Wayback Wednesday: Wisconsin and the Progressive Era

Wayback Wednesday: 

Wisconsin and the Progressive Era

The first couple of decades of the 1900s were an interesting time, and each state was affected differently. By the 1910s, Wisconsin was leading the country in milk and cheese production having doubled the number of cows in the state between 1900 and 1910. The University of Wisconsin appointed Henry A. William its first agricultural professor in 1880. He was appointed dean in 1891 and led the department’s growth, founded the first dairy school, and experimented with new dairy methods.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin governor Robert M. La Follette was leading the charge into the Progressive Era, a time period known for its social and political reform efforts. Ten years before he was elected, the La Follette was an up-and-coming attorney when Republican leader Philetus Sawyer offered him a bribe to fix a court case. Incensed, “For the rest of the decade, La Follette traveled around the state speaking out against crooked politicians, powerful lumber barons, and corrupt railroad interests. Elected governor in 1900, he pledged to institute reforms to protect common people. Those who followed him called themselves "Progressive" Republicans. They believed that the proper business of government was not business, but service to the common people.” (Wisconsin Historical Society)

Laws passed during his tenure (1901-1909) include a civil service act that regulated appointments to

public office within the state, an automobile license law, a statewide primary election system, the implementation of maximum hours of labor for children as well as a list of dangerous occupations prohibited to children under 16, and the nation’s first Workmen’s Compensation Act (now Worker’s Compensation), guaranteeing injury compensation as a legal right.

In 1913, Wisconsin passed the first minimum wage law that specified a “living wage” must be paid to women and minors, as well as the first state income tax. Other laws subjected railroads, mortgages, and inheritances to taxation. Additional laws provided state control over how corporations issued stock and imposed stricter regulations on railroad and insurance companies. Reforms included new sanitation systems, municipally owned water and power systems, the creation of community parks, and improved schools.

Interestingly, an area of reform that Wisconsin didn’t support was women’s suffrage. Referendum after referendum was voted down. With the passage of the nineteenth amendment women had the right to vote in federal elections, however, they would not be allowed to vote in state elections until fourteen years later.

By 1914, the Progressive movement had fractured. La Follette was in the Senate, and Governor Frances McGovern supported Theodore Roosevelt for president which angered many of the leaders in the Republican party, then came World War I, interrupting the era. The state’s large German population opposed entering the war in Europe, earning the Wisconsin the nickname “Traitor State.” Ultimately, more than 118,000 Wisconsinites served in the armed forces, approximately 1,800 who gave their lives.

Photo Credits:

Henry A. William: Public Domain

Justice Scales: Pixabay/Sang Hyung Cho

Women: Public Domain/Library of Congress

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Love and Chocolate

She just needs a job. He wants a career. Is there room in their hearts for love?

Ilsa Krause and her siblings are stunned to discover their father left massive debt behind upon his death. To help pay off their creditors and save the farm, she takes a job at Beck’s Chocolates, the company her father despised and refused to supply with milk. Then she discovers her boss is Ernst Webber, her high school love who unceremoniously dumped her via letter from college. Could life get any more difficult?

A freshly-minted university diploma in his hand, Ernst Webber lands his dream job at Beck’s Chocolates. His plans to work his way up the ladder don’t include romantic entanglements, then Ilsa Krause walks back into his life resurrecting feelings he thought long dead. However, her animosity makes it clear she has no interest in giving him a second chance. Can he get her to change her mind? Does he want to?

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/mdQerZ