"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free"

The turn of the century reflected a disparity of politics, social and economics between the working stiffs and those who ran the companies those stiffs worked for. Men who had monopolized industries to ridiculous financial gain left no room for the average Joe to have a change at a successful business. With little room for a middle class, this left the majority of families working 10 and 12 hour workdays, six days a week. There were Capitalists who were able to capitalize on this labor, and in turn bankroll millions of dollars. There was a huge disparity in the social class system.

Though Flanagan felt that the woman of Chicago who were doing charitable work with things like the Settlement House for the continued influx of immigrants, and other metropolitan community involvements. She felt less like Progressivism was actually less about actual Moral Reform, and more about the women doing more in society. Easier to do if living a life of leisure, since many women at the turn of the century were working woman. In industrialized cities women continued to maintain the home and family. Men at the time had little to do with household or child responsibilities.

Progressives were concerned about the unregulation of industrialization. they also had concerns about urbanization. The depression of 1890 had brought hard times and made factory conditions worse. This is one of the areas the Progressives were working on changing, Flanagan was right in that many of these changes had to start at the metropolitan community.. Many of the first laws of reformation were at the State level.Many Americans were in poverty at the time, most of these were immigrants living in cities.

Progressivism did focus on efficiency as Flanagan seemed to have a penchant for organizing society. Not only with immigration and women's issues but in manufacturing productivity and costs. At the government level they came up with the commissions systems and the city manager plan.

Like Flanagan Stromquist wanted reform, but he felt that the problems in society were because of vast differences in class. His ideology was for the working men, and to close the Capitalist ranks of class, while he expected that immigrants and the country needed all to be Americanized for this to work. Everyone should speak the same language, everyone should have and equal opportunity to make their way up the corporate ladder, that there should be not as clear of lines of class distinction. His views were somewhat Socialist if I may.

While both Flanagan and Stomquists views and ideas did pave the way towards eventual progress. There was not an immediate solution.