Month: July 2015

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Columbia Economists

Columbia. Lecture Series. Seager on Economics. 1907-08.

 

Lectures on Science, Philosophy and Art, 1907-1908 at Columbia University.

A SERIES of twenty-two lectures descriptive in untechnical language of the achievements in Science, Philosophy and Art, and indicating the present status of these subjects as concepts of human knowledge, were delivered at Columbia University, during the academic year 1907-1908, by various professors chosen to represent the several departments of instruction.

The entire lecture series was published by Columbia University Press in book form. These lectures were also published by Columbia University Press separately in pamphlet form, at a price of twenty-five cents each, “carriage extra”. I was able to find most of the individual lectures. In boldface are people who were either members of or regularly taught courses in Columbia’s Faculty of Political Science, which was disproportionately represented in the lecture series.

  1. MATHEMATICS, by Cassius Jackson Keyser, Adrain Professor of Mathematics.
  2. PHYSICS, by Ernest Fox Nichols, Professor of Experimental Physics.
  3. CHEMISTRY, by Charles F. Chandler, Professor of Chemistry.
  4. ASTRONOMY, by Harold Jacoby, Rutherfurd Professor of Astronomy.
  5. GEOLOGY, by James Furman Kemp, Professor of Geology.
  6. BIOLOGY, by Edmund B. Wilson, Professor of Zoology.
  7. PHYSIOLOGY, by Frederic S. Lee, Professor of Physiology.
  8. BOTANY, by Herbert Maule Richards, Professor of Botany.
  9. ZOOLOGY, by Henry E. Crampton, Professor of Zoology.
  10. ANTHROPOLOGY, by Franz Boas, Professor of Anthropology.
  11. ARCHAEOLOGY, by James Rignall Wheeler, Professor of Greek Archaeology and Art.
  12. HISTORY, by James Harvey Robinson, Professor of History.
  13. ECONOMICS, by Henry Rogers Seager, Professor of Political Economy.
  14. POLITICS, by Charles A. Beard, Adjunct Professor of Politics.
  15. JURISPRUDENCE, by Munroe Smith, Professor of Roman Law and Comparative Jurisprudence.
  16. SOCIOLOGY, by Franklin Henry Giddings, Professor of Sociology.
  17. PHILOSOPHY, by Nicholas Murray Butler, President of the University.
  18. PSYCHOLOGY, by Robert S. Woodworth, Adjunct Professor of Psychology.
  19. METAPHYSICS, by Frederick J. E. Woodbridge, Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy.
  20. ETHICS, by John Dewey, Professor of Philosophy.
  21. PHILOLOGY, by A. V. W. Jackson, Professor of Indo-Iranian Languages
  22. LITERATURE, by Harry Thurston Peck, Anthon Professor of the Latin Language and Literature.

Image Source: Roberto Ferrari, Unveiling Alma Mater [Sept 23, 1903]. Columbia University Libraries. July 15, 2104.

Categories
Columbia Courses Economists Syllabus

Columbia. Syllabus for Trust Problem. Seager, 1907

The second in a two-semester “problem sequence” taught by Professor Henry Rogers Seager at Columbia. Found in the papers of John Maurice Clark. The first semester was a course on the labor problem. The field of pre-game-theory industrial organization can trace its roots to the trust problem.

________________________

ECONOMICS 106—Trust Problem.        Professor Seager.

Tu. And Th. At 11.30, second half-year. 415 L.

In this course special attention is given to the trust problem as it presents itself in the United States. Among the topics considered are the rise and progress of industrial combinations, the forms of organization and policies of typical combinations, the common law and the trusts, anti-trust acts and their results, and other proposed solutions of the problem.

Given in 1906-07 and in alternate years thereafter.

Source: Columbia University. Bulletin of Information. Fifth Series, No. 10 (March 25, 1905). History, Economics, and Public Law. Courses Offered by the Faculty of Political Science. Announcement 1905-07, p. 25.

________________________

Columbia University
in the City of New York

 

THE TRUST PROBLEM

OUTLINE OF COURSE
BY
HENRY R. SEAGER
Professor of Political Economy

 

(The references are to the numbers attached to the titles in the bibliography. Those printed in heavy-faced type constitute the required reading for the course. Those marked with asterisks are especially recommended.)

 

  1. Nature and scope of the trust problem. Survey of literature. (43, chap. XVIII, pp. 428-441.)
  2. Progress of the corporation movement in the United States. (*8, chap. I; *36, June, 1890, pp. 50 et seq.; 47, 1900, vol. VII, chap. II, sec. XI, and 1905, Bulletin 57, pp. 13-18.)
  3. Progress of the trust movement in the United States. (5, chap. I; 9, chap. I; *14, chap. V; *30, chap. I; 31; 41, vol. XIX, pp. 595-608; 47, 1900, vol. VII, chap. II, sec. XVII.)
  4. Conflicting theories in regard to the economic advantages of the trusts. (22, chaps. I and II; 43, chap. XVIII, pp. 442-461; *6, pp. 35-42; *14, chap. IV; *30, chap. II; 27, Part I.)
  5. Typical American trusts; the Addyston Pipe Company. (22, chap. VII ; 43, chap. V.)
  6. Typical American trusts : the Standard Oil Company. (22, chap. VIII, pp. 151-157; 29; 39; 40; 41, vol. I, pp. 93-173; *44; 46.)
  7. Typical American trusts: the Standard Oil Company today. (*37.)
  8. Typical American trusts: the United States Steel Corporation. (22, Appendix F ; *28, chap. XVII ; 41, vol. I, pp. 173-205; 42; *48.)
  9. The United States Steel Corporation’s bond conversion (43, chap. VIII.)
  10. Typical American trusts: the International Mercantile Marine Company. (43, Chap. VI.)
  11. Typical American trusts: the United States Shipbuilding Company (43, chap. IX.)
  12. The success of American trusts as business enterprises. (*15, 1907; 31.)
  13. Conflicting legal theories in regard to corporations and the attitude of American courts. (16; *17, pp. XVIII-XLIII ; *21, pp. 7-16 ; *45, chaps. III and VIII.)
  14. The development of corporation laws in the American states and the present law of New Jersey. (4; *6, pp. 383-394, 409-422 ; *21; 23.)
  15. The Massachusetts Business Corporation Law. (43, chap. XV; *38.)
  16. State anti-trust legislation and the reasons for its failure. (*1, 1904, pp. 37-41; *13, vol. II, part VIII; 30, chap. V ; 41, vol. I, pp. 225-232, vol. II.)
  17. The federal anti-trust act of 1890 and what has been accomplished under it. (43, chap. XII ; 13, vol. II, part VII.)
  18. Latest phases of the attempt to enforce the anti-trust act. (43, chap. XIV.)
  19. The trust problem in the United Kingdom and the British Companies Act of 1900. (43, chap. XVII; 20, part II, chap. III ; 27, chaps. VIII and IX ; 41, vol. XVIII, part I, chap. II.)
  20. The trust problem in Germany. (22, chap. XII; 24 ; 35, third series, vol. V, no. 3; *41, vol. XVIII, part I, chap. V.)
  21. Germany’s corporation law and the attitude of the German government towards trusts. (43, chap. XVI; 24 ; *41, vol. XVIII, part II, chap. IV.)
  22. Present problem in the United States: the trusts and investors. (22, chaps. V and VI; 28, chaps. VII, VIII, XV, and XIX ; 41, vol. I, Digest, pp. 242-253.)
  23. Present problem in the United States: the trusts and wage-earners. (22, chap. IX; 6, pp. 349-354 ; 9, chaps. VII and VIII.)
  24. Present problem in the United States: the trusts and consumers. (22, chap. VIII; 41, vol. I, part I, pp. 39-57.)
  25. Present problem in the United States: the trusts and the tariff. (22, chap. III; 5, chaps. VI and XV; *6, pp. 171-177 ; *8, chap. III; 25; 41, vol. XIX pp. 627-631.)
  26. Proposed solutions of the trust problem. (22, chap. XI; *1, 1904, pp. 44-63; 30, chap. VI; 41, vol. XIX, pp. 649-652.)
  27. Objects to be accomplished through federal control over the trusts. (22, chap. XIII; *7, chaps. IV and V; 21, pp. 168-173; 28, chap. XX.)
  28. The future of trusts in the United States. (*26, part III, chap. II; *27, chap. XII.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

