Progressivism 1900-1920

1. Progressivism1900-1920

2. Progressives • Who were they? • Small business owners • Teachers and social workers • Reform minded politicians

3. Roots of Progressivism • Immigration • Tenements • Sanitation • Labor disputes • Child labor • “Goal 7 fixes Goal 5”

5. The Media Exposes America’s Problems

6. Newspapers, Magazines, and Books • Exposed the problems of industrial society

7. Muckrakers • Muckrakers were journalists and activists whose goal was to expose corruption and societal problems • Upton Sinclair- The Jungle • Ida Tarbell- The History of The Standard Oil Co. • Lincoln Steffens- The Shame of the Cities • Jacob Riis- How the Other Half Lives

8. Upton Sinclair • The Jungle • Described the filthy conditions in the meat packing industry • Led to the passage of the federal Meat Inspection Act & the Pure Food and Drug Act

9. Excerpt from the Jungle • “…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.”

10. Ida Tarbell • Exposed Standard Oil Company as a monopoly

12. Lincoln Steffens • He wrote the influential book The Shame of the Cities • Exposed how corrupt most U.S. cities were

13. “’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?”

15. Jacob Riis • Documented poverty in the tenements • Flash photography • How the Other Half Lives

17. Reform began at local and state levelsmunicipal and state reform

19. State Level • Robert La Follette • Wisconsin Idea • Ideas and legislation aimed at reforming politics & education • Many states begin adopting measures that reform the political process

20. State Level Reforms… • Secret Ballot: no on can known how a citizen voted • Initiative: this allowed the voting public to petition state government to consider bills wanted by the people • Referendum: gave the voters the right to decide if a proposed state law should be passed • Recall: voters have the right to remove elected representatives from office • Direct Primary: candidates for office are chosen by the voters instead of politicians or bosses

21. Reform at the National Level

22. Progressive Presidents • Theodore Roosevelt--26th (1901-1909) • William Howard Taft--27th (1909-1913) • Woodrow Wilson--28th (1913-1921)

23. Teddy Roosevelt • Republican (in name only) • Wealthy NY Family • Started in politics in age 23 • Ass. Secretary of Navy under McKinley • President age 43 • Energetic, charismatic, diplomatic, religious • “Square Deal” • Domestic policy to protect common people from big business

24. “Square Deal” • "When I say I believe in a square deal I do not mean . . . to give every man the best hand. If the cards do not come to any man, or if they do come, and he has not got the power to play them, that is his affair. All I mean is that there shall be no crookedness in the dealing."

25. Square Deal Legislation -Newlands Reclamation Act1902 -Mediation of Coal Strike1902 -Elkins Act1903 Increased RR regulation strengthened the Interstate Commerce Act -Hepburn Act1906 Increased RR regulation Fed. gov’t can set RR rates, and authority of ICC increased -Pure Food and Drug Act1906 (AMENDED 1911) -Meat Inspection Act1906 -National Conservation Commission: Gifford Pinchot conservationist 1908

26. Coal Strike 1902 • Penn. Coal miners went on strike • (higher pay, shorter hours, recognize union) • Panic-fear of no coal in winter • TR unprecedentedly calls for an arbitration • Conflict settled, miners returned to work

27. Reclamation (Newlands) Act of 1902 • The bill allowed the government to undertake irrigation projects to establish farms for relief of urban congestion. • Named for Francis Griffith Newlands

28. Elkins Act 1903 • 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. • double effect: it allowed the railroads to set their rates according to market conditions, and it enlarged the regulatory powers of the ICC.

29. Hepburn Act 1906 • gave the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to force railroads to obey orders • the ICC's authority was extended to cover bridges, terminals, ferries, sleeping cars, and express companies

30. Pure Food and Drug Act 1906 • Preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for regulating traffic therein, and for other purposes

31. Meat Inspection Act 1906 • requires USDA to inspect all cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and horses when slaughtered and processed into products for human consumption. • prevent adulterated or misbranded livestock and products from being sold as food, ensure that meat and products are slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions.

32. Conservation • Preserve nature • Over-lumbering had drastically reduced forests • Farmland overused • Industrial pollution • Water control under private parties (no flood control)

33. Conservation • 150 National Forests • 51 Federal Bird Reservations • 4 National Game Preserves • 5 National Parks • 18 National Monuments • 24 Reclamation Projects

34. Gifford Pinchot • First trained forester; Chief of US Forest Service • Ballinger-Pinchot Affair • Controversy involving Pinchot and Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger • Pinchot accused Ballinger of wrongdoing and misconduct; Pinchot eventually fired • Consequences: contributed to split in Republican Party during the 1912 presidential election

35. Trust Buster • Did not equate “Bigness” with “Badness”

36. Trust Buster… • Created Dept. of Commerce and Labor • Bureau of Corporations-could inspect the books of all companies engaging in interstate commerce

37. Trust Buster… • Northern Securities Co. • Prevented company from consolidating all the railroads in the northwest • J.P. Morgan

38. Trust buster… • Although TR did prosecute some trusts he was criticized for not doing enough

39. William Howard Taft • Republican • TR’s Secretary of War • Never wanted Presidency • Chief Justice of SC • True trustbuster “Fat Man in the bathtub”

40. Taft • Payne-Aldrich Tariff • Tax on imported goods • Angered progressives • Ballinger–Pinchot Affair • 16thAmendment

41. 1912 Election • Taft-Republican • Wilson-Democrat • TR- Bull Moose/Progressive party

42. Wilson Elected!

43. Woodrow Wilson • Democrat • First president with a PhD • Former governor of NJ

44. Legislation • “New Freedom” – domestic policy • Clayton Anti-Trust Act • Federal Trade Commission • Underwood Tarriff • Federal Reserve System • 19th Amendment • Slow on Civil Rights – “Birth of a Nation” • WWI ends Progressivism – focus shifts to war effort

45. New Freedom • Tariff Reduction • Reform banking system • Control abusive corporations • Competition to increase opportunity • Support rights of union and the working man

46. Federal Reserve Act • Set up to prevent or moderate the cycles of boom and bust that had devastating impact on the American economy • An attempt to regulate and stabilize the monetary system in the US • establishment of up to 12 Federal Reserve Banks (district banks) to coordinate policy with a seven-member Federal Reserve Board in Washington • Today: conducting the nation's monetary policy, supervising and regulating banking institutions, maintaining the stability of the financial system and providing financial services to depository institutions

47. Clayton Anti-Trust Act 1914 • Passed to clarify the existing antitrust law • Strengthen Sherman Anti-Trust Act • Placed limitations on the use of injunctions against unions and stipulated that labor organizations were not illegal combinations acting to restrain trade; boycotts, strikes and picketing were all recognized as legal activities Henry Clayton-driving force behind the Clayton Anti-trust Act

48. Federal Trade Commission Act • The agency was empowered to investigate corporate practices and, if necessary, issue cease and desist orders to halt illegal activities. The commission replaced the earlier and less powerful Bureau of Corporations.

49. Other Progressive Problems • Unions, Farmers, and Industrial Safety • Women’s suffrage • African American and progressivism • Radicalism

50. Struggle for Women’s Suffrage