Before Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in for his second term, he and William Jennings Bryan, as well as other preachers of civic virtue, had begun to preach a national "revival" across the country. Later, this "revival" swept across the United States. As railroad companies, corporations, and labor became more and more powerful through consolidation and centralization, trust threats became increasingly apparent and exaggerated. It is recognized that the link between great economic interests and politics threatens the public interest.
Between 1889 and 1897, reforms to the government mechanism with the goal of establishing a "rule by the people" government were revived. The widespread belief that there is an evil exploiting class in the United States is therefore more convinced of the power of reform.
It is not enough to simply interpret the trust movement as the inevitable direction of modern communication. Trust movements were seen as more than just an economic evolution, but also tended to place moral responsibility on individuals or groups of individuals. A series of problems brought about by trusts have been exposed or exposed. This phenomenon is also partly to give public anger a place to vent. The anti-capitalist domination movement broke out again to resist the oppression of capitalism.
Ida Minerva Tabel, a female history student, gained reader attention for her easy-to-understand language and special perspectives on the lives of Napoleon and Lincoln. In 1903, she published an article in McClure Magazine about the history of Standard Oil. She summarizes the links between the transportation industry and the oil monopoly, exposing the truth about John Davidson Rockefeller's use of kickbacks to control transportation such as tanker trucks or pipelines to build giant trusts. She also showed a form of vicious competition that is common in all walks of life, but in monopolies, this vicious competition is amplified. Soon after, Washington Gladen wrote: "What we are witnessing is a new catastrophe, and the evils buried deep under this land are finally revealed... We find that under the banner of unfettered individualism, no type of society can go to hell faster than a democratic one. ”
Ida Minerva Tabel
Three years before Ida Minerva Tabel exposed trust crimes, Yale President Arthur Twenning Hadley had pointed out that social exclusion or social stigma could be an effective tool for reform. Other writers have used this tool as well. Lincoln Stephens exposed the link between corruption and politics in a series of articles on "urban stigma." Thomas Lawson attributes this series of social problems to "financial madness" in a very exaggerated way.
Corrier Weekly exposed despicable tactics and fraud in the trade in patented medicines. Many exposers also began to express their views through novels, and published novels presented their subjects to the public. Winston Churchill's Coniston is the story of how a railroad boss controlled a state. Upton Bill Sinclair exposes the sins of meat business owners in his novel Slaughterhouse.
At the same time, journalism has also played an important role in exposing social problems, and the public's enthusiasm for exposing scandals and the desire to expose literature have also promoted the development of a new type of journalism. In the late 1890s, under the influence of "yellow" newspapers, journalism re-evolved, and sensational news reporting became a lucrative commodity. This phenomenon is unprecedented. However, the circulation of daily newspapers is limited to a few hundred miles, so it is impossible to gain national influence.
A new type of periodical similar to the former literary monthly literature literature developed rapidly with a large number of timely news reports and was distributed nationwide, with great influence. Samuel Sidney McClure was one of the pioneers of the journal's literature. Everybody, Cosmopolitan, Muncy, American Magazine, and publications like Corrill Weekly and Outlook are powerful platforms for spreading ideas and advocating for reform. In addition, a large number of imitation journals have also enriched the literature of periodicals that expose shady scenes for a period of time.
Journalism has played a large role in guiding America's renaissance, and private investigators have provided much factual evidence. Public litigation marks the beginning of action against shady scenes and the search for solutions. Joseph Wingate Falk of Missouri has prosecuted a group of St. Louis bribers. In just a few months, he was promoted to party leader and governor of his state. In 1903, based on real evidence, the Bureau of Companies, part of the new Ministry of Commerce and Labor, published a series of reports, the most notable of which was allegations of kickbacks from Standard Oil and allegations of meat business owners processing meat under unhygienic conditions.
Of the massive publicly exposed funding incidents, the most high-profile misconduct and unethical behavior occurred in New York State. In 1905, a debate in New York State over the management of fair life insurance companies led to a legislative investigation by the so-called Armstrong Commission. Charles Evans Hughes, one of the lawyers hired by the commission, soon became the soul of the inspection panel.
One by one, he summoned the officials of the insurance company to the witness stand. Despite their reluctance, he inquired from them about their relationship with banking, speculative finance, and politics. He revealed that there was a group of bankers who were no different from money trusts, and proved that in at least three national election campaigns, insurance companies, like other companies, subsidized campaign funds heavily. These subsidies are sometimes given to both parties, but most of the time to Republicans.
