5 The Progressive Era

Paul Thompson/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Female garment workers in Cincinnati sell newspapers to support their fellow workers in the International

Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, who are striking in New York, circa 1910.

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American Lives: Rose Rosenfeld Freedman

Pre-Test

1. The Progressives were members of an easily defined movement that sought general improvement of human welfare. T/F

2. One of the most significant Progressive uses of the amendment process was the movement’s work toward making alcohol illegal in the United States. T/F

3. The suffrage movement to give women the right to vote began and successfully ended quickly after the Progressive era. T/F

4. President Theodore Roosevelt achieved successful reform of the railroad industry with the passage of the Hepburn Act in 1906. T/F

5. President Woodrow Wilson’s domestic policy was the New Nationalism. T/F

Answers can be found at the end of the chapter.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

• Understand the various motives of Progressive reformers. • Explain the concept of efficiency and its relation to reform. • Discuss the need for urban reform and the methods proposed to solve the problems

of cities. • Understand the role of women and middle-class professionals in driving the

reform agenda. • Discuss the participation of women, workers, and minorities in Progressive reform. • Consider the role of democracy during the Progressive era.

American Lives: Rose Rosenfeld Freedman

Late in the afternoon of Saturday, March 25, 1911, a fire started on the 8th floor of a 10-story building in the Greenwich Village area of New York. It quickly spread to the 9th floor, where Rose Rosenfeld Freedman and her coworkers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, which occupied the building’s top three floors, were trapped by both flames and locked doors (Ryan, 2006).

In rooms filled with cloth, scraps, and oiled machinery, they found little means to escape. The ele- vator did not reach the 9th floor, and the one accessible stairway quickly became jammed with panicked young women. To the horror of those watching from the street, many women jumped from the windows with their skirts on fire, hoping to reach the safety of a fire department net or perhaps preferring the impact to burning to death.

Freedman was one of the lucky few who made it to the crowded staircase. Instead of trying to fight her way down, she went up to the 10th floor, where the factory managers worked, and then out onto the roof. From there a fireman lifted her to the safety of the building next door, and she descended safely to the street (Martin, 2001). Many of her coworkers were not as fortunate; the fire claimed the lives of 146 people, including 23 men and 123 women.

Kheel Center, Cornell University

Rose Rosenfeld Freedman managed to escape the devastating Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911.

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Pre-Test

1. The Progressives were members of an easily defined movement that sought general improvement of human welfare. T/F

2. One of the most significant Progressive uses of the amendment process was the movement’s work toward making alcohol illegal in the United States. T/F

3. The suffrage movement to give women the right to vote began and successfully ended quickly after the Progressive era. T/F

4. President Theodore Roosevelt achieved successful reform of the railroad industry with the passage of the Hepburn Act in 1906. T/F

5. President Woodrow Wilson’s domestic policy was the New Nationalism. T/F

Answers can be found at the end of the chapter.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

• Understand the various motives of Progressive reformers. • Explain the concept of efficiency and its relation to reform. • Discuss the need for urban reform and the methods proposed to solve the problems

of cities. • Understand the role of women and middle-class professionals in driving the

reform agenda. • Discuss the participation of women, workers, and minorities in Progressive reform. • Consider the role of democracy during the Progressive era.

American Lives: Rose Rosenfeld Freedman

Late in the afternoon of Saturday, March 25, 1911, a fire started on the 8th floor of a 10-story building in the Greenwich Village area of New York. It quickly spread to the 9th floor, where Rose Rosenfeld Freedman and her coworkers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, which occupied the building’s top three floors, were trapped by both flames and locked doors (Ryan, 2006).

In rooms filled with cloth, scraps, and oiled machinery, they found little means to escape. The ele- vator did not reach the 9th floor, and the one accessible stairway quickly became jammed with panicked young women. To the horror of those watching from the street, many women jumped from the windows with their skirts on fire, hoping to reach the safety of a fire department net or perhaps preferring the impact to burning to death.

Freedman was one of the lucky few who made it to the crowded staircase. Instead of trying to fight her way down, she went up to the 10th floor, where the factory managers worked, and then out onto the roof. From there a fireman lifted her to the safety of the building next door, and she descended safely to the street (Martin, 2001). Many of her coworkers were not as fortunate; the fire claimed the lives of 146 people, including 23 men and 123 women.

Kheel Center, Cornell University

Rose Rosenfeld Freedman managed to escape the devastating Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911.

Rose Rosenfeld Freedman was born in 1893 in a small town north of Vienna, Austria. Her father ran a successful dried foods business and chose to bring the entire Rosen- feld family to New York City in 1909. Representing larger patterns of immigration, the Rosenfelds were drawn to better opportunities in America. Although her family was wealthier than most immigrants, as a teenager she chose to work at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, where she was given the high responsibility of attaching buttons to the shirts. In choosing factory work, Freedman joined countless other young women who worked in crowded and dangerous industrial conditions.

