Chapter Ten: Progressivism in Texas 1

Progressive Era (1901-1920s)

1. Rising middle class of urban professionals 2. Agrarians 3. Social reformers

1. Good government 2. End corrupt politics 3. Improve rural life 4. Curtail the influence of large corporations 5. "Purify" society 6. Reform: prison, education, welfare, suffrage

1. Efficient bureaucracy 2. Public education

Texas progressivism differed from previous reform movements

1. Unlike Radical Reconstruction it was an indigenous movement. 2. Unlike Populism, it operated within the Democrat party. 3. In era where suffrage was being restricted.

All progressives considered recent immigrants and uneducated Americans as a threat to the middle class. "Consequently, they saw no clash between social control and social reform."

Southern and Texas Progressivism

1. Agreed with national progressives in the need for social control 2. Differed from national progressives in aiming for a democratic society for whites only 3. Texas progressives were tied to older agrarian solutions

"Within these self-imposed limitations, Texas progressivism succeeded"

"Texas progressivism carried an inherent anti-eastern bias . . . ."

Joseph Sayers (1899-1903) and S. W. T. Lanham (1903-1907)

Ex-governor James Hogg introduced reform platform that failed in the 1900 legislative session

Progressive coalition

1. Hogg supporters 2. Former populists 3. Former alliancemen 4. Commercial clubs of businessmen 5. Prohibitionists 6. Women's clubs 7. State Federation of Labor

Texas progressive goals

1. Electoral reforms 2. Reforms to benefit labor unions 3. Tax reforms 4. Regulation of insurance and banking 5. Antitrust actions Chapter Ten: Progressivism in Texas 2

Electoral reforms

1. Poll tax 2. Terrell Election Law (1905)

a. Primary elections b. Secret ballots c. Established deadlines for the payment of poll tax d. Scheduled July primaries e. Required statements of campaign expenses f. Regularized voting qualifications g. Established party governance procedures

Impact of electoral reforms

1. Disenfranchised most black voters 2. Disenfranchised many poor whites

"Progressives were confident that eliminating such 'unsavory' elements from politics would go far to clean up he system."

Pro-Labor Legislation

1. Exempted from antitrust legislation 2. Limited work hours for trainmen 3. Improved safety for railroad workers 4. Outlawed the blacklist 5. Outlawed company script and mandatory trading at company stores 6. Regulated child labor

Tax Legislation

1. Raised taxes on intangible assets of corporations 2. Taxed gross receipts of railroads and insurance corporations 3. Enacted franchise taxes

The legislature created a commission of insurance and banking.

A constitutional amendment allowed the chartering of state banks.

Antitrust actions

Restoring competition would 1) attract new industries and 2) create a favorable business climate for local investors.

The most famous antitrust suit was the Waters-Pierce case. Baileyism, Joseph Weldon Bailey, Henry Clay Pierce, 1897, Standard Oil trust of New Jersey

Bailey opposed prohibition, women's suffrage, and Woodrow Wilson Chapter Ten: Progressivism in Texas 3

Election of 1906: Thomas M. Campbell -supported by Hogg. "Nevertheless, Campbell and he Thirtieth Legislature formed the most reform-minded government in Texas history."

1. Anti-railroad amendments 2. Anti-nepotism law 3. Strengthened anti-trust legislation 4. Tax reform doubled the value of assets 5. Created tax board 6. Inheritance tax 7. Higher franchise tax on liquor dealers 8. Robertson Insurance Law of 1907 (repealed 1963) 9. Bank Deposit Guaranty Act (repealed 1927) 10. Expansion of the Galveston Plan of city government 11. Department of Agriculture 12. State library and historical commission 13. Reformed prisons 14. Reformed public schools 15. Strengthened antitrust measures 16. Extended eight-hour day to telegraph operators 17. Created Bureau of Labor Statistics

Election of 1910 - Oscar Branch Colquitt (1911-15)

Conservative: "wets," pro-German

Progressive legislation

1. Regulation of child labor 2. Establishment of factory safety standards 3. Regualtion of hours of women workers 4. First state workmens compensation legislation 5. Penal reforms 6. Tuberculosis hospital 7. Training school for delinquent children 8. Allowed counties to establish poor farms

Rio Grande border problems

The disruptions caused by the Mexican Revolution of 1910 escalated tensions in South Texas. Mexican revolutionaries 1) bought arms in Texas, 2) recruited soldiers, 3) launched guerrilla raids

Presidents William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson responded cautiously. Colquitt order the Texas Rangers to the Rio Grande and criticized Wilson, further alienating himself from Texas progressives.

Financial problems: Texas confronted a tax base that was too low.

Educational reforms

Progressives wanted better schools to serve their children and to attract new industry.

Despite Texas's relative poverty, between 1890 and 1920 illiteracy dropped to 8.3 percent, the lowest in the South.

Reformers wanted standardization in books, courses, requirements, and administration.

Two types of schools

Common schools: rural, administered by trustees, boundaries could change year-by-year. Most had one building, often one-room schools with a single teacher.

Independent school districts: towns, school boards Chapter Ten: Progressivism in Texas 4

School consolidation

Free textbooks (1907)

Compulsory school attendance (1915); by 1929 Texas school terms lengthiest in the South.

Professional administration of the school system: Annie Webb Blanton, State Department of Education, State Board of Education

Teacher qualifications upgraded. Normal schools established at Denton, San Marcos, Alpine, Commerce, and Nacogdoches.

Low teacher pay; blacks earned less than whites, common school teachers earned less than those who taught in independent districts

Possibly, the major impact of progressivism on education was not an improved teaching staff, but rather a change in philosophy. Progressive educators believed the classroom should be an environment to stimulate individual learning that would be relevant to the child's life. "Progressive reformers maintained that schools had a responsibility for the improvement of the social order." "Progressives accepted as axiomatic the Jeffersonian proposition that mass education produced a more responsible citizenry."

Prison reform in Campbell administration (1907-11): 1) end of contract-lease system, 2) established ten- cent-per-day pay scale, 3) eliminated striped uniforms, 4) mandated segregation of prisoners, 5) improved prison sanitation, and 6) improved medical service. Whipping continued.

Prison reform in Coquitt administration (1911-15): 1) state-run farms, 2) indeterminate sentences, 3) suspended sentences, 4) parole system, 5) concurrent sentences, 6) electric chair, and 7) better care for juvenile offenders.

Social Welfare: poor the responsibility of local governments, State Medical Board, State Department of Health, State Board of Control

Forest conservation: W. Goodrich Jones, Texas Forestry Association, Goals: selective cutting, reforestation, and Department of Forestry, Eric O. Siecke, failed to save pine forests of East Texas

Good Roads Movement: Texas Good Roads Association (1911), national highway network, Texas Highway Department, lack of cooperation between counties and perceived corruption held back the creation of a state highway system