American Passage

by Vincent J. Cannato

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

  Autobiography, 1882–1919 (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1948), 62–75; “Efficiency Report for Fiorello H. La Guardia,” June 12, 1909, Folder 8, Box 26C7, FLG.

  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. Powder
ly 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.

  CHAPTER TEN: LIKELY TO BECOME A PUBLIC CHARGE 191 One day, the former president: Robert Watchorn, The Autobiography of Robert Watchorn (Oklahoma City, OK: Robert Watchorn Charities, 1959), 140–141.

  192 While he had expressed: Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Herbert Knox Smith, January 18, 1909, TR; Watchorn, Autobiography, 149–152.

  192 Prescott Hall had been: Letter from Prescott Hall to Hon. William Howard Taft, December 8, 1908, File 801, IRL.

  192 Despite the criticism: NYT, April 25, May 19, 1909.

  193 The personal attacks: NYT, July 17, 1909; Letter from Robert Watchorn to Charles D. Hilles, January 20, 1913, Series 6, Reel 451, WHT. After leaving Ellis Island, Watchorn took a job with Union Oil Company, having befriended its owner Lyman Stewart. Despite Watchorn’s lack of experience in the oil industry or in business in general, he was named treasurer of the company. Many board members opposed him, believing him to be incompetent. The former coal miner, union leader, and government bureaucrat was soon traveling to New York and London to raise capital among the world’s savviest financiers. Watchorn was out of his element, and accusations of ethical impropriety followed him in his new career. He soon managed to upset Stewart and cast doubt on his own honesty and competence when he became involved in a controversy over a million dollars’ worth of stock options given to him by Stewart. Details of the deal remain murky, but it led to Watchorn’s resignation under a cloud of suspicion. Then, having entered the world of oil wildcatting in Oklahoma and Texas, Watchorn became a millionaire and by the 1930s had turned his attention to philanthropy. He endowed a church in his hometown of Alfreton, England, and a music hall at the University of Redlands. In 1932, Watchorn presented his greatest piece of philanthropy—the Lincoln Memorial Shrine—to his adopted hometown of Redlands, California. See Frank J. Taylor and Earl M. Welty, Black Bonanza: How an Oil Hunt Grew into the Union Oil Company of California (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1950) 165–166; Watchorn, Autobiography, 154–162, 185–211.

  193 Just as Roosevelt: Letter from William Howard Taft to Herbert Parsons, May 17, 1909, Series 8, WHT; NYT, May 20, 1909.

  193 Even after leaving: William Williams, “The Sifting of Immigrants,” Journal of Social Science, September 1906.

  194 Although he questioned: Williams, “The Sifting of Immigrants,” NYT, July 18, 1909.

  194 The letter of the law: “Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration,” 1909, 132; NYT, June 5, 1909.

  195 It also possessed: William C. Van Vleck, The Administrative Control of Aliens; A Study in Administrative Law and Procedure (New York: Commonwealth Fund, 1932), 54.

  195 Realizing this: “Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration,” 1909, 133; President Theodore Roosevelt, “First Annual Message to Congress,” December 3, 1901.

  196 Now Williams was: He called the $25 test “nothing more than a timely warning to immigrants that they cannot land without funds adequate for their support until such times as they are likely to obtain profitable employment.” Letter from William Williams to A.J. Sabath, July 15, 1909, File 52531-12, INS.

  196 Williams’s edict had: “Annual Report of the Commissioner of Ellis Island to Commissioner-General of Immigration,” August 16, 1909; NYT, June 30, 1909.

  196 Conditions worsened: NYT, July 14, 1909.

  197 On July 4, Rudniew: Isaac Metzker, ed., A Bintel Brief: Sixty Years of Letters from the Lower East Side to the Jewish Daily Forward (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971), 98–100; AH, July 16 1909, 278.

  197 Williams was unmoved: NYT, July 10, 1909.

  197 Many Americans were: Letter from Russell Bellamy to William Williams, July 12, 1909; Letter from Prescott Hall to William Williams, July 14, 1909, WWNYPL.

  197 Eighty-two-year-old Orville Victor: Letter from Orville Victor to William Williams, July 17, 1909; Letter from William Patterson to William Williams, July 8, 1909, WW-NYPL.

  198 Not all of Williams’s: Letter from an anonymous pupil at PS 62 in Manhattan to William Williams, undated, WW-NYPL.

  198 The child who wrote: On the history of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, see, Mark Wischnitzer, Visas to Freedom: The History of HIAS (Cleveland, OH: World Publishing Company, 1956).

  198 The HIAS took on: “Brief for the Petitioner in the Matter of Hersch Skuratowski,” 1909, File 52530-12, INS; Esther Panitz, “In Defense of the Jewish Immigrant, 1891–1924,” in Abraham Karp, ed., The Jewish Experience in America, vol. 5 (Waltham, MA: American Jewish Historical Society, 1969).

