Jeremiah Jenks
Jeremiah Jenks | |
---|---|
Born | 1856 |
Died | 1929 | (aged 72–73)
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Economist, educator, professor |
Jeremiah Whipple Jenks (1856–1929) was an American
He authored several influential works, including The Immigration Problem: A Study of Immigration Conditions and Needs and Dictionary of Races or Peoples. He was among the first social science academics within government and one of the first to propose that the federal government has the power to restrict immigration.
Biography
Born in
He began his career in service for the federal government as a tax commissioner in
Economics
Jenks was interested in the political aspects of economic problems and he served frequently on various government commissions and made many reports on currency, labor, and immigration issues.[1] Jenks was part of the new school of economic theory during the Progressive Era, which stemmed through his dissertation adviser at the University of Halle, Joseph Conrad, who was an outspoken critic of British classical economics. Progressive Era economists focused on making economics compatible with morality, and sought to institute governmental regulations which were favorable to large corporations. Jenks toured the world for the War Department from 1901–1902, where he examined how dependent colonial governments operated financially. He made many other trips around the world as a member of the Commission on International Exchange, where he researched colonial policy and the gold standard in countries all over the world. Based on these experiences, Jenks wrote a chapter in Senator Henry Cabot Lodge's book Colonies of the World. Progressive economists and Jenks founded the American Economic Association, where he served as president from 1906–1907. One of the association's goals was the "development of legislative policy", which was radical for its time as many of the old school economists of the time still strongly believed in the idea of strict laissez-faire economics.
The reformist ideology of the American Economic Association affected his work as a member of the National Civic Federation (NCF). The National Civic Federation was a business-dominated organization that aligned with the ideologies of reformist minded economists like Jenks, as it sought to implement uniform state legislation on multiple issues including
Politics
In the Progressive Era, Jeremiah Jenks was one of the pioneers who set the precedent for the inclusion of professors and academic experts in government. In 1899, Jenks was appointed as an "expert in Asia" for the US Treasury, and began traveling to various dependent countries around the world. Jenks' experience in politics stemmed from his involvement in various economic and immigration research organizations. As a member of the NCF, Jenks helped to draft a bill to amend the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1908. Although the bill was ultimately unsuccessful, Jenks sat on the four-man committee headed by John Bates Clark which drafted a preliminary version of the 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act. With the Dillingham Commission, he wrote model legislation for the Mann Act of 1910, which focused on the restriction of white slavery and sex trafficking into the United States. Jenks was instrumental in the writing and the passage of the Dillingham Immigration Bill of 1911, which was ultimately vetoed by President William Howard Taft. However, this bill was one of the first to restrict immigration on racial grounds, and set the precedent for many restrictionist policies which were soon to be passed by the federal government, such as the Johnson–Reed Act of 1924.[5] In 1916, Jenks was also included on a committee led by Sidney Gulick, which sought to end the disproportionate discrimination in the immigration of citizens of Asian countries, and proposed a new model for immigration restrictions. In reality, their proposed plan still instituted quotas for different immigrants based on race, it would just be less exclusionary for members of Asian countries.[5] Throughout his years involved in immigration policy, Jenks gave talks and held conferences on what he termed the racial problem of immigration.
Dillingham Commission
Jenks' most influential and lasting work for the federal government came from his membership in the Dillingham Commission from 1907–1911. The Commission was progressive minded, and was headed by Senator
Jenks was also concerned with the effect of immigrants on American morality and hired many women to investigate this effect, particularly in the field of
The Commission concluded with a 41-volume report in 1911 which outlined the current status of immigration, laying out the differences in occupation, crime, and many other things between races of immigrants. This study ultimately labeled some races of immigrants as more desirable than others, and ultimately called for a quota system which would restrict different immigrants based on their desirability. Although the Commission's proposed bill was vetoed by President Taft in 1911, the research of the Commission was instrumental in the passage of many immigration restrictions in the years to come, including the Johnson–Reed Act of 1924. Scholar Mae Ngai notes the racial aspects of this legislation, as she says the language of eugenics dominated the political discourse on immigration during this period.[7] The Commission divided the immigrants they studied by ethnicity and race, thus showing how they fed into the language of eugenics and the ideology of the National Origins Act of 1924. All of this work by the Commission set the precedent of restricting immigration into the United States as a necessary duty of the federal government.
