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Computing Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus

Columbia. Structure of the Soviet Economy, Reading assignments. Bergson, 1954-1955

Abram Bergson was forty-years old and well on the way to becoming the “Dean of Soviet Economics” in the United States when he taught the following course on the structure of the Soviet Economy at Columbia University.

Bergson, along with my Yale professors Mike Montias and Ray Powell together with my M.I.T. dissertation supervisor Evsey Domar, got me hooked on the economic theory of index numbers. For my fellow index number nerds I link to a draft of my homage à Bergson “The ‘Welfare Standard’ and Soviet Consumers” that I presented at the Abram Bergson memorial conference (published in Comparative Economic Studies, 2005, vol. 47, issue 2, pp. 333-345).

The reading list for Bergson’s Economics of Socialism (Harvard, 1977) has been posted earlier at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 145 (Russian Institute)—Structure of the Soviet Economy. 2 pts. Professor Bergson
Tu. Th. 11. 403 Schermerhorn.

Analytical and statistical survey of the growth, operating principles, and organization of the economy of the Soviet Union under the Five-Year Plans, with attention to resources, population and labor, agriculture, industry, and domestic and foreign trade.

Source: Announcement of the Faculty of Political Science for the Winter and Spring Sessions, 1954-1955. Printed as Columbia University, Bulletin of Information. Vol. 54, No. 123 (June 19, 1954), p. 36.

________________________

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
RUSSIAN INSTITUTE

Winter Session, 1954-55

Economics 145
Structure of the
Soviet Economy

  1. THE RATE OF ECONOMIC GROWTH UNDER THE FIVE YEAR PLANS: ALTERNATIVE MEASURES.

Assigned Reading

Clark, C.; Gerschenkron, A.: “Russian Income and Production Statistics,” Review of Economic Statistics, Nov. 1947.

Dobb, M., “A Comment on Soviet Economic Statistics,” Soviet Studies, June 1949.

Gerschenkron, A., A Dollar Index of Soviet Machinery Output, The RAND Corporation 1951, Chs. 1-4.

Jasny, N., The Soviet Economy during the Plan Era, Stanford 1951.

Kaplan, N.M., “Arithmancy, Theomancy and the Soviet Economy,” Journal of Political Economy, April 1953.

Bergson, A., “Reliability and Usability of Soviet Statistics: Summary Appraisal,” American Statistician, June-July 1953.

Chapman, J. “Real Wages in the Soviet Union, 1928-52, Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1954.

Other References:

Baykov, A., “Postwar Economic Development….”, Univ. of Birmingham Bulletins, May 1953.

Bergson, A., “Soviet National Income: and Product in 1937,” New York 1953.

Clark, C., “The Valuation of Real Income in the Soviet Union,” Review of Economic Progress, Feb. and Mar. 1949.

Dobb, M., “A Comment on Soviet Statistics,” Review of Economic Statistics, Feb. 1948.

Harris, S.E.; Gerschenkron, A.; Bergson, A.; Baran, P.; and Yugow, A.: “Appraisals of Russian Economic Statistics,” Nov. 1947.

Hodgman, D., “Industrial Production,”;and Galenson, W., “Industrial Labor Productivity,” in Bergson, A., ed., Soviet Economic Growth, Evanston, Ill., 1953.

Kasdan, S., “Relationship between Machinery and Steel Production in Russia and the United States,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Feb. 1952.

Rice, S.; Schwartz, H.; Lorimer, F.; Gerschenkron, A.; Volin, L., “Reliability and Usability of Soviet Statistics,” American Statistician, April-May, June-July 1953.

Wyler, J., “The National Income of the Soviet Union,” Social Research Dec. 1946.

  1. SOVIET ECONOMIC GROWTH: SURVEY OF CONDITIONS AND PERSPECTIVES.

Assigned Reading

Grossman, G., “National Income”; Kaplan, N.M., “Capital Formation and Allocation”;

“Industrial Resources”; and Comments on foregoing in Bergson, Soviet Economic Growth.

