PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT (1895-1915) PROJECT: STAGE ONE The idea of reform is in the air. The people in your state will be electing a new governor and state legislature that will promise to correct the serious problems of the day. Industrialization, urbanization, and immigration have challenged the meaning of being American. Individuals were supposed to solve their own problems, and being poor used to mean that something was wrong with you. The Depression of the 1890s and the realities of the new economy have made people question these old beliefs. They are looking for the government to start being more active, to create a more fair set of rules and to act like a referee rather than a passive observer. Most citizens in your state consider themselves middle class Americans, and are strongly backing a reform program. One of the fears of the middle class is that the extremists, businessmen who want to run the economy like kings and the radical reformers who want to completely change the system, might ruin the country. The Progressive like democracy and capitalism, they just want to tweak them a little. In this simulation you will be a member of one of six groups of middle class citizens who will be pushing for a progressive program established by your group. The simulation will focus on the following nine problems: 1. City Problems (overcrowding, sanitation, political machines) 2. Labor Problems (workplace safety, long hours) 3. Monopolies and Business Excesses (Robber Barons) 4. The Consumer (food and drug safety) 5. Conservation environmental destruction) 6. Women s Rights (voting) 7. The Farm Problem (small farmers losing land to big farmers) 8. Corruption in Government (election fraud) 9. Inequality in the Distribution of Wealth (super rich v. crippling poverty) DIRECTIONS JIGSAW: Each problem has a worksheet describing the problem and a proposed progressive solution. You will be placed in a small group. Together, you must fill out the attached two-column notes sheet. A notes sheet does not need to be in complete sentences. After you have gathered the information, you will be placed into a different group to report the information back to other students. At the end of two days, you should have information on all nine problems and solutions.
CITY PROBLEMS Overcrowding, sanitation, and political machines SLUMS Who lives there? Type of buildings DETAILS: --factory workers --immigrants --tenements Diseases caused by overcrowding Other dangers of slums POLITICAL MACHINES Who runs the city? --Typhoid Fever --Tuberculosis --Cholera --Small Pox --Fires --Trash in streets --Manure from horses --Political bosses --Political Machines Why are they not serious about fixing city problems? They just want to run the city and to give themselves and their friends money. SOLUTIONS: Ways to make city more livable for the poor --Collect the garbage --Landlords must keep houses nicer --Pave streets --Build subways --Build playgrounds and parks --Homeless shelters
CITY PROBLEMS CONT. Ending machine politics What is a commission government? What is the job of a city manager? A group of citizens who run the city without political connections To run the city in a way that would not favor one group over another Other electoral/government Reforms --Give city jobs to those who take a test --Election supervisors SUMMARY OF CITY PROBLEMS: SUMMARY OF SOLUTIONS FOR CITY PROBLEMS:
LABOR PROBLEMS-Workplace safety, child labor, failures of unions Workplace Dangers Long working hours What would happen to a worker who received an injury? Unions Goals of union Reasons why unions were rarely successul Details/Evidence: --10-14 hour days --6-7 days per week --no overtime/vacations Had to sue employer to prove employer had caused harm intentionally. Very hard to prove. --Better working conditions --Fewer hours --Higher pay --Government sided with businesses --Employers replaced striking workers --Businesses hired strike breakers Why should a moderate middle class reformer care about the failures of unions? If the workers are not helped, they will turn to more radical ideas like communism. A reformer does not want to overthrow the government. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS Examples of laws to protect workers --Give unions right to exist --8 hour day --No child labor --Investigate unsafe conditions --Workman s compensation insurance --restrict immigration SUMMARY OF LABOR PROBLEMS: SUMMARY OF LABOR SOLUTIONS:
MONOPOLIES and BUSINESS EXCESSES: Robber Barons! Big Business What consumers gained How big businesses hurt small businesses --More products available for lower prices --Price fixing --Make secret deals with railroads How businesses became so large Examples of natural monopolies Problems with monopolies Solutions What should states do about monopolies? --Mergers combining smaller companies into larger ones. --Electrical lines --Gas companies --Low quality goods/poor service --high prices Break up monopolies in court to increase competition. How to deal with unfair business practices? --End price fixing --Investigate businesses to look for cheating. How to deal with natural monopolies The government should run them or set their prices. SUMMARY OF MONOPOLY PROBLEMS: SUMMARY OF MONOPOLY SOLUTIONS:
