Progressivism & the Republican Roosevelt

American Pageant Chapter 28

1901-1912

Progressive Roots

• Modern society too complex for simple gov.

• Progressive attacks in literature:

– Henry Demarest Lloyd: Wealth against Common

Wealth (attack on Standard Oil)

– Bryan Atgeld: ―boated‖ trusts=corruption

– Thorstein Veblen: Theory of the Leisure Class—attack

on the ―predatory wealth‖

– Theodore Dreiser: The Financier and The Titan—

attack on promoters & profiteers

– Jacob Riis: How the Other Half Lives

• Documented NY slums

• Influenced NY Police Commissioner—Teddy Roosevelt

• (see photos next slide)

Jacob Riis

Progressive Roots--continued

• Socialists—often European Immigrants

• Social Gospel—Progressivism based on

Christian principles

• Feminists: suffrage & other urban reforms

– i.e. Jane Addams (Hull House) and Lillian

Wald

Jane Addams

and Hull House

Raking Muck with the Muckrakers

• “Muckrakers”—Term given by T. Roosevelt for those writers who exposed social wrongs (w/o suggested remedies)

“…the man who never does anything else, who never thinks or speaks or writes, save of his feats with the muck-rake, speedily becomes, not a help to society, not an incitement to good, but one of the most potent forces for evil.” ~Theodore Roosevelt (1906)

Raking Muck with the Muckrakers

• 10-15 Cent Magazines— ―dirt‖ sold magazines

– Well researched to avoid legal action

– McClure’s, Cosmopolitan, Collier’s, & Everybody’s

Raking Muck with the Muckrakers

• Lincoln Steffens: ―Shame of the Cities‖– McClure articles about alliance of big

business & municipal government

• Ida M. Tarbell: Expose on Standard Oil Co.

• Thomas W. Lawson: ―Frenzied Finance‖– Showed dishonest dealing of fellow

stock market speculators (he had earned $50 million)

• David G. Phillips: ―The Treason of the Senate‖– 75 of 90 senators represented railroads

& trusts, not the people

Corruption of the Senate--Political Cartoon

Raking Muck with the Muckrakers--cont.

• Ray Stannard Baker—Following

the Color Line

– Subjugation of 9 million, mostly

illiterate, African Americans in the

South

• John Spargo—The Bitter Cry of

Children

– Abuses of child labor

• Dr. Harvey W. Wiley: Attacked

patent medicines for using harmful,

addictive ingredients

Political Progressivism

• Progressive

reformers:

– Middle class

– Pressure from upper

and lower classes

• Progressive goals:

– State power to curb

trusts

– Stop socialism by

improving common

people’s

circumstances

Political Reforms

• Direct primary elections

– Undercut power-hungry party bosses

• “Initiative”

– Voters can directly propose legislation

• “Referendum”

– Place laws on ballot for final approval by the people

• “Recall”

– Voters can remove bad elected officials

• 17th Amendment (1913)

– Direct elections of U.S. Senators

Progressivism in the Cities

• City Reform

– Some changed to expert-staffed commissions

to manage urban affairs, (i.e. Galveston, TX)

– City Manager System: designed to take

politics out of municipal administration

– Reformers also focused on ―slumlords,‖

juvenile delinquency, prostitution, & sale of

franchise for public utilities

Progressivism in the States

• Robert M. La Follette—Wisconsin gov.– Routed out entrenched lumber &

railroad monopoly interests in state government

– Regulated public utilities

• Hiram W. Johnson—CA governor– Broke Southern Pacific Railroad

control in CA politics

• Charles Evans Hughes —NY governor– Investigator of malpractice of gas &

insurance co. and coal trust

Women Suffrage

• ―Feminists‖

• Reformers believed that women’s votes would elevate the political tone

• ―No taxation w/o representation‖

• Some western states already had women voters

• By 1910—Nation-wide suffrage is still decade away

• Public Attitude: A suffragists was ―one who had ceased to be a lady and has not yet become a gentleman.‖

Progressive Women

• Settlement houses opened door

to public life for women

• Women’s clubs—focused on

social issues

• ―Separate Spheres‖

– woman’s place was in the home

– Female progressives believed

social work was extension of this

―sphere‖

– Drawn to moral and ―maternal‖

issues

• Child labor, factory conditions, etc.

Progressive Women

• Women’s Trade Union League & National Consumers League

– Mobilized women workers and consumers to pressure for laws protecting women & children workers

• Children’s Bureau & Women’s Bureau

– Part of Department of Labor

– ―National stage for social investigation & advocacy‖

• Florence Kelley—IL first chief factory inspector

Progressive Women

• Judicial role:

– Muller v. Oregon (1908)

• Laws protecting women workers are constitutional

– Lochner v. New York(1905)

• Supreme Court invalidated 10 hour work day for bakers

– 1917—Court upheld 10 hours work day for factory workers

Progressive Women

• Safety Laws not often enforced

– Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire

• Violation of fire code

• 146 female workers died because doors were

locked shut

• Incidents caused public pressured for stronger

safety and working hours laws

Progressive Women

• Female progressives

versus ―Corner Saloons‖

– Woman’s Christian

Temperance Union

(WCTU)

• Frances E. Willard—

leader

• 1 million women members

– Some states passed

―dry‖ laws

– Big cities remained

―wet‖—immigrant

customs

Antiliquor Cartoon

TR’s Square Deal for Labor

• Teddy Roosevelt—focused

Progressivism

– ―Square Deal‖—for capital, labor, and the

public

– 3 “C’s‖ --control of:

