Theodore Roosevelt and the Bureau of Corporations

By the time Theodore Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency in 1901 the question of government control of large interstate business corporations had become a matter of pressing concern to the American public. Some federal legislation, notably the Sherman Antitrust Act, had been enacted, but none of it had measurably changed the drift toward concentration of economic power. The policies toward business which the new President would follow were not clearly perceived, but his character and past record suggested that the acquiescent attitude of the McKinley administration was not likely to be continued. The fears of some big businessmen proved to be well grounded, for Roosevelt soon sponsored a series of measures directed toward federal regulation of business interests. If he did not prove to be a wide-ranging “trustbuster,” he nevertheless worked strenuously toward curbing some individual industrial combinations while proposing to bring all interstate corporations into federal — and presidential — harness. His policies and proposals matured during the presidency, but they all reflected his own vigorous self-confidence. One of the earliest projects to which he gave his support was the establishment of an agency of publicity about corporate affairs ; and Congress finally brought such an agency into being in 1903 as the Bureau of Corporations. A study of Roosevelt’s role in the establishment and early work of the Bureau reflects his heady conception of the presidential office and provides insight into the evolution of federal regulation and supervision of interstate corporations.