The 1910s Government, Politics, and Law: Topics in the News

AMERICA AND WORLD AFFAIRS: DOLLAR DIPLOMACY

During the 1910s, the United States left its position of self-imposed isolationism to become a world economic and political power, a role that previously had been held by European nations. Much of America's power was sought and achieved through the international marketplace. Starting with the presidency of William Howard Taft (1857–1930) and continuing through the administrations of Woodrow Wilson (1956–1924), U.S. intervention in world affairs took the forms of military action and, most often, social-economic involvement. The establishment of political relations with foreign nations through economic trade or support became known as dollar diplomacy. As Taft stated in his final message to Congress on December 3, 1912, foreign policy should include "substituting dollars for bullets." Those who favored dollar diplomacy praised America's intervention into foreign politics as a means of promoting democracy and economic growth. Critics described it as a policy of self-interest only, and an economic form of imperialism (the extension of a nation's power through the acquisition and direct control of land or territories). Through the practice of dollar diplomacy in Latin America and the Caribbean, where American banks and businesses were often protected with an onsite American military presence, the United States became a nation of influence in the world.

Since the 1800s, the Caribbean had been a strategic region for American naval domination. Caribbean, Latin American, and U.S. interests were intertwined. Between 1910 and 1916, the U.S. government dispatched troops to Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, and elsewhere to oversee its interests. If the U.S. government did not trust or have good international business relations with the prime political leader in one of these countries, it typically helped rebel factions within the country to defeat him. In some cases, the federal government saw to it that "puppet regimes," governments that were under the economic and political control of the United States, were established in foreign countries to obligate those governments to do business with U.S. banks.

In 1915, U.S. troops were deployed to the capital city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after native Haitians killed General Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, a repressive dictator who had just assassinated 167 political prisoners. Americans set up a puppet government in Haiti and soon were in full control of its police force, public works department, and economy. These steps were taken to secure the assets of the National City Bank of New York in Haiti. During the U.S. occupation of Haiti, civil liberties of Haitians were curtailed, but only a portion of a $16 million loan promised to them by the National City Bank was ever disbursed.

In at least one case, the United States gained control of foreign properties without the aid of troops, simply by using the power of the checkbook. On August 4, 1916, the United States purchased 68 small Caribbean islands—133 square miles, called the Virgin Islands—from Denmark. The cost was $25 million.

AMERICA AND WORLD AFFAIRS: THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION

Throughout the decade, America was drawn into the unsettled politics of its neighbor to the south. The Mexican government had long been in shambles. Porfirio Diaz (1830–1915), who ruled Mexico from 1876 to 1911, suppressed uprisings with violence and kept his elected office through corrupt election processes. Under his rule, the Mexican peasant class lived miserable lives. His opponent in 1910 was Francisco Madero (1873–1913), a rich man who promised all the Mexican people better lives. Madero was imprisoned by Diaz, but he escaped to the United States, where he formed an army and returned to Mexico to defeat Diaz. On May 25, 1911, Diaz fled to Paris. Once he became Mexico's president, Madero broke his promises and ran the government in a corrupt manner.

Next, Victoriano Huerta (1854–1916) staged a military coup against Madero and took over the government in 1913. President Woodrow Wilson called Huerta's regime "a government of butchers." The U.S. government lifted an embargo against shipping arms to Mexico in order to send guns to Venustiano Carranza (1859–1920), Huerta's opposition. Wilson also set up a barricade at Veracruz to stop nations from sending arms to Huerta's forces. Then a few American sailors assigned to Veracruz were arrested for trespassing in a restricted area. There was little fuss over the matter, and they eventually were freed. However, to extract an apology, the United States demanded that the Mexicans fire a salute to the U.S. flag. When they did not comply, Congress used the Tampico Incident, as it was called, as an excuse to send military forces into Mexico to oust Huerta. A war between the United States and Mexico was narrowly averted when both nations agreed to mediation from Argentina, Brazil, and Chile—known as "The ABC Powers." During the summer of 1914, Huerta fled Mexico and Carranza took office. In 1915, the United States recognized Carranza's government.

