Muckraking in the 19th Century

            In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, America was going through a time in which the standards of morality were beginning to change.  In this era, there was a group of people that successfully changed America and brought the problems to the people, they were called Progressives.  Nevertheless, the progressives would not have changed nearly as much without the help of the muckrakers, a group of journalists that exposed problems such as the adulteration of food, the exploitation of child-workers, and loss of nature.[1]  In the Progressive era, these problems shook American and hurt thousands; however, the muckrakers were the leading force behind the progressives, which led to the betterment of America.

            In 1906, Upton Sinclair published a novel exposing the disgusting conditions within the meat packing industries, entitled The Jungle.[2]  In this novel, he speaks of how the conditions in the meat packing facilities were so bad that they endangered anyone who ate meat: “Meat scraps were also found being shoveled into receptacles from dirty floors.”[3]  This novel is an excellent example of how muckraking exposed a problem to the people, including those in power.  When President Theodore Roosevelt read Sinclair’s novel he was so sickened that he ordered an inspection of the meat packing industry resulting in the Clean Food and Drug Act.[4]  That fact that a writer was able to influence the president enough to fix a major problem shows how the muckrakers were the pushing force behind the Progressives and their success.[5]  However, the muckrakers did not just expose the meat packing industries; they also exposed the abuse of child-workers.  

            Another muckraker who exposed a problem in America was John Spargo when he wrote the book The Bitter Cry of the Children in 1906.[6]  In this book, Spargo describes the heartbreaking conditions of the coalmines for the children that worked in them.  This book is very similar to The Jungle in the sense that it exposed a problem, yet Spargo did not get as immediate of reaction as Sinclair did.  When Spargo wrote this book, he shows “how children of twelve years of age are legally employed in the coalmines…” but never says that the laws need changing; however, he implies it all through the book.[7] Through out certain excerpts of this book, Spargo speaks of how the conditions were often “exceedingly hard and dangerous.”[8] Spargo also demonstrates that this work is too difficult for children by saying that after just thirty minutes in the mine he was bleeding, bruised, and covered in coal dust.[9]   Even though this book did not get as an immediate reaction as Sinclair’s book, it still set the stage for reformation within America.  Furthermore, in 1914, the government started to take aggressive action towards the exploitation of child-workers.[10]  The result of the muckrakers who exposed problems for child-workers was huge and helped to lead the Progressive to change America forever, much like the muckrakers who pushed for the conservation of nature.