been a strong disposition to test its merit, and
no one of the notorious trusts had been attacked before the Northern
Securities case. In later years it was turned against the Standard Oil
Company, the beef-packers, the Tobacco Trust, the Sugar Trust, and the
United States Steel Corporation, while railways and smaller
corporations, in great number, were prosecuted. The enforcement of the
law aroused blind opposition among many of the victims, and stimulated
queries as to whether or not any attempt to limit the size of business
was sound public policy. The debate upon regulation, as against
prohibition of trusts and monopolies, ran on with no sign of victory for
either side of the argument. Personal hostility against the
Administration for applying the law gave color to the last two years of
Roosevelt's Administration.

By 1907 there had been ten years of the prosperity that had begun with
the election of McKinley. Finance had developed with industry and trade.
The needs of corporations dealing in millions and hundreds of millions
of capital had induced the consolidation of banks and the concentration
of financial power in the hands of a small group of men. The holding
companies were great aids in the furtherance of this concentration. J.
Pierpont Morgan and John D. Rockefeller were best known as
representative of the inner circle. Their speculations and investments
were embarrassed by the weakening of public confidence. It was certain
there would come a time when the whole surplus capital of the United
States would be invested in permanent improvements. Such periods had
followed eras of boom in 1837, 1857, and 1873. It was too probable that
some accident occurring in the period of liquidation would create a
panic. Suspicion had been directed against the controlling agents of
business by the revelations of 1902-07. It was exaggerated by
sensational journalism. It reached a climax in the fall of 1907 when a
group of banks, reputed strong, failed through dishonesty and
speculative management. The failure of the Mercantile National Bank and
the suspension of the Knickerbocker Trust Company in New York brought
the crisis on October 22, 1907. The loss to the public was lessened by
resolute and sympathetic cooperation among the clearing-houses, Morgan,
Rockefeller, and the United States Treasury, but a period of enforced
economy was begun for all.

The managers of big business attributed the panic to "Theodore the
Meddler."