Chapter 18

1. Chapter 18 The Progressive Era 1900-1917

2. Introduction • This chapter covers: • Economic and social changes • Problems caused by industrialization and urbanization • How the Progressive reform movement emerged to wrestle with these problems/changes • An example: • The unsafe and unsanitary conditions in which millions of workers labored produced tragedies • Such as the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire in which 141 sweatshop employees died • After the Fire, aroused Progressives convinced New York State to enact many labor protective laws

3. Introduction 1.) How did intellectuals and writers prepare the way for Progressive reform? 2.) What conditions in the cities and states bothered Progressives, and what did they hope to do about them? 3.) How did Progressive reform reach national politics, and which leaders and issues were involved? 4.) What impact did Progressive reform have on the lives of women, immigrants, the urban poor, and African-Americans? 5.) Did progressivism alter people’s views on the proper role of govt. in America’s society and economy

4. Progressives and Their Ideas • The Many Faces of Progressivism • Progressive reformers included much of the new urban middle class • Mostly white, native-born Protestants • Middle-class women (often college educated) • Working through settlement houses and private organizations (National Consumers’ League) • Urban, immigrant political machines and workers began to demand improved labor conditions

5. The Many Faces of Progressivism • The Progressives were strongest in the cities • Attracted support from middle-class professionals and intellectuals • Most Progressives accepted the capitalist system • They merely wanted to reform the worst abuses that had developed under it • There was never one unified movement, but many different groups of reformers • Some preached regulation of big businesses • Others concentrated on passing laws to protect workers • Others thought the way to cure social ills was to curtail immigration • Progressives generally attempted to be “scientific” in their approach • Backed their demands for change with scholarly studies of deplorable conditions to be remedied

6. Intellectuals Offer New Social Views • Many intellectuals criticized unrestrained, brutal capitalist competition • They called for an activist govt. that would regulate business practices and protect the economically vulnerable • Thorstein Veblen (economist) • Herbert Croly (journalist) • William James (pragmatic philosopher) • Jane Addams (settlement-house leader)

7. Intellectuals Offer New Social Views • New educational and legal ideas paved the way for the Progressive movement • John Dewey • Preached that schools must foster in students respect for the values of democracy and cooperation • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. • Supreme Court Justice • Attacked conservative judges for being guided entirely by legal precedent • He insisted that the “law must evolve as society changes”

8. Dewey and Holmes

9. Novelists, Journalists,and Artists Spotlight Social Problems • Muckraking journalists and novelists played an important role in stimulating the Progressive movement by exposing to middle-class Americans political corruption and corporate wrongdoing

10. Novelists, Journalists, and Artists Spotlight Social Problems • Lincoln Steffens • Wrote about urban political machines and bosses • Ida Tarbell • Cutthroat competitive practices of Standard Oil Company

11. Novelists, Journalists,and Artists Spotlight Social Problems • Magazines such as McClure’s and Collier’s specialized in muckraking articles • Novelists Frank Norris in The Octopus and Theodore Dreiser in The Financier also told tales of business abuses and political corruption • “Ashcan School” artists and photographers such as Lewis Hine depicted the harsh world of the immigrants, factory workers and child laborers

12. State and Local Progressivism • Reforming the Political Process • The earliest signs of the Progressive movement appeared in cities where municipal reformers battled corrupt political machines • These cities elected activist mayors dedicated to change • Hazen Pingree of Detroit • Samuel Jones of Toledo • Reform mayors generally: • brought honesty to municipal govt. • Provided city dwellers with improved municipal services and facilities • Forced transportation and utility companies to lower rates and pay their fair share of taxes • Other municipal reformers experimented with commission and city-manager forms of govt.

13. Reforming the Political Process • The reform efforts soon moved up to state govt. • Progressives attempted to democratize politics by establishing: • secret balloting • direct primary • initiative • referendum • recall • In practice these measures fell short of producing the democratic results that the Progressives had hoped

14. Regulating Business, Protecting Workers • After 1900, the growth of huge business corporation sped up • Example: in 1901 J.P. Morgan consolidated hundreds of independent steel makers to form the U.S. Steel Company which controlled 80% of production in the nation • This trend alarmed many Americans • The real wages of industrial laborers rose after 1900 • They were still so inadequate that in many families the mothers and children had to work to make ends meet • In 1910 at least 1.6 million youngsters between 10-16 years old worked full-time • Industrial laborers spent on average 9 1/2 hours a day in mills and shops • Often in hazardous conditions (both in health and safety) • Employers tried to get even more work out of their employees • Frederick W. Taylor and other efficiency expert

15. Regulating Business, Protecting Workers • Under Progressive influence, state govt’s. started to impose regulation on railroads, mines, and other business corporation • The pioneer was WI under Governor Robert LaFollette

16. Regulating Business, Protecting Workers • Between 1901 and 1906 LaFollette convinced the legislature to: • create a state railroad commission • increase corporate taxes • limit business contributions to political campaigns • He and the legislature also introduced political reforms such as the direct primary • “Wisconsin Idea”

