American Passage (59 page)

165
Leaning over the second-story
: H. G. Wells,
The Future in America
(New York: Arno Press, 1974, orig. pub. 1906), 140.
165
Wells had cemented
: Robert Watchorn,
The Autobiography of Robert Watchorn
(Oklahoma City, OK: Robert Watchorn Charities, 1959), 127–128.
166
Once there, Watchorn ended up
: In her 1925 autobiography, famed union organizer Mother Jones wrote: “I remember John Siney, a miner. Holloran, a miner. James, a miner. Robert Watchorn, the first and most able secretary that the miners of this country ever had. These men gave their lives that others might live. They died in want.” Though she was correct about Watchorn’s position, he was still very much alive at the time of the publication of Mother Jones’s 1925 memoir. In fact, by the time the autobiography was published, not only was Watchorn alive, he had become a millionaire oilman. Mary Field Parton, ed.,
The Autobiography of Mother Jones
(Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 1925), 240.
167
On the issue of Joe Murray
: Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Gifford Pinchot, January 19, 1905, Series 2; Letter from Robert Watchorn to Theodore Roosevelt, January 21, 1905, Series 1, TR; Letter from Robert Watchorn to Oscar Straus, May 4, 1907, Box 6, OS.
167
Roosevelt was adept
: President Theodore Roosevelt, “Fifth Annual Message to Congress,” December 5, 1905.
168
It was a fine statement
: President Theodore Roosevelt, “Fifth Annual Message to Congress,” December 5, 1905.
168
If Roosevelt wanted
: Henry James,
The American Scene
, republished in Henry James,
Collected Travel Writings: Great Britain and America
(New York: Library of America, 1993) 425–426.
168
With each passing week
:
NYT
, April 17, 1906.
169
If Americans thought
: Philip Cowen,
Memories of an American Jew
(New York: International Press, 1932), 185–186;
NYT
, January 7, 1907.
169
Robert Watchorn, who oversaw
:
NYT
, March 11, 1906.
169
Watchorn told a Jewish audience
:
NYT
, November 19, 1906; Sheldon Morris Neuringer,
American Jewry and United States Immigration Policy, 1881–1953
(New York: Arno Press, 1980), 60.
169
College professor Edward Steiner
: Edward A. Steiner,
On the Trail of the Immigrant
(New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1906), 91–92.
170
Watchorn had a chance
: Robert Watchorn, “The Gateway of the Nation,”
Outlook
, December 28, 1907.
171
At a dinner celebrating
: John Morton Blum,
The Republican Roosevelt
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954), 37. See also, Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyman Abbott, May 29, 1908, in Elting E. Morison, ed.,
The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt
, vol. 6 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1951), 1042.
171
Straus, along with Schiff
: On Straus’s background, see Naomi W. Cohen,
A Dual Heritage: The Public Career of Oscar S. Straus
(Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1969).
171
As part of his
: David Nasaw,
The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst
(Boston: Mariner Books, 2000), 207–209.
171
The Bureau of
: Oscar Straus,
Under Four Administrations: From Cleveland to Taft
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1922), 216; Letter from Oscar Straus to Robert Watchorn, December 30, 1907, OS.
171
On the morning of
: Oscar Straus Diary, 3, Box 22, OS.
172
Some cases were
: Straus,
Under Four Administrations,
216–217. 172
“I would be less than human”
: Cohen,
A Dual Heritage,
154–155. 172
Straus made his
: Oscar Straus Diary, 67–68, Box 22, OS;
NYT
, May 22, 1907. Robert Watchorn discusses the same story in his autobiography, but some of the details are different. Watchorn,
Autobiography,
132–135.
172
Straus made yet
: “Report of Conference held at the Ellis Island Immigration Station,” June 15, 1908, File 51831-101, INS.
174
The case hinged
: The Department of Commerce and Labor debated this issue in 1909 and 1914. See File 52745-4, INS.
174
With this in mind
: Letter from Oscar Straus to Robert Watchorn, June 21, 1907, Letterbook 8, Box 20, OS.
175
“Not only must we treat”
: President Theodore Roosevelt, “Sixth Annual Message to Congress,” December 3, 1906.
175
While many worried
: Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyman Abbott, May 29, 1908, in Morison, ed.,
Letters,
vol. 6, 1042.
175
Throughout the first decade
: “National Liberal Immigration League,” File 1125, Folder 1, IRL.