The company’s 500 garment workers spent 8 to 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, sewing ladies’ blouses, known as shirtwaists. The rooms were small, with little ventilation, and the managers often locked the workers inside to keep them on task. The building had no sprinklers, and there had never been a fire drill. Smoking was forbidden, but a number of the men who worked in the factory were known to light a cigar or pipe while on the job. Fire mar- shals later speculated that a match or improperly extin- guished cigar or cigarette started the blaze.

In the tragedy’s aftermath, an outraged public demanded reform. Within a few years of the fire, New York adopted strict worker safety protection laws that formed a model for laws passed in numerous states. Freedman never returned to factory work. She married, had three children, and later worked for an insurance company, but she never stopped speaking out about the events of that fateful day. She refuted the company’s denial that the doors had been locked, and when company officials were later acquitted of manslaughter, she decried the meager $75 paid to the families of the deceased. For the remainder of her life, she appeared at labor rallies and told her story in hopes of avoiding another workplace tragedy. She died at her California home in 2001 at age 107 (Martin, 2001).

In demanding reform, Freedman joined a chorus of voices seeking to curb the excesses and inhumanity of the industrial system in the Progressive era. In this period, lasting from the late 19th century through the end of World War I in 1918, workers, immigrants, middle-class men and women, and politicians sought answers to the many problems rapid industrialization and urbanization caused.

For further thought: 1. How did the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire help to spur the call for reform in the

Progressive era? 2. Was Rose Rosenfeld Freedman a Progressive? What characteristics does that term

envelop?

American Lives: Rose Rosenfeld Freedman

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Section 5.1 Defining Progressivism

5.1 Defining Progressivism

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire dramatically exposed the early 20th century’s unsafe working conditions, one of a growing number of significant social problems motivating a new generation of activists who struggled to improve the cities, make politics more democratic, and regulate the behavior of immigrants and the working class. They sought to inspire new levels of activism by organizing at the local, state, and national levels to bring about social, political, and economic change.

They were known as the Progressives because they sought to change society, improve condi- tions, and increase efficiency. They shared a belief in science and social science, organization, the ability of education to overcome personal barriers, and the power of the government to effect social change. In opposition to the Social Darwinists, who believed some people and races were naturally inferior, Progressives argued that education and science could help indi- viduals improve themselves and their society.

Who Were the Progressives? Progressivism was not one single, easily defined movement. Some have even suggested that it encompassed so many ideas, goals, and causes that it is impossible to define at all. Segments of the movement often worked together out of different motives. Progressive reformers might narrowly come together to protest conditions found in a shirtwaist factory or more broadly to improve safety conditions in an entire industry.

Journalists writing for Collier’s and McClure’s maga- zines and photographers such as Jacob Riis pro- vided evidence for the Progressives and were as driven as the reformers to expose corruption. Theo- dore Roosevelt called them the muckrakers because they were dredging up the worst muck and filth that they could find in society. Some of these investiga- tive journalists were personally committed to their causes, and many of them took jobs in factories or lived in slums to try to truly understand and empa- thize with the struggling poor. They exposed these issues to a middle class that was growing larger and more politically powerful (Cooper, 1990).

One of the earliest investigative muckrakers was Elizabeth Cochrane, who wrote under the name Nel- lie Bly. Her earliest work exposed the horrid working conditions young women faced in textile factories, where they endured long workdays squinting to see their work in poorly lit conditions.

One of Bly’s most sensational exposés appeared in Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World in 1887. Bly faked insanity to research and expose conditions inside

Everett Collection/SuperStock

Reformer Jacob Riis exposed the conditions of the urban poor and working class through his photographs.

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Section 5.1 Defining Progressivism

New York’s Bellevue Hospital, one of the most notorious insane asylums in the United States. She reported that the rat-infested facility practiced little in the way of sanitation and tied sup- posedly dangerous patients together with ropes. The newspaper secured her release after she spent 10 days in the asylum, and she published a lengthy account of the experience. Public outcry and a grand jury investigation led to increased state funding and better care for the mentally ill.

Although Progressives all shared the common theme of activism that aimed to bring positive change to society through science, technology, and increased democracy, they had many dif- ferent faces and interests. Industrial workers like Rose Rosenfeld Freedman rallied to demand safe working conditions and regulation of child labor. Working-class and middle-class women suffragists came together and marched in the street to get the right to vote. Other Progres- sives believed that the nation would be better off if alcoholic beverages were illegal. In addi- tion, there were the settlement house workers who tried to ease the struggles of new immi- grants in America (see Chapter 3).

Although the movement attracted individuals from all classes of society, most Progressives were middle class, especially professional men and women. Although their causes were diverse, common to all of them were an adherence and commitment to ideals of democracy, efficiency, regulation, and social justice (Diner, 1998).

The Progressive Movement In one aspect of the movement, Progressives strove to examine every aspect of life itself and determine, often through new scientific principles, how to do more work with less energy, or how to make society run more effectively. For example, careful study of municipal affairs prompted Progressives to urge structural reforms in city governments, such as replacing elected mayors with professional city managers and instituting local civil service commis- sions. This was part of a broader trend in America supported by a new bureaucratic-minded middle class that was, for the most part, college educated because of the expansion of higher education in the 19th century.

