Robert Percival Porter

Robert Percival Porter (June 30, 1852 – February 28, 1917) was an American journalist, diplomat, and statistician who wrote on economic subjects.

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.

[3] 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.

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.