Chapter 28: Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt Progressive Henry Demarest Lloyd Thornstein Veblen Jacob A. Riis Theodore Dreiser Socialist Muckraker Lincoln Steffens Ida M. Tarbell Frenzied Finance David G. Phillips Ray Stannard Baker John Spargo Dr. Harvey W. Wiley 1) Struggling for Justice at Home and Abroad a) Debate about US's role in imperialism, economy, and government b) Progressive movement, Normalcy, Depression, and World War II 2) America was ethnically diverse with immigrants and had a high population 3) Progressive movement fights "evils", including monopoly, corruption, inefficiency, and social injustice a) "Strengthen the State" b) Government for human welfare 4) Progressive Roots a) Reformist roots: Greenback Labor and Populist Party b) Unrest about industrial power concentrated in few people, disappearance of individualism, and emerging economic problems c) Progressives opposed laissez-faire policy d) Bryan, Atgeld, and Populists criticized trusts for corruption e) Henry Demarest Lloyd's Wealth Against Commonwealth attacked Standard Oil Company f) Thornstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class attacked making money for money instead of for productive industry or real needs i) Advocated engineers, not trust barons g) Jacob A. Riis's How the Other Half Lives showed New York slum misery i) Influenced police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt h) Theodore Dresier's The Financier and The Titan attacked promoters and profiteers i) Socialists, many European immigrants, became politically powerful j) Preachers of the social gospel promoted Christian progressivism i) Fought for better housing and living conditions for urban poor k) Feminists grew in number and power, led by Jane Addams and Lillian Wald i) Worked to improve family urban life 5) Raking Muck with the Muckrakers a) Magazines obsessed with exposing evil: McClure's, Cosmopolitan, Collier's, Everybody's i) Muckrakers looked and wrote about dirt that the public could hate on ii) Roosevelt compared muckrakers to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress manure shoveler b) Muckrakers were popular and exposed all muck in society c) Lincoln Steffens "The Shame of the Cities" articles showed corrupt alliance between big business and government d) Ida M. Tarbell published a fake report against the Standard Oil Company e) Magazines spent money to verify material to avoid legal issues f) Muckrakers covered insurance companies, tariff lobbies, trusts, railroad barons, and corrupt millionaires g) Thomas W. Lawson revealed his speculation practices in "Frenzied Finance" i) "Frenzied Finance" increased Everybody's circulation and made Lawson unpopular h) David G. Phillips "The Treason of the Senate" for Cosmopolitan charged senators of representing not the people but railroads and trusts, and is later shot i) Muckrakers attacked social evils i) Attacked "white slave" traffic in women, slums, industrial accidents ii) Ray Stannard Baker's Following the Color Line attacks black subjugation iii) John Spargo's The Bitter Cry of the Children spotlights child labor abuse iv) Dr. Harvey W. Wiley and "Poison Squad" attack patent medicines (drugs) 6) Political Progressivism a) Progressive reformers = middle-class squeezed between top and bottom i) Pressured by corporations, immigrants, labor unions ii) Goals: Use state power to curb trusts, stop socialism by improving people's lives b) Progressives were everywhere - majority mood c) Objective: Regain power from "interests" and give back power to people i) Pushed direct primary elections to undermine party "bosses"
Initiative Referendum Recall Corrupt-practice acts Millionaires' Club 17th Amendment Galveston, Texas Robert Follette Hiram W. Johnson Charles Evans Hughes Settlement house movement Florence Kelley Muller v. Oregon Lochner v. New York Triangle Shirtwaist Company ii) Advocated "initiative" - voters directly proposing state legislature iii) Advocated "referendum" - laws on ballot for people's final approval iv) Advocated "recall" - voters could remove elected officials d) Objective: Taking out bribery and corruption i) State legislatures pass corrupt-practice acts (limiting candidate spending, gifts from corporations (for spoils), secret Australian ballot, discouraging bribery) e) Goal: Direct election of US senators i) Senate "Millionaires' Club" followed trusts instead of the masses ii) Some states and most cities had popular election of senators iii) Pressured into 17th Amendment (direct popular