During the Progressive Era, Robert Hunter's book Poverty (1904) made a generation aware that a segment of the population lacked basic nourishment and living space. After he joined the Socialist Party a few years later, Hunter became the leading advocate of a labor party based on the British model. Hunter's writings combined compilations of data regarding poverty with activist rhetoric, and his leadership, idealism, and energy created and sustained lasting gains in the areas of child labor and public health.

Born on 10 April 1874 in Terre Haute, Indiana, Wiles Robert Hunter was the fourth child of William R. and Caroline Founts Hunter. The elder Hunter and his father-in-law manufactured carriages and buggies and achieved success when William Hunter invented the "Mikado Wagon," which required only one horse and could replace heavy farm wagons as a means of transportation. Because of the growing affluence of his family, Robert had a private...