Progressivism | Unit 3 US History Classroom Documents

Grants Pass High School

Semester 1 | Social Studies Department

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Issues of Progressivism

Definitions Progressivism (noun) 1. the political orientation of those who favor progress toward better conditions in government and society Progressive (noun) 1. a person believing in moderate political change and social improvement through political action

Each of the following people or issues is an example of Progressivism. Read each section, identify the issues they feel are important and list them in the appropriate circle on your notes handout. 1. Jane Addams Jane Addams was “anxious to improve the lot of the urban poor, and to assist women and children workers. She started Hull House, one of the first settlement houses in the United States. She appreciate immigrant culture, and offered Italian and German culture evenings at Hull House to "help the foreign-born conserve and keep whatever of value their past life contained and to bring them into contact with a better class of Americans." She helped found the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and was a strong advocate for women’s suffrage.

2. William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan believed in infallibility of the Bible, and as such defended the state of Tennessee’s law which banned the teaching of evolution in schools. Another important cause of Bryan’s was prohibition. “In crusading against alcohol, Bryan and many of his fellow prohibitionists considered themselves as Progressives engaged in a reform that would eventually engulf the entire world. Bryan thought that prohibition was just a continuation of the struggle against the selfish interests that put private profit above human welfare and fed upon the helplessness of the masses.”

3. Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt took the view that the President of the United States, as a "steward of the people", should take whatever action necessary for the public good unless expressly forbidden by law or the Constitution. One of his most famous quotes is, “I believe in corporations. They are indispensable instruments of our modern civilization; but I believe that they should be so supervised and so regulated that they shall act for the interest of the community as a whole.” Some of Theodore Roosevelt's most effective achievements were in conservation. He added enormously to the national forests in the West, reserved lands for public use, and fostered great irrigation projects.

4. Ida B. Wells-Barnett Born a slave, Ida B. Wells-Barnett later became a schoolteacher and after the savage lynching of three of her friends devoted her life to anti-lynching campaigns. She organized a boycott of the Memphis trolley system and later championed an exodus out of Memphis which resulted in several thousand African-Americans leaving. She lectured throughout the North and in Great Britain, and later was one of the founding members of the N.A.A.C.P.

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5. Eugenics Eugenics was, quite literally, an effort to breed better human beings – by encouraging the reproduction of people with "good" genes and discouraging those with "bad" genes. Eugenicists effectively lobbied for social legislation to keep racial and ethnic groups separate, to restrict immigration from southern and eastern Europe, and to sterilize people considered "genetically unfit."

6. Louis Brandeis Louis Brandeis showed a strong sympathy for the trade union movement and women's rights. This included him working without fees to fight for causes he believed in such as the minimum wage and anti-trust legislation. As a supporter of trade union rights, Brandeis argued that the retailer should make sure that "the goods which he sold were manufactured under conditions which were fair to the workers - fair as to wages, hours of work, and sanitary conditions." He went on to claim that if the business community considered moral issues when producing and selling goods then 'big business' will then mean "business big not in bulk or power but great in service and grand in manner. Big business will then mean professionalized business, as distinguished from the occupation of petty trafficking or more moneymaking." Brandeis was also a strong advocate of individual rights and freedom of speech.

7. Robert LaFollette Robert LaFollette supported a program of tax reform (higher corporate taxes) to help pay off state debts and fund education, corporation regulation (railroads) and an extension of political democracy (direct primary). As a U.S. Senator, La Follette argued that his main role was to "protect the people" from the "selfish interests". He claimed that the nation's economy was dominated by fewer than 100 industrialists. He went on to argue that these men then used this power to control the political process. La Follette supported the growth of trade unions as he saw them as a check on the power of large corporations.

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Child LaborPhoto 1

Some boys and girls were so small they had to climb up on the spinning frame to mend broken threads and put back the empty bobbins. {Bibb Mill No. 1, Macon, Georgia}

Photo 2

The overseer said apologetically, "She just happened in." She was working steadily. The mills seem full of youngsters who "just happened in" or "are helping sister." {Newberry, South Carolina}Photo 3

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View of the Ewen Breaker of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. The dust was so dense at times as to obscure the view. This dust penetrated the utmost recesses of the boys' lungs. A kind of slave-driver sometimes stands over the boys, prodding or kicking them into obedience. {South Pittston, Pennsylvania.}

Photo 4

Breaker boys. Smallest is Angelo Ross. Pittston, Pennsylvania.

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Photo 5

The Factory: 9 p.m. in an Indiana Glass Works.

Photo 6

Young cigar makers in Engelhardt & Co. Three boys looked under 14. Labor leaders told me in busy times many small boys and girls were employed. Youngsters all smoke. Tampa, Florida.

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Document 1Excerpt from John Spargo’s The Bitter Cry of the Children

For early twentieth-century Progressive reformers committed to social justice, widespread child labor—especially in coal mines, textile mills, and department stores—was particularly disturbing. And as with other Progressive crusades, the exposé was a favorite tool. Probably the most influential and certainly the most widely read of the Progressive-era exposés of child labor was John Spargo’s The Bitter Cry of the Children (1906). Spargo was a British granite cutter who became a union organizer and socialist and gained his formal education through extension courses at Oxford and Cambridge. In 1901, he emigrated to the United States where he became a leader of the conservative wing of the American Socialist Party. In the following excerpt, Spargo described work at the coal breaker, the area outside the mine where coal was sorted and graded, mostly by young children.

“No Rest for the Weary: Children in the Coal Mines”

Work in the coal breakers is exceedingly hard and dangerous. Crouched over the chutes, the boys sit hour after hour, picking out the pieces of slate and other refuse from the coal as it rushes past to the washers. From the cramped position they have to assume, most of them become more or less deformed and bent-backed like old men. When a boy has been working for some time and begins to get round-shouldered, his fellows say that “He’s got his boy to carry round wherever he goes.”

The coal is hard, and accidents to the hands, such as cut, broken, or crushed fingers, are common among the boys. Sometimes there is a worse accident: a terrified shriek is heard, and a boy is mangled and torn in the machinery, or disappears in the chute to be picked out later smothered and dead. Clouds of dust fill the breakers and are inhaled by the boys, laying the foundations for asthma and miners' consumption.

I once stood in a breaker for half an hour and tried to do the work a twelve-year-old boy was doing day after day, for ten hours at a stretch, for sixty cents a day. The gloom of the breaker appalled me. Outside the sun shone brightly, the air was pellucid [clear], and the birds sang in chorus with the trees and the rivers. Within the breaker there was blackness, clouds of deadly dust enfolded everything, the harsh, grinding roar of the machinery and the ceaseless rushing of coal through the chutes filled the ears. I tried to pick out the pieces of slate from the hurrying stream of coal, often missing them; my hands were bruised and cut in a few minutes; I was covered from head to foot with coal dust, and for many hours afterwards I was expectorating some of the small particles of anthracite I had swallowed.

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Working ConditionsDocument 1Annie Daniel excerpt on work done in tenements from “The Wreck of the Home: How Wearing Apparel is Fashioned in the Tenements” (1905).

This excerpt is from a speech to the National Consumer’s League, a women’s organization that became national and pushed for improved working conditions.

“…The new law relating to manufacturing in tenement-houses, provides that thirty-three distinct industries may be carried on in the living rooms of the workers--manufacturing all of which requires hand work or simple machinery. Every garment worn by a woman is found being manufactured in tenement rooms. The coarsest home-wrappers to the daintiest lace gown for a fine evening function are manufactured in these rooms. Corsets and shoes are the most uncommon. The adornments of woman's dress, the flowers and feathers for her hats, the hats themselves--these I have seen being made in the presence of small-pox, on the lounge with the patient. In this case the hats belonged to a Broadway firm. All clothing worn by infants and young children--dainty little dresses--I have seen on the same bed with children sick of contagious diseases and into these little garments is sewed some of the contagion…”

Document 2Florence Kelley excerpt on women workers from “Strength in Numbers: Kelley on Women, Labor, and the Power of the Ballot” (1898).

Florence Kelley, a Chicago-born labor reformer, socialist, and woman suffrage advocate, employed pragmatic arguments in support of women’s right to vote. In this selection from a speech to the 1898 NAWSA convention, Kelly argued that working women, particularly factory workers, needed the ballot to protect themselves from exploitation at the hands of their powerful employers. She also argued that working men needed their feminine counterparts to vote in order to strengthen labor’s presence at the polls.

