Only 8% of homes had a telephone and a three minute call from Denver to New York cost $11.
Only 14% of homes had a bathtub.
There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. and 144 miles of paved roads.
The average wage in the U.S. was only 22 cents/hour and the average American worker made $200-$400/year.
More than 95% of births took place in the home.
90% of all American doctors had no college education. Instead they attended medical schools that were reportedly “substandard.”
Most women washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were 1.Pneumonia and Influenza 2. Tuberculosis 3.Diarrhea 4.Heart Disease 5. Stroke
Drive-by shootings- in which teenage boys galloped down the street and started randomly shooting at houses, carriages, or anything else- was an on-going problem throughout the West.
Las Vegas, Nevada had a population of only 30 people.
Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine.
Only one in ten U.S. adults could read or write. Only 6% of Americans graduated from High School.
18% of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time servant.
There were about 230 reported annual murders… in the entire country.
Progressivism: A reform movement that included a wide range of groups and individuals with a common desire to improve life in the industrial age. They wanted to build upon existing society, making moderate political changes and social improvements through GOVERNMENT ACTION. They shared the goal of limiting big business, improving democracy for the people, and strengthening social justice.
A muckraker, in the early 19th century, was a journalist who investigated and exposed societal issues, usually amid a flurry of controversy and with the goal of reform. The term is credited to Theodore Roosevelt who was in favor of the muckraking journalists; he said of them in a speech:
“There are, in the body politic, economic and social, many and grave evils, and there is urgent necessity for the sternest war upon them. There should be relentless exposure of and attack upon every evil man whether politician or business man, every evil practice, whether in politics, in business, or in social life. I hail as a benefactor every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform, or in book, magazine, or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he in his turn remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful."
The excerpts below are from two of the better known muckrakers of the era. The first is a selection from Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” which describes the conditions of the meat packing industry and was directly related to both the Meat Inspection and Pure Food and Drug Acts.
An excerpt from the Pure Food and Drug Act can be found below. It shows the regulatory measures put in place to protect the consumers.
The second is a selection from Ida Tarbell’s “History of the Standard Oil Company” that exposed the ways big business attempted to circumvent anti-trust legislation an still maintain a monopoly. The specific section below discusses Rockefeller’s specific intentions.
Questions to consider:
1. Why do you think the country was so shocked by Sinclair’s work?
2. Why do you think Roosevelt supported the journalists? What benefit did they provide the government? What benefit did they provide the progressives?
The Monroe Doctrine was issued in 1823 by President James Monroe declaring the US the protector of the Western Hemisphere. In the early 20th century, President Roosevelt wanted to make clear that he would enforce the Monroe Doctrine.
Thus, Roosevelt issued the Corollary to keep European countries out of Latin America, specifically the Dominican Republic.
Questions to consider:
1. How does Roosevelt define the goal of US foreign policy?
2. According to Roosevelt, what choices does a nation have when its rights are violated? Which does he advocate? Why?
3. What is your opinion of Roosevelt's assertion that "[c]hronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation"?
Panama Canal Top The Panama Canal was begun by the French builders of the Suez Canal in 1881, though the project quickly faltered primarily due to technological limitations and the impact of tropical diseases, most notably malaria. By 1904, the United States, viewing the canal as crucial for economic well being, was ready to take up construction but balked at the price that Columbia, which controlled the canal site, demanded for construction to continue. Rather than acquiesce to Columbia’s demands, the United States staged an independence movement in the Columbian state of Panama Furthermore, the United States station naval gunboats off the coast to discourage Columbian interference. The independent nation of Panama quickly agreed to allow the United States to build the canal. By 1904, technological innovations eased construction difficulties for the Americans. The introduction of quinine limited the deaths caused by malaria and improvements in lock technology allowed engineers to overcome the elevation changes that bedeviled the French. When the Panama Canal was completed in 1914, it was regarded as a wonder of the modern world. Twice as long as the Suez Canal in Egypt, the Panama Canal was, at 51 miles, the largest artificial body of water in the world. Over 30 years of intermittent construction, approximately 80,000 laborers worked on the canal an estimated 30,000 of whom died, mostly from malaria. Construction of the canal cost the United States approximately $352 million dollars. By utilizing the canal, a ship sailing from San Francisco to New York could save nearly 8,000 miles
The first image is a photograph of President Theodore Roosevelt at the controls of a steam shovel at the canal site.
The second image is a photograph of two ships dredging the canal during construction.
Question to consider:
1. Has there been a comparable feat of construction in recent times?
