PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S SECOND TERM

[1905-1907]

On June 1, 1905, an exposition was opened at Portland, Oregon, in commemoration of the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-1805).  Four hundred acres of ground adjoining the principal residence district, overlooking the Willamette River, were set aside for this purpose.  There were extensive exhibits by the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Holland, Italy, China, and other European and Asiatic countries.  The fair was, in general, the expression of the life and history of the Pacific Northwest and the direct relationship between that region and the Orient.  Many national congresses were held in conjunction with it, such as the American Medical Association, National Good Roads Association, and the National Conference of Charities and Correction.

The different interstate commerce acts, beginning with that of 1887 and including the railroad rate bill of 1906, constitute a system of control established by the Federal Government over persons and corporations engaged in interstate or foreign commerce; this includes the carrying of persons and property by either rail or water.  Pipe lines, telephone, telegraph, express, and sleeping-car companies are also brought under the same provisions.  The administration of these laws was vested in the Interstate Commerce Commission consisting of seven members.

The important provisions of these laws may be summarized as follows:  1.  All charges must be just and reasonable.  The commission was given power to fix maximum rates after investigation of a complaint by either party to a dispute over rate.  Pooling agreements were prohibite.  It was made unlawful to make discriminations by giving to any particular person, corporation, or locality an unreasonable advantage over others.  Granting of passes was prohibited to other than railroad employees, and granting of rebates was forbidde.  By the “long or short haul” clause it was made unlawful for a common carrier to charge more for the transportation of passengers, or the same kind of freight, over a shorter than a longer distance; provided the transportation was under substantially similar circumstances and conditions over the same line and in the same directio.  All rates were required to be published and posted where they might be consulted by any perso.  Railroad companies were forbidden to engage in other lines of busines.  Companies engaged in interstate commerce must have a uniform system of accountin.  They are required to make reports to the Interstate Commerce Commission regularly.

This commission was also empowered to receive complaints, hear testimony, make orders correcting abuses, or investigate conditions without previous complaint.  It was given the power to suspend the proposed increase of rates until their justice had been determined.  Any person objecting to an order of the commission was empowered to appeal to the “Commerce Court,” which was created, being made up of five circuit court Justices.

Nearly all of the States have passed laws relating to the purity of goods sold to the public.  Investigation showed, however, that twenty per cent of the articles of food in common use were adulterated.  This led to the passing of a far-reaching measure by Congress, 1906, known as the Pure Food and Drugs law.  It provides against the manufacture and sale of adulterated or misbranded foods, drugs, medicines, or liquors in the District of Columbia, the Territories, and the insular possessions of the United States, and prohibits the shipment of such goods from one State to another or to a foreign country.  To the Department of Agriculture was given the power to enforce the law.  Thus the public is protected against adulterated foods and medicines and dishonest and misleading labels, and honest manufacturers are protected against fraudulent competition.

For a number of years some of the European countries condemned American packing-house products.  Abuses in the processes of preparing preserved meats were brought vividly before Americans by Upton Sinclair in his novel “The Jungle.”  The Department of Agriculture took up the problem and a special investigation was ordered by President Roosevelt.  The report showed the need for more rigid inspection, and the agitation throughout the country forced the House of Representatives, 1906, somewhat reluctantly, to adopt the President’s recommendation for a thorough inspection, by government agents, of all processes and methods used in the meat packing-houses.

Early in the morning of April 18, 1906, San Francisco was visited by one of the most dreadful disasters of modern times.  An earthquake shock destroyed many of the important buildings in the business part of the city.  Other cities and towns along the coast and in the Santa Clara Valley suffered greatly and a number of the buildings of Leland Stanford University, thirty miles south of San Francisco, were demolished.  Ninety per cent of the loss in San Francisco was due to the conflagration which raged for two days.  Fires broke out owing to the crossing of electric wires.  The water-mains were old and poorly laid and the force of the earthquake had burst them.  Firemen and soldiers fought the advance of the flames by destroying buildings with dynamite.  Not until an area three miles in length and two miles in breadth, including all the business and the thickly settled residential sections, had been burned over was the advance of the flames stopped.  The estimated loss of life was 1,000, and property valued at $300,000,000 was destroyed.  Among the irreparable losses were several libraries, the collections of the California Academy of Sciences, and many works of art.  The noted Bancroft Library with its collection of manuscripts was saved.

A quarter of a million people were rendered homeless and were without food and the means of earning a livelihood.  The sympathy of the world was aroused and offers of relief came from all quarters.  Two million five hundred thousand dollars was voted by Congress, and the total relief fund amounted to $20,000,000.  There was little suffering for lack of food and water, owing to the co-operation of representatives of the Red Cross Association, a citizens’ committee, and the United States army in distributing supplies.

One hundred thousand persons were sheltered in tents in Golden Gate Park.  The courage and hopefulness of the people did not desert them, and the rebuilding of the city was immediately begun.  At the end of a year one-half of the burned area had been rebuilt.  The old frame and low brick structures were replaced by modern buildings of steel and re-enforced concrete, for this type had survived the earthquake shock.  After two years, a new San Francisco, more beautiful and more substantial, had risen on the site of the old.

On April 26, 1907, the Jamestown Exposition was opened.  It was in commemoration of the first English settlement in America.  The southern shore of Hampton Roads, forty miles southeast of old Jamestown, was selected as the site for the buildings.  The historic idea was uppermost in the exposition.  The colonial type of construction was dominant and good taste and moderation were notable in the arrangement of the grounds and exhibits.  Industrial and commercial progress were emphasized.  The United States had a special exhibit to illustrate the work of the different departments.  In the harbor, one of the finest in the world, was the greatest international naval display ever witnessed.  Every variety of war-vessel in existence was on exhibition besides commercial and passenger boats from the great ports of the world.