Directions: a) Read the parts on President Roosevelt. Make sure you can describe his background and the actions he took while he was president. Once you are done, write a summary of Roosevelt’s domestic policies on the attached handout as if you were Roosevelt. Don’t be afraid to brag, he certainly wasn’t. USE SPECIFICS! b) Read the parts on President Wilson. Make sure you can describe how he was elected and his actions as president. Once you are done, write a summary of Wilson’s domestic policies on the attached handout as if you were Wilson. He was a little more reserved than Roosevelt. USE SPECIFICS! c) Answer the questions on the back of the handout. Use information from Progressive Reformers handout as well. USE SPECIFICS! d) Write a thesis answering the question on the bottom.

1 – How did President Theodore Roosevelt address problems that concerned Progressives? How successful was he in his efforts? (All readings from the Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University unless otherwise noted.) Use the info to write Roosevelt’s opinion of himself.

Theodore Roosevelt (Introduction): (from the Gilder Lehrman Institute) Among progressivism’s greatest champions was Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt had a genius for publicity, using the presidency as a “bully pulpit” to bring progressivism to the national stage. Roosevelt’s roots were in New York City and state government, where he served as state assemblyman, New York City police commissioner, and governor. As governor, he signaled his reformist sympathies by supporting civil service reform and a new tax on corporations. Republican Party elders found him so troublesome in the governor’s office that in 1900 they proposed him for the vice presidency, a sure-fire route to political insignificance. The assassination of William McKinley just months into his presidency, however, vaulted Roosevelt into national leadership of progressive reform.

A) The Anthracite Coal Strike (May-October 1902) began after mine operators refused to meet with representatives of the United Mine Workers of America. Anthracite—or hard coal—was solid and rich in carbon, ideal for industrial and domestic use. The strike began in eastern Pennsylvania, where almost all anthracite coal was mined at the time, on May 12, 1902, after the railroad companies which owned the mines refused to meet with representatives of the union. Workers’ requests for better wages, a shorter work week, and recognition of their union had also been denied. Coal prices doubled as production dropped. As the autumn began and negotiations between the owners and the miners were ineffective, President Theodore Roosevelt feared that a coal shortage would result in hardship to Americans during the winter.

With the conflict unresolved, Henry Cabot Lodge, a senior Republican and close friend of Theodore Roosevelt, warned the president of the potentially disastrous consequences for the party if the anthracite strike dragged into November, when elections were to be held. Heeding Lodge's advice, Roosevelt worked behind the scenes to gather information and propose ways to settle the strike. In Washington on October 3, 1902, he met with presidents of the mine-owning railroads and union leaders. At that meeting the union president, John Mitchell, outlined the union's case while the railroad bosses asserted the impossibility of compromise. The conference disbanded without resolving the crisis and Roosevelt formed a commission to investigate the strike. Secretary of War Elihu Root and banker J. P. Morgan convinced railroad leaders to abide by the findings of the presidentially appointed commission. The union also accepted the commission and, on October 20, voted to end the anthracite strike.

The anthracite-coal commission recommended in March 1903 increasing miners' pay by ten percent (one-half of their demand), reducing the working day from ten to nine hours, and other concessions. By negotiating with organized labor Roosevelt championed a new approach to relations between capital and labor, often cited as an example of his Square Deal.

B) The Northern Securities Case (1904), which established President Theodore Roosevelt’s reputation as a “trust buster,” reached the Supreme Court in 1904. It was the first example of Roosevelt’s use of anti-trust legislation to dismantle a monopoly, in this case a holding company controlling the principal railroad lines from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest. In 1901, railroad builder James J. Hill of St. Paul, Minnesota, fought off an attempt by his arch rival Edward H. Harriman for control of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad. Hill, who controlled the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific railroads, wanted to gain access to Chicago for his lines from the Twin Cities. After a protracted and potentially disastrous bidding war for the CB&Q, Hill and Harriman cooperated with banker J. P. Morgan and financier John D. Rockefeller to create the Northern Securities Company. Established in the state of New Jersey (which had laws favorable to this type of arrangement), Northern Securities held the majority of shares in the CB&Q, the Northern Pacific, and the Great Northern railroads, along with smaller roads associated with these three.

In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt instructed his Justice Department to break up this holding company on the grounds that it was an illegal combination acting in restraint of trade. Using the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the federal government did so and the Northern Securities Company sued to appeal the ruling. The case worked its way up to the Supreme Court, where the justices ruled 5-4 in favor of the federal government. Roosevelt’s action had ignored the advice of leading conservatives in the Republican Party and demonstrated his independence from party elders. It also increased his popular support and helped in his election campaign in 1904

C) The United States Forest Service officially came into existence under the Department of Agriculture in 1905. Gifford Pinchot, head of the forestry division of the Department of Agriculture, had been advocating for more control over the federal forests and grasslands and was supported heartily by Theodore Roosevelt. With the establishment of the Forest Service, Pinchot finally had the control needed to start implementing many of the forestry policies for which he advocated including scientific management of forests, controlled logging in national forests and controlled grazing rights for farmers and ranchers. Pinchot and Roosevelt often were at odds with staunch conservationists such as John Muir who wanted to ban logging and commercial use of national lands entirely.

Pinchot and the Forest Service instead developed relationships with timber companies, ranchers and farmers to plan the sustainability of the forest reserves while still providing a growing nation with the raw materials it needed to expand. The Forest Service of today still maintains those principles as it works “to manage national forests for additional multiple uses and benefits and for the sustained yield of renewable resources such as water, forage, wildlife, wood, and recreation.” Today’s national forests include more than 190 million acres of land, an area roughly the size of Texas, clearly a legacy of which both Roosevelt and Pinchot would be proud.

