William Howard Taft
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William Howard Taft
William Taft was a nominated by his successor, Teddy Roosevelt. He was nominated for the Republican Party in the Presidential Race in 1908, in which he defeated William Jennings Bryant of the Democratic Party. He was called a “trust buster”, by people against his beliefs and decisions.
In his Inaugural Address, he stated that many ideas in which supported Teddy Roosevelt. One, Interstate commerce railroads was a large element to the country and market of the railroad business. He wanted them to be more secure and have the Industry be more productive. Taft, in (1910) created the Mann-Elkins Act which strengthened Interstate Commerce Commission, made the original long-short haul clause more effective, and created more government control on railroad businesses.
Taft wanted to reach a new efficiency and wanted to push his “successors” ideas. The 16th and 17th Amendments were passed during his Presidency to create an Income tax, and providing for the people of a state electing US Senators instead of the state legislature. Two states were also added to the Union.
Taft commented about the revision of the Dingly Act. In 1909, he called a special session to create the Payne-Aldrich Tariff that seemed to be a protectionist measure and Taft calling it, “a really good bill”. The Payne-Aldrich Tariff was the first changes to the Dingley Act in which increased rates on manufactured goods and helped the Industrial Northeast but angered the Midwest. The Intervention helped to reduce Tariff levels, but didnt satisfy the progressives. Ironically, a greater number of progressive reforms were accomplished in Tafts four years in office than in Roosevelts seven.
The Administration made positive achievements in his inauguration by the Postal Savings Bank in 1910 and the Parcel-Post System (1912) which helped our country tremendously in being able to send mail to others in the country. The Postal Savings and the Parcel Post accounts also aided small business and provided a mechanism by which the average person could bank money. Taft commented on reorganizing our Labor by creating the Department of Labor in 1912 which helped the safeguarding the health of children and mothers, this reflected the concern that progressives might need special protection because of the number of mothers that are now working outside the home.
The “Dollar Diplomacy” was created to follow up with the McKinley -Roosevelt decision to turn the Caribbean into an American Lake.