No assigned blog this week either. hooray.
because we're STILL presenting our ch9 powerpoints. and we probably wont do our ch10 blog discussion for a while. also, ally's mom's legs got crushed by a really big monument, apparently. so that explains why she's gone. copy and paste!
*Worker Safety/conditions
reformers wanted to improve conditions. especially for women and children.
1893- illinois factory act prohibited child labor and limited women's working hours to 10hours, no nights. more laws in 1904 and 1907 moved the legal working age to 16- they also couldnt work with dangerous equipment or work nights. 1916- supreme court passed first real child labor bill (keating-owens act) which set ages for work.
Minimum wage laws stated that minimum wage had to be high enough for women and children to be able to live off of. Henry Ford's factory paid its workers $5...thought to be crazy. he said he wanted his workers to be able to afford his product.
otherwise, lots of people died or were injured form the unsafe machines in factories, workers couldnt complain or they'd be fired.
*Reforming elections
William S. U'ren started the secret ballot, which oregon was the 1st to adopt it. secret ballot was to eliminate pressure, because people voted in private, where no one could see them or tell them what to do. this took a lot of power away from bosses, which led to getting rid of a lot of government corruption.
initiative, referendum, recall - initiative is petitioning and starting a bill, referendum is getting it passed, recall is having a second election in order to kick someone out of office if they arent doing a good job.
Also, direct primary, let the people choose government candidates. this took power away from the rich white men, who previously chose all the candidates, who were also usually rich white men like themsevles.
*Segregation
NAACP- national association for the advancement of colored people, started in 1909, blacks got together with white reformers. but it didnt get a lot of support, since the progressive movement was meant to help the white middle and lower classes. Woodrow Wilson- supported them at first, but then started segregation in DC when he became president. Because, there was a sort of blackmail thing going on- if you support black rights, we wont pass child labor laws- etc.
*Regulating food & drugs
Roosevelt read "the Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. he sent people to check out the facts, found the book's claims to be true, and passed the Meat Inspection Act, which regulated hygenic conditions in which meat was produced, etc.
Food and Drug Act- made companies put more truthful claims ontheir labels- later edited to regulate hygenic conditions for food and rugs, had to pass an inspection on whether they were safe to be sold. Began the FDA, which is now in charge of such inspections.
*Conservation
Before Roosevelt, federal government didnt pay much attention to natural resources. Forest Beaurou(?) started setting aside vast amounts of land for national parks and reservations. Sequoya and Yellowstone. This helped conserve resources and wildlife habitats, etc. Some people wanted to cease expanding and just save land, others didnt care about land, and still more people thought land could be saved while cities expanded. eventually, the save-and-expand people won.
also passed irrigation acts, so improve the conditions of some lands. people gained more interest in the land and its condition, studied it.
*Monopolies
1902- Roosevelt sued many trusts, causing them to break up (with the assistance of the sherman anit-trust act)
.........some monopolies were standard oil, railroads, etc. Hepburn act made intersate commerce restrictions for railroads.
*Taxation/Banking
Underwood Act fo 1913- greatly lowered tarriffs.
16th amendment allowed goverment to have graduated income taxes- the greater the income, the greater your taxes- which gave them more money than ever. this system is still used today.
Banks- we needed to make money available throughout our growing country- midwest and west- we had a central bank for a while, andrew jackson got rid of it. so we were the only country without ones. Federal Reserve System is the bank for banks.
*Aid Organizations-helping poor
Settlement houses- Jane adams established group homes for poverty-stricken slum people....ect. WCTU also helped people, didnt just protest and whatnot.
*Muckrakers
wrote to expose the poor and unhygenic working conditions and cooruption in the government and monopolies. Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle", ect. a main method besides writing entire books or articles was the use of political cartoons.
*Efficiency in the workplace
Frederick Winslow Taylor used time and motion to make things easier for workers. he broke up tasks into smaller parts- like an assembly line.
limitations on working hours made workers more rested so they had more energy and could do their jobs better.
*Women social changes
major prohibitionists, also major progressives. started lots of groups, got white men scared because they thoguht their system of control was gonna get messed up.
Susan. B. Anthony....WCTU. Carry Nation. prohibitionists and rights movements....etc.
*Reforming Government
locally reformed at first. breaking up monopolies played a part, to stop them from affecting the government so much.....this stopped a lot of corruption too. local reform- town governments changed themselves to prevent political mahcine corruption. spread to nearby cities, all ove nation, etc.
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