Progressivism 113Americansare “separatedby two oceansfromthe inferiorracesand by an instinctiverace
revulsionto crossbreedingthatmarksthe Americanwhereverhe is found.”^81 Baker
couldnot disputethat.Accordingly,BeveridgeandWhite^82 additionallycheeredfor
Westerncolonialism.Beveridgeclearlythoughtthatoneethnicgroupwasentitledto
dominateeveryother.“We [whites],” he statedin Bostonin an April 1898 speech,“are a
conqueringrace.In the Almighty’s infiniteplan... debasedcivilizationsanddebased
races” mustsubmit“beforethe highercivilizationof the noblerandmoreviriletypesof
man.”^83 Forasmuchas I am fromHawaii,it especiallycatchesmy attentionthat Beveridge
expressedrevulsiontowardNativeHawaiians,Filipinos,and Mexicans:“Whyis it more
difficultto administerHawaiithanNewMexicoor California?Bothhada savageand
alienpopulation:bothweremoreremotefromthe seatof governmentwhentheycame
underour dominionthanthe Philippinesare today.”^84
Giventhe preponderanceof apologiasthatmy tenth-gradeU.S.historyteacherissued
on behalfof laborunions,she probablywouldnot wantme to bringup anotherinconven-
ientconsideration.It is whatCornellUniversityhistorianVernonM. Briggs,Jr., dis-
closes—“At everyjuncture,andwithno exceptionpriorto the 1980s,the unionmove-
menteitherdirectlyinstigatedor stronglysupportedeverylegislativeinitiativeenacted
by Congressto restrictimmigrationand enforceits policyprovisions.”^85
To throwsupportto its falseaccusationthat Inventive-Periodindustrialistsweresocial
Darwinists,SDATcitesthe worksof progressivesociologistCharlesR. Henderson.You
mayrecallmy quotingthis passagefromAmericanThoughtin BookTwo,whereinI dis-
cussHofstadter’s tarringof JohnD. Rockefeller,Sr., as a socialDarwinist—”Successful
businessentrepreneursapparentlyacceptedalmostby instinctthe Darwinianterminolo-
gy whichseemedto portraythe conditionof theirexistence.”^86 Thatverysentenceis
followedby an endnotethat leadsto the sourcethatSDATcitesfor that claim.The source
citedis CharlesR. Henderson’s 1896paper“BusinessMenand SocialTheorists.”^87 SDAT
skipsoverthe tidbitthatHendersonwasa progressivewhohimselfembracedeugenicist
governistpolicy.In the publicationof the progressiveAmericanEconomicAssociation,
underthe aegisof RichardT. Ely,HendersonarguedthatsouthernEuropeansare “un-
fit.”^88 Thenand there,HendersonprescribedthatsouthernEuropeanimmigrants,in ad-
dition to the psychologicallyhandicapped,be detainedandthrowninto internment
camps.As Hendersonput it, the “feeblemindedanddegenerate... can all be easily
segregatedin self-supportingruralcolonies.”^89 Intothesecolonies,Hendersonproposed,
we are to toss the “insane,feebleminded,and epileptics.. .” As for Henderson’s proposal
thatparticularracesbe obstructedfromentryintothe USA,he indicated,“Thisis not an
argumentagainstimmigration,but onlyagainstthe immigrationof personswhocan
neverbe inducedto demanda civilizedscaleof life.”^90 Oncethe Statehas removedracial
minoritiesand the psychologicallyhandicappedfrommainstreamsociety,“the real work-
ers” remainingin the workforce—the WASPs—“willmorerise in earningpower.”^91 As
for whetherany suchgovernmentpoliciesare ethical,the progressivemaintained,“It is
clearlyanddistinctlythe rightof a commonwealthto deprive” theseoutcasts“of liberty
andso preventtheirpropagationof defectsandthusthe perpetuationof theirmiseryin
theiroffspring.Thereforethe policyof painlessasexualizationis offered.. .”^92
RichardT. Ely himselfofferedeugenicistargumentsfor barringspecificracesfrom
U.S.residency.TheAEAfounderimplored,“we mustnoticethe deteriorationin the
characterof our immigrationand ponderwellthe effectswhicha largeadmixtureof baser
foreignelementsis likelyto haveuponAmericannationality.”^93 Concordantly,“the full-
est unfoldingof our nationalfacultiesrequiresthe exclusionof discordantelements—like,
for example,the Chinese.”^94
JaneAddams,the progressivesocialworker,workedcloselywithone of the pioneers
of the U.S.eugenicsmovement,HarryOlson.Olsonwas amongthe firstjudgesfor Amer-