Transcript Roosevelt Revives the Presidency

Roosevelt Revives the
Presidency
Chapter 15
Roosevelt
 Square Deal—Roosevelt: “every man has a square deal,
no less and no more”
 Roosevelt reform programs called this
 Social Darwinism
 Only the fittest survive
 Roosevelt believed in both progressivism and Social
Darwinism
Roosevelt takes on trusts
 Believed trusts and other large business organizations
were very efficient and essential to Am. prosperity BUT
 Concerned monopolies hurt pub. interest
 NY Sun: Roosevelt “bring wealth to its knees”
 Roosevelt: “we draw the line against misconduct, not
against wealth”
 Called “trustbuster”
1st target: Northern Securities
 J.P. Morgan’s railroad holding company
 Merged existing railroad systems
 No northwest competition
 Farmers feared it would raise rates and hurt their
profits
 Sued under Sherman Anti Trust Act
 (1904) Northern Securities v. United States = Did violate
Anti Trust Act
The Coal Strike of 1902
 United Mine Workers
 STRIKE (want increased pay, reduced hrs, union
recognition)
 15,000 anthracite miners in east Pen
 Coal prices UP
 Roosevelt: private interests at nation’s expense
 Possible coal shortages
 Shut down factories
 Homes unheated
The Coal Strike of 1902
 Roosevelt urged arbitration
 Union owners agreed, mine owners did not
 Roosevelt threatened to have the army run the mines,
THEN the mine owners accepted the deal
Regulating Big Business
 Believed most trusts were good for the economy
 Wanted to regulated w/out breaking up trusts
 Fed agency to investigate corps and publicize results 
Department of Commerce and Labor
 Investigates: U.S. Steel
U.S. Steel
 “Gentlemen’s agreement”
 Company would open record books for investigation and if
there’s a problem comp would be told privately and fix w/out
legal action
 Also made with other companies
 Hepburn Act (1906)
 Strengthen Interstate Commerce Commission
 Set railroad rates
 Eventually became supporter of railraods
 By 1920s: set rates to ensure profits
Consumer Protection
 Samuel Hopkins Adams
 Patent medicine business
 Claim to cure, but really just alcohol, colored water, sugar
OR
 Caffeine, opium, cocaine, and other dangerous compounds
 Food
 Dangerous preservatives
 “Embalmed meat”
Food
 1906—Upton Sinclair “The Jungle
 Slaughterhouses of Chicago; appalling conditions of meat
packing
 Many people become vegetarians
 Meat Inspection Act (1906)
 Fed. inspection of meat (under interstate commerce)
 Agriculture Dept set standards
 Pure Food and Drug Act
 Prohibited the manufacture, sale, or shipment of impure of
falsely labeled food and drugs