Poem on Muckrackers

The difficult times of being a muckraker

should not be the job you should taker.

It’s harder than being a baker

or a candlestick maker.

I’d rather be a Quaker.

I’ve witnessed the crimes of public figures.

I won’t be a quitter,

I’ll be a winner.

Reporting on crimes where there is nothing

but deceit filled lies and people who cheat.

I am here to open the eyes of the oblivious

and reveal the truth of these tricks.

Why was Ida Tarbell important?

Ida Tarbell studied Madame Roland because she wanted to prove that women brought moderation and compassion to politics. When she completed her research she said that Madame Roland had performed during the French Revolution as hard as the men did. She believed that men had corrupted the world and women could straighten it out. In the book,” The History of the Standard Oil Company” she exposed the illegal means used by John D. Rockefeller to dominate the early oil industry. Daniel Yergin who was an oil historian, called Ida’s book the most important business book ever written.  She intervened in her disapproval of Standard Oil's illegal practices, tribute for Rockefeller's huge accomplishments in organizing and stabilizing an unpredictable industry. She didn’t like being called a "muckraker" because she was convinced that in the long run the public was trying to stir things out of control and someone might take something the wrong way. She had many chances to make the most of her reputation but instead, she rejected the pleas of the suffragettes to authorize their causes because they denied her own convictions about the role of women. In 1914, Henry Ford and others tried unsuccessfully to have her join the celebrity-laden "Peace Ship" to bring an end to World War I. She considered it unrealistic. In late 1916, she turned down President Wilson's offer to make her the first woman on the Tariff Commission because he believed she had written more common sense about the tariff than any man. She also put off writing her autobiography until she was eighty years old. Journalists should study Ida’s work because it can help them out and give them an idea on what to write about or how to be when they become a journalist.


http://tarbell.allegheny.edu/biobib.html

England is trying to take over all the colonies. They are trying to gain control to become more powerful so they can be on top.


http://www.fresno.k12.ca.us/divdept/sscience/history/imperialism_colonialism.htm

Ida Tarbell

A muckraker is someone that seeks to expose corruption of businesses or government to the public. Ida Minerva Tarbell was a newspaper and magazine writer and editor, lecturer, and a muckraker. She was a muckraker and was known as one of the leading muckrakers of investigative journalism. She exposed corporate America. She was an editor of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. she then went to Paris to support herself by writing for American magazines. Ida Tarbell was hired by McClure's Magazine. She published some of the articles she wrote as books. Ida wrote biographies about Napoleon, Madame Roland and Abraham Lincoln. She was known for "The History of the Standard Oil Company", which was published in 1904. She wrote an expose of the Standard Oil company and John D. Rockefeller. The expose  she wrote led to the use of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to break up the Standard Oil Company. From 1906-1915 she joined other writers at the American magazine. At the American magazine she was a writer, editor, and co-owner of the American magazine. She also wrote books where she argued that woman's contribution was with home and family, these books were called "The Business of Being a Woman" and "The Ways of Women."

Source: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/tarbellida/p/ida_tarbell.htm