This is a story of an agency, a poet, and you.

One hundred years ago today, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Federal Trade Commission Act. The legislation is an integral part of modern antitrust and consumer protection law.  At the time of its passage, the Act outlawed “unfair methods of competition in commerce,” while later amendments prohibited “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.”  The statute also created an agency, so-named the Federal Trade Commission, to enforce the new law.

Today thus marks the Federal Trade Commission’s birthday, and it is a major one: the big 1-0-0. But what do we make of it? The birthday of a parent, child, significant other, or friend matters. We buy cards and cakes, light the candles, and watch as wishes are made while the flames fade away. Federal agencies are not necessarily near and dear to us, however. At best they fight for the vulnerable and powerless; at worst they waste hard-earned taxpayer money.

This brings us to the poet. Walt Whitman knew nothing of the Federal Trade Commission, having died twenty-two years before its creation. Yet Whitman shared the agency’s goal of promoting competition, albeit in his own world of language. Poets “shall be marked for generosity and affection and for encouraging competitors,” he wrote in the preface to Leaves of Grass, “without monopoly or secrecy…glad to pass any thing to any one…hungry for equals night and day.”

Read more at The Hill