Question

Theodore Roosevelt’s “Square Deal” called for all the following except ______.
a. limiting the power of trusts
b. enacting cuts in personal income taxes
c. promoting public health and safety
d. improving working conditions for the labouring class

Answer 1

Hint: The Square Deal was Theodore Roosevelt’s domestic program. It reflected his three major goals which are conservation of natural resources, consumer protection and control of corporations. Theodore Roosevelt was the President of the United States at the time of forming the Square Deal.

Complete answer: Roosevelt was a progressive Republican. He believed in government action so as to mitigate the social evils. In 1908 he announced that ‘the representatives of predatory wealth’ were guilty of all forms of iniquity from the oppression of wage workers to unfair and unwholesome methods of crushing competition as well as defrauding the public by stock-jobbing and the manipulation of securities.
Let us study the given options.
Option a- Roosevelt pursued a policy of trust-busting by bringing lawsuits against many major corporations. He also resurrected the nearly defunct Sherman Antitrust Act. So, this is an incorrect option.
Option b- The Square Deal embraced Roosevelt’s view of labour, citizenship, parenthood and Christian ethics. It never promoted cuts in personal income taxes. This is the correct answer.
Option c- In 1906, Roosevelt pressed Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug and Meat Inspection Acts which created agencies to provide protection to customers and hence promoting public health and safety. Hence, it is an incorrect option.
Option d- Roosevelt had publicly intervened in the anthracite coal strike and implicitly supported the workers by using various tactics to end the strike and also gain a modest pay hike for the miners. This was the first time he sued the term Square Deal. This is an incorrect option.
Therefore, the right option is ‘b’.

Note: The Square deal concept was largely used by the Progressive or the Bull Moose Party when Theodore Roosevelt was its candidate in the 1912 presidential election. During his second term, he tried to extend his Square Deal further too but was blocked by conservative Republicans in Congress.