Panama Canal Essay

The Railroads overwhelming dominance over the population led the government to regulate the industry. The first agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), was created by the Commerce Commission Act of 1887. According to the Progressive Party Platform of 1912, “such a commission must enforce the complete publicity of those corporation transactions which are of public interest; must attack unfair competition, false capitalization and special privilege, and by continuous trained watchfulness guard and keep open equally to all the highways of American commerce.” In this effort, Theodore Roosevelt also campaigned in congress for the Elkins Act and the Hepburn Act, which were passed by Congress in 1903 and 1906 respectively. The former

It was not exclusively a response to the railroads monopoly, but a phenomenon due to the increasing need to transport goods in a macroeconomically integrated society. Three new means of transport were crucial to undermine the monopoly: the Panama Canal, Inland Waterway Transport and Trucking. At first, the Panama Canal’s construction was promoted by Theodore Roosevelt as a measure for national security, since there was no easy or fast means for the US to go back and forth between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. However, the Canal played an important role on freight carriage from the East to the West and vice-versa. At the same time, “in view of the availability of easily navigable waterways, waterborne commerce was the primary viable option for transporting freight over significant distances” within the country (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine). In addition, there were incentives for truck shipping. For many years interstate trucking was heavily regulated by the ICC, which reviewed rates that common carriers were required to file, and strictly limited entry. Beginning in the late 1970s, a series of administrative and legislative actions liberalized regulation of the industry (Federal Trade Commission). A famous Act that deregulated this industry was the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. According to President Carter, who signed it into law, consumers, shippers and labor would benefit since it would have a “powerful anti-inflationary effect”. As the competition increased, loss of market struck the railroad industry