THE CONSUMER Food and Drug Safety FOOD: Examples of how food was produced and processed before the industrial revolution --grown locally --dried to send to faraway markets Food preservation Unhealthy ways of preserving food Why was food preservation new in the late 1800s? Food could now be shipped to distant cities and countries. --harmful chemicals --dye in coffee --formaldehyde in milk Unsanitary practices in the meat industry --Butter add coal tar dye --Diseased animals --meat shoveled from filthy floors Medicinal drugs: Dangerous ingredients Other problems with unregulated medicines Proposed Solutions: Laws to protect consumers from unsafe food and drugs --Dirt and splinters in food. --opium --morphine --falsely claimed it could cure many illnesses --lower amount of actual medicine in product --Require medicine is safe --list ingredients on food --no false or misleading advertisements SUMMARY OF SOLUTIONS FOR FOOD AND DRUG SAFETY:
CONSERVATION: Environmental Destruction Problems: Old belief about the environment Nature was to be conquered, and could never be used up. Examples of environmental destruction --75% of all trees cut down --pollution from mining in rivers --industrial dyes polluted rivers --soil depletion --wildlife extinction Proposed solutions: Ways of protecting remaining resources --Wildlife sanctuaries --National Parks --Hunting and fishing licenses (Examples should be about actually protecting resources, not ways to discuss the problem) SUMMARY OF PROBLEM: SUMMARY OF SOLUTIONS:
WOMEN S RIGHTS: Voting and Equal Rights Improvements to women s rights between 1848 and 1900 --Married women could own property --Legal right to custody of children Reasons to gain right to vote --could now sue in courts --could fix other laws --could hold public office Other examples of inequality for women --lower pay for equal work --fewer opportunities to work --many professions closed to women How to gain the right to vote --change laws in states --change the US constitution Other reforms that would benefit middle class women --female judges --equal pay for equal work --allow women to enter professions like medicine and law. SUMMARY OF PROBLEM: SUMMARY OF SOLUTION:
FARM PROBLEMS: Small farmers v. Industrialized farms and banks Reasons for crop prices falling Way railroads hurt farmers --High supply of crops because of farming machinery --Charged farmers more than large companies Success of farmers over the railroads Problem with Interstate Commerce Act Solutions: Ways to help farmers --Interstate Commerce Act outlaws unfair practices --Difficult to enforce --Increase power of the ICA --Set maximum railroad prices --jobs and training for out or work farmers SUMMARY OF FARMER PROBLEMS: SUMMARY OF FARMER SOLUTIONS:
CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT: Election reform Problems: How big businesses influenced politicians Details/Evidence: --Bribes How Party leaders influenced politicians --Picked who would run for office --Selected US Senators Spoils System Definition: Gives government jobs to political supporters Why is spoils system a problem: Unqualified people working for government Proposed solutions: Civil Service Reform (Pendleton Act) How should government job openings be filled? Qualifications and Tests Ways to give voters more control over the government Primaries: Allow voters to select candidates Recall: Voters can remove a person from office Referendum: Voters can decide on laws. Initiative: People select laws to be voted on. Secret ballot: No one knows who you vote for, cannot be pressured. SUMMARY OF SOLUTIONS ENDING CORRUPTION:
INEQUALITY IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH: Gap between rich and poor Example of gap between rich and poor Examples of extreme wealth --Top 1% owned 50% of wealth while bottom 50% owned hardly anything. --Huge Mansions --Expensive Art --Grand parties Differences in education between rich and poor --some areas without any elementary schools --poor left school early to work --no college for poor students Cycle of poverty Why does unequal education between rich and poor reduce the likelihood that children of poor Americans can climb out of poverty? They will not be qualified for higher paying jobs, and will remain poor. Cannot escape poverty. Solutions: Graduated Income Tax --Definition: Higher income=higher % of taxes on pays Education Reform --Free public high schools --All students must attend until 16 years old --More courses in practical, useful subjects (i.e. science instead of Ancient Greek.) SUMMARY OF PROBLEMS WITH WEALTH INEQUALITY: SUMMARY OF SOLUTIONS TO WEALTH INEQUALITY: