1908, "the representatives of predatory wealth” as guilty of, "all forms of
iniquity from the oppression of wage workers to unfair and unwholesome
methods of crushing competition, and to defrauding the public by stock-
jobbing and the manipulation of securities." Trusts and monopolies became
the primary target of Square Deal legislation. Trusts increasingly became a
central issue, as many feared that large corporations would impose
monopolistic prices to defraud consumers and drive small, independent
companies out. By 1904, 318 trusts including those in railroads, local transit,
and the banking industry controlled two-fifths of the nation's industrial
output.
Define the Square Deal.
Finding balance between the interests of labor and the interests of
business was at the center of Roosevelt’
s Square Deal. In May 1902,
anthracite
coal
miners went on strike, threatening a national energy shortage. After
threatening the coal operators with
intervention
by federal troops, Roosevelt
won their agreement to an arbitration of the dispute by a commission, which
succeeded in stopping the strike and dropping coal prices; the accord with J.P.
Morgan resulted in the workers getting more pay for fewer hours, but with no
union recognition.

Organized labor celebrated the outcome as a victory for the United Mine
Workers of America (UMWA) and American Federation of
Labor
unions
generally. Membership in other unions soared, as moderates argued
that they could produce concrete benefits for workers much sooner than could
radical Socialists who planned to overthrow capitalism through revolutionary
violence. Furthermore, the outcome of the strike was a success for Roosevelt,
who argued that the federal government could successfully intervene in
conflicts between labor and capital. Journalist Ray Baker quoted Roosevelt
concerning his policy toward capitalists and laborers: "My action on labor
should always be considered in connection with my action as regards capital,
and both are reducible to my favorite formula
—
a square deal for every man."
The
settlement
was an important step in the
Progressive Era
reforms
of the
decade that followed.
vi
How were Roosevelt’s actions in the 1902 coal strike different fro
m those of Rutherford
B. Hayes in 1877?
Theodore Roosevelt
A portrait of Theodore Roosevelt painted by John
Singer Sargent.
Roosevelt's Square Deal focused on control of
corporations, and consumer protection.
He
explained it in the following way in 1910:
When I say that I am for the square deal, I mean
not merely that I stand for fair play under the
present rules of the game, but that I stand for
having those rules changed so as to work for
a
more
substantial equality of opportunity and of
reward for equally good service.
Roosevelt was by no means anti-business.


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- Fall '16
- Ronald Sterling
- Theodore Roosevelt