The 1910s Business and the Economy: Chronology

1910:      Nearly one-third of America's coal miners belong to labor unions, compared to 10 percent of the labor force in other industries.

1910:      Life magazine observes that banker and financier J. P. Morgan is so powerful that he should be crowned monarch of the United States and purchase Europe.

1910:     June 18 Congress enacts the Mann-Elkins Act to enlarge the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission, allowing it to regulate cable, wireless, telephone, and telegraph companies.

1911:     May 15 The Supreme Court rules that Standard Oil Company of New Jersey must be dissolved as an unreasonable combination in restraint of trade under antitrust laws.

1911:     May 29 The Supreme Court declares that the American Tobacco Company is an illegal combination in restraint of trade and must dissolve under antitrust laws.

1912:      Radical labor leader Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and birth control advocate Margaret Sanger help to organize a strike of 20,000 textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. After beatings and police attacks, the returning workers are given better wages.

1912:     May 1 Ship safety regulations are issued by federal inspectors following the sinking of the Titanic. Steamships must carry an appropriate number of lifeboats to accommodate all the passengers.

1913:      The 792-foot high Woolworth Building opens in New York City, symbolizing the wealth of a growing national commercial economy.

1913:      Grand Central Terminal opens in New York City.

1913:      The completion of the Panama Canal marks an opportunity for new trade possibilities between Atlantic and Pacific nations.

1913:     December 23 The Federal Reserve System is established by the Federal Reserve Act, and the nation is divided into twelve districts with a Federal Reserve Bank in each. A board of seven men controls the system, which all national banks must join. The system is meant to provide stable banking policies for the nation.

1914:     January 10 President Woodrow Wilson calls for the strengthening of the country's antitrust laws.

1914:     September 26 The Federal Trade Commission Act is adopted to stop unfair competition in interstate trade.

1915:     January 15 The first transcontinental telephone line becomes available for service between New York City and San Francisco.

1915:     October 15 Private American banks extend a loan of $500 million to France and Great Britain, which are involved in fighting Germany in World War I.

1915:     December 10 The one-millionth Model T automobile rolls off the assembly line at the Ford Motor Company's Highland Park, Michigan, plant.

1916:      Boeing Aircraft designs and produces its first model, a biplane.

1916:     July 17 The Federal Farm Loan Act passes in Congress, setting up twelve Farm Loan Banks to extend long-term loans to farmers.

1917:     April 6 The United States enters World War I.

1917:     April 24 The Liberty Loan Act is adopted to allow the public sale of bonds and the extension of loans to Allied powers fighting in World War I.

1917:     December 18 Congress proposes to adopt the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transportation of "intoxicating liquors."

1917:     December 26 The U.S. Railroad Administration takes over the country's railroads to aid transportation of war-related goods. They remain under government control until 1920.

1918:     March 21 The Railroad Control Act authorizes the government to operate railroads on a regional basis and pay railroad companies while the lines remain under federal control.

1918:     April 8 The National War Labor Board is set up to settle labor disputes in order to avoid disrupting war production.

1918:     July 16 The federal government takes charge of the nation's telephone and telegraph systems.

1919:     January 29 The Eighteenth Amendment, which prohibited the transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages, is ratified by Congress.

1919:     September 9 The Boston police force goes on strike, leaving citizens without protection.