NationMaster - Encyclopedia: General Motors Streetcar Conspiracy

The General Motors streetcar conspiracy refers to a contention that General Motors (GM), acting in conjunction with several other companies and through the National City Lines (NCL) holding company, illegally acquired many streetcar systems in various cities around the United States, dismantled and replaced them with buses for the express purpose of promoting the automobile. General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM), also known as GM, is an American automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Vauxhall. ... Between 1936 and 1950, National City Lines (NCL), a holding company sponsored and funded by General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California and Phillips Petroleum, bought out more than 100 electric surface-traction (streetcar) systems in 45 cities (including New York, Philadelphia, St. ... a historic postcard showing electric trolley-powered streetcars in Richmond, Virginia, where Frank J. Sprague successfully demonstrated his new system on the hills in 1888 A streetcar is a railway vehicle designed to carry passengers on tracks, usually laid in city streets. ... TheBus, established by Mayor Frank Fasi, is Honolulus only public transit system. ... An automobile is a wheeled vehicle that carries its own motor. ...

1 The legal case
2 The case for the conspiracy
3 The case against the conspiracy
4 See also
5 External links
6 Further reading

The legal case

Government attorney Bradford Snell has written that in 1949 GM and its partners in NCL were convicted in U.S. District Court in Chicago of criminal conspiracy in this matter and fined $5,000 each for anti-trust violations (contracts in restraint of trade, i.e. forcing subsidiaries to buy products from their owners: GM buses, Firestone tires, Standard and Phillips oil). 1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday. ... The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. ... Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Official website: http://egov. ... For other uses, see Crime (disambiguation). ... In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more natural persons to break the law at some time in the future, so a natural person identified with the mind of a legal entity cannot conspire with the company alone. ... This article is about general United States currency. ... Antitrust or competition laws are laws which seek to promote economic and business competition by prohibiting anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. ...

The claim above is often repeated and is based on testimony by Snell to a United States Senate Enquiry circa 1974. Seal of the Senate The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. ...

The case ultimately reached the United States Supreme Court in United States v. National City Lines Inc. 334 U.S. 573, 596 (1948) ("National City I")[1] which reversed lower court rulings on the case. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... United States v. ... // Case citation is the system used in common law countries such as the United States, England and Wales, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and India to uniquely identify the location of past court cases in special series of books called reporters. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ...

The proceedings were against General Motors and its subsidiary, National City Lines, along with seven other corporations. They were indicted on two counts under the US Sherman Antitrust Act. The charges, in summary, were: The Sherman Anti-Trust Act, formally known as the Act of July 2, 1890, ch. ...

Conspiring to acquire control of a number of transit companies, forming a transportation monopoly;
- All defendants were acquitted on this charge.
Conspiring to monopolize sales of buses and supplies to companies owned by National City Lines.
- General Motors alone was convicted on this charge.

The case for the conspiracy

It is argued that Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., long-time president of GM in the early 20th century, developed a business strategy to expand auto sales and maximize profits by eliminating streetcars. In 1922, according to GM's own files, Sloan established a special unit within the corporation which was charged, among other things, with the task of replacing the United States' electric railways with cars, trucks, and buses. Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

For instance, between 1926 and 1936 GM acquired New York Railways. Bad service reduced reliability and thus actively created the trend towards private transport that GM advertised. By underinvestment and poor service the public transport system was systematically destroyed. 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... New York Railways - also called the New York State Railways: Several large streetcar systems in upstate New York were part of New York State Railways, one of several interurban railways connecting various cities throughout upstate New York. ... Private transport, as opposed to public transport, is transport in ones own vehicle (e. ... Skytrain Bangkok. ...

A 1974 report by government attorney Bradford Snell ignited the conspiracy theory by claiming that General Motors was convicted of conspiracy in 1949 (and fined $5000) in its program to buy up and destroy electric urban trolley systems so that urban transit would be forced to rely on GMC buses, and that this is the principal reason that modern-day trolley systems are rare in the United States today. Between 1936 and 1950, National City Lines, a holding company sponsored and funded by GM, Firestone, and Standard Oil of California, bought out more than 100 electric surface-traction systems in 45 cities (including New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Tulsa, Baltimore, and Los Angeles) to be dismantled and replaced with GM buses. In 1949 GM and its partners were convicted in U.S. district court in Chicago of criminal conspiracy in this matter and fined $5,000. 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday. ... This article refers to the mass transit vehicle running on rails. ... TheBus, established by Mayor Frank Fasi, is Honolulus only public transit system. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Between 1936 and 1950, National City Lines (NCL), a holding company sponsored and funded by General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California and Phillips Petroleum, bought out more than 100 electric surface-traction (streetcar) systems in 45 cities (including New York, Philadelphia, St. ... Firestone tire The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was founded by Harvey Firestone in the late 19th century to supply pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled transportation common in the era. ... Chevron was founded after an 1879 oil discovery in Pico Canyon, near the Santa Susana Mountains north of Los Angeles, California as the Pacific Coast Oil Co. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Nickname: City of Brotherly Love, Philly, the Quaker City Motto: Philadelphia maneto (Let brotherly love continue) Official website: http://www. ... Nickname: Gateway City, Gateway to the West, or Mound City Official website: http://stlouis. ... Nickname: Crossroads of the West Official website: http://www. ... Nickname: Where the South Meets the West Official website: www. ... A view of the Baltimore skyline from above. ... Nickname: City of Angels Official website: http://www. ... The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. ... Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Official website: http://egov. ...

The case against the conspiracy

This belief has been questioned by urban studies professor Sy Adler who points out, among other things, that GM was not convicted of buying up urban trolley systems but rather merely of forcing bus companies owned by General Motors to use General Motors buses, and that trolley ridership peaked in the year 1920 before GM's actions. The trolley industry's problems largely predated GM's interest. Many transportation historians note that the conversion to buses would likely have occurred anyway, and that streetcar ridership was steadily declining through this period for a variety of reasons. 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ...

A degree of evidence against the conspiracy lies in the fact that Los Angeles had two separate trolley systems, known as the "Red Cars" and the "Yellow Cars." National City Lines owned only one of the two systems, yet both were dismantled. It should however be noted that the systems were often used in conjunction by travelers and cutting service on one line made the other less convenient compared to automobiles. This article refers to the mass transit vehicle running on rails. ...

Additionally, during this period automobile ownership was rising everywhere, in cities both with and without GM purchasing the local streetcar systems. Streetcar routes were being converted to buses in major cities around the world, including cities like London, without GM involvement, because buses were seen as the new technology at the time and were more flexible than streetcars, as they could route around track blockages for instance, and could use any road, not just roads with tracks, thereby off-loading infrastructure costs to the municipality. This article is about the British city. ...

Some documentation of the rapid transit interurban systems is often best provided by amateur historians, such as The Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California.

External links

[2] for some comments on this and also a number of references to other sources of comment.
"General Motors' Destruction of California Transit Systems" provides some documentation of GM front companies and hostile takeovers of 'Key System' transit systems in California.
Bradford C. Snell makes his case against GM.
Full text of American Ground Transport (except footnotes) in .RTF format
Remembering U.S. vs. National City Lines Paul Matus sums up U.S. vs National City lines 1949 and the Snell report
The GM Conspiracy Myth
[3]
The Straight Dope: Did General Motors destroy the LA mass transit system?

Contents

The case for the conspiracy

The case against the conspiracy

See also

External links

Further reading