This volume features Joseph Nimmo's 239-page internal commerce report. Nimmo was Chief of the Bureau of Statistics in the Treasury Department and responsible for a number of important reports on commerce regarding railroads, navigation and the cattle industry. A large section of his report deals with “the railroad problem” he had identified in his 1879 report and here (p. 10) where he opined “in the matter of railroad transportation…cupidity is sometimes stronger than the sense of right and justice which instinctively inclines men in the observance of reciprocal rights. The current history of railroad transportation in this country clearly indicates that there are evils connected with it that call for a public remedy; evils which affect not only the commercial and industrial interests of the country, but which also affect the railroads.” The report features 3 folding maps showing "principal transportation lines" and "competing transportation lines" in the eastern half of the U.S. as well as a section on pooling arrangements, i.e. agreements by the railroads on rates and the flow of traffic. Nimmo’s informed series of reports on the “railroad problem” contributed to the enactment of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887, the first federal regulation of railroads and of a private industry. Bound with Nimmo’s massive 901-page report on Foreign Commerce. Hardbound in full contemporary leather with “Library House of Representatives” label on the spine.

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Condition: B+

Contents have uniform light toning. The last page of text and 3 maps at the rear of the volume are detached from the text block. The first map (transportation lines west of Chicago) has a 1" binding tear at left. There is a Library of Congress duplicate stamp on the front free endpaper. Hinges are starting. Covers have light wear and bumped corners.