Chapter 28: Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt Progressive Roots New reformists went back to the Greenback Labor Party of 1870 s, Populists 1890 s, because of the trusts Laissez-faire was out dated, business had gotten too big and society too complex Literary figures led the attack o Henry Demarest Lloyd Wealth Against Wealth 1894 o Thorstein Veblen Theory of the Leisure Class 1899 o Jacob A Riis How the Other Half Lives 1890 Strong socialist movement led by the new immigrants Muckrakers Several magazines led the way in reform, investigational journalism, dug deeper because they were trying to out scoop the competition Lincoln Steffens The Shame of the Cities o Showed the alliance between big business and local governments Ida B. Tarbell published an expose on Standard Oil David G. Phillips The Treason of the Senate charged that 75 of the 90 senators represented trusts not the people Ray Stannard Baker Following the Color Line 1908 Upton Sinclair The Jungle Abuses about many other, social ills, adulterated medicine, food, political corruption, etc Political Progressivism Reformers were mainly middle class citizens- pressure from above (giant corporations) and below (immigrant hordes and labor unions) Progressives two main goals: o To use state power to curb the trusts o To stem the socialist threat by generally improving the common person s conditions of life and labor Progressives pushed for direct primary elections and the referendum (placed laws on the ballot for final approval from the people) Put a limit on the amount of money that candidates could spend on elections and on the gifts that they could receive from corporations Constitutional amendment to use popular election of the sentors-17 th Amendment passed in 1913 Progressives also supported the feminists Progressivism in the Cities and States Many cities appointed a city manager to control civic affairs o Attacked social problems-slumlords, juvenile delinquency, and prostitution Progressivism also reached a state level
o Robert M. Fighting Bob La Follette-militant progressive Republican leader-governor of Wisconsin, was able to return control to the people from corrupt corporations and perfected a scheme fro regulating public utilities o Hiram W. Johnson- governor of California- broke the grip of the Southern Pacific Railroad on CA politics-set up a political machine of his own Progressive Women Key to progressive movement Saw the task of improving life in the factories as an extension of their roles as wives and women Focused on moral and maternal issues Women s Trade Union League and National Consumers League Florence Kelley o Illinois s first chief factory inspector and strong advocate of improving factory conditions o In 1899 she took control of the newly founded National Consumers League Muller vs. Oregon 1908 o Louis D. Brandeis o Called for special protection of women at the workplace Lochner vs. New York 1905 o Ruled against the 10 hour day for bakers o This was overruled again in 1917 Triangle Shirtwaist Company 1911 Fire; 146 workers died. Large outcry from o Led to much needed and stronger laws regulating sweatshops Women went after the saloons, prohibition movement which went hand in hand with anti prostitution movement o WTCU Women s Temperance Christian Union o By 1914 nearly one half of the population lived in dry territory and nearly three-fourths of the total are had outlawed saloons o 1919-Eighteenth Amendment-Prohibition! TR s Square Deal for Labor TR feared that the public interest was being submerged by indifference-so he decided that everyone interests were his interests The Square Deal-for capital, labor and the public o The 3 Cs Control of the corporations Consumer protection Conservation of the natural resources o Coal miners strike in 1902 in Pennsylvania Miners were mostly illiterate immigrants Demanded 20% increase in pay and a reduction from 10 hour days to 9 hour days
As coal supplies decreased the nation was forced to close schools, factories and hospitals Roosevelt restored to the stick by threatening to send in federal troops to operate the mines-they consented to arbitration and in the end everything was hunky-dory. 10% rise in pay and 9 hour work days Roosevelt created the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903 Very helpful in curbing the trusts TR Corrals the Corporations Elkins Act of 1903 o Gave fines to companies and RR that used rebates Hepburn Act of 1906 o Restricted the use of Free passes, RR used as bribes ICC was expanded to include express companies, sleeping car companies, and pipelines o It was also given teeth TR arbitrarily ruled which were good and evil trusts and went after the evil ones o 1902 Northern Securities Company RR holding company