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Settlement Workers in Politics, 1890–1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Allen F. Davis
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Extract

Settlement workers during the Progressive era were probably more committed to political action than any other group of welfare workers before or since. Charity organization workers also cooperated on occasion in political reform projects, but Robert Hunter, the itinerant radical, settlement worker, and charity expert was probably right in 1902, even if he exaggerated, when he decided that the settlement worker and the charity worker had basically different temperaments. The charity worker was hesitant to get involved with reform, Hunter decided; he had a philosophy of “don't, don't” and was constantly troubled by the fear that his relief would destroy independence. The settlement worker, on the other hand, was more often the victim of unbounded enthusiasm than of moral questioning. “He is constantly doing, urging; he is constantly pressing forward, occasionally tilting at wind mills, at times making mistakes, often perhaps doing injury, but filled with enthusiasm, warmth and purpose, without much question”.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , October 1964 , pp. 505 - 517
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1964

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References

1 Hunter, Robert, “The Relation Between Social Settlements and Charity Organizations,” Journal of Political Economy, XI (1902), 75–88, Proceedings of the National Conference of Charity and Correction, 1902, pp. 302–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Woods, Robert, “The University Settlement Idea”, Philanthropy and Social Progress (New York, 1893), pp. 57–97Google Scholar, Barnett, Cannon, Practicable Socialism (London, 1915)Google Scholar; Addams, Jane, “The Objective Value of the Social Settlement,” Philanthropy and Social Progress, pp. 27–56Google Scholar.

3 Thayer, Helen Rand, “Blazing the Settlement Trail”, Smith Alumnae Quarterly (04, 1911), 130–37Google Scholar; Robbins, Jane, “The First Year at the College Settlement”, Survey, XXVII (02 24, 1912), 1802Google Scholar.

4 Bernheim, A. C., “Results of Picture Exhibition on Lower East Side”, Forum, XIX (07, 1895), 612Google Scholar. See also Davis, Allen F., “Jane Addams vs. The Ward Boss”, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, LIII (Autumn, 1960), 247–65Google Scholar.

5 “Are Social Settlers Debarred from Political Work?” handwritten Ms., n. d. Simkhovitch, Mary K. MSS., Radcliffe Women's Archives, Cambridge, Mass.; Robert WoodsGoogle Scholar, “Settlement Houses and City Politics”, Municipal Affairs, IV (06, 1900), 396–97Google Scholar.

6 Minutes of the Seventeenth Ward Council of the Civic Federation, 1895–97. Graham Taylor Mss., Newberry Library, Chicago; see also Davis, Allen F., “Raymond Robins: The Settlement Worker as Municipal Reformer”, Social Service Review, XXXIII (06, 1959), 131–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 Reynolds, James B., “The Settlement and Municipal Reform”, Proceedings of the National Conference, 1896, pp. 140–42Google Scholar; Schapiro, J. Salwyn, “Henry Moskowitz: A Social Reformer in Politics”, Outlook, CII (10 26, 1912), 446–49Google Scholar; Moskowitz, , “A Settlement Followup”, Survey, XXV (12 10, 1910), 439–40Google Scholar.

8 See especially Addams, , “Ethical Survivals in Municipal Corruption”, International Journal of Ethics, VIII (06, 1898), 273–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Woods, , “The Roots of Political Power”, City Wilderness: A Settlement Study (Boston, 1898), 114–47 (probably written by William Clark)Google Scholar; “Traffic in Citizenship”, Americans in Process (Boston, 1902), pp. 147–49Google Scholar.

9 Interview with Addams, Jane, Chicago Tribune, 02 19, 1900Google Scholar; Addams, , “Ethical Survivals”, 273–91Google Scholar.

10 Woods, Eleanor, Robert A. Woods (Boston, 1929), pp. 119–23Google Scholar; Hooker, George E., “Mayor Quincy of Boston”, Review of Reviews, XIX (05, 1899), 575–78; Southend House Report, 1910, p. 6Google Scholar.

11 “Reformatory Influence of Social Service Upon City Politics”, Commons, VI (03, 1902), 3–4Google Scholar.Wald, Lillian, House on Henry Street (New York, 1915), pp. 46–53Google Scholar. Wald to Dr. Abbott E. Kitteredge, October 29, 1903; Wald MSS., New York Public Library.

12 Hamilton, James H., “The Winning of the Boulevard”, University Settlement Studies Quarterly, II (12, 1906), 24–26Google Scholar; Wald, Lillian, “The East Side in Danger”, Commons, X (04, 1905), 222Google Scholar.

13 Edwin Burritt Smith, “Council Reform in Chicago”,: Work of the Municipal Voters' League, Municipal Affairs, IV (06, 1900), 347–62Google Scholar; John Commons to Henry Demarest Lloyd, July 27, 1903; George Hooker to Lloyd, July 5, 13, 1903; Lloyd to Edward Bemis, July 30, 1903, Henry Demarest Lloyd MSS., Wisconsin State Historical Society, Madison.

14 Robbins, Jane, “The Settlement and the Immigrant”, College Settlement Association Quarterly, I (06, 1916), 7Google Scholar.

15 Bremner, Robert, From the Depths: The Discovery of Poverty in the United States (New York, 1956), pp. 201–203Google Scholar. Schlesinger, Arthur Jr, The Crisis of the Old Order (Boston, 1957), p. 25Google Scholar.

16 The quotation is from Florence Kelley to Lloyd, March 2, 1895, Lloyd MSS., and actually refers to the campaign of that year for child labor laws in Illinois. The campaign was not successful and was renewed with similar tactics two years later. Jane Addams to Lloyd, March 16, 1897.

17 Marot, Helen, “The Child Labor Movement in New York”, Commons, VIII (04, 1903), 5–6Google Scholar; Interview J. G. Phelps Stokes, January 22, 1959.

18 Henry, Alice, “Women and the Labor Movement”, (New York, 1930), 109Google Scholar; McDowell, Mary, “The Need of a National Investigation”, Charities and the Commons, XVII (01 5, 1907), 634–36Google Scholar; Walling, William English, “The Founding of the NAAGP”, The Crisis, XXXVI (07, 1929), 226Google Scholar; “Movement Under Way For an Industrial Commission”, Survey, XXVII (03 2, 1912), 1821–22Google Scholar.

19 Reynolds to Jane Addams, June 7, 1906, Addams MSS. Peace Collection, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Penn. McDowell to Mrs. Emmons Blaine, February 9, 1907, Blaine MSS. McCormick Collection, Wisconsin State Historical Society, Madison. Graham Taylor to Graham R. Taylor, March 10, 1912, Taylor MSS.

20 Addams, Jane, “The Steps By Which I Became a Progressive”, syndicated article, 1912Google Scholar, Addams MSS.; Kellogg, Paul, “The Industrial Platform”, Survey XXVIII (08 24, 1912), 668–70Google Scholar; “Jane Addams Tells Why”, New York Evening Post, August 8, 1912, clipping, Addams MSS.; Henry Moskowitz to Lillian Wald, August 2, 1912, Wald MSS. See Davis, Allen F., “The Social Workers and The Progressive Party, 1910–1916”, American Historical Review, 04, 1964Google Scholar.

21 Devine, Edward T., “Politics and Social Work”, Survey, XXIX (10 5, 1912), 9Google Scholar; Addams, Jane, “Pragmatism in Politics”, Survey, XXIX (10 5, 1912), 12Google Scholar.