Municipal/State Government Reformby Eric Vignola, Borjan Aritonovski, and Zack Pine

Robert LaFolleteHe was a peoples’ person. He wanted to change all the corruption and help out the community. He was a Senator and the governor of

Wisconsin. He took ideas from the people and made them into policies. He was a big part of the Government reform.

During his first term as a governor he:

● proposed to set up a railroad commission

● imposed an ad valorem tax, is a tax based on the value of real estate or personal property, on the railroad companies

● established a direct primary system

All of the things he did as a governor were that he:

● championed numerous progressive reforms, including the first workers' compensation system

● railroad rate reform

● direct legislation

● municipal home rule

● open government

● the minimum wage

● non-partisan elections

● the open primary system

● direct election of U.S. Senators

● women's suffrage

● progressive taxation

He also created an atmosphere of close cooperation between the state government and the University of Wisconsin in the development of progressive policy, which became known as the Wisconsin Idea. The goals of his policy included the recall, referendum, direct primary, and initiative.

Robert LaFolleteAs a Senator he:

● spent the remainder of his life, from January 2, 1906, until his death

in 1925

● strongly opposed American involvement in World War I

● campaigned for child labor laws and social security

● women's suffrage and other progressive reforms.

He opposed the prosecution of Eugene V. Debs and other opponents of the

war and played a key role in initiating the investigation of the Teapot Dome

Scandal, bribery incident, during the Harding Administration.

Samuel “Golden Rule” JonesFamous for his advocacy of the Golden Rule. Which is one should treat others as one would like others to

treat oneself.

When he was mayor he wanted to improve the conditions of the working class by:

• opening free kindergartens

• developing a park system

• establishing playgrounds for children

• establishing free public baths

• instituting an eight-hour day for city workers

• to took away truncheons from the police

• refusing to enforce blue laws

• reforming the city government

Because of these policies he was not popular with Toledo’s business community.

City ReformsCity Commissioner Plan - Cities were to hire experts in different fields to run a single aspect of city government

City Manager Plan - A professional city manager would be hired to run each department of the city and report directly to the city council

State ReformsAustralian Ballot - In 1884, there was a new voting system which allowed voters to vote for

their candidate in private.

Direct Primaries - This made sure that candidates were picked by the people instead of big officials who had power. This is similar to the Direct Election of Senators, where senators were chosen by popular vote instead of officials.

State ReformsInitiative - Allowed voters to petition state legislatures in order to consider a bill desired by

citizens.

Referendum - Allowed voters to decide if a bill or proposed amendment should be passed.

Recall - If there is a mayor or senator in the office that the people feel are not doing their jobs right or are not popular. The people can get that mayor or senator out of office by getting a petition signed.

The Wisconsin IdeaThe Wisconsin Idea was a philosophy where Wisconsin politicians went to the professors of

the University of Wisconsin-Madison and asked them for ideas for policies.

It was used an idea to connect the people of the community to the politicians.

Not all the time did politicians know what they were doing so it was good to get an expert opinion every once in a while.

Some policies that were proposed because of this were:

● Primary elections

● Workers’ compensation

● State regulation of railroads

● Direct election of U.S. senators

● Progressive Taxation

Robert LaFollete was big supporter.

Amendments For the first time in over 40 years the Progressive Era added 4 amendments to the U.S.

Constitution

● 16th created income tax (1913)● 17th direct election of US Senators (1913)● 18th Prohibition (1919)● 19th Women’s Suffrage (1920)

Acts

Smithsonian Museum