Okla-homey
6/29/2007, 06:12 AM
June 29, 1906 : TR's Hepburn Act is passed
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/18550/2005485489266291305_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005485489266291305)
101 years ago today, a landmark piece of federal legislation that fundamentally changed American life was passed at the behest of one of the most popular American presidents.
Overwhelmingly elected to the presidency in 1904, Theodore Roosevelt immediately asked Congress for substantial powers to regulate interstate railroad rates. Public demand for effective national regulation of interstate railroad rates had been growing since the Supreme Court had emasculated the Interstate Commerce Commission's (ICC) rate-making authority in the 1890s.
Determined to bring the railroads--the country's single greatest private economic interest--under effective national control, Roosevelt waged an unrelenting battle with an uncooperative Congress in 1905 and 1906. The outcome--the Hepburn Act of 1906--was his own personal triumph, giving teeth to the previously flaccid ICC, despite Congress dragging its heels and tacking on several self-serving "amendments" before agreeing to pass the bill.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/19983/2005441465250378818_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005441465250378818)
The Hepburn Act greatly enlarged the ICC's jurisdiction and forbade railroads to increase rates without its approval. By giving the ICC the authority to set maximum rates, Roosevelt effectively created the first of the government's regulatory commissions and thus cleared a milestone on the long road to the modern social-service state. This act alos gave rise to the "Fourth Branch of Government, " the modern Adminstrative branch of the federal gubmint.
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/21596/2005483441781076870_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005483441781076870)
"The bulk of government is not legislation but administration. Men can never escape being governed. Either they must govern themselves or they must submit to being governed by others."
Jamestown, VA, April 26, 1907
By using the same tactics of aggressive leadership, Roosevelt in 1906 also obtained passage of a Meat Inspection Act and a Pure Food and Drug Act. Passage of the former was aided by the publication of Upton Sinclair's famous novel, The Jungle (1906), which revealed in ghastly detail the unsanitary conditions of the Chicago stockyards and meat-packing plants.
"This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in."
Chicago, IL, June 17, 1912
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/21052/2005470407544095293_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005470407544095293)
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/18550/2005485489266291305_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005485489266291305)
101 years ago today, a landmark piece of federal legislation that fundamentally changed American life was passed at the behest of one of the most popular American presidents.
Overwhelmingly elected to the presidency in 1904, Theodore Roosevelt immediately asked Congress for substantial powers to regulate interstate railroad rates. Public demand for effective national regulation of interstate railroad rates had been growing since the Supreme Court had emasculated the Interstate Commerce Commission's (ICC) rate-making authority in the 1890s.
Determined to bring the railroads--the country's single greatest private economic interest--under effective national control, Roosevelt waged an unrelenting battle with an uncooperative Congress in 1905 and 1906. The outcome--the Hepburn Act of 1906--was his own personal triumph, giving teeth to the previously flaccid ICC, despite Congress dragging its heels and tacking on several self-serving "amendments" before agreeing to pass the bill.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/19983/2005441465250378818_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005441465250378818)
The Hepburn Act greatly enlarged the ICC's jurisdiction and forbade railroads to increase rates without its approval. By giving the ICC the authority to set maximum rates, Roosevelt effectively created the first of the government's regulatory commissions and thus cleared a milestone on the long road to the modern social-service state. This act alos gave rise to the "Fourth Branch of Government, " the modern Adminstrative branch of the federal gubmint.
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/21596/2005483441781076870_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005483441781076870)
"The bulk of government is not legislation but administration. Men can never escape being governed. Either they must govern themselves or they must submit to being governed by others."
Jamestown, VA, April 26, 1907
By using the same tactics of aggressive leadership, Roosevelt in 1906 also obtained passage of a Meat Inspection Act and a Pure Food and Drug Act. Passage of the former was aided by the publication of Upton Sinclair's famous novel, The Jungle (1906), which revealed in ghastly detail the unsanitary conditions of the Chicago stockyards and meat-packing plants.
"This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in."
Chicago, IL, June 17, 1912
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/21052/2005470407544095293_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005470407544095293)