"Great-Heart": The Life Story of Theodore RooseveltHenderson, Daniel
General
"Great-Heart": The Life Story of Theodore Roosevelt
Henderson, Daniel
Presidents -- United States -- Biography; Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
A railway rate bill was passed, forbidding under severe penalties the
fraud of rebates. A general pure food law was passed, penalizing the
act of adulteration, and requiring that every article of medicine or
food should be labeled and sold for just what it was. With these and
several other measures, corporation fraud was thus brought to a halt.
At this period Roosevelt was a flaming fire. His spirit was as a
fierce blaze consuming the materialism that had crept from the ranks
of business into public life. Popular grievances against unjust
exploitation by leaders of industry became to him the signal to attack.
His ordering of the suit of dissolution against the Northern Securities
Company subjected him to the enmity of powerful men, yet before a short
time passed the opinion became general that his decision had been vital
to the public good.
He aroused the bitter opposition of Big Business by his successful
endeavors to control it, but time proved that by his act on behalf
of the people he had saved the vested interests from the wholesale
division by Congress of such monopolies had they been formed.
While he was the first of our Presidents to come into conflict with
corporate power, he nevertheless favored and promoted legitimate
business, and he stood for the protection of American industries from
the cheap labor of Europe.
His suit for the dissolution of the Standard Oil Company was one of
the most significant acts of his administration. This suit was not
brought to a successful conclusion until 1911, but the credit for its
prosecution is due mainly to him.
In all these measures Roosevelt was simply carrying out his doctrine
of the square deal, which he began to preach when he assumed public
office and which in different language, but with unvarying purpose, he
preached to the end of his life.
His doctrine of fair dealing is best summed up in this speech spoken at
Dallas, Tex., April 5, 1905:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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