  1. Annual Reports of the United States Commissioner of Corporations. 1904—
  2. Baker, Monopolies and the People. Third edition. 1899.
  3. Beach, A Treatise on the Law of Monopolies and Industrial Trusts. 1898.
  4. Black, Corporation Laws of New York and New Jersey. Second edition, 1904.
  5. Bolen, Plain Facts as to the Trusts and the Tariff. 1902.
  6. Chicago Conference on Trusts, September, 1899. 1900.
  7. Clark, The Control of Trusts. 1901.
  8. Clark, The Problem of Monopoly. 1904.
  9. Collier, The Trusts. 1900.
  10. Cook, “Trusts.” Second edition. 1888.
  11. Davis, Corporations: Their Origin and Development, 2 vols. 1905.
  12. Dos Passos, Commercial Trusts. 1901.
  13. Eddy, The Law of Combinations, 2 vols. 1901.
  14. Ely, Monopolies and Trusts. 1900.
  15. Financial Review (Annual) of the Commercial and Financial Chronicle.
  16. Freund, The Legal Nature of Corporations. 1896.
  17. Gierke, Political Theories of the Middle Ages. 1900.
  18. Gunton, Trusts and the Public. 1899.
  19. von Halle, Trusts or Industrial Combinations in the United States. 1895.
  20. Hirst, Monopolies, Trusts and Kartells. 1905.
  21. Horack, the Organization and Control of Industrial Corporations. 1903.
  22. Jenks, The Trust Problem. Revised edition. 1903.
  23. Laws of the State of New Jersey Relating to Business Companies. 1905.
  24. Liefmann, Die Unternehmerverbände. 1897.
  25. Liefmann, Schutzzoll und Kartelle. 1903.
  26. Macgregor, Industrial Combination. 1906.
  27. Macrosty, Trusts and the State. 1901.
  28. Meade, Trust Finance. 1903.
  29. Montague, The Standard Oil Company. 1904.
  30. Montague, Trusts of Today. 1904.
  31. Moody, Truth about the Trusts. 1904.
  32. Mussey, Combination in the Mining Industry. 1905.
  33. Nettleton, Trusts or Competition. 1900.
  34. Political Science Quarterly. 1886—
  35. Publications of the American Economic Association. 1886—
  36. Quarterly Publications of the American Statistical Association. 1888—
  37. Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Transportation of Petroleum. 1906.
  38. Report of the Committee (Massachusetts) on Corporation Laws. 1903.
  39. Report of the Committee (New York) on General Laws on the Investigation Relative to Trusts. New York Senate Document No. 50, Vol. V. 1888.
  40. Report of the Committee (United States) on Manufactures on the Investigation of Trusts. House of Representatives Report, No. 3112. 1888.
  41. Report of the United States Industrial Commission, 19 vols. 1900—1902.
  42. Reports of the United States Steel Corporation. 1902—
  43. Ripley, Trusts, Pools, and Corporations. 1903.
  44. Tarbell, The History of the Standard Oil Company, 2 vols. 1904.
  45. Taylor, A Treatise on the Law of Private Corporations. Fifth edition. 1905.
  46. Trust Investigation of the Ohio Senate. 1898.
  47. United States Census Reports and Bulletins.
  48. Wilgus, The United States Steel Corporation. 1901.

Source: Columbia Archives. John M. Clark Collection. Box 23, Lecture Notebooks.

Monopoly Image: From The Up-to-date Primer: A First Book of Lessons for Little Political Economists.

Categories
Chicago Columbia Courses Syllabus

Columbia. Friedman Course. Structure Neoclassical Economics 1939-40

In 1939-40 Milton Friedman taught the course Structure of Neo-classical Economics,  Columbia University Extension ub-171/172. The outline and reading assignments from this course were later used as a foundation for the earliest version of Friedman’s Price Theory, Economics 300A, taught in the Autumn Quarter of 1946 at the University of Chicago. In a later posting  and most recently we will see the obvious similarities but for now the following note found among the early Friedman papers for Economics 300A is sufficient to document that link.

Columbia University Extension
Course Outline
Course Reading Assignments

______________________________

­­­­­­­­­­

Tuesday

Dear Nerlove:

The only thing I have on the theory course is the attached outline of a course I gave at Columbia. I shall depart from this at numerous points but, for the moment at least, plan to follow its broad outlines.

I should appreciate it if you would return this when you’re through with it, since I have only one other copy.

[signed]

Milton Friedman

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers. Box 76, Folder 9 (Ec 300a)

Note: From the location of this note in the folder and the fact that the outline to which is being referred was indeed returned, the note is most likely from 1946. The econometrician Marc Nerlove (b. 1933) would have been too young to be the addressee. Perhaps this was addressed to his father Chicago Business School professor, Samuel Nerlove, or a much older sibling.

______________________________

Columbia University Extension Courses

“With the beginning of the academic year 1910-1911 the financial responsibility for the work of Extension Teaching, as the movement was then known, was assumed by the Trustees of Columbia University…the development of Extension Teaching may be said to be an outgrowth of the striking success of the Summer Session of the University. After ten years’ experience, the Summer Session had more than justified itself, and it was proposed to extend the operation of the principles which had been successful in the Summer Session so as to provide classes and laboratory work at the University, both in the evening and during the day, in other parts of the city, and in neighboring parts of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, for the benefit of those who were not able to avail themselves of the regular courses of instruction. In 1921, by act of the trustees, the title of Extension Teaching was changed to University Extension.”