“The wages paid any body of working people are determined by many influences, chief among which is the position of the particular body of workers in question. Thus the printers, by their intelligence, their powerful organization, their solidarity and united action, keep up their wages in spite of the invasion of their domain by new and improved machinery. On the other hand, the garment-workers, the sweaters’ victims, poor, unorganized, unintelligent, despised, remain forever on the verge of pauperism, irrespective of their endless toil. If, now, by some untoward fate the printers should suddenly find themselves disfranchised, placed in a position in which their members were politically inferior to the members of other trades, no effort of their own short of complete enfranchisement could restore to them that prestige, that good standing in the esteem of their fellow-craftsmen and the public at large which they now enjoy, and which contributes materially in support of their demand for high wages.”

TRIANGLE FACTORY FIRE

The fire at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City, which claimed the lives of 146 young immigrant workers, is one of the worst disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. This incident has had great significance to this day because it highlights the inhumane working conditions to which industrial workers can be subjected. To many, its horrors epitomize the extremes of industrialism. The tragedy still dwells in the collective memory of the nation and of the international labor movement. The victims of the tragedy are still celebrated as martyrs at the hands of industrial greed.

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Document 3141 Men and Girls Die in Waist Factory Fire; Trapped High Up in Washington Place Building; Street Strewn with Bodies; Piles of Dead Inside New York Times, March 26, 1911, p. 1

Three stories of a ten-floor building at the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place were burned yesterday, and while the fire was going on 141 young men and women at least 125 of them mere girls were burned to death or killed by jumping to the pavement below.

The building was fireproof. It shows now hardly any signs of the disaster that overtook it. The walls are as good as ever so are the floors, nothing is the worse for the fire except the furniture and 141 of the 600 men and girls that were employed in its upper three stories.

Most of the victims were suffocated or burned to death within the building, but some who fought their way to the windows and leaped met death as surely, but perhaps more quickly, on the pavements below.

All Over in Half an Hour… The fire was practically all over in half an hour. It was confined to three floors the eighth, ninth, and tenth of the building. But it was the most murderous fire that New York had seen in many years.

The victims who are now lying at the Morgue waiting for someone to identify them by a tooth or the remains of a burned shoe were mostly girls from 16 to 23 years of age. They were employed at making shirtwaist by the Triangle Waist Company, the principal owners of which are Isaac Harris and Max Blanck. Most of them could barely speak English. Many of them came from Brooklyn. Almost all were the main support of their hard-working families.

There is just one fire escape in the building. That one is an interior fire escape. In Greene Street, where the terrified unfortunates crowded before they began to make their mad leaps to death, the whole big front of the building is guiltless of one. Nor is there a fire escape in the back…

Leaped Out of the FlamesAt 4:40 o'clock, nearly five hours after the employes [sic] in the rest of the building had gone home, the fire broke out. The one little fire escape in the interior was resorted to by any of the doomed victims. Some of them escaped by running down the stairs, but in a moment or two this avenue was cut off by flame. The girls rushed to the windows and looked down at Greene Street, 100 feet below them. Then one poor, little creature jumped. There was a plate glass protection over part of the sidewalk, but she crashed through it, wrecking it and breaking her body into a thousand pieces.

[continued on following page…]

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A police officer and others with the broken bodies of Triangle fire victims at their feet, look up in shock at workers poised to jump from the upper floors of the burning Asch Building. 

Then they all began to drop. The crowd yelled "Don't jump!" but it was jump or be burned the proof of which is found in the fact that fifty burned bodies were taken from the ninth floor alone. They jumped, the crashed through broken glass, they crushed themselves to death on the sidewalk…

No Chance to Save VictimsFour alarms were rung in fifteen minutes. The first five girls who jumped did go before the first engine could respond. That fact may not convey much of a picture to the mind of an unimaginative man, but anybody who has ever seen a fire can get from it some idea of the terrific rapidity with which the flames spread.It may convey some idea too, to say that thirty bodies clogged the elevator shaft. These dead were all girls. They had made their rush their blindly when they discovered that there was no chance to get out by the fire escape. Then they found that the elevator was as hopeless as anything else, and they fell there in their tracks and died.

The Triangle Waist Company employed about 600 women and less than 100 men. One of the saddest features of the thing is the fact that they had almost finished for the day. In five minutes more, if the fire had started then, probably not a life would have been lost.

Last night District Attorney Whitman started an investigation not of this disaster alone but of the whole condition which makes it possible for a firetrap of such a kind to exist. Mr. Whitman's intention is to find out if the present laws cover such cases, and if they do not to frame laws that will…

Cartoon 1

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“Inspector Of Buildings!

Record fire for New York, 145 lives lost!!!!

Building Fire Proof, Only Fire Escape Collapses.

O.K. Inspector.” 

Rise of Organized LaborDocument 1A Knight’s Sacred Oath

The Knights of Labor, a nineteenth-century labor union, employed elaborate rituals and symbols in their local assembly meetings. The initiation ceremony for new members, for example, relied heavily on religious imagery and language. It also drew on the rituals of other fraternal organizations like the Masons and the Odd Fellows, that had many working-class members. The ceremony emphasized that all that was valuable and worthy in society derived from human labor. New Knights agreed to commit themselves to improve the conditions of all working people. Hundreds of thousands of workers in the 1880s were “baptized” in a Knights of Labor initiation ceremony that required the following promises.

“In the beginning, God ordained that man should labor, not as a curse, but as a blessing; not as a punishment, but as means of development, physically, mentally, morally, and has set thereunto his seal of approval in the rich increase and reward. By labor is brought forward the kindly fruits of the earth in rich abundance for our sustenance and comfort; by labor (not exhaustive) is promoted health of the body and strength of mind, labor garners the priceless stores of wisdom and knowledge. It is the “Philosopher’s Stone,” everything it touches turns to wealth. “Labor is noble and holy.” To glorify God in its exercise, to defend it from degradation, to divest it of the evils to body, mind, and estate, which ignorance and greed have imposed; to rescue the toiler from the grasp of the selfish is a work worthy of the noblest and best of our race.

You have been selected from among your associates for that exalted purpose. Are you willing to accept the responsibility, and, trusting in the support of pledged true Knights, labor, with what ability you possess, for the triumph of these principles among men?”

Source: Illustrated “Adelphon Kruptos”: The Secret Work of the Knights of Labor as quoted in Peter J. Rachleff, Black Labor in the South: Richmond, Virginia, 1865–1890 (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1984), 135.

Document 2“A Healthy Public Opinion”by Terence Powderly (Knights of Labor leader)

The Haymarket Affair, as it is known today, began on May 1, 1886 when a labor protester threw a bomb at police, killing one officer, and ended with the arrest of eight anarchist leaders, three of whom were executed and none of whom was ever linked to the bombing. Some labor organizations saw the executed men as martyrs and tried to rally support but in the end, the hanging of the Haymarket anarchists not only emboldened capitalists, it undercut labor unity. Knights of Labor leader Terence V. Powderly was desperate to distance his organization from the accused anarchists and maintain the order’s respectability. In this excerpt from his 1890 autobiography Powderly explained his decision three years earlier to keep mainstream labor out of the furor that surrounded the Haymarket Affair.

“This organization, among other things, is endeavoring to create a healthy public opinion on the subject of labor. Each member is pledged to do that very thing. How can you go back to your homes and say that you have elevated the Order in the eyes of the public by catering to an element that defies public opinion and attempts to dragoon us into doing the same thing? The eyes of the world are turned toward this convention. For evil or good will the vote you are to cast on this question affect the entire Order, and extreme caution must characterize your action. The Richmond session passed a vote in favor of clemency, but in such a way that the Order could not be identified with

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the society to which these men belong, and yet thousands have gone from the Order because of it. I tell you the day has come for us to stamp anarchy out of the Order, root and branch. It has no abiding place among us, and we may as well face the issue here and now as later on and at another place. Every device known to the devil and his imps has been resorted to throttle this Order in the hope that on its ruins would rise the strength of anarchy.”

Cartoon 1The "labor question” was a major concern of Americans in 1912.

Each of the political parties that competed in the election of 1912 developed its own, often very different, position on the question: how to solve the problems of the worker in an industrial society?