  199 The lawyers were not: NYT, July 16, 1909; Max J. Kohler, Immigration and Aliens in the United States: Studies of American Immigration Laws and the Legal Status of Aliens in the United States (New York: Bloch, 1936), 54–55.

  199 There was something: “Brief for the Petitioner in the Matter of Hersch Skuratowski,” 1909, 46–61, File 52530-12, INS.

  200 The controversy over: For an overview of the issue of racial classifications, see Marian L. Smith, “INS Administration of Racial Provisions in U.S. Immigration and Nationality Law Since 1898,” Prologue, Summer 2002.

  200 Powderly and his colleagues: See File 52729/9, INS; Joel Perlmann, “ ‘Race or People’: Federal Race Classifications for Europeans in America, 1898–1913,” Jerome Levy Economics Institute Working Paper No. 320, January 2001; “Reports of the Industrial Commission on Immigration,” vol. 15, 1901, 132–133; “Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration,” 1898, 33–34; “Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration,” 1899, 5. Patrick Weil claims that “immigration officials continued to use the statistics provided by the list to deny admission to immigrants of certain ethnic backgrounds, even when their exclusion was not specifically provided for by law.” Weil provides no support for his hypothesis. Patrick Weil, “Races at the Gate: A Century of Racial Distinctions in American Immigration Policy, 1865–1965,” Georgetown Immigration Law Journal 15 (2001).

  201 For Jews, this new classification: Panitz, “In Defense of the Jewish Immigrant, 1891–1924,” 55–57; Nathan Goldberg, Jacob Lestchinsky, and Max Weinreich, The Classification of Jewish Immigrants and its Implications (New York: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 1945); Perlmann, “ ‘Race or People’: Federal Race Classifications for Europeans in America, 1898–1913.” The Hebrew classification was eliminated in 1943.

  201 Decades later: Kohler, Immigration and Aliens in the United States, 400–401.

  201 Now it was William Williams’s: Memo from William Williams to Commissioner-General of Immigration, September 8, 1909, File 52531-12A, INS.

  201 Williams was not happy: NYT, July 16, 1909.

  201 Williams assumed: Letter from Frank Larned to Williams Williams, July 23, 1909, File 52531-12A, INS; Letter from William Williams to Frank Larned, July 20, 1909, File 52531-12, INS.

  202 After the resolution: NYT, July 27, 1909; Letter from Charles Nagel to William Williams, July 16, 1909, CN.

  202 “There is no more need”: NYT, July 27, 1909; Letter from Charles Nagel to William Williams, July 31, 1909, CN.

  203 The following year: Canfora v. Williams, 1911, reprinted in Edith Abbott, ed., Immigration: Select Documents and
Case Records (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1924), 256–258; File 53139-7, INS.

  203 These cases show: U.S. v. Ju Toy, 198 U.S. 253 (1905).

  204 However, the Department of Commerce: File 53438-11, INS. 205 These supposedly weak: Amy Fairchild argues that the immigration inspection process was part of the shaping of a modern, industrial workforce. See Amy L. Fairchild, Science at the Borders: Immigrant Medical Inspection and the Shaping of the Modern Industrial Labor Force (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003). For a discussion of the exclusion of immigrants with physical deficiencies, see Douglas C. Baynton, “Defectives in the Land: Disability and American Immigration Policy, 1882–1924,” Journal of American Ethnic History, Spring 2005.

  205 In 1902, commissioner-general: Letter from Frank Sargent to William Williams, October 6, 1902, WW-NYPL.

  205 Medical officials: For more on the designation of “poor physique,” see Fairchild, Science at the Borders, 165–169.

  205 Sargent defined: Letter to all Commissioners of Immigration and inspectors from Frank Sargent, Commissioner General, Bureau of Immigration, April 17, 1905, File 916, Folder 1, IRL.

  205 William Williams agreed: Letter from William Williams to Prescott Hall, April 10, 1904, File 916, Folder 1, IRL; Williams, “The Sifting of Immigrants.” 205 He had been: Allan McLaughlin, “Immigration and the Public Health” PSM, January 1904.

  206 Doctors with the: Fairchild, Science at the Borders, 166–167; Elizabeth Yew, “Medical Inspection of Immigrants at Ellis Island, 1891–1924,” Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 56, no. 5 (June 1980).

  206 This did not mean: “Book of Instructions for the Medical Inspection of Aliens, Bureau of Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service,” January 18, 1910. 206 In the first: Letter from Robert Watchorn to Prescott Hall, May 12, 1908, File 958, IRL.

  207 When Williams took: William Williams, “Notice Concerning Detention and Deportation of Immigrant,” March 18, 1910, Folder 10, Box 13, MK. On the connection between deafness and the “likely to become a public charge” clause, see Douglas C. Baynton, “ ‘The Undesirability of Admitting Deaf Mutes’: U.S. Immigration Policy and Deaf Immigrants, 1882–1924,” Sign Language Studies 6, no. 4 (Summer 2006).