Lincoln Steffens

Lincoln was born in San Francisco, California on April 6, 1866. He was a U.S. journalist who worked as a  New York reporter for the New York City newspapers who launched a series of articles in McClure's that then got put together to later publish a book titled The Shame of the Cities. This exposed the corruption in politics and big business. He also wrote The Struggle for self Government and The Traitor State, in which criticized New Jersey for patronizing incorporation. When he left McClure's, he formed The American Magazine. In The Shame of the Cities, Steffens sought to bring about political reform in the urban parts of America by appealing to emotions of the Americans.

This is a cartoon referring to Lincoln and his reform on the common people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LHK_eXlLc0

This is a very well presented video on why someone would want to reform during that time period and focuses in on Steffens as an example to his reform.