American Passage (58 page)

127
It was not a name
: Eric Rauchway,
Murdering McKinley: The Making of Theodore Roosevelt’s America
(New York: Hill and Wang, 2003), 60.
128
Theodore Roosevelt had
: President Theodore Roosevelt, “First Annual Message to Congress,” December 3, 1901.
128
The bullets that
: Theodore Roosevelt, “True Americanism,”
Forum
, April 1894.
128
In the previous decade
: Theodore Roosevelt,
An Autobiography
(New York: Scribner’s, 1913), 357; Robert Watchorn,
The Autobiography of Robert Watchorn
(Oklahoma City, OK: Robert Watchorn Charities, 1959), 145.
128
Roosevelt was no newcomer
: Edmund Morris,
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1979), 376; Letters from Theodore Roosevelt to Henry Cabot Lodge, January 27, 1897, March 19, 1897, in Henry Cabot Lodge and Charles F. Redmond, eds.,
Selections from the Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge, 1884–1918,
vol. 1 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1971).
129
Roosevelt worried about
: Theodore Roosevelt, “The Immigration Problem,”
Harvard Monthly
, December 1888.
129
The relationship between
: Roosevelt, “True Americanism.”
130
A young inspector
: Watchorn,
Autobiography,
145–147.
130
William McKinley
: Hans Vought,
The Bully Pulpit and the Melting Pot: American Presidents and the Immigrant, 1897–1933
(Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2004), 22–23; Daniel J. Tichenor,
Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002), 73–75.
131
Even with a new
: Letter from T. V. Powderly to Thomas Fitchie, October 4, 1901, Letter from Acting Secretary O. L. Spaulding to Thomas Fitchie, October 9, 1901, Box 123, TVP.
132
Edward McSweeney had more reasons
: Letter from Edward McSweeney to Theodore Roosevelt, March 26, 1902, Series 1, TR.
132
Roosevelt’s views
: Tichenor,
Dividing Lines,
122; Barbara Miller Solomon,
Ancestors and Immigrants: A Changing New England Tradition
(New York: Wiley, 1956), 196; Vought,
Bully Pulpit,
33.
132
Yet immigrant defenders
: Roosevelt,
An Autobiography,
186–187; Tichenor,
Dividing Lines,
33. On Roosevelt’s family background, see Morris,
Rise of Theodore Roosevelt,
36–37.
133
Whatever may have been
: Elting E. Morison, ed.,
The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, vol. 3 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1951), 170–171.
133
Powderly left the meeting
: Letter from T. V. Powderly to John Parsons, October 25, 1904, Box 139, TVP.
133
Even with the charges
: Letter from Terence V. Powderly to President William McKinley, undated, TVP; “Reports of the Industrial Commission on Immigration,” vol. 15, 1901, 72, 170; Letter from Nicholas Butler to Theodore Roosevelt, October 12, 1901, NMB.
134
“Nicholas Miraculous” Butler
: Letter from Nicholas Murray Butler to Theodore Roosevelt, October 7, 1901, NMB.
134
Jacob Riis
: Letter from Jacob Riis to TR, March 17, 1902, Series 1, TR. 134
What Roosevelt really
: Morison, ed.,
Letters
, vol. 3, 221, 250.
134
Finally, in the spring
:
NYT
, March 24, 1902.
135
Powderly demanded
: Letter from Terence V. Powderly to Robert Watchorn, March 22, 1902, Letterbook 79, Box 153, TVP.
135
The sheer number of
: Powderly, 381–382.
136
The son of a New London
: Robert Williams’s grandson John was kidnapped by Indians in the infamous Deerfield Indian raid of 1704 and held for two years. John Williams’s book about his experiences inspired James Fenimore Cooper’s
Last of the Mohicans
. Other direct descendants of Robert Williams include Louisa May Alcott, the Wright Brothers, Ephraim Williams, founder of Williams College, General George B. McClellan, and Eli Whitney.
137
At lunch, he sat Williams
: Letter from Edward Van Ingen to Theodore Roosevelt, March 27, 1902, Series 1, Reel 25, TR.
137
Roosevelt always had
: John Morton Blum,
The Republican Roosevelt
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954), 12–13.
137
Roosevelt felt
: Roosevelt, 57–63.
138
Williams informed Roosevelt
: Letter from William Williams to Theodore Roosevelt, August 8, 1902, Series 1, TR.