______________________________

Outline of Course Given at Columbia by M. Friedman
Entitled “Structure of Neo-classical Economics”

A. Pricing of Final Goods [“Pricing of Final Goods Sold on Market” in original]

  1. The nature of economics; the concept of a free enterprise system; general outline of how free enterprise system solves economic problem.
  2. Momentary price
    1. Market demand for a product: demand curve, composite demand, joint demand, dealers’ [apostrophe placement as in original] demand, consumer’s [apostrophe placement as in original] demand
    2. [Momentary] Supply of a product: supply curve, effect of time
    3. Price as set by supply and demand
  3. The demand curve
    1. General
      1. Elasticity of demand
      2. Assumptions underlying demand schedule
      3. Generalization of mathematical school
      4. Statistical demand curves: from time series; from spatial data; [“Engel curves” crossed out in original] cobweb theorem
    2. Demand curve of an individual consumer
      1. Utility analysis
      2. Difficulties with utility analysis
      3. Indifference curve analysis
      4. Difficulties with indifference curve analysis
    3. Demand curve for the product of an individual firm [“Demand curve for the product of an individual producer” in original]
      1. Competitive vs. monopolistic
      2. Relevance of anticipations
      3. Marginal revenue
    4. Short run supply
      1. Economics of individual firm
        1. [Crossed out in original “a. Production function. Law of diminishing returns”] Perfect competition: producer must decide what to produce, how to produce it, how much to produce
        2. Monopolistic conditions: producer must decide what to produce, how to produce it, price or how much to produce [In original last item reversed: “how much to produce or price”]
        3. Cost curves for individual firm
      2. Widespread importance of marginal concepts
      3. Relation of cost curves of individual firm to supply curve of industry under competition
      4. Different kinds of monopolistic conditions: monopolistic competition, oligopoly, duopoly
      5. Supply under monopolistic competition: impossibility of defining industry, or supply curve for industry; [following not in original] implications for practical usefulness of theory of monopolistic competition
      6. Law of diminishing returns
      7. Translation of physical law of diminishing returns into economic cost curves
      8. Statistical cost curves: how reconcile declining marginal cost curves with theoretical expectations? [Original: “Statistical cost curves: how can declining marginal cost curves be reconciled with theory?”]
    5. Long run supply
      1. Implications of linear homogeneous production function: constant costs
      2. Effect of indivisibilities and discontinuities
      3. Pecuniary factors making for decreasing or increasing cost[s]
      4. Internal and external economies of scale
      5. Social and private economies and diseconomies of scale

[Crossed out “6. Joint Demand and Supply (Transition to Distribution)

1. Joint demand and supply; derived demand
2. Distribution theory if factors must be used in fixed proportions”]

B. Distribution Theory

  1. General: pricing of factors special case of theory of market price [“market” added]
  2. Demand for factors of production
    1. Marginal productivity determines demand by individual firm
    2. Relation between demand by individual firm and demand for factor
    3. Determinants of marginal productivity
    4. Ethical implications of marginal productivity theory: does it justify existing distribution of income? Meaning of exploitation
    5. Relation of marginal productivity analysis to cost curve analysis
      1. Alternative ways of explaining equilibrium of individual firm
      2. Translation of marginal productivity curves into cost curves [Original: “Relation of cost curves to marginal productivity curves”]
      3. Influence of [“changing” in original] number of firms
    6. Monopsony: impossibility of defining demand curve for factor
  3. Supply of labor
    1. Short run
    2. Long run
  4. Wages in different occupations
    1. Equalizing differences
    2. Non-competing groups
    3. Frictional differences [“3. Frictional differences” was added.]
  5. Capital theory
    1. Why marginal productivity analysis not applicable to determination of interest rate [“to determination of interest rate” was added]
    2. Alternative approaches adopted to explain demand curve
      1. Time preference
      2. Time period of production
      3. Knight’s simultaneous equation
      4. Keynes’ marginal efficiency of capital [“of capital” was added]
      5. Comparison of Keynes and Knight [Ordering in original: “Knight and Keynes”]
    3. Supply of capital
      1. Sources of capital
      2. Difficulties in defining capital, in measuring and defining savings [“in defining capital,” not in original]
      3. Relation of savings to rate of interest
    4. Relation between functional distribution of income and personal distribution.

C. General Equilibrium

  1. Concept of interdependence: direct and indirect effects [“direct and indirect effects” not in original]
  2. Walrasian equations of general equilibrium

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 75, Folder 1 “Columbia University” for carbon copies of the typed outline. “Original” refers to Friedman’s handwritten draft found in Box 75, Folder 12.

_________________________________

The following list of assignments for Friedman’s course Structure of Neo-classical Economics was taken from a poor carbon copy with Friedman’s handwritten revisions, e.g. the new title would read “Assignments in course given at Columbia by M. Friedman entitled ‘Structure of Neo-classical Economics’”. Also the sections of suggested readings for mathematicians and in mathematics in the Columbia version were apparently intended to be omitted in the later version. We have Friedman’s handwritten notes for the dates of assignments. Lectures (for which typed student notes are available) are designated below with an asterisk (*). These incomplete student notes are misfiled in Hoover Institution Archives,Milton Friedman Papers, Box 75, Folder 12 “University of Minnesota, B.A. 102”. There is a later typed alternate version of this assignment list with a few handwritten additions that I have included below in curved brackets {}.

_________________________________

{Wallis and Friedman—Indifference Curves
Knight—Functions}

Assignments in Economics ub-171-2 [1939-40]
“Structure of Neo-classical Economics”

Instructor: Milton Friedman

(listed in order in which assigned)

First Semester

[Sept 28*:] Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics, Book III, ch. 2, 3, 4; Book V, ch. 1, 2

[Oct 5*:] Henry Schultz, The Meaning of Statistical Demand Curves, pp. 1-10

{§§5,6,7,8,III, ch 4. Add Marshall Bk III, ch 5 }

E.J. Working, “What do Statistical ‘Demand Curves’ Show?”, Q. J. E. Vol. XLI (1927), pp. 212-27

Frank H. Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, ch. 3.

Frederic Benham, Economics, pp. 89-100

Suggested

J. R. Hicks, Value and Capital, pp. 11-37

Suggested readings for mathematicians

O. Lange, “On the Determinateness of the Utility Function”, Review of Economic Studies, Vol. I (1933-34), p. 218ff.

R. G. D. Allen, “The Nature of Indifference Curves”, Ibid., p. 110ff

Suggested reading in mathematics

R. G. D. Allen, Mathematical Analysis for Economists, ch. 2, §§ 2.1, 2.2 (pp. 28-36), §2.9 (pp. 54-56); ch. 4, ch. 5, pp. 107-14; ch. 6, Sec. 6.1-6.3 (pp. 134-40), 6.5-6.6 (pp. 143-9), Balance of Chapter 5 also pertinent.

[October 12*: “Assignment: Think over paragraph below. What does it mean? Is it true. Write paragraph or two discussing it.

“Since elasticity measures variations in quantity (demanded or offered) divided by variations in price, the elasticity of demand for anything will be seven times as large for seven similar demanders as it is for one.” A. C. Pigou, A Study in Public Finance, p. 207.”