Many Americans in 1912 feared that their society was coming apart in a brutal conflict between "capital" and "labor," leaving the "public" out of the picture. A voter who was forty years of age in 1912 had grown up in a nation where spectacular strikes had disturbed production and often led to violence. This cartoon drawn by Frank Beard in the 1890s captured the widely held perception that while the two sides were fighting on the plank of greed and threatening financial ruin, other persons were suffering poverty as a result.

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Document 3The American Federation of Labor was a "union of unions." Founded in 1886, the A.F. of L. was the largest labor organization in the United States in 1912. Its president was Samuel Gompers (a Dutch-Jewish immigrant who was a cigar maker by trade). Gompers sought to strengthen the union movement more generally by winning "bread and butter" gains--better hours--especially the 8 hour day and the 48 hour work week--better wages, and better working conditions.

14 | P a g eDiagram Showing Membership A. F. of L. 1881-1911

Document 4“Certain Fundamental Truths” by Samuel Gompers (head of the AFL)

The spreading economic depression of 1893 stirred the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which was sometimes guilty of focusing primarily on the needs of its own members, to call for broad measures that would benefit all working people. The AFL urged the unemployed to hold mass demonstrations. The federation also organized “federal labor unions” of the jobless. New York’s organized labor movement also protested, as seen in this September 1893 appeal signed by local and national labor leaders, including Samuel Gompers. Although the resolution primarily called on the city to provide “immediate relief and public employment,” it also suggested that the state and federal governments should provide for the unemployed. This claim was part of a long-term shift in which working people and others came to see the needs of the jobless as more than a local obligation (in the manner of traditional poor relief). Only with the New Deal of the 1930s were such demands realized.

“A hundred thousand men, women, and children are nearing the verge of starvation in this rich metropolis of these free United States. Hundreds of thousands of others are within but a short distance from want and its attendant suffering, misery and crime. From all the manufacturing and commercial centres there comes the anxious demand for work, soon we fear to be followed by the despairing cry for bread.

The fields of our matchless domain have blossomed with promise of an abundant harvest and beneath our feet is stored the wealth of ages, of metals and of minerals for the needs of men. The cattle reed upon a thousand hills and our forests covering empires of states crown the earth with glory. All nature smiles with the abundance of prosperous peace. The sword of war is sheathed and pestilence has withdrawn its destroying hand. Invention has quickened production and lessened cost. Electricity and steam have conquered time and space. The North and South, the East and remotest West are one, a grand indissoluble union of independent states. The hands of labor, skilled in every craft, answer the will of an intelligent, industrious, peace-loving people. The untaught, foreign born, oppressed for ages beneath the heel of usurping power, have come to these shores, as our fathers came, to seek a higher and a happier life. The forces of nature and the right good will of millions of workers on farm and sea, in mill and mine, and in all the enterprises of this new world of free men, are united to make this country the home of plenty—the garden and forum of the world.

A few thousand men and women enjoy the opulence of eastern potentates, while abject millions grovel in the dust begging for work and bread. This is the industrial and social exhibit of our Columbian year.

Against these conditions and their inevitable results and against the underlying causes that make poverty the normal condition of the wage-laborer, we, the organized workers of the city of New York, voicing as we do believe the organized labor of the world, enter our serious and determined protest and warning…

We believe that the organization of wage-workers in trade unions is the purest guarantee of a peaceful solution of the world-wide problem: “How to abolish poverty.”

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Cornelius Vanderbilt 

SYNOPSISCornelius Vanderbilt was born on May 27, 1794, in the Port Richmond area of Staten Island, New York. He began a passenger ferry business in New York harbor with one boat, then started his own steamship company, eventually controlling Hudson River traffic. He also provided the first rail service between New York and Chicago. When he died in 1877, Vanderbilt had amassed the largest fortune accumulated in the U.S. at that time. Vanderbilt is deemed one of America's leading businessmen, and is credited for helping to shape the present-day United States.

EARLY LIFECornelius Vanderbilt was born on May 27, 1794, in Port Richmond, Staten Island, New York. Although destined to be one of America’s first tycoons, Vanderbilt grew up poor, watching his illiterate father, Cornelius Vanderbilt Sr., toil away as a seaman. Following the death of one of his eight siblings, Vanderbilt, at age 11, dropped out of school to work for his father. His early days in a boat sparked an interest in the sea, which he pursued by studying all aspects of the shipping business.

When he was 16, Vanderbilt earned $100 landscaping his father’s land and used the money to purchase a sailboat. He began a passenger ferry business in New York Harbor with one boat, then started his own company ferrying people and dry goods between Staten Island and Manhattan. Known as a skilled sailor who would routinely undercut his competition, Vanderbilt’s business grew. During the War of 1812, he was awarded a military contract to provide supplies to forts along the Hudson River.

SUCCESS AT SEAThe rise of steamboat travel was a threat to Vanderbilt, whose sailboats couldn’t possibly provide the same level of reliability and cheap fares that customers were now demanding. Not willing to watch his business decline, he sold his sailing vessels in 1817 and got a job operating a steamboat for Thomas Gibbons, ferrying passengers from New Jersey to Manhattan. In his mid-30s at this time, Vanderbilt went into the steamboat business for himself. Once again, customers flocked to his service, with its cutthroat rates and new vessels. Vanderbilt’s ability to steal away customers was so great that competitors paid him to leave the Hudson River. In his wake followed a growing reputation as a robber baron.

By the mid 1840s, Vanderbilt was operating a fleet of more than 100 steamboats. He was also worth several million dollars. He parlayed his success into ventures in Central America and, in 1855, began overseeing a transatlantic steamship business.

SUCCESS ON THE RAILSIn the 1860s, rail travel began to grow in the United States and, once again, Vanderbilt seized the opportunity by purchasing railroads in New York. Following the same business model he's used with his previous ventures, he made his mark by improving service and offering customers low fares. After only five years in the railroad business, Vanderbilt reportedly made $25 million.

Vanderbilt eventually extended his railroad empire westward, acquiring the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway; the Michigan Southern Railroad; the Canada Southern Railway; and the Michigan

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Central Railroad. Urged on by his son (and eventual heir to the empire) William Henry Vanderbilt, Cornelius made his way toward Chicago.

Tragedy struck in 1868, when Vanderbilt's wife, Sophia, died. A year later, Vanderbilt married a distant cousin, Frances Armstrong Crawford. The marriage wasn’t without controversy: She was 34 years his junior.

FINAL YEARS AND LEGACYWilliam Vanderbilt looked over the business during the last years of Cornelius’s life. In 1877, at the age of 83, the tycoon died, leaving the majority of his estate to William, modest sums to each of his other nine surviving children, and an indelible mark on American industry.

Source: http://www.biography.com/people/cornelius-vanderbilt-9515195

Shipping and railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) was a self-made multi-millionaire who became one of the wealthiest Americans of the 19th century. As a boy, he worked with his father, who operated a boat that ferried cargo between Staten Island, New York, where they lived, and Manhattan. After working as a steamship captain, Vanderbilt went into business for himself in the late 1820s, and eventually became one of the country’s largest steamship operators. In the process, the Commodore, as he was publicly nicknamed, gained a reputation for being fiercely competitive and ruthless. In the 1860s, he shifted his focus to the railroad industry, where he built another empire and helped make railroad transportation more efficient. When Vanderbilt died, he was worth more than $100 million.

Source: http://www.history.com/topics/cornelius-vanderbilt

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John D. Rockefeller 

SYNOPSISJohn D. Rockefeller was born July 8, 1839, in Richford, New York. He built his first oil refinery near Cleveland and in 1870 incorporated the Standard Oil Company. By 1882 he had a near-monopoly of the oil business in the U.S, but his business practices led to the passing of antimonopoly laws. Late in life Rockefeller devoted himself to philanthropy. He died in 1937.

EARLY YEARSEntrepreneur. John D. Rockefeller was an American industrialist who rose from humble beginnings. He founded the Standard Oil Company, a dominating force in the American economy that propelled its founder to become the world's richest man.

Born in Richford, New York on July 8, 1839, Rockefeller moved with his family to Cleveland at the age of 16. Unafraid of hard work, he took on a number of small business ventures as a teenager and at age 16, he landed his first real office job as an assistant bookkeeper with Hewlett & Tuttle, commission merchants and produce shippers.

By the age of 20, Rockefeller, who'd thrived at his job, ventured out his own with another business partner, working as commission merchants in hay, meats, grain and other goods. At the close of the company's first year in business, it had grossed $450,000.

