The New Freedom


The New Freedom was Woodrow Wilson's platform in the 1912 presidential election, and also refers to the progressive programs enacted by Wilson during his time as president. First expressed in his campaign speeches and promises, Wilson later wrote a 1913 book of the same name. After the 1918 midterm elections, Republicans took control of Congress and were mostly hostile to the New Freedom. As president, Wilson focused on various types of reform, such as the following:
  1. Tariff reform: This came through the passage of the Underwood Tariff Act of 1913, which lowered tariffs for the first time since 1857 and went against the protectionist lobby.
  2. Labor reform: This was achieved through measures such as the Eight Hour Law for Women of the District of Columbia, the Seaman's Act, Workmen's Compensation for Federal employees, the Federal Child Labor Bill, and the Adamson Act. During the 1912 campaign Wilson spoke in support of workers organizing into unions while endorsing "the betterment of men in this occupation and the other, the protection of women, the shielding of children, the bringing about of social justice."
  3. Business reform: This was established through the passage of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914, which established the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and halt unfair and illegal business practices by issuing "cease and desist" orders, and the Clayton Antitrust Act.
  4. Agricultural reform: This was achieved through measures such as the Cotton Futures and Smith-Lever Acts of 1914, the Grain Standards and Warehouse Acts of 1916, and the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917.
  5. Banking reform: This came in 1913 through the creation of the Federal Reserve System and in 1916 through the passage of the Federal Farm Loan Act, which set up Farm Loan Banks to support farmers.

    Campaign slogan in 1912

Wilson's position in 1912 stood in opposition to Progressive party candidate Theodore Roosevelt's ideas of New Nationalism, particularly on the issue of antitrust modification. According to Wilson, "If America is not to have free enterprise, he can have freedom of no sort whatever." Wilson was strongly influenced by his chief economic advisor Louis D. Brandeis, an enemy of big business and monopoly.
Although Wilson and Roosevelt agreed that economic power was being abused by trusts, Wilson and Roosevelt were split on how the government should handle the restraint of private power as in dismantling corporations that had too much economic power in a large society. Wilson wrote extensively on the meaning of "government" shortly after his election.

Wilson in office

Once elected, Wilson rolled out a program of social and economic reform. Wilson appointed Brandeis to the US Supreme Court in 1916. He worked with Congress to give federal employees worker's compensation, outlawed child labor with the Keating–Owen Act and passed the Adamson Act, which secured a maximum eight-hour workday for railroad employees. Most important was the Clayton Act of 1914, which largely put the trust issue to rest by spelling out the specific unfair practices that business were not allowed to engage in.
The legislative environment was favourable to Wilson, with progressive Democratic majorities in Congress during his first term in office.
By the end of the Wilson Administration, a significant amount of progressive legislation had been passed, affecting not only economic and constitutional affairs, but farmers, labor, veterans, the environment, and conservation as well. The reform agenda actually put into legislation by Wilson, however, did not extend as far as what Roosevelt had called for but had never actually passed, such as a standard 40-hour work week, minimum wage laws, and a federal system of social insurance.
This was possibly a reflection of Wilson's own ideological convictions, who according to Elizabeth Warren and Herbert Hoover, was an adherent of Jeffersonian Democracy. However, despite this characterization, Wilson identified himself with progressive liberal politics throughout much of his life, in addition to his time as president. During his time as governor of New Jersey, a number of reform laws were passed by the New Jersey legislature and signed by Wilson. This included laws providing "for at least one-half hour meal time after six continuous hours of labor" and the appointment of commissioners on old age pensions and old age insurance, together with laws concerning working hours and health and safety. Wilson also spoke out in support of legislation benefiting labor, stating in one of his annual messages:
In his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination, Wilson argued in favor of labor legislation, stating that
Wilson was also supportive of the principle of minimum wage legislation, even playing a part in a decision made by Henry Ford to introduce a $5 daily minimum wage for his female employees.
In his work The State, Wilson had advocated a welfarist role for the state, arguing amongst its functions to be the provision of German-style insurance for workmen and care "for the poor and incapable." Wilson was also a supporter of teacher's pensions and mothers' pensions, with he and his daughter inviting Henry Nell to discuss "means for spreading the mothers' pension gospel." Wilson's views on welfare were expressed on another occasion in his Notes for Five Lectures on Municipal Government, in which he described various functions that he said municipal government must undertake, which included welfarist functions like Sanitation. In the same notes Wilson argued that "Charities, e.g., should be taken from the sphere of private, voluntary organization and endeavour and made the imperative legal duty of the Whole. Relief of the poor, and a bettering of the conditions in which they live is as much a governmental function as Education. Private charities need not be prohibited."
At some point during his political career, Wilson commissioned members of the Fraternal Order of Eagles to study old age pension laws overseas to see if such laws could be introduced in the United States. As noted by one state senator in later years, "It was learned in this way that institutional care for the aged was costly." Pensions for federal civil servants were introduced in 1920, but it wasn't until 1935 when legislation was passed establishing a national system of old age pensions.
While serving as governor of New Jersey, Wilson's views on welfare were arguably reflected in the platform adopted by the New Jersey Democratic Party in 1912, the authorship of which has been attributed to Wilson, which included a plank calling for more intervention in the field of health and welfare:
Wilson expressed similar views in 1913, arguing that workers had the right to a living wage and noting:
In various campaign speeches in 1912, Wilson spoke of the need for greater social justice in America. In one speech he argued how
In another speech, Wilson put forward a similar case for greater government intervention in society, arguing that
Wilson also spoke of the need to lift people out of poverty, stating in a speech he made in December 1912
Also, while not a socialist, Wilson agreed with the socialist program the Labour Party put forward in 1918, with the exception of its call for a minimum wage due to Wilson's uncertainty over how this would be maintained. Amongst the program's many proposals included ending joblessness and an expansion of unemployment benefit coverage.
Although the role of government under Wilson did expand in a progressive direction, the New Freedom did not go as far as his rhetoric suggested it would. For instance, while supportive of benefits for workers such as pensions, injury compensation, and profit-sharing plans, Wilson and his administration never pushed legislation through Congress extending these benefits to the entire workforce, while a national health insurance system of the kind advocated by Roosevelt was never established. Despite this, the New Freedom did much to extend the power of the federal government in social and economic affairs, and arguably paved the way for future reform programs such as the New Deal and the Great Society.

