CHAPTER 21
The Age of Reform
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
Roots of Progressivism. Progressives were never a single unified group seeking a single
objective. They sought civil service reform, political reform, government regulation of big
business, improvement of conditions in the workplace, and the enactment of antitrust legislation.
Concerned with changes brought by industrialization and influenced by intellectual currents,
many members of the middle class, including religious leaders, college professors, and lawyers
embraced reform.
The Muckrakers. The popular press published articles on social, economic, and political issues
of the day. McClure’s published Ida Tarbell’s critical series on Standard Oil and Lincoln
Steffens’s exposé on city machines. Soon, other editors rushed to adopt McClure’s formula. A
veritable army of journalists published stories exposing labor gangsterism, the adulteration of
foods and drugs, corruption in college athletics, and prostitution. The degree of sensationalism
used by some authors prompted Theodore Roosevelt to label them “muckrakers.”
The Progressive Mind. Despite its democratic rhetoric, progressivism was paternalistic,
moderate, and often softheaded. Reformers oversimplified issues and regarded their personal
values as absolute standards. Progressives came from all walks of life and included great
tycoons, small operators, advocates of social justice, prohibitionists, and others. Progressivism
never truly challenged the fundamental principles of capitalism; nor did it seek to reorganize the
basic structures of society. Many progressives held anti-immigrant views, and few progressives
concerned themselves with the plight of blacks.
“Radical” Progressives: The Wave of the Future. Influenced by European revolutionary
theories, some segments of American society sought radical relief for the ills of industrialism.
Some labor leaders rejected craft unionism and advocated socialism. In 1905, a coalition of
mining and other unions, socialists, and other radicals formed a new union, the Industrial
Workers of the World (IWW). The openly anti-capitalist IWW never attracted the support of
mainstream labor. Other nonpolitical European ideas influenced progressive intellectuals. Few
understood, and even fewer read, Freud, but his theories became a popular topic of conversation.
Some used Freud to argue against conventional standards of sexual morality.
Political Reform: Cities First. Corrupt political machines ruled many cities. City bosses and
machine politics became the primary targets of progressivism. Reformers could not defeat the
machines without changing urban political structures. New forms included “home rule,”
nonpartisan bureaus, city commissioners, and city managers. Beyond reforming the political
process, progressives hoped to use it to improve society. Some experiments at the municipal
level included urban renewal, municipalizing public utilities and public transportation systems,
and reform of penal institutions.
Political Reform: The States. Corruption and mismanagement at the state level impeded the
efforts of municipal reformers. Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin perhaps best illustrated
progressivism in action at the state level. Among La Follette’s reforms were the adoption of
direct primaries, corrupt practices acts, and laws to limit campaign spending and funding of
lobbyists. La Follette also advocated state regulation of the railroads and management of natural
resources. Other states adopted many elements of the Wisconsin Idea. Some states went beyond
Wisconsin in making their governments responsive to the popular will with the adoption of the
initiative and referendum.
State Social Legislation. By the 1890s, many states passed laws regulating conditions in the
workplace. These laws restricted child labor, set maximum hours for women and children, and
regulated conditions in sweatshops. Conservative judges, unwilling to accept an expansion of the
states’ coercive power, often struck down such laws on the ground that they violated the “due
process” clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Progressives also achieved state legislation
regulating the transportation, utilities, banking, and insurance industries. However, piecemeal
regulation by the states failed to solve the problems of an increasingly complex society.
Political Reform: The Women’s Suffrage Movement. The Progressive Era saw the culmination
of the struggle for women’s suffrage. The women’s movement was handicapped by rivalry
between the NWSA and the AWSA, by Victorian attitudes about the role of women, and by
applications of Darwinian theory. Feminists attempted to turn ideas of women’s moral
superiority to their advantage in the struggle for voting rights. In doing so, however, they
surrendered the principle of equality. In 1890, the two major women’s groups combined to form
the National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA). The growth of progressivism
contributed to the cause of suffrage. After winning the right to vote in several states, NAWSA
focused its attention on the national level. The Nineteenth Amendment (1920) granted women
the right to vote.