This caused problems with Francisco "Pancho" Villa (1877–1923), who, though once aligned with Carranza, eventually battled against Carranza's forces as a revolutionary, trying to improve life for the people of

Mexico. Villa had waged a campaign for land reforms and attempted to set up a relationship with the U.S. government, knowing that being officially recognized by the United States was important in reaching the goals of reform and revolution he had in mind. When it became clear that the United States would instead officially recognize Carranza as Mexico's leader, Villa turned his revolutionary attention to killing Americans. In January 1916, Villa's soldiers murdered sixteen U.S. mining engineers. Two months later, he razed the town of Columbus, New Mexico, killing seventeen Americans. U.S. general John J. Pershing (1860–1948) and troops headed for Mexico to destroy Villa, but they could not locate him.

Pancho Villa was assassinated in 1923 by enemies within Mexico. He is remembered as a folk hero in Mexican popular culture. He shares that legacy with another Mexican revolutionary of the period, Emiliano Zapata (c. 1883–1919), who also called for land reforms and fought corrupt Mexican leaders of the decade.

AMERICA AT WAR: FROM NEUTRALITY TO ENGAGEMENT

The Great War, or World War I as it later was known, broke out during the summer of 1914 among the five "Big Powers" of Europe: Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Russia. Political, economic, and military tensions had long existed among these nations. However, the event that sparked the war was the assassination of Austria-Hungary's Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863–1914) by a Serbian nationalist on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo. Subsequent diplomatic maneuvering could not stop the flood of distrust and hatred that had been building up across Europe. Much of the continent went to war: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy (The Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, and Russia (The Allies). (Italy would later realign itself against the Central Powers.)

Battles raged across Europe for four years and four months, resulting in incalculable injuries, deaths, and mass destruction. Conservative estimates record the number of deaths at ten million and the number of maimed and injured at about twenty million. One of the reasons for the war's extended duration was the relative equality of economic, industrial, and military assets held by each country as the conflict began. The opponents were closely matched, which made for a drawn-out series of conflicts.

President Wilson resolved to keep America out of the war, but his intentions for neutrality were doomed by world events. On May 7, 1915, a German submarine torpedoed the British passenger liner Lusitania off the coast of Ireland as it traveled from the United States to Great Britain. The ship sank, and 1,198 people—including 128 Americans—died. Wilson protested the attack, which infuriated U.S. secretary of state William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925). Bryan felt that Wilson's actions broke with America's neutral stance, and he resigned. The Germans defended their attack on the Lusitania by saying they had issued warnings that they would sink all ships attempting to travel in the Atlantic zone. Furthermore, the Germans claimed that the ocean liner was carrying arms to Great Britain, which it was. Still, Germany agreed to stop unrestricted submarine warfare, and Wilson was appeased. U.S. neutrality would continue, for the moment.

In 1916, the British tightened economic restrictions on Germany by stopping shipments from entering German territory. British citizens were told to boycott eighty-seven companies in the United States that were selling goods to Germany. Despite this economic dispute, U.S. sympathies lay with the allied interests of France, Great Britain, and Russia. Germany's reengagement in unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic on January 31, 1917, also reinforced the U.S. relationship with the Allies. During the first few months of 1917 the sinking of four U.S. ships resulted in fifteen American deaths. Other incidents occurred, as well, that made it clear that the United States could no longer remain detached from the conflict. Wilson called for war on April 2, 1917. Congress backed the president, and the United States formally declared war against the Central Powers on April 6 of that year.

AMERICA AT WAR: THE HOMEFRONT

Now that the United States was at war, preparations had to be made to ensure victory. By tradition, little of the federal budget had been spent on military matters. From 1900 to 1914, only 1 percent of the gross national product (GNP) was spent on defense. Now, however, priorities changed. There was a need to create a powerful defense and offense by building up the arms and munitions industry. America also needed to form and train its military forces. In May 1916, concerned that U.S.-Mexican relations were deteriorating, the government had passed the National Defense Act, which authorized an army of 223,000 men and a National Guard of 450,000 members. On May 18, 1917, that act was supplemented with the Selective Service Act, calling for a wartime draft. By the war's end, U.S. war expenses would total $17.1 billion for the development of a wartime military force.

During the war, the government took on extraordinary powers in order to stabilize the country's economy and maintain the political control of those in power. Bureaus such as the War Industries Board and the War Labor Board regulated business and industry. The railroads were placed under government control through the Federal Railroad Administration. The Espionage and Sedition Acts allowed the government to monitor the activities of anyone they believed might be engaged in activities designed to undermine the political or economic stability of the United States; this led to jail time for some individuals and restrictions on speech and other forms of communication for many others. Many activities were regulated for the first time: commercial shipping was controlled by the Shipping Act of 1916, and the publication and dissemination of ideas and information was monitored and restricted by the Committee on Public Information (also known as the Creel Committee).

