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Chapter 22 |
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In late 1902, writers for McClure's Magazine introduced a new type of journalism, investigating and exposing the problems caused by rapid industrialization and urbanization. These journalists, dubbed “muckrakers” by Theodore Roosevelt, contributed to a broad reform movement called “progressivism.” From the mid-1890s through World War I, progressives challenged the status quo and sought changes in the nation’s society, politics, economy, culture, and environment.
The Changing Face of Industrialism
In spite of persistent problems of poverty, disease, and racism, a new century and generally improved economic conditions brought a sense of optimism to Americans. The emergence of mammoth business enterprises from 1895 to 1915 led to inevitable changes in managerial attitudes, business organization, and worker roles.
The Innovative Model T
In 1913, Henry Ford established a moving assembly line to mass produce his standard automobile, the Model T. By dramatically reducing the time and costs of production, Ford managed to lower prices and expand sales and profits. The passage of the Federal Roads Act in 1916 established a national highway system.
The Burgeoning Trusts
Standard Oil began a national trend among American big businesses toward oligopoly by swallowing up smaller competitors. By 1909, nearly one-third of the nation's manufactured goods were produced by only one percent of the industrial companies. Massive business mergers and reorganizations touched off a national debate over what the national government could and/or should do about the trusts. Many progressives as well as business leaders generally favored moderate reforms that would promote economic progress while protecting private property.
Managing the Machines
Assembly line production caused management to focus on speed and product rather than on the worker. Following Frederick Winslow Taylor’s principles of “scientific management,” managers tried to extract maximum efficiency from their workers. Factories ran round the clock; jobs became increasingly monotonous and dangerous; and workers lost control of the work pace as well as the “folkways” of the workplace. A 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City killed 146 people and focused national attention on unsafe working conditions.
Society's Masses
The mass production of goods in America allowed for greater consumption and required a larger work force. Women, African Americans, Mexican Americans, and immigrants played significant roles in the nation's economic expansion and sought to improve their individual as well as group conditions. For many of these people life was incredibly hard, characterized by long hours, low wages, and inadequate housing.
Better Times on the Farm
As many Americans continued to migrate to the cities, those who remained on the nation’s farms experienced some prosperity, benefiting from greater production and expanding urban markets. Improved roads and mail services diminished rural isolation and brought farmers into the larger society. Progressive reforms, including efforts to eliminate “farm-bred” diseases and irrigation projects, also contributed to a “better life” on the farm. At the same time, however, land prices rose with improved crop prices, causing rates of farm tenancy to increase, especially in the South.
Women and Children at Work
In 1900, one-fifth of all adult women worked, but most earned only meager wages in industrial or service-oriented jobs. Women of color had even fewer job opportunities or protections, and most found themselves restricted to domestic service. The increase in the number of White women working did not go unnoticed, provoking the criticism that working women threatened the home. Continuing use of child labor also aroused public indignation, and led women reformers to lobby for federal protection of maternal and infant health.
The Niagara Movement and the NAACP
Progressive reforms seemed barely to touch the lives of African Americans. Most continued to live in rural areas, many in the Jim Crow South, laboring in the cotton fields or in unskilled jobs. Few belonged to unions, obtained adequate education, or earned pay equal to that of White workers in the same jobs. African-American leader W. E. B. Du Bois rejected the gradualist approach urged by Booker T. Washington and began the Niagara Movement for racial justice and equality, resulting in the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1910. Despite limited gains, African Americans continued to experience violence, segregation, and discrimination.
“I Hear the Whistle”: Immigrants in the Labor Force
The “new” immigration of southern and eastern Europeans continued in the early twentieth century. Not all immigrants were permanent. Among some groups, up to fifty percent returned to their homelands. For those who stayed, employers used “Americanization” programs to fashion dutiful habits among foreign workers. Such programs were often resisted by labor unions. After 1910, large numbers of Mexicans fled to the United States, transforming society in the Southwest. Though fewer Chinese immigrants arrived, many Japanese came settling along the Pacific Coast. The increasing numbers of immigrants intensified nativist sentiments.
Conflict in the Workplace
Long hours, low pay, and the impersonal and unsafe conditions of factory jobs led to an increase of worker strikes, absenteeism, and union membership. Mindful of workers’ problems and fearful of potential violence, progressives urged labor reforms.
Organizing Labor
The most successful union, the American Federation of Labor (AFL), restricted membership to skilled male workers and limited its agenda to issues of wages and working conditions. The Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) led the effort to organize women workers and promote their interests. The militant International Workers of the World (IWW) welcomed anyone regardless of gender or race, urging labor solidarity and calling for social revolution.
Working with Workers
Some business leaders used violence and police action to keep workers in line. Others, influenced by the emergence of a school of industrial psychology, learned to consider workers’ job satisfaction, safety, and pay as a means to promote productivity and improve public relations.
Amoskeag
A large New England textile company, Amoskeag suffered no worker strikes from 1885 to 1919. The key to their industrial harmony seemed to be the company’s paternal interest in employee welfare, exhibited by its provision of recreational, educational, and health services for its workers.
A New Urban Culture
The first two decades of the twentieth century saw a general improvement in the quality of life for many Americans. Jobs were plentiful, the professions increased, the middle class grew, and new entertainments and inventions emerged.
Production and Consumption
Consumer advertising increased tremendously between 1900 and 1920, informing the new consumer generation about new products and improvements on old ones. Although most Americans’ income increased, so did prices, eating up most workers’ available spending money. And despite the growth of the middle class, the rich above all, grew richer.
Living and Dying in an Urban Nation
Due to medical advances and improved living conditions, average life expectancies for Americans increased dramatically. Infant mortality remained high, however. Cities grew by leaps and bounds, and by 1920 fewer than one-half of all Americans lived in rural areas. Rising urban affluence led to outlying suburbs, and major cities used zoning as a technique to shape growth and, often, extend racial and ethnic segregation.
Popular Pastimes
Changing work rules and increasing mechanization from 1890 to 1920 gradually allowed American workers greater leisure time for play and enjoyment of the arts. Mass entertainment consisted of sporting events, vaudeville, and later, movies, while phonograph records brought the new types of music—ragtime, blues, and jazz—into people’s homes. Even popular fiction became mass produced. As audiences grew, entertainment became big business.
Experimentation in the Arts
In the fine arts, Americans sought new forms and styles of expression, reflecting the period’s pervading call for change and progress. The nation’s urban centers, especially New York City and Chicago, attracted painters, writers, poets, dancers, and musicians interested in artistic experimentation. These artists joined with a generation of people in the fields of politics, journalism, science, education, and a host of others in hopes of progressive change.
Conclusion: A Ferment of Discovery and Reform
The first two decades of the twentieth century were a time of sweeping change that affected American society, culture, politics, and the economy. Progressive reform reshaped the landscape of the country, restructured taxes, regulated business, changed the political system, and altered the lives of Americans, especially the working and middle classes, in an attempt to make a difference and fulfill the promise of the nation.
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