, Columnist
Why Woodrow Wilson Wooed Shoppers and Snubbed Business
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In 1912, as in 2012, issues of personal wealth and corporate power were at the heart of the presidential campaign.
Food prices were soaring and average families feared for their living standards as they replaced meat and butter with potatoes and margarine. Hard-pressed workers, often putting in 56-hour weeks on dangerous jobs, couldn’t help but envy the conspicuous affluence of a distant elite.