October 19*. Elasticity of Demand.
October 26*. Usefulness of Elasticity of Demand. Implicit assumptions underlying the demand curve.]

Marshall, Book V, ch. 3, 4, 5, 12, Appendix H

[November 2*. Estimating demand curves. Data difficulties.
November 9*. Problem of the Demand Curve of the Individual Consumer.
November 16*: rest of list for first semester is distributed]

A. L. Meyers, Elements of Modern Economics, ch. 5 (pp. 46-62); 7,8,9 (pp. 83-124)

Joan Robinson, Economics of Imperfect Competition, ch. 2 (pp. 26-43)

J. M. Clark, The Economics of Overhead Cost, ch. 9 (pp. 175-203)

Jacob Viner, “Cost Curves and Supply Curves”, Zeitschrift fuer National oekonomie, Bd. III (Sept., 1931), pp. 23-46

Edward Chamberlin, The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Ch. 3, sec. 1 (pp. 30-32); 4,5,6 (46-55); ch. 5 (71-116)

M. Abramovitz, “Monopolistic Selling in a Changing Economy”, Q. J. E. , Feb., 1938, pp. 191-214

R. F. Harrod, “Doctrines of Imperfect Competition”, Q. J. E., May, 1934, sec. I, pp. 442-61

[November 23 (Thanksgiving)
November 30
December 7
December 14
December 21 (probably not held)
January 5. Lecture No. 12.
January 12
January 19
Exam Jan 26]

Second Semester

Marshall, {handwritten addition: Book IV, ch. 1, 2, 3} Book V, ch. 6

J.B. Clark, The Distribution of Wealth, Preface, ch. 1, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 23

John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book II, ch. 14

J. R. Hicks, The Theory of Wages, ch. 1-6

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book I, ch. 10

Marshall, Book VI, ch. 1-5

Simon Kuznets and Milton Friedman, “Incomes from Independent Professional Practice”, Bulletin 72-3, National Bureau of Economic Research, section 5, appendix
{handwritten addition: Preface V to X; ch. 3, Sec 3 (pp. 81-95; ch. 4, Sec 2, pp. 118-137; Appendix Sec 1, 3, pp. 142-151 and 155-161}

F. H. Knight, “Interest”, in Encyclopoedia of the Social Sciences, also in Ethics of Competition

J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, ch. 11-14

Gustav Cassell, Fundamental Thoughts in Economics, ch. 1, 2, 3

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 76, Folder 1 “Columbia University” for carbon copies of the typed outline. “Original” refers to Friedman’s handwritten draft and reading assignments (both carbon copy and hand-written) found in Box 75, Folder 12.

Image Source: Columbia University, Columbia 250 Celebrates Columbians Ahead of Their Time.

Categories
Economists Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Veblen on Mill, 1881

The Historical and Political Science Association of Johns Hopkins met monthly and abstracts of papers presented were published in the University Circulars. The 24 year old graduate student of Philosophy (major) and Economics (minor), Thorstein B. Veblen, presented work he did for a course taught by Richard T. Ely (Instructor in Political Economy).

___________________

PROCEEDINGS OF UNIVERSITY SOCIETIES.
Abstracts of the More Important Papers Read at Recent Meetings.

[…]

Historical and Political Science Association.
December [1881] meeting.

[…]

Mill’s Theory of the Taxation of Land, by T. B. VEBLEN.

With the advance of society the rent of land increases. This increase is independent of any effort of the landlord, being the product of the activity of the community. The State should therefore, by a peculiar tax, appropriate this “unearned increment” and not permit it to go to the owner of the land. To obviate all injustice to owners who have bought land with the expectation of being permitted to enjoy the future increase of its rent, the State is to offer to buy the land of the owners at its market price as an alternative to their keeping it and paying to the State the increase of rent. As a consequence of such an alternative, land having a speculative value would be sold to the State in order to avoid loss to the owners. The measure would act as a fine on the holding of land, to the amount of the speculative value, and lead to an almost universal nationalization of land; differing, however, from generally entertained schemes for the State’s getting possession of land, in that the expense of the change would be more equitably distributed on all classes of the community. No immediate redistribution of wealth would take place, but, neglecting all probable undesirable secondary effects of the change on the people, an advantage would accrue from an increased compactness of population, making possible a saving of labor.

___________________

Source: Johns Hopkins University. University Circulars. No.13, February, 1882, p. 176.

Image Source: “A young Thorstein Veblen as a Carleton grad” from the Veblen farmhouse restoration webpage. Incidentally, that farmhouse is now a bed-and-breakfast.

Categories
Economists Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. H.C. Adams Dissertation auf deutsch 1879

One takes the one-way translation of research work from foreign languages into English so much for granted that it is easy to forget that there was indeed a time when having your research published in German was the way to acquire international recognition. During his Wanderjahr in Europe, Adams used the opportunity to place his Johns Hopkins doctoral dissertation in a leading international journal auf deutsch.

Professor Adolph Wagner’s note above translates as follows:

“1) Editor’s note. This paper is the work of a young North American economist currently studying in Berlin. It was originally written in English and then translated. Even after multiple revisions there remain some anglicisms that will not [however] detract from the value of this contribution.  A. Wagner.”

______________________________

Henry Carter Adams’ alma mater proudly reported the placement of his Hopkins dissertation on the history of taxation in the U.S.  1789-1816.

Johns Hopkins University. University Circulars. No. 2, Jan., 1880, p. 19:

“The Thesis of Dr. Henry C. Adams, presented when he graduated as Doctor of Philosophy in the Johns Hopkins University, has been printed in successive numbers of the Zeitschrift für die gesammte Staatswissenschaft, Tübingen, 1879. Its title is Zur Geschichte der Besteuerung in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika in der Periode von 1789-1816.”

Dissertation: Part One.  Dissertation: Part Two.

______________________________

More about Henry Carter Adams’ education in included in another post.

Categories
Courses Johns Hopkins Syllabus

Johns Hopkins. Courses. 1881-82

Ely’s course History of Political Economy, met twice weekly Tuesday and Friday 4 P.M. and had 26 students enrolled during the first half-year. According to the class roll (Johns Hopkins University Circulars, No. 12, December 1881, p. 157), Thorstein B. Veblen attended the class.

______________________________

COURSES IN HISTORY, INTERNATIONAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, AND POLITICAL ECONOMY, 1881-82.

[…]

SIMON NEWCOMB, LL.D., of Washington, will give a short course of lectures upon Political Economy, with special reference to the subject of Taxation.

HON. JOHN J. KNOX, of Washington, Comptroller of the Currency, will give three lectures upon Finance, with especial consideration of the National System of Banking, November 10–17.

RICHARD T. ELY, Ph.D. [Heidelberg, 1879], will give a course of twenty class lectures on the History of Political Economy, beginning Friday, October 14, at 4 P. M., and continuing on successive Tuesdays and Fridays at the same hour.

The lectures will be given in Room 1, 193 North Eutaw Street. It is designed in this course of lectures to describe the teachings of leading political economists from the time of the mercantilists up to the present. The origin of the various economic schools and their relations will be explained. The sources of economic knowledge and the methods of work will be pointed out, and topics for original investigation suggested. The writing of essays on assigned topics will be expected from the advanced students in the class.

ORDER OF TOPICS.

Introductory. Utility of the Historical Method. Discussion of the Questions: What is Political Economy? What has it accomplished?

Mercantilists. Commerce. Balance of Trade.

Physiocrats. Agriculture the Sole Source of Wealth.

Adam Smith. Recognition of Manufacturing Industry as also a Source of Wealth; hence the name Industrial System.

Adam Smith’s Followers: A. The Development of Pessimistic Tendencies, (a) Malthus, (b) Ricardo, (c) Mill; B. The Optimists, (a) Bastiat, (b) Carey.

The Opponents of Adam Smith. National Economy. Ad. Muller, Fr. List, Carey and others.

Communism.

Socialism. A. Social Democracy. B. Professorial Socialism

The Present Condition of Political Economy; (a) in France, (b) in Germany, (c) in England, (d) in America and elsewhere.

Review of the Field and Conclusion.

P. B. MARCOU, A. M., will conduct a special historical course, two hours weekly during the first half-year, in the Modern French Socialists. A knowledge of French is requisite for those pursuing this course.

______________________________

Source:  Johns Hopkins University. University Circulars. No.12, December, 1881, p. 162.

Categories
Curriculum Economists Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Annual Report. 1881-82

Henry Carter Adams is now in Michigan with Richard T. Ely taking over for instruction in Political Economy at Johns Hopkins. Note the graduate student in Philosophy and Political Science from Minnesota, Thorstein B. Veblen.

____________________

HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE.
WORK OF THE PAST YEAR.
I881-82.

History and Political Science have been studied during the year by forty-one students of whom twenty-two followed advanced or graduate courses and nineteen pursued undergraduate courses.

The roll for the year has included:

H. B. ADAMS, Ph.D., Associate in History.
A. SCOTT, Ph. D., Associate in History.
R. T. ELY, Ph.D., Instructor in Political Economy.

J. BRYCE, D. C. L., Lecturer.
E. A. FREEMAN, D. C. L., Lecturer.
J. J. KNOX, A. M., Lecturer.
R. M. VENABLE, Lecturer.

J. F. Jameson, A. B., Fellow.
M. I. Swift, A. B., Fellow.

[Advanced/Graduate Students]

W. H. Adkins, A. B. O. A. Johnson, S. B.
E. W. Bemis, A. B. S. B. Linthicum, A. B.
H. J. Bowdoin, A. B. J. H. Lowe, A. B.
D. L. Brinton. D. M. Murray.
H. L. Ebeling, A. B. B. J. Ramage, A. B.
E. Goodman, A. B. A. Shaw, A. B.
E. R. L. Gould, A. B. H. E. Shepherd.
J. G. Hamner, A. B. B. Sollers.
E. Ingle, A. B. T. B. Veblen, A. B.
J. Johnson, A. B. L. W. Wilhelm, A. B.

[Undergraduate students]

T. A. Berry. J. Hinkley.
W. B. Canfield. R. F. Kimball.
G. G. Carey, Jr. J. D. Lord.
W. B. Crisp. J. MacClintock.
W. K. Cromwell. G. D. Penniman.
D. B. Dorsey. R. M. Reese.
H. Duffy. C. D. Stickney.
M. Fels. H. T. Tiffany.
B. B. Gordon. H. W. Williams.
M. Gregg.

I. Historical Seminary.

The advanced and graduate students have met weekly during the first half-year, and twice weekly during the second half year, under the guidance of Dr. Adams, as an Historical Seminary, for the discussion of original studies in American Institutional History.

The meetings of the Seminary were first held in the small lecture room of the Peabody Institute, and later in rooms specially provided by the university for Seminary use, and furnished with books, maps and other historical apparatus. The Statutes of England, Parliamentary Reports, Colonial Archives (in published form), the Statutory Law of the older States, and other collections have afforded opportunities for fresh investigations. Among the papers presented here or at the monthly meetings of the Historical and Political Science Association, have been the following: parallel between the economic beginnings of Maryland and Massachusetts; town and parish institutions in Maryland; free schools in Maryland and South Carolina; old English militia institutions; militia, patrol, and parish system of South Carolina; fairs, markets, and the Atlanta exposition; local government in Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey; Montauk and the common lands of Easthampton, Long Island.

 

II. Public Lectures.

Courses of public lectures have been given during the year by:

James Bryce, D. C. L., Regius Professor of Civil Law in the University of Oxford, five lectures in November upon Recent Political Discussions in England.

The special subjects considered were: the crown and the house of lords; the church and the universities; the suffrage and distribution of seats; the land and the poor; foreign and colonial policy; the relation of law to history was also considered in a special lecture before the Historical and Political Science Association.

Edward A. Freeman, D. C. L., six lectures in November upon Southeastern Europe.

The special topics discussed were: the Roman Power in the East; the Saracens and the Slavs; the final division of the East and West; the Turks, Franks, and Venetians; the Ottomans, and the beginning of deliverance.

Hon. John J. Knox, Comptroller of the Currency, U. S. Treasury Department, three lectures in November upon the Banking Systems of the United States.

Austin Scott, Ph. D., ten lectures in January upon the Development of the Constitution of the United States.

The special topics discussed were: nationalism and local self-government; the federative principle; acceptance of the same; self-assertion of the national idea; reaction; transition period; power of the masses; economic questions; socialism; revolution.

Professor R. M. Venable, of the Law Department of the University of Maryland, twelve lectures, beginning in January, upon the Constitutional Law of the United States.

This course embraced such topics as commerce, taxation, war powers, civil and political rights; election of president; presidential powers; federal court; theory of the partition of powers; ultimate sovereignty; comparison of the English constitution with that of the United States.

Herbert B. Adams, Ph. D., five public lectures upon the Historical Development of Internationalism.

The subjects treated were: intertribal and intermunicipal relations of the Orient; intermunicipal life of the Greeks; Rome, the civitas mundi; international position of the mediaeval church; origin and tendencies of modern international law ; Lieber and Bluntschli.

R. T. Ely, Ph.D., four lectures in April upon Civil Service Reform, with special consideration of the Civil Service of Prussia.

 

III. Advanced Courses.

Courses, of twelve lectures each, upon the Sources of Early European History, and upon Italian History, were given by Dr. Adams.

These classes, composed of seven graduate students, met in a lecture room of the Peabody Institute, by special permission of the Provost, so that the works mentioned in the lectures might be at once consulted by the students.

Courses of lectures on Political Economy have been given by Dr. R. T. Ely.

Two courses have been given, one of twenty lectures in the first half- year, addressed to a class of both graduates and under-graduates, and one of twenty-five lectures, in the second half-year, to graduate students only.

Papers upon investigations undertaken by the graduate students in connection with these courses, have been read before the Historical and Political Science Association upon: Mill’s theory of the taxation of land; the alleged indebtedness of Adam Smith to the French economists; what England owes to protection, etc.

 

IV. Undergraduate Courses.

The less advanced course was also conducted by Dr. H. B. Adams, and consisted of class exercises, (lectures, examinations, oral reports, essays, etc.,) five hours weekly through the year.

The first half-year was devoted to Mediaeval History, and the second half-year to Diplomatic History, with the principles of International Law, as embodied in Bluntschli’s Voelkerrecht, of which the German text was expounded by teacher and class. Oral reports were made by students upon topics of contemporary international politics and the status of leading countries; exercises which accustomed the class to the use of maps, consular reports, government documents, texts of treaties, diplomatic correspondence, etc.

 

The Historical and Political Science Association has met monthly, as heretofore, for the presentation and discussion of papers, the titles of most of which have been given above.

_______________

PROGRAMME FOR THE YEAR BEGINNING
SEPTEMBER 19, 1882.

I. Graduate and Advanced Courses:

DR. H. B. ADAMS.

  1. Sources of English Constitutional History.
    This class will meet in the small lecture-room at the Peabody Institute, by permission of the Provost, for facility of reference to the library collections. A knowledge of Latin and German is requisite for admission to this course.—Once weekly, first half-year.
  2. American Institutional History.
    This will be an advanced course for the report and discussion of original studies, special facilities for which are afforded by the collections of the Maryland Historical Society, the Maryland Episcopal Library of the late Bishop Whittingham, and by a newly instituted working collection in the Seminary of Historical and Political Science.—Two hours weekly.
  3. Comparative Constitutional History, with special reference to the existing Constitutions of European States. Once weekly, second half-year.

DR. R. T. ELY.

  1. This course will deal at length with such practical topics as banking, paper money, monometalism, bi-metalism, and taxation.—Thrice weekly, first half-year.
  2. Theory and Practice of Administration, with special reference to Civil Service Problems and Municipal Reform. Thrice weekly, second half-year.
  3. History of French and German Socialism. Six lectures.

NOTE.—In addition to the regular work offered by the university instructors, various brief courses of class lectures upon special topics in Historical and Political Science may be given by lecturers, hereafter to be announced. A short course of public lectures on the Local Institutions of the United States will also be given by Dr. H. B. Adams at the Peabody Institute during the winter. Historical readings in Anglo-Saxon, German, and French, will be in progress through the year.

Graduates and advanced students are expected to have sufficient command of French and German to enable them to read historical and political works in those languages; persons deficient in this regard are advised to begin the study of those languages at once.

Graduates who so desire may take any portion of the following minor courses, but undergraduates will not be admitted to any of the advanced courses, except [History of French and German Socialism].

 

II. Minor Courses :

DR. H. B. ADAMS, with assistance from DR. J. F. JAMESON,

  1. Introductory Historical Course.
    At matriculation, all students pass an examination in the general history of England and the United States. After this, (without taking up a full minor course), they may continue their historical studies by attending the following exercises:
    Oriental History, Dr. Adams. Weekly, first half-year.
    Classical History, Dr. Jameson. Twice weekly, first half-year.
    Early European History, Dr. Jameson. Twice weekly, second half yea

This work may be counted, if desired, as part of the composite minor course (elsewhere described); and it will be required of all who follow the minor course in History as candidates for the Bachelor’s degree.
Undergraduate students in classics, unless excused by the classical instructors, are expected to follow the exercises in Classical History above mentioned.

  1. Minor Course in History.
    (a) The Italian Renaissance and the German Reformation.
    Five hours weekly, first half-year.
    (b) Modern Absolutism and Revolution.
    Five hours weekly, second half-year.

DR. R. T. ELY.

  1. Minor Course in Political Economy.
    (a) Principles of Political Economy.
    Five hours weekly, first half-year.
    It is desirable that students who propose to follow this course should previously read one of the following manuals: Cossa’s Guide to the Study of Political Economy; Rogers’ Manual of Political Economy; or Mrs. Fawcett’s Political Economy for Beginners.
    (b) Historical Systems of Political Economy.
    Five hours weekly, second half-year.

NOTE.—A Minor course in Historical and Political Science may be formed by combining a half-year’s work in History with a half-year in Political Economy, together with the production of three essays, which shall be subject to the criticism and approval of the instructor in English. A Major course in Historical and Political Science comprises a full year in History and a full year in Political Economy, together with the production of six acceptable essays, and successful examination upon such courses of outside reading as may be prescribed in individual cases.

 

III. Historical and Political Science Association.

This will be a monthly meeting of advanced students of Historical and Political Science. Lawyers, resident graduates, and others who are interested in liberal studies, may become members of this Association. Papers of more general interest than those discussed at length in the seminary or class-room are here read, together with abstracts of the more important results of original investigation. Reviews are given of monographs, journals, and other recent literature of Historical and Political Science. Brief reports of the proceedings of the Association are printed in the University Circulars.

 

IV. Publication of Studies in Historical and Political Science.

With the opening of the next academic year will begin the publication of a series of University Studies in American Institutional History, with special reference to the Local Government and Economics of individual States of the Atlantic seaboard and of the Northwest. The publication will be at convenient intervals, in the form of separate reprints of studies contributed by members of the Association to the proceedings of learned societies in various parts of the country, together with such papers as may be printed from time to time by the University.

[…]

 

_______________

Source:  Johns Hopkins University. University Circulars. No.16, July, 1882.

Image Source: Richard Ely in  Review of Reviews and World’s Work, Vol. 5 (1890), p. 163.

Categories
Cornell Economists Johns Hopkins Michigan Research Tip

Johns Hopkins. Education of Henry Carter Adams 1870’s

With John Cummings we saw the story of a professor who left Harvard to become a Unitarian minister. Here we see an American version of the reverse story of a young person who forsakes being/becoming a man of the cloth to ultimately become an economist (cf. Thomas Robert Malthus, Alfred Marshall…). Henry Carter Adams was awarded the first Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.

Excerpt from a memorial presented to the Senate of the University of Michigan by S. L. Bigelow, I. L. Sharfman and R. M. Wenley, published in 1922 in The Journal of Political Economy, Vol 30. pp. 201-205.

Research Tip: Henry Carter Adams Papers at the University of Michigan.

Portrait of Henry Carter Adams: Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

_____________________

“[…] Henry Carter Adams was born at Davenport, Iowa, December 31, 1851. He came of old New England stock; his forebears had made the great adventure over sea in 1623. His mother, Elizabeth Douglass, and his father, Ephraim Adams, were a likeminded pair, representative of the soundest traditions of New England character and nurture. Ephraim Adams, one of a small band of missionaries from Andover Theological Seminary who forsook everything for Christ’s sake, arrived on the open prairies of Iowa in 1842—the goal of three weeks’ hard journey from Albany, New York. Their mission it was to kindle and tend the torch, not merely of religion, but also of education, among the far-flung pioneers. Consequently, it is impossible to understand why Henry Adams was what he was, became what he became, unless one can evoke sympathetic appreciation of the temper which determined his upbringing. For example, it may well astonish us to learn that his nineteenth birthday was but a few months off ere he received his first formal instruction. The reasons thereof may astonish us even more. The child had been sickly always, physicians informing the parents that he could not survive the age of fourteen. The “open prairies” proved his physical salvation. Given a cayuse [pony] and a gun, the boy roamed free, passing from missionary home to missionary home, sometimes bearing parental messages to the scattered preachers. In this way he outgrew debility and, better still, acquired a love for nature, and an intimacy with our average citizenry, never lost. Meanwhile, the elder Adams taught him Greek, Latin, and Hebrew as occasion permitted. At length, in 1869, he entered Denmark Academy whence, after a single year, he was able to proceed to Iowa College, Grinnell, where he graduated in 1874. During these five years, the man whom we knew started to shape himself.

 

“In the home and the wider circle of friends, the impressionable days of childhood had been molded by Puritanism. God’s providence, the responsibility of man, the absolute distinction between right and wrong, with all resultant duties and prohibitions, set the perspective. Fortunately, the characteristic Yankee interest in education—in intelligence rather than learning-—contributed a vital element. An active mind enlarged the atmosphere of the soul. Despite its straight limitations as some reckon them, here was a real culture, giving men inner harmony with self secure from disturbance from the baser passions. As we are aware now, disturbance came otherwise. To quote Adams’ own words, he was “plagued by doctrines” from the time he went to the Academy. The spiritual impress of the New England home never left him; it had been etched upon his very being. But, thus early, Calvinistic dogma aroused misgiving, because its sheer profundity bred high doubt. As a matter of course, Ephraim Adams expected his son to follow the Christian ministry, and Henry himself foresaw no other calling meantime. Hence, when skepticism assailed him, he was destined to a terrible, heart-searching experience, the worse that domestic affection drew him one way, mental integrity another. His first years at Grinnell were bootless; the prescribed studies held no attraction and, likely enough, sickness had left a certain lethargy. But, when he came to history, philosophy, and social questions, he felt a new appeal. His Junior and Senior years, eager interest stimulating, profited him much. Still dubious, he taught for a year after graduation at Nashua, Iowa. Then, bowing to paternal prayer and maternal hope, he entered Andover Theological Seminary, not to prepare for the ministry, however, but “to try himself out”—to discover whether preaching were possible for him. In the spring of 1876, he had decided irrevocably that it was not. Adams’ “first” education—education by the natal group—ended here. It had guaranteed him the grace which is the issue of moral habit, had wedded him to the conviction that justice is truth in action. For, although he abandoned certain theological formulas, the footfall of spiritual things ever echoed through his character. The union of winsome gentleness with stern devotion to humanitarian ideals, so distinctive of Professor Adams, rooted in the persistent influence of the New England conscience.

 

“Turning to the “second” education, destined to enrol our colleague among economic leaders, it is necessary to recall once again conditions almost forgotten now. When, forty-five years ago, an academy- and college-bred lad, destined for the ministry, found it necessary to desist, he was indeed “all at sea.” For facilities, offered on every hand today by the graduate schools of the great universities, did not exist. The youth might drift— into journalism, teaching, or what not. But drifting was not on Adams’ program. He wrote to his parents who, tragically enough, could not understand him, “I must obtain another cultural training.” His mind had dwelt already upon social, political, and economic problems; therefore, the “second” education must be non-theological. Whither could he look? At this crisis his course was set by one of those small accidents which, strange to tell, play a decisive part in many lives. By mere chance, he came upon a catalogue of Johns Hopkins University, so late in the day, moreover, that his application for a fellowship, with an essay inclosed as evidence of fitness, arrived just within time-limits. Adams was chosen one of ten Fellows from a list of more than three hundred candidates, and to Baltimore he went in the fall of 1876. His letters attest that the new, ampler opportunities attracted him strongly. He availed himself of concerts, for music always moved him. Here he heard the classics for the first time. Hitherto he had known only sacred music. Sometimes he played in church and, as records show, he sang in our choral union while a young professor. We find, too, that he served as assistant in the Johns Hopkins library, not for the extravagant salary, as he remarks humorously, but on account of access to books—”I am reading myself full.” His summers were spent in his native state, working in the fields. In 1878 he received the doctorate, the first conferred by the young and unique university.

 

“The day after graduation President Gilman sent for him, and told him, “You must go to Europe.” The reply was typical —”I can’t, I haven’t a cent.” Gilman continued, “I shall see what can be done,” with the result that the benefactor to whom Adams dedicated his first book found the requisite funds. Brief stays at Oxford and Paris, lengthier at Berlin and Heidelberg, filled the next fourteen months. The journalistic bee still buzzing in his head, Adams had visited Godkin before leaving for Europe to discuss the constructive political journalism he had in mind. Godkin received him kindly, but, as Adams dryly remarks, had a long way to travel ere he could understand. In the summer of 1878, President Andrew D. White, of Cornell, traveling in Germany, summoned Adams to discuss a vacancy in this university. To Adams’ huge disappointment, as the interview developed, it became apparent that White, with a nonchalance some of us remember well, had mistaken H. C. Adams, the budding economist, for H. B. Adams, the budding historian. The vacancy was in history, not in political science or economics. Expectation vanished in thin air. But Adams was not done with. Returning to his pension, he sat up all night to draft the outline of a course of lectures which, as he bluntly put it, “Cornell needed.” Next day he sought President White again who, being half-persuaded by Adams’ verbal exposition, kept the document, saying he would communicate with Cornell, requesting that a place be made for the course if possible. Writing from Saratoga, in September, 1879, Adams tells his mother that all is off at Cornell, that he must abandon his career and buckle down to earning a livelihood. A lapse of ten days transformed the scene. The Cornell appointment had been arranged, and he went to Ithaca forthwith. So meager were the facilities then offered in the general field of the social sciences that Adams gave one semester, at Cornell and Johns Hopkins respectively, to these subjects in the year 1879-80. The same arrangement continued till 1886, Michigan being substituted for Johns Hopkins in 1881. As older men recall, Dr. Angell taught economics, in addition to international law, till the time of his transfer to Pekin as Minister to China. At this juncture, Adams joined us, forming a life-long association. He himself says that he “gave up three careers—preaching, journalism, and reform—to devote himself to teaching” where he believed his mission lay. […]”

______________________

 

Image source: Henry Carter Adams Page at the NNDB website.

Categories
Economists Harvard Research Tip

Harvard. Research Tip. Edward Cummings Papers

Edward Cummings papers, ca. 1875-1926

The papers of Edward Cummings (1861-1926) contain his personal and professional correspondence, including correspondence with his longtime friend J. Estlin Carpenter and with his mentor, Edward Everett Hale. This series also contains Edward’s personal and professional papers, including records from the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Penal Aspects of Drunkenness, the Theodore Parker Memorial, and the Russian Famine Relief Committee of Boston. Edward’s writings include essays, reports, and lecture notes. The largest portion of his papers consist of dated and undated sermons, addresses, and notes that span the period of his ministry at South Congregational Church in Boston (1900-1926). Also included are diaries, datebooks, notebooks, and scrapbooks that particularly emphasize his European study and travel from 1888 to 1891.See also Printed material, especially Harvard-related material, newspaper clippings about Edward Cummings, and the printed works of Edward Cummings.

