“After I finished the Tycoons - on post-Civil War development - I realized how much I didn't know about the first half of the century, even though there had obviously been an enormous amount of development, so I read about and thought about that for a couple of years before I decided I was ready for a book.” KnowsYearsFirstsBookWarHalfCenturyReadyDevelopmentAmountCoupleDecidedFinishedI RealizedEnormousPostsCivil WarTycoons Author:Charles R. Morris
“The Transcontinental Railroad Act is the first step in creating a continental common market.” FirstsCommonStepsCreatingFirst StepsRailroadsContinental Author:Charles R. Morris
“merica was middle-class for the very start - the people who came first were hyper-strivers from England. There were no vested interests, no ranks, no classes, it was very lightly populated, there were unlimited natural resources - for free essentially - if you failed, you could always start over.” PeopleIfsFirstsInterestNaturalClassMiddleResourcesEnglandMiddle ClassUnlimitedStarting OverNatural ResourcesHyperVested InterestsStrivers Author:Charles R. Morris
“I would speculate that a critical mass of the population has to internalize a middle class outlook first. International aid experience has demonstrated many times that just building railroads doesn't get you there. You need people ready to sue them.” PeopleNeedsFirstsClassMiddleBuildingReadyMassInternationalPopulationCriticalAidsMiddle ClassOutlookRailroadsCritical Mass Author:Charles R. Morris
“John D. Rockefeller was certainly the first to create a consumer product that was sold literally throughout the entire world. Those blue 5-gallon cans showed up in some of the remotest parts of the world.” WorldFirstsProductsBlueConsumersGallonsJohn D Rockefeller Author:Charles R. Morris
“I've been in China enough to know that you shouldn't opine on it unless you speak Chinese and have lived there for twenty years. I wasn't pretending to be a China expert in that final chapter. I was just pointing, first to the parallels between Chinese behavior toward us and ours toward GB when we were at the same stage of development, and secondly to how much harder their development path is than ours was.” KnowsYearsFirstsEnoughSpeakPathStageDevelopmentBehaviorHarderTwentiesFinalsChinaChineseExpertsPretendingChaptersPointingParallelsStages Of Development Author:Charles R. Morris