Roosevelt and the Square Deal Mr. Williams 10th Grade U.S. History

Square Deal 1904 Campaign Slogan which called for limiting power of trusts, promoting public health and safety, and improving working conditions

“We demand that big business give the people a square deal; in return we must insist that when anyone engaged in big business honestly endeavors to do right he shall himself be given a square deal.” -Theodore Roosevelt

As part of the Square Deal, Roosevelt started to go after “bad trusts” Sold inferior products, competed unfairly, or corrupted public officials Trust Busting

Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 Prohibited trusts from becoming monopolies to reduce competition Roosevelt used this to file law suits against 43 trusts such as the American Tobacco Company and Rockefeller’s Standard Oil

Railroads Northern Securities Company U.S. attorney general sued company for violating Sherman Anti Trust Act Supreme Court ordered trust to disperse

“There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race around it…A man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats…The packers would put poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together.”

“We saw meat shoveled from filthy wooden floors, piled on tables rarely washed, pushed from room to room in rotten box carts…[the meat] was in the way of gathering dirt, splinters, floor filth, and the expectoration [saliva] of tuberculous and other diseased workers.”

Consumer Protection Meat Inspection Act: Required federal inspection of meat shipped across state lines Pure Food and Drug Act: forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportations of food and patent medicine containing harmful ingredients

Conservation Gifford Pinchot “The conservation of natural resources is the key to the future. It is the key to the safety and prosperity of the American people.”

John Muir Wanted entire wilderness to be preserved in its natural state “Unfortunately, God cannot save trees from fools…Only the government can do that.”

National Park System Roosevelt supported this system, frequently visiting Yosemite with Muir Purpose is to conserve natural wonders in places such as Yellowstone and Grand Canyon

Newlands Reclamation Act 1902 Allowed federal government to create irrigation projects to make dry lands productive U.S. Forest Service: Added nearly 150 million acres of national forests, controlled their use, and regulated their harvest