THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

AMERICA SEEKS REFORMS IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

ORIGINS OF PROGRESSIVISM

• Work conditions, rights for women and children, economic reform, environmental issuesand social welfare were a few of the issues.

• Influenced by the Social Gospel movement and the Populist movement.

• The Progressive movement eventually impacted all levels of government.

FOUR GOALS OF REFORMERS

• 1) Protect the Social Welfare (governmental provision of economic assistance to persons in need)

• 2) Promote Moral Improvement (changes in character)

• 3) Create Economic Reform (government change in policies toward businesses)

• 4) Foster Efficiency (the effective use of resources)

1. PROTECT SOCIAL WELFARE

• Industrialization was unregulated.• Employers felt little responsibility toward

their workers.• Settlement houses and churches served the

community (example: Hull House, founded by Jane Addams)

• The YMCA and Salvation Army took on service roles

2. PROMOTE MORAL DEVELOPMENT

• Some reformers felt that the answer to societies problems was personal behavior.

• Proposed such reforms as prohibition

• Groups wishing to ban alcohol included the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).

3. CREATE ECONOMIC REFORM

• The Panic of 1893 prompted some Americans to question the capitalist economic system.

• Some workers embraced socialism.

• Eugene Debs organized the American Socialist Party in 1901.

Debs encouraged workers to reject

American Capitalism

MUCKRAKERS CRITICIZE BIG BUSINESS• Journalists known as “Muckrakers”

exposed corruption in business. Muckraker is a name that was first given to American writers in the early 20th century who exposed corruption and scandals in business and politics.

• Ida Tarbell exposed Standard Oil Company’s for it’s questionable methods of eliminating competition.

• Lincoln Steffens wrote and photographed living conditions in slums in the late 1800s and early 1900’s.

• Increased numbers of magazines, newspapers, and books coupled, as well as a more literate population, increased the impact muckrakers had on society.

Ida Tarbell

Some view Michael Moore

as a modern muckraker

Shame of the Cities by Lincoln Steffens was an important expose of how corrupt most U.S. cities were.

“’A bribe is bad, that is, it is a bad thing to take; but it is not so bad to give one, not if it is necessary to my business. Business is business’ is not a political sentiment, but our politician has caught it. He takes essentially the same view of the bribe, only he saves his self-respect by piling all his contempt upon the bribe-giver, and he has the great advantage of candor. ‘It is wrong, maybe,’ he says, ‘but if a rich merchant can afford to do business with me for the sake of a convenience or to increase his already great wealth, I can afford, for the sake of a living, to meet him half way. I make no pretensions to virtue, not even on Sunday.’ And as for giving bad government or good, how about the merchant who gives bad goods or good goods, according to the demand?”

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4. FOSTERING EFFICIENCY

• Many Progressive leaders put their faith in scientific principles to make society better.

• In industry, Frederick Taylor began using time & motion studies to improve factory efficiency.

• Taylorism became an Industry fad as factories sought to complete each task quickly.

CLEANING UP LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Efforts at reforming local government stemmed from the desire to make government more efficient and responsive to citizens.

• Some wanted to limit immigrants influence in local governments.

REGULATING BIG BUSINESS

• Under the progressive Republican leadership of Robert La Follette, Wisconsin led the way in regulating big business.

• Known as the “Wisconsin Idea.”

Robert La Follette

La Follette was Elected governor in 1900 on a platform of higher railroad taxes, tax reform, regulation of corporations, political democracy and a direct primary. He was reelected in 1902 and 1904. As Wisconsin's governor La Follette developed new political techniques: The first, which received national attention as the "Wisconsin Idea," was the use of professors from the University of Wisconsin--57 at one point--to draft bills and administer the state regulatory apparatus created by the new laws.

The second innovation was his public reading of the "roll call" in districts in which legislators had opposed his reform proposals. With these new methods he secured the passage of several progressive laws. Believing that the railroads were the principal subverters of the political process, he persuaded the legislature to tax them on the basis of their property (1903) and to regulate them by commission (1905). The legislature enacted the direct primary in 1903 and state civil-service reform in 1905. His appointees to the Tax Commission, given new power by the legislature, equalized tax assessments. Wisconsin's leadership in these areas gave La Follette his reputation as a pioneering progressive. 12

PROTECTING WORKING CHILDREN• As the number of

child workers rose, reformers worked to end child labor.

