| |
| 1913 |
| |
| Over 10,000 employees of John D. Rockefeller's Colorado Fuel and Iron Company struck for better working and living conditions. Women as well as men articulated their grievances and joined the strike, which culminated in the Ludlow Massacre, in which state militia fired machine guns into a striker's tent, killing 14 adults (2 women) and 11 children. The strikers were finally disarmed by federal troops. | 1 |
| |
| Feb. 25 |
| |
| Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, empowering Congress to levy income taxes without apportionment among the states and without regard to any census or enumeration, was declared in effect. | 2 |
| |
| March 4 |
| |
| The Department of Labor was created, with a seat in the cabinet. This was part of a growing set of laws—including the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the Seaman's Act of 1915—designed to reduce industrial strife and recognize the rights of workers. | 3 |
| |
| March 4–1921, March 4 |
| |
| WOODROW WILSON, 28th president. | 4 |
| |
| May 31 |
| |
| The Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, providing for direct election of senators by the people, was declared in effect. | 5 |
| |
| Oct. 3 |
| |
| The Underwood Tariff Act reduced the average rate of duty to 26.67 percent. A graduated surtax on incomes above $20,000 was imposed. | 6 |
| |
| Dec. 23 |
| |
| THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK ACT. The panic of 1907 had emphasized the weakness of the national banking system. The Aldrich-Vreeland Act was passed in 1908 as an emergency measure and provided for the appointment of a national monetary commission to study the problem. The report of the commission was submitted (1912), and Wilson asked for legislation that would provide an elastic currency (based on commercial assets rather than bonded indebtedness), mobilization of bank reserves, public control of the banking system, and decentralization. These features were embodied in the Act of 1913. The country was divided into 12 districts, each with a federal reserve bank. | 7 |
| |
| |
