Essay On Muckrakers

A muckraker can be thought of two ways; as someone who invades another's privacy to an extreme unnecessarily or as someone willing to endanger themselves and expose the truth to help others. Jessica Mitford saw being a muckraker as an honorable title and proudly accepted the name as ''Queen of the Muckrakers''. Over the years so called muckrakers have brought to light the offenses of people and businesses to better improve the conditions of the community. During the 1900s we can see them doing some of their most noteworthy work.
Elizabeth Cochran, also known by her pen name Nellie Bly, became an accomplished muckraker after uncovering the abuse malpractice taking place in Blackwell Island Asylum. In 1887 Bly spent 10 days in the Blackwell Island Asylum under the facade that she was mentally ill. During her time there she reported on the patients being starved, beaten, cold baths, and drugged by the staff. After being released and publishing her findings the public became aware of the injustices taking place and the asylum was shut down in 1894. Since the asylum was exposed for the nightmare it truly was the Department of Public Charities and
Corrections received a $1,000,000 budget increase for changes and regulations to be made. Bly's determination to find out the truth about the conditions of mental hospitals lead her to risk her life to help that of others and prevent more people from having the same experiences.
In 1906 Upton Sinclair released his novel, The Jungle, disclosing the disgusting practices in the meat packing industry. Sinclair's fictional book unveiled the exploitation of immigrant workers, unsanitary conditions, and the feeding the public diseased and mistreated meat. Once the book hit the shelves it became a bestseller and the public was outraged at the lack of regulations in the meat-packing industry. That same year President Roosevelt signed the Meat Inspection Act and The Pure Food and Drug Act which later lead to the formation of the Federal Food and Drug Administration.
Another muckraker made himself known in 1906 as well, Samuel Hopkins Adams. While working for Collier's Weekly he wrote 11 articles on the inaccuracy and misinformation the patent medicine industry was spewing about their products. During the early 1900s there was an absence of medical regulations in place which allowed people with no experience in the medical field to manufacture and sell with minimal consequences. Some producers even went as far as to put heroin, cocaine, and other addictive substances in their merchandise, some of which were meant for children. Since at the time there were hardly any laws requiring the manufacturer to put what ingredients were in their medicines there were no substantial repercussions until Adams reveal to the American public that the elixirs they bought claiming to cure all their ailments were just a fraud and was more harmful than hurtful. Along with Sinclair, Adams helped influence the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.
People dubbed ''muckrakers'' over the years have influenced the progression of the community be exposing the problematic behaviors of corporations and people which lead to regulations and changes to protect others from being scammed or injured and punishing those who try to extort them.
Regardless of the improvements made by muckrakers some still see them as a nuisance. Sinclair, Adams, and Bly all invaded someone's privacy to get their story, but in the end their actions helped society as a whole. Without muckrakers there's no telling how many more people would have been sent to an asylum seeking help only to be tortured, how many parents would have given their children some addictive or lethal drug believing it would cure them, or how many families would have eaten rotten meat contaminated by human and animal
excrement.
Muckrakers are people who decided that making sure people know what's happening around them so they can protect themselves was an intrical part of a functioning and healthy society and some even went as far as to put their own health on the line and anyone compassionate and brave enough to endure and pursue the truth to such a high level should at least deserve some respect. Without the actions of muckrakers in the past and the faults of society that we were able to fix because of them we might not have been able to progress from where we were as a nation to where we are now and in fact might still be dealing with the same problems of fraud and unethical behaviors.Considering all that muckrakers have done throughout history being called a muckraker should be considered something to be proud of.