Download Goals of the Progressive Movement

Goals of the Progressive Movement
The Progressive Movement was a massive assault on the
problems that plagued American life at the turn of the century.
Their targets included working conditions such as hours,
safety, wages and job security. They attacked abuses of the
capitalist system in order to preserve it, rather than replace it
with socialist alternatives. They addressed moral issues such
as prostitution and alcohol abuse, which they saw as
contributing to domestic violence. The progressives wanted
better management of businesses and political entities such as cities and counties. They
wanted fairness in all things, although the progressives were less than aggressive in
addressing civil rights for minorities, including Indians. (The specific goals of the
Progressives are listed in the summary outline below.)
The Progressive Movement succeeded because it had support from Republicans and
Democrats, labor and management as well as American Middle Class. The motives of the
working classes were obvious. Workers themselves, sweating in the factories, on
construction projects and doing other forms of wearisome labor, were in no position to
begin a movement on their own behalf. They had in most cases neither the time nor the
vision to be able to see their problems in larger perspective. Those who did understood
that their jobs might be threatened if the engaged un union-related activity. Reformers
such as Henry George, however, and labor leaders like Eugene Debs, Samuel Gompers
and others understood the problems of the working class and moved for reform. To the
extent that laborers and workers joined unions, and to the extent that the working classes
were able to perceive what was going on in the workplace, they naturally supported the
Progressive Movement.
The violence that did erupt from time to time, such as in the great railroad strike of 1877,
the Homestead strike, and other disruptions, provided an impetus for those at higher
levels to work to reform the capitalist system. Although the Progressive Movement did
much to ameliorate the conditions under which many working people suffered, it would
be wrong to believe that the violence was immediately quelled, or that working
conditions improved overnight. The tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire of 1911 led
to the deaths of 148 women, most of them immigrants, and was the worst workplace
disaster in New York City until September 11, 2001.
In 1912 immigrant textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, led by the Industrial
Workers of the World, went on strike when their wages were lowered in response to a
law shortening the work week. The courage of the female workers, who were willing to
brave frigid weather as well as police and militia in order to march on picket lines, led to
the strike being identified as the "bread and roses" strike. The reference came from the
poem and song of that name, which was sung by the women who were on strike. (Lines
from the poem included: "“Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes/
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses!”) I.W.W. leaders Bill
Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn moved in and helped organized the strike, which
was opposed by the AFL as being revolutionary.
In the early 1920s, coal miners in West Virginia engaged in repeated conflicts with mine
owners and their hired detectives in what became known as the West Virginia coal field
wars. One incident known as the “Matewan Massacre” has been memorialized in the
John Sayles film, Matewan. The violence in West Virginia continued off and on for
several years; it was a continuation of the earlier struggles highlighted by Homestead and
Haymarket incidents. Despite the best efforts of labor organizers and progressive leaders,
the war between capital and labor continued unabated into the 1930s and even beyond.
The Middle Class supported the Progressive Movement for reasons that were also fairly
obvious. The Middle Class were prospering; they enjoyed comfortable incomes, lived in
reasonably comfortable homes, enjoyed a certain amount of leisure time, and became
aware of working conditions in America through newspaper and magazine articles
written by muckraking journalists.
Although not always sympathetic to the plight of the working class, from which many
Middle Class people had only recently escaped, those comfortable folks nevertheless
realized that the system from which they benefited was threatened by the rumbling from
below. Thus for some middle-class Americans, the motivation for reform was anxiety, if
not outright fear of revolution. Many others in the Middle Class, however, had more
altruistic motives. They were often moved by the plight of the working poor, and realized
that moral imperatives required reform, not only to protect the system but for the sake of
humanity. Although their “better” motives were often genuinely felt, some critics referred
to the Progressives as “middle-class moralists,” prone to meddling in affairs which were
none of their business. On the other hand, the moralistic goals of the Progressives
included such targets as alcoholism and prostitution, both of which were socially
damaging and threatening to the stability of middle-class life.
