US History, Horowitz Text, p. 57-69

US History, p. 57-69

Urban Progressives & Reformers

• 1. Washington politicians looked abroad to strengthen the economy + reinvigorate
• 2. reformers sought to eliminate corruption/inefficiency in local governments
• 3. NY’s Tammany Hall, controlled a $12 M payroll & more jobs than Carnegie Steel
• 4. machine bosses received bribes from liquor, prostitution, gambling
• 5. 1903, corporate bribes for NY Franchises - $470M
• 6. politician George Washington Plunkitt defended the activities as “honest graft.”
• 7. E. L. Godkin, editor of the Nation wanted civil service reform
• 8. Roosevelt patrolled NY’s Lower East Side
• 1) civic responsibility, 2) social responsibility, 3) citizenship

Urban Reform

• 1. machine politicians in Galveston, TX didn’t respond to a tidal wave
• 2. Galveston plan, civil service examinations administered
• 3. The Shame Of The Cities,
• 4. cities lowered public utility & transit rates
• 5. 2/3 of the nation’s cities owned and operated municipal waterworks by 1915
• a. introduced city planners, public health officials, sanitary engineers, housing officers, community development advisers & corporate experts
• b. used the secret ballot
• c. moved voting from saloons to public schools/libraries
• d. residency requirements for voter registration
• e. produced a 20% decline in voter participation between 1890-1920
• f. S. Dems supported 1) direct primary, 2) alcohol prohibition, 3) worker’s compensation, 4) regulation of railroads/utilities
• g. Republican reform governors in Oregon, S. Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri challenged boss control of legislatures, 1) promoted direct primary, 2) referendum, 3) voter’s initiative-voters proposed legislation
• h. governor Robert M. La Follette, “Wisconsin Idea,” “Laboratory of democracy.”
• i. Gov. Folk’s “Missouri Idea,” a program that used the law to restrain bribery, bossism, and excessive corporate power
• j. Folk: 1) regulate lobbyists, 2) regulate railroads, 3) pressed trusts on Standard Oil
• k. Cummins-Iowa, Beveridge-Indiana, Charles Evans-New York, Johnson-California governors
• l. N. Progressives: regulate women’s and children’s labor
• m. Muller v. Oregon, Brandeis won special protections for women such as shorter hours
• n. limited women’s equality in the workforce until the 1960s
• o. Socialists: government ownership, Conservatives: free marketplace

Roosevelt & Corporate Progressivism

• 1. William Jennings Bryan criticized imperial expansion
• 2. McKinley, Roosevelt: incumbents, won 52% of the vote
• 3. Leon Czolgosz shot McKinley in Buffalo @ the Pan-American Exposition
• 4. Roosevelt: born to comfort & poor health
• a. commitment to the strenuous life, violence & struggle are important
• b. man: “work, fight, breed.”
• c. soldier, cowboy, big-game hunter, author
• d. zestfully embraced the task of politics
• e. won election as governor of New York
• f. Republican Party bosses were afraid of Roosevelt’s progressivism
• g. “bully pulpit” for a national agenda, define the public interest & mold opinion
• h. the White House sent drafts of proposed bills to Congress
• i. advanced “corporate progressivism.”, used the state to regulate big business
• j. irresponsible/greedy management would encourage social unrest & radical politics
• k. wanted to revitalize the Sherman Anti-Trust Act
• l. targeted the N. Securities Company, a huge holding company, tried to restrain trade
• m. modified the Knight case, gave new vitality to the Sherman Act
• n. earned a reputation as a “trust buster.”
• o. 1911, Supreme court held up dissolution of Standard Oil & the American Tobacco Company
• p. Roosevelt: preserve corporate stability, encouraged business leaders to accept labor unions
• q. National Civic Federation (NCF): founded by Mark Hanna in 1900: 1) harmony between labor & management, 2) promoted trust regulations, 3) workers compensation, 4) company welfare programs
• r. Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was invited to serve as the vice president of the NCF
• s. John Mitchell: led United Mine Workers (UMW): 1) demanded a 10-20% wage increase, 2) an 8 hour day, 3) management’s recognition of the union
• t. Roosevelt summoned both sides to a conference: miners received a 10% raise & a 9 hour day BUT owners raised prices 10% and wouldn’t recognize the union
• u. Roosevelt did not champion unions
• v. Roosevelt wanted to save federally owned forests from unplanned economic exploitation by private interests
• w. Roosevelt: government would build dams & irrigation systems throughout the West
• y. ranchers/growers accessed cheap water through dams constructed through the Bureau of Reclamation
• z. 16 national monuments, 5 national parks, 51 wildlife refuges-off limits to economic development
• 1. Gifford Pinchot, head of the Bureau of Forestry
• a. promoted scientific management of forests

The Square Deal

• 1. Roosevelt’s “Square Deal,” federal government tried to eliminate inequalities in national life
• a. won 57% of the vote in 1904
• b. expanded the power of the federal bureaucracy and presidency
• c. railroad regulation reforms: agrarian radicals & middle class reformers were pleased
• d. Elkins Act of 1903, outlawed rebates from railroads to large shipper
• e. Hepburn Act, 1906, increased the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) & provided the commission with greater authority to set transportation rates
• f. Pure Food & Drug Act of 1906: improve consumer confidence in products
• g. Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, meatpacking industry abuses
• h. stock market crash of 1907,
• i. major NY banks failed
• j. Morgan’s US Steel was allowed to violate antitrust laws by absorbing a TN mining subsidiary
• k. Aldrich-Vreeland Act of 1908, gave nat’l banks additional flexibility
• l. established a National Monetary Commission to study the banking system
• m. Congress rejected bills to 1) supervise corporate competition, 2) regulate railroad securities, 3) establish income & inheritance taxes, 4) limit court injunctions against labor unions, 5) to establish an 8-hr day for federal employees
• n. Roosevelt attacked conservative judges for 1) blocking unions, 2) state worker’s compensation laws, and the regulation of women’s working conditions by the states
• o. opponent of “fool radicalism” of socialists & the selfishness of “malefactors of great wealth.”

Roosevelt & World Power, p. 68-69

• 1. Roosevelt hoped to consolidate the strategic & commercial gains of the Spanish-American War
• a. wanted to build a canal through Central America
• b. a US controlled canal would permit Latin America to develop as a prosperous region independent of outside forces & capable of upholding “civilized values.”
• c. Roosevelt invited British help in the construction of the Central American canal
• d. 1901, the Hay-Herran Treaty with Columbia, secured permanent rights to a canal zone through the middle of Panama
• e. difficult to make a deal with Columbia rulers
• f. US warships supported Panama’s move for independence
• g. 40 mile-long lock canal, opened in 1914
• h. Roosevelt Corollary > Monroe Doctrine
• i. US right to intervene
• j. US would be an international police power
• k. 1905, Roosevelt sent troops to Santo Domingo to forstall a revolution that would benefit German shipping interests
• l. sought to contain the spread of Japanese power in Asia
• m. Treaty of Portsmouth, end of Russo-Japanese War
• n. Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906
• o. the Chinese Empire collapsed, Japan sent powerful naval fleets to China
• p. Root-Takahira Treaty, 1908: compelled Washington to accept Japanese restrictions on the Open Door policy in Manchuria
• q. Japan agreed to respect the policy in the rest of China
• r. Roosevelt wanted to restrain the expansion of German influence
• s. Algeciras Conference of 1906, supported British & French interests in N. Africa
• t. Roosevelt framed a foreign policy directed toward a stable world order & an open door for US corporations