USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Now that he was President, Roosevelt went on the attack. The President’s weapon was the Sherman Antitrust Act, passed by Congress in 1890. This law declared illegal all combinations “in restraint of trade.” For the first twelve years of its existence, the Sherman Act was a paper tiger.

Detailed explanation-2: -On this date, the 63rd Congress (1913-1915) passed the Clayton Antitrust Act (P.L. 63–212) in a bid to curb the power of trusts and monopolies and maintain market competition.

Detailed explanation-3: -Public opinion feared that large corporations could impose monopolistic prices to cheat consumers and could squash small independent companies. Roosevelt’s Justice Department launched 44 anti-trust suits, prosecuting railroad, beef, oil, and tobacco trusts.

Detailed explanation-4: -Roosevelt told Congress he opposed banning monopolies. Instead, he preferred that the federal government “assume power of supervision and regulation over all corporations doing an interstate business."

Detailed explanation-5: -Whereas the Sherman Act only declared monopoly illegal, the Clayton Act defined as illegal certain business practices that are conducive to the formation of monopolies or that result from them.