oosevelt's conviction, was
only a part of the battle. As he said, "monopolies can, although in
rather cumbrous fashion, be broken up by lawsuits. Great business
combinations, however, cannot possibly be made useful instead of noxious
industrial agencies merely by lawsuits, and especially by lawsuits
supposed to be carried on for their destruction and not for their
control and regulation." He took, as usual, the constructive point of
view. He saw both sides of the trust question--the inevitability and
the beneficence of combination in modern business, and the danger to
the public good that lay in the unregulated and uncontrolled wielding
of great power by private individuals. He believed that the thing to do
with great power was not to destroy it but to use it, not to forbid its
acquisition but to direct its application. So he set himself to the
task of securing fresh legislation regarding the regulation of corporate
activities.

Such legislation was not easy to get; for the forces of reaction were
strong in Congress. But several significant steps in this direction were
taken before Roosevelt went out of office. The new Federal Department
of Commerce and Labor was created, and its head became a member of
the Cabinet. The Bureau of Corporations was established in the same
department. These new executive agencies were given no regulatory
powers, but they did perform excellent service in that field of
publicity on the value of which Roosevelt laid so much stress.

In the year 1906 the passing of the Hepburn railway rate bill for the
first time gave the Interstate Commerce Commission a measure of real
control over the railways, by granting to the Commission the power
to fix maximum rates for the transportation of freight in interstate
commerce. The Commission had in previous years, under the authority of
the act which created it and which permitted the Commission to decide
in particular cases whether rates were just and reasonable, attempted
to exercise this power to fix in these specific cases maximum rates. But
the courts had decided that the Commission did not possess this right.
The Hepburn act also extended the authority of the Commission over
express companies, sleeping-car companies, pipe lines, private car
lines, and private terminal and connecting lines. It prohibited railways
from transporting in interstate commerce any commodities produced or
owned by themselves. It abolished free passes and transportation except