A careful and studious businessman who refrained from taking unnecessary risks, Rockefeller sensed an opportunity in the oil business by the early 1860s, and in 1863 he opened his first refinery, just outside Cleveland. Less than a decade later, Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Company, had near-total control of the region's refineries.

STANDARD OILWhen the oil business moved east to Pennsylvania, Rockefeller followed it. By the early 1880s, he dominated the oil business throughout the country and his company had a net worth of $55 million. Standard's dominance stemmed from its near control (and ownership) of almost every aspect the business. Under Rockefeller's leadership, the company established a system of pipelines to transport its product. It owned train cars, and scooped up thousands of acres of forest for fuel.

In 1882, Rockefeller organized the Standard Oil Trust, a business trust that would serve as a model for the creation of other kinds of monopolies. Rockefeller, of course, was appointed head of the organization.But as Rockefeller's power and wealth increased, his standing with the public nose-dived. By the early 1800s states began to enact antimonopoly legislation, paving the way for the 1890 passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

In 1895 the 56-year-old Rockefeller retired from his day-to-day involvement of Standard Oil and turned his focus toward philanthropic endeavors. His new direction did little to quell the attacks on Rockefeller and his business.

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In 1904 Ida M. Tarbell wrote The History of Standard Oil, a damning book that told the tale of Standard Oil's ruthless business practices. In 1911, the corporation was found to be in violation of the Sherman Act and ordered to dissolve. 

LATER YEARSJohn D. Rockefeller's charity proved considerable.

In total he gave away more than $530 million to various causes. His money helped pay for the creation of the University of Chicago as well as the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (later named Rockefeller University) in New York, as well as the Rockefeller Foundation.

With his wife Laura, Rockefeller had five children, including a daughter, Alice, who died in infancy.Rockefeller passed away on May 23, 1937 in Ormond Beach, Florida. His legacy, however, lives on: Rockefeller is considered one of America's leading businessmen, and is credited for helping to shape the nation into what it is today.

Source: http://www.biography.com/print/profile/john-d-rockefeller-20710159

John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), founder of the Standard Oil Company, became one of the world’s wealthiest men and a major philanthropist. Born into modest circumstances in upstate New York, he entered the then-fledgling oil business in 1863 by investing in a Cleveland, Ohio, refinery. In 1870, he established Standard Oil, which by the early 1880s controlled some 90 percent of U.S. refineries and pipelines. Critics accused Rockefeller of engaging in unethical practices, such as predatory pricing and scheming with railroads to eliminate his competitors, in order to gain a monopoly in the industry. In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court found Standard Oil in violation of anti-trust laws and ordered it to dissolve. During his life Rockefeller donated more than $500 million to various philanthropic causes.

Source: http://www.history.com/topics/john-d-rockefeller

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J.P. Morgan 

SYNOPSISBorn on April 17, 1837, in Hartford, Connecticut, J.P. Morgan would later become one of the most famous financiers in business history. In 1871, Morgan began his own private banking company, which later became known as J.P. Morgan & Co., one of the leading financial firms in the country. Morgan died on March 31, 1913, in Rome, Italy. He was hailed as a master of finance at the time of his death, and continues to be considered one of the country's leading businessmen.

FAMOUS FINANCIERFinancier, art collector and philanthropist John Pierpont Morgan, best known as J.P. Morgan, was born on April 17, 1837, in Hartford, Connecticut. The son of a banker, Morgan went into the family business and became one of the most famous financiers in history. After working for his father, he started his own private banking company in 1871, which later became known as J.P. Morgan & Co.

His company became one of the leading financial firms in the country. It was so powerful that even the U.S. government looked to the firm for help with the depression of 1895. The company also assisted in thwarting the 1907 financial crisis.

During his career, his wealth, power, and influence attracted a lot of media and government scrutiny. During the late 1800s and even after the turn of the century, much of the country's industries were in the hands of a few powerful business leaders, especially Morgan. He was criticized for creating monopolies by making it difficult for any business to compete against his. Morgan dominated two industries in particular -- he helped consolidate railroad industry in the East and formed the United States Steel Corporation in 1901.

A crucial material in the extensive growth of the nation, U.S. Steel became the world's largest steel manufacturer. The government, concerned that Morgan had created a monopoly in the steel industry, filed suit against the company in 1911. The following year, Morgan and his partners became the subject of a congressional investigation by the Pujo Committee in 1912.

PERSONAL LIFEMorgan had many interests beyond the world of banking. He enjoyed sailing and participated in a number of America's Cup yacht races. He was an ardent art collector, creating one of the most significant collections of his time. He later donated his art collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and his collection of written works to the Morgan Library—both in New York City.

Morgan's first marriage to Amelia Sturges was brief. She died a few months after their 1860 wedding. Five years later, Morgan married Frances Tracy. The couple had four children: John Pierpont Jr., Louisa, Juliet and Anne.

Morgan died on March 31, 1913, in Rome, Italy. At the time of his death, he was hailed as a master of finance. Today, Morgan is considered one of America's leading businessmen, and is credited for helping to shape the nation into what it is today.

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Source: http://www.biography.com/people/jp-morgan-9414735

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One of the most powerful bankers of his era, J.P. (John Pierpont) Morgan (1837-1913) financed railroads and helped organize U.S. Steel, General Electric and other major corporations. The Connecticut native followed his wealthy father into the banking business in the late 1850s, and in 1871 formed a partnership with Philadelphia banker Anthony Drexel. In 1895, their firm was reorganized as J.P. Morgan & Company, a predecessor of the modern-day financial giant JPMorgan Chase. Morgan used his influence to help stabilize American financial markets during several economic crises, including the panic of 1907. However, he faced criticism that he had too much power and was accused of manipulating the nation’s financial system for his own gain. The Gilded Age titan spent a significant portion of his wealth amassing a vast art collection.

Source: http://www.history.com/topics/john-pierpont-morgan

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Andrew Carnegie 

SYNOPSISAndrew Carnegie was born on November 25, 1835, in Dunfermline, Scotland. After moving to the United States, he worked a series of railroad jobs. By 1889 he owned Carnegie Steel Corporation, the largest of its kind in the world. In 1901 he sold his business and dedicated his time to expanding his philanthropic work, including the establishment of Carnegie-Mellon University in 1904.

EARLY LIFEIndustrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie was born on November 25, 1835, in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. Although he had little formal education, Carnegie grew up in a family that believed in the importance of books and learning. The son of a handloom weaver, Carnegie grew up to become one of the wealthiest businessmen in America.

At the age of 13, in 1848, Carnegie came to the United States with his family. They settled in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and Carnegie went to work in a factory, earning $1.20 a week. The next year he found a job as a telegraph messenger. Hoping to advance his career, he moved up to a telegraph operator position in 1851. He then took a job at the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1853. He worked as the assistant and telegrapher to Thomas Scott, one of the railroad's top officials. Through this experience, he learned about the railroad industry and about business in general. Three years later, Carnegie was promoted to superintendent.

STEEL TYCOONWhile working for the railroad, Carnegie began making investments. He made many wise choices and found that his investments, especially those in oil, brought in substantial returns. He left the railroad in 1865 to focus on his other business interests, including the Keystone Bridge Company.

By the next decade, most of Carnegie's time was dedicated to the steel industry. His business, which became known as the Carnegie Steel Company, revolutionized steel production in the United States. Carnegie built plants around the country, using technology and methods that made manufacturing steel easier, faster and more productive. For every step of the process, he owned exactly what he needed: the raw materials, ships and railroads for transporting the goods, and even coal fields to fuel the steel furnaces.

This start-to-finish strategy helped Carnegie become the dominant force in the industry and an exceedingly wealthy man. It also made him known as one of America's "builders,” as his business helped to fuel the economy and shape the nation into what it is today. By 1889, Carnegie Steel Corporation was the largest of its kind in the world.

Some felt that the company's success came at the expense of its workers. The most notable case of this came in 1892. When the company tried to lower wages at a Carnegie Steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania, the employees objected. They refused to work, starting what has been called the Homestead Strike of 1892. The conflict between the workers and local managers turned violent after the managers called in guards to break up the union. While Carnegie was away at the time of strike, many still held him accountable for his managers' actions.

