The introduction of big business in American society led directly to the development of big government policies.  Assess the validity of this statement using the documents provided and your knowledge of the time period 1890-1920.

Document A
Source:  From the Depths, William Balfour Ker, 1906

Document B
Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom (New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1913): 163-191

I take my stand absolutely, where every progressive ought to take his stand, on the proposition that private monopoly is indefensible and intolerable. And there I will fight my battle. And I know now to fight it. Everybody who has even read the newspapers knows the means by which these men built up their power and created these monopolies. Any decently equipped lawyer can suggest to you statutes by which the whole business can be stopped. What these gentlemen do not want is this: they do not want to be compelled to meet all comers on equal terms. I am perfectly willing that they should beat any competitor by fair means; but I know the foul means they have adopted, and I know that they can be stopped by law. If they think that coming into the market upon the basis of mere efficiency, upon the mere basis of knowing how to manufacture goods better than anybody else and to sell them cheaper than anybody else, they can carry the immense amount of water that they have put into their enterprises in order to buy up rivals, then they are perfectly welcome to try it. But there must be no squeezing out of the beginner, no crippling his credit; no discrimination against retailers who buy from a rival; no threats against concerns who sell supplies to a rival; no holding back of raw material from him; no secret arrangements against him.

Document C
Source:

Work Force in Millions

Document D
Source:  The Verdict, 1899

Document E
Source:  William Howard Taft, Inaugural Address, Thursday, March 4, 1909

The office of an inaugural address is to give a summary outline of the main policies of the new

administration, so far as they can be anticipated. I have had the honor to be one of the advisers of my distinguished predecessor, and, as such, to hold up his hands in the reforms he has initiated. I should be untrue to myself, to my promises, and to the declarations of the party platform upon which I was elected to office, if I did not make the maintenance and enforcement of those reforms a most important feature of my administration. They were directed to the suppression of the lawlessness and abuses of power of the great combinations of capital invested in railroads and in industrial enterprises carrying on interstate commerce. The steps which my predecessor took and the legislation passed on his recommendation have accomplished much, have caused a general halt in the vicious policies which created popular alarm, and have brought about in the business affected a much higher regard for existing law.

To render the reforms lasting, however, and to secure at the same time freedom from alarm on the part of those pursuing proper and progressive business methods, further legislative and executive action are needed. Relief of the railroads from certain restrictions of the antitrust law have been urged by my predecessor and will be urged by me. On the other hand, the administration is pledged to legislation looking to a proper federal supervision and restriction to prevent excessive issues of bonds and stock by companies owning and operating interstate commerce railroads.

Then, too, a reorganization of the Department of Justice, of the Bureau of Corporations in the Department of Commerce and Labor, and of the Interstate Commerce Commission, looking to effective cooperation of these agencies, is needed to secure a more rapid and certain enforcement of the laws affecting interstate railroads and industrial combinations.

I hope to be able to submit at the first regular session of the incoming Congress, in December next, definite suggestions in respect to the needed amendments to the antitrust and the interstate commerce law and the changes required in the executive departments concerned in their enforcement.

Document F:
Theodore Roosevelt’s Autobiography

When I became President, the question as to the method by which the United States Government was to control the corporations was not yet important. The absolutely vital question was whether the Government had power to control them at all. This question had not yet been decided in favor of the United States Government. It was useless to discuss methods of controlling big business by the National Government until it was definitely settled that the National Government had the power to control it. A decision of the Supreme Court had, with seeming definiteness, settled that the National Government had not the power.

This decision I caused to be annulled by the court that had rendered it; and the present power of the National Government to deal effectively with the trusts is due solely to the success of the Administration in securing this reversal of its former decision by the Supreme Court.

Document G:
Source:  The Vipers

Document H
Theodore Roosevelt’s 1st Annual Message

When the Constitution was adopted, at the end of the eighteenth century, no human wisdom could foretell the sweeping changes, alike in industrial and political conditions, which were to take place by the beginning of the twentieth century. At that time it was acceptable as a matter of course that the several states were the proper authorities to regulate, so far as then necessary, the comparatively insignificant and strictly localized corporate bodies of the day. The conditions are now wholly different and wholly different action is called for. I believe that a law can be framed which will enable the national government to exercise control along the lines above indicated; profiting by the experience gained through the passage and administration of the Interstate-Commerce Act. If, however, the judgment of Congress is that it lacks the constitutional power to pass such an act, then a constitutional amendment should be submitted to confer the power.