Whenever an investigator can exert such influence and build a reputation for integrity and excellence, the public expects him to play a role in politics. In September 1906, the Democrats of New York State nominated william Rudolf Hearst, the most sensational journalist, as governor. On the same day, because no other candidates were put forward within the party, the Republican Convention nominated Charles Evans Hughes as governor of New York without prior instruction. In 1906 and 1908, Despite the resentment of Republican leaders, Charles Evans Hughes was elected governor of New York. The state government under his leadership had long foreseen the new spirit that would emerge in politics.
Charles Evans Hughes
Many of the questions raised by the investigation have been raised before, and only on the point of strict enforcement of the law against offenders. Other problems are simple, and there are solutions to these problems. In 1907, in response to the chaos of corporate donations to campaigns, a law was passed prohibiting the National Bank from donating to any electoral event, or any corporate donation to presidential or congressional elections. In 1906, the law prohibited interstate railroads from paying bribes with free rail passes. In 1908, presidential candidates pledged to remain clean on campaign contributions. In 1908 and 1912, campaign managers plagued by funding problems complained a lot. This shows that the law has been strictly enforced, but there are still some big problems that have aroused scientific investigation and legislative concern.
Investigations of meat business owners have revealed chaos in the meat processing industry, sparking a pure food movement. Over the years, the movement has had a large number of supporters. With the concentration of food production and the increase in the consumption of "packaged products", consumers no longer choose to process their own food, but leave this link to businessmen. In 1880, many typical household industries in the United States were reorganized and classified. The sewing industry has been handed over to sweatshops, the baking industry has been handed over to public bakeries, the laundry industry is also being adjusted, and the slaughtering and preservation of meat and the classification of canned vegetables and fruits are basically stabilizing. The population moves with the factory in which the industry is engaged. Country life became monotonous and lost its appeal. Rural people flock to the cities according to their physical health and personal wishes.
In 1906, because of the public's strong antipathy to manufacturers, the U.S. Congress passed a series of strict bills for slaughterhouse meat inspection and the development of labels for food and drug production. Since then, the Ministry of Agriculture has become the department that regulates the relationship between the people and food. James Wilson of Iowa served as Minister of Agriculture from 1897 until 1913. He and his subordinates, particularly Dr. Harvey Washington Willie, who oversees the pure food work, enforced the law amid consumer stimuli and manufacturer protests. Despite the many complaints, due to centralized control, the business successfully adapted to the new demand and the regulations of labeling in the following years.
The anti-railroad movement made the public aware that the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 was not a perfect statute and that its actual effects fell far short of what its authors expected. The judicial interpretation limits its scope of application, and the Interstate Commerce Commission has no right to set prices, nor does it have the right to force railway companies to implement a unified bookkeeping system, so it is impossible to carry out scientific pricing. In 1903 and 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt gave speeches on this subject. In response to this public spotlight, Congress began to enact a number of bills for railroads. In 1905, one of the bills passed in the House of Representatives but was shelved in the Senate because the most thorough interstate business investigation since The 1885 Investigation by Shelby Moore Carlom was underway. In 1906, the Hepburn Railway Act was passed. The bill's main provisions give the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to regulate tariffs, require railroad companies to keep accounts in a uniform manner, and prohibit railroad companies from issuing free passes or taking possession of the goods they ship.
New Senator Robert Marion Lafflett of Wisconsin gave a speech that sparked a lengthy debate about the railroad. He used the issue to run for governor and fought a long battle with the Wisconsin Railroad. Robert Marion Laflette stressed that government involvement in pricing cannot be discussed without a preliminary physical assessment of the railway, because only a pre-assessment can reveal the actual total capital of the railway company. He often talked about the issue, talking about the Senate that no one had the patience to listen any longer and get out of their seats. But he predicted that the seats vacated by neglect would soon be filled by new senators. During the holidays, he gave public speeches on the same topic and told people by "roll call" how their representatives voted for or against business privilege. As power expanded, the Interstate Commerce Commission made rapid progress in countervailing and anti-discrimination.
In 1905, revival momentum swept across the United States, but every month there was a sensational scandal. Guided by an expectant public, magazines exposed a lot of scandals to meet the needs of the reading market, and irrational anger often replaced rational investigation and analysis. The real need for reform runs the risk of being drowned out by a flood of condemnation. In the spring of 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt called out to the public to stop indiscriminate insults. He used John Bunyan's "The Man Who Debunked the Scandal" as the theme of his speech, noting that the mission of accusation and exposure had been accomplished and calling for law enforcement to turn the damage it caused into a construction. President Theodore Roosevelt has worked hard to "awaken the sleeping conscience of this country," and now he hopes that the shady whistleblowing campaign can be transformed into a permanent advantage.