Legislation and programs

Note: This listing contains reforms drawn up by the Wilson Administration as part of its New Freedom program together with wartime reforms and reforms drawn up by individual Congressmen. The latter two have been included because it is arguable that the progressive nature of these reforms was compatible with the liberalism of the New Freedom.

Farmers

  • According to one journal, when David F. Houston became the head of the Department of Agriculture in 1913 'he expressed the "progressive movement" ferment by systematically broadening the department's policies directing them into the fields of distribution, into the broader economic problems of rural life, into the questions of fair prices to farmers and unfair prices to consumers, into the problems of farm management and home management.'
  • A provision of the Federal Reserve Act, approved on December the 23rd 1913, authorized national banks to lend money on farm mortgages.
  • For farmers there was a provision in the Federal Reserve Act in which the Federal Reserve Board "was given power to define the paper which would be eligible for discount, to make agricultural paper eligible, and to give it a maturity of six months as against ninety days for ordinary commercial paper."
  • The 1914 Smith–Lever Act led to the support of the federal government to support farm cooperatives, bringing about a system of country agents to assist farmers in conducting more efficient and scientific stock-raising and crop-growing.
  • The Cotton Warehouse Act authorized the federal government to license warehouses. The intention of this legislation was to ensure that the better handling of crops "would make warehouse receipts more readily acceptable by banks as collateral for loans."
  • The establishment of the regional banking system and the administration of the Comptroller of the Currency resulted in a general reduction of interest rates by from 1 to 3%.
  • Money was furnished by the Secretary of the Treasury in abundance at low rates to move crops.
  • The appropriation for eradication of the cattle tick was doubled, while that for the control of hog cholera was increased from $100,000 to $360,000. In addition, the foot-and-mouth disease was eradicated at a cost to the government of $4,500,000.
  • A market and live stock news service was established.
  • In a revision of the tariff special attention was paid to the special necessities of farmers, with various articles peculiarly used by farmers placed on the free list. This included articles such as machinery for use in the manufacture of sugar, cotton gins, threshing machines, cultivators, horserakes, mowers, agricultural drills and planters, reapers, harvesters, tooth and disk harrows, plows, and wagons and carts.
  • A survey of farm women was carried out in 1913, which was instrumental "in determining early Extension System policies and establishing priorities that affected farm women and men for at least the next two decades."
  • The Agricultural Extension Act authorized federal grants-in-aid to the state agricultural colleges for the purpose of supporting a program of extension work in farm areas.
  • The Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 provided federal credit to small farmers via cooperatives.
  • The Warehouse Act of 1916.
  • The Stock-Raising Homestead Act of 1916.
  • The Grain Standards Act of 1916 mandated the grading and inspection of grains under federal license.
  • Under a special appropriation provided by the Food Production and Control Acts of 1917 seeds were purchased and sold to farmers at cost while fertilizer was also distributed. In addition, the Agriculture Department started inspecting agricultural products at central markets that year, while a program of licensing warehouses, fertilizer producers, farm equipment companies and stockyards was also launched.
  • From 1918 to 1931 emergency seed loans were provided through the Secretary of Agriculture by Congress. These loans were made "to assist farmers in designated areas that had suffered unusual hardships, such as droughts and floods, and could not obtain credit elsewhere."