AMERICA AT WAR: THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES IN EUROPE

After four years of fighting, brutal trench warfare had weakened the military forces of all involved countries. This style of combat consisted of opposing forces shooting and otherwise attacking each other from fairly permanent trenches (ditches) protected by barbed wire. Forces from Great Britain and Italy were ravaged, and French armies had mutinied. Russia's forces had been sent to war by the czar, but revolutionary armies had toppled the royal dictator in 1917, leaving the Russian military without decisive leadership. Understandably, the U.S. declaration of war was greeted enthusiastically by the Allied forces (which were earlier known as the "Triple Entente" of France, Great Britain, and Russia). For the Allies, the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) would provide needed reinforcement and bolster the spirits of the war-weary Allied troops. The Allies assumed that, under the command of U.S. general John J. Pershing (1860–1948), the AEF soon would turn the tide of the war. Yet it would be a year before the AEF touched European soil.

The Zimmermann Telegram

In early 1917 Arthur Zimmermann, the German foreign secretary, sent a top-secret message confirming unrestricted submarine warfare as of February 1, and proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the United States. The communication was sent to the German foreign minister in Mexico via the German ambassador to the United States. Fortunately for Americans, it was intercepted by the British and presented to President Woodrow Wilson. Wilson announced the contents to the American public, and before long, the United States declared war on Germany.

After declaring war, the United States quickly proceeded to build an expansive military force. By the spring of 1918, sixty-two divisions of twenty-eight thousand men each, a total of 3.7 million soldiers, made up the U.S. Army. Forty-two divisions sailed for Europe and began fighting on April 20, 1918. Through the spring, American soldiers fought fierce, bloody battles against the forces of Germany and its Central Powers allies (Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey). In early June, the U.S. Second and Third Divisions joined the Allies to stop the Germans from capturing Paris. From June 6 to June 21, U.S. Marines fought against the Germans at Belleau Wood. More than eighteen hundred U.S. troops were killed and eight thousand other soldiers died in that brutal battle. Sixteen hundred Germans were taken prisoner.

After nearly four years of harsh battles, the Central Powers were unable to withstand the strength of the newly arrived Americans. The Central Powers waged their final offensive in July 1918, against French and American forces along the Marne River in France. On September 26, the AEF began the crucial battle known as the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The scene was hellish, demonstrating the poor preparation of the hastily trained U.S. troops. The sad result: 120,000 American casualties. During the battle, French Premier Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929) became so disturbed by Pershing's methods that he would have asked Wilson to remove the general from his command if colleagues had not intervened.

However, the resources of the Central Powers were decimated. Germany and its partners had become undone, and the war was ending. Turkey quit the war on October 30. Four days later, Austria-Hungary pulled out. On November 9, Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859–1941), the leader of Germany, escaped to the Netherlands. The factions agreed to sign an armistice (a temporary halt to hostilities by agreement between opponents) on November 11, 1918. Finally, the war was over. The United States had played a relatively brief but influential role and suffered 116,516 war deaths. Of these, 53,402 were battle deaths; 63,114 were due to other causes, mainly disease stemming from the horrible conditions on the fields and in the trenches. An additional two hundred thousand American soldiers were maimed or injured in the bloodiest war that had been fought to date.

WOODROW WILSON'S PEACE PLAN

On January 8, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson addressed Congress with a list of peace terms known as the Fourteen Points. Wilson stressed that the United States would ask for neither European territory nor reparations (money paid by a defeated nation in compensation for damages caused during a war). The United States would partake in neither secrecy nor intrigue and simply wanted a just peace under a new international political system. On January 18, The Big Four—Wilson, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Premier Georges Clemenceau of France, and Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando of Italy—convened at Versailles, just outside Paris. There they negotiated a peace treaty that included Wilson's concept for a League of Nations to mediate international disputes in order to avoid future wars. Unfortunately, the U.S. Congress refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles. Because of this, the United States

did not join the League of Nations when it was instituted, and Congress did not sign a formal treaty ending the war until 1921.

