisted in organizing. Personal interests have not suggested this communication; but I still retain a desire to see the Pennsylvania Railroad become an instrument of more extended utility to the public, a means of further developing the resources of the State, and a source of ample remuneration to its stockholders. I feel also under imperative obligations as far as possible to protect those who have invested capital on my recommendation from the consequences of the erroneous views which are prevalent in reference to the cost of transportation upon the Pennsylvania Railroad. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Fueling the Gilded Age
Fueling the Gilded Age

Author: Andrew B. Arnold

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2014-04-11

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0814764983

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If the railroads won the Gilded Age, the coal industry lost it. Railroads epitomized modern management, high technology, and vast economies of scale. By comparison, the coal industry was embarrassingly primitive. Miners and operators dug coal, bought it, and sold it in 1900 in the same ways that they had for generations. In the popular imagination, coal miners epitomized anti-modern forces as the so-called “Molly Maguire” terrorists. Yet the sleekly modern railroads were utterly dependent upon the disorderly coal industry. Railroad managers demanded that coal operators and miners accept the purely subordinate role implied by their status. They refused. Fueling the Gilded Age shows how disorder in the coal industry disrupted the strategic plans of the railroads. It does so by expertly intertwining the history of two industries—railroads and coal mining—that historians have generally examined from separate vantage points. It shows the surprising connections between railroad management and miner organizing; railroad freight rate structure and coal mine operations; railroad strategy and strictly local legal precedents. It combines social, economic, and institutional approaches to explain the Gilded Age from the perspective of the relative losers of history rather than the winners. It beckons readers to examine the still-unresolved nature of America’s national conundrum: how to reconcile the competing demands of national corporations, local businesses, and employees.