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.^[1] These three demands are often referred to as the "three C's" of Roosevelt's Square Deal. Thus, it aimed at helping middle class citizens and involved attacking plutocracy and bad trusts while at the same time protecting business from the most extreme demands of organized labor. A progressive Republican,^[2] Roosevelt believed in government action to mitigate social evils, and as president denounced "the representatives of predatory wealth” as guilty of “all forms of iniquity from the oppression of wage workers to defrauding the public."^[3]

Within his second term, he tried to extend his Square Deal further. 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. These rebates had treated small Midwestern farmers unfairly by not allowing them equal access to the services of the railroad. The Interstate Commerce Commission controlled the prices that railroads could charge.

Legislation was passed which specified that meat had to be processed safely with proper sanitation. Foodstuffs and drugs could no longer be mislabeled, nor could consumers be deliberately misled. Roosevelt also fought strongly for land conservation, and safeguarded millions of acres of wilderness from commercial exploitation.^[3] Roosevelt’s conservation efforts were driven by practicality as well as by a love for nature. Influenced by early wise-use advocates like Gifford Pinchot, Roosevelt believed that nature existed to benefit humanity. In a conserved wilderness, water could be taken to irrigate farmland, sport could be had, and timber could be harvested. Acting on these beliefs, Roosevelt set up the federal Reclamation Service in 1902. The agency, through the use of dams and irrigation, created arable land in areas that had been too dry to farm, and the Reclamation Service eventually brought millions of acres of farmland into service.^[4] During Roosevelt's time in office, 24 reclamation projects were set up, and 150 national forests were created.^[5]

Labor

• A measure was approved that providing that eight hours should constitute a day’s labor on irrigation works.^[6]
• Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the Philippine Islands, with violation of the Act being punishable by forfeiture of contracts and a fine of not less than $10,000.^[6]
• A measure was approved safeguarding the lives of employees in mines in Territories by regulating the amount of ventilation and providing that entries, etc., should be kept well dampened with water to cause coal dust to settle.^[6]
• A measure was approved exempting from taxation in the District of Columbia household effects to the value of $1,000, wearing apparel, libraries, school books, family portraits and heirlooms.^[6]
• A measure was approved providing for Government supervision of employment agencies in the District of Columbia.^[6]
• An Act relating to safety appliances on railroad trains was improved.^[6]
• A measure was approved requiring the collection of labor statistics in Hawaii.^[6]
• A measure was approved for the better protection of seamen.^[6]
• A measure was approved for securing the wages of employees on public works.^[6]
• A measure was approved for protecting the health of motormen and conductors on street railways in the District of Columbia.^[6]
• A measure was approved for a more thorough inspection of steam vessels.^[6]
• A measure was approved for safeguarding factory employees in the District of Columbia against accidents.^[6][7]
• A measure was approved making wages preferred claims.^[6]
• A measure was approved to provide for an investigation of women and child labor in the United States.^[6]
• A measure was approved restricting child labor in the District of Columbia.^[6]
• A measure was approved incorporating the National Child Labor Committee.^[6]
• A measure was approved establishing the Foundation for the Promotion of Industrial Peace.^[6]
• A measure was approved to regulate the hours of labor of railroad employees in the District of Columbia and the Territories.^[6]
• A measure was approved making railroad companies engaged in interstate commerce or operating in the District of Columbia, the Territories, the Panama Canal Zone, or other United States possessions, liable for injuries to, or death of, employees while on duty.^[6]
• A measure was approved safeguarding the lives of miners in the Territories and the District of Alaska.^[6]
• A measure was approved permitting leave of absence, with pay, on Labor Day to per diem employees of the Government.^[6]
• A measure was approved granting to injured employees on the Panama Canal absence, with pay for time necessarily lost as a result of injuries.^[6]
• A measure was approved for the inspection of boilers.^[6]
• A measure was approved prohibiting peonage.^[6]
• The first Federal employment service (forerunner of the United States Employment Service) was created in the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, Department of Commerce and Labor (1907).^[8]