election of senators) f) Goal: Woman suffrage i) States gradually extended votes to women 7) Progressivism in the Cities and States a) Progressives reformed cities, and inefficiency and corruption in city government b) Galveston, Texas had expert-staffed commissions which managed urban affairs i) Many other communities adopt city-manager system to avoid corruption ii) Efficiency > democracy c) Attacked "slumlords", juvenile delinquency, prostitution, bribed police d) Advocated halt of the selling of franchises for streetcars and public utilities e) Robert M. La Follette ("Fighting Bob") fought against a monopoly and became Wisconsin's governor i) Took away control from railroad and lumber trusts, and returned power to people ii) Created policy regulating public utilities iii) Worked closely with Madison State University f) Oregon and California took power from railroads and trusts and gave them to the people, thanks to Hiram W. Johnson i) Broke power of Southern Pacific Railroad in politics g) Charles Evans Hughes New York governor, investigated malpractices in gas, insurance, and coal trusts/companies 8) Progressive Women a) Settlement house movement taught women about urban problems (poverty, political corruption, horrible working/living conditions) and attacked those evils b) Women's club movement and literary clubs helps instigate social reform i) Many clubs focused on current events and social issues c) Female progressives defend activities as extension of traditional maternal role i) Keeping children out of mills/sweatshops, attacking tuberculosis, winning pensions for mothers, ensuring food safety d) Women participated in Women's Trade Union League, National Consumers League, Children's Bureau, Women's Bureau were steps for social reform e) Women fight for factory reform and temperance i) Florence Kelley became chief factory inspector and fought for factory reform ii) Kelley leads National Consumers League, pressuring for laws protecting women and children in the workplace iii) In Muller v. Oregon, Louis D. Brandeis persuades Supreme Court to accept protecting women workers by showing factory conditions' harms to women bodies f) American welfare: protecting women and children, not everybody g) Lochner v. New York revokes law for 10-hour day for bakers i) Later, Supreme Court upholds 10-hour workday for factory workers h) Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire shows violations of fire code and lack of enforcement i) Public protest and strikes of needles pressure New York to pass stronger laws regulating hours and conditions in sweatshops j) Workers' compensation laws passed, providing insurance for industrial accidents k) Employer's responsibility to society rather than harsh competition l) Corner saloons provided a lot of alcohol, fueling prostitution and corruption m) Anti-liquor campaigns i) Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), led by Frances E. Willard, supported
WCTU Anti-Saloon League Dry Laws Square Deal George F. Baer Department of Commerce and Labor Bureau of Corporations Interstate Commerce Commission Elkins Hepburn Northern Securities Company Upton Sinclair Meat Inspection Pure Food and Drug Desert Land Forest Reserve temperance ii) Anti-Saloon League iii) "Dry" laws in some states, controlling, restricting, or banning alcohol iv) Urban big cities allowed alcohol because of immigrant vot v) 18th Amendment 9) TR's Square Deal for Labor a) Theodore Roosevelt sided with progressives i) "Square Deal" three C's = control corporations, consumer protection, conservation of natural resources b) Labor strike in Pennsylvania coal mines i) Workers demanded increase in pay and reduction in working hours ii) Mine owners, including George F. Baer did not yield to workers iii) Roosevelt threatens mines to operate and appease workers c) Roosevelt motivates Congress to create the Department of Commerce and Labor and the Bureau of Corporations (probing businesses in interstate commerce) i) Broke monopolies and trusts 10) TR Corrals the Corporations a) Interstate Commerce Commission was inadequate to control railroad b) Roosevelt motivates Congress to pass legislature, and ICC expands i) Elkins of 1903, fining rebates on railroads and shippers that received them ii) Hepburn of 1906, restricting free passes c) ICC control opened to express, sleeping-car, and pipeline companies d) Commission given authority : authorized on complaint of shippers to nullify existing rates and specify maximum rates e) Roosevelt fought trusts and railroads, but