This new middle class was urban and included professional men and women who saw gov- ernment as an ally in the struggle to improve life, and bureaucratic administration as a path to achieve it. They viewed themselves as experts in implementing and overseeing a new sci- entific style of administration. Middle-class Progressives believed that scientific study could provide the answer to most of society’s problems.

Struggles for Justice At a time when few government welfare systems were in place, those who were sick, injured, or unable to work for any number of reasons often found themselves destitute and home- less. Progressives committed themselves to improving and uplifting these unfortunate souls through social justice channels. Many Progressives were proponents of the Social Gospel (see Chapter 3). They believed that they had a special responsibility to improve society. By coordinating technological and governmental initiatives, Progressives believed that it was possible to fundamentally improve the lives of the poorest Americans through better educa- tion and housing.

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Section 5.2 Urban and State-Level Reform

With this goal in mind, leaders adopted scientific terms and applied them to “social experi- ments” designed to achieve important results (Feffer, 1993). Progressives collected “data,” analyzed their findings in social or economic “laboratories,” and used quantitative sta- tistical analysis to predict trends and events (Recchiuti, 2007). This approach had many proponents—including the Rockefeller Foundation, which donated millions of dollars to urban activists who improved health conditions in cities; churches that espoused the Social Gospel and engaged in charity work directed toward those in need; and politicians, who used the tools of government.

In many ways social justice unified the diverse goals of all the Progressives because, despite their differences, they “shared a belief in society, a common good, and social justice, and that society could be changed into a better place” (Nugent, 2010). These goals were also present at the foundations of society, and reform was often initiated by those who stood to benefit from it most.

5.2 Urban and State-Level Reform

Progressive reform often began at the grassroots level when various segments of society expressed concern over one or more of the multiplying problems emerging as the United States became a modern, industrial nation. Local and regional needs and concerns then amplified toward state and national politics as reformers grappled with similar issues across the nation.

Historians have long associated three important developments with Progressive reform: industrialization, immigration, and urbanization. American industries attracted millions of immigrant workers but also forced such rapid growth in major cities that basic services were unable to keep pace. More than 16,000 souls crowded each square mile in New York City in 1900, and the growth of the automobile industry tripled the population of Detroit in under 10 years until its population approached a million in 1910 (U.S. Census Bureau, 1998). Table 5.1 illustrates the growth of some of the largest cities, but others not listed here experienced significant changes as well.

Table 5.1: Urban growth in major U.S. cities, 1880–1920

City 1880 1900 1920

New York 1,772,962* 3,437,202 5,620,048

Philadelphia   847,170 1,293,697 1,823,779

Chicago   503,185 1,698,575 2,701,705

Detroit   116,342   285,704   993,678

* Includes Brooklyn, a separate city at the time.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 1998.

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Section 5.2 Urban and State-Level Reform

Progressives and Civilizing the City Although Progressives focused on multiple issues in many venues across the country, much of their effort concentrated on urban settings. There some reformers focused on relieving overcrowded tenement housing, integrating immigrants into American society, and ensur- ing adequate city services such as clean water and waste disposal. Others were concerned with making city government more efficient, creating green spaces and parks, or waging cam- paigns to eradicate vice. Urban crusaders came from multiple segments of society, but women were critical to the success of many Progressive reforms.

The settlement house movement that started in the Gilded Age with the efforts of Jane Addams and others (see Chapter 3) was expanded and professionalized in the Progressive era. The model established at Chicago’s Hull House in 1889 inspired more than 400 similar homes by the early 20th century. Addams (1909) wrote that we often “forget how new the modern city is,” and argued for the need to “step back and analyze it” (p. 5). Offering settlement workers room and board, the houses provided on-the-job training for female Progressives. Most were college-educated young women from middle-class families who chose to dedicate their time to reform.

The houses served as laboratories in which Progressives could learn about urban problems firsthand. In addition, they offered classrooms in which to teach adult immigrants the English language and domestic skills like home canning, preserving, and proper housecleaning tech- niques. They also provided a new form of early childhood education—the kindergarten— that offered early training in middle-class American values to immigrant youth (Spain, 2001). Some immigrants readily embraced the reformers’ efforts, but others saw their attempts at Americanization or improvement intrusive and at odds with their traditional culture.

Settlement workers such as Addams embraced the cause of social justice. They worked hard to characterize urban poverty as a systemic problem and a public issue that required institu- tional reform, rather than the fault of the individual. Their efforts evolved into the profession of social work and helped establish a place for women’s work outside the home (Spain, 2001).

Indeed, many came to see women settlement house workers as fulfilling a public role that was a natural extension of the domestic sphere and thereby a proper part of their domain. They were emblematic of the New Woman—college-educated, independent career women who pushed the limits of male-dominated society.

