ocialist Labor party had presented a ticket and received a few votes in
1892 and 1896, but socialism had not taken a strong hold on the American
imagination. The swelling immigration that followed the new prosperity
brought new life to socialism. In 1900 a Social Democratic party polled
94,000 votes for Eugene V. Debs for President. In 1904, with the same
candidate, it received 402,000 votes. Society was reorganizing amid the
industrial changes, while the discontented classes were growing more
coherent and constructive.

President Roosevelt met the changes in transportation, industry, and
labor with vigor. He invoked the Sherman Law against the Northern
Securities Company. He brought suits against certain of the trusts
which he stigmatized as the "bad trusts." Not all concentration, he
urged, was undesirable. Capital, like labor, had its rights, but it must
obey the law. Partly through his efforts Congress created in 1903 a new
administrative department of Commerce and Labor. George B. Cortelyou
became the first Secretary of this department. Through its Bureaus of
Corporations and of Labor there was new activity in the investigation of
the facts of the industrial movement.

The vigor with which the President directed foreign relations,
interfered in big business, and espoused the cause of labor produced a
breach between him and many of the regular leaders of the party. Through
two campaigns Marcus A. Hanna had worked on the theory that the
Republican party was the party of business, and had attracted to its
support all who believed this or had something to make out of it. Many
of these Republicans could not understand what Roosevelt was trying to
do, and maintained an opposition, silent or open, to his policies.

The popularity of Hanna was used by many Republicans to offset the
popularity of Roosevelt. Before 1896 Hanna had taken little part in
public politics. Entering the Senate in 1897, he developed great
influence. By 1900 he began to speak in public with directness and
effect, and to undo the work of the cartoonists who had misrepresented
his character. He interfered to bring peace in the anthracite regions in
1900, became interested in the labor problem on its own account, and
discovered that he was popular. He was essentially a direct and honest
man, who had had no reason to doubt that it was the chief end of
government to conserve business. As he came into touch with public
affairs he broadened, saw new respo