175
The pro-immigrant group
: Rivka Shpak Lissak, “The National Liberal Immigration League and Immigration Restriction, 1906–1917,”
American Jewish Archives
, Fall/Winter 1994; Neuringer,
American Jewry,
53–54.
176
The public debate
:
Charities
, December 16, 1905. While Secretary of Commerce and Labor, Straus told a reporter: “The restriction for the purpose of excluding the diseased, the criminal and other undesirable classes that have been incorporated in our laws, are salutary and wise.”
NYT
, November 17, 1907. 176
Closer to the
:
NYT
, January 7, 1907.
176
As an official
: Steiner,
On the Trail,
93.
176
Not only did Watchorn
:
NYT
, May 12, 14, August 12, 15, 1905, February 9, March 17, November 9, 1906; Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to James S. Clarkson, October 3, 1905, in Morison, ed.,
Letters
, vol. 5, 43–44; Marcus Braun,
Immigration Abuses: Glimpses of Hungary and Hungarians
(New York: Pearson Advertising Co., 1906); Gunther Peck,
Reinventing Free Labor: Padrones and Immigrant Workers in the North American West, 1880–1930
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 92–93.
177
Theodore Roosevelt showed
: Cowen,
Memories,
187–188. According to Cowen’s translation of the article, Hitler argued that Jews were behind America’s restrictive immigration quotas in force at the time, believing they wanted to keep out Gentile immigrants while “the Jews are always coming in new swarms.” Nothing could be further from the truth, since the American Jewish community was a loud opponent of immigration quotas and Jewish immigrants were severely affected by them.
178
La Guardia was clearly
: Letter from Louis K. Pittman, December 3, 1985, Public Health Service Archives, Rockville, MD.
178
La Guardia found
: Fiorello H. La Guardia,
The Making of an Insurgent: An

178
An acquaintance of
: Thomas Kessner,
Fiorello H. La Guardia and the Making of Modern New York
(New York: Penguin, 1989), 24–26; Arthur Mann,
La Guardia: A Fighter Against His Times, 1882–1933
(Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1959), 44–49.

179
In the early years
: For examples of photographs of immigrants, see
The World’s Wo r k
, February 1901;
Outlook
, December 28, 1907;
NYT
, March 11, 1906.
180
Lewis Hine was one
: On Lewis Hine, see Karl Steinorth, ed.,
Lewis Hine: Passionate Journey
(Zurich: Edition Stemmle, 1996);
America & Lewis Hine: Photographs, 1904–1940
(New York: Aperture, 1977); and Maren Stange,
Symbols of Ideal Life: Social Documentary Photography in America, 1890–1950
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 47–87. Hine’s Ellis Island photos can be viewed online at the George Eastman House website: http://www.eastman. org/fm/lwhprints/htmlsrc/ellis-island_idx00001.html.
181
More photographs made
: See Peter Mesenhöller,
Augustus F. Sherman: Ellis Island Portraits, 1905–1920
(New York: Aperture, 2005). Some of Sherman’s more exotic subjects were most likely foreign-born circus performers brought over to perform in the United States by Barnum and Bailey. See Letter from William Williams to Daniel Keefe, March 24, 1910, File 52880-171, INS.
181
Labor leader Samuel Gompers
: Samuel Gompers,
Seventy Years of Life and Labour
, vol. 2 (New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1967), 154, 160; Letter from Charles Eliot to Edward Lauterbach, February 1, 1907, File 1125, Folder 1, IRL.
182
The test for both sides
: On the 1907 Immigration Act, see John Higham,
Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860–1925
(New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1955), 128–130; Hans Vought,
The Bully Pulpit and the Melting Pot: American Presidents and the Immigrant, 1897–1933
(Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2004), 54–57; Daniel J. Tichenor,
Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002), 124–128; and William C. Van Vleck,
The Administrative Control of Aliens: A Study in Administrative Law and Procedure
(New York: Da Capo Press, 1971), 10–12.
183
Writing to Speaker Cannon
: Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Joseph Cannon, January 12, 1907, in Morison, ed.,
Letters,
vol. 5, 550.
183
The defeat of
: Cohen,
A Dual Heritage,
155; Letter from Robert Watchorn to Oscar Straus, February 29, 1908, OS.
184
Hall took his case
: Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Prescott Farnsworth Hall, June 24, 1908, in Morison, ed.,
Letters,
vol. 6, 1096–1097.
