He made some speeches supporting the treaties in October, but the Senate added amendments Taft could not accept, killing the agreements.[109]
Although no general arbitration treaty was entered into, Taft's administration settled several disputes with Great Britain by peaceful means, often involving arbitration. These included a settlement of the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, a long-running dispute over seal hunting in the Bering Sea that also involved Japan, and a similar disagreement regarding fishing off Newfoundland. The sealing convention remained in force until abrogated by Japan in 1940.[110]

Domestic policies and politics
Antitrust
See also: Mann–Elkins Act
Official White House portrait of Taft by Anders Zorn, c. 1911
Taft continued and expanded Roosevelt's efforts to break up business combinations through lawsuits brought under the Sherman Antitrust Act, bringing 70 cases in four years (Roosevelt had brought 40 in seven years). Suits brought against the Standard Oil Company and the American Tobacco Company, initiated under Roosevelt, were decided in favor of the government by the Supreme Court in 1911.[111] In June 1911, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives began hearings into United States Steel (U.S. Steel). 