PROGRESSIVISM and the Reform Impulse in America

1. PROGRESSIVISMand the Reform Impulse in America History 17B Lecture 5

2. An Ambivalent Future • Criticism of materialism, loss of decency, and gap between rich and poor. • Robber Barons subvert democracy.

3. “Let the Buyer Beware” • Few if any protections for consumers from fraudulent business practices and products. • Progressivism an expression of discontent against industrialization, individualism, immigration, and urbanization.

4. Ideological Underpinnings • No single movement which drove reform. • Middle-Class Professionals • Sought to impose managerialism and professionalism • Use scientific investigation and management to solve social problems. • Not just a secular approach • Also a call for social justice through communal action.

5. “Muckrakers” • Journalists/authors who exposed dangers of corporate power, horrific working and living conditions of poor, and political corruption. • Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle • Brings health and safety standards (but not sympathy for labor).

6. Political Reform • Break Party Machines through civil service reform • Require an examination for government positions. • Non-partisan elections • Regulating some public sector industries (utilities) • Direct primaries, initiatives, referendums, recalls to hold politicians accountable. • Does not completely solve the problem of “money influence” in politics.

7. Settlement Houses • Jane Adams and Ellen Gates Star establish Hull House to help poor women. • Bring “middle-class values” to the slums.

8. Women’s Suffrage • Public vs. Private gender spheres • Politics traditionally masculine sphere. • Women argue their “feminine perspective” in voting would bring enlightened government.

9. Women’s Suffrage • State by state battles in gaining suffrage. • 19th Amendment passed 1920. • Rep. Jeanette Rankin from Montana • First woman in Congress

10. Danger of decreased competition. Capitalism can lead to concentration of wealth and power. Monopolies and Trusts Reduce competition, control production, and set prices. Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890) Forbids restraint of interstate trade through formation of monopolies and trusts. Courts often sided with business. Economic Reform

11. Economic Reform • How to deal with monopolies and trusts? • Political and economic debate.

12. TR’s “Square Deal” • Teddy Roosevelt the man. • Devotes energy to fighting the corporate trusts through “Square Deal.” • A Pluralist notion of society: • Government is a neutral player and ensure fair results for all interests. • He intervenes on behalf of labor and corporations.

13. TR and the Trusts • Corporations required to provide records if requested by government. • Vigorous anti-trust prosecutions • TR not anti-business: • Growth of corporations inevitable, but should be regulated to make them fair and efficient. • Sought to humanize the economic order. • And avoid class violence.

14. Run for a Third Term • Retires in 1908 but runs against his handpicked successor in 1912. • Roosevelt moves to the Left and runs as a Bull-Moose Progressive. • Promotes “New Nationalism” program.

15. Mass production and advancing technology leads to concentration of economic power. Competition leads to waste. Solution: Develop “national control” of industries through planning, supervision and protection of underprivileged groups. Rather than a neutral arbiter, government would be a player to ensure capitalism with a “human face.” TR’s “New Nationalism”

16. How to do this? • More support to labor unions. • Control wealth through taxation. • Price fixing if in the public interest. • Social justice: • 8 hour work days and minimum wage • worker’s compensation • child labor laws • votes for women

17. Rather than regulate business, government should regulate competition by setting clear rules. New Nationalism called “threat to democracy.” Trusts grow strong due to special privileges and unfair trading practices. Solution: Remove special privileges. Make credit more widely available. Eliminate unfair practices. Wilson’s New Freedom

18. Wilson wins 1912 election when TR splits the Republican Party. Not much reform at first beyond campaign promises. Believed social issues (child labor, a minimum wage) were State issues. Changes course in 1916 before re-election to capture Progressive vote. Appoints Progressive judges. Improves credit access for farmers. Initiates Federal Worker’s Compensation. Pushes for anti-Child Labor Laws. Wilson in Office

19. World War I • Reform spirit dies with America’s entry into WWI. • Desire to return to “normalcy” after war.

20. Results of Progressive Era • Federal Government became a significant player in the economy. • Decline of political parties • Rise of pressure groups and women’s activism. • Forceful executive leadership. • Continued fear of bigness in America.

21. One Final Question • Were the Progressives radicals? • No - they did not seek to overturn the Liberal Capitalism of America. • Spoke of reform as a way to prevent socialism in America. • Liberal reformers who sought a more humane capitalism that would offer benefits more equitably. • Rather then reject the system, they sought to improve it.