D) The Hepburn Act of 1906 was a bill that fortified the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and strengthened federal regulation of railroads. Named for Rep. William Hepburn of Iowa, chairman of the House Commerce Commission, the Act passed after a series of unpopular rate increases by railroad corporations. The railroads, enjoying improved demand for their services and victims of their own economic sophistication, realized by the turn of the century that costs were increasing, a phenomenon we now call inflation. In an effort to attract much-needed investment capital to improve efficiency and safety, the railroads raised the rates they charged for their services. Passengers and shippers reacted with anger at the announcement of the rate hikes.

The Hepburn Act expanded the powers of the 1903 Elkins Act. It gave ICC rulings the force of law (where before only the courts could enforce the regulations) and allowed the Commission to set maximum—though not minimum—“fair, just, and reasonable” rates. It also prohibited giving free passes except to railroad employees and created standard bookkeeping methods. Railroads were required to submit annual reports to the ICC, which therefore employed professional staff to examine railroad accounts. The number of Commissioners grew from five to seven and their term went from six to seven years.

President Roosevelt took an intense interest in passage of the bill and wholeheartedly supported the Hepburn Act. Alternately cooperating with Republicans and Democrats he worked to keep more stringent regulations out of the legislation. He thought improved government regulation of the industry was a middle way between the chaos of unfettered competition (which included the formation of monopolies) and government ownership of the railroads.

Theodore Roosevelt Conclusion/Woodrow Wilson Introduction After leaving the presidency in 1909, Roosevelt initially withdrew from politics. But his dismay at the slow pace of reform under his successor, William Howard Taft, prompted him to return for the 1912 election. When Republicans failed to nominate him, he broke with the party and formed the Progressive Party. He campaigned under the banner of a “New Nationalism.” Its tenets united the themes of his leadership of progressivism: faith in a strong federal government, an activist presidency, balancing of public interest and corporate interest, and support for a roll-call of progressive reform causes, from women’s suffrage and the eight-hour work day to abolishing child labor and greater corporate regulation. He was opposed by the Republican incumbent William Howard Taft and the Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson. Wilson’s “New Freedom” called for greater economic order and more competition, but with a limited government rejecting Roosevelt’s social welfare programs. Wilson won the four way race that also included Socialist Eugene V. Debs. Upon becoming president Wilson attacked the “Triple Wall of Privilege”: the banks, the tariff, and the trusts.

2 – How did President Woodrow Wilson address problems that concerned Progressives? How successful was he in his efforts? Use the info to write Wilson’s opinion of himself.

A) Underwood Tariff (1913)  reduced the average tariff rate to 26% and for many items, reduced it to 0%; this was significant because it upset the business interests who demanded protection and pleased many consumers who anticipated cheaper goods  reinstituted the income tax (16th Amendment) with singles making $3,000 and families making $4,000 paying 1% of their income with rates up to as high as 7% for those making over $500,000  the income tax would quickly replace the tariff as the main source of income for the federal government

B) Federal Reserve Act (1913) A period known as the Free Banking Era followed the demise of the Second Bank of the United States (killed by Jackson in 1832). Over the next quarter century, U.S. banking was a hodgepodge of state-chartered banks not subject to federal regulation. By 1860, nearly 8,000 state banks operated, each issuing its own paper notes. Some of the more marginal institutions were known as “wildcat banks” supposedly because they maintained offices in remote areas (“where the wildcats are”) in order to make it difficult for customers to redeem their notes for precious metals. The need for reliable financing during the Civil War prompted the passage of the National Banking Act in 1863. The legislation created a uniform national currency and permitted only nationally chartered banks to issue bank notes, but did not create a strong central banking structure.

As the industrial economy expanded, the weaknesses of the nation’s decentralized banking system became more acute. Bank panics or “runs” occurred frequently. Many banks did not keep enough cash on hand to meet unusually heavy demand. Panics and runs often occurred when customers lost confidence in their banks after hearing news of failures of other banks. Fearful customers would rush to their banks to withdraw money, which often could not meet the sudden demand for cash. That sometimes created a contagion that triggered a succession of bank failures. A particularly severe panic took place in 1907 that abated only when a private individual, the financier J.P. Morgan, personally intervened to arrange emergency loans for financial institutions. This episode fueled a reform movement, which prompted Congress to establish the Federal Reserve System in 1913.

The Federal Reserve was created in 1913 to be the banker’s bank. It has two main responsibilities (it has learned the general strategies over the past 100 years):  Regulate the amount of money in circulation (if hard times hit, increase the supply/if times are good, limit the supply)  Regulate interest rates or the cost of borrowing money (if hard times hit, reduce the interest rate/if times are good, raise the interest rate)

C) Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) – a stronger antitrust law  Outlawed: anticompetitive mergers, Interlocking Directorates, local sales adjustments to crush local competition, and exclusive contracting (i.e., producer of copy machines can’t be only producer of ink and paper too), going after labor unions with Sherman Act

D) Federal Trade Commission (1914)  Consumer Protection: stops unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent business practices  Ensures Competition: challenges anticompetitive mergers and business practices that may harm consumers

After a flurry of reforms in Wilson’s first few years in office, the nation and the world shifted its focus to World War I which started in 1914.

Limitations of Progressive Reform Not everything went according to plan for the Progressives. The Supreme Court issued two decisions in particular that can be viewed as setbacks for the labor and equal rights movements.