17. Regulating Business, Protecting Workers • Other states passed important labor laws as well: • Maximum # of hours per workday for female employees • Oregon’s 10-hour law • Factory safety codes • Such as the one enacted in NY after the Triangle Shirtwaist fire • Workers’ compensation acts • Bans on child labor

18. Making Cities More Livable • Cities grew rapidly between 1900 and 1920 as rural Americans and millions of immigrants moved into them • Overwhelmed and often corrupt municipal govts. failed to provide the newcomers with adequate services and public facilities • Progressive reformers began to beautify cities with: • more parks and playgrounds • Broad boulevards • Impressive municipal buildings • State legislatures passed housing coded to upgrade living conditions in tenements and slum neighborhoods

19. Making Cities More Livable • Cities and states improved: • Garbage collection • Street cleaning • Water and sewer systems • And required higher standards: • of cleanliness • Of quality form sellers of food and milk • These Progressive reforms significantly decreased infant mortality and tuberculosis deaths • There were also attempts to reduce air pollution • Business fought these vigorously • The continued reliance on coal as the chief energy source left cities smoky and sooty

20. Progressivism and Social Control • Moral Control in the Cities • Some reformers tried to guard morality by inducing cities to censor movies and outlaw prostitution • A wave of hysteria over prostitution led to the passage of the federal Mann Act (1910) and the close of red-light districts

21. Battling Alcohol and Drugs • Prohibition became the biggest moral crusade of the Progressive Era • Anti-Saloon League, Women’s Christian Temperance Union, various church groups • Many localities enacted bans on liquor sales • The national prohibition movement grew stronger

22. Battling Alcohol and Drugs • Progressives also campaigned against the then-widespread use of such addictive drugs as morphine, heroin, and cocaine • Their efforts led to the passage of the federal Narcotics Act in 1914 • Outlawed the distribution of heroin, morphine, and cocaine except by doctors’ prescriptions

23. Immigration Restriction and Eugenics • Between 1900-1917, 17 million immigrants entered the U.S.A. • Mostly from southern and eastern Europe • Many native-born Americans became fearful • They often believed that immigrants caused poverty and immorality • Immigration Restriction League • 1894 • Founded by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and other prominent Bostonians

24. Immigration Restriction and Eugenics • Eugenicists claimed that humans and society could be improved by controlled breeding • Some states passed laws allowing forced sterilization of criminals, mentally deficient persons, and sex offenders • Pseudo-scientific racism was spewed by some so-called progressive writers • Madison Grant--The Passing of the Great Race (1916)

25. Racism and Progressivism • In 1900 the majority of the 10 million African-Americans were still in the rural South • Most as sharecroppers • Many began to migrate to cities and to the North • Escape poverty, disenfranchisement, Jim Crow laws, and violence • In the North they encountered de factor segregation and discrimination • Under these difficult circumstances, African-Americans developed their own communities and culture • Racism in American society reached a peak during the Progressive Era • Many progressives either ignored racial discrimination or were themselves racists

26. Racism and Progressivism • Southern Progressives combined advocacy of economic and political reform with vicious attacks on African-Americans • James K. Vardaman and Ben Tillman • The 2 Progressive-reformer presidents of the era compiled sorry records on racial justice • Theodore Roosevelt • Woodrow Wilson

27. Racism and Progressivism • Roosevelt ordered the unwarranted dishonorable discharge of an entire regiment of African-American soldiers in the Brownsville, Texas, incident • Wilson praised the racist movie Birth of a Nation and condoned the introduction of racial segregation in all federal govt. agencies and departments • Some white progressives decried racial injustice and helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) • Lillian Wald and Mary White

28. African-Americans, Women, and Workers Organize • African-American Leaders Organize Against Racism • Booker T. Washington • America’s best-know black leader between 1890-1915 • Advised blacks to concentrate on economic advancement through vocational education • Accept the South’s Jim Crow and disenfranchisement laws

29. African-American Leaders Organize Against Racism • Northern African-Americans intellectuals and professionals urged African-Americans to fight for economic, political, and educational equality • William Monroe Trotter • Ida Wells-Barnett • W.E.B. DuBois

30. African-American Leaders Organize Against Racism • Niagara Movement • 1905 • DuBois and other African-American critics of Washington formed • In 1909, DuBois and other members of the Niagara Movement joined with white Progressives in organizing the NAACP • Rejected Booker T. Washington’s accommodations advice • Began the long fight for racial justice

31. Revival of the Woman-Suffrage Movement • A new group of feminists emerged to revitalize the women’s movement • Carrie Chapman Catt • Became president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1900 • Catt led her members in lobbying, distributing literature, and demonstrating • They convinced several states to grant women the vote

32. Revival of the Woman-Suffrage Movement • Alice Paul • National Woman’s Party • Bring direct pressure on the federal govt. for passage of a constitutional amendment enfranchising women

33. Enlarging “Woman’s Sphere” • Feminists challenged the assumption that the only proper roles for women were those of wife, mother, and homemaker • Florence Kelley, Alice Hamilton, Margaret Sanger • Led the Progressives drives to: • abolish child labor • Protect the health of workers and consumers • Establish birth-control clinics

