Texas Railroad Commission

The Texas Railroad Commission, (TRC) founded xxxx, is a regulatory agency of the state of Texas. It is the most important regulatory agency of any state, primarily because it controls oil and fas prices in Texas.

Origins

Governor James S. Hogg, a liberal Democrat, won the hotly contested 1890 gubernatorial election promising to reign in the railroads. In 1891 the legislature created the Railroad Commission,' giving it jurisdiction over rates and operations of railroads, terminals, wharves, and express companies. In 1919 it was given authority over the state's oil industry. The governor appointed the first members but in 1894 it became elective, with three commissioners serving six-year, overlapping terms. It did not have jurisdiction over interstate rates, but Texas was so large that the in-state traffic it regulated was of dominant importance.

John H. Reagan, was the advocate in Congress of the Reagan bill to regulate railroads in the 1880s. He feared monopolies in transportation and considered their control a moral problem. His advocacy of legislation was based on an emotional response to real and imaginary evils. In later years, as chairman of the TRC, he changed his views when he became acquainted with the realities of the complex forces affecting railroad management.

Pure Oil Company opposed the first statewide oil prorationing order, which was issued by the TRC in August 1930. The order, which was intended to conserve oil resources by limiting the number of barrels drilled per day, was seen by small producers like Pure as a conspiracy between government and major companies to drive them out of business and foster monopoly in the oil industry.

Segregation

From the 1890s through the 1960s, the Texas Railroad Commission found it difficult to enforce fully Jim Crow segregation legislation. Because of the expense involved, Texas railroads often allowed wealthier African Americans to mix with whites, rather than provide separate cars, dining facilities, and even depots. In addition, West Texas authorities often refused to enforce Jim Crow laws because few African Americans resided there. In the 1940's, the railroad commission's enforcement of segregation laws began collapsing further, in part because of the great number of African American soldiers that were transported during World War II. The trains were integrated in the early 1960s.

Bibliography

• Childs, William R. The Texas Railroad Commission: Understanding Regulation in America to the Mid-Twentieth Century. (2005). 323 pp.
• Norvell, James R. "The Railroad Commission of Texas: its Origin and History." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 1965 68(4): 465-480. Issn: 0038-478x online edition
• Prindle, David F. Petroleum Politics and the Texas Railroad Commission.

1981. 230 pp.

• David F. Prindle, "Railroad Commission," Handbook of Texas Online (2008)