MUCKRAKERS MUCKRAKERS REFORM MOVEMENTS INDUSTRY COMMUNICATIONS AMERICAN CULTURE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY REFORM JOURNALISTS INTRODUCTION MUCKRAKERS WERE AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT DURING THE EARLY 1900S.THEY WERE JOURNALISTS WHO FOCUSED ON EXPOSING POLITICAL AND INDUSTRIAL CORRUPTION DEMONSTRATING HOW A FREE PRESS COULD INFLUENCE POLITICS AND LAW PERIODICALS SUCH AS COLLIER'S COSMOPOLITAN AND MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE RAN ARTICLES THAT CALLED ATTENTION TO THE PROBLEMS OF URBAN AND INDUSTRIAL LIFE LINCOLN STEFFENS WROTE ABOUT POLITICAL SCANDALS IN BIG CITIES LIKE MINNEAPOLIS AND CHICAGO RAY STANNARD BAKER WAS KNOWN FOR FOLLOWING THE COLOR LINE A BOOK ON RACIAL PROBLEMS IN THE NORTH AND SOUTH THE OLD MINER HAD JUST COME IN FROM HIS WORK HIS FACE AND CLOTHING BLACK WITH COAL DUST FIVE YEARS BEFORE HE HAD BEEN IN A MINE EXPLOSION FOR FOUR YEARS PREVIOUS TO THE GREAT STRIKE HE HAD LIVED QUIETLY A COMFORTABLE OLD AGE BUT WITH THE STRIKE CAME HARD TIMES AND OLD JOHN COLSON WAS COMPELLED FORCED TO GO BACK IN THE MINES THE MOTHER TOLD ME WITH PRIDE OF HER BOYS AND SO WE CAME TO SPEAK OF JOHN HER OLDEST SON THE ONE REPORTED BEATEN TO DEATH SHE FLUSHED AT THE MENTION OF HIS NAME SAID AT FIRST THAT SHE WOULD HAVE NOTHING TO SAY ABOUT HIM AND THEN BITTERLY HE MIGHT BETTER BE DEAD FOR HE'S BROUGHT DISGRACE ON THE NAME ALL THE BROTHERS HAD BEEN MEMBERS OF THE UNION AND HAD COME OUT WHEN THE STRIKE WAS CALLED BUT JOHN HAD GONE BACK TO WORK HE DESERVED ALL HE GOT SAID HIS MOTHER HE WASN'T RAISED A SCAB UNION WORKER WHO REFUSES TO JOIN A STRIKE RAY STANNARD BAKER THE RIGHT TO WORK WELL MINNEAPOLIS GOT ITS OLD MAYOR BACK UP TO THIS TIME AMES HAD NOT BEEN VERY VENAL CORRUPT PERSONALLY NOW HOWEVER HE SET OUT UPON A CAREER OF CORRUPTION HE LAID PLANS TO TURN THE CITY OVER TO OUTLAWS WHO WERE TO WORK UNDER POLICE DIRECTION FOR THE PROFIT OF HIS ADMINISTRATION HE CHOSE FOR CHIEF HIS BROTHER COLONEL FRED W AMES AND FOR CHIEF OF DETECTIVES NORMAN W KING A FORMER GAMBLER KING WAS TO INVITE TO MINNEAPOLIS THIEVES CONFIDENCE CON MEN PICKPOCKETS AND GAMBLERS AND RELEASE SOME THAT WERE IN THE LOCAL JAIL THEY WERE TO BE ORGANIZED INTO GROUPS ACCORDING TO THEIR PROFESSION AND DETECTIVES WERE ASSIGNED TO ASSIST AND DIRECT THEM MORE AND MORE THIEVES AND SWINDLERS CAME HURRYING TO MINNEAPOLIS SOME OF THEM SAW THE POLICE AND MADE TERMS SOME WERE SEEN BY THE POLICE AND INVITED TO GO TO WORK THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF A CITY ASKED CRIMINALS TO ROB THE PEOPLE IS FULLY ESTABLISHED THE POLICE AND THE CRIMINALS HAVE CONFESSED IT SEPARATELY LINCOLN STEFFENS THE SHAME OF MINNEAPOLIS WE FIND HERE IN MADISON COUNTY A HISTORY OF LYNCHING IT WAS A FACT WELL KNOWN TO EVERYBODY IN THE COUNTY THAT IT WAS NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE TO CONVICT A WHITE MAN FOR KILLING MURDERERS EMPLOYED GOOD LAWYERS THEY APPEALED THEIR CASES AND POLITICAL FRIENDSHIPS AND THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE OLD FAMILIES REACHED EVEN INTO THE JURY ROOM FRED STEVENS A WHITE MAN WHO SHOT A WHITE MAN IN A QUARREL OVER A BUCKET OF WATER WAS LET OUT WITH A FINE OF 50 COSTS AND THIRTY DAYS IN JAIL THIS IS FOR KILLING I MET AN INTELLIGENT FARMER HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS HE SAID LIFE IS CHEAP IN MADISON COUNTY IF YOU HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST A MAN KILL HIM DON'T WOUND HIM IF YOU WOUND HIM YOU'LL LIKELY BE SENT UP JAILED IF YOU KILL HIM YOU CAN GO FREE THEY OFTEN PUNISH MORE SEVERELY FOR CARRYING CONCEALED WEAPONS OR EVEN FOR CHICKEN STEALING IN MADISON COUNTY THAN THEY DO FOR MURDER RAY STANNARD BAKER FOLLOWING THE COLOR LINE THE RIGHT TO WORK BY RAY STANNARD BAKER AND THE SHAME OF MINNEAPOLIS BY LINCOLN STEFFENS FROM MUCKRAKING THREE LANDMARK ARTICLES EDITED BY ELLENF FITZPATRICK COPYRIGHT 1994 BY BEDFORD BOOKS OF ST MARTIN'S PRESS REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF ST MARTIN'S PRESS INC FROM FOLLOWING THE COLOR LINE BY RAY STANNARD BAKER
