The Urban Frontier
Question
Assignment 2: The Urban Frontier
We often imagine our cities as places where people from differing cultural, ethnic, social, political, and religious backgrounds come together and enrich the lives of one another. This is a model of cultural symbiosis.
However, the chapter, “The Industrial City,” from your textbook paints quite a different picture of our early cities.
Review this chapter and choose one of the following writers from this chapter:
• Flower
• Addams
• Strong
• Steffens
• Plunkitt
• Mumford
Then, address the following:
• Summarize the selected writer’s understanding and experience of city life.
• Analyze whether he or she agrees or disagrees with the idea that all people—regardless of race, nationality, or religion—experience cities as vibrant sites of cultural exchange and enrichment. Be sure to cite specific details from the text that either support or critique this romantic view of city life.
• Explore the potential limitations of this author’s point of view. Are there things that he or she fails to take into account regarding city life? If so, what does he or she fail to mention and why?
Answer ( 1 )
Introduction :
It is often imagined by the individuals that the cities in which they live in comprise of people who belong to different ethnic, social, cultural, religious and political backgrounds. But when these people come together and unite, they tend to enrich each others’ lives. This concept is what is called cultural symbiosis. But in the story “The Industrial City,” there are different writers who have painted the picture of the early cities in various colors. The story highlighted great demands for the political reform and also depicted the contradictory opinions of the writers who believed that people sharing different cultural and religious backgrounds do not bring people closer. In this study, the focus will be laid over the comments and opinions of George Washington Plunkitt who defended against the above-mentioned fact.
Main body of the analysis :
George Washington Plunkitt, belonging to the Tammany Hall machine in New York City has strongly pointed out that the ordinary citizens have been given political power by the machine so as to make the capable of accessing political power (McDonald, 1994). With the advancement of the cities and towns, confusion and chaos have undertaken the perceptions and the minds of the citizens and the ward boss has become the one to help the people find a solution to their problems. In the words of Plunkitt, the ward boss has a much pivotal role to play in the political ecology of the urban areas of New York City. Violence in the earlier times has a considerable effect on the cities and in recent times, violence can be put on if the police sense its need. Many citizens have reported that the police in the locality beat the election officers or the citizens performing their duties and then arrest the actual victim. Plunkitt here described his views on the Honest and Dishonest Graft. He has underlined that the men of Tamannay Hall are becoming extremely rich in politics.
Many have been seen going for a dishonest graft to grow rich while on the other hand, some people as spotlighted by Plunkitt, have been seen opting the honest graft and grow richer. The dishonest graft can bring in success and money only for a very short period of time, but for achieving prolonged success and become richer, the people need to apply or implement the honest graft. But on the whole, there has been an argument or a contradictory opinion of the people as pointed out by Plunkitt where they just argue over applying the honest and dishonest graft. Plunkitt’s conception of an honest graft is to buy parcels for public projects and reselling them at a considerably increased price (Riordon, 1993). But on the other hand, he argued that dishonest graft is the action of buying land and then using it to build up a project.
The study also showed the detailed overview of the daily routine of Plunkitt and how he spends his whole day.
While performing his daily routine, he has even come across several election district captains who were always on the verge of looking for fires (Olson, 1997). It has been studied that he was founded by a bartender and was asked to go to the court to arrange a bail for a saloon-keeper. While he could look after his riches but he preferred to get a bail for the saloon keeper. This shows that Plunkitt believed that in the city where all the people belong to different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, they could come together and make great deals for the welfare and upliftment of the society. He was a party-loving man, who believed in patronage, spoils, appointments and all the practices which certainly restrain the civil service law. He was a believer of unity and cohesion, and thus the political conflicts in the civil service system were neglected by him (Riordan, 1995). He fought against this corrupted system bravely and politically. Plunkitt showcased the corruption and dishonesty in the civil service system in the society. According to him, no real patriotism can exist in the society.
Conclusion
It can be thus said from the overall study that George Washington Plunkitt has won a lot of votes being a politician through his speeches and not by his paltry legislations. In this study, it has been highlighted that the honest graft will help the people to be on the right pathway and become richer. Dishonest graft leads the people to pay a good price for it. As per his comments, it is recommended that an individual should not get fooled by a man who is imagined as a dignified one having a killer mustache.