Ch. 10 L1: The Need for Reform

In April 18, 1906, a strong earthquake hit San Francisco.

It collapsed many buildings and started more than 50 fires.

The city burned for 3 days.

As many as 3,000 people were killed and 350,000 people were left homeless.

With rebuilding of the city came changes. Many people were unhappy with the way the city was run.

They felt large businesses were controlling the government.

People wanted things to change. These people were called reformers.​

Reformers wanted to get rid of him.

He was a political "boss" that ran the city like it was his.

He used bribes to get what he wanted. A bribe is the money, gifts, or favors one person gives another to do something.

The reformers turned to a lawyer named Hiram Johnson, who soon became the leader of the reform movement.

The Southern Pacific Company owned most of California's transportation system and the waterfront in San Francisco.

The Southern Pacific Company became known as the Octopus. The company got this nickname because people thought of it as a huge creature that squeezed all the money out of hard-working citizens.

The company was giving bribes to government officials and, in return, these officials made laws that helped the railroad.

In 1910, the leaders of the reform movement asked Hiram Johnson to run for governor. Johnson agreed.

Johnson won the race and became governor. He helped pass laws that controlled what businesses could do. One of these laws controlled how much the railroads could charge for shipping goods.

The reformers wanted to give voters a way to have more say in what the government did.

Governor Johnson helped pass an amendment, or change, to the state constitution. This new law was called initiative. It gave voters a way to create laws directly.

The second part of the new law passed was called the referendum. This law made it possible for voters to say "no" to laws already passed by the legislature.

Another law was called the recall. Under this law, citizens could vote someone out of office if they did not like what the person was doing.

Many reformers worked hard to improve life for the people of California.

Katherine Philips Edson saw that children in Los Angeles were getting sick from drinking bad milk. She and others demanded that the government hired inspectors to test all the milk sold.

Edson became one of the leaders in the fight for women's suffrage, or right to vote.

Caroline Maria Severance was another woman who worked for women's suffrage.

In 1911, California became the sixth state to give women the right to vote.

At age 91, Severance became the first woman in California to register to vote.​

Governor Johnson was impressed by Edson's work with reform issues. He asked Edson to study working conditions in California.

Edson found that women were often paid less than 15 cents an hour. As a result, the state legislature passed a minimum wage law for women and children. A minimum wage is the lowest amount of money that a company can pay its workers.