Editing Theodore Roosevelt (section)

===Domestic policies: The Square Deal===
{{Further|Square Deal}}

====Trust busting and regulation====
Roosevelt was hailed as the "trust-buster" for his aggressive use of the 1890 [[Sherman Antitrust Act]], compared to his predecessors.{{sfn|Ruddy|2016}} He viewed big business as essential to the American economy, prosecuting only "bad trusts" that restrained trade and charged unfair prices.{{Sfn|Miller|1992|pp=365–366}} Roosevelt brought 44 antitrust suits, breaking up the [[Northern Securities Company]], the largest railroad monopoly, and regulating [[Standard Oil]], the largest oil company.{{sfn|Ruddy|2016}} His predecessors, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, and William McKinley, had together prosecuted only 18 antitrust violations.{{sfn|Ruddy|2016}}

After winning large majorities in the [[1902 United States elections|1902 elections]], Roosevelt proposed creating the [[United States Department of Commerce and Labor]], which included the [[Bureau of Corporations]]. Congress was receptive to the department but skeptical of the antitrust powers Roosevelt wanted within the Bureau. Roosevelt appealed to the public, pressuring Congress, which overwhelmingly passed his version of the bill.{{Sfn|Miller|1992|pp=378–381}}

House Speaker [[Joseph Gurney Cannon]] commented on Roosevelt's desire for executive branch control: "That fellow at the other end of the avenue wants everything from the birth of Christ to the death of the devil." Biographer Brands notes, "Even his friends occasionally wondered whether there wasn't any custom or practice too minor for him to try to regulate, update or otherwise improve."{{Sfn|Brands|1997|pp=552–553}} Roosevelt's willingness to exercise power extended to attempted rule changes in [[American football]], forcing retention of martial arts classes at the [[U.S. Naval Academy]], revising disciplinary rules, altering the design of a disliked coin, and ordering simplified spellings for 300 words, though he rescinded the latter after ridicule from the press and a House protest.{{Sfn|Brands|1997|pp=553–556}}

====Coal strike====
{{main|Coal strike of 1902}}
In May 1902, [[United Mine Workers|anthracite coal miners]] went on strike, threatening a national energy shortage. After threatening the coal operators with federal troops, Roosevelt won their agreement to dispute arbitration by a commission, stopping the strike. The accord with [[J. P. Morgan]] resulted in miners getting more pay for fewer hours but no union recognition.{{Sfn|Harbaugh|1963|pp= 165–179}}{{Sfn|Brands|1997|pp=450–483}} Roosevelt said, "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."{{Sfn|Brands|1997|p=509}} He was the first president to help settle a labor dispute.{{Sfn|Miller|1992|pp=376–377}}

====Prosecuted misconduct====
During Roosevelt's second year in office, corruption was uncovered in the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs|Indian Service]], the [[United States General Land Office]], and the [[United States Post Office Department|Post Office Department]]. He prosecuted corrupt Indian agents who had cheated [[Native American tribes]] out of land parcels. Land fraud and speculation involving Oregon timberlands, led to him and [[Ethan A. Hitchcock (Interior)|Ethan A. Hitchcock]] forcing General Land Office Commissioner [[Binger Hermann]] from office, in November 1902. Special prosecutor [[Francis J. Heney]] obtained 146 indictments in the Oregon Land Office bribery ring.{{Sfn|Chambers|1974|p=207}} Roosevelt also prosecuted 44 postal employees on charges of bribery and fraud.{{Sfn|Chambers|1974|p=208}} Historians agree he moved "quickly and decisively" to address misconduct in his administration.{{Sfn|Chambers|1974|p=209}}

====Railroads====
{{Main|Hepburn Act}}
Merchants complained that some railroad rates were too high. In the 1906 [[Hepburn Act]], Roosevelt sought to give the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] (ICC) the power to regulate rates, but the Senate, led by conservative [[Nelson Aldrich]], resisted. Roosevelt worked with Democratic Senator [[Benjamin Tillman]] to pass the bill. They ultimately reached a compromise that gave the ICC the power to replace existing rates with "just-and-reasonable" maximum rates, allowing railroads to appeal to federal courts on what was "reasonable".{{Sfn|Miller|1992|pp=453–459}}{{sfn|Blum|1977|pp=89–117}} The Hepburn Act also granted the ICC regulatory power over pipeline fees, storage contracts, and other aspects of railroad operations.{{Sfn|Morris|2001|pp=445–448}}

