Progress Era Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Progress Era - Essay Example The laborers were subjected to unfair payments, most of them were not able to own or even operate businesses, acquire material and properties or even upgrade to better housing standards. Due to the progressive movement ideologies, people were able to identify that the prevailing poor economic conditions of the country were motivated by the high levels of poverty in the country. (George Wanshington university 1999)Since the poverty had stricken various people, the progressives wanted to turnaround the poverty levels so that more people would be able to fend for themselves and that would lead to the progress of the country as a whole. The progressives also expressed issue to do with escalating cases of child labor in the country. The country experiences increased cases of child labor due to the increased industrialization. The poor conditions in the country also contributed in a big way to the increased child labor. (Putman 2000) Most people were not able to adequately fend for their families, thus, minor citizens would be employed in the manufacturing industries to help their parents provide for them. There were various issues concerning the child employment in the country, in a census conducted in 1890, close to one million children who were aged between ten and fifteen years worked in America. In the 1910 census, there were more than 2 million which indicated an increase from the previous census. (Davis 2003)During the time, it was even more serious since children as young as five and six were employed in companies to work for as long as eighteen hours every day. This was sore to the progressives who looked fo rward to a child labor reform which would eventually relieve the country of the high levels of child labor in the country. As seen from the above, it is clear that the progressive reformers were convicted that the