ROOSEVELT AND THE PROGRES SIVE PARTY. The Progressive movement in the Republican party, like its counterpart in the Democratic party, laid emphasis on the need of freeing government, both State and Federal, from the domination of special interests and the prostitution of government to serve the needs of a small moneyed minority. The fight more especially developed into a struggle against cor porations. This struggle has had three principal phases : first, the attempt to control and regulate corporate activities; second, to resist the efforts made by vested corporate interests to exploit the natural resources of the country in their own interest and, third, the revolt against the tariff revision of 1909 which was made in the interests of the same predatory classes. The Sherman Law was the effort made to accomplish the first end; it was not very successful and had a dis astrous effect on business. When Roosevelt became President in 1901 he regarded this law as of doubtful efficacy. His chief objection to it was that it failed to discriminate between good corporations and bad corporations, assuming that all combinations were trusts and, therefore, dangerous and to be suppressed. Roosevelt in 1903 prevailed on Congress to establish a Bureau of Corporations in the Department of Commerce and Labor, through which ((power and author ity," were granted, "to make . . . diligent investigation into the organization, conduct and management of the business of any corporation, joint-stock company or corporate combination engaged in commerce among the several states and with foreign nations." Roosevelt, however, before the bureau made its reports of the activities of "big business" determined to try out the Sherman Law in the cases of the Standard Oil Company, and the American Tobacco Company. While nominally successful the punishment of the delinquent cor porations was more apparent than real. The financial panic of 1907 further stayed the Presi dent's hand but it was clearly his intention and desire that Taft, his successor, should carry on the work of government control of corporations.
The conservation movement to protect the natural resources of the nation in the in terest of all the people and from exploitation by private individuals and interests was the second great objective of the progressive forces during Mr. Roosevelt's incumbency of the White House. The President in March 1907 appointed the Interstate Waterways Commission to in vestigate conservation as far as the waterways of the country were concerned. A preliminary
investigation by the commission caused it to recommend to the President the calling of a conference to discuss conservation from all angles. The result was the memorable confer ence at the White House on 13 May 1908 and the subsequent appointment of Gifford Pinchot as head of the National Conservation Commis sion. In the fight to conserve the natural re sources of the country Mr. Roosevelt received no aid from the majority of the Congress. Everything possible was done to hamper him and the special private interests were sufficiently powerful to prevent him in his effort to put the conservation movement on a secure basis. The lasting benefit of his struggle was the awakening of public interest in the question which in later years put the movement beyond the power of the special interests and their subservient tools among the politicians.
In endorsing Taft as his successor, Roosevelt firmly believed that his favorite meas ures, This policies," would be carried out faith fully. Roosevelt's disappointment was keen. therefore, when the Payne-Aldrich tariff raised certain schedules upward instead of downward as had been promised by Taft and his political sponsors during the pre-election campaign. Taft's support of Ballinger, his advocacy of a sham reciprocity treaty with Canada and his yielding to the old conservative standpatters and reactionaries made it impossible for the progressive members of his party to support him for re-election in 1912. The tariff discus sion of 1909 was the most potent factor in widening the breach between the Progressives and the reactionaries among the Republicans and helped define the progressive movement for the country. An open break with the Taft adminis tration followed and the National Progressive Republican League was formed by the Pro gressive senators and members of the House of Representatives, pledged to these specific re forms: (1) election of United States senators by popular vote; (2) direct primaries; (3) direct election of delegates to national con ventions; (4) initiative, referendum and recall clauses in all State constitutions; and (5) a corrupt practices law with adequate provision for Its enforcement. The league grew rapidly and was sufficiently powerful to cause progress and reform legislation to be passed in the last year of the Taft administration. Its growth proved that the Republican party as then con stituted had no room for real progressives and either a new party must be created or the old effectively regenerated.