How successful were progressive reforms during the period of 1890 to 1915 with respect to industrial conditions?

Answer 1

totally sniped this essay for free off a site, enjoy, some errors

In an 1875 world, run by corporations and narcissistic owners, workers found that as individuals, they were mute to the rest of the nation. They were mere workers in the anthill, ruled by numerous ’queens’. These workers rallied together in an attempt to scare the queens into submission of their demands. At first these uprisings had little to no effect on the corporate leaders, but slowly began to change work hours and average daily wages. Also, workers became less educated and with a reduction of skill in the workplace; the reason, workers didn’t need to have a well-rounded knowledge of the product they were making, since they only had to work on specifics in the 19th century, onward. Not only did the strikes and unions bind one worker with another, they helped the workers to grow a substantial sense of audacity and fortitude, strengthening the nation as a society.

At the beginning of the union attempts there was little change in the way things worked in the economic world. However, after a couple decades of their persistence the corporations began to weaken at the knees and start allowing some leeway in the area of ‘giving into their demands’. In a census of Hours and Wages of Industrial Workers, it was seen that in 1875 the workers wages took a dip until 1882, in which the salaries increased steadily until it was almost $40/day more than 20 years before. This really raised workers up on the totem pole of society, and managed to keep a steady flow of positive change throughout their futures.

However, not all change was beneficial in the society of the nation. Due to the not-so-new invention, the construction line, workers only had to focus on their own specific jobs; instead workers only knew how to do a fraction of the overall job. In a brief testimony of an engineer before the Senate, he exclaims about the downfall of the knowledge in mechanics. Even though workers became lesser learned, the work was a lot more efficient, and used less than a third of what it did in 1868. Society had to sacrifice education for efficiency to attempt to fulfill the desires of the unions formed in this time period.

Somewhat turning the tide, workers not only had courage and determination but they also managed to gain the support of the non-working general public. Workers gained the favor of the communities in which they lived, as stated by the New York Times, in 1877, “those who are engaged in it [The Union] are not only bold and determined, but they have the sympathy of a large part of the community in which they live.” Nevertheless, the lack of knowledge and education on behalf of the union’s leaders, caused some bad decisions which in the long run lost the backing of the public, which also brought the workers status down.

In closing, the workers’ union didn’t entirely benefit them as they would’ve wished, but raised their wages which was one of the main goals. In 3 various primary sources it was obvious that the main outlook on the unions were the lack of positive change. Organized labor hardly improved the position of workers in the 10th century, and is obvious through various primary sources.

Answer 2

Before the Civil War, American production was confined to producing things that the consumer would buy. After the war, there came a boom in heavy industry, or the making of goods to sell to the producer instead of the customer. Such as a selling a higher quality steel to the railroad companies or plow machinery to farmers. With this revolution came a need to maximize the efficiency of the business. It saw the beginning of the assembly line, where workers no longer saw a product through from start to finish, but each worker or group of workers was responsible for a single phase in the construction of a product. One team melts the ore and refines the steel, another pours it into ingots, and a third carts it to the warehouse. As these tasks were simplified, an immigrant from a rural community with no prior industrial experience could adequately learn one of these trades in several hours. And there was no shortage of immigrants, in fact, many were hired as the got off the boat from the old country. The workplaces were growing crowded but they could not settle the company's voracious appetite for money. They began to employ children as young as five years of age and women took jobs in the textile industry.

Progressive reform helped in seeing the creation of labor unions like The Knights of Labor and The American Federation of Labor. These unions pushed for higher pay and shorter work days for workers by attempting to organize the laborers. They achieved some of what they desired to but not all do to the advanced organization and quick methods of reacting of the companies.

Answer 3

A.P U.S History?

Yeah, im doing the same question right now. All i got so far was this:

Yes, the reforms were successful in terms of industrial conditions. Examples of this: Creation of strong labor unions such as The Knights of Labor and the America along with Federation of Labor. These unions pushed for higher minimum wages and pay and shorter work days. Also, to rid of child labor.

For Urban life improvements, i didnt develop an argument yet but i have these ideas that were successful: The Hull House, Public Education, Crime, Pollution and theres a whole lot more but im working on it now.

Sorry but that's all i have:(

In addition, the Conserative reforms of Teddy Roosevelt and Taft. TR added the Yellow Stone National Park to a protective reserve. Taft built off of these ideas with more parks being made into reserves.