The Horrific Accident That Created the Regulatory State
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Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- The Moselle isn’t remembered forbeing one of the fastest steamboats on the Ohio and Mississippirivers, even though it was. Instead, it is usually rememberedfor its cataclysmic demise, a product of speed and shoddyconstruction, and especially for what followed.
The sudden and violent end of the Moselle, combined withother highly publicized riverboat explosions, prompted thecreation of the first federal agency responsible for regulatingAmerican private industry.