How were railroads regulated during the progressive era?

Answer 1

The Progressive Era in the United States was a period of social activism and reform that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. The main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to expose and undercut political machines and bosses. Many (but not all) Progressives supported prohibition in order to destroy the political power of local bosses based in saloons. At the same time, women's suffrage was promoted to bring a "purer" female vote into the arena.

Many people led efforts to reform local government, education, medicine, finance, insurance, industry, railroads, churches, and many other areas. The national political leaders included Theodore Roosevelt, Robert M. La Follette, Sr., Charles Evans Hughes and Herbert Hoover on the Republican side, and William Jennings Bryan, Woodrow Wilson and Al Smith on the Democratic side.

Initially the movement operated chiefly at local levels; later it expanded to state and national levels. Progressives drew support from the middle class, and supporters included many lawyers, teachers, physicians, ministers and business people. The Progressives strongly supported scientific methods as applied to government, industry, finance, medicine, schooling, theology, education, and even the family. They closely followed advances underway at the time in Western Europe, and adopted numerous policies, such as the banking laws which became the Federal Reserve System in 1914. They felt that old-fashioned ways meant waste and inefficiency, and eagerly sought out the "one best system".