"Mightier Than the Sword," Response to Chapter 6 (Muckraking)

Chapter Six of “Mightier Thank the Sword” entitled, “Muckraking: The Golden Age of Reform Journalism,” makes account of many strong examples of how journalism during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s took a big part in shaping the future of the United States and how Journalists during this era were a huge asset to the general public and a headache for large corporations and entrepreneurs who had no intent on breaking up their monopolizing companies.  Though journalist were able to make such a difference and better many harsh situations during this time period, I believe that this is could not take place as easily today, especially with all of the electronic media and millions of opinionated media makers who bring many journalists down to the level of obsolete.  It still is possible to make a difference through good hard media, but the ways to reach the public on a grand scale have been vastly eliminated as the late 1900’s rolled by and we enter the second decade of the new millennium. 

Lincoln Steffens

Lincoln Steffens, an intellectual who studies at some of the finest universities throughout Europe and The United States, is widely known as the first Muckraker.  Steffens columns took a big part in exposing government corruption and crooked politicians and through the use of his first article, “Tweed Days in St. Louis,” published in 1902, single handedly forced many crooked politicians out of office and eventually lead large cities such as Toledo, Cleveland, and Detroit to hire professional administrators who did much of the political hiring in a more standardized and cautious way by requiring that job applicants possess formal credentials and pass standardized tests,.  Steffens’ book entitled, “The Shame of Cities,” was the spark inspired many cities to follow these new policies which lead to much less government corruption and an easier way to monitor the ways that our politicians conduct themselves and work towards better futures for the general public instead of themselves.  

Steffens work was the first example of how powerful journalism and the media had become during the turn of the century and how much of a difference that one man could and did make through expressing his ideas to the public and exposing the people who would step over common citizens to heighten their careers and fatten their bank accounts.

Ida Minerva Tarbell

S.S. McClure was an Irish immigrant who founded the leading Muckraking magazine, decided to use his resources to take down large monopolies that overpowered and eclipsed common business owners and the general public.  He set his focus on Standard Oil, an oil company that controlled 90% of the nation’s oil distribution.  McClure hired innocent looking Ida Minerva Tarbell, who wrote for “Chautauguan Magazine” to investigate the giant company.  In Tarbell’s first installment, “History of the Standard Oil Company,” she described in detail the many dishonest strategies that John D. Rockefeller used in order to get a leg up on the competition and destroy all of his competitors.  One example of corruption that Tarbell was able to leak to the public through her writings was how Rockefeller had created a system of secret and illegal agreements with rail road companies that ended up with him getting preferential rates.  Rockefeller would also pay off competitors and burn evidence of sneaky business conducted within his company.  Tarbell’s writings had gained national fame and she would eventually, in 1911, led to proof that Standard Oil was in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act which lead to the breaking up of the monopoly into thirty eight smaller companies. 

Tarbell’s hard work and truthful exposure of Standard Oil was just one example of how normal journalists who believed in fighting a cause and following through with their beliefs through their writings could make such a massive difference during the early 1900’s and could inspire and create so much change the would truly be for the better and for the good of the people.