Righligine Cun AS eS THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT Industrialization brought about many changes. The American way of life was changin; there were more conveniences. The ideas and things people thought were important and valuable were changing. There were other problems, such as poverty injustice, discrimination, and crime. Matty peuple, particularly those known as the progressives or reformers, believed that new ways had to be discovered to bring about greater justice, equality, and security in the American society. They also believed in the idea of progress and improvement to guarantee a bette life for Americans. They acknowledged that government should have a role in the process of bringing about reforms. Only government could successfully oppose those who were corrupting the country. Services and ‘regulations could be provided by the government that would bring about bereits for everyone The progressives wanted to limit the power of monopolies. Power and authority, they felt, should he divided among the people more equitably. Most reformers believed that the individual had responsibilities to society and society had responsibilities to the individual. Regulations and just laws were necessary to bring about order and stability to the American society. Theodore Roosevelt accused journalists of “raking up muck” when they wrote newspaper and magazine articles or books that exposed dishonesty, injustices, and corruption in saciety. A “muck” was a rake for cleaning dirt from the fluor. Ida Tarhell, a muckraker, wrote about her study of the Standard Oil Company. She explained how John D. Rockefeller and his partners had built the oil industry monopoly. Lincoln Steffens, another influential muckraker, wrote a series of articles about crime and corruption in city government. He strongly believed that people should take a yreater, interest in public life. The Jungle, a novel written by Upton Sinclair, told how diseased and unhealthy animals were slaughtered in the stockyards. Soon after that book was published in 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act were passed. The muckrakers explored child labor, immigrant ghettos, and many other probleuts. Their readers were developing a sense of responsibility and a voncern for personal injustice The Salvation Army, organized in the United Srates in 1879, offered both aid and spiritual help to the poor. The Salvarion Army established missions in many cities and provided food, clorhing, and shelter for the needy and unemployed. Jane Addams established the first settlement house, [ull House, in Chicago. Addams, a college graduate, helped immigrant families adapt to the language and customs of their new country. Settlement houses offered educational services, stagedcommunity events, and provided many other activiries to improve the lives of the people in the turban neighburlioods. Hull House became a model for the establishment of other settlement houses in many other American cities. Many college wuinert found the work in the settlement houses to be satisfying and rewarding. During the carly 1900s, a new middle class emerged, hased on educational qualifications and individual accomplishment. Standards were applied to the professions, restricting entry unless certain requirements were met. American women found themselves excluded from most of the professions, such as medicine and law. Managing settlement houses, reaching, nursing, and library ‘work were tradirional and acceptable professions for women. Many women joined the Temperance Movement, an organization to outlaw alcoholic beverages. Some women joined the new women's clubs and became involved in public matters and reform. At first, they were involved in non controversial projects, such as planting trees; supporting scliuols, libraries, and settlement houses; and building hospitals and parks, As the progressive movement grew stronger, they supported more controversial projects such as child labor laws, women’s suffrage, worker's compensation laws, and pure food and drug legislation. Reformers knew they needed the cooperation af government to enact laws to protect women and child laborers and to improve conditions in the ghettos. Government could provide regulations and control to impose order and justice in suciety. Government, itself, needed to be reformed. Most states had adopted the secret ballot. Party rule could be broken by increasing the power of the people through the use of the referendum and the initiative. This made it possible for the reformers, to go directly to the people in general elections. Laws were passed restricting lobbying by business interests in state legislatures. People began to take a renewed interest in government. They challenged the powerful city bosses, their political organizations, and special-interest groups. Many cities throughout the United Srares removed city government from politics by reorganizing the cities into a commission type of government or the city-manager system. Elected mayors, such as Thomas L. Johnson of Cleveland, introduced many reforms, such as appointing competent officials and eliminating unfair business privileges. “Fighting” Bob La Follette, governor of Wisconsin, supported utany reforms such as the graduated income tax on inherited fortunes, regulation of the workplace, providing compensation for workers injured on the jah, and taxation of railroad companies according to the value of their properties, not their carnings. The political parties changed to keep their influence and power. New York’ Tammany Hall, the nation’s oldest city machine, maintained power while assuming responsibility of some of the concerns of social reformers. Charles Francis Murphy, one of the leaders in Tammany Hall, used its political power to improve’ working conditions, protect child laborers, and eliminate the worst abuses in industry. In 1911 the Triangle Shirtwaist Company was swept by a fire which killed 146 workers, almost all of them women. They had been trapped inside the building because the management had locked the emergency exits to preventpeople from raking breaks from their work. It was the worst tragedy in the city’s history. Tammany Hall pressured for new laws that imposed strict building codes on factory owners and established regular inspections and enforcement of the laws. ‘Campaigns to eliminate the use of alcoholic beverages from national life were waged by many groups. Frances Willard, president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), urged women to take an active role in eliminating the use of intoxicating beverages. The Anti-Saloon League of America, formed in 1895, advocated rhe elimination of alcohol as a necessary task in restoring order to society. Finally, Congress approved the Eighteenth Amendment. The Amendment to our federal constitution that took effect in January 1920 prohibited the “manufacture, sale, o¢ transportation of intoxicating liquors.” Demands were made to restrict immigration at this time. Some Americans felt the continued artival of foreigners was creating urban problems, overcrowding, unemployment, and social unrest. Demands were also being made for women’s suffrage. Some supporters believed that giving wamen the right to vote would strengthen the reform movement. To many men, and even to many women, the idea of women having the right to vote seemed threatening. By 1919 women had been granted the right to vote in 39 states in at least some elections. In 1920 the suffragists won approval of the Nineteenth Amendment which guaranteed political rights to women throughout the United Srates. Reforin in America was progressing slowly. Yet, the change in the role of government was noticeable. Before the 1900s local, state, or federal governments did very little ww help people or ro regulate any aspect of everyday life ur the economy. The progressive movement made Americans reconsider the role and responsibility of government. Laws were passed to improve working conditions. Women were finally given the right to vote. The reform movement, however, did not solve all problems.