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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Earth and Mineral Sciences THE SPATIALITY OF THE CORPORATE LANDSCAPE: RAILROADS AND PATTERNS OF POWER A Thesis in Geography by Henry J. Rademacher © 2004 Henry J. Rademacher Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2004 The thesis of Henry J. Rademacher was reviewed and approved* by the following: Deryck W. Holdsworth Professor of Geography Thesis Adviser Chair of Committee Roger M. Downs Professor of Geography Head of the Department of Geography Colin Flint Associate Professor of Geography Amy S. Greenberg Associate Professor of History & Women’s Studies *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. ii ABSTRACT The historical and geographical literature on railroads in the United States is characterized by a paucity of work focusing specifically on the various forms of company control. An aggregate scale of analysis typically prevails, reducing a diverse network of transport companies to a homogeneous whole. In this understanding, the role of the state is often made subordinate to the role of private investment. This dissertation utilizes a tripartite schema to explain power in the control of American railroads between the turn of the twentieth century and the Great Depression—in short, a more political-geographic view. First, patterns of share ownership of 18 northeastern railroads are examined to investigate the “separation of ownership from control,” the often taken-for-granted effect of the corporate revolution. Second, the changing structure of interlocking directorates among these companies and others is explored in order to reveal control networks, the social backdrop to corporate capital, and the lessons to be learned from doing interlocking directorate research. Lastly, a theory of the interstate system is outlined and the role of the state in helping usher in and maintain the railroad property regime is examined. Although interlocking directorates became less important during the span of time studied, “communities of interest” among shareholders, home locations of directors, and state intervention together helped produce a corporate class, a business elite in control of major railroad companies. The activities of this business elite were conditioned by the inertia of the large organizations for which they worked, and were historically contingent upon the histories of established contacts with and among bankers and other financial intermediaries. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables .................................................................................................................................vi List of Figures ................................................................................................................................vii Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................viii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Existing Literature on the History and Geography of the North American Railroad ..........5 Investment, Management, and the Persons Behind the Processes .......................................9 Approach and Explanation .................................................................................................18 Setting Up the Following Chapters: Ownership, Control, and the State ...........................20 Chapter 2. SHAREHOLDING AND RAILROAD CORPORATIONS IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY: BUILDING-BLOCK FOR CONTROL................................23 Introduction ........................................................................................................................23 Historical Background ...........................................................................................24 The Dataset ........................................................................................................................36 Proxy Voting ..........................................................................................................40 Major Patterns ....................................................................................................................43 Discussion ..........................................................................................................................45 Importance of the Top Twenty Shareholders .........................................................46 Who’s Who in Railroad Stock Ownership? .......................................................................52 Railroad Investment ...........................................................................................................56 Chapter 3. PLACE AND SHAREHOLDING IN AMERICAN RAILROAD COMPANIES ......59 Mapping Ownership...........................................................................................................59 Case Studies in Stock Ownership, Purchase, and Syndicates ............................................64 The Van Sweringens, Robert R. Young, and the Fight for the New York Central ....................................................73 The South Pennsylvania Railroad Syndicate .........................................................80 The Poughkeepsie Bridge Scheme .........................................................................87 Chapter 4. CORPORATE DIRECTORSHIPS AND AMERICAN RAILROAD COMPANIES: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ...................................................................................91 Introduction ........................................................................................................................91 Control—Shareholders and Directors ................................................................................96 Interlocking Directorates and the Social Backdrop to Corporate Capital ........................104 Organizations, Cohesion, and Efficiency .........................................................................110 Chapter 5. INTERLOCKING DIRECTORATES AMONG NORTHEASTERN RAILROAD COMPANIES ..................................................................................................................118 Introduction ......................................................................................................................118 Setting the Scene ..............................................................................................................119 The Dataset ......................................................................................................................121 iv Discussion ........................................................................................................................130 Simple Descriptive Statistics ...............................................................................130 “Outsiders” vs. “Railroad Men”; Non-Railroad vs. Railroad Companies ...........132 Non-Railroad Companies and Interlocks .............................................................140 Conclusions: Interlocks and Railroads in New York State ..............................................144 Chapter 6. RAILROAD DIRECTORSHIPS: “MAPPING” THE CORPORATE COMMUNITY AT WORK AND AT HOME ..........................................................................................154 Introduction ......................................................................................................................154 Separate Company Philosophies ......................................................................................154 Summary ..............................................................................................................172 The Place of Home and the Place of Work ......................................................................175 Work Addresses ...................................................................................................182 Home Addresses ..................................................................................................184 Chapter 7. RETHINKING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE RAILROAD AND THE STATE .............................................................................................................................191 Introduction ......................................................................................................................191 Thoughts on and Theories of the State ............................................................................193 Charters and Regulation ...................................................................................................202 The Charter ..........................................................................................................202 Regulation and Legislation ..................................................................................208 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................214 Chapter 8. CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................219 Summary ..........................................................................................................................219 Qualifications and Further Research ................................................................................226