Chapter 22 THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

1. Chapter 22THE PROGRESSIVE ERA America Past and Present Eighth Edition

2. The Changing Face of Industrialism • Industrial growth meant more goods at lower prices • Residue of social problems from 1890s • Poverty & disease persisted • 20th century began on optimistic note • People believed technology & enterprise would shape a better life p.628-629

3. The Innovative Model T • Henry Ford transformed auto industry with mass production • Small profit on each unit, gross of huge profit on high volume of sales • 1908: Model T introduced • Best example of a mass produced consumer product in the early 1900s • 1916: Fed govt began highway subsidies p.629-630

4. The Burgeoning Trusts • The trend toward bigness in industry accelerated after 1900 • Standard Oil, American Tobacco, Amalgamated Copper, US Rubber • 1% of industrialized firms producing nearly ½ of all manufactured goods • Bankers provided integrated control through interlocking directorates • Trusts controversial • Often denounced as threats to equality • Some defended as more efficient p.630-631

5. Business Consolidations (mergers), 1895–1905 p.630

6. Managing the Machines • Frederick Taylor pub’d “Principles of Scientific Management, 1911” which advocated work standards & coop • Worker welfare, morale suffered • Better paychecks • Increased danger, tedium • 1911 ~ Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire demonstrated risks of factory work p.631

7. Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire • Focused attention on unsafe working conditions • Doors locked to prevent theft & keep out labor organizers • 146 deaths from stampede, burns, smoke inhalation, & jumping • Mostly Italians & Jews from Eastern Europe NYC ~ March 1911 p.632

8. Protests Against Working Conditions • Rose Schneiderman, 29 yr old organizer for the Women’s Trade Union, lead numerous protests against factory working conditions. • Outcry impelled NY’s governor to estab a State Factory Investigating Commission p.632-633

9. Society's Masses • To keep up with the demand for workers, more & more women, African Americans, Asians, & Mexican Americans entered the workforce • Expanded employment increased production • For many, life was harsh, spent in slums & working long hours p.633

10. Better Times on the Farm • Isolation reduced by mail and parcel post deliveries to farms • Tenant farmers remained impoverished • Western farmers benefited from vast irrigation projects p.633-634

11. Irrigation & Conservation in the West to 1917 p.633

12. Women & Children at Work • Women resisted ideals of domesticity to enter work force • Women’s labor unions defended rights of women & child laborers • Sheppard-Towner Maternity & Infancy Protection Act of 1921: Helped fund maternity & pediatric clinics • Set precedent for the Social Security Act of 1935 p.634-635

13. Margaret Sanger • Nurse & outspoken social reformer, led a campaign to give physicians broad discretion in prescribing contraceptives • Fed Comstock Law banned interstate transport of devices & information p.635-637

14. The Niagara Movement & the NAACP • Most African Americans were poor sharecroppers, segregated by Jim Crow Laws & at mercy of violent white mobs • Black workers gained least from prosperity • 1905: W.E.B. DuBois & others rejected accommodation to racist society • "Niagara Movement" demands immediate respect for equal rights of all • DeBois head of Niagara Movement • NAACP & Urban League advocate African American rights p.635-639

15. "I Hear the Whistle": Immigrants in the Labor Force • 1901–1920: Fresh influx of Europeans, Mexicans, Asians to labor force • Non-English speakers considered a social problem • Programs to "Americanize" them • Immigration limitations • Chinese immigration banned in 1902 • Literacy tests used against other immigrant groups p.639-641

16. Immigration to the United States 1900–1920 (by area of origin) p.639

17. Mexican Immigration to the United States, 1900–1920 p.640

18. Conflict in the Workplace • Low wages combined with demands for increased productivity led to increase in labor unrest in early 1900s • Industrial productivity fell • Union membership soared p.642

19. Organizing Labor • AFL led by Samuel Gompers was the largest union • 1903 ~ Women excluded from AFL form Women's Trade Union League • 1905 ~ Those excluded from AFL form Industrial Workers of the World • Radical organizations win spectacular strikes with small numbers • Fear of class warfare increases p.642-643

20. Labor Union Membership, 1897–1920 p.642

21. Working with Workers • Some employers turned to the new fields of applied psychology & personnel management to improved working conditions & avoid trouble • Henry Ford doubled wages, reduced workday ~ Tried many innovations • Plant production increased • Union activity ended • “Hawthorne Effect” ~ Cicero, IL • Western Electric Plant • NIB p.644

22. AmoskeagManchester, NH • Amoskeag Mills (textile plant), modeled paternalistic approach to labor management • Company hired whole families • Benefits included playgrounds, health care, home-buying plans, recreation • A model community • Japanese system? p.644-645

23. A New Urban Culture • For many, life improved significantly between 1900-1920 • Jobs were plentiful • Growing middle class consumed new inventions & entertainment • Americans increasingly became consumers of the mass production of products p.645

24. Production & Consumption • 1900–1920: Advertising agencies boomed. New techniques created demand for goods • Goods increased US standard of living • Middle class expanded & rich grew richer • New federal Income Tax (1920) provided first accurate accounting of income • 5% of population collected almost 25% of $ p.645-646

25. Living & Dying in an Urban Nation • By 1920, the average life span increased substantially, infant mortality (death rate) still high • Booming cities took on modern form • Giants were NYC, Chicago, & Philadelphia ~ Turned out every kind of product from textiles to structural steel • Zoning regulations, first in Los Angles, separated industrial, commercial, residential areas p.646-647

26. Popular Pastimes • Ordinary people achieved leisure for first time in American history • Popular music: Sousa marches, ragtime, blues, jazz, vaudeville • Light reading included romance, detective, science-fiction novels • Spectator pastimes included baseball, football, movies, concerts • 1905 ~ 18 players die playing college football ~ TR decided to clean it up • National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) founded in 1910 p.647-648

27. Experimentation in the Arts • Isadora Duncan transformed dance • Departed from traditional ballet steps & stressed improvisation • T.S. Eliot rejected traditional poetic meter & rhyme p.648-650

28. Experimentation in the Arts • Robert Henri & the realist painters –known to their critics as the “Ash Can” School—relished in the excitement of the environment of the cities • Painted the truth with “strength, fearlessness & individuality” • Note: “Ashcan” p.648-650

29. A Ferment of Discovery & Reform • Racism, labor conflict remained • Solid social & economic gains made • Optimism that social experiments can succeed p.650

30. Chapter 22THE PROGRESSIVE ERA America Past and Present Eighth Edition End