"An Anti-Smoke Rally"

Newspaper article

By: Anonymous

Date: November 18, 1948

Source: "An Anti-smoke Rally." New York Times 26, 3 (November 18, 1948).

About the Author: This article was published without a byline, and was written by a staff writer for the New York Times, a daily newspaper with a circulation of over one million readers worldwide.

INTRODUCTION

A staff editorial writer for the New York Times reported to its readers on November 18, 1948 that "An Anti-smoke Rally" would be held that same day. The tone of the editorial implied that all interested readers should show members of the city administration that they are concerned about the air pollution problem enveloping the city by attending the rally. The writer expressed the feeling that such readers no doubt would want "to see more effective city action against the smoke and soot nuisance" that was troubling the city. According to the author, members of the Outdoor Cleanliness Association and Citizens Union Committee on Air Pollution along with representatives of the city council and the health department and other prominent citizens would be some of the people attending the rally at the Hunter College Playhouse. In this editorial report, the New York Times writer explained that this "is a critical time in the movement to control air pollution, because legislation reorganizing the City Government's machinery to abate the nuisance is now being written and rewritten."

PRIMARY SOURCE

[This text has been suppressed due to author restrictions]

SIGNIFICANCE

American women took a major role in social reform beginning in the late nineteenth century. These women, who traditionally stayed at home and generally refrained from actively participating in social causes, started to become very concerned with pollution brought on by the Industrial Revolution that had begun in the United States early that same century. They joined civic organizations in order to protest the terrible conditions that existed in many urban industrialized areas most affected by the mostly unregulated capitalism that was sweeping the country.

In New York City—the major area in the United States where polluting factories had been established—women were especially active in trying to resolve the problems that had resulted from changes brought about by hundreds of thousands of people leaving rural areas for the newly created manufacturing jobs in the city. These problems that faced the citizens of New York City included the often-times unethical enforcement of the rules, regulations, and conditions that companies arbitrarily forced upon its workers such as dangerous working conditions, long hours, and poor pay. In addition to the direct hazards and hardships levied against the workers of these companies, there were the indirect problems such as air, water, and soil pollution that were inflicted by the polluting companies upon the general populace surrounding such sites.

Women belonging to many New York women's clubs and civic improvement groups contributed greatly to the activist causes of conservation and environmental protection within the city. Members of these reform groups, commonly called progressive reformers, tried to counter the powerful corporate leaders who were often controlling high-ranking members, as well as the rank-and-file, of the city, state, and, in some instances, federal governments. By 1940, air pollution—one of many major types of pollution existing in the city—was still a serious problem in New York City, even with the earlier protests against the condition of the air during the first forty years of the twentieth century.

In 1948, the editors of the New York Times promoted an anti-smoke rally when an article on the editorial page stated that: "… housewives and others [should] take this opportunity to become better informed on the problem and, by their presence at the rally, demonstrate to the City Administration their determination to keep fighting until effective action is taken."

Still, by 1966, after two more decades of activist protests and reform, a New York City mayoral task force concluded that individuals and organizations within the city were putting more poisons into the air on an equivalent volume basis than any other major U.S. city. Although cleaning up air pollution took many decades, the federal Clean Air Act of 1970, along with specific actions by the New York City Council helped city governmental and corporate leaders start reducing the pollution levels in the 1970s for major airborne contaminants and pollutants in the atmosphere.

Within New York City, such newspaper articles as "An Anti-smoke Rally" helped to identify pollution problems, suggest solutions to environmental problems within the city, and rally public support against the effects of pollution. As a result of these editorials that regularly appeared in major newspapers in New York City and the early environmental protests against unregulated manufacturing facilities, new federal environmental groups were created, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, established in December 1970.

That same year, on April 22, 1970, millions of U.S. citizens from all over the country participated in the first Earth Day celebrations. The day before Earth Day and about 21 years, 5 months after the November 18, 1948 editorial on the New York City anti-smoke rally, the New York Times gave front-page coverage of the major environmental event including a list of scheduled events throughout the city. Such newspaper articles—those of the past, the present, and no doubt into the future—help to identify environmental problems in New York City and are a primary way to institute improvements with regard to the quality of life in large metropolitan cities and throughout the United States.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Cohn, Morris M. The Pollution Fighters: A History of Environmental Engineering in New York State. Albany, N.Y.: New York State Department of Health, 1973.

Hoy, Suellen M. "Municipal Housekeeping: The Role of Women in Improving Urban Sanitation Practices." In Pollution and Reform in American Cities 1870–1930, edited by Martin V. Melosi. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980.

Web sites

Dublin, Thomas, and Kathryn Kish Sklar. "Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600–2000." Women and Social Movements〈http://womhist.binghamton.edu/projectmap.htm〉 (accessed March 1, 2006).

Goldstein, Eric. "Environment: Internet Resources for What You Need to Know on NYC Environment." GothamGazette.com, April 2002. 〈http://www.gothamgazette.com/environment/apr.02.shtml#five〉 (accessed March 1, 2006).

Kovarik, Bill. "Ellen Swallow Richards and the Progressive Women's Reform Movement." Environmental History Timeline. 〈http://www.radford.edu/∼wkovarik/envhist/richards.html〉 (accessed March 1, 2006).