HISTORY 124A Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: United Mine Workers, Forestry Bureau, American Tobacco Company
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Lecture 21: Election of 1912 10/12/2016 1:08:00 PM
Announcements and Recap
Midquiz this Friday, bring blue or green book(s) & pen
Tips:
o What are our three themes?
o Do the multiple-choice/fill-in-the-blank questions first
o For the essay: Answer the question. Include a coherent
narrative, specifics, and significance. Include lecture and
readings.
Can you provide a story about what happened to
blacks, or farmers, or laborers between 1865 and 1900
or 1915?
The Election of 1912: The Candidates
McKinley was assassinated, Roosevelt became president after
Theodore Roosevelt (President from 1901-1909)
o “New Nationalism” or “Transcendent Nationalism”
sacrifice in the service of others
there are good and bad trusts
Conservationist
Elitist, believes elites should rule
Very well educated; could speak 3 languages and read
4 others
o 1902 Coal Strike Timeline
1902—Roosevelt sues the Northern Securities
Company, a giant holding company of three large
railroads that monopolize traffic between the Great
Lakes and the Pacific. The lawsuit is successful and the
company is ordered to dissolve in 1904.
May 1902—150,000 coal miners go on strike in
Pennsylvania under the leadership of John F. Mitchell,
head of the United Mine Workers
September 1902—Most of the press opposes the coal
field owners because of their intransigence and foolish
statement
October 1902—President Roosevelt meets with the coal
company owners and Mitchell. The owners refuse to
deal with outlaws. Three days later the companies ask
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find more resources at oneclass.com
that the miners be treated like the railroad workers
during the Pullman strike and that federal troops be
sent in.
Mid-October 1902—Roosevelt considers sending troops
to seize the mines and produce coal for cold Americans
on the East Coast. The then owners agree to
arbitration and the miners go back to work.
March 1903—Arbitrators give miners a 10% raise,
reduced working hours to 8 to 9 hours per day, but no
union recognition. Mine owners get a 10% raise in coal
prices.
1903—Roosevelt sues the “beef trust”.
1906-1907—Roosevelt sues the Standard Oil Company,
the American Tobacco Company, the New Haven
Railroad, and Du Pont.
1906—Hepburn Act: Gives the Interstate Commerce
Commission the power to examine railroad books and
set “just and reasonable” rates
1906—Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act
October 1907—Recession of 1907 begins
November 1907—Roosevelt approves the buyout of the
Tennessee Coal and Iron Company by J. P. Morgan and
the U.S. Steel Corporation
William Howard Taft
o More conservative than Roosevelt or Wilson
Favors some business regulation
Favors graduated income tax
Likes high tariffs
o November 1908—Taft beats William Jennings-Bryan, making
it Bryan’s third defeat (including 1896 and 1900)
o 1909—Taft sides with Secretary of Interior Richard Ballinger
over the head of the Forestry Bureau Gifford Pinchot, a
Roosevelt appointee.
o 1911—Continued the attack on Standard oil and American
Tobacco and breaks with Roosevelt to sue the Knickerbocker
Trust Company
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find more resources at oneclass.com