They wrote about the desperate living conditions experienced by mostly immigrant workers. They engaged their readers with tales of crooked politicians bribed by businessmen to look the other way when rotten beef was distributed by meatpacking plants, for example. The muckrakers helped the public understand how the mega-fortunes of their era had been gained through ruthless dealings and at the expense of thousands of competitors driven out of business and workers employed at very low wages. With the muckrackers' help, a period of uncontrolled and unchecked industrial development came to an end in the United States. desperate living conditions experienced by mostly immigrant workers.