The needs of the urban community grew so large that universities developed degree pro- grams in social work. By the 1920s settlement house workers were more like professional social workers than reformers. Their profession remained dominantly female and took on new authority as they redefined a scientific basis for their work (Davis, 1984).

Municipal Housekeeping and Moral Reform Female settlement house workers joined with other women’s organizations and their male allies to take their newfound public role a step further and criticize the corrupt political estab- lishments operating in many urban areas. Collectively, they argued that their experiences as household managers and mothers made them uniquely qualified as municipal housekeepers

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Section 5.2 Urban and State-Level Reform

who could speak out publicly on issues of moral and physical cleanliness in the cities as well as in their own homes.

Some demanded food inspection, workplace safety, inspection of urban housing, and improved working conditions for women and children. Others established pilot programs in education and public health and then petitioned for government funding and support for them. For instance, the Women’s Health Protective Association of Philadelphia engaged an engineer to design a water delivery system to provide cleaner water and then lobbied for passage of a city bond to fund it. The Chicago Women’s Club organized and initially financially supported the nation’s first juvenile court (Jaycox, 2005).

Alcohol Municipal housekeeping linked with the reform agendas of other Progressives, including churches that advocated the Social Gospel. Seeking to improve society as well as the individual, these reformers advocated social purity and attacked vice, especially alcoholism. In addition to middle-class women and Protestant clergy, the movement attracted nativ- ists and racists, who argued that immigrants and African Americans were more likely to drink and engage in prostitution or other immoral behavior.

The antidrinking organizations that formed in the late 19th century, including the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League, did little to curb alcohol consumption. The amount Americans drank rose dramatically after 1900, and many attributed the increase to the moral depravity of urban society and to the rising numbers of immi- grants from eastern and southern Europe whose cultures incorporated beer and liquor consumption.

Although most Progressive reformers worked within established organizations and channels, the era’s most colorful temperance (moderation) advocate, Carrie Nation, did not. Taking up a hatchet, she smashed and vandalized saloons across Kansas and surrounding states and was jailed some 30 times. Her followers, known as Home Defenders, expanded the campaign to cities across the country, but more moderate reform- ers condemned their efforts (Jaycox, 2005).

Prostitution Prostitution was another target for Progressives aiming to clean up the nation’s cities. Prostitution was hardly new, but reformers believed it was increasing rapidly, bringing

Everett Collection/SuperStock

Temperance reformer Carrie Nation presented a formidable image, often wielding both a hatchet and a Bible. During the Progressive era, temperance reform gained sufficient ground, and in 1918 the 18th Amendment outlawed the production, transportation, and sale of liquor.

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Section 5.2 Urban and State-Level Reform

with it increased incidences of venereal disease, a taboo subject in the era. Like the set- tlement house workers, most Progressives argued that vice was rooted in environmen- tal causes, especially urban poverty, and they identified a link between prostitution and low wages for women workers. Many Progressive era studies clearly showed that young women could not survive on the wages they earned in any industry and so turned to pros- titution to earn more (Jaycox, 2005).

Despite understanding the cause of the problem, the reformers did not agree on the solution. The American Social Hygiene Association sought to educate the public and warned men to avoid prostitutes for the sake of their own health. The association created posters for boys and girls promoting character and sex education as a preventative measure. Others feared that unfaithful husbands would spread venereal disease to their wives and thus launched focused campaigns on the importance of remaining monogamous. Without the ability to address the underlying economic problem, however, concern and action from various groups did little to curb prostitution.

In 1909 muckraking journalist George Kibbe Turner ignited national debate with an arti- cle about organized prostitution in New York City. In “Daughters of the Poor,” he declared that rings in the city forced women into prostitution or “White slavery.” As the sensational reports continued, many Americans came to incorrectly believe that all prostitutes were act- ing against their will (Applegate, 2008). Public outcry forced Congress to act. It passed the Mann Act in 1910, making it a federal crime to transport across state lines “any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose” (Ditmore, 2011, p. 164).

Although this law was rooted in a desire to protect women, some authorities misused it. African American boxer Jack Johnson, who won the world heavyweight championship in 1908 and held it until 1915, was twice arrested under the Mann Act. In the first racially charged case, Johnson was accused of taking a White woman, Lucille Cameron, across state lines for purposes of prostitution. Occurring at the height of Jim Crow segregation, authori- ties almost certainly used the law to lash out at Johnson for both claiming the championship title and for having a relationship across the color line. Cameron refused to testify against him, but when he was arrested again with another White woman, he was convicted and eventually served a year in prison.

Good Government Municipal government occupied another segment of Progressive reformers. Prompted by fears of both rapid growth and the changing ethnic composition of American cities, many mostly middle-class activists sought to regulate city government, reduce corruption, and especially curb the influence of urban political bosses and their immigrant allies. City govern- ments were in charge of sanitation, utilities, and other services vital to urban reform. Progres- sives sought to put the cities in the hands of experts such as city planners, city managers, and others who could improve urban life and increase the efficiency of government. Each city’s reforms took different shapes, but all aimed to make city government more democratic and to increase efficiency.

