Frederic C. Howe

Frederic Clemson Howe (November 21, 1867 – August 3, 1940) was a progressive reformer, author, lawyer, member of the Ohio Senate, a Georgist[1] (advocate of a single tax), and Commissioner of Immigration of the Port of New York. He was also founder and president of the League of Small and Subject Nationalities.[2]

Frederic C. Howe
Member of the Cleveland City Council
In office
1901–?
Personal details
Born
Frederic Clemson Howe

(1867-11-21)November 21, 1867
DiedAugust 3, 1940(1940-08-03) (aged 72)
Political partyRepublican
SpouseMarie Jenney Howe
Alma materMiami University
Johns Hopkins University
Allegheny College
Signature

Biography

He received a bachelor's degree from Allegheny College in 1889 and a Ph.D from Johns Hopkins University in 1892. In 1901, he was elected to Cleveland City Council, Ohio as a Republican. During his tenure, he became a key advisor to Tom L. Johnson, mayor of Cleveland at that time. He ran for reelection as an independent, but lost. In 1904, he married Marie Jenney. He studied law at Miami University in Ohio.

In 1905, he published "The City: the Hope of Democracy", which the Oxford English Dictionary cites as the first use of the term "big business".[3] In New York, Howe was director of the People's Institute (1911-14) and commissioner of immigration for the port (1914-19).

In 1919, Howe was targeted during a bombing spree, but was unharmed.[4]

On 27 July 1933, George N. Peek, head of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, appointed Howe as the head of the Consumers' Counsel.[5] Howe was associated with other left-wing members of the Roosevelt administration.

Rexford Tugwell claimed that Howe was "the subject of vitriolic attacks by the business interests" and was "pictured as a Red".[6] Chester R. Davis now decided to get rid of Howe. He later recalled: "Fred Howe was a man of high ideals and very little practical sense. He was the 'turn the other cheek' type. He was a well-meaning man who permitted his organization to be loaded down with a group of people who were more concerned with stirring up discontent than they were with achieving the objectives of the act."[7]

Howe is buried in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

References
  1. Howe, Frederic C. The Confessions of a Reformer. Kent, OH: Kent State UP, 1988.
  2. "Howe, Frederic C". 11 May 2018.
  3. OED, "big business": 1905 F. C. Howe City, p. ix. "We are beginning to realize that the same self-interest is the politics of big business."
  4. Murray, Robert K. (1955). Red Scare: A Study in National Hysteria, 1919-1920. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0816658336.
  5. Simkin, John. "Frederic C. Howe." Spartacus Educational.
  6. Tugwell, Rexford (1977). Roosevelt's Revolution, p. 355. ISBN 978-0026203708.
  7. Oral History Research Office (1953). The Reminiscences of Chester R. Brown, p. 313. St. Louis Fed.

Selected works
  • (1896). Taxation and Taxes in the United States.
  • (1897). The City of Cleveland in Relation to the Street Railway Question.
  • (1905). The City: the Hope of Democracy.
  • (1906). The Confessions of a Monopolist. Chicago: The Public Publishing Company.
  • (1907). The British City: The Beginnings of Democracy.
  • (1910). Privilege and Democracy in America.
  • (1912). Wisconsin: An Experiment in Democracy.
  • (1913). European Cities at Work.
  • (1914). The Modern City and Its Problems.
  • (1915). Socialized Germany.
  • (1916). Why War. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
  • (1917). The High Cost of Living.
  • (1919). The Land and the Soldier.
  • (1919). The Only Possible Peace.
  • (1921). Denmark: a Cooperative Commonwealth.
  • (1921). Revolution and Democracy.
  • (1925). The Confessions of a Reformer.

Articles

Sources

Media related to Frederic C. Howe at Wikimedia Commons

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