Health and welfare

• The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 were both widely accredited from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.
• The Federal Employers Liability Act of 1908.
• The Federal Employee’s Compensation Act of 1908 provided workers’ compensation for a number of federal employees.^[9]
• Legislation was introduced (1902) that expanded the scientific work of the Acoustic Laboratory and appropriated a budget specific to the laboratory’s work.^[10]
• An Act of 1903 enabled the Secretary of Agriculture “to prevent the spread of contagious and infectious diseases of live-stock.”^[11]
• In 1902, $5,000 was appropriated to the Bureau of Chemistry by Congress “to study chemical preservatives and colors and their effects on digestion and health,” with studies drawing attention to the problem of food adulteration.^[12]
• The Oleomargarine Act (1902) authorized the definition of oleomargarine “for the purpose of collecting taxes on imported product, and also to discourage imitation of butter.”^[13]
• The Biologics Control Act was passed (1902) “to ensure purity and safety of serums, vaccines, and similar products used to prevent or treat diseases in humans.”^[14]
• An Act of 1903 enabled the Secretary of Agriculture “to prevent the spread of contagious and infectious diseases of live-stock.”^[15]
• The Bureau of the Census was authorized (1902) to collect information related to health and disease from around the country.^[16]
• The first Certified Color Regulations (1907) listed 7 colors found suitable for use in foods.^[17]
• A Housing Commission was appointed (1908) to evaluate slum conditions.^[18]
• Corporate welfare work was encouraged by the Roosevelt Administration; a policy continued under Roosevelt's successor William Howard Taft.^[19]

Conservation

• The Newlands Reclamation Act (1902) led to the first 21 federal irrigation projects such as Theodore Roosevelt Dam in Arizona.^[20]
• The Transfer Act of 1905.
• The Antiquities Act of 1906 gave the president authority to restrict the use of particular public lands in America.
• 16 million additional acres of Western forest were signed into federal protection.^[4]
• In Alaska, Roosevelt created the Tongass and the Chugach forest reserves.^[4]
• In Hawaii, Roosevelt set several small islands aside as the Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation.^[4]
• Pelican Island in Florida was proclaimed as the first federal bird reservation in 1903 (total of 51 bird reservations established by Roosevelt administration).^[20]
• Improvements of waterways and reservation of water power sites were carried out.^[21]
• The provisions of the Newlands Act were extended to Texas (1906).^[22]
• The National Forest Service was established (1905).^[20]
• A National Conservation Commission was appointed (1908) to prepare "first inventory of natural resources."^[20]
• From 1901 to 1909, Roosevelt signed legislation establishing five national parks: Crater Lake, Oregon; Wind Cave, South Dakota; Sullys Hill, North Dakota; Mesa Verde, Colorado; and Platt, Oklahoma.^[23]
• In one of a series of acts aimed at regulating the harvesting of Alaskan wildlife, Congress passed "An Act For the protection of game in Alaska, and for other purposes," known as the Alaska Game Act, protecting certain game animals in Alaska.^[22]
• A preservation of remaining buffalo herds was started.^[24]
• 18 national monuments were declared during Roosevelt's time in office.^[25]

Public projects

• The Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902.
• The Kinkaid Act of 1904.
• The Forest Homestead Act (1906) allowed the patenting, or deeding, of millions of acres of potential agricultural land within the national forests.^[26]
• The Inland Waterways Commission was created (1907) for the purpose of developing a new approach to river development.^[27]

Veterans

• The Civil War program was transformed into a system of old-age pensions, with an executive order of 1904 declaring that old age itself constituted a disability: “When a claimant has passed the age of sixty-two years he is disabled one-half in ability to perform manual labor and is entitled to be rated at six dollars a month; after sixty-five years at eight dollars a month; after sixty-eight years at ten dollars a month, and after seventy years at twelve dollars a month.” This order provided tens of thousands of Union veterans with non-contributory old-age pensions.^[28]
• A 1906 statute provided that “the age of sixty-two years and over shall be considered a permanent specific disability within the meaning of the pension laws.”^[29]
• In 1907, the pension provisions of the federal government were extended to all civil war veterans, regardless of whether they were disabled or not.^[29]

Education

• The Adams Act (1906) provided additional funds to states for agricultural research.^[30][31]
• The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching was chartered by an Act of Congress (1906).^[32]
• The 1907 Nelson Amendment to the second Morrill Act provided $25,000 annually in order to assist teacher-training courses in the mechanical arts and agriculture.^[33]

Rural areas

• The Rural Free Delivery postal service was made permanent (1902).^[34]
• The Alaska Native Allotment Act (1906) authorized the Secretary of the Interior “to allot individual Alaska Natives a homestead of up to 160 acres of land.”^[35]
• A Commission on Country Life was established (1908) to investigate ways of making country life more attractive.^[36]