138
The cases of Murray and Braun
: Letter from James Sheffield to William Williams, April 29, 1915, Williams Papers, WW-NYPL.
139
Murray replaced McSweeney
: Letter from Terence V. Powderly to Robert Watchorn, March 22, 1902, Letterbook 79, Box 153, TVP.
140
Williams let nothing
: “Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration,” 1902, 56.
140
Others also felt
: Letter from William Williams to Senator Thomas Platt, May 26, 1902, WW-NYPL.
140
Nor would the abusive
: Letter from William Williams to N. J. Sparkling, May 26, 1903; Letter from Williams to John Bell, gateman at Ellis Island, November 3, 1903, WW-NYPL.
141
To protect immigrants
: Letter from Herbert Parsons to William Williams, April 3, 1902, WW-NYPL; “Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration,” 1902, 56.
142
New bids were put out
: Letter from William Williams to Theodore Roosevelt, June 24, 1902, WW-NYPL.
142
Williams even tackled
:
NYT
, July 12, 1903.
143
In addition to
: Letter from William Williams to Theodore Roosevelt, September 17, 1902, Series 1, TR.
143
Roosevelt then ordered
: Letter from William Williams to Theodore Roosevelt, February 4, 1903, Series 1, TR.
144
Because of an electoral
:
BG
, June 27, 1903.
144
The case took on
: Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Elihu Root, October 3, 1903; Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Curtis Guild, Junior, October 20, 1903, Morison, ed.,
Letters
, vol. 610–611, 633–634.
144
The case remained
:
NYT
, December 10, 1903.
144
Though McSweeney tried
: Letter from William Williams to Theodore Roosevelt, February 4, 1903, Series 1, TR;
BG
, June 15, 1904;
BH
, July 11, September 18, 1903.
145
As McSweeney was
: Francis E. Leupp,
The Man Roosevelt
(New York: Appleton, 1904), 136.
145
Shortly after his dismissal
: Watchorn,
Autobiography,
92.
145
These were difficult
: Letter from Terence V. Powderly to Robert Watchorn, July 4, 1902, Letterbook 79, Box 153; Terence V. Powderly to T. L. Lee, July 7, 1902, Letterbook 80, Box 153, TVP.
146
Powderly’s depression
: Letter from Robert Watchorn to George R. Cullen, May 18, 1903, TVP.
146
But Roosevelt had not
: Letter from Robert Watchorn to Terence V. Powderly, September 5, 1903, Box 128, TVP; Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Philander Chase Knox, August 1, 1903, Morison, ed.,
Letters
, vol. 3, 538–539.
146
Nothing came of
: Letter from Terence V. Powderly to John N. Parsons, October 25, 1904, TVP.
146
On October 23
:
NYT
, October 24, 1903; March 14, 1904.
147
Goldman called
: Candace Falk, ed.,
Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years
, vol. 2:
Making Speech Free, 1902–1909
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), 121–123.
147
Writing from his
: John Turner, “The Protest of an Anarchist,”
Independent
, December 24, 1903.
148
Turner certainly had
:
U.S. Ex Rel. Turner v. Williams
, U.S. 279 (1904). For more on the Turner case, see Daniel Kanstroom,
Deportation Nation: Outsiders in American History
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007), 136–138 and David Cole,
Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism
(New York: New Press, 2003), 108–109.

150
Williams’s appointment
: Letter from William Williams to Prescott F. Hall, December 27, 1902, File 999, IRL.
150
Immigrants were on notice
: Letter from William Williams to Bolognesi, Hartfield & Co., June 10, 1902, WW-NYPL.
150
Williams believed that
: “United States Immigration Laws with Annotations for Guidance of Immigrant Inspectors at the Ellis Island Station,” November 1902, TVP; Letter from William Williams to Theodore Roosevelt, November 25, 1902, WW-NYPL.
151
Compare Williams’s 1902 edict
:
Reports of the Industrial Commission on Immigration, 1901
(New York: Arno Press, 1970, reprint), 81.
151
In his first Annual Message
: President Theodore Roosevelt, “First Annual Message to Congress,” December 3, 1901.
151
Roosevelt warned Williams
: Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Williams, January 21, 1903, Series 2, TR; Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Williams, January 23, 1903, in Elting E. Morison, ed.,
The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, vol. 3 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1951), 411–412.
152
Williams at first responded
: Letter from William Williams to Theodore Roosevelt, January 24, 1903, Series 1, TR.