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PHILANTHROPYIn 1901, Carnegie made a dramatic change in his life. He sold his business to the United States Steel Corporation, started by legendary financier J.P. Morgan. The sale earned him more than $200 million. At the age of 65, Carnegie decided to spend the rest of his days helping others. While he had begun his philanthropic work years earlier by building libraries and making donations, Carnegie expanded his efforts in the early 20th century.

Carnegie, an avid reader for much of his life, donated approximately $5 million to the New York Public Library so that the library could open several branches in 1901. Devoted to learning, he established the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, which is now known as Carnegie-Mellon University in 1904. The next year, he created the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 1905. With his strong interest to peace, he formed the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1910. He made numerous other donations, and it is said that more than 2,800 libraries were opened with his support.

Besides his business and charitable interests, Carnegie enjoyed traveling and meeting and entertaining leading figures in many fields. He was friends with Matthew Arnold, Mark Twain, William Gladstone, and Theodore Roosevelt. Carnegie also wrote several books and numerous articles. His 1889 article "Wealth" outlined his view that those with great wealth must be socially responsible and use their assets to help others. This was later published as the 1900 book The Gospel of Wealth.

Source: http://www.biography.com/print/profile/andrew-carnegie-9238756

Scottish-born Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was an American industrialist who amassed a fortune in the steel industry then became a major philanthropist. Carnegie worked in a Pittsburgh cotton factory as a boy before rising to the position of division superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859. While working for the railroad, he invested in various ventures, including iron and oil companies, and made his first fortune by the time he was in his early 30s. In the early 1870s, he entered the steel business, and over the next two decades became a dominant force in the industry. In 1901, he sold the Carnegie Steel Company to banker John Pierpont Morgan for $480 million. Carnegie then devoted himself to philanthropy, eventually giving away more than $350 million.

Source: http://www.history.com/topics/andrew-carnegie

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Theodore RooseveltWith the assassination of President William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the 26th and youngest President in the Nation's history (1901-1909). He brought new excitement and power to the office, vigorously leading Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign

policy.

With the assassination of President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the youngest President in the Nation's history. He brought new excitement and power to the Presidency, as he vigorously led Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy.

He took the view that the President as a "steward of the people" should take whatever action necessary for the public good unless expressly forbidden by law or the Constitution." I did not usurp power," he wrote, "but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power."

Roosevelt's youth differed sharply from that of the log cabin Presidents. He was born in New York City in 1858 into a wealthy family, but he too struggled--against ill health--and in his triumph became an advocate of the strenuous life.

In 1884 his first wife, Alice Lee Roosevelt, and his mother died on the same day. Roosevelt spent much of the next two years on his ranch in the Badlands of Dakota Territory. There he mastered his sorrow as he lived in the saddle, driving cattle, hunting big game--he even captured an outlaw. On a visit to London, he married Edith Carow in December 1886.

During the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt was lieutenant colonel of the Rough Rider Regiment, which he led on a charge at the battle of San Juan. He was one of the most conspicuous heroes of the war.

Boss Tom Platt, needing a hero to draw attention away from scandals in New York State, accepted Roosevelt as the Republican candidate for Governor in 1898. Roosevelt won and served with distinction.

As President, Roosevelt held the ideal that the Government should be the great arbiter of the conflicting economic forces in the Nation, especially between capital and labor, guaranteeing justice to each and dispensing favors to none.

Roosevelt emerged spectacularly as a "trust buster" by forcing the disbanding of a great railroad combination in the Northwest. Other antitrust suits under the Sherman Act followed.

Roosevelt steered the United States more actively into world politics. He liked to quote a favorite proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick. . .”

Aware of the strategic need for a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific, Roosevelt ensured the construction of the Panama Canal. His corollary to the Monroe Doctrine prevented the establishment of foreign bases in the Caribbean and arrogated the sole right of intervention in Latin America to the United States.

He won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War, reached a Gentleman's Agreement on immigration with Japan, and sent the Great White Fleet on a goodwill tour of the world.

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Some of Theodore Roosevelt's most effective achievements were in conservation. He added enormously to the national forests in the West, reserved lands for public use, and fostered great irrigation projects.

He crusaded endlessly on matters big and small, exciting audiences with his high-pitched voice, jutting jaw, and pounding fist. "The life of strenuous endeavor" was a must for those around him, as he romped with his five younger children and led ambassadors on hikes through Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C.

Leaving the Presidency in 1909, Roosevelt went on an African safari, and then jumped back into politics. In 1912 he ran for President on a Progressive ticket. To reporters he once remarked that he felt as fit as a bull moose, the name of his new party.

While campaigning in Milwaukee, he was shot in the chest by a fanatic. Roosevelt soon recovered, but his words at that time would have been applicable at the time of his death in 1919: "No man has had a happier life than I have led; a happier life in every way."

The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association.

When Theodore Roosevelt became president of the U.S. in 1901 America’s society and economy were changing rapidly, and with his energy and visionary leadership he set the maturing nation on the path to prosperous growth and diplomatic influence that would last throughout the 20th Century. By the time he left office in March 1909, Roosevelt also had changed forever the influence and scope of the presidency.

Though he remains the youngest person ever to hold America’s highest office, Roosevelt was one of the best prepared to be president, entering the White House with a broad understanding of governmental and legislative processes and with executive leadership experience. He led the U.S. onto the world stage by becoming actively involved in foreign affairs. On the home front, Roosevelt believed the federal government had a role, even an obligation, to ensure a level of equality in Americans’ daily lives and used government regulations and policies to bring about social and economic justice.

In contrast to those who served before him, Roosevelt believed the president had the power to act except in areas specifically prohibited by law or granted in the Constitution to Congress or the Courts. He put this approach to good use in 1902 when he negotiated a settlement to the anthracite coal strike, the first time the federal government intervened in a labor dispute and recognized the rights of organized labor.

Roosevelt also negotiated with Congress to see the Pure Food and Drug Act passed in 1906, putting in place many safeguards Americans take for granted today involving food safety, quality controls in manufacturing, and drug labeling. In addition, he fought against unfair trade practices, establishing precedents for the president’s intervention in business, trade and consumer affairs.

In international affairs, Roosevelt also acted boldly and decisively. He negotiated an end to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and became the first American honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. Realizing that the Navy needed to be able to move ships quickly between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, he acted to recognize the fledgling country of Panama, negotiate control of the Canal Zone and push to see the Panama Canal built, one of the grandest engineering projects of the 20th Century. Considered the father of the modern American Navy, Roosevelt persuaded Congress to provide funding for modern steel-hulled battleships and sent the Great White Fleet—16 ships from the Atlantic fleet—in an around-the-world cruise, which raised America’s visibility and respect among world powers.

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Roosevelt left his greatest mark on conserving America’s natural resources. He realized the country’s abundant resources were being used faster than they could be replaced or replenished, and that great natural wonders like the Grand Canyon were in danger of commercial development. This led him as president to use executive power, like none of his predecessors had, to protect nearly 230 million acres of land, including 150 national forests, the first 55 federal wildlife refuges, 5 national parks, and the first 18 national monument sites.

Source: http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/site/pp.aspx?c=elKSIdOWIiJ8H&b=8344377#sthash.luh72PJ7.dpufAccessed: 15 October 2015

Why was the Federal Meat Inspection Act passed?

THE JUNGLE

The Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 came about largely due to the conditions in the meat packing industry that were detailed in great depth in Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel, "The Jungle."  The novel was intended, by the author, to be a detailed account of the harsh working conditions surrounding manufacturing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  The meat packing industry had become a sprawling economic business with the sharp increase in population in the United States.  As such, the need for food; especially meat, became increasingly important.  

Sinclair was paid a $500 advance to enter into the work force of a Chicago meat packing plant to uncover the plight of the American worker.  In doing so he also uncovered the details of meat manufacturing in the United States. Excerpts of his novel include, in horrifying detail, the complete lack of any sanitary conditions.  Sinclair's details of the conditions in the meat packing industry contained the common the overwhelming presence of rats in the production lines.  Rancid meat would be shipped in from Europe to be included in the meat products produced by the plants.  Meat was allowed to remain in piles in dark rooms where water would like onto the meat and   "thousands of rats would race about on it. It was too dark in these storage places to see well, but a man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats." Rats and any other contaminants found in the processing plants were included in the meat and there were allegations in the book that workers would fall into the giant vats and be ground up with the meat and sold to the public.

