Political Bosses

Document A: Lincoln Steffens (Modified) New advances in printing technology during the 1890s made magazines and other publications inexpensive to print. Magazines became available to a broader middle-class audience. Lincoln Steffens was well known for writing magazine articles about child labor, prisons, religion and political machines The typical American citizen is a business man. The spirit of business is profit, not patriotism; individual gain, not national prosperity. “My business is sacred,” says the business man in his heart. “Whatever helps my business, is good; it must be. Whatever hurts it, is wrong; it must be. 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.” And it’s all a moral weakness. Oh, we are good—on Sunday, and we are “fearfully patriotic” on the Fourth of July. But the bribe we pay to the janitor is the little brother of the bribe passed to the councilman to sell a city street, and the father of the deal made by the president of the railroad, who agrees to use air-brakes only if he is given stock in the air-brake company. We are responsible, not our leaders, since we follow them. We let them divert our loyalty from the United States to some “party”; we let them boss the party and turn our democracies into autocracies. We cheat our government and we let our leaders loot it, and we let them bribe our sovereignty from us. We are content to let them pass bad laws, giving away public property in exchange for money. Vocabulary Divert- redirect, change Autocracy- rule by one person Sovereignty- independence Source: Excerpt from a book by muckraker Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of Cities, published in 1904.

Political Bosses

Document B: George Plunkitt (Modified) I’ve been readin’ a book by Lincoln Steffens on The Shame of the Cities. Steffens means well, but like all reformers, he don’t know how to make distinctions. He can’t see no difference between honest graft and dishonest graft and, consequently, he gets things all mixed up. . . . For instance, I ain’t no looter. The looter hogs it. I never hogged. I made my money in politics, but at the same time, I served the organization and got more big improvements for New York City than any other livin’ man. The Irish was born to rule, and they’re the honestest people in the world. Show me the Irishman who would steal a roof off an orphanage! He don’t exist. Of course, if an Irishman had the political pull and the roof was in bad shape, he might get the city authorities to put on a new one and get the contract for himself, and buy the old roof at a bargain-but that’s honest graft… One reason why the Irishman is more honest in politics than many Americans is that he is grateful to the country and the city that gave him protection and prosperity when he was driven by oppression from Ireland. His one thought is to serve the city which gave him a home. His friends here often have a good place in one of the city departments picked out for him while he is still in Ireland. Is it any wonder that he has a tender spot in his heart for old New York when he is on its salary list the mornin’ after he lands?

Vocabulary Graft- illegal activities; corruption

Source: Excerpt from a talk by George Plunkitt, a political boss in New York City. The talk was called “Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft,” recorded in 1905. (Graft is another word for corruption and bribes). In this talk, Plunkitt responds to Lincoln Steffens’s book, The Shame of the Cities.

Name__________________

Political Bosses 1

Historical Reading Skill

Document A: Lincoln Steffens

Sourcing

(BEFORE Reading the Document)

This author probably believes… I think the audience is… Based on the sourcing information, I predict this author will… I do/don’t trust this document because…

Contextualization

I already know that at this time… From this document I would guess that people at this time were feeling… This document might not give me the whole picture because…

Close Reading

I think the author chose these words because they probably made people feel… The author is trying to convince the readers that… The author tries to convince the readers by using the words…

Name__________________

Political Bosses 2

Historical

Reading Skill Document B: George Plunkitt

Sourcing

(BEFORE Reading the Document)

This author probably believes…

I think the audience is… Based on the sourcing information, I predict this author will… I do/don’t trust this document because…

Contextualization

From this document I would guess that people at this time were feeling… This document might not give me the whole picture because …

Close Reading

I think the author chose these words because they probably made people feel… The author is trying to convince the listeners that… The author tries to convince the listeners by using the words…

Corroboration

Together, these two documents tell me that at this time . . .

About the Reading The muckraking novel The Jungle exposed the horrific working conditions and unsanitary manufacturing practices in the meatpacking industry. The book prompted a huge federal probe and the passage of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.

Think about the risks these factory workers dealt with on the job every day.

Excerpt from

by Upton Sinclair

There was no heat upon the killing-floor. The men might exactly as well have worked out of doors all winter. For that matter, there was very little heat any­where in the building, except in the cooking-rooms and such places-and it was the men who worked in these who ran the most risk of all, because whenever they had to pass to another room they had to go through ice-cold corridors, and sometimes with nothing on above the waist except a sleeveless undershirt. In summer time the chilling-rooms were counted deadly places, for rheumatism and such things; but when it came to winter the men envied those who worked there-at least the chilling rooms were kept at a pre­cise temperature, and one could not freeze to death. On the killing-floor you might easily freeze, if the gang for any reason had to stop for a time. You were apt to be covered with blood, and it would freeze solid; if you leaned against a pillar you would freeze to that, and if you put your hand upon the blade of your knife, you would run a chance ofleaving your skin on it. The men would tie up their feet in newspapers and old sacks, and these would be soaked in blood and frozen, and then soaked again, and so on until by night time a man would be walking on great lumps the size of feet of an elephant. Now and then, when the bosses were not looking, you would see them plunging their feet and ankles into the steaming hot carcass of the steer, or darting across the room to the hot-water jets. The cruelest thing of all was that nearly all of them-all of those who used knives-were unable to wear gloves,

176 CHAPTER 6

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Sinclair exposed the nation's meatpacking plants, where workers operated in dangerous, grueling, disease-ridden conditions.

and their arms would be white with frost and their hands would grow numb, and then of course there would be accidents. Also the air would be full of steam, from the hot water and the hot blood, so that you could not see five feet before you; then, with men rushing about at the speed they kept up on the killing-floor, and all with butcherknives, like razors, in their hands -well, it was to be counted as a wonder that there were not more men slaughtered than cattle.

I' •

1. Identifying Supporting Details What dangers to workers and to food does Sinclair describe?

2. Literature as Historical Evidence What does The Jungle suggest about reasons workers 'formed unions?

See Skills Handbook, pp. HS, H32