American Passage (57 page)

95
Boston had long stood
: Barbara Miller Solomon,
Ancestors and Immigrants: A Changing New England Tradition
(New York: Wiley, 1956), 48, 101; Linda Gordon,
Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: Birth Control in America
, rev. ed. (New York: Penguin Books, 1990), 135.

96
It is no surprise
: Francis A. Walker, “Restriction of Immigration,”
Atlantic
, June 1896.
96
Perhaps the best expression
: Solomon,
Ancestors and Immigrants,
88; Thomas Bailey Aldrich, “The Unguarded Gates,”
Atlantic
, March 1895. Today the poem is still popular among supporters of immigration restriction. See, http://www .vdare.com/fulford/unguarded.htm.
97
Not all of the voices
:
BH
, July 5, 1896.
97
As the Fitzgeralds
: Solomon,
Ancestors and Immigrants,
23, 57; Francis Walker, “Immigration,”
Yale Review
, August 1892. Charles Francis Adams Jr., brother of Henry, thought the immigration questions was “too big and too intricate . . . to meddle with.” Solomon,
Ancestors and Immigrants,
32.
98
At just twenty-five years old
: Warren later became a noted constitutional lawyer. The Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University is named after Warren, funded by an endowment from his late wife. It is disappointing, yet unsurprising, that Warren’s bio on the Harvard University website makes no mention of his role in the founding of the Immigration Restriction League: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cwc/historycwbio.html.
98
Prescott Hall
: Prescott F. Hall, “The Future of American Ideals,”
NAR
, January 1912. For more on the “Anglo-Saxon Complex,” and theories of Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic culture, see Solomon,
Ancestors and Immigrants,
59–81 and Henry Cabot Lodge, “The Restriction of Immigration,”
Our Day
, May 1896. 98
Hall, who would be
:
Immigration and Other Interests of Prescott Farnsworth Hall
, compiled by Mrs. Prescott F. Hall (New York: Knickerbocker Press, 1922), 119– 123.
99
The deep depressions
: T. J. Jackson Lears,
No Place of Grace: Antimodernism and the Transformation of American Culture, 1880–1920
(New York: Pantheon Books, 1981), 47–58.
99
In response, the boisterous
: Theodore Roosevelt, “The Strenuous Life,” speech delivered to Chicago’s Hamilton Club, April 10, 1899; Theodore Roosevelt, “Twisted Eugenics,”
Outlook
, January 3, 1914. During his presidency, Roosevelt began speaking of “race suicide,” a term coined by Progressive academic Edward A. Ross. The president and father of six famously gave a talk before the National Congress of Mothers arguing against birth control and in favor of larger families. See Theodore Roosevelt, “On American Motherhood,” speech delivered to the National Congress of Mothers, March 13, 1905.
100
In fact, Hall embodied
: Prescott F. Hall, “Representation Without Taxation,” unpublished manuscript, in
Immigration and Other Interests of Prescott Farnsworth Hall
.
100
So it was no surprise
: Morris M. Sherman, “Immigration Restriction, 1890– 1921, and the Immigration Restriction League,” (Cambridge, MA: Harvard College, 1957).
101
The IRL’s strength
: John Higham,
Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860–1925
(New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1955), 102–103; Solomon,
Ancestors and Immigrants,
103–104, 123; “Reports of the Industrial Commission on Immigration,” vol. 15, 1901, 46.
101
The IRL worked closely
: Daniel J. Tichenor,
Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002), 77, 85.
102
The descendants
: Solomon,
Ancestors and Immigrants,
73, 107, 114, 120; Julia H. Twells, “The Burden of Indiscriminate Immigration,”
American Journal of Politics
, December 1894.
103
Among its proposals
: “Constitution of the Immigration Restriction League,” August 22, 1894, IRL.
103
For a young man
:
NYT
, December 12, 1894.
103
Like so many
:
BH
, April 5, 1895.
103
In mid-December 1895
: “Immigration Restriction League, Annual Report of the Executive Committee for 1895,” January 13, 1896, and “IRL Annual Report of the Executive Committee for 1896,” January 11, 1897, File 1138, IRL;
Brookline Chronicle
, January 18, 1895;
Boston Journal
, January 25, 1896. 104
So in April 1896
:
NYT
, April 21, 1896.
