State and Municipal Reforms

An Expanded Role for Government Progressives sought more social welfare programs to help ensure a minimum standard of living. Many of the earliest Progressive reforms were made at the municipal, or city, level. Some municipal reformers worked for home rule, a system that gives cities a limited degree of self-rule. Municipal reformers opposed the influence of political bosses. Reformers made efforts to take over city utilities such as water, gas, and electricity. Some reform mayors led movements for city-supported welfare services such as public baths, parks, work-relief programs, playgrounds, kindergartens, and lodging houses for the homeless.

Progressive Political Reforms

Progressive Era Legislation

MUNICIPAL REFORM utilities - water, gas, electricity, trolleys council-manager plan (Dayton, 1913) Shoe line - Bowery men with gifts from ward boss Tim Sullivan, February, 1910 "Big Tim" Sullivan, a New York City ward boss, rewarded "repeat voters" with a new pair of shoes. Sullivan once explained, "When you've voted ‘em with their whiskers on, you take ‘em to a barber and scrape off the chin fringe. Then you vote ‘em again…Then to a barber again, off comes the sides and you vote ‘em a third time with the mustache…[Then] clean off the mustache and vote ‘em plain face. That makes every one of ‘em for four votes." (Library of Congress) Pageant 13e Reader’s Companion Shoe line--Bowery men with gift from Tim Sullivan, February, 1910 "Big Tim" Sullivan, a New York City ward boss, rewarded "repeat voters" with a new pair of shoes. Sullivan once explained, "When you've voted ‘em with their whiskers on, you take ‘em to a barber and scrape off the chin fringe. Then you vote ‘em again…Then to a barber again, off comes the sides and you vote ‘em a third time with the mustache…[Then] clean off the mustache and vote ‘em plain face. That makes every one of ‘em for four votes." (Library of Congress) Pageant 13e Reader’s Companion

MUNICIPAL REFORM strong mayor system MAYOR COUNCIL MEMBER COUNCIL MEMBER COUNCIL MEMBER COUNCIL MEMBER COUNCIL MEMBER CITY SERVICES council-manager plan (Dayton, 1913) COUNCIL MEMBER COUNCIL MEMBER COUNCIL MEMBER COUNCIL MEMBER COUNCIL MEMBER CITY MANAGER CITY SERVICES

STATE POLITICAL REFORM Secret Ballots the way a voter votes is held confidential Direct Primary members of a party nominate candidates Seventeenth Amendment (1913) Direct election of senators Initiative Public may propose a law or amendment Referendum A law passed by the legislature is sent to the voters for approval Recall Voters may remove an elected official from office Wadsworth.com Robert M. LaFollette, Wisconsin Governor 1900-06

STATE POLITICAL REFORM Voter Participation in Presidential Elections, 1876-1920

STATE SOCIAL REFORMS professional social workers settlement houses - education, culture, day care child labor laws Enable education & advancement for working class children

STATE SOCIAL REFORMS workplace & labor reforms eight-hour work day improved safety & health conditions in factories workers compensation laws minimum wage laws unionization child labor laws Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 1913

State Social Reform: Child Labor “Breaker Boys” Pennsylvania, 1911 Child Laborers in Indiana Glass Works, Midnight, Indiana. 1908 (1) Description: Child Laborers in Indiana Glass Works, Midnight, Indiana. 1908. Photographer, Lewis W. Hine; Credit: Nartional Archives and Records Administration; http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/thumbnail272.html (2) Description: Child Laborer, Newberry, S.C. 1908. The overseer said apologetically, "She just happened in." She was working steadily . photographer, Lewis W. Hine;Credit: Nartional Archives and Records Administration; http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/thumbnail273.html (3) The coal mines of Pennsylvania employed more than ten thousand boys under the age of 16. Known as "breaker boys," they sorted coal. Such work was dangerous and sometimes fatal, as attested by this 1911 headline. (Library of Congress); Pageant 13e History Companion (4) Lewis W. Hine. Shrimp pickers in Peerless Oyster Co. Bay St. Louis, Miss., March 3, 1911.;"On other side of shed still younger children were working. Out of sixty working,... I counted 15 apparently under 12 years of age. Some 3, 4, and 5 years old were picking too.... Boss said they went to work at 3 A.M. and would quit about 3 or 4 P.M." ; PBS American Photography Shrimp pickers in Peerless Oyster Co. Bay St. Louis, Miss., March 3, 1911 Child Laborer, Newberry, S.C. 1908

Settlement Houses Hull-House – Jane Addams Hull House today: http://cpl.lib.uic.edu/004chicago/timeline/hullhouse.html; http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/addams/aa_addams_subj_e.html; (1906 picture) http://tigger.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/urbanexp/main.cgi?file=img/show_gallery.ptt&gallery=3 Jane Addams (1905) Hull-House Complex in 1906

TEMPERANCE Temperance Crusade Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) Anti-Saloon League Frances Willard (1838-98), leader of the WCTU http://prohibition.osu.edu/Willard/; http://prohibition.history.ohio-state.edu/asl/OhioDry1.htm Anti-Saloon League Campaign, Dayton

TEMPERANCE & PROHIBITION Eighteenth Amendment Henretta, America’s History 4e from http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/mapcentral Prohibition on the Eve of the 18th Amendment, 1919