the disaster that was the Great Depression of the 20th c.,
unlike our 21st c. version, but his work was made easier
by a previous US president who busted up the great
business "trust". That would be Teddy Roosevelt.
I'll post what I have after I finish my skirmish with
Microsoft and its monopolistic sales people, the
f%^&king bastards. What was I saying about
harmful business practices? Oh ya, Microsoft should
be broken up too.
I'm sure they're spying on us right now, so
Hi Bill!
OK. solved. Only took them 5 working days (4, if you
don't count good Friday) to deliver a 25-digit code,
in an envelope.
Where were we.
Check this out:Us
history
43b.
The Trust Buster
Teddy
Roosevelt
C.
Gordon Moffat
Teddy
Roosevelt (not Ned Flanders) leading the charge against trusts in a cartoon
from 1899.
Teddy Roosevelt was one American who
believed a revolution was coming.
He believed Wall Street financiers and
powerful trust titans to be acting foolishly. While they were eating off
fancy china on mahogany tables in marble dining rooms, the masses were roughing
it. There seemed to be no limit to
greed. If docking wages would increase profits, it was done. If higher
railroad rates put more gold in their coffers, it was done. How much was
enough, Roosevelt wondered?
The
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Although
he himself was a man of means, he criticized the wealthy class of Americans on
two counts. First, continued exploitation of the public could result in a
violent uprising that could destroy the whole system. Second, the captains of
industry were arrogant enough to believe themselves superior to the elected
government. Now that he was President, Roosevelt went on the attack.
The
President's weapon was the Sherman Antitrust Act, passed by Congress in 1890.
This law declared illegal all combinations "in restraint of trade."
For the first twelve years of its existence, the Sherman Act was a paper tiger.
United States courts routinely sided with business when any enforcement of the
Act was attempted.
For
example, the American Sugar Refining
Company controlled 98 percent of the sugar industry. Despite this virtual monopoly, the Supreme Court refused
to dissolve the corporation in an 1895 ruling. The only time an
organization was deemed in restraint of trade was when the court ruled against a labor union
Roosevelt
knew that no new legislation was necessary. When he sensed that he had a
sympathetic Court, he sprung into action.
Teddy
vs. J.P.
Theodore
Roosevelt was not the type to initiate major changes timidly. The first trust giant
to fall victim to Roosevelt's assault was none other than the most powerful
industrialist in the country — J. Pierpont Morgan.
"Try
your strength, gents!"
This
1912 cartoon shows trusts smashing consumers with the tariff hammer in hopes of
raising profits.
Morgan
controlled a railroad company known as Northern Securities. In combination with
railroad moguls James J. Hill and E. H. Harriman, Morgan controlled the bulk of
railroad shipping across the northern United States.
Morgan
was enjoying a peaceful dinner at his New York home on February 19, 1902, when
his telephone rang. He was furious to learn that Roosevelt's Attorney General
was bringing suit against the Northern Securities Company. Stunned, he muttered
to his equally shocked dinner guests about how rude it was to file such a suit without warning.
Four
days later, Morgan was at the White House with the President. Morgan bellowed
that he was being treated like a common criminal. The President informed Morgan
that no compromise could be reached, and the matter would be settled by the
courts. Morgan inquired if his other interests were at risk, too. Roosevelt
told him only the ones that had done anything wrong would be prosecuted.
The
Good, the Bad, and the Bully
This
was the core of Theodore Roosevelt's
leadership. He boiled everything down to a case of right versus wrong and good
versus bad. If a trust controlled an
entire industry but provided good service at reasonable rates, it was a
"good" trust to be left alone. Only the "bad" trusts
that jacked up rates and
exploited consumers would come under attack. Who would decide the
difference between right and wrong? The occupant of the White House trusted
only himself to make this decision in the interests of the people.
The
American public cheered Roosevelt's new offensive. The Supreme Court, in a
narrow 5 to 4 decision, agreed and dissolved the Northern Securities Company.
Roosevelt said confidently that no man, no matter how powerful, was above the
law. As he landed blows on other "bad" trusts, his popularity grew
and grew.
