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I think we learned from the Gilded/ Progressive era was you can't cut corners in a business. Whether it is paying workers a dollar a week or making meat out of the scrapes floor. Also during these time Americans learned to have a real voice in the world. Muckrakers are a prime example of a good thing from the progressive era. People today are still inspired to go out in the world and find stories that need some light shed on them. Last I think Americans also came together as one to fight for knowing the truth.

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Many groups and organizations during the progressive era got many different things passed But also man individuals also made their mark on history. Two examples are Lewis Hine and Mother Jones. Both had a cause that they cares very much about and they did not stop until they reached what they need. Both had a fight for the end of child labor and with their dedications many laws were passed and is illegal in the USA now.

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Muckrakers were Americans undercover heroes. Muckrakers were people who wanted to undercover secrets for the better of the country. An example would be Upton Sinclair. Sinclair went and uncovered the truth of the Chicago meat market. He wrote " The Jungle" and the American public was outraged."It seemed that he was working in the room where the men prepared the beef for canning, and the beef had lain in vats full of chemicals, and men with great forks speared it out and dumped it into trucks, to be taken to the cooking room. When they had speared out all they could reach, they emptied the vat on the floor, and then with shovels scraped up the balance and dumped it into the truck. This floor was filthy, yet they set Antanas with his mop slopping the "pickle" into a hole that connected with a sink, where it was caught and used over again forever; " this except is just one of the chilling things found in the factories As a result new laws were passed to tighten up the laws to make sure that  what people ate was safe.  Sinclair was not just the only Muckraker making a difference. Samuel Adams discovered how innocent Americans were being sold drugs that instead of helping them make them sick. As result things like the FDA are around.

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Although many reformers had good intentions many seem to feel above the people they housed. They want the new immigrants to be more like them, "Through civic instruction in the public schools, the Italian woman slowly becomes urbanized, and the habits of her entire family change. (Settlement Home Movements Doc D). Another was how they judge them for their culture. This excerpt is from Document B, where the tenants were at a dance the settlement home owner were judging them, "The public dance halls are filled with frivolous and irresponsible young people in a feverish search for pleasure.

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During the Gilded age women were trying to find themselves more than just a house to clean so one major door for them was settlement homes. "One of the revolutionary characteristics of the settlement house movement was that many of the most important leadership roles were filled by women, in an era when women were still excluded from leadership roles in business and government. Approximately half of the major US settlement houses were led and staffed predominantly by women.( Settlement Homes Movements)

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Reformers were people who were trying to make life better. One of the most famous things they are known for were settlement homes. The purpose of these homes was to give new immigrants a place to start a life. " In Chicago, for instance, Hull-House helped to educate immigrants by providing classes in history, art, and literature. Hull-House also provided social services to reduce the effects of poverty, including a daycare center, homeless shelter, public kitchen, and public baths. Settlement houses like Hull-House were a nexus for political activism, with reformers like Jane Addams becoming involved in advocating social legislation to combat poverty in local, state, and national politics"(Settlement Home Movement).
They also helped to show how excepting Americans are," I then began to understand that things might be different in America. In Poland it had not been safe for Jewish children to be on the streets on Christmas.

At the party, the children of the Hull-House Music School sang some songs, that I later found out were called “Christmas carols.” I shall never forget the sweetness of those voices. I could not connect this beautiful party with any hatred or superstition that existed among the people of Poland"( Social Reform: Settlement Homes Doc.C)

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Without the hard work of all the new unions in the United States things today would be different. Minimum wage, a certain hour work day was all created by unions. Unions sought out over America to fix how workers we treated. They got there demands by working as one group of people with the same goal. They had unions for almost all jobs where you could find help if you weree mistreated and need justice.

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One nightmare of a rich mine owner would be the noise of unions forming. These unions stood for everything that they hated. Many of the employers never thought that they were to big to have a little union over throw them. But they were wrong. In the case shown in "Mine Wars" when the owner of the mine was confronted with a mass strike and demands he took to the way of war. Like other did before private bounty hunters we brought in to beat the workers till they did what was told of them. But through the power of unions workers came out on top with some of their demands made.

