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| theodore roosevelt | |
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The Square Deal was the term used by President Theodore Roosevelt and his associates for the policies of his administration, particularly with regard to how economic policies, such as Antitrust enforcement. As such, it seems to have been a precursor to the New Deal of his distant cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt thirty years later and Johnson's Great Society in the 1960s . The term is a general reference to the concept of a ''square deal'' being an agreement that is made fairly. To ensure market competition, President Roosevelt built into the Square Deal program the concepts that monopolies were wrong and that business should not cut corners to the point where public health is jeopardized. When consumer buying power has no means to induce change via market competition, chances are the corporation would cut costs or corners to achieve a higher profit via deceptive practices, poor quality control, or polluting methods, at the expense of the consumers health or lives. So a square deal had to be instituted to ensure that business cost cutting measures have a limit. To achieve this goal, extreme cost cutting measures, wanton corruption and instability had to be brought under control. Railroads were no longer allowed to give rebates or kickbacks to favored companies. Meat had to be processed safely with proper sanitation, and people were allowed to breathe the fresh air of national parks. Foods and drugs could no longer be mislabeled, nor could consumers be deliberately misled to make a profit. Businesses were forced to accept the additional cost of these reforms as a part of the cost of doing business. SOURCE
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