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Chapter Ten: The progressive Era

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Title: Chapter Ten: The progressive Era


1
Chapter TenThe progressive Era
  • Yet Another PowerPoint
  • By
  • Professor Mojo

2
Who were the progressives?
  • Drawing from several ideological origins,
    Progressives were committed to using the power of
    government, aided by expert knowledge and
    scientific research, to fix the problems of
    society
  • Progressives were sometimes divided in
    methodology
  • Progressives never tried to help the poor
    directly, for example, relief (welfare)

3
Texas Politics in the Progressive Era
  • Many of the governors of this era were basically
    the products of a conservative Democratic machine
  • Influence of Edward House
  • The Legislature did manage to produce reforms
    along the lines being passed in other states
  • Further railroad reforms backed by Hogg
  • Poll tax as Progressive reform? You bet!
  • Terrell Election Law of 1905
  • Direct primary
  • July elections
  • Secret ballots
  • Reporting of campaign finances

4
Other Reforms under Sayers and Lanham
  • Protection for labor unions
  • Hours limitations for railroad workers
  • Child labor laws
  • Tax law changes
  • State chartering of banks allowed

5
Baileyism
  • Joseph Weldon Bailey, Waters-Pierce and Standard
    Oil
  • The Last Democrat
  • Race-baiting Progressives would eventually use
    government power to bring about racial mixing and
    equality
  • National prohibition of alcohol means there
    will not be a square foot of territory in the
    United States where it will be unlawful for
    negroes and white people to intermarry.

6
Campbell as Governor
  • Endorsed by former Governor Hogg
  • More moves against railroads and corporations
  • Hogg Amendments
  • Full rendition laws
  • Taxes on inheritances and liquor
  • Robertson Insurance Law of 1907
  • Required investment in Texas securities
  • Bank Deposit Guaranty Act of 1909
  • Well in advance of FDIC
  • Lengthened mandatory school year to six months
    from four

7
Prohibition
  • Banning of alcohol was seen as a Progressive
    reform
  • Aid in control of crime and in vices of working
    classes
  • Religious overtones
  • Anti-immigrant overtones
  • Local option vs statewide prohibition
  • O.B. Colquitt allied himself with wets to get
    elected

8
Problems with the Border
  • Mexican civil war caused many refugees to flee to
    Texas
  • Some actively supported the rebellion from inside
    Texas
  • Colquitt demanded Wilson do more to protect the
    border, and sent the Rangers to Brownsville
  • Colquitt drifted away from the majority of Texas
    Democrats, many of whom were pro-Wilson
    Progressives by this point

9
Other Reforms
  • Penal reforms
  • More humane treatment of prisoners
  • Overhaul of labor system
  • Elimination of contract-lease system
  • Contradiction involving self-supporting prisons
  • Juvenile justice system established
  • Public health
  • State Medical Board
  • State Department of Health
  • County poor houses
  • Increased care for the mentally ill

10
Education
  • Necessary to bring industrial development to
    Texas
  • Upgrades needed to facilities as well as
    professional standards
  • Standardization of materials and curricula
  • Growth of independent school districts meant more
    power to local school boards
  • State law required free textbooks to all students
  • Growth of the textbook industry
  • Textbook depositories

11
Education
  • Formation of TSTA and CTSA
  • Annie Webb Blanton
  • Better Schools Campaign raise those taxes!
  • Creation of the State Board of Education
  • Establishment of normal schools
  • Problems with teacher pay
  • Change in pedagogical methods
  • Emphasis on sciences, hard and soft
  • Civics and citizenship
  • UIL
  • Expansion of Texas universities

12
Forestry
  • Most of the East Texas pine forests had been
    harvested, alarming conservationists
  • W. Goodrich Jones and the Texas Forestry
    Association
  • Department of Forestry
  • Still, most timber companies did not engage in
    large-scale replantings, causing an eventual
    decline in the timber industry

13
The Automobile as Reform Stimulus
  • Increasing affordability of automobile (Henry
    Ford) meant more Texans were using roads
  • Most roads lousy because of the railroads
  • Good Roads Movement
  • Texas Highways Department
  • Federal governments offer of matching funds
  • Controversy over control

14
Fergusonism
  • 1914 Farmer Jim Ferguson wins election as
    governor running as anti-prohibitionist and pal
    to the tenant farmers
  • Bill capping rents ruled unconstitutional later
    by SC
  • Put down South Texas rebellion (Plan de San
    Diego)
  • Use of Rangers highly controversial (JT Canales)
  • Huge battle with Battle at UT over the budget
  • Presaged by ouster of Blackview at Prairie View
  • The biggest bear fight that has ever taken place
    in the state of Texas
  • Veto of the UT budget led to impeachment calls
  • Indicted by the Travis County grand jury on
    embezzlement
  • Special session of the legislature voted to
    remove him from office Lt Gov William Hobby
    stepped in as acting governor

15
The Great War (WWI)
  • Recall Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey
    fought against Britain, France and Russia
  • Recall America attempted to remain neutral, but
    German actions increasingly alienated the
    American public
  • Recall large number of Germans living in Texas
    (as well as other states)
  • Zimmerman Note German promise to Mexico to
    restore Texas to Mexico if Mexico attacked U.S.
    as a German ally
  • Pancho Villa raid on New Mexico and other
    previous problems