Investigative Journalism at Work: The Muckrakers As mentioned above, the
“muckrakers”—so named by Theodore Roosevelt—took it upon themselves to enlighten
the public about the details of the underside of American life, writing in magazines such
as McClure’s and Collier’s Weekly, which achieved wide circulation. Their work,
however, was not confined to magazine pieces. Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle,
uncovered unhealthy conditions in the Chicago meat packing industry and led to passage
of the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. Theodore Dreiser’s
novels, The Financier and The Titan, exposed the machinations of big capital. Lincoln
Steffens' The Shame of the Cities and Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lives revealed the
depths to which urban life had sunk and spurred people to action.
Although journalists and publishers were sometimes guilty of exaggeration,
muckraking, which we now call “investigative journalism,” became a highly
respected vocation. (The CBS program 60 Minutes, for years a top-rated
show, is a modern incarnation of muckraking journalism.) Writers like Riis,
Steffens and Ida Tarbell exposed fraud, waste, corruption and other evils in
government and business, and they shined a light on poor social conditions,
such as the slums of the cities. They took on bossism, profiteering, child
labor, public health and safety, prostitution, alcohol, political corruption and
almost every aspect of public and even private life. They achieved some
spectacular successes at virtually every level, from supporting child labor laws across the
country to four constitutional amendments: direct election of Senators, women's suffrage,
prohibition of alcohol and the income tax. For all the good they did, however, the
muckrakers often had more problems to present than they had solutions to solve them.
Ida Tarbell’s target was John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. After graduating
from Allegheny College as a biology major and the only woman in her class of 1880,
Tarbell became a teacher, but soon turned to her life’s work, writing. While doing
graduate work in Paris, where she wrote biographies of historic figures, she was hired as
editor for McClure’s.
Assuming that she would write a favorable account, Standard Oil officials gave her free
access to their activities and records. The result was a series of articles, eventually
published as a book in 1904, The History of the Standard Oil Company. It was a
devastating account of the ruthless practices of Rockefeller and his minions that helped
lead to the breakup of the company in an antitrust suit in 1911. The work was later cited
near the top of the list of the 100 best books of the twentieth century. Later in her career
she wrote a number of books about issues of concern to women, which supported the
early feminist movement as women struggled for the right to vote.
-Even as reputable journalists were doing their best to uncover societal ills, their
managers, motivated by competition for profits, often sensationalized the findings of their
reporters, contributing to the phenomenon known as “yellow journalism.” Circulation
battles between men like Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst often encouraged
irresponsible reporting. Evidence that the phenomenon is not dead can often be seen at
checkout counters in retail establishments today.
Political Reform. In the political arena Progressives wanted good government at all
levels, and among their more notable achievements were the aforementioned direct
election of Senators and women's suffrage. But good government meant more than
expanded democracy, or honesty in public officials. Progressives wanted aggressive,
proactive government that foresaw problems and acted to prevent calamities before they
occurred. Thus they demanded safety legislation, closer regulation of public health issues
and better management of things like public utilities. They also sought to make
government more efficient, so that the taxpayer got what he was paying for. If Americans
did not have good government, said the Progressives, then they had only themselves to
blame. The Progressives were activists, generally impatient, sometimes overzealous, but
rarely satisfied until they had achieved a good portion of their goals.
A recent well-known Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill of Massachusetts, said famously
that all politics in the end are local. Thus reforms had to start at the local level, and the
cities came first. In bringing about urban reform, the progressives first attacked “invisible
government”—the forces operated by political machines behind the scenes that corrupted
the democratic process. Political hacks, previously rewarded with jobs for political
activity with no proof of their competence, were replaced by professional civil service
workers who made the system run. With this change, administrative officials within city
governments were no longer as subject to changes in the political winds. Instead of
elected officials running everything, boards of commissioners and professional city and
county managers were employed to provide stability and expertise as governing became
ever more complicated.