Response to "The Jungle"

The public response to "The Jungle" was swift and harsh.  Due to the public outcry President Theodore Roosevelt authorized the Labor Commissioner and a social worker to Chicago to make surprise visits to the meat packing facilities

NEILL-REYNOLDS REPORT

President Roosevelt read "The Jungle" himself and was disturbed by what he read.  Unlike the historical significance attributed to the novel, the book was largely a discussion of social and economic disparity in the United States and Sinclair's main objective was a call to the public for a transfer to communist ideals.  As such, the President was impressed by Sinclair's allegations and sought to seek the facts of the meat packing industry through his own resources.  

Roosevelt sent the Labor Commissioner, Charles Neill, and James Reynolds, a social worker to inspect the meat packing plants.  Their report largely confirmed all of the allegations insinuated by Sinclair's novel.  Roosevelt initially intended to take the report to Congress but after contemplation he realized that the publication of the report would result in a devastating blow to the domestic economy.

THE BEVERIDGE AMENDMENT 

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Instead, Roosevelt decided to coerce the meat packing industry to reform by using the threat of dissemination of the report.  He forced the meat packing industry's supporters in Congress to pass, what was known as, the Beveridge Amendment.  This act would effectively require the meat packing industry to submit to constant inspections and investigations by the Agricultural Department which would be paid for by the meat packing industry.  In addition the act would require stamps on meat products that were sent to market for public consumption.  The Act passed the Senate but was received with strong opposition from members of the House of Representatives who had strong ties to the meat packing industry.  In response Roosevelt decided to publicize the Neil-Reynolds report to the press.

PUBLICATION OF THE NEIL-REYNOLDS REPORT

As was expected by the publication of the Neil-Reynolds report, the effects were disastrous for the meat packing industry.  Upon the reports publication, foreign nations refused to allow the importation of American beef.  In response, the meat packing industry went to great lengths in order to create a more sanitary working environment. Roosevelt found that the evidence was enough to call for immediate and radical enlargement of the powers of the government in inspection all meats which enter into interstate and foreign commerce.  By June of 1906 both public and political support for legislation controlling the production and distribution of meat products resulted in the passage of the Food and Drug Act as well as the Meat Inspection Act.  

Amendments to the Meat Inspection Act of 1906

Since the creation of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 and the creation of the Food and Drug administration there have been many amendments made to correspond with improvements in the meat industry and the changing appetites of the American people.  

As originally written, the Meat Inspection Act did not apply to poultry.  In 1906, when the Act was passed there was not a heavy demand for poultry products in the United States.  Those who did eat poultry got their produce from local farms.  As such, the Meat Inspection Act, as initially enacted applied only to cattle, sheep, goats, equines, and swine.  

It was not until the 1920s when an outbreak of avian flu occurred in New York City that the federal government took a valid interest in the inspection of poultry in the United States.  The influenza outbreak resulted in local inspection ordinances and when the United States entered World War II the military required that all poultry products used for military personnel conform to the military's sanitation standards.  As a result the poultry industry altered its methods and in 1957 the Poultry Products Inspection Act was enacted to require any poultry products that moved in interstate commerce to be continuously inspected both prior to slaughter, after slaughter, before processing and at the point of entry into the United States; if it was imported.

Since the inception of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 the law has been expanded to include other kinds of meat products.  In 1967 Congress passed the Wholesome Meat Act and the Wholesome Poultry Act which set a minimums sanitation standard for State inspections of meat packing and poultry plants. 

Source: http://federal.laws.com/meat-inspection-actAccessed: 15 October 2015

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William Howard Taft William Howard Taft was elected the 27th President of the United States (1909-1913) and later became the tenth Chief Justice of the United States (1921-1930), the only person to have served in both of these offices.

Distinguished jurist, effective administrator, but poor politician, William Howard Taft spent four uncomfortable years in the White House. Large, jovial, conscientious, he was caught in the intense battles between Progressives and conservatives, and got scant credit for the achievements of his administration.

Born in 1857, the son of a distinguished judge, he graduated from Yale, and returned to Cincinnati to study and practice law. He rose in politics through Republican judiciary appointments, through his own competence and availability, and because, as he once wrote facetiously, he always had his "plate the right side up when offices were falling."

But Taft much preferred law to politics. He was appointed a Federal circuit judge at 34. He aspired to be a member of the Supreme Court, but his wife, Helen Herron Taft, held other ambitions for him. His route to the White House was via administrative posts. President McKinley sent him to the Philippines in 1900 as chief civil administrator. Sympathetic toward the Filipinos, he improved the economy, built roads and schools, and gave the people at least some participation in government.

President Roosevelt made him Secretary of War, and by 1907 had decided that Taft should be his successor. The Republican Convention nominated him the next year.

Taft disliked the campaign--"one of the most uncomfortable four months of my life." But he pledged his loyalty to the Roosevelt program, popular in the West, while his brother Charles reassured eastern Republicans. William Jennings Bryan, running on the Democratic ticket for a third time, complained that he was having to oppose two candidates, a western progressive Taft and an eastern conservative Taft.

Progressives were pleased with Taft's election. "Roosevelt has cut enough hay," they said; "Taft is the man to put it into the barn." Conservatives were delighted to be rid of Roosevelt--the "mad messiah." Taft recognized that his techniques would differ from those of his predecessor. Unlike Roosevelt, Taft did not believe in the stretching of Presidential powers. He once commented that Roosevelt "ought more often to have admitted the legal way of reaching the same ends."

Taft alienated many liberal Republicans who later formed the Progressive Party, by defending the Payne-Aldrich Act which unexpectedly continued high tariff rates. A trade agreement with Canada, which Taft pushed through Congress, would have pleased eastern advocates of a low tariff, but the Canadians rejected it. He further antagonized Progressives by upholding his Secretary of the Interior, accused of failing to carry out Roosevelt's conservation policies.

In the angry Progressive onslaught against him, little attention was paid to the fact that his administration initiated 80 antitrust suits and that Congress submitted to the states amendments for a Federal income tax and the direct election of Senators. A postal savings system was established, and the Interstate Commerce Commission was directed to set railroad rates.

In 1912, when the Republicans renominated Taft, Roosevelt bolted the party to lead the Progressives, thus guaranteeing the election of Woodrow Wilson. The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association.

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Historical Text ArchiveWilliam Howard Taft was elected in 1908 for the 1909-1913 term. He was Theodore Roosevelt's hand-picked successor, for TR believed that Taft would follow the policies TR had established. He had been an able and obedient aide during the Roosevelt presidency. Taft had lots of political experience, becoming a judge at age 34 and then serving as civil administrator of the Philippines in 1900 and then as Secretary of War but not in electoral politics. He was a lawyer and wanted to be Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, but TR and Taft's wife, Helen Herron Taft, had pushed him into running for president.

This great man (he weighed over 300 pounds) was conservative by nature and did not believe in a dynamic presidency. He approached problems from a legalistic standpoint. If it was against the law, he wanted it punished. In fact, because of these beliefs, he was much more the "trust buster" than Teddy Roosevelt.

For the most part, he was committed to preserving the status quo but willing to support moderate reform when he thought it necessary. The Dingley Tariff was sky high and the "reform" bill to lower it was changed in the Senate into the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, which was a high tariff. Taft, like most Republicans, believed that it was imperative to prevent foreign competition in manufactured goods and protect US industry, so he had no qualms signing the bill. He was also willingly to use the power of the United States government to serve private business interests in Latin America. Bankers and other financiers began playing a key role in the conduct of US policy in the Caribbean region. Part of this "Dollar Diplomacy" was simply a matter of following through on the McKinley-Roosevelt decision to turn the Caribbean into an American lake.

During Taft's presidency, Congress passed the 16th Amendment, creating an income tax, and the 17th amendment, providing for the people of a state electing US Senators instead of the state legislature. the Mann-Elkins Act strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission. Postal Savings and Parcel Post accounts were created to aid small business and to provide a mechanism by which the average person could bank money. The federal Bureau of Mines was created to give strong guidance to this very dangerous occupation. A Children’s Bureau was created, reflecting the concern of Progressives that children needed special protection because too many mothers were working outside the home. Although Taft was pro-business and pro-industry, the Department of Labor was created.

