Myself,, Pioneering the Upper Midwest 1820 - 1910

John Rogers Commons (1862-1945) was an influential economist, reformer, and labor historian. Born in Hollandsburg, Ohio, Commons grew up on the Indiana-Ohio border, where his early work as a printer kindled his interest in labor issues. He attended Oberlin College and went on to study economics at Johns Hopkins, subsequently embarking upon a career of research, public policy development, and teaching. Among his labor history works were the ten-volume Documentary History of American Industrial Society (1910-11) and the three-volume History of Labor in the United States (1918-35). In his autobiography, Commons classifies himself as both a pragmatist and a Progressive. He collaborated closely with Wisconsin's governor and U.S. senator Robert La Follette, Sr., until 1917, when he opposed La Follette's anti-war position. He drafted innovative legislation on issues such as civil service reform, worker's compensation, and utility regulation. He championed improved safety standards and unemployment benefits for workers, believing that financial support for them should come from corporations. He also advocated government mediation among industry, labor, and other competing interest groups. In the 1920s, Commons's legislative initiatives on social welfare and federal economic coordination anticipated New Deal legislation. Commons also exerted long- term influence through his students, many of whom went on to occupy key academic, research, and policy positions. Today, he is remembered chiefly as the founder of modern American labor history.
Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.