300 word blog post on California History
HRW33
RootsofReform4.3.ppt*
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Roots of Reform
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Dominance of the Railroads
- Central Pacific RR surrounded and dominated the Bay Area, and dominated the Oakland waterfront
- Southern Pacific Railroad acquired by the Big Four in the late 1860s
- The Southern Pacific Railroad was then granted the second transcontinental rail route
- Founded the town of Colton
- Virgil Earp and the Battle of the Crossing (1883)
- The railroad gouged producers on freight costs, and thus made an impact on many industries.
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Progressivism: What’s in a Name?
- Progressivism not a specific organization, but rather was a societal movement of reform.
- It was prevalent in American society c. 1900-1920.
- People with various and diverse goals would have considered themselves progressive.
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Progressivism (continued)
- Under the influence of the Enlightenment and Darwinism, progressives believed that humanity could be advanced and society improved.
- Progressivism held a high view of human potential, and that meant putting away old ways, and also freeing individuals from the shackles of the modern industrial age.
- Progressivism wanted to move ahead into the possibilities of the future.
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Progressivism (continued)
- In the early 1900s California and several other states began to reform themselves, coinciding with the transformation of the USA from an agricultural to an industrial society; reform from
- Political corruption
- Corporate corruption, especially the railroad in California
- Better conditions, hours and wages for workers (Starr 143)
- Women’s voting rights
- Historians call this “reformation” the Progressive Movement
- Championing values of the Enlightenment, Progressive platforms were often pushed by the political left
- The Bay Area left was influenced by the harder edge of Marxism; businesses were often “closed shop”; a major center of unionization.
- The southern California left was of the softer, Fabian socialist perspective, known as the “good government,” or “goo-goos,” group. Businesses were often “open shop.”
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Burnette Haskell
- Early reformer
- Formed Coast Seamen’s Union (1885); later became Sailors’ Union of the Pacific (1891), which won reforms in 1915.
- Formed Kaweah Colony in the area of today’s Sequoia Nat’l Park (1885); radical, Utopian in outlook
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California’s Peculiar Institution
- Migratory Farm Labor
- Cf. Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men
- Involvement of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) (Wobblies)
- Ralph Durst ranch in the vicinity of Wheatland
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San Francisco Trial
- Abraham Ruef
- Political boss
- Public Utilities hired Ruef as their attorney
- Pacific Gas and Electric
- Home Telephone Company
- United Railroad Company
- Eugene “Handsome Gene” Schmitz, Ruef’s hand-picked candidate for mayor under the Union Labor party
- Perpetuated the bribe-based corporation-government relationship
- Opposed by public-spirited citizens
- After the Earthquake, President T. Roosevelt sent the Feds in to help investigate S.F. political corruption
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San Francisco (cont.)
- Earthquake—April 18, 1906
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Los Angeles
- Good Government Movement
- Led by Dr. John Randolph Haynes; “Open Shop”
- Opposed by Harrison Gray Otis, editor of the Los Angeles Times
- New Charter for L.A. in 1903
- Includes the political instruments of “the initiative, the referendum, and the recall” (R&B 259).
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Lincoln-Roosevelt League
- Republican Convention 1906: corruption apparent
- Journalists Edward Dickson and Chester Rowell become active in promoting reform within the Republican party
- Organized 50 other activists
- Direct primary in 1909
- Republicans nominated Hiram Johnson, who then won the governorship in 1910.
- Railroad reform ensued, as well as women’s suffrage (1911) and labor reforms
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Progressive Reforms
- Initiative-A procedure for citizens to propose a law to be taken up by the state legislature or by the citizens directly (via ballot).
- Referendum-A procedure for citizens to vote directly on approval of a proposed law.
- Recall-A procedure for removing a public official from office via the direct vote of the people.
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Progressive Reforms (cont.)
- Secret Ballot- Citizens’ votes are kept secret.
- Direct primary-Political party nominations are via direct vote of rank-and-file members of the party rather than by party leadership.
- Direct election of U.S. Senators-Guaranteed by the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1913), establishes the direct vote by the citizens of a state for their U.S. Senators.
- Women's Suffrage-Guaranteed by the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920), recognizes the right of women to vote.
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Governor Hiram Johnson
- Part of team that prosecuted Boss Ruef
- Republican nominee for governor and supported by progressives
- Served two terms as Governor
- V.P. nominee on Progressive ticket with T. Roosevelt in 1912