152
Williams then shot back
: Letter from William Williams to Theodore Roosevelt, January 29, 1903, WW-NYPL.
152
Williams continued
: Letter from William Williams to Theodore Roosevelt, February 8, 1903, Series 1, TR.
152
A man like William Williams
:
NYT
, May 24, 1903.
153
Williams ended his
: Edited version of Williams’s Annual Report for 1903 with Roosevelt’s edits is found in the WW-NYPL.
153
Over 857,000 immigrants
: Kate Holladay Claghorn, “Immigration in Its Relation to Pauperism,”
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
, July 1904.
154
In a 1906 book sympathetic
: Edward A. Steiner,
On the Trail of the Immigrant
(New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1906), 75.
154
Not everyone agreed
: Wallace Irwin, “Ellis Island’s Problems,”
New York Globe and Commercial Advertiser
, June 14, 1904.
154
It was a sentiment
: “Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration,” 1903, 70.
154
It was a cold
: “Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration,” 1904, 106.
155
To his supporters
: Letter from Prescott Hall to William Williams, December 24, 1902, WW-NYPL.
156
Even the
American Hebrew
: Quoted in Williams Memo, “Comments on Certain Articles Which Appeared in the ‘Staats Zeitung’ Between December 1902 and October 1903,” undated, WW-NYPL;
AH
, January 30, 1903. 156
Despite the support
: “Hell on Earth,”
New Yorker Staats-Zeitung
, September 4, 1903. A translated copy appears in the William Williams Papers at the New York Public Library. Williams, who was fluent in German, either translated the articles himself or had them translated.
156
Williams may have
: Letter from Frank Sargent to William Williams, April 14, 1903, WW-NYPL; Letter from Robert Watchorn to Terence V. Powderly, September 5, 1903, Box 128, TVP.
157
Roosevelt’s trip began
: The following account of Roosevelt’s visit is taken from
NYT
, September 17, 1903, and
BG
, September 17, 1903.
157
After a quick lunch
: For a slightly different version of the story, see Henry Pratt Fairchild,
Immigration: A World Movement and Its American Significance
(New York: Macmillan, 1913), 188.
158
Little escaped
: Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Victor Howard Metcalf, February 22, 1906, in Morison, ed.,
Letters
, vol. 5, 162–163;
Morgen Journal
, July 10, 1912. For more on trachoma, see Howard Markel, “ ‘The Eyes Have It’: Trachoma, the Perception of Disease, the United States Public Health Service, and the American Jewish Immigration Experience, 1897–1924,”
Bulletin of the History of Medicine
74 (2000). 158
Among those invited
: Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Ralph Trautman, November 28, 1903, in Morison, ed.,
Letters,
vol. 3, 659–660. In addition to von Briesen, the commission included former district attorney Eugene Philbin; Thomas Hynes, New York commissioner of corrections; Ralph Trautman, Treasurer, New York Palisades Interstate Park Commission; and Lee Frankel, of the United Hebrew Charities.
159
The Von Briesen Commission
: See File 52727-2, INS.
160
Roosevelt was happy
: Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Ralph Trautman, November 28, 1903, in Morison, ed.,
Letters,
vol. 3, 659–660.
161
The final report
: Letter from Eugene A. Philbin to Theodore Roosevelt, December 1, 1903, Series 1; Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Eugene Philbin, December 2, 1903; Letter from Arthur von Briesen to Theodore Roosevelt, December 4, 1903, TR.
162
Though Roosevelt said
: Hans Vought,
The Bully Pulpit and the Melting Pot: American Presidents and the Immigrant, 1897–1933
(Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2004), 42–43; Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Henry Cabot Lodge, May 23, 1904 in Henry Cabot Lodge and Charles F. Redmond, eds.,
Selections from the Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge, 1884–1918
, vol. 2 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1971).
162
Roosevelt’s campaign manager
: Letter from George B. Cortelyou to William Williams, September 24, 1904, WW-NYPL; Letter from William Williams to Theodore Roosevelt, October 15, 1904, Series 1, TR.
163
Apparently, Williams’s problems
: Letter from Robert Watchorn to Terence V. Powderly, December 21, 1904, TVP.
163
In December 1904
: Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Gifford Pinchot, January 19, 1905, Series 2, TR; Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Northrop Stranahan, December 24, 1904, in Morison, ed.,
Letters,
vol. 3, 1077–1078.
164
Some immigration defenders
:
AH
, January 20, 1905.