How would the world be different if there had been no Progressive Era?
If you look at the writings of the time, the Pre-Progressive Era featured child labor (14 hour days, 61/2 days per week, dangerous working conditions, extreem low pay, slums (without indoor plumbing), hired thungs who shot labor unionists and their families, garbage in the streets, party bosses who chose the candidates with no input from the people, direct and indirect bribing of congressmen, no direct party primary, and lots of other probelms. People began to wake up, speak out, and organise. Among the leaders were: McClure’s Magazine–featuring Ida Tarbell, Lincolon Stffens and other reporters; Jane Addams, founder of Hull House;environmentalists like John Muir and Gifford Pinchot; politicians like Robert La Follette, William Borah, and Teddy Roosevelt; Labor leaders, including Mother Jones and lawyers like Clarence Darrow. Between then they changed our world, but not alone. They organized people by neighborhood, by getting real news out to the readers, muchraking (It’s a good thing)