34. Workers Organize: Socialism Advances • To improve their working environment, workers kept trying to unionize • Their right to strike was frequently curtailed by conservative court decisions • Employers often hired recent immigrants as scabs when employees went on strike

35. Workers Organize: Socialism Advances • American Federal of Labor (AFL) grew primarily in the skilled trades • Most factory workers were unorganized early on • 2 unions attempted to help semiskilled and unskilled workers: • International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union • Led successful strikes in the needle trades • Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) • The IWW singed up western miners, lumberjacks, and migratory farm workers • IWW won a major strike in 1912 in the textile mills of MA • Govt. repression of the IWW during WWI caused the decline of the organization

36. Workers Organize: Socialism Advances • The Socialist Party of America was gaining followers • Hoped to end capitalism through the ballot box rather than revolution • Eugene Debs • Ran for president in 1912 and received 900,000 votes

37. National Progressivism--Phase I: Roosevelt and Taft, 1901-1913 • Roosevelt’s Path to the White House • Became President in 1901 after McKinley was assassinated • Became the first Progressive president • A believer in strong executive leadership, Roosevelt enlarged the powers of the presidency • Turned the office into both an effective forum and the center of legislative initiative

38. Labor Disputes, Trustbusting, and Railroad Regulation • Unlike earlier presidents who used troops to break strikes, Roosevelt like to use arbitration • Example: coal miners’ strike of 1902 • Management and the United Mine Workers used arbitration by a commission Roosevelt appointed • The commission granted the miners increased pay and reduced hours

39. Labor Disputes, Trustbusting, and Railroad Regulation • Roosevelt did not want to attack big business • He preached that corporate giants must obey the law and serve the public interest • He prosecuted firms that he believed violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act • Northern Securities Company • Despite his trustbusting, he stayed on good terms with big business

40. Labor Disputes, Trustbusting, and Railroad Regulation (cont.) • 1904 election, Roosevelt easily won over conservative Democratic opponent, Alton B. Parker • Hepburn Act • 1906 • Strengthened corporate regulation • Gave the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to set maximum railroad rates and examine railroads’ financial records

41. Consumer Protection • Responding to public concern generated by Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) and the Meat Inspection Act (1906) • Pure Food and Drug Act • Meat Inspection Act

42. Environmentalism Progressive Style • Roosevelt made his most enduring reforms in conservation • Years of exploitation for private gain had damaged and depleted America’s natural environment • By the 1890’s, land use had become a political issue • Putting business interests, preservationists, and conservationists against each other

43. Environmentalism Progressive Style • Entrepreneurs wanted to continue unrestricted development for private enrichment • Preservationists wished to save large wilderness tracts for their beauty and spiritual worth • John Muir and the Sierra Club • Conservation movement sought govt. scientific management to make the public domain best serve the resource needs of the nation now and in the future • Gifford Pinchot (Roosevelt’s Forest Service chief)

44. Environmentalism Progressive Style • Roosevelt used the presidency to popularize both conservation and preservation • Newlands Act of 1902 • Important in the economic development of the West • Set aside about 200 million acres of forest and mineral-rich lands for government-managed use rather than sale to business • Antiquities Act (1906) • National historical landmarks • Established national parks

45. Environmentalism Progressive Style • In 1916, during Wilson’s administration, Congress established the National Park Service to protect and run the national historic sites, monuments, and parks

46. Taft in the White House, 1909-1913 • William Howard Taft was Roosevelt’s secretary of war • Won 1908 election over William Jennings Bryan • Pledged to continue Roosevelt’s Square Deal • Taft prosecuted more trusts than Roosevelt had • Taft, though, lacked Roosevelt’s activism, flair for publicity, and political skills

47. Taft in the White House, 1909-1913 • In the fight shaping up between the progressive and conservative wings of the Republican party, Taft sided with the conservatives • Taft alienated progressive Republicans by: • Signing the Payne-Aldrich bill • Raised tariffs • Fired conservationist Gifford Pinchot • Progressive Republicans joined with Roosevelt in denouncing the conservatives and campaigned for revived Progressive reform

48. The Four-Way Election of 1912 • In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt challenged Taft for the Republican nomination • The convention chose Taft • Roosevelt’s backers walked out and founded the rival Progressive Party and nominated Roosevelt • The Democrats nominated Woodrow Wilson • Socialists nominated Eugene Debs

49. The Four-Way Election of 1912 • “New Nationalism” • Roosevelt’s platform • Accept big business as inevitable • But build a powerful activist federal govt. to regulate the corporate giants • New Freedom • Wilson’s platform • Rejected big govt. in Washington • Called for a return to an economy composed of small, competing enterprise • Wilson won the White House • Democrats also won Congress

50. National Progressivism--Phase II: Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1917 • Introduction • Woodrow Wilson had been a political science professor and president of Princeton University • Then he became Governor of NJ • Skilled and flexible politician • But sometimes was intolerant and self-righteous