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Progressivisim
The Populist Party had protested what they saw was unfair buisness practices and had pressed for the government action to stop them.Populism was mainly a rural movement. Progressivism, however, focused on urban problems, such as the plight of workers, poor sanitation, and corrupt political machines. -
Moral Reform
Progressives also wanted to "clean up" what they considered to be immoral behavior. They called it prohibition- a ban on the manufacture, sale, anad transportation of alcoholic beverages-and the closing of the nation's saloons. Progressives also wanted to control birth. -
Writers and Social Problems
Edith Wharton wrote about how the closedmindedness of elite society leads a good-hearted heroine to social isolation and despair. Progressives such as Jane Addams and Herbert Croly wanted to transform the U.S. society and its values, but they remained committed to democracy. Most progressives sought reforms of local government, business, and city life to ensure that the full promise of democracy could become available to all citizens. -
Female and Child Labor Laws
In The Bitter Cry of Children, John Spargo charged the textile industries with the "enslavement of children." He reported that women and children were employed to do work that he "could not do...and live." Spargo found that few child laborers had ever attended school or read. Many children would work in factories to support their family or else their family would starve. -
Playgrounds
People wanted a safe place for children to play. A 1908 Massachusetts law required all cities with a population greater that 10,000 to hold a referendum on whether that city should build a playground. Within the year, 41 out of 42 cities had shown their support for such actions. By 1920, cities had spent millions of dillars building playgrounds. -
City Planning
In 1909 Daniel Burnham, a leading architect and city planner, produced a magnificant plan for redesign a U.S. city. The centerpiece of Burnham's vision for Chicago was a soaring city hall that would inspire all residents to be good citizens. His efforts helped people realize that city planning-park constructions, building codes, sanitation standards and zoning-was a necessary function of municipal government. -
Labor Laws
Progressives fought for higher wages. Some 30 million men and 7.5 million women were employed in 1910, and about one third of them lived in poverty. That year Catholic Church official Monsignor John Ryan called for "the establishment by laws of minimum rates of wages that will equal or approximate the normal standards of living for the differet group workers." Two years later Massachusetts responded to a progressive lobbying by passing the nation's first minimum-wage law.
