American Passage_ The History of Ellis I - Vincent J. Cannato [259]
242 At the time: On the Binet tests, see Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man (New York: W.W. Norton, 1996), 176–188.
243 There was also: Leila Zenderland, Measuring Minds: Henry Herbert Goddard and the Origins of American Intelligence Testing (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 102–103.
243 If there was some: C. B. Davenport, Eugenics: The Science of Human Improvement by Better Breeding (New York: Henry Holt, 1910). For more on Davenport, see Daniel J. Kelves, In the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses of Human Heredity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), 41–56.
244 In 1911, Davenport recommended: Letter from C. B. Davenport, Secretary of the America Breeders Association, Eugenics Section, to Prescott Hall, May 20, 1911, File 342, IRL; Report of the Immigration Committee of the Eugenics Section, American Breeders Association, December 30, 1911, File 1064, Folder 1, IRL. Interestingly, one member of the committee was Columbia anthropologist Franz Boas, who achieved fame for his criticism of eugenics.
244 Now many IRL members: Robert DeC. Ward, “National Eugenics in Relation to Immigration,” NAR, July 1910; Robert DeC. Ward, “The Crisis in Our Immigration Policy,” File 1063, Folder 9; Robert DeC. Ward, “Our Immigration Laws from the Viewpoint of National Eugenics,” National Geographic, January 1912. “The need is imperative for applying eugenic principles in much of our legislation. But the greatest, the most logical, the most effective step that we can take is to begin with a proper eugenic selection of the incoming alien millions. If we, in our generation take these steps, we shall earn the gratitude of millions of those who will come after us for we shall have begun the real conservation of the American race.”
244 For Prescott Hall: “Eugenics and Immigration,” Prescott Hall, undated, File 1061, Folder 1, IRL; Immigration and Other Interests of Prescott Farnsworth Hall, Compiled by Mrs. Prescott F. Hall (New York: Knickerbocker Press, 1922), 53. 245 One answer for Hall: Prescott Hall, “Birth Control and World Eugencis,” unpublished manuscript, in Immigration and Other Interests of Prescott Farnsworth Hall.
245 As to whether humans: Immigration and Other Interests of Prescott Farnsworth Hall, 33, 83. Interestingly, anthropologist Franz Boas had recently completed his study, published by the Dillingham Commission, which showed a divergence in head size between foreign-born Hebrews and Sicilians and American-born Hebrews and Sicilian Americans. The American environment, Boas concluded, was having some effect on the “race characteristics” that many believed immutable. The irony is that Boas used the discredited theory of craniometry to prove his anti-eugenic, anti-racist theory. See “Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants of Immigrants,” Reports of the Immigration Commission, Volume 38, 61st Congress, 2nd Session.
245 At the intersection: “Is it any wonder that serious students contemplate the racial future of the Anglo-Saxon American with some concern? They have seen the passing of the American Indian and the buffalo; and now they query as to how long the Anglo-Saxon may be able to survive.” William Z. Ripley, “Races in the United States,” Atlantic, December 1908. See also Robert DeC. Ward, “National Eugenics in Relation to Immigration,” NAR, July 1910. 245 Progressive sociologist: Ross quoted in M. Victor Safford, “The Business Side of Immigration,” speech delivered at Old South Club, October 20, 1913, File 1064, Folder 8, IRL.
246 Ross proudly noted: Edward Alsworth Ross, The Old World in the New: The Significance of Past and Present Immigration to the American People (New York: Century, 1914), 285–286.
246 A leading academic: Ross, The Old World in the New, 289–293. 246 Ross predicted that: Ross, The Old World in the New, 228, 254–256. 246 These descriptions placed: NYT, June 20, 1914.
247 Amidst such pressing: “Immigration and Insanity,” address of William Williams, U.S. Commissioner