Introduction:
During this time period, the American population continued to grow in cities across the country. The Spanish-American War started in 1898 and lasted for three months, costing the U.S. lives. New transportation, such as the trolley car, was invented. By the early 1900's, child labor was a major issue, it grew rapidly through the American Industrial Revolution; by 1910, two million children were full time workers. These children were working in factories, mines, mills. selling newspapers, for the seafood industry, and in sweatshops. Children earned 20% of men and women's income, and some were as young as five years old. Child labor led to a few things; Florence Kelley created settlement houses and advocated for eight hour workdays, minimum wage, to end sweatshops, and child labor laws. Jacob Riis' pushed for better housing, playgrounds, better lighting in homes, sanitation, and said that wealth can transform slums for the better. Lewis Hine photographed children working to show the public in order to expose the bad working conditions in the U.S. The Keating-Owen passed in 1916 act prohibited the sale of goods produced in factories that employed children under the age of 14, and in mines hiring children under the age of 16. The Federal Employee's Compensation Act was passed in 1916 and gave compensation for injured civil service employees, it was a precedent for disability insurance and employee healthcare coverage. There were a lot of issues that were addressed in this time period, especially in cities.
This article is talking about the growth of Albuquerque and how it looked similar to Toledo in 1910. It talks about the industrial differences and how Albuquerque should govern their people similarly to Toledo. It gave a warning about big business and what it could potentially do to the economy.
The trolley car was a major form of transportation in this time. In the picture on the left, you can see a horse-drawn carriage next to a trolley car. You can see how city transportation has developed over the years from "horses to horsepower". In the next picture there is a car next to an electric trolley, electricity helped trolley lines run. There are still running trolley systems today in a few countries, such as San Francisco, California.
These pictures are from the Chicago meat-packing factory. These slaughterhouses were often dirty and dark, they had little care for the animals and how they went about the slaughtering process. This had a major impact on the cities because Chicago was one of the main slaughterhouses that ranchers would sell their cattle to in order to be processed, but the food regulations were so terrible and no one actually knew. Often times rat poison, rat dung, dirt and many other disgusting things, were found in the meat after it had already been processed. Most of America never knew what they were really eating. These horrible conditions were noticed by Upton Sinclair who published "The Jungle" in order to expose how our food was being treated. Theodore Roosevelt thought Sinclair was insane, until he read it. This lead to the Meat Inspection Act in 1906, which ensured that meat and meat products were slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. As well as, the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 to remove harmful and misrepresented foods and drugs from the market and regulate the manufacture and sale of drugs and food involved in interstate trade. The growth and health of Chicago, along with other American cities, depended on these Acts.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911 was one of the biggest tragedies in New York at the time. 146 women and very few men died in this fire. These women were mostly 16-23 year old immigrants from many different countries. One women was the last to escape off her floor, she lost her sister in the process of getting on the last elevator. Many women got stuck on the top floor because the floor below could not reach them. There were no fire escapes so in desperation, some women jumped from the windows only to be greeted by death. This fire led to the creation of safety codes and regulations, fire escapes, committees for public safety in cities, and wrongful death suits.
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was one of the most devastating earthquakes in California, leaving over 3,000 people dead and destroying over 28,000 buildings. "The quake ruptured the San Andreas fault to the north and south of the city, for a total of 296 miles, and could be felt from southern Oregon to Los Angeles and inland to central Nevada." (www.history.com) The rupture destroyed the water mains of the city leaving firefighters no way to battle the flames that followed. Around 250,000 residents of San Francisco became homeless after this natural disaster. Although, there was a positive outcome to the earthquake. The earthquake allowed San Francisco to rebuild in a bigger, better, stronger, more sophisticated and modern fashion. Towns in the San Francisco Bay grew larger and more populated. After the rebuilding was done, San Francisco was thriving.