Theodore Roosevelt: Cowboy in the White House. Roosevelt assumed the presidency following
McKinley’s assassination. He brought to the presidency solid political qualifications, a
distinguished war record, and credentials as a historian. Although the prospect of Roosevelt in
the White House alarmed conservatives, he moved slowly and with restraint. His domestic
program included some measure of control of large corporations, more power for the Interstate
Commerce Commission, and the conservation of natural resources.
Roosevelt and Big Business. Although Roosevelt won a reputation as a “trustbuster,” he did not
believe in breaking up big corporations indiscriminately; he preferred to regulate them.
Roosevelt was not an enemy to all large-scale enterprises, merely those that flagrantly seemed to
restrain trade. Facing a Congress that would not pass strong regulatory laws, Roosevelt resorted
to use of the Sherman Act. Although his Justice Department brought suit against the Northern
Securities Company, the President preferred to reach “gentlemanly agreements” with large trusts.
This approach proved successful with U.S. Steel and International Harvester. When Standard Oil
reneged on an agreement, however, the Justice Department brought suit.
Roosevelt and the Coal Strike. Roosevelt effectively used the powers and prestige of his office
to intervene in the anthracite coal strike of 1902. He attempted to arbitrate between management
and the United Mine Workers, but management proved intransigent. The president’s threat to
seize and operate the mines convinced the owners of the wisdom of accepting arbitration.
Neither side was entirely pleased, but, to the American public, the incident seemed to illustrate
the progressive spirit and Roosevelt’s “square deal.” Roosevelt’s use of executive power in this
case dramatically extended presidential authority and hence that of the federal government.
T.R.’s Triumphs. Roosevelt easily defeated the Democratic candidate, Alton B. Parker, in 1904.
Encouraged by his victory and aware of the growing militancy of progressives, the president
pressed Congress for passage of the Hepburn Act (1906), which allowed the ICC to inspect the
books of railroad companies and to fix maximum rates. It also gave the ICC authority over other
interstate carriers and prohibited railroads from issuing passes freely. In response to Upton
Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, which described the filthy conditions in the meat-packing industry,
Roosevelt pressed Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act (1907).
Roosevelt Tilts Left. As the progressive impulse advanced, Roosevelt advanced with it.
Roosevelt’s approach became increasingly liberal. He placed more than 150 million acres of
public lands in federal reserves, strictly enforced usage laws on federal lands, and encouraged
state governments actively to regulate their public lands. As Roosevelt moved toward the left,
many Old Guard Republicans turned against the president. The Panic of 1907 exacerbated the
split. When conservatives blamed him for the panic, Roosevelt responded by moving further
toward progressive liberalism; he advocated federal income and inheritance taxes, stricter
regulation of interstate corporations, and reforms designed to help industrial workers. When
Roosevelt began to criticize the courts, he lost all chance of obtaining further reform legislation.
William Howard Taft: The Listless Progressive, or More Is Less. Roosevelt’s hand-picked
successor, William Howard Taft, garnered the support of Old Guard Republicans as well as
progressives and easily defeated William Jennings Bryan. Although he enforced the Sherman
Act vigorously and signed the Mann-Elkins Act, which expanded the power of the ICC, Taft
made a less aggressive president than Roosevelt had been. Taft was not comfortable with
Roosevelt’s sweeping use of executive power. Less politically adept than Roosevelt, Taft
alienated progressives when he failed to lend full support to a Congressional movement to
reform the tariff system. Taft ran afoul of the growing conservation movement in 1910 when he
fired the chief forester of the United States, Gifford Pinchot.
Breakup of the Republican Party. The Ballinger-Pinchot affair signaled the beginning of a split
between Roosevelt and Taft. Perhaps inevitably, the Republican Party split into factions.
