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→Domestic policy: RR
====Coal strike====
====Coal strike====
The [[Coal strike of 1902]] was a strike by the [[United Mine Workers of America]] in the anthracite coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania. The strike threatened to shut down the winter fuel supply to all major cities.<ref> Most homes and apartments were heated with anthracite or "hard" coal because it had higher heat value and less smoke than "soft" or bituminous coal.</ref> Roosevelt jumped in, and personally negoatiated with the mine leaders and financiers. Acting as a neutral party, he set up a fact-finding commission that suspended the strike. The strike never resumed, as the miners received more pay for fewer hours; the owners got a higher price for coal but did not recognize the union as a bargaining agent. It was the first labor episode in which the federal government intervened as a neutral arbitrator and it made Roosevelt's reputation as a peacemaker.
The [[Coal strike of 1902]] was a strike by the [[United Mine Workers of America]] in the anthracite coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania. The strike threatened to shut down the winter fuel supply to all major cities.<ref> Most homes and apartments were heated with anthracite or "hard" coal because it had higher heat value and less smoke than "soft" or bituminous coal.</ref> Roosevelt jumped in, and personally negotiated with the mine leaders and financiers. Acting as a neutral party, he set up a fact-finding commission that suspended the strike. The strike never resumed, as the miners received more pay for fewer hours; the owners got a higher price for coal but did not recognize the union as a bargaining agent. It was the first labor episode in which the federal government intervened as a neutral arbitrator and it made Roosevelt's reputation as a peacemaker.
[[Image:Coal-TR.JPG|thumb|300px|left|TR teaches the childish coal barons a lesson; 1902 editorial cartoon]]
[[Image:Coal-TR.JPG|thumb|300px|left|TR teaches the childish coal barons a lesson; 1902 editorial cartoon]]
====Railroad regulation====
Roosevelt worked closely with Congress to pass important laws (the 1903 Elkins Act and the 1906 Hepburn Act), that regulated railroad rates for the benefit of shippers and consumers, while injuring the railroads (which were assumed to be so rich that they could always pay). The new laws retarded the growth of the South, which the railroads could no longer afford to subsidize.<ref> Albro Martin, "The Troubled Subject of Railroad Regulation in the Gilded Age - a Reappraisal." ''Journal of American History'' 1974 61(2): 339-371 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1903953 in JSTOR]</ref>
====Antitrust====
====Antitrust====
Roosevelt expressed an antitrust image within a probusiness framework. Critics who have measured Roosevelt's success by the number of antitrust suits he brought or won miss the essentially rhetorical purposes of his involvement with corporate America. His primary emphasis involved the promotion of the proper attitude in corporate leaders and the general public regarding the role of big business in American society. This Roosevelt did in two ways. First, he argued metaphorically for the necessity of corporations and the restraint of muckraking journalists. Second, along with employing metaphors to chastise big business, Roosevelt assumed the role of moral guardian and preached to corporate leaders to adhere to an ethical standard in business. For Roosevelt, corporate America could be effectively regulated only by its leaders' sense of morality and spirit of public service.<ref> Leroy G.; Dorsey, Theodore Roosevelt and Corporate America, 1901-1909: a Reexamination. Presidential Studies Quarterly 1995 25(4): 725-739 </ref>
Roosevelt expressed an antitrust image within a probusiness framework. Critics who have measured Roosevelt's success by the number of antitrust suits he brought or won miss the essentially rhetorical purposes of his involvement with corporate America. His primary emphasis involved the promotion of the proper attitude in corporate leaders and the general public regarding the role of big business in American society. This Roosevelt did in two ways. First, he argued metaphorically for the necessity of corporations and the restraint of muckraking journalists. Second, along with employing metaphors to chastise big business, Roosevelt assumed the role of moral guardian and preached to corporate leaders to adhere to an ethical standard in business. For Roosevelt, corporate America could be effectively regulated only by its leaders' sense of morality and spirit of public service.<ref> Leroy G.; Dorsey, Theodore Roosevelt and Corporate America, 1901-1909: a Reexamination. Presidential Studies Quarterly 1995 25(4): 725-739 </ref>