Public opinion about railroads reversed from enthusiasm to fear within one generation

Evidence

Regulation of the railroad industry was a major theme of administrative law in the second half of the nineteenth century. By 1850, states had turned to general statutes regulating railroads, and had given up the effort to slip special clauses into individual charters. In the early railroad years, the boom years, communities were eager for railroads, and promoters and their friends spoke with the loudest voices. The public wanted railroads built, almost at any cost. Railroads created markets, made towns bloom in the wilderness, lured farmers into planting particular crops, drew settlers from one place to another. People invested their lives and their futures in the farms, towns, and markets that grew up along the lines. But then opinion began to shift. Big fish swallowed up little fish; giant railroad nets replaced the smaller, local lines. Now people began to see railroads as villains; monsters they had created, which had slipped out of their control. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2568