“Directives on the Fifth Five Year Plan,” pp. 21-28, Malenkov Report, pp. 106-115, in L. Gruliow, ed., Current Soviet Policies, New York, 1953.

Dobb, M., “Rates of Growth under the Five Year Plans,” Soviet Studies, April 1953.

Other References

Balzak et al., Economic Geography of the USSR, New York 1949.

Blackman, J.A., „Transportation,” and comments on this essay in Bergson, Soviet Economic Growth.

Hoeffding, O., Soviet National Income and Product in 1928, New York 1954.

Bergson, A. and Heymann, H., “Soviet National Income and Product 1940-48.”

Schwartz, H., Russia’s Soviet Economy, 2nd ed. New York 1954, Ch. XV.

Shimkin, D., Minerals—A Key to Soviet Power, Cambridge, 1953.

Wiles, Peter, “Soviet Russia Outpaces the West,” Foreign Affairs, July 1953.

  1. AGRICULTURE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: THE DECISION ON COLLECTIVIZATION.

Assigned Reading

Dobb, M., Soviet Economic Development since 1917, New York 1948, Chs. VIII-IX.

Erlich, A., “Preobrajenski and the Economics of Soviet Industrialization, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Feb. 1950.

Stalin, J.V., Selected Writings. “On the Grain Front,” “Right Danger,” “Right Deviation,” “Problems of Agrarian Policy,” “The Policy of Eliminating the Kulaks as a Class,” “Dizzy with Success.”

Other References

Baykov, A., Development of the Soviet Economic System, New York, 1946, Ch. XII.

Dobb, M. Soviet Economic Development since 1917, Ch. X.

Maynard, J., Russia in Flux, New York 1948, Chs. XVI, XIX.

  1. AGRICULTURE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: TRENDS UNDER THE FIVE YEAR PLANS: PERSPECTIVES.

Assigned Reading

Schwartz, H. Russia’s Soviet Economy, Chs. VIII, IX.

Jasny, N., The Socialized Agriculture of the USSR, Stanford 1949, pp. 1-99.

Timoshenko, V.P., “Agricultural Resources”; Kershaw, J., “Agricultural Output and Employment”; and comments on these essays in Bergson, Soviet Economic Growth.

Volin, L., “The Malenkov-Khrushchev New Economic Policy”, Journal of Political Economy, June 1954.

Other References

Baykov, Development of the Soviet Economic System, Ch. XVII.

Baykov., A., “Agricultural Development in the USSR,” Univ. of Birmingham, Bulletins on Soviet Economic Development, December 1951, May 1953.

in, G.; Schwarz, S.; and Yugow, A., Management in Russian Industry and Agriculture, New York 1944. Ch. X – XVII.

Finegood, I.M., “A Critical Analysis of Some Concepts Concerning Soviet Agriculture,”

Soviet Studies, July 1952.

Hubbard, L.E., Economics of Soviet Agriculture, London 1939.

Maynard, Russia in Flux, Ch. XX.

Schlesinger, R.A.J., “Some Problems of Present Kolkhoz Organization, Soviet Studies, April 1951. See also the further discussion by Jasny, Nove and Schlesinger in Soviet Studies, Oct. 1951, Jan. 1952.

Volin, L., “Turn of the Screw in Soviet Agriculture,” Foreign Affairs, Jan. 1952.

  1. LABOR RECRUITMENT AND WAGE POLICY; INEQUALITY

Assigned Reading

Bergson, A., Structure of Soviet Wages, Cambridge, Mass., 1944 Chs. IV, X – XIV, Conclusion and Appendix F.

Inkeles, A., “Social Stratification and Mobility in the Soviet Union: 1940-1950,” American Sociological Review, August 1950.

Deutscher, I., Soviet Trade Unions, New York 1950.

Gsovski, V., Soviet Labor Law, Monthly Labor Review, March, April 1951.

Other References

Barker, G.R., “Soviet Labor,” Univ. of Birmingham, Bulletins on Soviet Economic Development, June 1951.

