The railroads themselves, a necessary transportation utility to the expansion of agriculture throughout the vast continent, was heavily subsidized by land grants to private corporations who laid the track. Lincoln fought for railroad subsidies so that there eventually were tracks everywhere, a mile apart. You could get on a train in central Illinois a mile or less from your home, and take it to Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore. Private enterprise alone can't do big projects without government assistance.

Undoubtedly there is redundancy in federal agencies, and it would be great to winnow out the excess. But get rid of DOE, EPA, HUD? We can't afford that as a nation.