Sadly, they don’t make Republicans like this any more
April 13, 2010 at 3:00 am | Posted in Historical, politics straight up | Leave a commentTags: 1910, 1916, american history, New Nationalism, politics, Progressivism, Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt, with Master Richard Derby, holding Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. (two of his grandsons) c1916 (Library of Congress)
“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”
Theodore Roosevelt, August 1910
New Nationalism speech
Know Your US Senators: James “Ham” Lewis (D-IL)
April 13, 2010 at 2:19 am | Posted in Historical | Leave a commentTags: american history, Illinois, James Hamilton Lewis, Theodore Roosevelt, US Senate, Washington State, Woodrow Wilson, WWI
Body of Illinois Senator lies in state in Senate chamber. Washington, D.C., April 12, 1939. The body of the late Senator from Illinois, J. Ham Lewis lying in state in the Senate chamber today where final rites were conducted. (Library of Congress)
James Hamilton Lewis, born May 18, 1863, was a member of the Democratic Party and represented Washington State in the US House of Representatives (1897–1899) and Illinois in the US Senate (1913–1919, 1931–1939). He was the first Senate Majority Whip, serving in that position from 1913 until 1919 and then from 1933 until his death in 1939. He had a sealing schooner named for him that was captured by the Russians in approximately 1903.
Lewis was a close ally of President Woodrow Wilson, particularly with respect to Wilson’s New Freedom policies developed in reaction to President Theodore Roosevelt’s New Nationalism. Wilson was likely disappointed when Lewis lost reelection to his senate seat in 1918. Lewis’ replacement, Joseph M. McCormick, was one of those who voted against, and defeated, Wilson’s League of Nations.
Before and between serving in elected office, Lewis was a lawyer with some interesting clients.
Considered a fine orator in his day, you can listen to a sound recording of Lewis arguing for US involvement in what would be WWI here.
Republican Environmental Leader: Theodore Roosevelt
October 1, 2009 at 6:23 pm | Posted in Department of the Interior, environment, Historical | Leave a commentTags: climate change, conservation, Copenhagen, Denmark, environmental protection, Gifford Pinchot, historical photograph, national parks, Theodore Roosevelt
"T.R. at the banquet-City Hall, Copenhagen. Group of men all in formal dress." c. 1910
What’s That You’re Eating?
January 23, 2009 at 2:17 pm | Posted in Food & Drug Administration | Leave a commentTags: 1906, Dr. Steven Nissen, FDA, food safety, Harvey W. Wiley, health/safety, pure food law, Theodore Roosevelt
Lester P. W. Wehle, a live-poultry inspector for the city of New York, inspects the crop of a chicken, 1951. (World Telegram & Sun photo by Al Ravenna)
(Newsday.com) “The truth be told, the FDA is a failed agency … the main problem is that it is terribly underfunded,” [Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic] said. “It needs to do more inspections, especially of foods brought in internationally. We are all very vulnerable. This has to be fixed and fixed quickly.”
One hundred and two years ago — on June 30, 1906 — President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Food and Drugs Act. The Pure Food Law was an important part of that legislation.
h/t Crooks & Liars
Harvey W. Wiley, MD (Photo: FDA History Office)
Harvey W. Wiley came to be the leader of the “pure food crusade.” A chemist and physician, State chemist of Indiana and professor at Purdue University, Wiley went to Washington in 1883 as chief chemist of the Department of Agriculture. He made the study of food adulteration his bureau’s principal business, at first merely outraged by what he deemed essentially harmless fraud. In time, sensing real threats to health, Wiley could express himself in writing, conversation, and oratory with vividness, clarity, homely wit, and moral passion. He toured the country making speeches, every rostrum a pulpit for the gospel of pure food.
How much melamine is in your cookies?
Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.
Know Your Government 