Baykov, Development of the Soviet Economic System, Chs. XIII, XVIII.

Bergson, “On Inequality of Incomes in the USSR,” American Slavic and East European Review”, April 1951.

Bienstock, Schwarz and Vugow, Management in Soviet Industry and Agriculture, Ch. VIII.

Dobb, Soviet Economic Development since 1917, Ch. XVI.

Eason, W.W., “Population and Labor Force,” and comments in Bergson, Soviet Economic Growth.

Gordon, M. Workers before and after Lenin, New York 1941.

Hubbard, L.E., Soviet Labor and Industry, London 1942.

Schwartz, Russia’s Soviet Economy. Ch. XIII.

Schwarz, Solomon, Labor in the Soviet Union, New York 1952.

  1. FISCAL POLICY AND THE PRICE LEVEL

Assigned Reading

Berliner, J. S., “Monetary Planning in the USSR,” American Slavic and East European Review, Dec. 1950.

Dobb, Soviet Economic Development since 1917. Ch. XIV.

Holzman, F.D, “Commodity and Income Taxation in the Soviet Union,” Journal of Political Economy, Oct. 1950.

Holzman, F.D, “The Soviet Budget, 1928-1952,” National Tax Journal, Sept. 1953.

Other References

Arnold, A.Z., Banks, Credit and Money in Soviet Russia. New York 1937.

Baran, P.A., “Currency Reform in the USSR,” Harvard Business Review, March 1948.

Baykov, Development of the Soviet Economic System. Ch. XIX.

Baykov, A. and Barker G.R. “Financial Developments in the USSR,” Univ. of Birmingham, Bulletins on Soviet Economic Development, August 1950.

Bergson, A., Soviet National Income and Product in 1937. New York 1953.

Holzman, F.D., “The Burden of Soviet Taxation,” American Economic Review, Sept. 1953.

Bogolepov, M.I., The Soviet Financial System. (Pamphlet) London 1945.

Hubbard, L.E., Soviet Money and Finance, London 1936.

Reddaway, W.B., The Russian Financial System, London 1935.

Schwartz, Russia’s Soviet Economy. Ch. XII.

Davies, R.W., “Finance,” Univ. of Birmingham, Bulletins on Soviet Economic Development, December 1952.

  1. THEORY OF SOCIALIST ECONOMICS

Assigned Reading

Dobb, Soviet Economic Development since 1917, Ch. I.

Lange, O., “On the Economic Theory of Socialism,” In B. Lippincott, ed., O. Lange, F. Taylor, On the Economic Theory of Socialism, Minneapolis 1938.

Other References

Bergson, A., “Socialist Economics,” in H. Ellis, ed. A Survey of Contemporary Economics, Philadelphia 1948.

Dickinson, H.D., Economics of Socialism, Oxford 1939.

Dobb, M., Political Economy and Capitalism, New York 1940.

Hayek, F.A., ed., Collectivist Economic Planning, London 1935.

Lenin, V.I. State and Revolution.

Marx, K., Critique of the Gotha Programme, Political Economy in the Soviet Union (Pamphlet) New York, International Publishers, 1944.

Stalin, J., Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR, Moscow, 1952.

  1. ECONOMICS OF THE FIRM

Assigned Reading

Bienstock, Schwarz and Yugow: Management in Russian Industry and Agriculture, Chs. I — VI, IX.

Granick, D., “Initiative and Independence of Soviet Plant Management,” Plant Management, American Slavic and East European Review, Oct. 1951.

Berliner, J., “The Informal Organization of the Soviet Firm,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1952.

Other References

Arakelian, A., Industrial Management in the USSR, Washington, D.C. 1950.

Baykov, Development of the Soviet Economic System, Chs. XI, XVI.

Granick, D., Management of the Industrial Firm in the USSR, New York 1954.

Hubbard, L.E., Soviet Labor and Industry.

