Untitled Flashcards Set

Progressive Reforms:

How the Other Half Lives and Poverty, Politics, Profit by Jacob Riis:

• Extreme poverty in the lower class

• Increase of living cost while wage stays the same 

• Stereotypes against lower and upper class that created discrimination against them 

• Child labor and unfair worker treatment  

Jacob Riis: born in Denmark, immigrant to America, experienced poverty → causing his reform in advocating of children's rights and the poverty of the poor, used photography to influence reform 

Reforms Influenced: 

• congestion in cities and unsanitary conditions → build parks and playgrounds (Mulberry Bend Park) 

• Kick-started legislation for conditions of tenement housing 

• Tenement House Act of 1901: minimum size for tenement houses 

MDE: 

• Dallas TX after 2008 house market crash 

• Pay mortgage → no longer afford 

• Only 25% could get assistance, Section 8 Program → gov’t hand check for 1 month rent but only so many they can give out → stampede to get checks 

• Lower income families discriminated against 

• Had jobs but could not find people who would take them in, wages not affordable to current rent 

  • Possible Fixes: 

    • Reform current housing programs (National Housing Trust Fund, Affordable Housing Program) → ADD MONEY TO THEM

    • Build more affordable housing (directly address the problem and creates more labor jobs but stigma is a bad thing)

The Bitter Cry of Labor by Lewis Hine and John Spargo: 

Problem: 

• Rapid industrialization → kids into mines cuts costs and little fingers 

• No education, 10 hour days, no exposure to outside, health problems with mine dust

• Low wages and overworking without providing for family 

Lewis Hine: 

• Sociologist, professor, emphasized photography for reform 

• Head photographer for the National Child Labor Committee

• Powerful imagery in photos → evoke emotion 

John Spargo: 

• English immigrant 

• Experienced poverty and worked for low wages and waited in bread lines 

• Prominent member of Socialist Party 

• Bitter Cry of Children book by him → Socialistic ideas in his books 

  • Working class treated poorly and necessity for reform 

MDE: 

• DRCongo cobalt mines → used in electronic devices 

• Recruit kids for child labor to maximize profits 

• No education, long days, cobalt is toxic to touch or inhale → dangerous conditions here, low pay 

• Apple, tesla, etc. 

  • Possible fixes: 

    • Was womens platforms and things but not really legal reform 

    • Legal reforms today don’t work even if laws 

      • Force the company to recognize that they are using child labor 

      • Government programs regulating who works in mines 

      • Educational programs to stay in school all day 

Lynch Law: 

Problem: 

• Lynchings plagued the South and murdered AAs

• Done by KKK and White Liners 

• Motivated by ideology to correct the mistakes of the governemnt (giving civil rights)

• Falsely accused as well 

Ida B. Wells: 

• Born into slavery after War 

• Parents in politics active 

• Teacher → writer 

• Editorial campaign against lynching 

• AA hate and lynchings targeting innocents and guilty 

• White Justification: 

  • Black people committed crimes 

  • Use blacks as scapegoat 

  • TKAM

Reform: 

• Costigan Wagner Bill: every state gets EP from lynching 

  • Died but no vote after FDRs election

• Emett Till Antilcynching law: lynching is federal hate crime 

  • Joe Biden 

MDE: 

• Fredie Gray Baltimore Riots 

• Mayor sets curfew

• Death of freddie gray → arrested for unknown reasons → pain and screaming

  • Rough Ride: police try to hurt the individual 

• March led by ministers

• Mostly looting and fires 

• Stems from distrust between police and the people 

  • Police tried communication 

The Shame in Our Cities and the Lobbyist Playbook by Lincoln Stephens: 

Lincoln Steffens: 

• Wealthy Californian 

• Worked in newspaper at NY → saw political corruption 

Problems: 

• Business and politics entangled 

• Business only works to make profit and for individual gain 

• Advocates for voting for city/state/nation not party affiliation 

• Politics is business → good politicians cannot be good 

Reforms: 

• Clayton Antitrust: promoted fair competition and limited ability for businesses to monopolize 

• Federal Reserve Act: panic of 1893 JP morgan saves so establish federal reserve so the government did not rely on private businesses → regulates own economy 

MDE: 

• Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX)

• Billions in gov’t contracts between companies 

• Supported Trump, creates PAC → gets position in DOGE 

• Signing a petition to support his pro Trump PAC for the chance to win a prize of 1 million a day 

The History of the Standard Oil Company by Ida Tarbell: 

Ida Tarbell: 

• Against big monopolies 

• Muckrakers 

• The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904) 

  • Took it down and brought up issues 

Problems: 

• Horizontal integration 

  • Bought up all other forms and companies 

  • Raised prices on oil when demands allowed (because could set to whatever want) 

• Vertical Integration 

  • All parts of manufacture 

Reforms: 

• Sherman Antitrust Act (1890):

  • Take down trusts and monopolies that were taking over other companies 

  • Unsuccessful 

• Clayton Antitrust Act (1914): 

  • More effective 

MDE: 

• Luxottica 

• Owns most sunglasses and glasses companies 

• Controls production and sale price of glasses because of this 

  • Thus can set price 

  • Big margins in luxury brands