Scout Oath and Scout Law
A committee under Jenks with other prominent educators drew up the
In 1912, Baden-Powell adopted "A Scout is clean in thought, word and deed" as a tenth law to his own original nine.[8]
Works
The Immigration Problem: A Study of American Immigration Conditions and Needs
One of Jenks' most influential publications was written with the help of his hire for the Dillingham Commission, William Jett Lauck. It was a research study conducted on different races of immigrants in US society with the goals of fixing a standard of civilization for the US, securing all the facts about immigration, measuring immigrants' influence on the standard of civilization, and suggesting measures for the US government to implement to correct these problems.[9] Jenks and Lauck conduct research studies on criminal immigrants, human trafficking, and immigrant living conditions over the US. After studying a mine in northern Pennsylvania, they came to the conclusion that immigrants were reducing the standard of civilization for all Americans, which was to negatively affect their morality. They also conducted studies on the difference in occupation of immigrants from different countries, and concluded that they had negative impact on labor unions, as they were frequently employed as strikebreakers.
In the section entitled "Are Other Races Inferior?", Jenks questions the idea of inferior races of immigrants. He states, "... whether or not we ourselves believe that race prejudice is something to be heartily condemned, we must still recognize this feeling as an important political fact."[9] Jenks comes to the conclusion that racial prejudice is not a personal issue, but a political one. The book concludes that pre-war immigration was too large for the economic welfare of the US, and a new naturalization law was required.[9] Jenks and Lauck's perspective on racial prejudice was relevant in the policy suggestions of the book, which suggested different quotas for different races of immigrants, as some were easier to be trained and assimilated into American society.[9] This book was one of the first to advocate immigration restriction by federal government legislation. It is also important because it was the first to coin the term "the immigration problem", a phrase which is still used in the US government today.
Jenks and Lauck argued that immigration adversely affects economic outcomes for native-born Americans.[10] A 2019 study by several economic historians found that the immigration restrictions that Jenks advocated for did not improve economic outcomes for native-born Americans.[10]
Dictionary of Races or Peoples
Jenks and his key staff assistant, anthropologist Daniel Folkmar, collaborated on an extensive racial dictionary that became an important feature of the Commission's report to Congress.
In their Dictionary of Races or Peoples, Jenks and Folkmar stated that their principal task was to discover "whether there may not be certain races that are inferior to other races... to show whether some may be better fitted for American citizenship than others." The dictionary, along with other Commission reports, was cited frequently in subsequent immigration debates.[11]
Selected publications
His works include:
- The Trust Problem (1900)
- Principles of Politics (1909)
- Governmental Action for Social Welfare (1910)
- The Immigration Problem: A Study of American Immigration Conditions and Needs (with William Jett Lauck, 1911)
- Dictionary of Races or Peoples (with Daniel Folkmar, 1911)
References
- ^ Tichenor, Daniel J. (2002). Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America. Princeton University Press. pp. 114–149.
- JSTOR 1901828.
- ^ ISBN 9780674976443.
- ISBN 9780674976443.
- ^ JSTOR 40972243.
- JSTOR 20148034.
- ISBN 9781400850235.
- ^ Wilson, John S. (1959). Scouting Round the World. Blandford Press. p. 170.
- ^ a b c d Jenks, Jeremiah Whipple; Lauck, William Jett; Smith, Rufus Daniel (1922). The Immigration Problem: A Study of American Immigration Conditions and Needs. Funk & Wagnalls Company. p. 448.
- ^ doi:10.3386/w26536.
- ^ Dictionary of Races or Peoples: Reports of the Immigration Commission. Vol. 5. New York: Arno Press and the New York Times. 1970. p. 4.
External links
- Works by or about Jeremiah Whipple Jenks at Wikisource
- Works by Jeremiah Jenks at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Jeremiah Jenks at Internet Archive
- Jeremiah Jenks at Find a Grave