Responding to a groundswell of public outcry against Big Business behemoths, President Theodore Roosevelt enacted the Expedition Act to toughen up ineffectual federal anti-trust curbs, this week on February 11, 1903.

Corporate monopolies, beginning with Standard Oil in 1879 - but largely formed during the years 1880 through 1901 - combined competing companies in “trusts.” These trusts in industries such as railroads, steel, tobacco, meatpacking, whiskey, sugar, and beef, created massive fortunes for a few-and garnered the wrath of many legislators, investigative journalists-notably Ida Tarbell and Upton Sinclair, and numerous other free trade advocates who viewed them as wasteful and a menace to competitive commerce.

Reacting to a violent miners’ strike against coal companies and the formation of railroad holding company, Northern Securities, President Roosevelt added to his trust busting reputation with this crusading piece of legislation that enabled the Justice Department to fast track anti-trust cases.

This Week in Wall Street History

2/11/08