As the Industrial Age bloomed at the end of the 1800s so did corruption in the heart of America. This was a time where lax business practices and consumer explotation were allowed to dominate the American landscape. The American economy was controlled by greedy robber barons whose sole interest was to themselves rather than to the people whose money they used to line their wallets. The American government had been poisoned as well, almost all of the Senate bought and paid for by these dastardly dealers of anything profitable. In this chapter Streitmatter talks about another one of the greatest examples of journalism bringing about real and significant change that would affect all of American life for years to come. This halcyon era of reform journalism was named when President Theodore Roosevelt mused that journalists largely pessimistic view of American life was akin to that of racking muck. Often hailed as the first of these "muckrakers" is Lincoln Steffens.
Lincoln Steffens began working for McClure's in 1902. In Steffens debut article, for the leading muckraking publication, entitled, "Tweed Days in St. Louis," he came down hard on the widespread government corruption that plagued the city. The city was run by despicable men who either handed out or received bribes at the cost of the people of St. Louis. Steffens revealed these parasites that were sucking the life out of the city. This great effort allowed the prosecution of dozens of corrupt politicians in the city by District Attorney Joseph W. Folk.
This whirlwind momentum even propelled Folk into the office of governor of Missouri. Steffens then sought out other cities in the hopes of exposing corruption and bringing about more reform. He visited New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Minneapolis all before moving to exopse the state governments of New Jersey, Rhode Island, Illinois, and Missouri. Steffens articles, published as a single book named The Shame of the Cities, brought about real change that saved many Americans from explotation by their local officials. His work lead to the reform of these types of local governments into a more city-manager style that aimed at well trained professionals who could run a city or state for the people and not themselves.
The magazine McClure now set it sights on Standard Oil. Ida Tarbell, the journalist tasked with revealing the giant's evil ways, was skilled at writing biographies. Therefore her focus first fell on the underhanded business practices of John D Rockefeller. Tarbell revealed that Rockefeller managed to pay half the normal prices for transporting his oil on railroads. He did this by making illegal, back room deals with select railroads. Thses clandestine agreements allowed Standard Oil to grow to monstrous proportions over any other oil company. Tarbell also brought to the public eye the other dirty business tactics that Rockefeller employed. Rockefeller would underpay sellers for refineries, pay off workers to sabotage competitors, and even pay valuable employees of other companies to move to put them out of business.
If ever there was a robber baron, his name was John D. Rockefeller and Ida Tarbell exposed him for exactly that. Her writings captured the attention of the public and painted Rockefeller for what he was, a crook. Tarbell's efforts lead to division of the monopoly that was Standard Oil and destroyed Rockefeller's public image so thoroughly that he was forced to hire a publicity manager. He then began devoting large sums of money to philanthropy all for the benefit of the public interest. This reform was greatly appreciated by the public as now the Rockefellers' misused wealth had been appropriated to the common good.
Upton Sinclair is another among lagendary muckrakers. Sinclair's articles published as the book The Jungle, revealed the loathsome practices by the meat industry. Sinclair was paid to live among the workers of stockyards for seven weeks. He was tasked with determining the condition of the places they worked and if they were safe for the workers and the people to whom their products catered. Unsurprisingly for the time Sinclair discovered that the meat industry was doing a significant amount of harm to the American public. Often times a worker would fall in the vats with the meat and be recovered beyond recognition or not recovered at all. The discoveries might be made before or after the meat was shipped out to the general public. But what Sinclair found that was truly disturbing to his readers was that in either case the meat would still be shipped out to the public regardless. President Roosevelt read Sinclair's book and even sent out his own agents to confirm the validity of these horrible truths.
In similarly horrifying fashion, Ladies' Home Journal brought to light the terrible practices of the drug industry and its patent medicines. Editor Edward Bok revealed that most patent medicines were nothing but expensive beverages with high alcohol content. This propelled their magazine and leading other muckraking magazines to reject ads for patent medicines in their publications. One such muckraker for Collier's, Samuel Hopkins Adams, showed the public that these patent medicines were just dangerous to their health but could also very easily cause death. Most of these patent medicines provided false cures for ailments at the cost of turning the consumer into an alcoholic or a drug addict. The drug industry of this time was based entirely on lies and false hope. Their business methods entailed making wild claims to sell products to the desperate, illness stricken masses.
Readers of these magazines could no longer hold themselves back while these practices were still ongoing. Thousands of people flooded D.C. with copies of their receipts for these fradulent medicines at the behest of Edward Bok. President Roosevelt keen to the specifics of the issues with both the meat and drug industry demanded of Congress that immediate legislation be passed to mark these crimes and prevent their reoccurance. Thus the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act were passed and required that all medicines be analyzed and proved to be legitimate and that all meat was examined before it was sold.
In 1906, William Randolph Hearst bought Cosmopolitan magazine and chose David Graham Phillips to write about one of the worst plagues of this time, the corporate puppets present in the Senate. Phillips first article focused on two New York Senators, Depew and Platt, who received large bribes from companies in exchange for favors and preferential treatment. Phillips was a runaway success, his articles went after scores of the corrupt Senators until he had documented almost all of the them and their dirty dealings. Even in the face of adversity Phillips continued to produce fact after undeniable fact with the support of the public behind him. By 1912 all of the Senators that Phillips had written about had been defeated and voted out of office. His crown jewel however was in 1913 when an ammendment to the constitution was made allowing the people finally to elect Senators rather than state legislature.
Truly this was a golden age of reform for journalism. The tireless efforts of many journalists incited real change in American government and business in a dark time where it was truly needed. No one alive in this country today would want to face the unrestrained malevolence that was commonplace back then. All of us owe a great deal to these men and women that saved us from that fate and that are truly American heroes.
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