1) To what extent did the late 1800s mark a turning point for the - - PDF document

Urban and Environmental Concerns of the Progressive Era

1) To what extent did the late 1800’s mark a turning point for the progression of urbanization in North America? 2) Was Theodore Roosevelt more of a representative for conservation, or urbanization in the United States? 3) Did urban progress create more problems than it solved? Hetch Hetchy Controversy Roderick Nash Abstract: Engineers of the 1800’s-with James R. Garfield as the leading-could see the value behind possibly using the Hetch Hetchy Valley as a reservoir, and an earthquake and fire in San Fransisco created a desperate need for water. However preservationist John Muir and Robert Underwood Johnson fought against it. This was often done through the use of journals, such as Outlook magazine. Conservationists created a public unwillingness for reservoir by stressing the spiritual significance of nature. Theodore Roosevelt was torn on the issue, but Gifford Pinchot- who was pro-dam- got him to agreed to the dam. Conservationists lost the battle, but the controversy raised huge awareness for future conservation efforts. Crucial paragraph: “When the preservationists first learned of San Francisco’s plan for Hetch Hetchy, Theodore Roosevelt occupied the White House, and the choices of reservoir or wilderness placed him in an awkward position. There were few Americans so committed to a belief in the value of wild

• country. Yet Roosevelt appreciated the importance of water, lumber, and similar commodities to

national welfare and as President felt responsible for providing them. The result of this ambivalence was inconsistency in Roosevelt’s early policy statement. In 1901 he declared in his first annual message that ‘the fundamental idea of forestry is the perpetuation of forests by use. Forest protection is not an end in itself; it is a means to increase and sustain the resources of our country and the industries which depend on them.’ But later in the message, he revealed his hope that some of the forest reserves could be made “preserves for the wild forest creatures.’”... Motor City: The Story of Detroit

Urban and Environmental Concerns of the Progressive Era

By Thomas J. Surgue Abstract: The nineteenth century ended the beginning an industrialized community. Detroit, Michigan was the home to many manufacturing industries. One of the largest manufacturers from Detroit was the Ford Motor Company. Out of the many companies emerging from Detroit in the early 1900’s, Detroit rose to the top. Henry Ford can be credited in creating the modern assembly line. In the year 1912, Ford began promising a five dollar daily wage for workers, turning Detroit into one of the most racially and ethnically diverse cities in America. People of many backgrounds began migrating to Detroit because of the promise of high wages. Being known for hiring workers of many ethnic backgrounds, ford went on to be at one point the largest private employer of African Americans. Crucial Paragraph: A second--tier commercial and industrial city at the end of the nineteenth, Detroit was home to machine and stove manufacturing, cigar making, pharmaceuticals, and food production.But the city had natural advantages that suited it for automobile production. Located in the heart of the Great Lakes region, Detroit hadall of the ingredients for industrial growth: it was close to the nation’smajor centers of coal, iron, and copper mining; it was easily accessible by water and by land; and it wasnear the nation’s leading, well­established production centers. Still, it was not a great metropolis. When Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903, Detroit was only the nation’s thirteenth largest city.Of the 125 auto companies that sprang up in Detroit in the early twentieth century, Ford quickly rose to the top. A restless innovator, Ford devised the modern assembly line. In 1908, the fledgling company introduced the Model T, a car whose standardized production would revolutionize the industry. Six years later, with hopes of building a stable, loyal workforce, Ford announced the five--dollar day, leading to a dramatic increase in pay for industrial workers. Word of Ford’s high wages—along with Ford’s international recruiting efforts—turned the Motor City into one of the most racially and ethnically diverse places in America. The auto magnate recruited skilled artisans from the shipyards of Scotland and England and blue--collar workers from the rural Midwest, as well as workers from Mexico and Lebanon,and African Americans from the city’s rapidly growing population of southern

• migrants. By 1940, Ford was one of the largest private employers of African Americans in the

United States. “The Conservation Movement” by Alan MacEachern, 2001 Chinook Multimedia Inc. Abstract:

Urban and Environmental Concerns of the Progressive Era

This reading discusses how the conservation movement, similar to many progressive endeavors at the turn of the 20th century, was seen as a necessary and beneficial step forward in preserving resources and ideals for future generations of Canadians. It suddenly became popular to care about nature and to utilize it in its entirety; in addition to the formation of national parks and reserves, major strides were made in creating measures to protect forests and wildlife. While different groups supported conservation for different reasons, it was generally agreed upon that conservation had serious economic benefits on top of aesthetic and natural ones. As the world changed, so did attitudes towards conservation, and the post-war economy demanded more resources in little time. Crucial Paragraph: “The most remarkable thing about the abolition of the Commission of Conservation is the lack of

• pposition to the move. Whereas 12 years earlier it had been created by unanimous approval in

Parliament, and during its lifetime it had encountered very little political antagonism there, now

• nly three members of Parliament defended it. This silence, when taken with Sifton's frustration

prior to resigning and Meighen's vehement disapproval of the Commission, suggests that conservation itself was not nearly so popular anymore. The agency had been the fortunate product of a continent-wide movement, when conservation seemed a fresh, forward-thinking

• philosophy. In the economic boom following the First World War, however, conservation stood

in the way of unlimited natural resource development. Meighen complained in 1921 that "Conservation, as conceived by the Commission at any rate, up until a year or two ago meant the locking up of the resources of the Dominion from proper development and use." [15] Prudence now seemed constrictive. The Commission of Conservation, born when conservation came into fashion, died when it then fell out of fashion.” “Technology and the Treadmill of Urban Progress” By Maury Klein and Harvey A. Kantor Abstract:

Urban and Environmental Concerns of the Progressive Era

This article discusses the problems that arose during the Progressive movement because

• f America’s shift towards more technologically advanced cities. It is described as a “treadmill”

because for each advancement in technology, a new problem would be created. One of the biggest examples of this is the advancement of transportation. While those living in cities could be transported quicker and more efficiently, it created the problem of class segregation. The wealthy could afford to live on the outskirts of a city or in neighboring suburbs, because they could afford the steep prices for transportation, while poor citizens could not. This lead to a concentration of extreme poverty in the cities. Critical Excerpt: Then as now, cities could expand only be discovering new techniques for moving people, goods, and information. New machines, materials, and designs revamped the city’s face and accelerated its inner rhythms. Urban growth was therefore both a function of technology and a reflection of its pervasive influence. Yet technology, even in its most imaginative forms, did not solve problems so much as recast them. Rapid growth strained the city’s ability to perform such elementary functions as transporting, feeding, and housing people, protecting them from fire and crime, educating their children, and providing a healthy, attractive environment in which to live. It complicated every aspect of urban life and fragmented urban society. Almost every industrial city endured a phase of madcap expansion during which its distended social system threatened to collapse beneath the weight of increased demands for services and accumulated social tensions. To solve the physical problems created by rapid growth, most cities resorted to sophisticated technology and techniques. But every “solution” unmasked a tangle of new problems which in turn called for still more sophisticated hardware. Thus the electric trolley and elevated railway moved more people at greater speed than the omnibus, but both presented problems unforeseen in the heyday of the horse and buggy. The result was a vicious circle, a kind of “Catch-22” in which every new stage of technological advance proved less a getaway into some new golden age thanh a harbinger of fresh difficulties.