Book Reviews and Notices : The Railroad Monopoly: An Instrument of Banker Control of the Amer ican Economy. By JOHN G. SHOTT. (Washington, D. C.: Public Affairs Institute. 1950. Pp. xi, 250. $3.00.)

• Author: Lowell O. Stephens
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Date: 01 March 1951
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295100400153
• Subject Matter: Articles

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instructor or from a companion textbook to prevent the immature student
from getting the idea that American democracy is chiefly an adminis-
trative adjustment to economic winds. The editors, of course, do not
themselves have such an idea; but minds fresh from high school can
easily pick it up under present-day conditions which facilitate a cavalier
I
attitude toward such institutions as the separation of powers and judicial
review. The Foreword is careful to point out that the book intends
merely to expand a part-the editors believe it the most significant part-
of the course in American government.
ROBERT F. KARSCH.
University of Missouri.
The Railroad Monopoly: An Instrument of Banker Control of the Amer-
ican Economy. By JOHN G. SHOTT. (Washington, D. C.: Public
Affairs Institute. 1950. Pp. xi, 250. $3.00.)
This book is a discussion of banker control of the railroads as it grew
up in the middle 1930’s, and as it was legalized by the Reed-Bulwinkle
Act. It seems to be a well-developed technical study of a particularly
limited problem; but to understand the problem in perspective, a more
complete study of the growth and development of the railroad industry,
the policies followed and their effect upon the growth and development
of other industries in the various parts of the country, is needed.
The first part of this book devotes itself to the machinery through
which banker control is primarily maintained -
the American Association
of Railroads. The Association itself is controlled by a board of directors,
many of whom
represent two financial groups, J. P. Morgan and Company
and Kuhn, Loeb and Company, through whose hands goes a large part
of railroad financing. Under the board are a president and five vice.
presidents, each heading a separate department. This organization is
superimposed on three regional organizations, thirty-two state organizations,
numberless rate bureaus, as well as organizations to co-ordinate the regional
organizations in matters...