  1. GENERAL PLANNING

Assigned Reading

Baykov, Development of the Soviet Economic System, Chs. XIV, XV, XX.

Dobb, Soviet Economic Development since 1917, Ch. I, XIII.

Hunter, H., “Planning of Investments in the Soviet Union,” Review of Economic Statistics, February 1949.

Grossman, G., “Scarce Capital and Soviet Doctrine,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Aug. 1953.

Jasny, N., The Soviet Price System, Stanford 1951, Chs. I-IV.

Other References

Bettleheim, C., “On the Problem of Choice between Alternative Investment Projects,” Soviet Studies, July 1950.

Brutzkus, B., Economic Planning in Soviet Russia, London 1935.

Dobb, M., “The Problem of Choice between Alternative Investment Projects,” Soviet Studies, January 1951.

Eason, W., “On Strumilin’s Model,” Soviet Studies, April 1950.

Jasny, N., Soviet Prices of Producers’ Goods, Stanford 1952.

Kaplan, N., “Investment Alternatives…,” Jour. of Polit. Econ., April 1952.

Kursky, A., The Planning of the National Economy of the USSR, Moscow 1949.

Lange, O., The Working Principles of the Soviet Economy, New York 1943. (Pamphlet)

Miller, J., “Some Recent Developments in Soviet Economic Thought,” Soviet Studies, September 1949.

Miller J., ed., “Three Articles on the Effectiveness of Investments,” Soviet Studies, April 1950.

“Problems of Planning Capital Investment,” The Current Digest of the Soviet Press, Vol. II, No. 1, Feb. 18, 1950. “Planning Capital Investment II,” The Current Digest of the Soviet Press, Vol. II, No. 3, March 4, 1950.

Schwartz, Russia’s Soviet Economy, Ch. V.

Zauberman, “Economic Thought in the Soviet Union,” Review of Economic Studies, 1949-1950, Nos. 39-40.

Zauberman, A., “Prospects for Soviet Investigations into Capital Efficiency,” Soviet Studies, April, 1950.

  1. FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Assigned Reading

Gerschenkron, A., Economic Relations with the USSR (The Committee on International Economic Policy in Cooperation with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), New York 1943.

Hoeffding, O., “Soviet Economic Relations with the Orbit”; Schwartz, H., “East-West Trade”; and comments on these essays in Bergson, Soviet Economic Growth.

Other References

Baykov, A., Soviet Foreign Trade, Princeton 1946, Chs. II – VI.

Condoide, M.V., Russian-American Trade, Columbus, Ohio 1946.

Dewar, M., Soviet Trade with Eastern Europe, New York 1951.

Gerschenkron, A., “Russia’s Trade in the Postwar Years,” The Annals, May 1949.

Kerblay, B.H., “Economic Relations of the USSR…,” Univ. of Birmingham, Bulletins on Soviet Economic Development, March 1951.

Schwartz, Russia’s Soviet Economy, Ch. XIV.

Yugow, A., Russia’s Economic Front for War and Peace, Ch. V.

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Joseph Dorfman Collection, Box 13, Unlabeled Folder containing miscellaneous course reading lists.

Image Source: Tourist Card for Citizens of American Countries for a Thirty-Day Stay in Brazil (20 Aug. 1962) of Abram Bergson.

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Computing Economics Programs Faculty Regulations Fields Harvard

Harvard. Discussed at Faculty Meeting. Computer Access and “Mathematical Economics and Econometrics” as Optional Field, 1959

 

Notes from a faculty meeting in my experience are more often a list of items, resolutions, motions, and votes than a narrative of the actual discussion. The transcribed notes in this post come from a 1959 Harvard economics faculty meeting that had two items on the agenda. The first was John R. Meyer’s report on how to manage graduate student computing needs if the department were to lose access to IBM-650 services. The second discussion was a continuation of a debate in the department whether a new Ph.D. oral examination field “Mathematical Economics and Econometrics” should be introduced (plot spoiler: the resolution was tabled, at least for the time being).