====Pure food and drugs====
Roosevelt responded to public outrage over abuses in the food packing industry by pushing Congress to pass the [[Meat Inspection Act]] of 1906 and the [[Pure Food and Drug Act]]. Conservatives initially opposed the bill, but [[Upton Sinclair]]'s ''[[The Jungle]]'', published in 1906, galvanized support for reform.{{Sfn|Miller|1992|pp=459–460}} The Meat Inspection Act banned misleading labels and [[preservatives]] with harmful chemicals. The Pure Food and Drug Act banned impure or falsely labeled food and drugs from being made, sold, and shipped. Roosevelt served as honorary president of the [[American School Hygiene Association]] from 1907 to 1908 and convened the first [[White House]] Conference on the Care of Dependent Children in 1909.<ref name = "ProgHealth21">{{cite book|title=The progressive era's health reform movement: a historical dictionary|first1=Ruth C.|last1=Engs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mNeGQRBgd_MC|pages=20–22|publisher=Praeger|year=2003|isbn=0-275-97932-6|access-date=October 17, 2015|archive-date=April 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407023133/http://books.google.com/books?id=mNeGQRBgd_MC|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Conservation====
{{main|Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt#Conservation}}
[[File:President Theodore Roosevelt Driving Through the Wawona Tunnel Tree, in Yellowstone National Park (14994749857).jpg|thumb|Roosevelt driving through a [[Sequoiadendron giganteum|sequoia]] [[Wawona Tree|tree tunnel]]]]
Roosevelt was proudest of his work in conserving natural resources and extending federal protection to land and wildlife.{{sfn|Bakari|2016}} He worked closely with Interior Secretary [[James Rudolph Garfield]] and Chief of the United States Forest Service [[Gifford Pinchot]] to enact a series of conservation programs that met resistance from Western Congress members, such as [[Charles William Fulton]].{{Sfn|Miller|1992|pp=469–471}} Nonetheless, Roosevelt established the [[United States Forest Service]], signed the creation of five [[National parks (United States)|National Parks]], and signed the 1906 [[Antiquities Act]], under which he proclaimed 18 new [[U.S. National Monument]]s. He also established the first 51 [[bird reserve]]s, four [[game preservation|game preserves]], and 150 [[United States National Forest|National Forests]]. The area of the United States he placed under public protection totals approximately {{convert|230|e6acre|km2|sp=us|abbr=off}}.{{sfn|Brinkley|2009}} Roosevelt was the first honorary member of the [[Camp Fire Club|Camp-Fire Club of America]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hornaday |first1=William |title=Membership Nominations |url=https://wcsarchives.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/archival_objects/13160 |website=Wildlife Conservation Society |access-date=February 27, 2023}}</ref>

Roosevelt extensively used [[Executive order (United States)|executive orders]] to protect forest and wildlife lands during his presidency.<ref>{{cite book |title=Executing the Constitution: Putting the President Back Into the Constitution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qgzmexCI734C&pg=PA53 |year=2006 |publisher=State University of New York Press |page=53 |isbn=978-0-7914-8190-5 |access-date=August 17, 2016 |archive-date=November 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161119073515/https://books.google.com/books?id=qgzmexCI734C&pg=PA53 |url-status=live }}</ref> By the end of his second term, Roosevelt used executive orders to reserve {{convert|150|e6acre|km2|sigfig=1|abbr=off|sp=us}} of forestry land.<ref name="Take up Your Pen">{{cite book|last1=Dodds|first1=Graham|title=Take up Your Pen|date=2013|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|isbn=978-0-8122-4511-0|page=144}}</ref> Roosevelt was unapologetic about his use of executive orders to protect the environment, despite Congress's perception that he was encroaching on too many lands.<ref name="Take up Your Pen"/> Eventually, Senator [[Charles William Fulton|Charles Fulton]] attached an amendment to an agricultural appropriations bill preventing the president from reserving further land.<ref name="Take up Your Pen"/> Before signing the bill, Roosevelt established an [[midnight forests|additional 21 forest reserves]], waiting until the last minute to sign it into law.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book|last1=Dodds|first1=Graham|title=Take up Your Pen|date=2013|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|isbn=978-0-8122-4511-0|page=146}}</ref> In total, Roosevelt established 121 forest reserves in 31 states through executive orders.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Roosevelt issued 1,081 executive orders, more than any previous president except Grover Cleveland (253). The first 25 presidents issued a total of 1,262 executive orders.<ref name="executiveorders">{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/orders.php|title=Executive Orders|publisher=UCSB|access-date=August 17, 2016|archive-date=August 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820213947/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/orders.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Business panic of 1907====
{{Further|Panic of 1907}}
[[File:Theodore Roosevelt by Harris & Ewing Studio, 1907.jpg|thumb|A 1907 portrait of Roosevelt by [[Harris & Ewing]]]]
In 1907, Roosevelt faced the greatest domestic economic crisis since the [[Panic of 1893]]. Wall Street's stock market entered a slump in early 1907, and many investors blamed Roosevelt's regulatory policies for the decline in stock prices.{{Sfn|Morris|2001|pp=495–496}} Roosevelt ultimately helped calm the crisis by meeting with the leaders of [[U.S. Steel]] on November 4, 1907, and approving their plan to purchase a Tennessee steel company near bankruptcy—its failure would ruin a major New York bank.{{sfn|Gould|2011|p=239}}

However, in August, Roosevelt had exploded in anger at the super-rich for their economic malfeasance, calling them "malefactors of great wealth" in a major speech, "The Puritan Spirit and the Regulation of Corporations". Trying to restore confidence, he blamed the crisis primarily on Europe, but then, after saluting the unbending rectitude of the Puritans, he went on:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roosevelt |first1=Theodore |editor=Hermann Hagedorn|title=The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, Volume 18 - American Problems |date=1925 |publisher=[[Scribner & Sons]] |page=99 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4u4h58niE8cC&pg=PA99 |access-date=January 19, 2024 |chapter=13 - The Puritan Spirit and the Regulation of Corporations"(speech of August 20, 1907)}}</ref><blockquote>It may well be that the determination of the government...to punish certain malefactors of great wealth, has been responsible for something of the trouble; at least to the extent of having caused these men to combine to bring about as much financial stress as possible, in order to discredit the policy of the government and thereby secure a reversal of that policy, so that they may enjoy unmolested the fruits of their own evil-doing.</blockquote>

Regarding the very wealthy, Roosevelt privately scorned, "their entire unfitness to govern the country, and ... the lasting damage they do by much of what they think are the legitimate big business operations of the day".<ref>Roosevelt to [[William Henry Moody]], September 21, 1907, in {{harvnb|Morison|1952|loc=5:802}}</ref>