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Section 5.2 Urban and State-Level Reform

In Chicago, Jane Addams and other prominent Progressives were elected to a league of con- cerned citizens, a local nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that favored municipal own- ership of utilities and streetcar lines and conducted inspections of industrial worksites (Davis, 1984). In Toledo, Ohio, Mayor Samuel “Golden Rule” Jones spearheaded his own reform cam- paign, establishing a civil service system for hiring city workers. He also established parks and public playgrounds and tried unsuccessfully to bring utilities and public transit under the city’s ownership (Jaycox, 2005). Reformers in other cities—including Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; and Jersey City, New Jersey—had more success in their campaigns for public ownership of utilities. Nationally, one in three municipalities eventually gained some form of city-owned public services.

Other cities abandoned or altered the traditional mayoral style of administration. Dayton, Ohio, was one of the first to replace its mayor with a professionally educated city manager. This model was adopted fairly widely and included the election of a commission that in turn hired the city manager. After a massive hurricane in 1900 killed hundreds in Galveston, Texas, the inability of city officials to cope with relief efforts led business leaders and reformers there to adopt a nonpartisan commission to run the city. At least 500 cities adopted the com- mission model, with 167 hiring a city manager in addition to their commission by 1924 (Perry & Smith, 2006).

In addition to municipal government reforms, some Progressives took inspiration from the European movement to improve cities by engaging in the city beautiful movement, which aimed to make the urban environment more attractive and to enhance civic pride. Profes- sional city planners emerged. Following their proposals, many cities constructed elaborate public libraries, union stations, concert halls, banks, and monumental city halls, all designed to enhance civic pride, advance public morals, and promote an efficient hygienic city (Spain, 2001).

In some cities such as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the city beautiful movement mixed goals of beautification with sanitation needs, focusing on street paving and the construction of public parks as well as cleaning up the Susquehanna River, which had long been a dumping ground for trash and raw sewage (Peterson, 2003).

State-Level Reform Most states responded to pressures for reform by passing laws aimed at increasing demo- cratic participation, including the initiative and referendum, which empowered voters to initiate legislation or to overturn unpopular laws. Recall legislation established a process through which voters could replace ineffective elected officials.

Some states also sought to regulate commerce and control business monopolies within their borders. Ohio passed the Valentine Anti-Trust Act in an effort to eliminate price fixing, prod- uct limitation, and controlled sales. Protection for those injured at work was another popular Progressive era reform. Maryland enacted the nation’s first workers’ compensation law, and by 1920, 44 states adopted similar laws providing injured workers with varying benefits to cover wages and medical expenses (Goldin & Libecap, 1994).

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Section 5.3 Progressive Politics and the Nation

Wisconsin was among states with the strongest Progressive reform agendas. Republican Robert M. La Follette embraced Progressivism at the beginning of his long political career. During his governorship (1901–1906), he adopted a scientific approach to governance and filled his cabinet and administration with experts, university professors, and scientists to study the state’s problems and help him make informed decisions.

He also reformed railroad rates and taxes, established a workers’ compensation system, and passed conservation laws. He implemented the first direct primary, allowing the state’s vot- ers to choose the parties’ nominees for office, and he initiated the first state income tax to pay for new services. La Follette’s far-reaching Progressive reforms gained him a national reputation that earned him a seat in the U.S. Senate, which he held from 1906 until 1925. One of the governor’s supporters proclaimed, “With Roosevelt for our national leader and La Follette bearing our state banner, we of the ranks can fight with courage for the victory of right principle and honest government” (as cited in Thelen, 1976, p. 35).

Progressive reformers made government more responsible and receptive to the needs of citizens, and many saw a need to extend reform to government and politics at the national level.

5.3 Progressive Politics and the Nation

In the Progressive era, state-level reforms expanded democracy for some Americans and contracted it for others. New policies, including direct primaries and initiative and refer- endum systems, varied by locality but generally increased the power of those who enjoyed the franchise. In the South, however, African Americans found their ability to cast a ballot increasingly denied (see Chapter 3). Women made some gains at the state and territorial level but still struggled to win the universal right to vote.

At the national level, Progressive politics struggled to tackle some of the era’s major prob- lems, also with limited success. Progressives expressed concern over the lack of government regulation of the economy, the lack of democracy in the electoral process, and the need to regulate certain businesses and industries, such as meatpacking and drug manufacturing.

Presidents serving in the Progressive era each had their own legislative agenda and plan to enact it. Theodore Roosevelt regularly sent special messages to Congress and set staff in the executive departments to drafting bills that expressed his legislative goals. William Howard Taft hoped to expand federal regulatory power but insisted on controlling that power himself. Woodrow Wilson, the only Democrat to hold the office in the Progressive era, advocated an expansive reform agenda (Harrison, 2004).

