ABSTRACT
In 1934 John R. Common, reflecting on his "dismissal from Syracuse", declared it a "fortunate happening". His sociology career was ruined; his work on the jurisprudence and the sociology of education, truncated. Chancellor Day was the third university president to have judged him unfit for college teaching. Nell still believed in him. But these years would be tough on her. She was pregnant when Chancellor Day sent John R. into the ranks of the unemployed. On borrowed money they moved to Mount Vernon, NY, near his sister Clara who worked with "difficult" boys for the New York City school district. Nell's third child, Rachel, would be born there on July 26, 1899. But other children would die during this exile. His work for the United States Industrial Commission, USIC eventually introduced John R. to every facet of the complex problem at the heart of the commission's mandate—not just labor and immigration, but—trusts, railroads, tariffs, farms.
