Monopolies

Part four of Hearings before the committee on interstate commerce starts part way through a hearing in which Mr. Martin answers questions from the senators regarding the dissolution of trusts and the consequences to stockholders. A statement of Andrew Jaritz begins on page 174 in which Jaritz presents his ideas and conclusions on the permanent and progressive habits of economic legislation and the need for economic principles. Jaritz suggests the government frame trusts within the context of the economy and work for the people to set reasonable prices and prevent waste by the producers and the consumers. The government could then profit from the savings and continue regulating and enforcing economic legislation by forming a new department of economic policy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-17

Creator(s)

United States. Congress. Committee on Interstate Commerce

Albert H. Walker tells Theodore Roosevelt that two powerful men hired him to draw up a bill regarding their ideas around the Sherman Act. Walker believes Roosevelt has similar views and therefore asks Roosevelt’s opinion and attaches the bill. The bill calls for the creation of the Sherman Law Commission with nine commissioners who will oversee the licensure of those engaging in trade and commerce worth over $10,000 in a day and ensure such organizations are not participating in restraint of trade. The commission will also set prices of goods bought and sold by licensees.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-16

Creator(s)

Walker, Albert H. (Albert Henry), 1844-1915

John William Griggs requests the help of Secretary of State Philander C. Knox regarding a deal between The Mexican National Packing Company and the Mexican Government, which is now being compromised. Griggs believes allowing the Mexican Government to break this deal will negatively impact American citizens invested in this company and requests Knox communicate with the Ambassador to Mexico and request a thorough investigation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-13

Creator(s)

Griggs, John William, 1849-1927

The author of this article argues that the United States Supreme Court is working with the American Tobacco Company to dissolve the illegal company but, in allowing a new company to be created, are forming a monopoly that will drive out independent retailers from the tobacco industry. To avoid the scandal and lawsuits that will come if the Supreme Court continues on their path, the author suggests the Supreme Court request a full inventory of the assets of all the companies forming the new trust and verify all stocks and bonds under the companies, especially the American Cigar Company,  are covered. The second suggestion made is to make coupons illegal because the issuance of coupons runs independent retailers out of business.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-21

Creator(s)

Berriman, Edward C. (Edward Charles), 1860-1925

Charles Richard Van Hise speaks of the nuances present in monopolies and unrestricted competition in the American economy. Van Hise gives the railroads system as an example of successful use of commissions with no price competition. His thesis proposes there can be great economic advantage to maintain a concentration of industry and therefore those corporations should not be broken up by enforcing the Sherman Act. Instead, commissions should be created to determine prices and Van Hise provides a list of powers these commissions should have and how to achieve success.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-09

Creator(s)

Van Hise, Charles Richard, 1857-1918

Silas M. Wetmore, an attorney based in South Carolina, writes to Theodore Roosevelt to express his support for Roosevelt as a candidate in the 1912 presidential election. Wetmore believes that a strong leader is needed to dismantle trusts and monopolies in the United States, and that Roosevelt is the best candidate for the job.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-05

Creator(s)

Wetmore, Silas M. (Silas McBee), 1877-1952

Charles H. J. Bliss sends documents to Theodore Roosevelt hoping Roosevelt will decide to help defeat the monopoly the Board of Fire Underwriters of the Pacific is working to create on the Pacific Coast. If a fire insurance agent works for a company not on the Board, they will receive significantly less wages than those who only work for companies on the Board. Bliss has questioned this policy and received negative backlash from the Board.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-04

Creator(s)

Bliss, Charles H. J. (Charles Hampton Jennison), 1857-1937

Mexican Ambassador to the United States Creel congratulations President Roosevelt on having his book translated into “the sweet language of Cervantes.” He opines that “a good book is like a fountain of wisdom” and writing a book in only one language is “like a monopoly or trust.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-03-15

Creator(s)

Creel, Enrique C., 1854-1931

Leslie M. Shaw is glad that President Roosevelt will be meeting with a committee of railroad men. Shaw notes that “at least three-fourths of the accumulated wealth of the United States has been unearned,” referring to value increases of land and real property over time. The difficulty is in how to “adjust matters that every man who has contributed capital or effort toward the development of our country shall have his fair share of the results of American effort.” Shaw identifies the corporate evils in the railroad industry as rooted in granting rebates and special privileges, and corporate control of corporations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-03-14

Creator(s)

Shaw, Leslie M. (Leslie Mortier), 1848-1932

Curtis Guild Jr. believes the Republican Party is superior to the Democratic Party. He discusses numerous instances where the Democratic Party has failed and ends saying the Republican Party doesn’t just talk, it acts.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-10-21

Creator(s)

Guild, Curtis, 1860-1915

President Roosevelt reads a paper with “a few words about tariff revision” in a “President’s Message” theater. The crowd looks up at a “protected monopolies” man sweating.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-06

Creator(s)

McCutcheon, John T. (John Tinney), 1870-1949

Message given by President Roosevelt to Congress at the beginning of the second session of the Fifty-seventh Congress in which Roosevelt describes his legislative priorities for the year.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1902

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

The “G.O.P.” elephant holds a tambourine labeled “Stand Patism” and hands out free baskets labeled “Tariff Graft” containing a turkey, duck, or chicken to ragged figures labeled “Coal Trust, Steel Trust, [and] Wool Trust.” A long line of trust figures await their turn. Joseph Gurney Cannon, Nelson W. Aldrich, Joseph Benson Foraker, and Leslie M. Shaw appear in women’s clothing as the “Republican Salvation Army” singers, singing “There are no flies on Dingley.” A man labeled “Protected Monopoly” stands in the foreground, at the edge of the platform. Caption: Distribution of Christmas goodies by the Republican Salvation Army.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1906-12-19

Joseph Gurney Cannon leads a procession including Nelson W. Aldrich, Joseph Benson Foraker, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Leslie M. Shaw who are carrying the golden ark of the Dingley Tariff, with figures labeled “Trust, Infant Industries, [and] Protected Monopoly” bowing as it passes.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1906-12-12

Congressman Jenkins outlines his beliefs on the trusts. He believes that the first step towards remedying some of the evils that trusts bring would be to grant Congress the power to regulate them. Until this is done, he says, constitutional restrictions make legislation ineffective.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-10

Creator(s)

Jenkins, John James, 1843-1911

Henry Harrison Tucker Jr., as the youthful David with sling, confronts John D. Rockefeller, as Goliath, holding a large club labeled “Standard Oil.”

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-03-22

Father Knickerbocker, a symbolic figure for New York City, holds a large stick labeled “Municipal Ownership” at his side and confronts three animated figures labeled “Electric Light Monopoly, Telephone Trust, [and] Gas Trust.” Caption: Father Knickerbocker — I hate to use this, but-

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-02-15

Uncle Sam, as a matador, wipes the blood off his sword after dispatching a bull labeled “Beef Trust” in a bullring with a portly man labeled “Monopoly” anxiously leaning over the wall.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-02-22

A man labeled “Labor” sits on a huge firecracker labeled “Capital” which he is igniting with a torch labeled “Strikes” giving off fumes labeled “Discontent.” The fuse of the firecracker is labeled “Wages.” There are factory buildings in the background.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902-07-16

A man labeled “Republican Party” picks up the clothing of a man labeled “Democratic Party” who is swimming in the “Democratic Issue Pond” which is labeled “Socialism, Bryanism, Populism, Free Silver, Anti-Expansion, [and] Jeffersonian Simplicity.” At the upper right is a scene twenty years earlier, in which a man labeled “Democrat” picks up the clothing of a “Republican” swimming in the “Republican Corruption Water.”

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902-11-19