THE RED SCARE

In 1917, while the nations of Europe were enmeshed in war, revolution was taking place in Russia. Czar Nicholas II (1868–1918) was overthrown, and a provisional government under the leadership of Aleksandr Kerensky (1881–1970) was formed. Kerensky's government was weak, and soon was displaced by the communist Bolsheviks, referred to as "Reds," led by Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924). The Reds of the newly formed Soviet Union sought to spread communism (a political and economic doctrine based upon socialism as interpreted by Karl Marx [1818–1883] and Lenin, by which property is not privately owned but controlled by the state). During the late 1910s, communists were accused of sending bombs to many U.S. government officials. Some American intellectuals and social activists, many of whom were foreign-born, were sympathetic to the communist doctrine. Those who supported communism or tried to spread the doctrine in the United States were considered dangerous radicals and threats to the American way of life. There was a media campaign against Reds, and public hysteria led to job dismissals, book bannings and burnings, and even violence. Eventually the fearful climate of the "Red Scare" subsided when Warren Harding (1865–1923) was elected president in late 1920; his campaign platform had promised a return to normalcy.

The Woman's Peace Party

The Woman's Peace Party (WPP) was established in January 1915 to give "the mother half of humanity" a voice in world affairs. Jane Addams (1860–1935), a social worker who had founded Hull House in Chicago, became its first president. The party platform called for mediation to end the war in Europe, arms limitations, and the legalization of the vote for women. The WPP became known throughout the world when Addams presided at the International Congress of Women, held at The Hague, Netherlands, in April 1915. In its second year, the WPP boasted twenty-five thousand members. Once America entered World War I, the WPP began advocating a design for international peace, and in May 1919, helped establish the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

FEMINISM AND WOMEN'S RIGHT TO VOTE

On June 4, 1919, Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. By August 1920, the requisite number of states had ratified the legislation. Fifty years after the passage of the Fifteenth

Amendment granting all men the right to vote, women were finally accorded this right. Advocates for women's suffrage had held their first major convention at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. By 1910, more than seventy-five thousand members belonged to the National American Women Suffrage Association; by 1917 there were more than two million. For years, advocates had staged rallies, paraded, and even picketed the White House. Some were jailed. A few, such as militant suffragist Alice Paul (1885–1977), endured hunger strikes leading to painful force-feedings by jailers. Paul even spent a week imprisoned in a psychiatric ward because of her belief in a woman's right to vote.

THE BATTLE FOR RACIAL EQUALITY

African Americans, particularly those in the South, did not share in the civil rights that were taken for granted by other U.S. citizens. By 1910, black men in the South were kept from exercising their right to vote through poll taxes (which poor blacks could not afford) and literacy tests (which less-educated blacks could not pass). They were paid less than whites in comparable jobs, and their education system was inferior. When African Americans bought tickets to mixed-race movie theaters, they had to sit in the upper balcony. Certain theaters were for whites only; others were designated for blacks. When they boarded buses, blacks could sit only in back seats. These discriminatory statutes were called "Jim Crow" laws.

During the late 1910s, more than three hundred thousand African Americans headed north to work in wartime industries. Even if most of these blacks were not welcomed into the fabric of their new communities, at least they had escaped the repressive Jim Crow laws. In May 1910, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was created to deal with such issues as education, legislation, and litigation on behalf of African Americans. In one of the NAACP's most important legal cases, Buchananv. Warley, the Supreme Court ruled that segregated housing in Louisville, Kentucky, was unconstitutional. The NAACP and other civil liberties groups fought to put an end to the gruesome crime of lynching African Americans. Seventy-six lynchings (deaths of black men by hanging or mob beatings on the part of white men) were recorded in the United States in 1910, followed by sixty-seven in 1911. In 1919, there were eighty-three lynchings. Late in the decade, a number of large race riots broke out in major cities, ending with white courts handing down harsh sentences, including extended prison terms, to participants. A few rioters were even executed for protesting against racism.

PROHIBITION AND THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT

The drinking of beverages containing alcohol had long been a concern of certain Americans. By the mid-nineteenth century, thirteen states had prohibited alcoholic drinks. Despite the protests of many Americans, particularly working class males, Catholics, and German and Irish immigrants, Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 22, 1917, to extend this restriction to all states. It was ratified on January 29, 1919. The law, which ushered in a chapter of American life known as "Prohibition," prohibited, or outlawed, the manufacture, sale, transport, import, and export of intoxicating liquor. In other words, the United States went "dry." The amendment was not repealed until 1933, by which time the unlawful production and sale of alcoholic beverages had become a major economic and political issue.