Essay

During the time period of 1890-1920, the Federal government began developing policies in which they claimed broad authority that had not been exercised in previous years. Also during this time period, the business community was expanding and becoming a great force in American society through its trusts, monopolies, cartel, etc. It was this rise of big business that led directly to the creation of the big government policies, which characterized the time period, both through the business community’s actions as well as the American peoples response to these actions.

The rise of big government policies was largely a result of the American people’s response to big business. On one hand, Americans admired the efficiencies that large businesses provided such as the attractive spaces for customers, as well as a wide range of different goods and services. On the other hand Americans also worried that the large firms eliminated many opportunities for individuals to go into business. The American peoples’ only choice for income was to work for the big businesses, resulting in a rise in the workers in the work force and a large class distinction [C]. The government was pressured by the laborers who voiced their disapproval of the low wages and poor hours, that was a result of working for the trusts, through strikes, such as the Pullman strike and Homestead strike. The Populists, represented by James Weaver, also put pressure on the government. In their 1892 Omaha Platform they called for government control of railroads, telegraphs, and telephones. Pressure was also exerted by the lower class responding to the upper class [A]. Muckrakers pressured the government as well, who exposed the abuses of the trusts, such as Ida Tarbell and her expose on Standard Oil, Lincoln Steffens, and Jacob Riis. Americans concluded that unless "Uncle Sam" would fight off the "industrial vipers" America could never get the "sustenance" that it needed to flourish [G].

After acknowledging the American people’s concerns about big business, the government began to take action against the trusts and big businesses. Although the government had issued the Sherman Anti-trust Act in 1890, it was largely ineffective in that it was designed primarily to appease the American people and was not enforced immediately. Document [D] shows the trusts pushing the government off the plank, which illustrates the extent to which the trusts were in control. The government began to realize that it would meet its demise unless it "retook the ship" and began to fight back. Roosevelt was one of the first presidents to acknowledge that something had to be done about big business, and began to respond with big government policies. In the case of U.S. v. EC Knight Co. the "decision of the supreme court had…settled, that the national government had not the power" to control big business, but the decision was "caused to be annulled" by Roosevelt, so that the federal government could "deal effectively with the trusts." [F]. Roosevelt said in his first Annual message to Congress that "if, however, the judgment of the congress is that it lacks the constitutional power to pass" an act that would deal with trusts based on more than just interstate commerce, "then a constitutional amendment should be submitted to confer the power." [H]. Roosevelt along with his successors then began to take action against the big businesses.

After the government acknowledged the problem and claimed the power it needed to "retake the ship" it began to develop big policies and take action. Woodrow Wilson said "I take my stand absolutely where every progressive ought to take his stand, on the proposition that private monopoly is indefensible and intolerable and there I will fight my battle."[B]. Wilson responded to the trust problem with the Clayton Antitrust Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act. Roosevelt, like Wilson, also implemented big government policies when he issued the Hepburn Railroad Regulation Act, and when he used the Sherman Anti-trust Act against the Northern Securities Company. He also created the Department of Commerce and Labor, which was to investigate the trust. Roosevelt mediated strikes too, such as the Anthracite Coal strike, and felt that he was giving a "square deal" to the American people. Taft was also involved in big government policies, as he launched dozens of suits against corporate combinations. The "main policies" and suits in this time period were "directed to the suppression of the lawlessness and abuses of power of the great combinations of capital invested in railroad and in industrial enterprises carrying on interstate commerce." [E]

During 1890-1920 big business began to be prominent in American society. Although this increased business provided more jobs for the people they became dissatisfied with the abuses of the trusts. The government acknowledged the peoples discontent for a time and then began to respond. These responses came in the form of big government policies, which characterized the time period as such power, had never before been used. Thus it is seen that due to the rise of big business and the American people’s response to the big businesses, big government policies created.