• Children were more prone to accidents caused by fatigue.

• Nearly every state limited or banned child labor by 1918.

Why Do Children Toil?

“Neither beasts of the field nor birds of the forest impose the burdens of existence upon their young. Only man lives upon his offspring. Why is it? Particularly with reference to the United States does the question carry passion and insistence. We are under a government of, by, and for the people; countless spires lift to the sky in mute token of our allegiance to the Gentlest Soul in all human record; yet it is upon the breaking backs of nearly two million wretched little wage-earners that we achieve much of the material progress that is our boast.Why is it? Is civilization, after all, no more than a veneer for the selfsame instincts that dominated us in the days when we ran on all fours? Have we, out of our devotion to the competitive theory, evolved a Frankenstein to devour us? Is Christ no more than a salve to soothe us on the seventh day for the sins of the six? Are we to realize that parental love is no vital, elemental thing, but a habit that disappears under compulsion?”Quote from: Children in BondageA Complete and Careful Presentation of the Anxious Problem of Child Labor -- Its Causes, its Crimes, and its CureBy Edwin Markham, Benjamin B. Lindsey,and George Creel

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EFFORTS TO LIMIT HOURS

• The Supreme Court and the states enacted or strengthened laws reducing women’s hours of work.

• Progressives also succeeded in winning worker’s compensation to aid families of injured workers.

CONDITIONS FOR MOST WORKERS WERE HARSH AND DANGEROUS.

• The huge factories of mass production brought great concentrations of workers to the cities.• Due to massive immigration and movement to cities there was a surplus of workers labor which resulted in low wages• Low pay forced families to send their children to work. Children as young as 8 worked long hours for low pay in dangerous work environments• The labor surplus and lack of government oversight led to a dangerous and uncaring work environment as owners had no incentive to improve wages or working conditions

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INDUSTRIAL SAFETY

At a steel mill in Butler, Pennsylvania, a heavy pot of hot metal spilled molten steel onto wet sand, causing a huge explosion which destroyed part of the plant. Streams of hot metal poured down on the workmen, engulfing and literally cooking some of them. Four men died and 30 more were injured.A machinist got his arm caught in a rapidly moving belt. It was jerked from its socket, and he fell 50 feet to the floor. His fellow workers, aghast at the man's shrieks, ran in panic from the shop. A young boy working in a coffin plant was decapitated and had both arms and both legs torn off when he was caught on shafting rotating at 300 revolutions per minute. A worker in a brick-making factory was caught in a belt and had most of his skin torn off. A sawmill worker fell onto a large, unguarded circular saw and was split in two. When a worker got caught in the large flywheel of the main steam power plant of a navy yard, his arms and legs were torn off and the lifeless trunk was hurled against a wall 50 feet away. Perhaps the most horrifying accident reported in the journal was described as follows:“In plain sight of a hundred fellow-workmen, Martin Stoffel was cut into small pieces at the Philadelphia Caramel Works ... He was dragged into the machinery and his head severed....A second later both legs were cut off. Then one arm after the other fell into the lesser wheels below, both being cut into many parts. Before the machinery could be stopped, Stoffel had been literally chopped to pieces.”

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Political Machines were a Problem

• Political Machines (a group that controls the activities of a political party) controlled a large number of immigrant voters by:

1. Providing them with housing when they came to the city.

2. Helping them find food and obtain jobs.

3. Giving them financial aid at special holidays.

BIG CITY BOSSES

POSITIVES NEGATIVES

HELPED POOR IMMIGRANTS WITH FOOD AND JOBS

THEY PERFORMED NEEDED FUNCTIONS THAT REGULAR CITY OFFICIALS COULD NOT

THEY WERE CORRUPT AND STOLE THE PEOPLE’S MONEY

BOSSES PROTECTED VICE AND ENCOURAGEDMONOPOLIES

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ELECTION REFORM• Election reform-the purpose was to

remove the influence of political machines.

• Progressives were successful in getting: secret ballots, referendum votes, and the recall (the act of removing an official by petition).