Much of what Roosevelt had wanted in terms of reforming US society did not interest Taft, so the two men parted ways. Roosevelt tried to get the Republican presidential nomination for 1912 but Taft, as president controlled the Republican Party machinery and got the nod. Roosevelt then broke with the party and ran on the Progressive or "Bull Moose" ticket, thus splitting the Republican vote.

by Donald J. Mabry, source: http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?action=read&artid=599Accessed: 15 October 2015

The Mann Elkins Act of 1910 was signed into law in June of 1910 by President William Howard Taft.  The law, along with the Hepburn act of 1906, greatly strengthened the responsibilities, and authority, of the Interstate Commerce Commission to include the regulation of telephone, telegraph, and cable companies as well as railroad companies.  The Mann Elkins Act, along with the Hepburn Act, gave the Interstate Commerce commission the authority to control interstate rail rates and practices.

Interstate Commerce ActThe history of the Mann Elkins Act begins with the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887.  The Act also created a 5 member body called the Interstate Commerce Commission that had complete oversight of the railroad industry to investigate allegations of corruption, fraud and discrimination.

The Interstate Commerce Act was a direct result of the unscrupulous policies of the railroad industry.  After the Civil War railroad industries were primarily unregulated and each company held a natural monopoly.  They were

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regarded with distrust by much of the public, who felt that the railroad industry was forming a monopoly and accused them with corruption, stock manipulation and rate discrimination. 

The railroad industry was controlled by only a small number of individuals like J. P. Morgan.  These individuals took advantage of the natural monopolies given them and individual passengers for branch service rides while, at the same time, giving rebates and beneficial rates to large industry.

The states could do nothing about the actions of the railroad companies because, as the Supreme Court stated in a railroad case, the railroads constituted interstate commerce and could only be delegated Interstate Commerce Commission.

Hepburn Act of 1906Despite the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission the federal government still had little enforcement over the railroad industry.  In 1906 the Hepburn Act was enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt.  It gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to set maximum railroad rates, institute "just and reasonable" maximum rates and abolished rebates and free rides to "loyal shippers." The Hepburn Act also authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to view the financial records of the railroad industry and covered bridges, terminals, ferries, sleeping cars, and oil pipelines.  

The Mann Elkins Act of 1910Section 7 of the Mann Elkins Act specifies that "the provisions of this Act shall apply to any corporation engaged in the transportation of oil or other commodity, except water and natural or artificial gas, by means of pipelines….and to telegraph, telephone and cable companies engaged in sending messages from one State, Territory, or District of the United States, to any other State, Territory, or District of the United States or to any foreign country."

By this provision of the Mann Elkins Act the federal government, through the Interstate Commerce Commission authorized the complete federal regulation of transport and communication between states, territories and the District of Columbia.  

The Mann Elkins Act created a court to adjudicate matters involving disputes over interstate commercial activity. The court was designated to be the equivalent of a federal circuit court with disputes to be immediately appealable to the United States Supreme Court.

Other regulations in the Mann Elkins Act include that the rates shall be "just & reasonable" based on the determinations made from time to time by the Interstate Commerce Commission including different rate structures for different classes of communication and transport as well as requiring receipts describing the rates and tariffs charged.  It outlawed free passes to all of those who are not "employees of the company or family members." 

Current FormIn 1934 President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Communications Act which essentially incorporated the Acts involving telephone service, the Mann-Elkins Act, with those of radio to create one Act that would encompass all forms of mass communication.  The goal of the Communications Act was to have broadcasting and telecommunication governed by one regulatory agency.  This Act officially created the Federal Communication Commission to regulate and police communication within the United States.  The act did not allow for price regulation through the FCC.  

With regard to the regulation of the railroad industry, that power was eventually swallowed up by the creation of the Department of Transportation in 1966.

Source: http://commercial.laws.com/commerce/mann-elkins-actAccessed: 15 October 2015

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Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson, a leader of the Progressive Movement, was the 28th President of the United States (1913-1921). After a policy of neutrality at the outbreak of World War I, Wilson led America into war in order to "make the world safe for democracy."

Like Roosevelt before him, Woodrow Wilson regarded himself as the personal representative of the people. "No one but the President," he said, "seems to be expected ... to look out for the general interests of the country." He developed a program of progressive reform and asserted international leadership in building a new world order. In 1917 he proclaimed American entrance into World War I a crusade to make the world "safe for democracy."

Wilson had seen the frightfulness of war. He was born in Virginia in 1856, the son of a Presbyterian minister who during the Civil War was a pastor in Augusta, Georgia, and during Reconstruction a professor in the charred city of Columbia, South Carolina.

After graduation from Princeton (then the College of New Jersey) and the University of Virginia Law School, Wilson earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University and entered upon an academic career. In 1885 he married Ellen Louise Axson.

Wilson advanced rapidly as a conservative young professor of political science and became president of Princeton in 1902.

His growing national reputation led some conservative Democrats to consider him Presidential timber. First they persuaded him to run for Governor of New Jersey in 1910. In the campaign he asserted his independence of the conservatives and of the machine that had nominated him, endorsing a progressive platform, which he pursued as governor.

He was nominated for President at the 1912 Democratic Convention and campaigned on a program called the New Freedom, which stressed individualism and states' rights. In the three-way election he received only 42 percent of the popular vote but an overwhelming electoral vote.

Wilson maneuvered through Congress three major pieces of legislation. The first was a lower tariff, the Underwood Act; attached to the measure was a graduated Federal income tax. The passage of the Federal Reserve Act provided the Nation with the more elastic money supply it badly needed. In 1914 antitrust legislation established a Federal Trade Commission to prohibit unfair business practices.

Another burst of legislation followed in 1916. One new law prohibited child labor; another limited railroad workers to an eight-hour day. By virtue of this legislation and the slogan "he kept us out of war," Wilson narrowly won re-election.

But after the election Wilson concluded that America could not remain neutral in the World War. On April 2,1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.

Massive American effort slowly tipped the balance in favor of the Allies. Wilson went before Congress in January 1918, to enunciate American war aims--the Fourteen Points, the last of which would establish "A general association of nations...affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike."

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After the Germans signed the Armistice in November 1918, Wilson went to Paris to try to build an enduring peace. He later presented to the Senate the Versailles Treaty, containing the Covenant of the League of Nations, and asked, "Dare we reject it and break the heart of the world?"

But the election of 1918 had shifted the balance in Congress to the Republicans. By seven votes the Versailles Treaty failed in the Senate.

The President, against the warnings of his doctors, had made a national tour to mobilize public sentiment for the treaty. Exhausted, he suffered a stroke and nearly died. Tenderly nursed by his second wife, Edith Bolling Galt, he lived until 1924.

The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association.

Clayton Antitrust Act, law enacted in 1914 by the United States Congress to clarify and strengthen the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890). The vague language of the latter had provided large corporations with numerous loopholes, enabling them to engage in certain restrictive business arrangements that, though not illegal per se, resulted in concentrations that had an adverse effect on competition. Thus, despite the trust-busting activities of the administrations of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft under the Sherman Act, it appeared to a congressional committee in 1913 that big business had continued to grow bigger and that the control of money and credit in the country was such that a few men had the power to plunge the nation into a financial panic. When President Woodrow Wilson asked for a drastic revision of existing antitrust legislation, Congress responded by passing the Clayton measure.

Whereas the Sherman Act only declared monopoly illegal, the Clayton Act defined as illegal certain business practices that are conducive to the formation of monopolies or that result from them. For example, specific forms of holding companies and interlocking directorates were forbidden, as were discriminatory freight (shipping) agreements and the distribution of sales territories among so-called natural competitors. Two sections of the Clayton Act were later amended by the Robinson-Patman Act (1936) and the Celler-Kefauver Act (1950) to fortify its provisions. The Robinson-Patman amendment made more enforceable Section 2, which relates to price and other forms of discrimination among customers. The Celler-Kefauver Act strengthened Section 7, prohibiting one firm from securing either the stocks or the physical assets (i.e., plant and equipment) of another firm when the acquisition would reduce competition; it also extended the coverage of antitrust laws to all forms of mergers whenever the effect would substantially lessen competition and tend to create a monopoly. Earlier legislative measures had simply restricted horizontal mergers—those involving firms that produce the same type of goods. In contrast, the Celler-Kefauver Act went farther by restricting even mergers of companies in different industries (i.e., conglomerate mergers). The Clayton Act and other antitrust and consumer protection regulations are enforced by the Federal Trade Commission.