184
Lodge had been
: Letter from Henry Cabot Lodge to Theodore Roosevelt, July 26, 1908, 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).
184
Lodge, however, was not
: These figures on appeals come from the Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Immigration. I could not find figures predating 1906. Straus’s tenure covered 1908, and parts of 1907 and 1909. An examination of the data from 1906 to 1915 shows that the deportation figures on appeal fell within the range of 44 to 69 percent. The data under Straus’s administration fell on the low end of the range, but are hardly aberrant compared to the policies of his predecessor and successor.
184
That even Henry Cabot Lodge
: Letter from Prescott Hall to Theodore Roosevelt, February 24, 1909, File 801, IRL.
185
Roosevelt had sought
: For Reynolds’s report, see File 51467-1, INS. 185
In July 1905
: Letter from Robert Watchorn to Robert DeC. Ward, July 22, 1905, File 916, Folder 1, IRL.
185
Keeping up a correspondence
: Letter from Robert Watchorn to Prescott Hall, June 5, 1906, File 958; Letter from Prescott Hall to Robert Watchorn, June 7, 1906, File 958, IRL.
185
That was before
: Letter from William Loeb, Jr. to Rev. Dr. Judson Swift, Field Secretary, American Tract Society, February 1, 1908, Box 9, OS: Grose quoted in Mesenhöller,
Augustus F. Sherman,
12.
186
Jewish leaders
: Letter from Robert Watchorn to Oscar Straus, February 3, 1908, Box 9; Letter from Oscar Straus to Robert Watchorn, February 1, 1908, Letterbox 3, Box 20, OS.
186
Roosevelt had little
: Letter from William Loeb, Jr. to Rev. Dr. Judson Swift, Field Secretary, American Tract Society, February 1, 1908, Box 9, OS. 186
At the same time
: Thomas Pitkin and Francesco Cordasco,
The Black Hand: A Chapter in Ethnic Crime
(Totowa, NJ: Littlefield, Adams, 1977), 85. 186
Watchorn noted that
: Letter from Oscar Straus to Robert Watchorn, March 2, 1908; Letter from Oscar Straus to Robert Watchorn, March 19, 1908, OS; Thomas Pitkin,
Keepers of the Gate: A History of Ellis Island
(New York: New York University Press, 1975), 97–100. Other discussions of Black Hand violence can be found in “How the United States Fosters the Black Hand,”
The Outlook
, October 30, 1909, and “Imported Crime: The Story of the Camorra in America,”
McClure’s Magazine
, May 1912.
186
Immigration restrictionists
: Victor Safford,
Immigration Problems: Personal Experiences of an Official
(New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1925), 88–90. 187
Samuel Gompers, another friend
: Gompers,
Seventy Years
, vol. 2, 164. 187
By the summer of 1908
:
BG
, August 9, 1908, September 5, 1908; Gompers,
Seventy Years
, vol. 2, 164; Oscar Straus Diary, 214, OS.
188
It is no surprise
: John Lombardi,
Labor’s Voice in the Cabinet: A History of the Department of Labor from its Origin to 1921
(New York: AMS Press, 1968), 144–145. 188
Gompers, who never had
: Gompers,
Seventy Years
, vol. 2, 168; Lombardi,
Labor’s Voice,
147–148.
188
The in-house journal
:
Journal of The Knights of Labor
, January 1909, quoted in “What of the Future?” Publication of the Immigration Regulation League, No. 5, File 1144, IRL. Powderly even wrote a letter to President-elect Taft urging him to keep Straus as secretary of Commerce and Labor. Showing how out of touch he had become with the labor movement, Powderly claimed that American workers would second his support for Straus. “Talk to labor men anywhere, as I have done, and you will find that what I state is correct and moderate.” Letter from Terence V. Powderly to William Howard Taft, January 7, 1909, Series 3, WHT.
189
Americans tried to
: Allan McLaughlin, “Immigration and Public Health,”
PSM
, January 1904; Frank Sargent, “The Need of Closer Inspection and Greater Restriction of Immigrants,”
Century Magazine
, January 1904.
189
“The advocates of absolutely unrestricted”
:
Outlook
, February 22, 1913; “Reports of the Industrial Commission on Immigration,” vol. 15, 1901;
NYT
, April 14, 1911.
190
Dr. Victor Safford struck
: Safford,
Immigration Problems,
88.