• Citizens could petition and get initiatives (signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters to force a public vote) onthe ballot.

• Direct primaries would allow voters to choose the candidate who would run in the general election.

• In 1899, Minnesota passed the first statewide primary system.

DIRECT ELECTION OF SENATORS• Before 1913, each state

legislature had to chose its own U.S. senators.

• Progressives pushed for the popular election of senators.

• As a result, Congress passed the 17th

Amendment (1913).

SECTION 2: WOMEN IN PUBLIC LIFE

• Before the Civil War, American women were expected to devote their time to home and family.

• By the late 19th and early 20th century, women were visible in the workforce.

DOMESTIC WORKERS• Before the turn-of-

the-century, women without formal education contributed to the economic welfare of their families by doing domestic work.

• 70% of women employed in 1870 were servants.

WOMEN IN THE WORK FORCE

• Opportunities for women increased especially in the cities.

• By 1900, 1-out-of-5 women worked.

• The garment tradewas popular. Some women also worked in offices, department stores and classrooms.

WOMEN LEAD REFORM

• Many of the leading progressive reformers were women.

• Middle and upper class women also entered the public sphere as reformers.

• Many of these women had graduated from new women’s colleges.

Colleges like Vassar and Smith allowed women to excel

THREE-PART STRATEGY FOR WINNING SUFFRAGE

• Suffragists tried three approaches to winning the vote

• 1) Convince state legislatures to adopt voting rights for (Succeeded in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Colorado).

• 2) Pursue court cases to test 14th Amendment.

• 3) Push for national constitutional Amendment.

ROOSEVELT AND THE ROUGH RIDERS

• Roosevelt grabbed national attention by advocating war with Spain in 1898.

• His volunteer cavalry brigade, the Rough Riders, won public acclaim for its role in the battle at San Juan Hill in Cuba.

• Roosevelt returned a hero and was soon elected governor of NY and later McKinley’s vice-president.

Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders

TEDDY ROOSEVELT’S SQUARE DEAL

• President William McKinley was assassinated 6 months into his second term.

• Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt became the nations 26th president.

McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist in Buffalo in September of 1901.

THE MODERN PRESIDENT• Became the youngest president

ever, at age 42, when he became the President in 1901.

• Established himself as a modern president who could influence the media and shape legislation.

• His “Square Deal” was a domestic program that targeted the middle class. He attacked trusts, while protecting business from unorganized labor.

TRUSTBUSTING

• By 1900, Trusts – legal bodies created to hold stock in many companies –controlled 80% of U.S. industries .

• Roosevelt filed 44 antitrust suits under the Sherman Antitrust Act.

• The Railroad industry regulated by the government in both the Elkins Act and the Hepburn Act.

ELKINS ACT 1903

In 1886 Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to regulate interstate commerce, but didn’t grant the ICC much power to enforce the statutes and punish violators.

In 1903, the Elkins Anti-Rebate Act forbade the railroad carriers from giving large and powerful clients rebates on their shipments. Those were the rebates which differed from the published freight tariffs.

The Elkins Act had a double effect: it allowed the railroads to set their rates according to market conditions, and it enlarged the regulatory powers of the ICC.

The Hepburn Act of 1906 gave the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to force railroads to obey orders. If the railroads protested, the ICC's conditions would be in effect until the outcome of litigation said otherwise. By the Hepburn Act, the ICC's authority was extended to cover bridges, terminals, ferries, sleeping cars, and express companies.

HEPBURN ACT 1908

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1902: The Anthracite Coal Strike

• In 1902, 140,000 coal miners in Pennsylvania went on strike for:1. increased wages2. a 9-hour work day3. the right to unionize

• Mine owners refused to bargain.

• Roosevelt called in both sides and settled the dispute.

• After that, when a strike threatened public welfare, the federal government was expected to step in and help.

“THE JUNGLE” LEADS TO FOOD REGULATION

• The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, highlighted all of the unclean and/or unsafe practices of the meat packaging industry.

• Roosevelt pushed for passage of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.

• The Act mandated cleaner conditions for meatpacking plants.

“…old sausage that had been rejected, and that was moldy and white – it would be dosed with borax and glycerin, and dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption. There would be meat that had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the workers had tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumption germs. There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about on it. It was too dark in these storage places to see well, but a man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats. These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together… the meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one – there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit.”