104
In its April 1896 investigation
: “Immigration: Its Effects upon the United States, Reasons for Further Restriction.” Publication of the Immigration Restriction League, No. 16, February 13, 1897, IRL. It is certainly true that many Italians were illiterate, due in large part to the poor schools of their native country, but in Italy illiteracy rates went down considerably during the era of peak immigration, from almost 69 percent in 1872 to an estimated 23 percent in 1922. Antonio Stella,
Some Aspects of Italian Immigration to the United States
(New York, Arno Press, 1975), 53.
104
The IRL members
: “Immigration Restriction League, Annual Report of the Executive Committee for 1895,” January 13, 1896, File 1138, IRL; Prescott F. Hall, “Immigration and the Educational Test,”
NAR
, October 1897.
104
Such a test would
: Henry Cabot Lodge, “The Restriction of Immigration,”
Our Day
, May 1896.
105
Not all restrictionists
: Francis A. Walker, “Immigration,”
Yale Review
, August 1892.
105
Writing to the secretary
: Letter from Herman Stump to John Carlisle, February 20, 1897, Grover Cleveland Papers, LOC.
106
For years, immigration restrictionists
: President Grover Cleveland’s Veto Message of the Educational Test Bill, March 2, 1897, reprinted by the National Liberal Immigration League, File 1125, Folder 4, IRL. Many years later, Theodore Roosevelt told Madison Grant that General Leonard Wood had told him that Cleveland had regretted his veto of the literacy test, confirming what many restrictionists had come to believe. There is no definite proof that Cleveland ever expressed regret about his veto. Letter from Madison Grant to Theodore Roosevelt, November 15, 1915, TR.

107
Just after midnight
: Victor Safford,
Immigration Problems: Personal Experiences of an Official
(New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1925), 199–200.
108
To some, it was
: Thomas M. Pitkin,
Keepers of the Gate: A History of Ellis Island
(New York: New York University Press, 1975), 26;
NYT
, June 17, 1897;
NYW
, June 16, 1897;
HW
, February 26, 1898.
108
Officials then moved
:
NYT
, June 19, 1897.
109
Victor Safford remembered
: Safford,
Immigration Problems,
76.
109
Befitting someone from
: Letter from Edward McSweeney to Archbishop Michael Corrigan, January 12, 1900, ANY; Letter from A. J. You to Terence V. Powderly, June 11, 1900, Box 137, TVP.
110
McSweeney remained
: Pitkin,
Keepers of the Gate,
29.
110
Meanwhile, the McKinley
: Robert E. Weir,
Knights Unhorsed: Internal Conflict in a Gilded Age Social Movement
(Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2000), 16; Craig Phelan,
Grand Master Workman: Terence Powderly and the Knights of Labor
(Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000), 1–2.
111
McSweeney seemed
: Phelan,
Grand Master Workman,
47.
111
One historian described
: Weir,
Knights Unhorsed,
15; Vincent J. Falzone,
Terence V. Powderly: Middle-Class Reformer
(Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1978), 174; Terence V. Powderly,
The Path I Trod: The Autobiography of Terence V. Powderly
(New York: AMS Press, 1968; original edition: Columbia University Press, 1940), 287; Letter from Terence V. Powderly to William Scaife, February 6, 1910, Box 153, TVP.
112
Another critic was
: Falzone,
Terence V. Powderly,
175.
112
Powderly fought back
: Letter from Edward F. McSweeney to Samuel Gompers, November 22, 1901, SG.
112
Powderly’s brother
: Letter from T. V. Powderly to Roy W. White, March 1, 1898, Box 128, TVP; T. V. Powderly, “A Menacing Irruption,”
NAR
, August 1888.
112
Powderly did not stop
: Edward McGlynn, “The New Know-Nothingness and the Old,”
NAR
, August 1887; Powderly,
The Path I Trod,
5.
113
That trouble would
: Powderly,
The Path I Trod,
299; Letter from Edward F. McSweeney to T. V. Powderly, June 6, 1898, Box 133, TVP.
113
Powderly made
: Memorandum from T. V. Powderly, February 15, 1902, Box 156, TVP;
NYT
, March 10, 1899.