Local governments were also encouraged to adopt scientific management techniques. The
“Gospel of Efficiency” was applied to city hall in the form of careful budgeting and
accounting practices. The growth of city infrastructures, including public transportation,
utilities and sanitation, could not be successfully managed by careless mishandling of
funds or wasteful practices. Progressives also maintained that governments at different
levels had to learn to cooperate. Officials at the city, county, township and state level
needed to agree on the locus of boundaries of overlapping areas of jurisdiction. Shared
responsibility was seen as preferable to finger-pointing and time wasting arguments over
the limits of one’s jurisdiction.
Recognizing the need for professional guidance and tackling local problems, elected local
officials built coalitions, using university professors, engineers and other experts as
advisors, and they often reached out to businessmen to cooperate in reform efforts for the
public good. The Wisconsin plan of Robert La Follette, discussed below, is an example.
Taxation was made fairer, and the practice of requiring kickbacks from political
employees was exposed.
Progressives pushed for greater involvement by government in public affairs. They hoped
it would improve public services, build schools, facilitate loans, construct roads, beef up
conservation and sanitation efforts, and advance such causes as public health, welfare,
care of handicapped, farm aid, regulation or limitation of child labor, mandatory school
attendance, and transportation safety.
Social Justice: Aid to the Urban Poor
The concept of social Darwinism that emerged in the late 19th century was in many ways
a pernicious concept, and certainly not in keeping with what Charles Darwin had in mind
when he wrote The Origin of Species. The idea of social Darwinism seem to suggest that
those who could not survive in a rigorous competitive social environment should be
allowed to fall by the wayside; eliminating the weaker members of society would
ultimately strengthen the entire group. But gradual evolution over the millennia was a
very different phenomenon than the rapid changes in society brought about by the
Industrial Revolution. Progressives rightly understood that people struggling in the lower
tiers of existence could hardly be expected to find a means of survival without assistance,
especially in the face of predatory business practices.
Private charity was inadequate to address conditions in the inner cities. Wealthier
members of the church congregations were tending to migrate to the suburbs, leaving
urban parishes short of funds. Despite the growth of settlement houses in slums
(discussed in the previous section), those private institutions and inner-city churches
could not do it all. Thus various forms of welfare legislation were brought about by
progressive activists. Worker’s Compensation laws were passed to make the workplace
safer and to provide relief for those who suffered injuries on the job. In some areas
employers were mandated to provide accident insurance for their employees. Building
codes that mandated safe conditions in the workplace were also established, and
procedures for fixing the responsibility for accidents were introduced. Labor laws were
passed at the state and local level to protect women and children, and additional laws
required that children of school age not be forced to work in lieu of getting a basic
education.
In order to ensure that all citizens had equal access to basic living requirements, the
concept of “Gas and Water Socialism” began ensuring that utilities were fairly and
equally administered and distributed to all citizens at reasonable prices. Consumer issues
were also part of the general reform movement, as the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
made clear. The act required federal inspection of meat and other products and prohibited
the manufacture, sale, or interstate transportation of adulterated food products or
poisonous medicines.
One of the targets of the pure food and drug laws was the Coca Cola Company, whose
product contained high amounts of caffeine. Interestingly, the miniscule amount of
cocaine that the product originally contained, and from which it derived its name, was a
lesser concern.
Progressives also vigorously attacked the moral ills of prostitution and abuse of alcohol.
The White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910, better known as the Mann Act, banned the
interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes.” It addressed the issues of
prostitution and trafficking of human beings. As mentioned above, the moral crusade of
progressives also brought alcohol prohibition through the passage of the Eighteenth
Amendment.
Regulation of Business
Along with political corruption at all levels of government, the greatest challenge for
progressives was getting businesses to behave in an ethical manner. The two issues were
intertwined because much of the corruption in government, especially at the state and
federal level, had been brought about by the undue influence of powerful business
interests. Going back to the time of Jefferson and Jackson, Americans had been skeptical
of the power of government as an interfering force in their lives. But times had changed,
and big business and to a large extent supplanted government as the dominant force in
American society. The only agency capable of bringing big business to heel was
government, which required a thorough rethinking of Americans laissez-faire attitude
towards capitalism.
