The Progressive Movement

1
The Progressive Movement
2
Attacks against the rich.

• Henry Demarest Lloyd - Wealth against
  Commonwealth. Standard Oil. Bloated Trusts.
• Thorstein Veblen - The Theory of the Leisure
  Class. predatory wealth conspicuous
  consumption.
• Jacob A. Riis - How the other half lives. New
  York slums.

3
Muckrakers

• Journalism.
• McClures, Cosmopolitan, Colliers, Everbodys.
• Exposure of public wrongs.
• More democracy would cure the ills.

4
Democracy in action

• Initiative A procedure whereby ordinary
  citizens could propose laws for consideration by
  their state legislatures.
• Referendum A procedure whereby citizens could
  vote directly on whether to approve public laws.
• Recall A public official could be removed from
  office by a direct vote of the citizens.

5
More Demo

• Secret Ballot Public voting and voter records
  were kept until this time.
• Direct primary Party candidates chosen by
  rank-and-file party members instead of party
  bosses.
• Direct election of US Senators Seventeenth
  Amendment. (1913)
• Womens Suffrage Nineteenth Amendment. (1920)

6
Efficiency

• City manager system. Paid professional
  administrators ran the day-day affairs of the
  city.
• Centralization of decision-making process.
  Streamline government.
• Movements to eliminate government corruption.

7
Regulation of Large Corporations and Monopolies

• Laissez-Faire Let the market decide.
• Trust-busting Suppression of competition.
• Regulation Some large corporations or
  monopolies are inevitable and maybe even
  desirable, but they need supervision.
• Socialism Government should acquire ownership of
  large corporations and run them for the public
  good.

8
Social Justice

• Development of professional social workers.
  Welfare and charity work should be done by
  professionals.
• The building of Settlement Houses. Raise the
  standard of living by providing schools, day care
  centers and cultural enrichment programs.
• Child Labor Laws School vice work.

9
Social Justice cont

• Support for the goals of organized labor. Eight
  hour work day, improved health and safety
  conditions, workmans compensation, minimum wage,
  Unionization.
• Prohibition laws. Eighteenth Amendment (1919)

10
Odds and ends

• TRs square deal.
• Panic of 1907.
• Conservation.
• Election of 1908.
• Taft as president.
• Dollar diplomacy.