Roosevelt sided with the progressives, and Taft threw in his lot with the Old Guard. Taft’s
management of an antitrust action brought against U.S. Steel in 1911 finalized the split. A
portion of the suit was directed against the merger of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company with
U.S. Steel in 1907. Roosevelt had personally approved of the merger and viewed Taft’s action as
a personal attack. Roosevelt decided to challenge Taft for the nomination in 1912. While
Roosevelt carried the bulk of the primaries, Taft controlled the party apparatus and secured the
nomination. Roosevelt formed the breakaway Progressive party, also known as the “Bull Moose”
party, and ran in the general election.
The Election of 1912. The Democrats ran Woodrow Wilson, the reform governor of New Jersey.
Wilson’s “New Freedom” promised the eradication of special interests and a return to
competition. Roosevelt called for a “New Nationalism,” based on regulation of large
corporations. Hard-core Republicans voted for Taft, but the progressive wing went for
Roosevelt. Democrats, both conservative and progressive, voted for Wilson. As a result, Wilson
won a comfortable plurality of the popular vote and a large majority in the electoral college.
Nevertheless, Wilson failed to win a majority of the popular vote.
Wilson: The New Freedom. Wilson quickly established his legislative agenda and successfully
steered his legislation through Congress. In 1913, the Underwood Tariff substantially reduced
tariffs; a graduated income tax made up for lost revenue. The Federal Reserve Act finally
provided the nation with a centralized banking system. Congress created the Federal Trade
Commission to regulate unfair trade practices. The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 outlawed price
discrimination, “tying” agreements, and the creation of interlocking directorates. Wilson’s
decisive management style and a Democratic majority in Congress accounted in large part for his
successes. Wilson’s progressivism had its limits; he refused to support legislation to provide
low-interest loans to farmers or to exempt unions from antitrust actions. Wilson also declined to
push for a federal law prohibiting child labor and refused to back a constitutional amendment
granting the vote to women.
The Progressives and Minority Rights. A darker side of progressivism manifested itself in the
area of race relations. A reactionary on racial matters, Wilson was fairly typical of progressive
attitudes; only a handful failed to exhibit prejudice against non-white people. Most progressives
assumed that Native Americans were incapable of assimilating into white society. Asians were
subject to intense discrimination. In the South, the Progressive Era witnessed the
institutionalization of “Jim Crow.” Many progressive women adopted racist arguments in
support of the Nineteenth Amendment, while southern progressives argued for the
disenfranchisement of blacks to “purify” the political system. Booker T. Washington and his
philosophy of accommodation failed to stem the rising tide of racism, and a number of young
and well-educated blacks broke away from his leadership.
Black Militancy. W. E. B. Du Bois, the first American black to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard,
called upon blacks to reject Washington’s accommodationism. He urged them to take pride in
their racial and cultural heritage and demanded that blacks take their rightful place in society
without waiting for whites to give it to them. He believed that environment, not racial factors,
caused the problems of poverty and crime. Du Bois was not, however, an admirer of the ordinary
black American. Frankly elitist in approach, Du Bois contended that a “talented tenth” of blacks
would lead the way to their race’s success. In 1905, he and other like-minded blacks founded the
Niagara Movement. While it failed to attract mass support, it did stir some white consciences. A
group comprised largely of white liberals founded the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. The NAACP was dedicated to the eradication of racial
discrimination from American society. The leadership of the NAACP was largely white in its
early years, but Du Bois became a national officer and editor of the organization’s journal. More
important, after the founding of the NAACP, virtually every leader in the struggle for racial
equality rejected Washington’s approach.
Key Terms
Ashcan School
Clayton Antitrust Act
Conservation
Federal Reserve Act
Hepburn Act
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
Muckraker
National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
New Freedom
New Nationalism
Niagara Movement
Progressivism
Square Deal
Underwood Tariff
Woman suffrage
Wisconsin Idea
William Haywood
Robert LaFollette
Gifford Pinchot
W.E.B. Du Bois
City manager
Northern Securities Case
Lochner v. New York
Muller v. Oregon
Hepburn Act
Mann-Elkins Act
16th Amendment
17th Amendment
19th Amendment
The Jungle