Theodore Roosevelt and Progressive Reform Theodore Roosevelt became a strong advocate for a number of Progressive reforms and chal- lenged the power of large corporations. He used his personality and charisma to win votes and drum up support for his agenda, and he never shied away from taking public credit for

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Section 5.3 Progressive Politics and the Nation

popular reforms. After completing William McKinley’s second term, he easily won election in his own right in 1904. During the campaign, he promised a Square Deal for everyone, which included natural resource conservation and preservation and regulation of the railroads and food and drug industries. Through close cooperation with both Republicans and Democrats, he was able to enact much of his reform agenda.

Trust-Busting When he came into office in 1901, Roosevelt inherited the debate over business consolidation and regulation. The growth of corporations that began in the Gilded Age continued well into the Progressive era and raised the ire of many Americans, who decried their almost monopo- listic control over multiple sectors of the economy.

Seeking to reign in business to at least some degree, even dividing big businesses into catego- ries of “good trusts” and “bad trusts,” Roosevelt supported the Justice Department’s prosecu- tion of several cases under the Sherman Antitrust Act, which forbade raising prices through restricting trade or the supply of a commodity. The Interstate Commerce Commission also regulated transport between two or more states, and both the Sherman Act and the ICC informed the prosecution of the cases.

Among the targets was the Northern Securities Company, a massive consolidation of railroad lines controlled by J. P. Morgan. The industrialist’s defense team argued that as a holding com- pany and not the primary railroad carrier, Northern Securities was not subject to the ICC’s governance, but a federal court found that the Northern Sectaries Company was an illegal monopoly and ordered it dissolved.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the widely publicized case in 1903, earning Roosevelt a reputation as what became known as a trustbuster. Historians have debated the accuracy of that reputation, noting that McKinley actually appointed the attorneys and federal offi- cials involved and planned the antitrust prosecutions. The main difference between the two presidents was that Roosevelt publicized his involvement, whereas McKinley remained more circumspect.

Regulation of Industry Roosevelt further enhanced his reputation as a reformer by following the antitrust cases with a move to regulate several industries. Railroad reform had its roots in the 1887 Interstate Commerce Act, which had created the ICC. Over the years, the courts had limited the commis- sion’s power, and Roosevelt wanted to reinstate it.

By pushing through the Hepburn Act in 1906, Roosevelt enhanced the ICC’s ability to inspect the financial records of any railroad company it chose. The act also set a maximum rate the railroads could charge. Roosevelt’s active role increased the powers of the chief executive to regulate business and control the economy. It also showcased his ability to compromise and work with members of the opposing party. Before the act’s final passage, he agreed to a Democratic-proposed amendment that would allow judicial review of the ICC’s rate decisions (Cooper, 1990).

Courtesy Everett Collection

Muckraking author Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle (1906) sparked public outrage over conditions in Chicago’s meatpacking industry and led to legislative reform.

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Section 5.3 Progressive Politics and the Nation

Roosevelt also oversaw regulation of the nation’s food and drug providers. Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle (1906) brought nationwide attention to the unsanitary conditions in Chicago’s meatpack- ing industry. Graphically depicting industry prac- tices, the book called into question the safety of the nation’s meats. For example, Sinclair described a conversation with a government inspector whose job it was to inspect all hogs for deadly tubercu- losis. Sinclair (1906) noted that while the inspec- tor explained the “deadly nature of the ptomaines which are found in tubercular pork” (p. 42), dozens of carcasses passed by him on the conveyor belt completely uninspected.

At first Roosevelt found the novel hard to believe, but to be sure he ordered an investigation. He discovered the reality was even worse. Roos- evelt moved quickly; in 1906 Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act (establishing more stringent governmental oversight of this industry) and the Pure Food and Drug Act (banning the sale and transport of impure products).

The Conservation Movement An avid outdoorsman, Roosevelt also became an important advocate for the conservation movement that sought to manage the use of America’s natural resources and preserve them for future generations. He held White House conferences that brought business leaders and academics together to discuss issues such as irrigation, grazing, timberland, and waterway management.

Roosevelt’s interest in the environment and the need for conservation reform was influenced by his friendship with naturalist John Muir. Born in Scotland, Muir came to the United States as a youth and studied botany at the University of Wisconsin before becoming a widely read essayist. He devoted most of his attention to preserving western forest lands from timbering and mining, and he formed the Sierra Club in 1892. Roosevelt traveled with Muir in Califor- nia, where the naturalist shared with him the wonders of the Yosemite Valley and the great Sequoia redwood forests. Taking his cue from Muir, Roosevelt expanded the nation’s national park system by establishing five important new parks: Crater Lake in Oregon, Wind Cave in South Dakota, Mesa Verde in Colorado, Sully’s Hill in North Dakota (now a game preserve) and Platt National Park in Oklahoma (now part of the Chickasaw National Recreation Area).