NATIONAL POLITICS AND THE ELECTIONS OF 1912 TO 1918

1912

The Republican Party (also known as the Grand Old Party [GOP]) was in terrible shape when three hundred delegates walked out of the Republican National Convention to form the Progressive Party and nominated former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) as their candidate. Meanwhile, incumbent President William Howard Taft (1857–1930) held onto the Republican nomination. Although his administration had led the nation to prosperity, Taft did not have the political skills to hold his party together. He alienated key party members and backers by failing to provide adequate tariff reforms, and his tenure was tainted by scandal.

Drugs and the Narcotic Act of 1914

In 1914 Congress enacted The Harrison Narcotic Act, authorizing the federal government to record narcotics transactions and restricting narcotics use to medical purposes. Americans increasingly viewed the open trade and distribution of narcotics as threatening to public morality. Prior attempts to control the sale of drugs and fraudulent medicines had failed. In New York, legislators stalled the passage of laws to prohibit the rampant use of cocaine, fearing that restrictions would adversely affect manufacturers of medicines and interfere with doctor-patient relationships. In 1919, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the Harrison Narcotic Act and confirmed the federal government's right to regulate the dissemination of drugs.

The Republican platform was conservative. Even so, it called for certain labor reforms, including workmen's compensation legislation and a limit on work hours for women and children, land reclamation, and a federal trade commission to regulate interstate commerce.

Roosevelt's Progressive platform of "New Nationalism" was one of the most reform-minded campaigns in the history of the United States. He called for consumer protection, votes for women, labor reforms for women and children, and government regulation of corporations.

Woodrow Wilson, a relative newcomer to national politics, won the Democratic Party nomination. His "New Freedom" campaign embraced a Jeffersonian model of federal government wherein power should be used to eliminate privilege, remove roadblocks to individual initiative, and restore and preserve a climate of competition in business. A former "trustbuster," Roosevelt believed in 1912 that corporate trusts (combinations of companies run by a powerful few that discouraged competition in the marketplace) could be regulated, but Wilson insisted that they be "busted."

It was a rough campaign. On October 14, before giving a speech in Milwaukee, Roosevelt suffered a gunshot wound during an attempted assassination. He delivered his speech, however, before being taken to hospital for treatment. By the end of the campaign, Wilson won the presidency with 435 electoral votes. Roosevelt collected 88, and the incumbent Taft secured just 8 electoral votes. Democrats also controlled both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

1916

In June 1916, Republican Party representatives gathered for their national convention in Chicago. They conceived a moderately progressive campaign platform, called for a protective tariff, and attacked Wilson's foreign policy. They favored child labor laws, a rural credit system, and workmen's compensation legislation for federal employees. The delegates nominated Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes (1862–1948) as the Republican presidential nominee.

Republicans were optimistic about the race. They felt that Wilson's election in 1912 was due only to a split in the Republican Party, a weakness they avoided in 1916. The Progressive Party had invited Theodore Roosevelt to be their candidate again, but he declined. As a result, there was ultimately no Progressive candidate in the race. Since the 1914 elections had brought a number of Republicans into Congressional seats, the Republicans were feeling upbeat.

Several days after the Republicans convened, the Democratic Convention gathered in St. Louis, Missouri. The incumbent, Wilson, would be the party's nominee. However, instead of running on the "New Freedom" platform, Wilson presented a series of issues built around "Americanism." He called for more government regulation of child labor, wages, and workmen's compensation for federal employees. The Democratic ideal held to isolationism; one slogan of Wilson supporters was: "He kept us out of war." Still, Wilson's speeches began to express a bent towards internationalism. He declared that the United States should strive "to use its power…to make secure its just interests throughout the world…and…to assist the world in securing settled peace and justice."

Wilson's moderately progressive campaign helped to move the Democratic Party away from the conservatism of past years, starting a trend that would become more pronounced under the leadership of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) in the 1930s. During the campaign, Republican Hughes argued against Wilson's views on the economy and foreign policy. He stressed the need to expand America's preparedness program. Hughes called for "America first, America efficient." Additionally, he faulted Wilson's dealings with Mexico and his inability to control Atlantic Ocean travel and trade rights in the face of German aggression.

