He advocated, ".prevention of drunkenness by providing for every man a clean, comfortable home" (Riis 2). He demanded that the government make drastic reforms in tenement housing and the exploitation of the urban poor. He was appalled by the neglect of tenement inhabitants and their property by landlords that were in cahoots with politicians. How the Other Half Lives served as a sensational expose of urban poverty, so that the public would have a greater awareness of the conditions of the lower class. Riis set a precedent for social consciousness. A wave of middle- class social reformers followed Riis, namely Jane Addams, leader of the settlement house movement who founded Hull House in Chicago in 1889, Florence Kelley, who pioneered laws to protect consumers, workers, and women, and John Dewey, who believed that, ".education was the fundamental process of social progress and reform" (Orr 10/01/02). These reformers were the vanguards fo the Progressive Era, as they made consorted efforts to involve national and local governments in the solution of social problems. There were also those who championed urban reform, a prerequisite to general political reform, and demanded that corrupt political bosses in cities consolidate their power. Progressive mayors, like Tom Johnson of Cleveland, kept the cost down on utilities, opened parks and schools, and supported the reduction of city budgets, efficiency of employees, and nonpartisan, citywide elections. The New Deal's foundation was quite similar to that of the Progressive movement: to uplift the very poor while exposing the corruption of the wealthy.
The stock market crash of 1929 and the following Great Depression became the catalysts for reform. On Black Tuesday in 1929, stock prices suddenly plunged. There were several causes for the crash, including the declining demand and under consumption that is typical of a boom- and- bust economy.