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Unions were an idea of hope for my workers in America. A prime example of how unions worked was show in the documentary "Mine Wars". The film shows the mistreatment of hunderends and how they were fed up. Hope for them came from a woman nicknamed Mother Jones. Jones would go state to state giving the ideas of unions. She was trying to help fight the good fight for workers. She showed what a unions stood for. How if an entire mine forced stood together and made demands it would come across stronger than just a couple workers. She helped them fight for proper work hours and pay.

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Woman during the Gilded and Progressive era were fed up with being treated as lesser citizens. Women did not have power to speak up for what they thought so they took matters into their own hands. An example is in the film "Prohibition". Women were tired of their husbands going and getting drunk and spending all of their paychecks at saloons. In fact you can even say they had a major deal with getting laws passed in stopping the productions of alcohol. Weather this was a good thing or bad thing woman finally got what the wanted. They even proved that women have a place in politics by going congressman to congressman persuading them to vote against wet laws.

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America was being overflowed with new people from all over world. During the progressive era new immigrants got a taste of America's energy. But these immigrants were treated with no respect. Rich white people looked down upon the "even the girls carry on indecent conversation, cursing a lot, while the less sophisticated girls stand around listening". This was just one example of the lesser feel the had from whites. Immigrants who take any job to make money for their family. This is where many business workers began to take advantage of their need for money. Immigrants who be forced to work back breaking jobs and get paid less than any other worker. One positive thing that happened for immigrants was the possibility of equality. From the film "Mine Wars" it was said that color did not matter. Once all of the workers came up from the mines they were covered in so much dirt that you could not tell races apart. So that how ,for the most part, they were treated. The mine immigrants were paid the same as native southern mines. This gave many immigrants hope that one day it would matter where you came from just who you are.

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Besides the fact of being overworked most employees were cheated  out of what little money they already earned."One poor girl had worked really hard one week and made $3.50; but the fines against her were $5.25. That seems ridiculous; it is ridiculous, but it is pathetic, and it is shameful” (Robber Barons or Captains of Industry: Document F). Cases like this was not uncommon. Owners would put up rules that were absurd and would take money away as punishment. Some rules were no taking or laughing and if they were one minute late they face the possibility of being fired

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At this time in America everyone was fighting for a job. There were so many new business and factories that need people that some workers would give up basic rights for a job. An example would be miners. These men would spend more than half their day down in a dark, hot, dangerous place for less than minimum wage.

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Gilded age was known for having something look great on the outside but be fake, cheap, or broken in the inside. Prime example the meat industry, "The hands of these men would be criss- crossed with cuts, until you could no longer pretend to count them or to trace them. They would have no nails, – they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan. There were men who worked in the cooking rooms, in the midst of steam and sickening odors, by artificial light; in these rooms the germs of tuberculosis might live for two years, but the supply was renewed every hour."  This is just one of many except for "The Jungle" that show how much was being pulled over on people. Consumers would see a steak and not now what could possibly be in it. They were blind side by the rich factory owners who cared more about money than the safety of the USA.

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The root of the problem began with factory owners "I regard my people as I regard my machinery. So long as they do my work for what I choose to pay them, I keep them, getting out of them all I can. What they do or how they fare outside my walls I don’t know, nor do I consider it my business to know. They must look out for themselves as I do for myself"( Child labor scenario)  This basically states that the owners thought of the children as machines that they were easily replaceable if they "broke". They were unwilling to look beyond the money and see the real problems. The fact they had children running their facoriues.

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During the Gilded age children were treated less than they deserved.
"Little girls and boys, barefooted, walked up and down between the endless rows of spindles, reaching thin little hands into the machinery to repair the snapped threads. They crawled under machinery to oil it. They replaced spindles all day long [and all] night through."(Child Labor Scenario)