CH. 16-3 THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S SQUARE DEAL

1. CH. 16-3 THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S SQUARE DEAL AMERICAN HISTORY

2. ROOSEVELT’S VIEW OF THE PRESIDENCY • 1898—Roosevelt becomes Governor of New York • NY Political machine opposed Roosevelt • Roosevelt is nominated for Vice-President • TAKING OFFICE • 1901--President McKinley is assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz • Roosevelt becomes President • Youngest President ever – 42 years old • Roosevelt was a hands-on leader, unlike previous Presidents

3. BULLY PULPIT—a powerful platform to publicize important issues and seek support for his policies • Roosevelt brought new momentum to the Progressive movement • THE COAL STRIKE OF 1902 • 150,000 PA coal miners struck for higher wages, shorter hours, and recognition of their union • As winter approached, Roosevelt realized the importance of settling the strike

4. Roosevelt urged miners and owners to accept arbitration • ARBITRATION—two sides allow a third-party to settle the dispute • Workers agreed but owners refused • Roosevelt threatened to take over the mines until the owners relented and agreed to arbitration plan • Final Decision—shorter workday and higher pay but no recognition of the union • Roosevelt pronounced the agreement a “square deal”

5. THE SQUARE DEAL • Became Roosevelt’s campaign slogan in 1904 • “Each person should get a square deal” because they are entitled to no more or no less • The needs of workers, business, and consumers should be balanced • Limit the power of trusts, promoting public health and safety, and improve working conditions • Roosevelt faced no opposition securing his party’s nomination • He easily defeated his opponent, Judge Alton Parker (D-NY) in the general election

6. REGULATING BIG BUSINESS • Big business was essential to economic growth, but companies should behave responsibly • TRUST-BUSTING • 1901—J.P. Morgan, James J. Hill, and E.H. Harriman joined their railroads together to eliminate competition • Company called the Northern Securities Company • 1902—Roosevelt directed the Attorney General to sue the Northern Securities Company for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act • 1904—USSC ruled the monopoly did violate the law and ordered the company broken up

7. The ruling encouraged the administration to begin an aggressive trust-busting campaign • Suits filed against those trusts that Roosevelt thought were bad for the American public • REGULATING THE RAILROADS • Railroads commonly granted rebates to their best companies • Huge companies paid significantly less to ship products • 1903—Elkins Act—prohibited railroads from accepting rebates • All customers would pay the same rates

8. Hepburn Act of 1906 strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission • ICC allowed to set maximum railroad rates and regulate other companies that were engaged in interstate commerce • PROTECTING COMSUMERS • Publics dismayed about practices of food and drug industries • Food producers tricked the unknowing public into buy old or rotten food by saying it was fresh • Drug companies sold medicines that didn’t work

9. Other companies marketed patent, or nonprescription, medicines containing dangerous narcotic drugs • Dr. James’ Soothing Syrup—sooth babies’ teething pain • Contained heroin • Gowan’s Pneumonia Cure contained the addictive painkiller opium • Meatpacking industry exposed by novelist Upton Sinclair’s book “The Jungle” • Roosevelt directed the Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson to investigate

10. Wilson’s report was gruesome reading • “We saw meat shoveled from filthy wooden floors, piled on tables rarely washed, pushed from room to room in rotten box carts. In all of which processes it [the meat] was in the way of gathering dirt, splinters, floor filth, and the expectoration [saliva] of tuberculous and other diseased workers” • 1906—Congress jumps to action • MEAT INSPECTION ACT—required federal inspection of meat shipped across state lines

11. PURE FOOD AND DRUG ACT—forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of food and patent medicine containing harmful ingredients. • Food and medicine containers had to carry accurate ingredient labels

12. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION • Late 1800s—people thought the USA had an unlimited amount of natural resources • Lumber companies cleared large tracts of land • Farmers plowed up the great plains • Mining companies clogged rivers and clutter land with refuse • 1903—Roosevelt joined naturalist John Muir on a camping trip to Yosemite National Park, CA • “Unfortunately God cannot save trees from fools”—J. Muir • THE NEWLANDS RECLAMATION ACT of 1902 • Allowed the federal government to create irrigation projects to make dry lands productive

13. The Roosevelt Administration launched 20+ reclamation projects • GIFFORD PINCHOT was the first to use “conservation” • “The conservation of natural resources is the key to the future.” • 1905—U.S. Forest Service created with Pinchot as its chief • 150+ million acres of forest land added to national forests • The Antiquities Act of 1906—created 18 national monuments during these few years • Environmental conservation is viewed as Roosevelt’s legacy • THE END