uccess of American capitalism. Large corporations saw railroads as a vital element in their capacity to serve markets and the railroad companies recognized that they had acquired enormous power to control pricing structures. With the opening of the West to exploration and settlement, the railroads assumed even more significance and the railroad companies grew rich and were able to finance political campaigns, gaining control over the legislative process as it might impact upon them (Development of the railroad monopoly, 2009).
During the second half of the nineteenth century, farmers increasingly relied on railroads to transport crops. The railroad companies, which functioned as virtual regional monopolies and which joined together to set prices on the national level, were able to control the incomes of farmers through the price mechanism. The government decided to take action and in the seminal case of Munn v. Illinois, the Supreme Court established the right of government to regulate business in the public interest. The so-c
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