Roosevelt also appointed his friend Gifford Pinchot, a professionally trained forester, as chief of the newly created U.S. Forest Service. Pinchot recruited a force of forest rangers, and under his leadership, the Forest Service tripled the nation’s forest reserves to more than 172 million acres.

popular reforms. After completing William McKinley’s second term, he easily won election in his own right in 1904. During the campaign, he promised a Square Deal for everyone, which included natural resource conservation and preservation and regulation of the railroads and food and drug industries. Through close cooperation with both Republicans and Democrats, he was able to enact much of his reform agenda.

Trust-Busting When he came into office in 1901, Roosevelt inherited the debate over business consolidation and regulation. The growth of corporations that began in the Gilded Age continued well into the Progressive era and raised the ire of many Americans, who decried their almost monopo- listic control over multiple sectors of the economy.

Seeking to reign in business to at least some degree, even dividing big businesses into catego- ries of “good trusts” and “bad trusts,” Roosevelt supported the Justice Department’s prosecu- tion of several cases under the Sherman Antitrust Act, which forbade raising prices through restricting trade or the supply of a commodity. The Interstate Commerce Commission also regulated transport between two or more states, and both the Sherman Act and the ICC informed the prosecution of the cases.

Among the targets was the Northern Securities Company, a massive consolidation of railroad lines controlled by J. P. Morgan. The industrialist’s defense team argued that as a holding com- pany and not the primary railroad carrier, Northern Securities was not subject to the ICC’s governance, but a federal court found that the Northern Sectaries Company was an illegal monopoly and ordered it dissolved.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the widely publicized case in 1903, earning Roosevelt a reputation as what became known as a trustbuster. Historians have debated the accuracy of that reputation, noting that McKinley actually appointed the attorneys and federal offi- cials involved and planned the antitrust prosecutions. The main difference between the two presidents was that Roosevelt publicized his involvement, whereas McKinley remained more circumspect.

Regulation of Industry Roosevelt further enhanced his reputation as a reformer by following the antitrust cases with a move to regulate several industries. Railroad reform had its roots in the 1887 Interstate Commerce Act, which had created the ICC. Over the years, the courts had limited the commis- sion’s power, and Roosevelt wanted to reinstate it.

By pushing through the Hepburn Act in 1906, Roosevelt enhanced the ICC’s ability to inspect the financial records of any railroad company it chose. The act also set a maximum rate the railroads could charge. Roosevelt’s active role increased the powers of the chief executive to regulate business and control the economy. It also showcased his ability to compromise and work with members of the opposing party. Before the act’s final passage, he agreed to a Democratic-proposed amendment that would allow judicial review of the ICC’s rate decisions (Cooper, 1990).

Courtesy Everett Collection

Muckraking author Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle (1906) sparked public outrage over conditions in Chicago’s meatpacking industry and led to legislative reform.

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Section 5.3 Progressive Politics and the Nation

Among Roosevelt’s legislative achievements in conservation are the Newlands Act of 1902, which initiated irrigation projects funded from public land sales; the creation of an Inland Waterways Commission to explore waterpower development and water transportation; and the National Conservation Commission, which established long-range plans for natural resource usage (Miller, 2013).

Taft’s Presidency Roosevelt announced his intention not to seek reelection in 1908, a decision he later regret- ted. Instead, he supported his secretary of war, William Howard Taft, to succeed him. With Roosevelt’s endorsement, Taft won easily, but he failed to continue the former president’s agenda. Roosevelt was soon deeply disappointed in his handpicked successor.

Many of Taft’s policies ran counter to the usual Republican agenda. For example, he lowered the McKinley tariff that many industrialists supported and showed disinterest in continu- ing Roosevelt’s conservation agenda. Taft approved the transfer of a million acres of protected national park service land to private industry. In 1910 he again earned Roosevelt’s anger when he fired Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot over disputed coal claims in the Alaskan wilderness.

Roosevelt had gained a reputation as a trustbuster, but Taft actually held responsibility for dissolving more trusts and monopolies. He urged a suit against the American Tobacco Company that resulted in an end to the price fixing that harmed small cigarette manufacturers. He also supported a Supreme Court action against the Standard Oil Company declaring it to be in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and ordering its vertical organization to be split into separate companies. Taft also supported the push for a graduated income tax, which would affect those with higher incomes most.

Taft stressed economic individualism and the need for government and business to work together to solve society’s problems, but he so alienated party Progressives that a movement to form a third party to express their goals emerged to challenge his reelection in 1912. Although Taft secured the Repub- lican nomination by courting the party’s conserva- tive wing, he put very little effort into the campaign.

Roosevelt and New Nationalism In 1910 Roosevelt embarked on a speaking tour through the United States, advocating a Pro- gressive governing philosophy he called New Nationalism, which featured a strong president,

©Bettmann/Corbis

President William Howard Taft earned his trustbuster reputation by going after American Tobacco and using the Sherman Antitrust Act against John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company, which was considered a monopoly.

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Section 5.3 Progressive Politics and the Nation

regulation of corporations and natural resources, and support for the social legislation being championed by social workers and other Progressives. The enthusiasm with which many Americans greeted the tour helped convince Roosevelt to challenge Taft for the Republican nomination in 1912.

