An Outline of American History (1990)

Chapter Six

Reforms help common people (10/11)

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By this time, most of the larger cities and more than half the states had established an eight-hour day on public works. Hardly less important were the workmen's compensation laws, which made employers legally responsible for injuries sustained by employees in the course of their work. New revenue laws were also enacted, which, by taxing inheritances, incomes, and the property or earnings of corporations, sought to place the burden of government on those best able to pay.

It was clear to many people - notably President Theodore Roosevelt - that most of the problems reformers were concerned about could be solved only if dealt with on a national scale. Roosevelt, who was passionately interested in reform and determined to give the people a "square deal," initiated his policy of increased government supervision in the enforcement of antitrust laws. Later, extension of government supervision over the railroads prompted the passage of two major regulatory bills. One of them, the EIkins Act of 1903, making published rates the lawful standard and shippers equally liable with railroads for rebates, permitted the government successftiUy to prosecute erring companies.

Roosevelt's striking personality and his "trust-busting" activities captured the imagination of the ordinary individual, and approval of his progressive measures cut across party lines. In addition, the abounding prosperity of the country at this time led people to feel satisfied with the party in office. His victory in the 1904 election was assured.

Emboldened by a sweeping electoral triumph, Roosevelt applied fresh determination to the cause of reform. In his first annual message, he called for still more drastic railroad regulation, and in June of 1906 the Hepburn Act was passed. This gave the Interstate Commerce Commission real authority in regulating rates, extended the jurisdiction of the Commission, and forced the railroads to surrender their interlocking interests in steamship lines and coal companies.

Other Congressional measures carried the principle of federal control still further. The pure-food law of 1906 prohibited the use of any "deleterious drug, chemical, or preservative" in prepared medicines and foods. This was soon reinforced by an act requiring federal inspection of all concerns selling meats in interstate commerce.

Meanwhile, Congress had created a new Department of Commerce and Labor, with membership in the President's Cabinet. One bureau of the new Department, empowered to investigate the airs of large business aggregations, discovered in 1907 that the American Sugar Refining Company had defrauded the government of a large sum in import duties. Resulting legal actions recovered more than $4 million and convicted several company officials. The Standard Oil Company of Indiana was indicted for receiving secret rebates on shipments over the Chicago and Alton Railroad. The fine imposed, amounting to $29,240,000 on 1,462 separate contracts, reflected the spirit of the time.

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