Today Mr. Bruns talked to us about the correct way to do our daily blogs and also about the questions and requirements for the semester test and blog. Then David continued presenting his information that he started a couple of days ago.
Worker Safety/Conditions
- The number of child workers in factories rose
- Most people sent their children to work because they felt that children were a part of the family economy
- Adult wages were too low and everyone in the family had to work putting children's lives at stake
- Reformers tried to end child labor
Reforming Elections
- Only certain people were allowed to vote
- This let voters remove public officials from the elected positions by having a re-election **(Recall)**
- Instead of having machines choose candidates for the public office, voters got to choose instead
Segregation
- Segregation was a way to separate races because differances in skin color
- Men of a different race would work for the other race as a servant or slave
- In the 1960s the government eventually passed laws against racial segregation to put a stop to it
- Many Progressives did not do much to help African Americans and even made it worse at times
Regulating Food and Drugs
- Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906
- This said that you can not sell contaminated foods and medicines
- Manufacturers were trying to say the food and medicine they were selling was perfectly safe when they really weren't
- Some caused people to die from taking their medicine because they were falsely labeled
Conservation
- U.S. Forest Bureau withdrew 45 million acres of timberlands for a national forest reserve in 1887
- Mining companies refused to save some land, ranchers grazed their cattle on their land and the logging men kept cutting down trees
- Cities dumped untreated sewage into rivers, posioning some water resources
Monopolies
- The Clayton Antitrust Act prohibited corporations from acquiring stock from another, which would create a monopoly
- Company officers would be prosecuted it they violated this
- Monopolies were made illegal in 1890 by the Sherman Anti-Trust Act
- Monopolies are formed when a group of companies form a trust to fix prices
Taxation/Banking
- Larger incomes were taxed at higher rates than smaller incomes
- Known as Federal Income Tax
- This would tax families over $4,000 that ranged from 1% to 6%
- The government would receive more money
- Woodrow Wilson spent his attention on the financial crisis and banks
- Wilson passed a law so there would be a bank in every district to help the common people with money or loans
- Federal Reserve banks could distribute new paper in emergency situations, and they could also transfer funds to member banks in trouble with finances
- By 1973, 70% of the nation's banking resources was a part of the Federal Reserve System. This was Wilson's best accomplishment
Aid Organizations
- Some people set up work relief for the poor
- When there was a flood or a natural disaster, some city workers helped build new schools, parks, etc.
- There were organizations that helped build and reform cities after a hurricane or flood
- Citizens played an active role in aiding everyone that needed it, and played an important role in the city government
Muckrakers
- Muckrakers were investigative reporters
- Lincoln Steffens was known as a leader of the muckraker movement when he exposed business and government corruption
- Ida M. Tarbell exposed ruthlessness of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company
- Upton Sinclair told the world about the sanitation issues of the meat packing industry through his book called The Jungle
Efficiency in the Workplace
- Scientific management: studies used to see how fast things could be done
- 10 hour days were changed to 8 hours to prevent fatigued workers and strikes
- Henry Ford paid his workers $5 a day for 8 hours to keep them happy
- This attracted thousands of workers
Women's Social Changes
- Women's opportunities were becoming more common
- Nearly one in every five women had jobs
- Women wanted reform to get better conditions
Reforming Government
- Political bosses used to get voters with bribes and favors
- 1900 Galveston, Texas was devestated by a hurricane and politicians messed up the rebuilding of the town
- Five experts were called in to to fix everything
- Many cities followed this example
- Some cities changed their mayors
- Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin changed the regulation of big businesses
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