The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 82, July 1978 - April, 1979 Page: 338

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

tion. In this study, Gould turns his attention to the question of how the
two major parties made their first tentative steps in the direction of
accepting a positive regulatory state.
Led largely by midwestern reformers, particularly from Iowa and
Wisconsin, a sizeable faction of the Republican party, including The-
odore Roosevelt, had come to adopt the concept of regulation exempli-
fied by the Hepburn Act of 1906. The issue was vexatious, however,
and contributed greatly to the growing rift between Roosevelt, Repub-
licans in Congress, and, eventually, William Howard Taft. When
Roosevelt bolted the party in 191i-an act Gould finds totally in char-
acter for a man who had "never been a good loser"--the Republicans
lost much more than a presidential election. Roosevelt's departure
"removed much of the stimulus that had kept the party alert to the
problems of regulating an industrial society" (p. 119). While their
opponents were dividing, the Democrats were slowly moving away from
their states rights heritage and staking out a highly advantageous posi-
tion on regulation between the extremes of Roosevelt's New National-
ism and the G.O.P. conservatives. Once in the White House, Woodrow
Wilson led his party toward increased acceptance of an expanded role
for the federal government. By 1916, even though their positions were
not set in concrete, the parties had reached ideological stances that have
guided domestic politics ever since.
Although the outline of much of this may sound familiar, Gould has
fleshed-out the story with a great deal of research in original sources.
Readers who are teaching courses on progressivism or modern American
politics would do well to consider adding this well-written book to
their required reading list.
West Texas State University PETER L. PETERSEN
The Urban West at the End of the Frontier. By Lawrence H. Larsen.
(Lawrence: The Regents Press of Kansas, 1978. Pp. vii+ 173-
Preface, tables, essay on sources, index. $12.50.)
Lawrence H. Larsen's urban west consists of the twenty-four cities
which lay on or west of the 95th meridian and had a population of at
least 8,00o in 1880. San Francisco was by far the largest with nearly a
quarter of a million inhabitants; Kansas City was a distant second with
55,785. The rest of the towns ranged between Lawrence, Kansas's 8,51o
and Denver's 35,629.
The book's thesis is abundantly clear: "The major frontier towns

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