Business regulation

• The Expediting Act of 1903.
• The Elkins Act 1903.
• A Department of Commerce and Labor was set up (1903) to regulate business and enforce economic regulations.^[37]
• The Hepburn Act of 1906 strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission; prior to that, the commission had minimal resources to carry out its duties.
• Under the Immunity of Witnesses Act (1906) corporate officials could no longer make a plea of immunity to avoid testifying in cases which dealt with the illegal activities of their corporations.^[38]
• The Aldrich–Vreeland Act (1908) introduced government regulation of any issues of “emergency” currency.^[39]

References

1. Klopfenstein, Mark, The Progressive Era (1900-1920) (PDF)
2. Direct Democracy and the Courts, p. 28, at Google Books
3. Time-Life Books, Library of Nations: United States, Sixth European English language printing, 1989
4. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tr-environment/
5. http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trenv.html#RECLAMATIONPROJECTS
6. Theodore Roosevelt’s Labor Record at the Wayback Machine (archived February 3, 2004)
7. Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, p. 285, at Google Books
8. http://www.socialwelfarehistory.com/events/1901-1950/
9. Labor and Employment Law, p. 79, at Google Books
10. Environmental Policy and Public Health, p. 98, at Google Books
11. http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/Addresses_at_the_Republican_National_Convention_1904_Nominating_for_1000388965/71
12. http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/Milestones/ucm128305.htm
13. Food Law Handbook, p. 198, at Google Books
14. http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/Milestones/ucm128305.htm
15. http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/Addresses_at_the_Republican_National_Convention_1904_Nominating_for_1000388965/71
16. http://www.socialwelfarehistory.com/organizations/u-s-public-heath-service/
17. http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/Milestones/ucm128305.htm
18. Houser: The Life and Work of Catherine Bauer, 1905–64, p. 116, at Google Books
19. The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Business, Labor, and Economic History, p. RA1-PA390, at Google Books
20. https://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/historyculture/theodore-roosevelt-timeline.htm
21. http://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Research/Digital-Library/Record/ImageViewer.aspx?libID=o282590&imageNo=1
22. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amrvhtml/cnchron4.html
23. Theodore Roosevelt and the National Park System at the Wayback Machine (archived July 4, 2007)
24. Jaycox, Faith (2005). The Progressive Era. New York: Facts On File. ISBN 0-8160-5159-3.
25. Modern American Environmentalists: A Biographical Encyclopedia, p. 444, at Google Books
26. Crossing the Next Meridian: Land, Water, and the Future of the West, p. 130, at Google Books
27. The History of Large Federal Dams: Planning, Design, and Construction in the Era of Big Dams, p. 452, at Google Books
28. Closing the Door to Destitution: The Shaping of the Social Security Acts of the United States and New Zealand, p. 19, at Google Books
29. Government and Public Health in America, p. 272, at Google Books
30. An Assessment of the United States Food and Agricultural Research System, p. 39, at Google Books
31. The Country in Conflict, p. 127, at Google Books
32. The Internationalization of Law and Legal Education, p. 51, at Google Books
33. Higher Education in the United States: A–L, p. 382, at Google Books
34. The Birth of Big Business in the United States, 1860–1914: Commercial, Extractive, and Industrial Enterprise, p. 33, at Google Books
35. Alaska native allotments conflicts with utility rightsofway have not been resolved through existing remedies : report to the Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate., p. 7, at Google Books
36. https://web.stanford.edu/group/ruralwest/cgi-bin/drupal/content/country-life-commission
37. American History, 1877 to the Present, p. 55, at Google Books
38. The AP United States History, p. 197, at Google Books
39. Unsettled Account: The Evolution of Banking in the Industrialized World since 1800, p. 235, at Google Books

Further reading

• Brands, H. W. (1997). T. R.: The Last Romantic. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-06959-0.
• Brinkley, Alan (2007). American History: A Survey (12th ed.). McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-312492-6.
• Gould, Lewis L. (1992). The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-0565-1.
• Harbaugh, William Henry (1961). The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt (1st ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus And Cudahy. ISBN 978-0-19-519822-5.
• Morris, Edmund (2001). Theodore Rex (1st ed.). Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-55509-6.
• Mowry, George E. (1958). The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America, 1900–1912 (1st ed.). New York and Evanston: Harper Torchbooks. ISBN 978-0-06-133022-3.
• Rhodes, James (1922). The McKinley and Roosevelt Administrations, 1897–1909. New York: The MacMillan Company. ISBN 978-1-4067-3464-5.

External links

• Theodore Roosevelt Square Deal AQS Shapell Manuscript Foundation