Square Deal

The Square Deal was President Theodore Roosevelt's domestic program formed upon three basic ideas: conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection. Thus, it aimed at helping middle class citizens and involved attacking the plutocracy and trusts while at the same time protecting business from the extreme demands of organized labor.

History

• The Antiquities Act of 1906 gave the president authority to restrict use of particular public land.
• The Elkins Act of 1903 forbade rebates that were offered by the rail road to corporations, which treated small Midwestern farmers unfairly, by not allowing them equal access to the services of the railroad.
• The Hepburn Act of 1906 strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission; prior to that, the commission had minimal resources to carry out its duties.
• The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 were both widely accredited to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, although Sinclair's intention in writing The Jungle was to reveal the mistreatment of factory workers.

President Theodore Roosevelt desired to treat both sides fairly in any dispute. In the coal miner's strike of 1902 he treated the United Mine Workers representatives and company bosses as equals; this approach continued during his efforts to regulate the railroads and other businesses during his second term.

During the 1904 campaign, Roosevelt remarked that he had worked in the anthracite coal strike to provide everyone with a "square deal." In his second term, he tried to extend his square deal further. One of his first targets was the railroad industry. The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, establishing the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) had been an early effort to regulate the industry; but over the years, the courts had sharply limited its influence.

One of the major elements of Roosevelt's Square Deal was the promotion of anti-trust suits. During his administration, the federal government initiated actions against 44 major corporations. He argued that some "bad" trusts had to be curbed, and "good" ones encouraged and that executive agencies sought out which were "good" and which were "bad." As such, Roosevelt pushed for the courts, which had been guided by a clearly delineated standard up to that point, to yield to the wishes of the executive branch on all subsequent anti-trust suits.

In 1903, with Roosevelt's support, Congress passed the Elkins Act. This stated that railroads were not allowed to give rebates to favored companies any longer. The Interstate Commerce Commission controlled the prices railroads could charge, which had the long-term negative effect of weakening the railroads, as they faced new competition from trucks and buses.

Meat had to be processed safely with proper sanitation, giving the advantage to large packing houses and undercutting small local operations. Foodstuffs and drugs could no longer be mislabeled, nor could consumers be deliberately misled.

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