California's Recall: Adoption of the "Grand Bounce" for Elected Officials‪.‬

From the completion of the intercontinental railroad system in 1869 until 1910, political life in California was dominated by the railroad industry, and its biggest conglomerate, the Southern Pacific Railroad (popularly known as the "Espee" or "SP"), (1) which was laser-focused on maintaining its profit margin and monopoly on power. One of the leaders of the fight against the railroad, Fremont Older, described the situation in his autobiography: "There was only one kind of politics and that was corrupt politics. It didn't matter whether a man was a Republican or a Democrat. The Southern Pacific Railroad controlled both parties, and he either had to stay out of the game altogether or play it with the railroad." (2)