Discussion and Review Questions

1.) What were some of the positive effects muckrakers had on society? Negative effects?

Strengths: Their work exposed some of the massive corruption of the age, and their writings sometimes led to the correcting of wrongs and reform (as in the case of The Jungle, which lead to the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906). They could galvanize public action with eloquent and descriptive writing, which could move an audience as effectively as a rousing speech made by a politician.

Negative: Theodore Roosevelt pointed out that some muckrakers' motives were not entirely pure - some did it to get attention and earn money. Some muckrakers had a tendency to exaggerate, in order to receive that attention or to force a reaction that they wanted. TR emphasized how their negative press contributed to the decline of American optimism, and how that their pessimism could ruin national pride and unity.

2.) Ultimately, what were the main contributions of the Progressive Movement?

The Progressive Movement was basically the birth of modern liberalism - they supported increased government involvement in peoples' lives, in order to improve safety, living conditions, and make society more just. Many of their programs, such as the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, still stand today and are butressed by even stronger laws. The reforms of the Progressive Movement inspired more government involvement in The New Deal and the Great Society of later years.

3.) What is graft?  Why were reformers opposed to it?

Graft is the paying of favors to political supporters - most often, it was embodied in the "spoils system" started by Andrew Jackson, which gave federal jobs to party supporters. Under the urban "boss" system, the head of the political party (like the Tammany Hall ring in New York) gave jobs, appeared at funerals, weddings, and influenced court cases in favor of their supporters. Often, immigrants were supporters of bosses, and the graft was the most prevelent means in which new citizens participated in politics.

Obviously, this display of favortism angered middle-class reformers, who demanded fair and unbiased government. Bosses often tolerated prostitution, saloons, and other social misfits who were under the bosses' protection. A wave of anti-immigrant sentiment among Progressives, as a result.

4.) Name some specific problems that Progressives wished to address.

• Lack of consumer protection (they wanted an end to false ads, additions of addictive or harmful additives to medicines and foods). Solution: Pure Food and Drug Act.
• End to dangerous and unsanitary working conditions. Solution: Laws against Child Labor, and limits on women's work hours and types of work that womenc would participate in).
• An end to graft and bossism. Solution: Exposing groups like the Tammany Ring and Boss Tweed, beginning civil service exams.
• Conservation - preserving natural resources from waste by large corporations. Solution: National Parks, purchase of lands by fed. government.

5.) Name some popular muckrakers, their works, and the subject of their works.

• Lincoln Steffens, Shame of the Cities - exposed boss system and graft in urban areas.
• Jacob Riis, How The Other Half Lives - a photo collection of tenement dwellers and factory workers.
• Upton Sinclair, The Jungle - expose of unsanitary, unsafe meat packing factories in Chicago.
• John Spargo, The Bitter Cry of Children - a denunciation of child labor in mines and factories.
• Ida Tarbell, History of the Standard Oil Company - exposed the uncompetitive practices of one of the nation's largest trusts.

6.) List the main ideas in TR's "Square Deal".

• The abolition of special privelege and graft.
• The government has a duty to act in "public interest" - which includes consumer safety, preserving competition, etc.
• Preserve the balance of poor and rich - don't have too many or too little of each.

7.) TR's participation in the United Mine Workers vs. Anthracite Coal Operator strike was revolutionary in his time. Were his decisions progressive, or evidence of power-hunger?

Roosevelt was the first president to bring labor and capital together to meet at the White House. He threatened to bring troops to stop the strike and managed to bring the two parties to a civil agreement. This was a very progressive move, because he was attempting to reform labor and business, while trying to regulate excessive work hours. He combined the force of a democratic government with the use of arbitration.