muckrakers

A detailed Summary of muckrakers

Muckraking was a powerful journalistic force, whose supporters made it become so. Muckraking was the practice of writers and critics exposing corrupt politicians and business practices. President Theodore Roosevelt made the term "muck-raker" popular. He once said

The man with the muck-rake, the man who could look no way but downward with the muck-rake in his hands; who was offered a celestial crown for his muckrake, but who would neither look up nor regard the crown he was offered, but continued to rake himself the filth of the floor.

Some, like Roosevelt viewed methods of muckrakers such as Ida Tarbell, Ray S. Baker, Lincoln Steffens, and Upton Sinclair as these types of people. Others saw these muckraking methods as perfectly acceptable for fighting against the industrial powerhouses. Either way, these muckrakers worked hard to arouse sentiment in the hearts of the public (Reiger 1).

Muckraking actually began long before the years of 1900-1902, when the muckraking movement is credited to have begun. Jesus was probably the first muckraker. Years later, Martin Luther exposed the corruptness of the Catholic Church. Also, early Abolitionist works--Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin and Helper's The Impending Crisis used muckraking to g

Another notable muckraker was Ray S. Baker. Like Tarbell, Baker started out his muckraking career writing for McClure's magazine. Between the years of 1903 and 1906, Baker wrote articles including "How Railroads Make Public Opinion," "The Railroad Rate," and "Railroads on Trial." These articles discussed the use of rebates, the treatment of private cars, favoritism in rate making, creating of public opinion and the destruction of industries by railway consolidation and rate discrimination. Again like Tarbell, Baker left the McClure's staff and joined the American magazine company. During his employment at the American, Baker focused on the discrimination of the "Negro" and his problem with religion. Some articles between 1907 and 1909 were "Following the Color Line" and "The Negro's Struggle for Survival in the North," and "The Godlessness of New York" and "The Spiritual Unrest." Baker in his writings was not primarily critical of American life.

Josephson, Matthew. The Robber Barons. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1962.

Although the muckraking era is considered to span from about 1902 to 1912, some muckraking magazines and muckrakers worked on. Despite losing interest because of war events and change of values, Pearson's magazine continued to write on. Also, Upton Sinclair continued muckraking at least until the mid-1930s. In 1924, he produced an essay entitled "The Consequences of Land Speculation are Tenantry and Debt on the Farms, and Slums and Luxury in the Cities." Here, Sinclair spoke of his problems with land speculation. He noticed the land speculator becoming a parasite. The speculator invested money in the land's potential value instead of investing money to improve it. Also, as the value of the land increased, farmers could not afford to pay their mortgage interests and the farmers became "serfs" to pay off the interest (Sinclair).

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Approximate Word count = 1913
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History