#TBT: Woodrow Wilson, Modern-Day Trustbuster

     A brother of General William Tecumseh Sherman, John Sherman of Ohio was one of the more major politicians in the years between the Civil War and World War One. The author of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and the Sherman Antitrust Act, he would craft much of the legislation passed under President Benjamin Harrison, whose other achievements included establishing the Appellate Court system, bringing six states into the United States, revamping the U.S. Navy, providing bonuses to Civil War veterans, and establishing the first national forests. The Sherman Antitrust Act would be used 11 times by Presidents Harrison, Cleveland, and McKinley combined before being used over 40 times by Theodore Roosevelt and over 70 times by President William Howard Taft.

     By 1914, it was obvious that the law needed an update, however, and this came when President Wilson signed the Clayton Antitrust Act on October 25th, 1914. The law built on the Sherman Act by expanding the activities prohibited to include price discrimination, exclusive dealings, and tying; clarifying definitions in the prior law to close legal loopholes; mandating that companies notify the new Federal Trade Commission as well as the Justice Department of any new mergers; laying out clear guidelines for the use of civil suits for enforcement and remedial measures; and providing exemptions for labor unions and agricultural groups.

     The FTC had been created by the FTC Act on September 26th of that year, and these two laws fulfilled one of Woodrow Wilson's major campaign promises. The laws have been used countless hundreds of times to prevent unfair business practices and continue to represent consumer protection's golden standard.