EXCERPT FROM THE JUNGLE

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PURE FOOD AND DRUG ACT

• In response to unregulated claims and unhealthy products, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906.

• The Act stopped the sale of contaminated foods and medicines. It also called for truth in labeling.

• Created the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The Pure Food and Drug Act took medicines with cocaine and other harmful ingredients

off the market.

ROOSEVELT AND THE ENVIRONMENT

• Before Roosevelt’s presidency, the federal government paid very little attention to the nation’s natural resources.

• Roosevelt made conservation a primary concern of his administration.

Roosevelt, left, was an avid outdoorsman – here he is with author John Muir at Yosemite Park.

ROOSEVELT’S ENVIROMENTAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Roosevelt set aside 148 million acres of forest reserves.

• He also set aside 1.5 million acres of water-power sites.

• He established 50 wildlife sanctuaries and several national parks.

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

ROOSEVELT AND CIVIL RIGHTS

• Roosevelt failed to support Civil Rights for African Americans.

• He did, however, support a few individuals such as Booker T. Washington.

NAACP FORMED TO PROMOTE RIGHTS

• In 1909, a number of African Americans and prominent white reformers formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

• The NAACP had 6,000 members by 1914.

• The goal of the organization was full equality among the races.

• The means to achieve this was through the court system.

1964 Application

PROGRESSIVISM UNDER PRESIDENT TAFT

• Republican William Howard Taftdefeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan to win the 1908 presidential election.

• Among his accomplishments, Taft “busted” 90 trusts during his 4 years in office.

Taft, right, was Roosevelt’s War Secretary

TAFT LOSES POWER

• Taft was not popular with the American public nor reform minded Republicans

• By 1910, Democrats had regained control of the House of Representatives

Taft called the Presidency, “The loneliest job in the world.”

1912 ELECTION: 3 Parties/Candidates

• Republicans split between Taft and Teddy Roosevelt (who returned after a long trip to Africa).

• Convention delegates nominated Taft.

• Some Republicans formed a third party–The Bull Moose Party (also called the Progressive Party) and nominated Roosevelt.

• The Democrats put forward a reform - minded New Jersey Governor, Woodrow Wilson.

Republicans split in 1912

WILSON’S NEW FREEDOM

• As America’s newly elected president, Wilson moved to enact his program, the “New Freedom.”

• He planned his attack on what he called the triple wall of privilege: trusts, tariffs, and high finance.

W. Wilson U.S. President 1912-1920

CLAYTON ANTITRUST ACT

• In 1914 Congress enacted the Clayton Antitrust Act which strengthened the Sherman Act.

• The Clayton Act prevented companies from acquiring stock from another company (Anti-monopoly).

• The Act also supported union workers.

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION FORMED

• The FTC was formed in 1914 to serve as a “watchdog” agency to end unfair business practices.

• The FTC protects consumers from business fraud. Today the FTC

has been working on protecting consumers from ID theft.

FEDERAL INCOME TAX ARRIVES

• Wilson lowered tariffs. However, the lost revenue had to come from somewhere else.

• The 16th Amendment was ratified in 1916. It legalized a graduated federal income tax.

The Federal Reserve Act

• Created 12 regional banks as "banker's banks? (lend money to banks as a set interest rate).

• Established federal regulation of currency through interest rates.

• Established a Federal Reserve Board to oversee the system of banks

WOMEN WIN SUFFRAGE

• Native-born, educated, middle-class women grew more and more impatient.

• Through local, state and national organizations, vigorous protests and World War I, women finally realized their dream in 1920.

The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920.

Temperance Advocates Push for the Prohibition of Alcohol

• The Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, established Prohibition in the United States.

• Ratified on January 29, 1919. • It is the only amendment to the

United States Constitution that has been repealed (by the Twenty-first Amendment).

LIMITS OF PROGRESSIVISM

• While the Progressive era was responsible for many important reforms, it failed to make gains for African Americans.

• Like Roosevelt and Taft, Wilson retreated on Civil Rights once in office.

The KKK reached a membership of 4.5 million in

the 1920s.

WWI Effectively Brought the Progressive Era to an End