of Morgan s Upheld by Supreme Courts and ordered to be dissolved o Over 40 lawsuits against trusts including beef trust, sugar, fertilizer, harvesters, etc. o Busted the trusts to prove that government still reigned supreme didn t really believe that they were that bad Caring for the Consumers Europe banned American meat imports because it was tainted Upton Sinclair The Jungle 1906 o Sinclair intended to help workers but got food controls Meat Inspection Act of 1906 o Meat shipped across state lines was inspected through the whole process Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 o Prevent adulteration and mislabeling Earth Control Americans were extremely wasteful in using natural resources Desert Land Act of 1877 o Arid land sold cheaply if owners would irrigate within 3 years Forest Reserve Act 1891 o Authorized the President to set aside public forests as natural parks o 46 million acres in 1890 Corey Act 1894 o Gave land to states if they agreed to irrigate and settle it Newlands Acts 1902 o Sold lands in West and used the money for water projects
o Settlers paid the cost with their productive land, revolving fund o Roosevelt Dam in Arizona was the first built Roosevelt put over 126 million acres of forest in reserves Conservation is seen as his lasting legacy Preservationists lost out when dams were built in areas like Yosemite Gifford Pinchot and others thought wilderness was wasteful but he and Roosevelt worked to find a balance o Multiple use resource management Land was managed by professionals The Roosevelt Panic of 1907 TR won reelection in 1904 but promised he wouldn t run for a third term Panic hit like others with runs on banks, foreclosures, etc. TR was blamed for it because of his trust busting Panic helped push through much needed reform o Aldrich-Vreeland Act 1908 Allowed national banks to issue emergency currency Paved the way for the Federal Reserve of 1913 The Rough Rider Thunders Out Could have easily won another election but he opted not to run kept his word TR chose Taft as his successor a mild progressive and his secretary of war The Democrats put up William Jennings Bryan again (3 rd time) Taft won 321 to 162 7.6 to 6.4 million popular votes Eugene Debs a Socialist got almost a half million votes TR s legacy o Was seen as an enemy of capitalism but in fact he was in favor of most and helped the capitalists survive longer o Enlarged the powers of the President o Helped the progressive movement and the liberal reform movements of the 20 th century William Howard Taft o Very fat, popular, smart graduated from Yale, lawyer, judge, couldn t take over after TR, TR led by force Taft couldn t do that The Dollar Goes Abroad as a Diplomat Dollar Diplomacy o Using American investments to boost American political interests abroad o Urged wall street to invest extra money in areas that the US had active interests politically o Far East, Panama Canal, etc. o Dollar replaced the Big Stick Manchuria o Japan and Russia controlled most of the area and had monopolies on the RR that strangled the region
o Taft tried to have American businessmen buy the RR and turn them over to China, it blew up in his face Caribbean o Money into Haiti and Honduras in order to keep Europeans out o Eventually sent troops into Cuba, Honduras, Dominican Republic to establish order o In Nicaragua the Americans started the rebellion and sent in troops to sustain it, they stayed for 13 years Taft the Trustbuster Became famous as a trustbuster-in 4 years brought up 90 suits against the trusts 1911-Supreme Court dissolved the Standard Oil Company and Taft decided to press an antitrust suit on U.S. Steel-made Roosevelt very angry Taft Splits the Republican Party Taft had promised to reduce tariffs-called Congress into secession-tariffs were reduced a little but Senator Nelson W. Aldrich tacked on hundreds of upward tariff revisions o Taft signed the Payne-Aldrich Bill-greatly angered the Republicans because he broke his campaign promises Bureau of Mines established by Taft o Ballinger-Pinchot quarrel-1910 Richard Ballinger-Secretary of the Interior- was criticized by Pinchot for opening the land Taft fired Pinchot on the grounds of insubordination- made the conservationists and Roosevelt supporters angry Reformist Republicans vs. Taft and the Old Guard o TR s speech- New Nationalism o Republicans lost in the 1910 election The Taft-Roosevelt Rupture National Progressive Republican League-1911-Senator La Follette the republican candidate-they didn t think that Roosevelt would run with a third party TR decided to run when Taft got rid of my policies o June of 1912-Roosevelt and Taft at the Chicago convention 100 for Roosevelt vs. 250 for Taft o Roosevelts ended up refusing to vote and Taft won