Ohio History Journal

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THE REFORM MOVEMENT IN OHIO AT THE TURN

THE REFORM MOVEMENT IN OHIO AT THE TURN

OF THE CENTURY

 

By JAMES H. RODABAUGH*

 

The end of the nineteenth century, in a very real sense,

sounded the knell of the frontier or pioneer period of American

development, and opened the doors upon a new era in which in-

dustrialization and its concomitant social and economic reorgani-

zation and readjustments and political bewilderment were the

dominant forces. Frederick Jackson Turner opened his remark-

ably perceptive presidential address before the American His-

torical Association in 191O with these words: "The transforma-

tions through which the United States is passing in our own day

are so profound, so far-reaching, that it is hardly an exaggeration

to say that we are witnessing the birth of a new nation in

America."

It is not necessary here to recall the revolution in the economic

and social structure of this country which followed the Civil War.

Stimulated by the war itself, industry began its expansion. Rein-

forced by the rationalizations of laissez faire and frontier indi-

vidualism, industrial capital proceeded to build its empire. Wealth

increased, industrial production skyrocketed, and new inventions

added to the range of life. But these were counterbalanced by

poverty and class conflict. The control of the nation's wealth and

production rapidly concentrated in the hands of a relatively small

proportion of the population. The other side of the picture is a

story of pauperism and slums, of disease and crime, of sordid-

ness and unhappiness among the millions who crowded into the

cities.

Technical advances came too rapidly and wealth skyrocketed

too suddenly for our political institutions, which were not ad-

vanced in tempo with the changes of industrialization. In the

* This paper was read at the Mississippi Valley Historical Association meeting,

April 21, 1944, at St. Louis, Missouri.

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