114
Such impolitic behavior
: Falzone,
Terence V. Powderly,
175–182, 188. 114
The decision on the
: Memorandum from T. V. Powderly, February 15, 1902, Box 156, TVP; Pitkin,
Keepers of the Gate,
28.
115
Perhaps that insecurity
: Letter from T. V. Powderly to Thomas Fitchie, August 3, 1898, TR.
115
Just a few months
: Letter from Sen. T. C. Platt to Thomas Fitchie, February 17, 1898, TR.
115
Despite Platt’s urgings
: Letter from T. V. Powderly to William McKinley, 1901, Series 2, TVP.
116
More complaints emerged
: Alvan F. Sanborn, “The New York Immigration Service,”
Independent
, August 10, 1899; Safford,
Immigration Problems,
86. 116
Much as Powderly
: All references to the report come from Report by Campbell and Rodgers, June 2, 1900 to Secretary of the Treasury, Boxes 157–158, TVP. 117
The most serious charges
: For charges against Lederhilger, see Report by Campbell and Rodgers, June 2, 1900 to Secretary of the Treasury, TVP. See also Letter from Thomas Fitchie to John Lederhilger, September 10, 1900, File 52727-4, INS. 117
Treasury Department officials
: Letter from Edward F. McSweeney to Archbishop Michael A. Corrigan, September 10, 1900, Roll 19, G-17-G20, ANY. 118
The report was certainly
:
NYT
, June 6, 1900.
118
Edward Steiner
: Edward A. Steiner,
On the Trail of the Immigrant
(New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1906), 79–80.
118
Stewart had been
: Letter from Thomas Fitchie to J. Ross Stewart, September 10, 1900, File 51841/119, INS;
NYT
, October 5, 1900; Eric Foner,
Freedom’s Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders during Reconstruction
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 204. The
Times
referred to Stewart as “J. Ross Stewart” and claimed he had been a Georgia state legislator. However, it is fairly certain that the man fired at the Barge Office was Jordan R. Stewart and he was from Louisiana. Stewart was also a friend of P. B. S. Pinchback, the first black governor in the nation’s history, who had served one month as Louisiana’s governor. Pinchback was also living in New York City in the 1890s. George McKenzie, the Republican Colored Leader of the 25th Assembly District in New York, had known Stewart for forty years and wrote to the Treasury Department to protest the charges against his friend, calling him a “brave soldier during the war of the rebellion.” McKenzie did not believe the charges against Stewart because they came from “a band of conspirators, trying to reflect discredit on the administration of Commissioner Thomas Fitchie.” Letter from George McKenzie to H. A. Taylor, September 19, 1900, File 51841/119, INS.
119
While men like Stewart
: Letter from Terence V. Powderly to A. J. You, May 16, 1900, Letterbox 73; Letter from Terence V. Powderly to President William McKinley, undated, Box 156, TVP.
119
Powderly wanted
: Letter from Terence V. Powderly to T. F. Lee, June 19, 1900, Letterboook 73, Box 152, TVP.
119
Some of Powderly’s friends
: See File 51841-97, INS. Fitzharris possesses one of history’s all-time great nicknames, which apparently derived from the time he killed a goat he kept in his backyard and skinned it to make some money. James Joyce, no doubt taken by the unusual nickname, immortalized Fitzharris in his novel
Ulysses
.
119
A Powderly ally
: Letter from A. J. You to Terence V. Powderly, May 24, 1900, Box 137, TVP.
120
In what was probably
: Letter from Terence V. Powderly to Hon. William McKinley, undated, Series 2, TVP.
120
In mid-December 1900
:
NYW
, December 18, 1900;
Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly Newspaper
, January 5, 1901.

121
The centerpiece of the
: Pitkin,
Keepers of the Gate,
33;
Architectural Record
, December 1902.
121
Ellis Island now consisted
:
NYT
, December 3, 1900.
122
Ensconced in Washington
: Letter to T. V. Powderly, September 20, 1900, TVP. For examples of intercepted McSweeney letters, see Box 125, Series 2, TVP.
122
When not bogged down
: Letter from Terence V. Powderly to Hon. William McKinley, undated, Series 2, TVP.
123
By the summer of 1901
: Letter from Roman Dobler to T. V. Powderly, August 16, 1901, TVP.