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The Railroads and the Public, 1870–1881: A Study of Charles Elliott Perkins' Business Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

David P. Gagan
David P. Gagan
Affiliation:
Doctoral Candidate in History, Duke University
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Abstract

The railroad leader's conception of his role in business and society is the focus of this study of one of the nineteenth century's most articulate businessmen.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 39 , Issue 1: Special Transportation Issue , Spring 1965 , pp. 41 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1965

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References

1 Howells, William Dean, A Hazard of New Fortunes (New York, 1960), p. 223.Google Scholar

2 Kirkland, Edward C., Industry Comes of Age: Business, Labor, and Public Policy, 1860–1897 (New York, 1961), p. 66.Google Scholar

3 Adams, Henry, The Education of Henry Adams (New York, 1931), p. 240.Google Scholar

4 Kirkland, Industry Comes of Age, p. 59. He estimates that the railroads received 130,401,606 acres of public land.

5 Ibid., p. 67. The actual figure quoted is $86,816,209.

6 Perkins to Thielsen, June 10, 1875. Gunningham-Overton Collection of Perkins' Papers (University of Western Ontario), Set A#l, p. 162. (Hereafter referred to as follows: C.-O., Set no. and page).

7 Benson, Lee, Merchants, Farmers, and Railroads: Railroad Regulation and New York Politics, 1850–1887 (Cambridge, Mass., 1955), p. 160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

8 See Josephson, Matthew, The Robber Barons (New York, 1962), p. 187Google Scholar for a satisfactory explanation. A reporter who had been snubbed by Vanderbilt intentionally misquoted him.

9 Lloyd, Henry Demarest, Wealth Against Commonwealth, ed. by Cochran, Thomas (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1963), p. 160.Google Scholar

10 Perkins to John Murray Forbes, April 21, 1877. C.-O., Set C#2, pp. 41, 48.

11 Perkins to John Murray Forbes, July 23, 1876. C.-O., Set A#2, p. 14.

12 Perkins to Gear, Dec. 3, 1880. C.-O., Set A#2, p. 104.

13 Curti, Merle, The Growth of American Thought (2nd ed., New York, 1951), p. 634.Google Scholar

14 Benson, Merchants, Farmers, and Railroads, p. vii.

15 Perkins, Memorandum, June 10, 1875. C.-O., Set A#l, p. 163.

16 Perkins, Memorandum, Aug. ?, 1877. C.-O., Micro Roll No. 2, p. 434.

17 Perkins to Paddock, January 4, 1873. C.-O., Set A#l, p. 124.

18 Perkins, Article for the Burlington Hawk-Eye, Nov. 13, 1875. C.-O., Set A#l, p. 171.

19 Chandler, Alfred D. Jr., Henry Varnum Poor (Cambridge, Mass., 1956), pp. 157–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

20 Ibid., p. 169.

21 Perkins to Godkin, October 21, 1875. C.-O., Set A#l, p. 165.

22 Adams, Charles Francis Jr, and Adams, Henry, Chapters of Erie (Cornell ed., Ithaca, 1956), p. 8.Google Scholar

23 Chandler, Alfred D. Jr, “Henry Varnum Poor, Philosopher of Management, 1812–1905,” Men in Business (Miller, William, ed., New York, 1962), p. 255.Google Scholar

24 Ibid., p. 256.

25 Perkins to John W. Brooks, January 17, 1874. C.-O., Set A#l, p. 138.

26 Ibid.

27 Perkins to John Murray Forbes, April 16, 1876. C.-O., Set C#2, p. 5.

28 Perkins to J. S. Morton, Aug. 16, 1877. C.-O., General Material, vol. 3, p. 171.

29 Ibid., p. 173.

30 Perkins to Godkin, October 21, 1875. C.-O., Set A#l, p. 165.

31 Perkins, Memorandum, June 10, 1875. C.-O., Set A#l, p. 163.

32 Perkins, Memorandum, Nov. 13, 1875. C.-O., Set A#l, p. 171.

33 Perkins to Strong, Aug. 10, 1876. C.-O., Set S#2, p. 15.

34 Chicago Tribune, February 24, 1875. C.-O., Vol. Q (Materials relating to the Revolution, 1871–75).

35 Curti, Growth of American Thought, p. 634.

36 Perkins to Brooks, March 2, 1873. C.-O., Set A#l, p. 129.

37 Ibid.

38 Curti, Growth of American Thought, p. 635.

39 Kirkland, Edward C., Dream and Thought in the Business Community, 1860–1900 (Ithaca, 1956), p. 23.Google Scholar

40 Cochran, Thomas C., Railroad Leaders, 1845–1890: The Business Mind in Action (Cambridge, Mass., 1953), p. 202.Google Scholar

41 Perkins to Morton, Aug. ?, 1877. C.-O., Set M#2, p. 12.

42 Perkins to Morse [?], March 25, 1877. C.-O., Set A#2, p. 27.

43 Perkins to General Force, March 10, 1877. C.-O., Set M#2, p. 7.

44 Coehran, Railroad Leaders, p. 214.

45 Perkins to J. N. A. Griswold, Dec. 31, 1873. C.-O., Set A#l, p. 137.

46 Perkins to George Tyson, June 24, 1876. C.-O., General Material, vol. 2, p. 116. For the River Roads story, see Pearson, Henry Greenleaf, An American Railroad Builder: John Murray Forbes (Boston, 1911), pp. 154–80.Google Scholar

47 Perkins to John Murray Forbes, Aug. 25, 1874. C.-O., Set A#l, p. 142.

48 Cochran, Railroad Leaders, p. 217.

49 Perkins to Edith Forbes, June 20, 1860. C.-O., RCO Vol. 3.

50 Perkins to Edith Forbes, Feb. 27, 1864. C.-O., Set B#l, p. 88.

51 C. E. Perkins to Morton, Aug. 16, 1871. C.-O., Set M#2, p. 10.

52 Perkins to Henry Higginson, Feb. 24, 1880. C.-O., Set A#2, p. 91.

53 Perkins, Memorandum, probably written in 1882. C.-O., Book Y, p. 30.

54 Perkins, Memorandum, May 18, 1882. C.-O., Set M#2, p. 18.

55 Perkins, Memorandum, 1882. C.-O., Book Y, p. 29.

56 Chandler, “Henry Varnum Poor,” p. 272, quoting from the American Railroad Journal, 1858.

57 Perkins to J. M. Forbes, Jan. 1, 1871. C.-O., Set C#1, p. 238.

58 See above, note 17.

59 Perkins to Cullom, Sept. 21, 1885. C.-O., Set M#2, p. 124.

60 Kirkland, Dream and Thought, p. 25.

61 J. B. Bartlett to Perkins, an undated manuscript, probably written between 1881 and 1885. No pagination. C.-O., Set M#3.

62 Ibid.

63 Perkins, Memorandum, Autumn 1888. C.-O., Set M#3, pp. 71–82.

64 Perkins to Judge McDill, Sept. 19, 1892. C.-O., Set M#3, p. 102.