wanted to keep "good" trusts with public consciences and kill "bad" trusts" which wanted power f) Northern Securities Company, railroad holding company under J.P. Morgan and James J. Hill, had a monopoly of railroads in Northwest i) After being attacked, the railway appealed to Supreme Court, and was ordered to be dissolved ii) Hurts big business and Wall Street, helps Roosevelt's reputation as trust-smasher g) Roosevelt crushes beef, sugar, fertilizer, harvester, etc. trusts through Supreme Court h) Roosevelt was popular for trust-busting, but he did it to symbolically prove the power of the government over big businesses i) Roosevelt still supports big business, but with regulation ii) Industry ended up healthier and more "tame" after Roosevelt i) William Howard Taft busted more trusts i) Taft attacked US. Steel (J.P. Morgan), Roosevelt reacts in favor of US Steel 11) Caring for the Consumer a) European markets shut out American meat because of bad sanitation (bacteria present) b) American consumers wanted safer canned products i) Upton Sinclair's The Jungle aimed to show the workers' plight in canning factories, only to gain publicity for unsanitary food practices c) Roosevelt sends a special investigation commission to Chicago's slaughterhouses, revealing that rats, rope ends, splinters, and debris were canned into potted ham d) Meat Inspection of 1906 stated the meat preparation sent over state lines would be inspected in all stages e) Pure Food and Drug prevented abuse of labels in foods and drugs 12) Earth Control a) Americans, especially western ranchers and timber-men, built up the country and created serious environmental consequences b) Desert Land of 1877 provided cheap arid land if purchaser would irrigate the land within three years c) Forest Reserve authorized the president to put aside public forests as national parks and reserves d) Carey of 1894 distributed federal land to states for irrigation and settling
Carey Gifford Pinchot Newlands Roosevelt Dam Call of the Wild Theodore the Meddler Aldrich-Vreeland Federal Reserve William Howard Taft William Jennings Bryan Eugene V. Debs New Deal e) Gifford Pinchot, head of Division of Forestry had successful beginnings f) Roosevelt helped the conservationist effort g) Newlands of 1902 authorized DC to collect money for selling public lands in western states to use for irrigation projects i) Settlers paid for productive soil, and money used to build many projects ii) Roosevelt Dam and many other dams were built h) Roosevelt federally protects large areas of forests, coal deposits, and water resources i) Banned Christmas trees from the White House i) The general public picked up concern for the environment i) Jack London's Call of the Wild and other literature was read ii) The Boy Scouts of America and Sierra Club (wilderness-preservation) were formed j) The federal government allows San Francisco to build a dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite i) Preservationists of Sierra Club argue nature was exploited ii) Other conservationists, including Pinchot, didn't want to protect nature (1) Commercial interests against nature vs. romantic preservation-ism k) Multiple-use resource management combined recreation, logging, watershed protection, and stock grazing on the same land l) Westerners opposed federal management of natural resources, but they eventually took advantage of the Forest Service and Bureau of Reclamation i) Rational, large-scale, long-term use of natural resources ii) Big business and government for natural resources 13) The "Roosevelt Panic" of 1907 a) Roosevelt was elected based on his popularity in campaigning b) However, Roosevelt was unpredictable as a Republican i) Roosevelt stated he would not run for a third term, undermining his power c) Roosevelt had to handle a short financial panic d) Panic: Banks, suicides, criminal indictments against speculators e) Financial world blamed Roosevelt for the panic ("Theodore the Meddler") i) Roosevelt refuted that big business forced government to relax trust regulation f) Panic of 1907 leads to fiscal reform i) Problems: currency shortage, needed a more elastic exchange system ii) Banks couldn't increase money in circulation, and people with money did not want to lend it to competition g) Aldrich-Vreeland authorizes national bank to issue emergency currency backed by collateral i) Foundation for Federal Reserve of 1913 14) Rough Rider Thunders Out a) Roosevelt wanted to follow his promise not to run again for election b) Roosevelt pushes William