Source: http://www.britannica.com/event/Clayton-Antitrust-ActAccessed: 15 October 2015

History of the Federal Reserve1775-1791: U.S. CurrencyTo finance the American Revolution, the Continental Congress printed the new nation's first paper money. Known as "continentals," the fiat money notes were issued in such quantity they led to inflation, which, though mild at first, rapidly accelerated as the war progressed. Eventually, people lost faith in the notes, and the phrase "Not worth a continental" came to mean "utterly worthless."

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1791-1811: First Attempt at Central BankingAt the urging of then Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, Congress established the First Bank of the United States, headquartered in Philadelphia, in 1791. It was the largest corporation in the country and was dominated by big banking and money interests. Many agrarian minded Americans uncomfortable with the idea of a large and powerful bank opposed it. When the bank’s 20-year charter expired in 1811 Congress refused to renew it by one vote.

1816-1836: A Second Try FailsBy 1816, the political climate was once again inclined toward the idea of a central bank; by a narrow margin, Congress agreed to charter the Second Bank of the United States. But when Andrew Jackson, a central bank foe, was elected president in 1828, he vowed to kill it. His attack on its banker-controlled power touched a popular nerve with Americans, and when the Second Bank’s charter expired in 1836, it was not renewed.

1836-1865: The Free Banking EraState-chartered banks and unchartered “free banks” took hold during this period, issuing their own notes, redeemable in gold or specie. Banks also began offering demand deposits to enhance commerce. In response to a rising volume of check transactions, the New York Clearinghouse Association was established in 1853 to provide a way for the city’s banks to exchange checks and settle accounts.

1863: National Banking ActDuring the Civil War, the National Banking Act of 1863 was passed, providing for nationally chartered banks, whose circulating notes had to be backed by U.S. government securities. An amendment to the act required taxation on state bank notes but not national bank notes, effectively creating a uniform currency for the nation. Despite taxation on their notes, state banks continued to flourish due to the growing popularity of demand deposits, which had taken hold during the Free Banking Era.

1873-1907: Financial Panics PrevailAlthough the National Banking Act of 1863 established some measure of currency stability for the growing nation, bank runs and financial panics continued to plague the economy. In 1893, a banking panic triggered the worst depression the United States had ever seen, and the economy stabilized only after the intervention of financial mogul J.P. Morgan. It was clear that the nation’s banking and financial system needed serious attention.

1907: A Very Bad YearIn 1907, a bout of speculation on Wall Street ended in failure, triggering a particularly severe banking panic. J.P. Morgan was again called upon to avert disaster. By this time, most Americans were calling for reform of the banking system, but the structure of that reform was cause for deep division among the country’s citizens. Conservatives and powerful “money trusts” in the big eastern cities were vehemently opposed by “progressives.” But there was a growing consensus among all Americans that a central banking authority was needed to ensure a healthy banking system and provide for an elastic currency.

1908-1912: The Stage is Set for Decentralized Central BankThe Aldrich-Vreeland Act of 1908, passed as an immediate response to the panic of 1907, provided for emergency currency issue during crises. It also established the national Monetary Commission to search for a long-term solution to the nation’s banking and financial problems. Under the leadership of Senator Nelson Aldrich, the commission developed a banker-controlled plan. William Jennings Bryan and other progressives fiercely attacked the plan; they wanted a central bank under public, not banker, control. The 1912 election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson killed the Republican Aldrich plan, but the stage was set for the emergence of a decentralized central bank.

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1912: Woodrow Wilson as Financial ReformerThough not personally knowledgeable about banking and financial issues, Woodrow Wilson solicited expert advice from Virginia Representative Carter Glass, soon to become the chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Finance, and from the Committee’s expert advisor, H. Parker Willis, formerly a professor of economics at Washington and Lee University. Throughout most of 1912, Glass and Willis labored over a central bank proposal, and by December 1912, they presented Wilson with what would become, with some modifications, the Federal Reserve Act.

1913: The Federal Reserve System is BornFrom December 1912 to December 1913, the Glass-Willis proposal was hotly debated, molded and reshaped. By December 23, 1913, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act into law, it stood as a classic example of compromise—a decentralized central bank that balanced the competing interests of private banks and populist sentiment.

1914: Open for BusinessBefore the new central bank could begin operations, the Reserve Bank Operating Committee, comprised of Treasury Secretary William McAdoo, Secretary of Agriculture David Houston, and Comptroller of the Currency John Skelton Williams, had the arduous task of building a working institution around the bare bones of the new law. But, by November 16, 1914, the 12 cities chosen as sites for regional Reserve Banks were open for business, just as hostilities in Europe erupted into World War I.

1914-1919: Fed Policy During the WarWhen World War I broke out in mid-1914, U.S. banks continued to operate normally, thanks to the emergency currency issued under the Aldrich-Vreeland Act of 1908. But the greater impact in the United States came from the Reserve Banks’ ability to discount bankers acceptances. Through this mechanism, the United States aided the flow of trade goods to Europe, indirectly helping to finance the war until 1917, when the United States officially declared war on Germany and financing our own war effort became paramount.

Source: https://www.federalreserveeducation.org/about-the-fed/history/Accessed: 15 October 2015

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Document A: Molly Elliot Seawell (ORIGINAL)

It has often been pointed out that women could not, with justice, ask to legislate upon matters of war and peace, as no woman can do military duty; but this point may be extended much further. No woman can have any practical knowledge of shipping and navigation, of the work of trainmen on railways, of mining, or of many other subjects of the highest importance. Their legislation, therefore, would not probably be intelligent, and the laws they devised for the betterment of sailors, trainmen, miners, etc., might be highly objectionable to the very persons they sought to benefit. If obedience should be refused to these laws, who is to enforce them? The men? Is it likely they will? And if the effort should be made, what stupendous disorders would occur! The entire execution of the law would be in the hands of men, backed up by an irresponsible electorate which could not lift a finger to apprehend or punish a criminal. And if all the dangers and difficulties of executing the law lay upon men, what right have women to make the law? (pp. 31-32)

But that woman suffrage tends to divorce, is plain to all who know anything of men and women. Political differences in families, between brothers, for example, who vote on differing sides, do not promote harmony. How much more inharmonious must be political differences between a husband and wife, each of whom has a vote which may be used as a weapon against the other? What is likely to be the state of that family, when the husband votes one ticket, and the wife votes another? (p. 113)

Source: Excerpt from Molly Elliot Seawell, an anti-suffragist from Virginia who published the anti-suffrage book, The Ladies’ Battle, in 1911.

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Document B: Anti-Suffrage Newspaper in New York (ORIGINAL)

It is the Suffragists whose ideal is the kitchenless house fed from a mechanical institutional centre. The main proportion of Suffragist writing and speaking is on this pots and pans pattern, simply a denunciation of housekeeping as degrading. It is the Suffragist theory that the woman's sphere in life should be the same as the man's that has condemned her to share with him what is so hideous a misfit in the miscalled education of our industrial classes, whose girls are all taught as if destined for literary rather than manual occupations, as if the National funds were collected to compel the training of a surplus of cheap short-hand typists for the office, and to compel a lack of expert housewives in the home. It is the Suffragists who are destroying the wholesome personal element in female life, by their doctrine of degradation in the washing of pots and pans for husband, father and son, while they demand the vote, and opportunity to serve the State, the husbands, fathers, and sons of other people, with what? What service? An abstract service of legislation and administration, they reply: in fact all that barren "social service" which can be performed without the sweating of the brow, the soiling of a finger! Is it not clear how this hideous feminism is sapping our vitality as a nation? Is it too much to say that it is at the root of half the unhealth and disease of which today's unrest is symptomatic?

There are many wealthy women who have espoused Suffragisim, and who, to promote it, do daily a very dangerous thing in preaching to working women that housework is degrading. And dangerous as is that direct denunciation of housework universal among Suffragists, of which the Woman's Labor League president's pots and pans speech is typical, there is another way inculcating contempt for it, which is even more dangerous because more insidious and less direct. An example of the insidious way in which the mischief is spread is shown in a letter to the Times of December 21 last, advocating the suffrage for women. It was written by a lady from the standpoint of the leisured and cultured classes, as she expressly said. "We more fortunate women," she wrote, plead for the franchise, not for our own sake, but for the sake of the working women (whose "round of toil" she stigmatized as "drudgery"), because "it shall bring them at once something at least of the respect and consideration which form the basis upon which we more fortunate women build our lives."

Source: Article from an anti-suffrage newspaper, The Woman’s Protest Against Woman’s Suffrage, published in New York by the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, in October 1912.

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