Wilson and the Progressive agenda

 

Acts under President Woodrow Wilson

Underwood Tariff Bill 1913
lowered tariffs and import costs; b/c of 16thA, created graduated income ta

Federal Reserve Act 1913
decentralized banks in gov’t hands; 12 regional locations, each with a centralized bank

Federal Reserve Board-appointed by President
-“bankers bank” owned by financial institutions
-guaranteed public control
-able to issue increased paper money in circulation in times of crisis

Federal Trade Commission Act 1914
appointed by president
to root out corruption in interstate commerce

Clayton Anti-Trust Act 1914-extend Sherman Act to included price discrimination and interlocking directorates sitting
on board of dir for competing firms)
-benefit for labor- labor and agriculture exempt from anti trust busts and permitted to
organize and picket peacefully
-hailed by Samuel Gompers as ending human labor as mere commodity

Wilson’s Progressivism
Federal Farm Act 1916-gave farm loans and credit for low interest; platform of Populists for years

Warehouse Security Act 1916
loans for staple crops, deferral highways, agricultural extensions for state colleges

LaFolettes Seamen Act 1915
Protected Merchant marines

Workingmen’s Comp. Act 1916
Disability for civil serve employees

Adamson Act 1916
8 Hour work day for train employees for trained employees working in interstate bar

1916- nominated Louis Brandeis, who was Jewish to the US Supreme Court