[woods]

This is the standard view. Maybe there’s something to it. But TR did bring antitrust cases (even though prices were falling for consumers in each case). And it’s just confusion to say Wilson favored antitrust but supported laissez faire; the two are at odds with each other. And the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Labor sound like business regulation to me. The textbook should say that both men favored some kind of federal oversight of business, rather than claiming that one was laissez faire and one wanted regulation.

[woods]

My apologies for missing this: this post belongs in the US History to 1877 forum.

[woods]

I’m not convinced that the entire 1920s was just a fake boom. The Newman paper above is helpful. Jeff Herbener also notes that people who claim inflationism got us out of the depression of 1920-21 are wrong: https://tomwoods.com/was-the-fed-expansionary-from-1921-1924/

There is definitely some Fed inflation in the 1920s, but I don’t think it invalidates all the prosperity of the period.

[woods]

If by bimetallism you mean the idea that gold and silver should both circulate freely, that is the correct view. But if by bimetallism you mean what 99% of people at the time meant by the term, which was letting gold and silver circulate at a government-imposed ratio — X silver coins will be equal to one gold coin — then no.

Market forces invariably deviate from any government-imposed ratio, with chaotic results. This is why a single metal was chosen as the standard. (The better solution would have been getting government out of money altogether.)

Rothbard explains in more detail here: https://mises.org/library/what-has-government-done-our-money/html/p/84

[woods]

My apologies for the delay — I don’t know how I missed these.

First, I would recommend this: https://mises.org/library/history-labor-unions-colonial-times-2009

He originally wrote that for an encyclopedia I was editing, but the publisher thought it was too ideologically charged.

Then there’s Power and Privilege: Labor Unions in America https://mises-media.s3.amazonaws.com/Power%20and%20Privilege%20Labor%20Unions%20in%20America_2.pdf?file=1&type=document

Then there’s Opportunity or Privilege: Labor Legislation in America, by Charles Baird.

Finally, Labor Economics from a Free-Market Perspective, by Walter Block.

[woods]

My apologies for missing this somehow! This I don’t know off the top of my head, but perhaps Professors Gutzman or McClanahan might know, and you can find them in the “to 1877” forum.

[woods]

My apologies for missing this somehow! This I don’t know off the top of my head, but perhaps Professors Gutzman or McClanahan might know, and you can find them in the “to 1877” forum.

[woods]

John, I think this post belongs in the U.S. History to 1877 forum.

[woods]

It looks like this is the kind of question that only specialists can answer, and I can’t find any specialists. There’s at least this article by Lawrence Reed: http://www.mackinac.org/4084

And this appears to be a standard work: https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Food-Securing-Federal-Princeton/dp/0691047634/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494728886&sr=8-1&keywords=james+young+pure+food#reader_0691047634

[woods]

Rothbard was fond of Albro Martin, who happens to have written a book on Hill: Albro Martin, James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest.

[woods]

I’ll do some digging.

[woods]

I am more inclined toward this explanation: http://fee.org/articles/what-ended-the-great-depression/

[woods]

Right: apart from short-lived and unsuccessful attempts to make an income tax a permanent part of the American system, there was no federal income tax before 1913. As for state and local taxes, they’ve been there from the beginning.

[woods]

The first time I typed in my response to this, I assumed it went through. Turns out I got some kind of error, and I was already on to another tab.

I think you have the general idea. There’s always more that can be added. I would read the Higgs article on regime uncertainty.

My favorite books on this:
Rothbard, America’s Great Depression.
Murphy, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal.
Powell, FDR’s Folly.
Folsom, New Deal or Raw Deal?

[woods]

My apologies for the delay here — I thought I had it set to alert me when new comments and questions came in. I’m sorry to say I don’t have any particular insight on this question.

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