The momentum of public criticism threatens the interests of political parties, because it is under the leadership of political parties that the ugliness of the enterprise is increasing. Thanks to the personal influence of President Theodore Roosevelt and his colleagues, Elihu Lute, William Howard Taft, Philland Chase Knox, and Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican Party did not fall. In 1906, the theme of the congressional campaign was to maintain prosperity, enforce strict law against all lawbreakers, and strengthen government powers. President Theodore Roosevelt wrote the core of this political platform, and beginning in 1896, the Republican Party gained control of Congress for six consecutive times. After the lobby, President Theodore Roosevelt, contrary to precedent, left the United States to inspect the construction of the canal in the Isthmus of Panama.
In 1903, six months after the Treaty of Panama was signed, the United States occupied the canal zone and began excavations. The United States must learn how to manage engineering in the tropics. Chief engineers left the project one by one, with experts disagreeing over whether to choose a sea-level canal or a lock-lock canal, and congress's legislation inadequate.
In the spring of 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, who had been recalled from the Philippines as Secretary of War, agreed to build a lock-type canal. In November 1906, after a fieldwork expedition to the project, on his way home, President Theodore Roosevelt sent an illustrated telegram to Congress explaining the progress of the project. In 1907, General George Washington Gothels was selected from the army to be the "benevolent dictator" and engineer of the Canal District. William Howard Taft visited several times, the workers were greatly encouraged, and the progress of the project progressed by leaps and bounds. In 1908, the famous British surgeon Sir Frederick Treves visited the Canal Project and considered it not only a monumental project, but also a victory in preventive medicine for The officer in charge of health, Colonel William Crawford Goggs.
Since 1898, the world's attention to the United States has focused on canal engineering and sustained, active, and open U.S. diplomacy. In February 1904, Russia and Japan were unable to agree on Russia's actions in Manchuria and went to war. The ongoing war discredited Russia and destabilized Japan's financial world. In June 1905, the United States extended an invitation to both warring parties, saying that it could bring about reconciliation. Both belligerents accepted the invitation. In the summer of 1905, Russian and Japanese envoys met at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and a peace treaty was finally concluded. In 1906, the Nobel Prize Committee awarded President Theodore Roosevelt the Nobel Peace Prize of that year for his contributions to peace.
Russian and Japanese envoys met in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Between 1905 and 1909, U.S. foreign relations were peaceful and friendly. To show its sincerity, Britain sent the most suitable ambassador, James Bryce. In his thoughtful approach, the next five years witnessed an unprecedented friendly relationship between the United States and Britain. South American countries, which have always been sensitive to U.S. jurisdiction, have also begun to ease relations with the United States. Prior to this, the countries of the Americas had held two conferences, once in 1889 at the initiative of James Gillespie Bryan and once in Mexico in 1901. In July 1906, the countries of the Americas met in Rio de Janeiro. U.S. Secretary of State Elihu Lute proposed a friendly relationship at the meeting. From Rio de Janeiro, he came to the capitals of other countries in South America to give public lectures, and achieved remarkable results.
The Pan American Conference in Rio de Janeiro was the initial preparation for a larger conference in the United States. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt agreed to hold a second meeting in The Hague. During the Russo-Japanese War, he was in charge of negotiations and postponed them at the suggestion of the Tsar, before waiting for the latter to issue a formal invitation. In 1907, the Conference was convened, and the United States played an important role in it. At the Second Hague Conference, the United States delegation was led by Joseph Hodges Chort, President of the American Bar Association and former Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Throughout the meeting, the United States delegation facilitated discussions and promoted the strengthening of the powers of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, but failed to reach an agreement prohibiting states from snatching enemy materiel on the high seas when they were at war. In January 1906, the United States convened a conference in Algeciras to discuss the Moroccan crisis and to reconcile tensions in the War in the East. In doing so, the U.S. government has also strengthened its position at home. The United States is no longer indifferent to European affairs because it has become a world power.
In 1907, it became increasingly apparent that the United States appeared on the world stage as a great power. Ever since the Treaty of Portsmouth had arisen with Japan over its treatment of the Japanese diaspora on the Pacific coast, the worriers had painted a picture of a possible war. In late 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt announced that the U.S. Navy would conduct a full-scale cruise exercise to bypass South America and sail into the Pacific. In December 1907, he reviewed the fleet and sent it off at hampton anchorage. The U.S. fleet was ordered to sail around the globe from the Pacific Ocean, visiting Japan and China, and receiving great attention everywhere it went. In 1909, the U.S. fleet returned, setting a record for zero failures and zero accidents.