Source: Cummings-Clarke Family Papers, 1793-1949

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard Economics. Edward Cummings Resignation, 1900

As social scientific life evolved, economics and sociology were still swimming in the same tidal pool at the end of the 19th century, and they weren’t even the only marine life there. History and political science were an integral part of the ecosystem too. Edward Cummings of Harvard is not only interesting as a pioneer of U.S. academic sociology when it was regarded a sub-field of political economy/economics, he and his wife, Rebecca Haswell Clarke, spawned the poet Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962), a.k.a. “E.E. Cummings“.

_________________

Cambridge Tribune, August 25, 1900

Prof. Cummings Called

Is Asked to Take the Associate Pastorship
of South Congregational Church—He Will
Accept, It is Said

At a special meeting of the South Congregational society of Boston in Channing hall, Unitarian building, last Monday afternoon, it was unanimously decided to extend a call to Professor Edward Cummings of the economics department of the university, to the associate pastorship of the South Congregational church. Dr. Edward Everett Hale will remain pastor emeritus of the church and society. It is certain that Professor Cummings will accept the charge and the members of the society regard his coming as a considerable victory for the church as against sociological work, to which Professor Cummings has been so devoted.

Professor Cummings has never been ordained in any church, and his change from the Harvard professorship to the pulpit of Dr. Hale’s church is an interesting one. It is expected that he will be ordained at the South-Congregational church about October 1.

The following interview with Professor Cummings, who is at Madison, N. H., for the summer, was printed in a Boston paper Wednesday morning:

“I shall accept the call; in fact, provided the corporation took favorable action, this was practically an understood thing long ago. It will be, in a sense, a sacrifice for me, as it comes in; my sabbatical year, and I had intended to publish a volume, perhaps two volumes, during this year. My sabbatical year came last year, and I had several offers of churches, but then came a postponement for a year. I had planned to go abroad and to work with a friend, an Oxford man. Now I see no leisure in prospect sufficient to admit of doing this work.”

Professor Cummings graduated at Harvard in the class of 1883. As an undergraduate he was an enthusiastic student of philosophy, history and economics, and already keenly interested in the practical as well as the theoretical aspects of those social, industrial and philanthropic problems which were destined within the next few years to gain academic standing with marvellous and unexpected rapidity under the comprehensive title of sociology.

Convinced then, as now, that the liberal ministry offered the most hopeful and inspiring opportunity for social service, he entered the divinity school of Harvard University in 1883. He was a member of the divinity school for two years. In 1885 he received from the university the degree of A.M.

Two years of divinity school training persuaded him of the absolute necessity of giving greater attention to the study of sociological problems as a preparation for the actual work of the liberal ministry. He therefore withdrew from the divinity school in 1885, and continued his preparation in the graduate department of the university, giving a portion of his time as instructor in the department of English to teaching rhetoric and argumentative composition.

A significant step in advancing the academic status of sociological study; was the foundation at Harvard in 1887 of the Robert Treat Paine Fellowship in Social Science. Mr. Cummings was the first incumbent of this foundation. As Paine Fellow In Social Science, he continued his sociological studies in Europe for three years, travelling extensively in England. Scotland. France, Italy and Germany. He made a comparative study of the social and economic condition of wage earners in different countries; examined the methods, and effectiveness of diverse philanthropic agencies; investigated with special care such self-help movements as trade unionism, co-operation, and friendly societies, no less than the meliorative institutions created by employers and by the state.

In the winter of 1888-89 he was an active resident of Toynbee hall, Whitechapel, London. At the Paris exposition of 1889 he was delegate to several international congresses.

The sudden and almost world-wide interest in both the theoretical and the practical aspects of sociology a decade ago, and the equally sudden efforts of the universities to meet the popular demand for instruction in this newly recognized department of science, brought with it an embarrassment of opportunities for those who had any claim to be regarded as specialists in this direction, and eventually divested Mr. Cummings from his original plan of practical work. He continued his investigations, however, in France. Italy and Germany till the spring of 1891 —including studies at the Sorbonne, the Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques, and the University of Berlin.

In 1891, having declined a tempting invitation to take charge of a sociological experiment in London, he accepted an appointment as instructor in sociology at Harvard University. Two years later an assistant professorship of sociology was established, and Mr. Cummings has since filled this chair, taking some part in the introductory teaching in economics, but devoting himself especially to courses dealing with theoretical sociology, labor questions and socialism.

Professor Cummings had been granted the customary Sabbatical leave of absence on half pay for the year 1900-01. It was his original intention—if the present unexpected and exceptional opportunity for carrying out a cherished plan of practical work had not presented itself —to devote the coming year to the elaboration of a couple of volumes, embodying some of the results of his sociological work.

During his professorship at Harvard he has been one of the editors of the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and many of his contributions to the literature of trade unionism, co-operation, arbitration, university settlements and socialism have appeared in that periodical, and some have been reprinted for the use of university students.

Outside the university, Professor Cummings is known both as a lecturer and as a practical worker. He has served on the board of directors of the Boston Associated Charities for several years: is secretary of the mayor’s advisory committee on the penal aspects of drunkenness, which by means of printed reports, public discussions and legislative hearings has recently convinced the public and the Massachusetts legislature of the necessity of extending the probation system and making other reforms in the penal system. During the past winter and spring he gave a course of lectures on the Adin Ballou foundation at the Meadville Theological Seminary, and a series of five lectures in the South course, on the industrial revolution of the 19th century, not to mention addresses delivered before the Free Religious Congress, and numerous other bodies.

With all his interest in non-academic affairs, Professor Cummings is an enthusiastic teacher, who feels the work of teacher and preacher closely allied, and he has eagerly welcomed his opportunities to influence the student parish of young men and women who have come under his instruction in Harvard University and Radcliffe College. He has given much attention to the deeper and much neglected problems of life and education which beset a great and loosely organized student community: and not a little of his interest and energy has, from the first, avowedly been given to the cultivation of those personal, friendly relationships which extend beyond the formal intercourse of the classroom to the hospitality of the home.

He turns again to the work of the ministry after these years of academic experience, more than ever convinced of the inspiring opportunities which it presents for social service, and confident that the teachings of science, whether of political economy, biology or sociology, serve only to reinforce the fundamental teachings of ethics and religion.

Professor Cummings has for many years been an affectionate and enthusiastic admirer of Dr. Edward Everett Hale, and the present arrangement by which he takes up his work as Dr. Hale’s associate is a source of great personal satisfaction.

Source:  Cambridge Tribune, Volume XXIII, Number 25, 25 August 1900, p. 2.