{{short description|American journalist, diplomat, and statistician}} thumb '''Robert Percival Porter''' (June 30, 1852 – February 28, 1917) was an American journalist, diplomat, and statistician who wrote on economic subjects.<ref name="Reynolds-1924">{{cite book |last1=Reynolds |first1=Francis Joseph |title=Adair's New Encyclopedia...: A New and Up-to-date Reference Work for Home, School and Office...with Fifty Full Page Maps... |date=1924 |publisher=World syndicate Company, Incorporated |page=108 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T2ZRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT108 |access-date=14 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref> He served as Superintendent of the Census (1889–1893). In the statistical field, the first use of the term "computer" comes in an article in the ''Journal of the American Statistical Association'' archives by Porter in 1891. The article discusses about the use of Hermann Hollerith's machine in the 11th Census of the United States.<ref name="LeonardMarquis-1908">{{cite book |last1=Leonard |first1=John William |last2=Marquis |first2=Albert Nelson |title=Who's who in America |date=1908 |publisher=A.N. Marquis |page=1511 |volume=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eX0QOpl7iBQC&pg=PA1511 |access-date=14 July 2022 |language=en}} {{Source-attribution}}</ref><ref name="TheNational-1904">{{cite book |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |date=1904 |publisher=J.T. White |pages=261–17 |url=https://archive.org/details/nationalcyclopa00unkngoog/page/216 |access-date=14 July 2022 |language=en}} {{Source-attribution}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Robert Percival Porter was born in Norwich, England, June 30, 1852.<ref name="Reynolds-1924" /> His father was James Winearls Porter of Marham, Norfolk.<ref name="LeonardMarquis-1908" />
He received his education at King Edward VI School, Norwich, and privately in the U.S.<ref name="LeonardMarquis-1908" />
==Career== He removed to the United States on the death of his father in 1869, and begran active life as a school teacher in Illinois. When the ''Chicago Inter Ocean'' was founded, in 1872, he joined the staff of that paper, though his first statistical and economic writings were contributed to the ''Galaxy'', 1876, and ''The Princeton Review'', 1878–79.<ref name="TheNational-1904" />
From 1879 to 1882, he had charge of the second division of the United States census under Gen. Francis A. Walker, and wrote the official reports on wealth, debt, taxation, and transportation. In 1882, he was appointed a member of the U.S. Tariff Commission,<ref name="Reynolds-1924" /> and in this capacity he took an active part in framing the tariff law of 1883.<ref name="TheNational-1904" />
He then joined the editorial staff of the ''New-York Tribune'' and was sent to Europe to study and report industrial and housing conditions on the Continent. He contributed regular letters on European industries for fifteen months.<ref name="TheNational-1904" /><ref name="Reynolds-1924" />
Upon returning to the United States in 1885, he became one of the editors of ''The Philadelphia Press''. On December 1, 1887, Porter founded the ''New York Press'', assisted by Frank Hatton. In March, 1889, he was appointed superintendent of the 11th census, resigning in September 1893, to return to the editorial control of the ''New York Press''.<ref name="TheNational-1904" /><ref name="Reynolds-1924" />
In 1895–96, Porter reported on the industries and commerce of Japan for the Manufacturers' Association of America. He took an active part in the campaigns of President William McKinley, and in 1898, the latter appointed him a special commissioner to Cuba and Puerto Rico. He framed the tariff laws for these islands and the Philippines, and conducted the negotiations with Gen. Gomez that ended in the disbandment of the Cuban army. From 1900, he conducted a series of economic studies relating to street and other railways in Europe.<ref name="TheNational-1904" />
In 1904, he joined the staff of the ''London Times''.<ref name="Reynolds-1924" />
He was a member of American and English Statistical Associations, and of the Republican, Ardsley, and Lawyers' Clubs of New York.<ref name="TheNational-1904" />
==Personal life== [[File:Mary Winearls Porter and her mother.png|thumb|"Polly" and Alice Porter (l-r), ca. 1910]] On March 7, 1884, he married Alice Hobbins.<ref name="WillardLivermore-1893">{{cite book |last1=Willard |first1=Frances Elizabeth |author1-link=Frances Willard |last2=Livermore |first2=Mary Ashton Rice |author2-link=Mary Livermore |title=A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Woman_of_the_Century/Alice_Hobbins_Porter |year=1893 |pages=582–83 |publisher=Charles Wells Moulton |chapter=PORTER, Mrs. Alice Hobbins}} {{Source-attribution}}</ref><ref name="Wisconsinhistory">{{cite web |title=Alice Russell Hobbins Porter - Photograph - Image ID 106345 |url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM106345 |website=wisconsinhistory.org |publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society |access-date=14 July 2022 |language=en |date=15 September 2014}}</ref>
He had four children,<ref name="TheNational-1904" /> including Mary "Polly" Winearls Porter.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://trowelblazers.com/mary-porter/|title=Mary "Polly" Winearls Porter |website=trowelblazers.com|date=19 September 2017 |access-date=2017-12-07}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Chemistry Was Their Life: Pioneer British Women Chemists, 1880-1949|last=Rayner-Canham|first=M.|publisher=Imperial College Press|year=2008|location=London}}</ref><ref name="RaynercanhamRaynercanham-2019">{{cite book |last1=Rayner-canham |first1=Marelene |last2=Rayner-canham |first2=Geoffrey |title=Pioneering British Women Chemists: Their Lives And Contributions |date=30 December 2019 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-1-78634-770-1 |page=383 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IsPKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA383 |access-date=14 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
Robert Percival Porter died February 28, 1917.<ref name="Reynolds-1924" />
==Selected works== * ''The West : from the census of 1880, a history of the industrial, commercial, social, and political development of the states and territories of the West from 1800 to 1880'', with Henry Gannett,1882 * ''Protection and free trade to-day : at home and abroad, in field and workshop'', 1884 * ''Free trade folly'', 1886 * ''Industrial Cuba : being a study of present commercial and industrial conditions, with suggestions as to the opportunities presented in the Island for American capital, enterprise, and labour'', 1899 * ''Life of William McKinley, soldier, lawyer, statesman'', 1896 * ''The dangers of municipal trading'', 1907 * ''The full recognition of Japan, being a detailed account of the economic progress of the Japanese empire to 1911'', 1911 * ''Japan, the new world-power : being a detailed account of the progress and rise of the Japanese empire'', 1915 * ''Japan, the rise of a modern power'', 1917
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Robert Percival Porter}} * [https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Robert_Percival_Porter Robert Percival Porter] at gracesguide.co.uk
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Robert Percival}} Category:1852 births Category:1917 deaths Category:19th-century British male journalists Category:19th-century American journalists Category:19th-century British newspaper founders Category:19th-century American newspaper founders Category:19th-century American economists Category:19th-century American male writers Category:20th-century American journalists Category:20th-century American economists Category:20th-century American male writers Category:People from Norwich Category:English journalists Category:English newspaper editors Category:American statisticians Category:American economics writers Category:United States Census Bureau people Category:20th-century American male journalists Category:19th-century British newspaper editors Category:20th-century British newspaper editors