16
The Great War (WWI)
  • Close to two hundred thousand Texans registered
    for the draft
  • Numerous women volunteers for the Nurses Corps
  • 25 of Texans serving were black
  • AM encouraged to graduate juniors early
  • Texas stood to gain from the war
  • Warm dry climate meant year-round training for
    troops
  • Large benefits for San Antonio and Houston, as
    well as other cities and towns
  • Camp Logan incident
  • Nonunion labor force meant cheaper costs for
    building war materiel

At the time of her commissioning, USS Texas was
the most powerful dreadnought battleship in the
world
17
The Great War (WWI)
  • Texas Council of Defense served to organize the
    war effort
  • Fundraising
  • Patriotism
  • Anti-spying
  • Farmers benefited tremendously from the Lever Act
  • Fifty-fifty rule mandated planting of crops
    other than wheat
  • Cotton prices soared meanwhile
  • Germans in Texas caught in a bind
  • German language banned in the schools
  • UT professor fired for opposing the war
  • Brandenburg --gt Old Glory
  • liberty cabbage

18
Unintended Consequences
  • Prohibition gets a boost from the war
  • Public turned against brewers accused of
    exercising undue influence over legislature
  • Law banned sale of alcohol within 10 miles of
    bases (!!!)
  • Texas legislature ratifies 18th Amendment then
    passes statewide prohibition (Dean Law)
  • War also gave a boost to womens suffrage
  • Texas Equal Suffrage Association
  • Minnie Cunningham
  • Some women (Pauline Wells) opposed suffrage (?)
  • Hobby Clubs
  • 1918 women granted suffrage in state primary
    elections
  • Blanton elected state superintendent of schools

19
The Red Scare
  • The revolution in Russia that resulted in the
    establishment of the communist Soviet Union
    scared many conservative Americans
  • Anarchist bombings in U.S. during the war
  • Sedition Act used against radical newspapers
  • The Rebel
  • Renewed suspicion of foreigners
  • Civil rights activism associated with radicalism
  • Race riots in Longview and Port Arthur
  • 1923 law required teaching of civics and Texas
    government in public schools

20
Pat Neff
  • Elected in a flurry of anti-Bailey votes
  • Legislature unwilling to enact further
    Progressive-style reforms
  • Such reforms as were passed were
  • Pure Food/Drug merged with Dept of Health
  • Elimination of board of pardons
  • Creation of a state park system
  • Mother Neff State Park
  • Used Rangers to bring order to an increasingly
    lawless rural countryside

21
Rise of the New Ku Klux Klan
  • Recall old Klan came about directly after end of
    Civil War, but put down by Federal government
  • WWI renewed suspicion of outsiders and
    increased attention to Anglo-Saxon way of life
  • Modern Klan established in Georgia in 1915
  • Modern professional fund-raising organization
  • Klan arrives in Houston in 1920, supported by
    many in the business and professional community
  • Texans drawn to Klan not just out of
    anti-minority fears but also over Klans apparent
    commitment to traditional values
  • Violence in the rural areas a contributing factor
    (irony)

22
The Klan in Texas Politics
  • The Klan was known to use violence, and not just
    against African Americans
  • Juries refused to convict Klansmen
  • Vocational Klanism attracted many Texans
  • Increasingly, membership in the Klan was a
    prerequisite for Texas politics
  • Klans endorsement of Prohibition a positive in
    many rural areas
  • Rise of Hiram W. Evans to national Klan
    leadership marked a shift Klan would gain power
    through political endorsements

Klan rally, Goose Creek (Baytown), 1922
23
The Klan at Its Height
  • Dr. Lawrence Nixon continually challenged the
    white domination of voting in the federal courts
  • Nixon v. Herndon
  • Nixon v. Condon
  • Grovey v. Townsend since the Democratic Party
    had reorganized itself as a private organization,
    federal laws on voting no longer applied
  • Gov. Neffs position on the Klan uncertain
  • Senate election of 1922 (now direct) was a Klan
    vs. anti-Klan fight (Culberson vs. Ferguson vs.
    Mayfield)

24
Decline of the Klan
  • Mayfields election galvanized anti-Klan forces
  • Gov. Neff suddenly comes out against the Klan in
    1924
  • Scopes Monkey Trial in Tennessee did much to
    discredit Klans stance against evolution in the
    schools
  • 1924 gubernatorial election was essentially a
    referendum on the Klan
  • If not Pa, then Ma! Miriam Ferguson becomes the
    first woman governor of any U.S. state

25
Fergusonism Redux
  • Two governors for the price of one it was
    patently obvious that Jim Ferguson was the real
    power behind the scenes
  • Soon old charges took on new details
  • Corruption in the highway department
  • Renewed questions about prison paroles
  • Investigation by AG Moody
  • Moody would run in the 1926 election and become
    the youngest governor in state history (33)

Pa and Ma Ferguson (seated)
26
End of Progressivism
  • Moody would mirror the prevailing national mood
    of pro-business Progressivism
  • Emphasis on government efficiency
  • Klan Senator Mayfield defeated by John Connally
  • 1928 U.S. campaign for President split the Texas
    Democratic Party
  • Al Smith just doesnt sound right on the radio
  • Prohibition is still strong in the rural areas
  • He goes to WHAT church?!?!?
  • Gov. Moody endorsed Smith former Gov. Colquitt
    created Texas Democrats for Hoover
  • Hoover became the first Republican candidate
    since Reconstruction to win Texas

27
End Chapter Ten
  • Texas arguably didnt change too much during the
    early twentieth century, but the changes that did
    occur would have very long-term consequences.
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