Wilson won the election with 277 electoral votes, just 23 more than Hughes collected. In Congressional elections, the Democrats lost 3 seats in the Senate but maintained a majority of 53 to 42. They also kept a narrow margin in the House, winning 216 seats to 210 Republican seats and 6 seats for minority party members.

1918

The 1918 elections were held at a pivotal time in America's history. Just days before the signing of the armistice to end World War I, and during one of the worst flu epidemics in American history, the Republican Party regained strength and retook majorities in the House and Senate. This upheaval meant that Wilson no longer could rely on congressional support to enact his policies.

LEGISLATING CHILD LABOR

In 1910, there were an estimated two million children working in industrial settings in the United States. Prior to the 1910s, child labor had been evident in the workplace. Farms, small mills, and retail stores regularly hired children as a cheap source of labor. While the rise of modern industrialism in the United States did not bring about child labor, it made the issue more pronounced. During the first years of the twentieth century, reformers such as Jacob Riis, George Creel, and Denver Judge Ben Lindsey made the public aware of the wretched conditions under which children toiled in the canning industry, the glass industry (where young boys molded glass objects near blistering hot furnaces for hours on end), anthracite mining (where boys sorted mined coal by hand), and the sweatshops of the textile industry. As machinery became larger and more motorized, children grew increasingly susceptible to maimings. Furthermore, as society began to acknowledge the importance of education to create productive citizens, reformers made an effective case that children who worked ten-hour shifts were provided no opportunity for schooling.

In 1911, the U.S. Commission on Uniform Laws was urged to adopt a uniform child labor law to establish minimum standards for youngsters working under hazardous health conditions. In 1912, a special bureau was set up within the Department of Labor to handle the regulation of child labor. These gestures were ineffective, particularly due to disparities among state laws. In mid-decade, Wilson influenced Congress to enact The Owen-Keating Bill, which restricted shipments of goods produced through child labor, but the Supreme Court ruled the bill unconstitutional. The Court based its ruling on the belief that Congress, under the Tenth Amendment, had no authority to control conditions of production in individual states. Despite this setback, public support continued to rise against child labor and further legislation would be launched against its evils.

WORKERS' COMPENSATION

Between 1910 and 1919, the policy of employers changed regarding compensation of workers injured while on the job. At the decade's start, each worker was responsible for personal injuries. The only way a worker could collect damages for losses was to sue the employer. During the first decade of the century, close to thirty-five thousand deaths per year occurred as a result of workplace incidents. By 1911, as momentum among businesses increased towards compensating disabled workers, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) encouraged the adoption of a system of workers' compensation that would dispense with expensive, time-consuming litigation. Employers were asked to help design new policies, and were directed to purchase insurance policies against accidents. Compensation would be based on predetermined schedules. Claims would be evaluated by an administrative agency.

Industries began introducing safety measures into the workplace. In 1911 and 1913, Congress required the railroad industry to implement the use of safety equipment. Similarly, improvements in factory and mining environments began to be instituted. By 1917, the Supreme Court upheld workers' compensation laws that had recently passed in New York. In 1919, the Court upheld similar legislation in Arizona.

Prisons and Convict Labor

In 1912, the U.S. Bureau of Labor surveyed 296 state prisons where eighty-six thousand men and women were confined. Of those inmates, fifty-one thousand were employed by private contractors and industry. Almost all prison laborers were paid wages far below free laborers, and they were in danger of severe punishments if they failed to perform well. In corrupt prisons, inmates worked under slave conditions. They were deprived of sufficient food, and their wages were distributed to those who ran the prisons. Although voices spoke in opposition, the practice of convict labor would continue until the beginning of World War II (1941–45).

THE MANN ACT

During the first years of the century, ghastly tales were publicized about the abduction of innocent young women for the purpose of prostitution. Stories of immigrant girls, in particular, who were made to work in brothels in large cities across the nation spurred reformers to push for protective legislation against what was known as white slave trafficking. This practice was prohibited under The Mann Act of 1910. Section Two of The Mann Act stipulates that anyone who knowingly transports a young woman across state lines for the purpose of "prostitution or debauchery" is guilty of a felony. The Supreme Court upheld the statute.