CHAPTER 28 THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

AMERICA SEEKS REFORMS IN THE

EARLY 20TH CENTURY1890-1920

ORIGINS OF PROGRESSIVISM

The Progressives had their roots in the Greenback Labor Party of the 1870s and 1880s, the Populist Party of the 1890s and the Social Gospel.

Though the Populists failed at supplanting one of the major political parties, their legacy lived on in the growth of the Progressives

PURPOSE OF PROGRESSIVISM

The strong progressive movement demanded that the powers of government be applied to solving the political, economic and social problems of industrialization.

FOUR GOALS OF REFORMERS

• 1) Protect Social Welfare

• 2) Promote Moral Improvement

• 3) Create Economic Reform/Foster Efficiency

• 4) Reform Government

• Saloons became seen as a vice instead of a social place

• Carrie Nation was a leader of the Temperance Movement

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

• They proposed such reforms as prohibition

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

1.PROTECT SOCIAL & MORAL WELFARE

3. CREATE ECONOMIC REFORMFear of the Power of Monopolies

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

• As a result some workers embraced socialism (Communal ownership of universal goods and services)

• Eugene Debs organized the American Socialist Party in 1901

Debs encouraged workers to reject American Capitalism

MUCKRAKERS CRITICIZE BIG BUSINESS

• Though most progressives did not embrace socialism, many writers saw the truth in Debs’ criticism

• Journalists known as “Muckrakers” exposed corruption in business

• make society efficient, not reject capitalism

• Ida Tarbell exposed Standard Oil Company’s cut-throat methods of eliminating competition

Ida Tarbell

Some view Michael Moore as a modern muckraker

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

REGULATING BIG BUSINESS

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

• Direct Taxes on Corporations

• Regulated railroads

PROTECTING WORKING CHILDREN

• Keating-Owen Act - 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

EFFORTS TO LIMIT HOURS• Progressives succeeded

in winning worker’s compensation to aid families of injured workers

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

4. CLEANING UP LOCAL GOVERNMENT

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

• Some believe it also was meant to limit immigrants influence in local governments

Progressivism first gained strength at the city and state level

• Urban issues become center of reform

• City is perceived as a social menace full of disorder

• Overcrowded, pollution, illness, poor sanitation

• Immigrants settle in core of city while the rich move out to the suburbs

Pendleton Civil Service Act

An early Progressive action passed in order to take corruption from patronage out of government and promote efficiency

Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft: Problems in the City

• Cities are not organized well to handle the new issues facing the modern cities

• Early solution was the Boss system (Boss Tweed, Plunkett, etc.) that had begun in establishing political machines in response to the earlier influx of immigration of the 1840s

• Early public welfare system - If you lose your job and place to live, you go to the Boss for help – in return you vote for whomever the Boss tells you to vote

• Widespread fraud and inefficiency

• Someone can rise from humble origins to powerful positions, but often through graft and bribery

Strengthening the government because they can do it more efficiently

• Detroit – Mayor Pingrey changes the way contracts are awarded

• Instead of bribe and patronage established a bid system

• Puts them in a place where they will be decided for the common good

• Takes it out of politics

• Ex. Utility rates, studies and discovers Detroit pays more compared to other cities

• Bargains with utility companies (monopoly) for lower rates

• When they won’t he starts a public utility to fund at lower rates

• Ex. Does this with streetcars as well, as advocate for the people of the city, he wants a $.03 cent rate – takes over street cars

• Eventually, Street Car companies gave in

Appointing of city managers begins or commissioners to run different aspects, takes away power from the concentration in a boss.

Tenement Housing

Jacob Riis, a photographer

Documented life of the lower class in the cities in his book How the Other Half Lives

• Employers felt little responsibility toward their workers, especially immigrants

• As a result Settlement homes, like Jane Addams’ Hull House, and churches served the community

• Also the YMCA and Salvation Army took on service roles

Don’t stop & restrict immigration …

Instead find a better way to assimilate immigrants into our society.

“Fighting” Robert La

Follette

Election

Reform

• Citizens fought for, and won, such measures as secret ballots, referendum votes (legislative acts could be approved by people), and the recall (removal of a public official, often deemed corrupt,from office by a vote of the people )

• Citizens could petition and get initiatives on the ballot

• Direct Primary – voters vote directly on candidate for the political party

• Makes government power more responsive to the people

Accidents Prompt Reform:

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Prompts NY to pass labor law reforms: safety standards, inspectors