As the fleet sailed around the world, U.S. commerce was adapting to new constructive laws, and a problem that had long plagued the United States was officially over. The issue of tribal sovereignty, which had once escalated the Indian problem, was resolved. In 1887, the relevant provisions of the Dawes Act replaced the private ownership of land by Indian tribes. After the bill passed, the Quasi-Oklahoma State established the first lands ceded. Because of the crisscrossing of the railroads, the Oklahoma Quasi-State is growing faster than any previous Quasi-State. In 1900, the Quasi-State of Oklahoma applied to be established as a state. In 1906, the quasi-state was authorized, and in 1907, it was officially established as a state. Oklahoma has the longest and most radical state constitution in the United States. Fear of corporate wealth and distrust of government departments are written into almost every provision of the Constitution.
In the spring of 1908, almost all forty-six U.S. governors met with President Theodore Roosevelt at the White House and raised another question, provoking a commotion and revelation that caused public reflection. The coal miners' strikes of 1900 and 1902 raised concerns about possible links between the government and coal supplies. In reclamation works that began in 1902, public reclamation activities were hampered by the large amount of private and corporate water used. America's natural resources have always been subordinate to the needs of all commercial activities and have become accustomed to being controlled by large corporations. The waste of coal, timber, land and water is also grossly unjustified. Indiscriminate logging on the mountains has led to flooding along rivers. Now, as selfish development activities become the climate, America's future is getting darker. In the council of governors, a natural resource conservation movement developed, but it was not supported by Congress at the time.
Through mass education, the introduction of new administrative policies and constructive laws, the Government was striving to adapt to the needs of modern industry in order to maintain social stability. Because their interests are affected by these changes, companies are trying to hinder this process. And a series of lawsuits filed by Attorney General Philland Chase Knox and his successor, Charles Joseph Bonaparte under the Sherman Antitrust Act, have heightened opposition in the business community. When the law was first passed, no one ever wanted to test its value, and before the Northern Securities case, no one attacked the infamous trust. In later years, the law shifted against beef packers, Standard Oil, Tobacco Trust, Sugar Trust, and U.S. Steel, while a large number of railroad companies and small companies faced prosecution. The law's enforcement has provoked blind opposition from many victims and raised questions about whether limiting the size of businesses is in line with state policy. In the debate on whether to prohibit trusts and monopolies, it is difficult for the two sides to distinguish between the two sides of the debate. Individual hostility to laws imposed by the government was one of the hallmarks of President Theodore Roosevelt's last two years in office.
Since William McKinley's election as president in 1907, the United States has experienced a decade of prosperity. The financial industry developed along with industry and trade, and businesses had to deal with millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars of money, leading to the consolidation of banks and the concentration of financial power in the hands of a small group of people. Holding companies greatly facilitate this concentration of capital. Best known as the core group representatives are John Pierpont Morgan and John Davidson Rockefeller. Their speculative and investment activities are in an awkward position due to the erosion of credibility. To be sure, all of America's surplus capital will be invested in permanent construction activities. Such periods occurred after the boom periods of 1837, 1857 and 1873.
Some unexpected events that occur during liquidation are likely to cause panic. During the whistleblowing campaign between 1902 and 1907, suspicions arose about the agents who controlled commerce, which were exaggerated by sensational news. In the autumn of 1907, a group of seemingly powerful banks reached the pinnacle of suspicion due to fraudulent practices and failures in speculative management. The collapse of the National Commercial Bank and the suspension of operations at the Nickelburger Trust in New York led to the crisis of October 22, 1907. The resolute and pleasant cooperation between the ClearingHouse, John Pierpont Morgan, John Davidson Rockefeller, and the U.S. Treasury Department reduced the public's losses, but for all, a period of coercive economy began.
Managers at big business attributed the panic to "the nosy Theodore." They claim that their businesses are sound and reliable, and that this upheaval is instigated by some people with ulterior motives. They argue that the president's attacks on the business community have destroyed their confidence. Federal prosecutions, new laws, and strict scrutiny of the enforcement of pure food regulations have made it impossible for businesses to survive. They exclaimed, "Let's manage ourselves."
A small group of Americans only convinced themselves. Since 1902, regardless of partisanship, U.S. citizens have broadened their horizons in the face of business trends, believing that government authorities must pick themselves up to defend democracy. In a growing number of cases, voting is conducted independently of the control of any party. The old American idea was that democracy meant unfettered individualism. This view now gives way to the new view that democratic opportunity depends on restrictions on monopolies. From presidents to officials at all levels to leaders, they all ostensibly support this new view. And without them, the same situation would largely continue. Attacks by financial interests and Wall Street only lead to the conviction that President Theodore Roosevelt's policies in general are the policies of the people, and that individual interests and party machines must give way to the interests of the people.