Howard Taft as the candidate to continue his policies c) Taft runs against Democrat William Jennings Bryan d) Socialists amassed a significant amount of votes for Eugene V. Debs e) Roosevelt goes to a lion hunt in Africa, and survives f) Roosevelt was not radical; his policies did not match up to his speeches, he was attacked by large businesses, but controlled them g) Impacts of Roosevelt i) Roosevelt youthfulness appealed to the young ii) Roosevelt fought against Socialism iii) Roosevelt balanced between individualism and collectivism iv) Roosevelt enlarged presidential power v) Roosevelt shaped the progressive movement and liberal reform campaigns vi) Square Deal was a model for the New Deal later by Franklin D. Roosevelt vii) Roosevelt piqued Americans' awareness that US shared the world with other nations viii) Biggest achievement: conservation/preservation mediation with resource-predators 15) Taft: A Round Peg in a Square Hole a) Taft was known as a lawyer, judge, administrator in the Philippines, US, and Cuba
Peaceful Bill Dollar diplomacy Manchuria Philander C. Knox Rule of reason Mother of trusts Senator Nelson W. Aldrich Payne-Aldrich Bill Bureau of Mines Richard Ballinger New Nationalism Victor L. Berger National Progressive Republican League b) Taft wasn't politically dashing like Roosevelt, and was mostly passive to Congress c) Taft was bad at judging public opinion, and often was too honest in words d) "Peaceful Bill" Taft stuck to tradition rather than change, especially about tariffs 16) The Dollar Goes Abroad as a Diplomat a) Taft used American investments to help American interests worldwide (dollar diplomacy) b) DC encouraged Wall Street to invest many regions, e.g. Panama Canal, strengthening American foreign policy and defense, while bringing prosperity c) Japan and Russia control the railroads of Chinese Manchuria i) Secretary of State Philander C. Knox proposed that American and foreign bankers bought the railroads and liquidated them by selling them to China ii) Japan and Russia refused, bringing embarrassment to US d) DC motivates bankers to finance Caribbean, especially Honduras and Haiti, to out-compete foreign funds e) Money in other countries = economic and political stability f) US uses force after disorders in Cuba, Honduras, and Dominican Republic to protect land and economic holdings i) 2500 marines invade Nicaragua to stop revolution 17) Taft the Trustbuster a) Taft busted more than Roosevelt, but still few, trusts in his term b) Supreme Court was judged that the Standard Oil Company be dissolute for violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust and "rule of reason" (unreasonable restraints on trade illegal) c) Taft attempts to crush the US Steel Corporation, enraging Roosevelt 18) Taft Splits the Republican Party a) Progressive Republicans wanted to lower the "Mother of Trusts" tariff i) Taft held Congress, but reactionaries (Senator Nelson W. Aldrich) argued back revisions for upward rates ii) Taft signs the Payne-Aldrich Bill, betraying campaign and progressive support b) Bureau of Mines created to control mineral resources c) Secretary of Interior Richard Ballinger opened public lands for corporate development i) Criticized by Pinchot, chief of Agriculture Department's Division of Forestry ii) Taft dismisses Pinchot for "insubordination", and Taft gains much opposition d) Taft's policies split up the Republican Party e) Roosevelt's speech, "New Nationalism", urged for governmental intervention to fix economic and social abuse f) Republicans lose Congress to Democrats because of divisiveness g) Victor L. Berger, socialist, is elected 19) The Taft-Roosevelt Rupture a) National Progressive Republican League formed, led by Senator La Follette b) Roosevelt runs and became a primary presidential candidate, attacking what Taft's throwaway of his policies c) Republican Convention in Chicago i) Roosevelt was very close to gaining nomination, and Taft delegates' right to be there was challenged ii) Taft wins nomination against Roosevelt d) Roosevelt looked to lead a third-party Ch Summary (4-5 Sentences) The progressive era marked a time of great social reform. Progressivism motivated the government to fix many social and economic problems in urban life. Progressivism tackled "evils", including child labor and poor housing. Roosevelt's Square Deal controlled labor, helped consumers, and preserved natural resources. Roosevelt pushed Taft as his successor, but then goes against him for removing his policies in the 1912 election.