Competition Competition was natural enough at one time, but do you think you are competing today? Many of you think you are competing. Against whom? Against Rockefeller? About as I well as I would if I had a wheelbarrow and competed with the Santa Fe Railroad from here to Kansas City. - Eugene Debs
The Progressive Era
Progressive Era Progressive Era broad name for a period of time when reformers focused on improving things for ordinary people (late 1800s, early 1900s) Common Goals: Social welfare Moral improvement Economic justice Greater efficiency
Social Welfare and Morality Child labor laws, aid organizations for poor Consumer Protections, safety standards Temperance Movement prohibition of alcohol
Economic Reform & Efficiency Call for shorter work days in the name of efficiency Growing Opposition to corporate monopolies Questioning of pure capitalism Growth of socialist thought
Ford Plant and the Automobile Ford paid $5 a day double the wage for comparable work 8 hour work day assembly lines Scientific Management - Taylorism increased efficiency via the simplification of tasks
B A
Child Labor Child Labor a crisis in late 1800s/early 1900s Illinois Factory Act 1893 prohibited children under 14 from working; women 8 hour workday National Child Labor Committee founded 1904 fought to end child labor & exploitation
Attempt to Reform Child Labor Nationally Keating-Owen Act (1916) tried to prevent interstate trade of child labor made goods overturned by SCOTUS Comparable measure not made enforceable until Fair Labor Standards Act - 1938
Child Labor Today
Red Initiative and Popular Referendum Yellow Popular Referendum only Green Initiative constitutional amendments only Blue Neither Method
Election Reforms (state/local) Initiatives bills made directly by citizens Referendums direct vote on a legislative issue by citizens citizen voters reject or approve it Recall voters remove public officials by vote
Direct Election of Senators & Women s Suffrage 16 th Amendment 1913 progressive income tax 17th Amendment 1913- voters elect their 2 senators to congress directly Past practice state legislatures chose senators 18 th Amendment Alcohol Prohibition 19 th Amendment - 1920 women s suffrage (voting rights)
Progressive Income Taxes Today U.S. Tax Brackets-2011 Single Taxpayer Rate 0- $8,500 10% $8,500 to $34,500 15% $34,500 to $83,600 25% $83,600 to $174,400 28% $174,400 to $379,150 33% $379,150 and above 35%
Child Labor Cartoons
A simple and poor society can exist as a democracy on the basis of sheer individualism but a rich and complex industrial society cannot so exist. - Teddy Roosevelt 26 th President of the United States 1901-1909
7.2 I: Rapid industrial and technological expansion widened the gulf between haves and have nots causing many challenges to the status quo. Key Concept 7.2: A revolution in communications and transportation technology helped to create a new mass culture and spread modern values and ideas, even as cultural conflicts between groups increased under the pressure of migration, world wars, and economic distress. I. New technologies led to social transformations that improved the standard of living for many while contributing to increased political and cultural conflicts
Teddy Roosevelt
Teddy Roosevelt s background Sickly child overcame difficulty Rough Rider; reputation as rabble-rouser; kicked up from NY governor to Vice President McKinley assassinated 1901 VP TR - president
The Modern Presidency TR credited with making the modern presidency personality/popularity helped advance progressive reform Expanded role of federal gov t
The Square Deal Roosevelt s progressive reform program Consumer Protections Trustbusting (breaking up monopolies) Conservation
Consumer Protections Roosevelt inspired by Upton Sinclair s novel The Jungle (about Chicago meat industry) The Jungle story about meat industry through immigrant eyes
Consumer Protection Laws Meat Inspection Act - 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act 1906 targeted false advertising; pushed truth in labeling
Vanishing Buffalo herds Bubbly Creek
Roosevelt s Conservation efforts Roosevelt helped set aside millions of acres of disappearing wilderness; overdevelopment threatened nature Expanded national parks 80 million more acres Newlands Act transformed dry wildernesses via irrigation
Buffalos Today Bubbly Creek Today
Trusts during the Teddy Roosevelt Era 1900 4/5 of US industry controlled by trusts Roosevelt saw big business as having right to exist; worried about power of bad trusts
Roosevelt and Bad Trusts Roosevelt targeted bad trusts under 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act Went after bad trusts that most hurt public Left good trusts that he saw as beneficial alone
Consumer Protections
Conservation
William Howard Taft Taft TR s chosen successor won 1908 election Meanwhile -Roosevelt went on Safari in Africa
Progressivism under Taft Busted more trusts than Roosevelt More cautious than Roosevelt; delayed reforms Had to balance between eastern conservatives & western progressives Did little for conservation Lacked charisma of T. R.
A B C
Wilson Blue, Taft Pink, Roosevelt Green, Debs Yellow, Other - black
1912 Election Roosevelt Returns Bull Moose Roosevelt returned; ran against Taft Roosevelt s progressive platform for 1912: Direct election of senators Women s suffrage Workmen s compensation Minimum wage
1912 Election - Outcome Roosevelt and Taft split vote Progressive Democrat Woodrow Wilson elected Most voted for progressive candidates
Wilson s New Freedom Attacked Triple Wall of Privilege Trusts Tariffs High Finance
Strengthening Anti-trust laws Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) backed by Wilson stronger anti-trust laws than Sherman (1890) Banned mergers if they would create a monopoly Labor Unions not subject to anti-trust laws Unions had right to exist Federal Trade Commission Act (1916) presidential commission attacked violations of interstate commerce, unfair trade, false advertising
Income Tax U.S. Tax Brackets-2011 Single Taxpayer Income level Rate 0- $8,500 10% $8,500 to $34,500 15% $34,500 to $83,600 25% $83,600 to $174,400 28% $174,400 to $379,150 33% $379,150 and above 35%
Federal Reserve System (Finance) Federal Reserve Act 1913 Brought greater stability Ability to regulate interest rates and economy US divided into 12 regional bank districts Each district regional central bank
Other Progressive moves under Wilson Workingmen s Compensation Act 1916 gave assistance to disabled federal civil service employees Adamson Act 1916 8 hour days or overtime for rail workers
So far as Mr. Booker T. Washington preaches thrift, patience, and industrial training for the masses, we must hold his hands and stand with him But so far as Mr. Washington apologizes for injustice, North or South, does not rightly value the privilege and duty of voting, belittles the emasculating effects of caste distinctions, and opposes the higher training and ambition of our brighter minds so far as he, the South, or the Nation does this we must unceasingly and firmly oppose them. - W. E. B. Du Bois The Soul of Black Folk
African-American Civil Rights Progressive Era politicians made very little progress on issue of black civil rights Booker T. Washington W. E. B. DuBois
Civil Rights - Roosevelt and Taft Both favored Booker T. Washington black leader who urged self-improvement and education acceptance of discrimination in short term W. E. B. DuBois - wanted more rapid change
Civil Rights Under Wilson Opposed anti-lynching laws as president Federal Offices re-segregated under Wilson