Muckrakers In The Progressive Era

In a time where the struggles of the common class were ignored how did change occur? In order to answer this question one must understand the issues themselves. During the Industrial Era America was in a so called ¨golden era¨. The nation was on the rise with urbanization and industrialization increasing each day but with this progress came a price. The working conditions were horrendous, employees were paid very little for their long hours and their home lives were even worse. There seemed to be no stopping big business until the Progressive Era began. The backbone of this social movement were people called Muckrakers who were basically the whistleblowers of their time period because they worked to bring to light all of the issues that had
Each of these people had a hand in the Progressive Era and worked to make a change in American society. Jacob Riis´s mission was to improve living conditions for immigrants was a major issue during the time as floods of people came to the states. The use of monopoly practices was brought into the spotlight and scrutinized by people like Ida Tarbell who witnessed the destruction caused by companies like Standard Oil. Jane Addams worked to help educate and better the immigrant communities which were neglected by the general population. Each of this Muckrakers made their mark in history by illustrating the struggles of the time and using their work to help with social reform. Muckrakers were the life of the Progressive Era as they used their investigative skills and actions to bring about change whether it was to stand up for the oppressed, to fight against big business or simply to help those who could not help themselves through social
As a growing child Tarbell's father owned a small oil refinery in Western Pennsylvania. During the same time frame Standard Oil was taking off using it´s less than savory methods. J. D Rockefeller and a major railroad company had made a secret pact for the company to only buy oil from Standard Oil. The consolidation of the railroad industry by Rockefeller was just another monopolic move but it hurt many of the smaller oil businesses like Tarbell's father´s refinery which they almost lost because of this deal. The bitter memory of how her family struggled after the greedy practices of big business is what lead her to investigate and expose the Standard Oil company's history to show how monopolization negatively affects people. She recorded all of her scathing discoveries in her book ¨The History of the Standard Oil Company ¨ which was filled with evidence of how the oil company used unethical methods like horizontal integration that ultimately hurt the middle working class. Around the time that the Sherman Antitrust act went into effect was the same time that her book was used as evidence in court against the Standard Oil Company. The interview accounts, company records, and other facts supporting that Rockefeller was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act helped force Standard Oil to break apart. Her work was essential to the Progressive Era because by