tion of senators, was finally passed" (Anderson 199). The President took action against many trusts. Nearly twice as many "trust-busting" prosecutions for violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act took place during Taft's four years in office as had occurred during Roosevelt's Administration of almost eight years. Woodrow Wilson was the President through the rough years of World War 1 and the years leading up to the war. Demanded much of the President's attention. He persuaded Congress to repeal the Panama Tolls Act, which had allowed American ships to use the Panama Canal toll-free when sailing between U.S. coastal ports. Wilson believed this law violated a treaty with Great Britain. The President also refused to approve bankers' loan to China, and put himself on record against "dollar diplomacy" (Iriye 17). Wilson insisted that his party live up to its campaign promise of preparing the Philippines for independence. In 1916, Congress passed the Jones Bill, which greatly increased Philippine self-government and made many reforms in the administration of the islands. On June 28 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand was shot only to utter the words "It is nothing"(Smith 56). Nothing indeed, it was the spark that caused the chain reaction of events that caused World War 1. Soon enough Woodrow Wilson had declared neutrality, he said America should be "impartial in thought as well as in deed"(Lowman 483). On But neutrality became easier to think about than to maintain. On May 7, 1915, a German submarine torpedoed and sank the British passenger liner Lusitania, killing 128 Americans (Iriye 24). Wilson said "'The United States must be neutral in fact as well as in name during these days that are to try men's souls,'"(Andrews 31). And so America kept sending ships to Europe and getting attacked and"ironically, the more extensively the United States engaged in neutral trade, the less could it remain a neutral in the struggle" (Iriye 26). Th...
