Chapter 14, sec.2, guided reading

1. What problems did employees of the railroad companies face?
The problems that the employees of the railroad faced were that while they were laying tracks they were attacked by Native Americans. Also diseases disabled and killed many thousands of men a year.

2. What was it like to live as a Pullman employee in the town of Pullman?
Pullmans residents lived in clean brick houses and apartment buildings which had at least one window in every room. The town also had services like doctors offices, shops, and an athletic field. the residents were not allowed to loiter on their front steps and they were not allowed to drink alcohol.

3. Who was involved in Crédit Mobilier, and what was the purpose of this company?
Stock holders in the union Pacific Railroad formed the construction company Credit Mobilier.They gave the company a contract which gave them power to lay a track at 2-3 times the actually cost, and the stock holders took the profits. A share of the stocks were given to 20 representatives in congress in 1867.


4. In what ways did the railroad companies use their power to hurt farmers?
The railroads used their powers to hurt the farmers by selling land grants to other business and not to settlers, fixing the prices in order to keep farmers in debt, and charged different customers different rates which included them asking for more money for shorter distances.

5. Why didn’t the decision in the Munn v. Illinois case succeed in checking the power of the railroads?
The decision in the Munn v. Illinois case didn't succeed in checking the railroads because the supreme court then passed a law saying that a state could not set rates on interstate commerce.

6. Why didn’t the Interstate Commerce Act immediately limit the power of the railroads?
The interstate Commerce Act didn't immediately limit the railroads because the act lead to a long legal process and resistance form the railroads.

Explain the importance to the United States of the transcontinental railroad. Then, describe who George M. Pullman was and why he is a significant historical figure.
The importance of the transcontinental railroads was that it connected the US together. George Pullman built sleeping cars for railroads and towns for his workers.