Progressive Era Essay

Regulation became a big thing in late nineteenth and early twentieth century American society, better known as the Progressive Era. The Progressive Era was a period that showed the goals and hardships that American society experienced in the early twentieth century. Such as big businesses using tricks and schemes that maximized their profits and benefited them but neglected the safety and convenience of the consumer/customer. In other words, companies were cutting corners, they were sending out low quality items. Business was no longer a two way satisfaction street. It was one way; business provides the people with an essential, but does not value user satisfaction. The objective was to reclaim the standards of the business world. Transportation, food and drug products, and road regulation came to effect and grew extensively. So why did government regulation grow during the twentieth century? Why did it become a big part of America? Who or what is responsible for this sudden change of interest?

There are a few factors that led to the rise of federal regulatory state, one being the revealing muckracking press. Their tactics on exposing the flaws of the government and big markets led the rise in support for regulation in not only food and drug but in every other regulation process. For example The Jungle by Upton Sinclair which exposed the meat market and its many flaws in the process it goes through to process the meat. Citizens were in awe when the truth was released in this book along with other articles that emphasized the crude reality that was disgust to the American consumers of meat products. I believe this book was a big step towards the prime of the regulation era and it did so without directly hitting the meat market but...

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...Act of 1891. This act was passed for cattlemen that wanted regulation that would trigger an interest in “dressed” meat. This was aimed towards the Chicago meat packers. Again, these men were trying to put competition at a disadvantage.

Customers/Consumers were worried about the changes in the market for food and drugs because they no longer had a single clue of what was in their products. Food production was moving from household prepared to general markets. As food markets became more refined due to the improvement of technology. The difficulty in discerning the quality of their product heightened. With new and quicker ways make food, fears of the ingredients that the foods consisted grew. Preservatives and chemicals also instilled a concern to consumers. Health officials, chemists, and other individuals tested and proved the dangers of these new additives.