• Corporations

• Consumer protection

• Conservation of natural resources

TR’s Square Deal for Labor

• Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal Mine—

1902

– 140,000 workers on strike

– Owners refused to negotiate

– Roosevelt acts as mediator

• TR Has to threaten owners with federal control

of mine

TR’s Square Deal for Labor

• Department of Commerce & Labor-

1903

– Helped with issues between labor and

owners

– Bureau of Corporations

• Authorized to investigate interstate businesses

• Helped break monopolies

TR Corrals the Corporations

• “Taming” the railroad

octopus

– Elkins Act (1903)—Heavy

fines for giving rebates

– Hepburn Act (1906)—Free

passes (bribery) restricted

– Interstate Commerce

Commission —power to

nullify existing rates and set

maximum rates

TR Corrals the Corporations

• ―good trusts‖ and ―bad trusts‖

– TR did not go after ALL trusts

– ―Bigness‖ wasn’t necessarily bad

– Wanted government, not business to

control the company

• Northern Securities Company

– Monopoly of all Northeast Railroads

– TR attacked and it was disbanded

– Action held up by Supreme Court

• Teddy goes after 40 other trusts

Caring for the Consumer

• American meat— botulism

• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair—

book about meat packing plant

– Purpose was to show plight of workers

– Public reaction was unsanitary

conditions

• T. Roosevelt appointed special

investigating commission—led to:

– Meat Inspection Act (1906)

• Inspection of meat crossing interstate lines

– Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

• Prevent adulteration & mislabeling of food

and drugs

Theodore Roosevelt and the Environment

“We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inexhaustible; this is not so. The mineral wealth of the country, the cola, iron, gas, and the like, does not reproduce itself, and therefore is certain to be exhausted ultimately; and wastefulness in dealing with it to-day means that our descendants will feel the exhaustion a generation or two before they otherwise would.”

~Theodore Roosevelt, 1907

Earth Control

• Wasting of natural resources

– TR wanted to protect land & use resources wisely—able to set aside 125 million acres, coal deposits, & water resources

• Desert Land Act (1877)

– Cheap arid land if irrigated it in 3 years

• Forest Reserve Act (1891)-

– Set aside public forests as national parks

• Carey Act (1894)

– Federal lands to states if irrigated & settled

Earth Control

• John Muir —naturalist, influenced TR

• Gifford Pinchot —head of federal Division of Forestry

• Newlands Act (1902)– Collect $ from public lands in west

and use for irrigation projects• i.e. Roosevelt Dam

• Call of the Wild by Jack London– This & other books about nature

read in cities

• Sierra Club—preserve wilderness in West

The Roosevelt Panic of 1907

• Roosevelt easily re-elected in 1904

• Conservative Republicans didn’t trust him

• Announced would not run again 1908– Reduced his power—would be

gone in 4 yrs

• Panic of 1907– Panic on Wall Street

– TR blamed

– Led to fiscal reforms• Aldrich-Vreeland Act (1908)

– Authorized national banks to issue emergency currency

The Rough Rider Thunders Out

• Election of 1908

– Teddy Roosevelt bound by promise not to run for 3rd

term

– Handpicks Secretary of War, William Howard Taft

– Democrats pick William Jennings Bryan

– Dull campaign—voters chose stability

• Socialist did have 3rd party candidate: Eugene V. Debbs

• T. Roosevelt’s legacy

– Nature conservation

– Held back socialism by regulating business

Taft: A Round Peg in a Square Hole

• William Howard Taft

– Moderate Progressive

– Lacked Roosevelt’s force of

personality & enjoyment of

conflict

– Passive toward Congress

– Misread public opinion

– ―foot in mouth‖ disease

The Dollar as a Diplomat

• Taft used ―dollar diplomacy‖ to boost

American foreign interests

– Wall Street bankers would invest in

countries, such as the Far East and

Panama

– Strengthen defenses & preempt other

countries from investing

• Haiti & Honduras —give money to

keep stability and prevent other

foreign interests (Monroe Doctrine)

• Cuba, Honduras, Dominican

Republic Nicaragua —American

forces sent to ensure stability

Taft the Trustbuster

• Taft attacked more trusts than T. Roosevelt (90 in 4 years versus 44 in 7 years)

• 1911-Supreme Court ordered dissolution of Standard Oil Company– Violation of Sherman Anti-Trust Act

(1890)

– ―Rule of reason‖—doctrine that combinations that ―unreasonably‖ restrained trade were illegal

• Taft attacked U.S. Steel Corporation trust– Infuriates TR who had personally

helped merger

Taft Splits the Republican Party

• Protective tariffs— ―mother of all trusts‖– Taft campaign promise to reduce tariffs

• Payne-Aldrich Bill (1909)– Moderate changes + hundreds of upward tariff

revisions

– Progressive wing of G.O.P. feel betrayed by Taft

• Ballinger-Pinchot quarrel– Secretary of Interior Ballinger opened up some

western lands to the public

– Pinchot disagrees and Taft fires him for insubordination

• T. Roosevelt returns to NY and openly criticizes Taft

• Republicans lose majority in congressional elections of 1910

Taft-Roosevelt Rupture

• T. Roosevelt agrees to run for

President in 1912 as Progressive

• Taft is favored by conservative

Republicans

• Divides Republican party