rants from
Europe had always before them that gateway to property and prosperity.
When the land was all gone, American economic conditions inevitably
became more like those of Europe.

Though the new economic questions had been vigorously debated in many
circles before his day, it was President Roosevelt who first discussed
them continuously from the White House. The natural resources of the
country were being exhausted; he advocated their conservation. Huge
fortunes were being made in business creating inequalities in
opportunity; he favored reducing them by income and inheritance taxes.
Industries were disturbed by strikes; he pressed arbitration upon
capital and labor. The free land was gone; he declared that labor was in
a less favorable position to bargain with capital and therefore should
organize in unions for collective bargaining. There had been wrong-doing
on the part of certain great trusts; those responsible should be
punished.

The spirit of reform was abroad in the land. The spoils system was
attacked. It was alleged that the political parties were dominated by
"rings and bosses." The United States Senate was called "a millionaires'
club." Poverty and misery were observed in the cities. State
legislatures and city governments were accused of corruption.

In answer to the charges, remedies were proposed and adopted. Civil
service reform was approved. The Australian ballot, popular election of
Senators, the initiative, referendum, and recall, commission and city
manager plans for cities, public regulation of railways, compensation
for those injured in industries, minimum wages for women and children,
pensions for widows, the control of housing in the cities--these and a
hundred other reforms were adopted and tried out. The national watchword
became: "America, Improve Thyself."

The spirit of reform broke into both political parties. It appeared in
many statutes enacted by Congress under President Taft's leadership. It
disrupted the Republicans temporarily in 1912 when the Progressive party
entered the field. It led the Democratic candidate in that year,
Governor Wilson, to make a "progressive appeal" to the voters. It
inspired a considerable program of national legislation under President
Wilson's two administrations.

In the age of change, four important amendments to the federal
constitution, the first in more than forty years, were adopted. The
sixteenth empowered Congress to lay an income tax. The