Anti Trust Acts

Trusts increasingly became seen as an issue in American society in the late 19th century, so to combat this trend, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 was passed. However, it was rather weak, in that it contained many loopholes that industrialists could exploit. Nevertheless, Taft used it to successfully break up the Standard Oil Company:



Later, in the Wilson administration, the Clayton Anti-Trust Act was passed, essentially to lengthen the list of forbidden trust practices of the Sherman Act. The Clayton Act (1914) also conferred several benefits for labor: