Ida Tarbell's paper changed everything. Suddenly the public and the press were far more aware of businesses were becoming more and more powerful. J D Rockerfeller was not the monster Ida painted him as, but certainly, the business practices that he and folks like him (Carnegie, Morgan) were coming to light. But Teddy Roosevelt was familiar with this fight. He had been fighting it while he was in New York. And with the death of William McKinley, Roosevelt was going to take full advantage of the executive branch to start swinging.