Roosevelt at first believed he could easily secure his party’s nomination, but the geographic odds were not in his favor. Although Republican candidates had little chance of winning elec- toral votes in the solidly Democratic South, that region controlled fully a quarter of the nomi- nating delegates, and these stood firmly in Taft’s column. A divide between the Progressive and conservative delegates followed, creating a schism that threw the nomination to Taft.

Failing in his effort to secure the Republican nomination, Roosevelt ran as a third-party candi- date for the newly created Progressive Party. It was nicknamed the Bull Moose Party because Roosevelt reportedly told a reporter upon its founding that he felt as fit as a bull moose (Gable, 1978). In a four-way race for president, Taft and Roosevelt split the Republican vote and paved the way for the election of the Democratic contender, Woodrow Wilson. Socialist Eugene V. Debs, who represented the most radical reformers, won no electoral votes but did gain more popular votes than any Socialist Party candidate in U.S. history (see Table 5.2).

The election demonstrated the nation’s continuing commitment to Progressivism, since both Wilson and Roosevelt campaigned on reform platforms. Together, Wilson, the Progressive Democratic governor of New Jersey, and Roosevelt, the head of the new Progressive Party, accounted for almost 70% of the popular vote.

Table 5.2: Election of 1912

Candidate Electors Popular vote (%)

Woodrow Wilson (D) 435 41.8%

William Howard Taft (R)   8 23.2%

Theodore Roosevelt (P)  88 27.4%

Eugene V. Debs (S)   0    6%

Woodrow Wilson and New Freedom Wilson and Roosevelt were contemporaries just 2 years apart in age, yet despite this fact and their shared Progressive leanings, they were polar opposites in many of their political views. Though they each believed that the president should have vastly expanded powers, they put this belief into practice very differently.

In contrast to Roosevelt’s New Nationalism, Wilson campaigned on what he called his New Freedom platform. He used poetic phrases and called for all Democrats to “organize the forces of liberty in our time in order to make conquest of a new freedom in America” (as cited in Cooper, 1990, p. 182). The main components of the New Freedom agenda focused on the national level and included tariff reform, banking reform, and antitrust laws.

Wilson believed that a lower tariff would weaken the power of large trusts in the United States by allowing more competition from imported goods. The Underwood–Simmons Tariff, also known as the Revenue Act of 1913, lowered basic tariff rates from 40% to 25% and

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Section 5.3 Progressive Politics and the Nation

reinstated a graduated federal income tax at the rate of 5%. Unlike earlier income taxes, which had been declared unconstitutional, the recently ratified 16th Amendment protected the tax under the Revenue Act.

Wilson also hoped to eliminate the possibility of future bank failures. His plan was to create a Federal Reserve System of 12 regional banks. The banks were not for the public; instead, they were “bankers’ banks” that set the nation’s interest and currency rates. This became law with the passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, and it is considered one of Wilson’s most important domestic achievements. With the law’s passage, Congress required all nationally chartered banks to become members of the Federal Reserve System. Under the system, Fed- eral Reserve Notes (dollars) became the nation’s unifying and only currency.

A third key area of Wilson’s New Freedom was strengthening antitrust law, as outlined in his message to Congress in January 1914. Wilson felt strongly that government needed to intervene in the nation’s economy to prevent abuses by large corporations (Cooper, 1983). He outlined two goals: an antitrust statute and a new regulatory agency to enforce the law.

The first was the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, which passed rather easily. It strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act by eliminating price discrimination, making the acquisition of stock in competing companies to control markets illegal, and restricting mergers of large compa- nies with more than $1 million in capital. It remains today the nation’s basic law against the formation of large trusts. However, some have criticized the Clayton Act because corporate lawyers have been able to find ways around its central provisions.

The second part of Wilson’s plan was a regulatory agency called the Federal Trade Commis- sion (FTC), which further expanded the power of the federal government. This body heard complaints about trusts and scheduled hearings on unfair practices. Empowered to investi- gate and prohibit unfair business practices, it aimed to reduce monopolies and activities such as price fixing. Businesses generally supported both the FTC and the Federal Reserve because they leveled the playing field in the economic marketplace and avoided other, more radical, measures for reigning in out-of-control economic practices.

New Freedom for Whom? Although Wilson expressed concern for social justice, this was one area of his presidency that was much less successful. His programs emphasized the needs of small businesses but did little to address the reform interests of women, workers, or even many middle-class profes- sionals. Social justice concerns had been more readily addressed in Roosevelt’s Progressive Party platform than in the policies of the sitting president. Although he ultimately supported woman suffrage, initially Wilson disappointed women’s activists. Likewise, few of his first- term policies dealt with the persisting problems of the working class.

African Americans fared even worse—they remained disfranchised in the South, and the president paid little attention to the startling violence of lynchings and race riots (Cooper, 2009). Perhaps revealing sensibilities tied to his Virginia roots, Wilson ordered racial separa- tion in government offices, even those that had been integrated since the Reconstruction era.

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