The Progressives in Action
The Muckrakers
o Writers of books and magazines that pointed out the negative aspects of industrialized America
o They sought to expose corruption and the distasteful aspects, but seldom offered solutions
o Hoped to arouse public consciousness, which would inspire change
o Branded “muckrakers” by Theodore Roosevelt
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Respected their efforts, but was annoyed by their overzealousness
o Magazines – McClure’s, Cosmopolitan, Collier’s, Everybody’s
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Published series’ of exposes on trusts – beef, railroad, oil, banking – government corruption, conditions of poverty
o Authors
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The Shame of the Cities (1902) – Lincoln Steffens – exposed the corrupt ties between business and city government
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A History of the Standard Oil Company (1904) – Ida Tarbell – exposed the corrupt practices of the SOC
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The Treason of the Senate (1906) – David G. Philips – accused 75 senators of serving the railroads and trusts, not the
people
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Following the Color Line (1908) – Ray Stannard Baker – exposed poverty and illiteracy among southern blacks
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The Great American Fraud (1905) – Samuel Hopkins Adams – Exposed lies about patent medicines
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Frenzied Finance (1906) – Thomas Lawson- exposed fraud and fixing in the stock market
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The Bitter Cry of the Children (1906) – John Spargo – exposed abuses of child labor
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The Octopus (1901) – Frank Norris – attacked the railroad trust
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The Jungle (1906) – Upton Sinclair – exposed the horrors of the meatpacking industry
Workplace Reforms
o Lochner vs. New York (1905) – Supreme Court overturned a NY law establishing a 10 hour workday for bakers
o Muller vs. Oregon (1908) Supreme court upheld Oregon’s right to impose a 9 hr. workday for women
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Argued that factory work was more harmful to women than men, and they needed special protection
o Bunting vs. Oregon (1910) – Supreme Court upheld a ten-hour workday for men
o 1911- Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire – 146 killed
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Inspired reforms to working hours and working conditions
o 1917 – The Supreme Court upheld an 8-hour workday for railroad workers
o The federal government generally remained resistant to passing sweeping national labor reform
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States continued to pass laws regarding workers throughout the progressive era
Worker’s compensation expanded to thirty states by 1917
Laws regulating hours and overtime were passed
Nearly every state passed child labor laws by 1920
Many states began implementing a minimum wage
Urban Reforms
o Settlement Houses
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Offered instruction in English, counseling to adjust to life, child-care for working mothers, and cultural activities
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Jane Addams – Hull House in Chicago
Served poor immigrants – Greek, Italian, Russian, German
Born to a prosperous Illinois family, one of the first of a generation of female college graduates
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Lillian Wald – Henry Street Settlement in NY
o YMCA, YWCA
o Salvation Army
Consumer Protections
o Attacks on “patent medicines” – often containing large quantities of alcohol
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Many made outrageous claims of what they could cure
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Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) regulated the mislabeling of food and medicine
o Protection in the packing industry
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Spurred by the exposure on conditions in the meatpacking industry displayed in Sinclair’s The Jungle
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The Meat Inspection Act of 1906 regulated meat packing