The 1890 Sherman Act was weakened from the outset by what might be called
philosophical loopholes, the reluctance to interfere in any business practice that was
obviously not directly related to interstate commerce. In the 1895 Supreme Court case of
United States v. E.C. Knight Company, a court determined that although the company in
question controlled the manufacture of 98% of all the sugar produced in the United
States, the Sherman Act did not apply; the manufacture of sugar by itself was not
“interstate commerce.” The sole dissenting vote was cast by Justice John Marshall
Harlan, who declared that it was the “settled doctrine of this court that interstate
commerce embraces something more than the mere physical transportation of articles of
property.”
Although President Theodore Roosevelt directed his Attorney General to use the
Sherman Act more vigorously in pursuit of monopolistic practices, the act was
nevertheless deemed insufficient to control giant corporations, and additional laws were
passed to strengthen the government’s authority to regulate business practices.
Under various pieces of progressive legislation, both federal and state, businesses were
required to follow equal pricing policies, with no kickbacks or other under-the-table deals
to favored customers. As stronger control measures were instituted, the burden of proof
of wrongdoing began to shift from government to business. In cases of injury, for
example, factory owners were required to prove that the workplace was safe, rather than
workers having to prove that injuries were not their fault. President Roosevelt and others
sought a reasonable balance between laissez faire capitalism and outright Socialism;
although Theodore Roosevelt became known as the trust buster, he was less interested in
breaking up large corporations than in making them behave. Strong regulation was the
key. Better wages and job protection for workers were also important progressive goals.
The Struggle for Women’s Suffrage
Also a product of decades of effort going, the Nineteenth Amendment, finally ratified
in 1919, at last granted women's suffrage. The struggle for women’s right to vote was 0ne
of the key elements in women’s overall fight for greater equality. The Seneca Falls, New
York, Convention of 1848, organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, took
the first major step toward acquiring suffrage for women when they included the
following in the resolutions passed by the convention:
Stanton and Susan B. Anthony continued to work for the right to vote for women, but for
most of the 19th century their efforts were focused on the states. The first jurisdiction in
the world to give women the right to vote was the territory of Wyoming, which took the
step in 1869. Wyoming later became the first state where women had the right to vote
when it was admitted in 1890. Other states followed, but the move for a constitutional
amendment, although introduced as early as 1878, made little progress in Congress until
1912.
Alice Paul and Lucy Burns had met in England where they became involved with the
struggle for women’s rights in that nation. Both participated in public activities in support
of women’s equality, and both were jailed several times in London. Alice Paul returned
to the United States and joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association in
1912. In 1913 she and Lucy Burns formed the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage,
making a concerted effort to get a constitutional amendment passed by Congress. The
Congressional Union soon became the National Women’s Party, and together with the
NAWSA, they lobbied Congress for passage of the amendment.
During the 1916 presidential election, the women campaigned vigorously against
Woodrow Wilson’s refusal to support the women’s suffrage amendment. They paraded
and picketed in front of the White House and were eventually arrested for obstructing
traffic. Sent to the Occoquan Workhouse in Lorton, Virginia, Paul protested the harsh
treatment and went on a hunger strike. When she was moved to the psychiatric ward and
force fed raw eggs through a tube, other women joined her protest.
WASHINGTON, June 4. After a long and persistent fight advocates of woman suffrage
won a victory in the Senate today when that body, by a vote of 56 to 25, adopted the
Susan Anthony amendment to the Constitution. The suffrage supporters had two more
than the necessary two-thirds vote of Senators present.
Section 1 of the Nineteenth Amendment reads: The right of citizens of the United States
to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of
sex.
Ratification was delayed because of opposition in some Southern states, but on August
18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify. Women were able to vote in the
1920 presidential election. Passage of the amendment had at first only a limited impact
on America’s voting patterns, as most women tended to vote with the males in their
families. Eventually, however, a “gender gap” developed when many women began to
view political questions differently from men.