Reform In The 20th Century

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Reform in the Early 20th Century
America is growing, In a few short years it has started becoming a very potent world power. Through massive immigration from outside power it makes it’s way as a large storming steam engine. Other countries are soon left in the dust. With all this power coming in, political leaders start to see opportunities, to take advantage of the working class. Soon the people become fed up with this “new aristocracy” and fight back for better conditions and reform.
One of the first major reforms of this period was regulated the monopolies that large businesses had over most products. With this first reform it allowed the government to look into businesses and make sure that nothing illicit was going. Groups started being formed which routinely went to inspect work ethic and quality in the work places. These groups also made sure that the business was dealing fairly with the public by not selling bad or shoddy items, this protected the consumer from having to worry about the validity of what they were purchasing. Another big problem within the large companies was the forming of trusts after monopolies had become illegal. Through a trust one large company held control of groups of several smaller companies selling the same goods, in effect creating a hidden monopoly. This did not make consumers happy and eventually led to “trust busting”. This large reform benefited large amounts of people who no longer had to pay too much for poor quality items. These sizeable reforms became the Federal Trade Commission which allowed the investigation into the fraudulent businesses, and the Clayton Anti-Trust Act which extended the Sherman anti-trust act which was already in place by stating more precisely what corporations could or could not do. Many of the changes brought about in the workplace came with the help from president Taft.
One of the reforms that was of great value to society helped the Farmers and Labor...