_____________________

Economics Faculty Meeting Minutes
December 8, 1959

The Department of Economics met on Tuesday evening, December 8 [1959] at the Faculty Club. Those present: Messrs. Bergson, Chamberlin, Dorfman, Dunlop, Gerschenkron, Leontief, Mason, J. R. Meyer, Smithies (Chairman), Taylor, Black, McKie, Artle, Erbe, Daniere, Gill, Lefeber, Anderson, Baer, Gustafson, Hughes, Jones, Kauffman, Wilkinson, Mrs. Gilboy, and Miss Berman.

Abandonment of IBM-650

Professor John Meyer explained that with cheaper time available on newer computers within and outside the University the market for IBM-650 services is waning. A deficit on operations can be expected within a few months, and it will, therefore, be impossible to retain the machine. The problem the Department now faces is that of making available to students a computer training device comparable to the 650. The Harvard Univac can serve this purpose well although it is likely to disappear in the near future through the competition of better machines.

Professor Smithies called the attention of the meeting to two further effects of withdrawing the IBM-650:

(a) Students without outside financing will not, as in the past, be able to solve their problems by making use of free 650 time.

(b) It will no longer be possible to handle problems requiring a succession for short programs with some elements of trial and error; every program will have to be handed to an operator and the results, good or bad, will not be available until days later.

Both Professor Dorfman and Meyer vouched that, even under these impediments, the cost of most computations would be far lower through such a machine as the 704 than with the 650.

With respect to student training and student problem financing, Professor Leontief expressed the opinion that if scientific departments at Harvard can receive funds for the purchase of materials and equipment needed in the training of their students the Administration should certainly be ready to offer similar help in the social sciences. After hearing from Professor Meyer that the Dean’s offices had not been particularly responsive to this suggestion, Professor Leontief suggested than an arrangement could be entered with IBM by which we could contract at a discount for a large block of 705 time at their Cambridge Street laboratory with the understanding that we would sell some of the time to financially able Harvard users and utilize the remainder for training and computing students’ problems.

Professor Meyer agreed that this might become feasible in the near future when, with the appearance of an IBM-709 at the Smithsonian Institute and other 704’s in the neighborhood, IBM may face a buyers’ market. His proposal for the time being was to turn to Univac while it is still on our premises and to divert some of the departmental contributions now going to the support of the Littauer Laboratory to subsidize student training and to some extent student problems on the 704.

 

Introduction of a field labeled “Mathematical Economics and Econometrics” as an optional field for the oral Ph.D. examination

Professor Dorfman reintroduced his motion that “a field called ‘Mathematical Economics and Econometrics’ be one of the optional fields for the Ph.D. examination.” He recalled his previous arguments, i.e., that both Mathematical Economics and Econometrics become legitimate specialties in the general field of economics with a literature sufficiently abundant and specialized that a student well versed in economic theory and statistics will not generally know the former fields and that no student can become thoroughly familiar with them in his two years of graduate work unless his load is otherwise reduced. The substance of the proposed examination would be the literature in which relatively advanced methods of mathematical analysis are applied to economic theory and advanced methods of statistical analysis are applied to the processing of data relevant to economic problems.

The discussion centered around two objections: (1) to the extent that proficiency in economic theory is a prerequisite to mathematical economics and that an advance knowledge of statistics is required in econometrics, students who are examined in both the new field and one or both of the older fields of theory and statistics will obtain double credit for what is a single specialization and (2) an essential requirement of our Ph.D. is breadth of preparation in economics. As it is, nothing under the motion would prevent a student from presenting the following five fields: theory, statistics, mathematical economics and econometrics, mathematics and history. This clearly represents a narrow preparation and cannot be acceptable under our standards. The second objection, voiced most effectively by Professor Dunlop, was immediately recognized as valid, and Professor Dorfman amended his motion to include the condition that mathematics could not be presented jointly with the new field. He insisted, however, that students offering mathematical economics and econometrics are of such a type that, even without the amendment, they would not have taken advantage of the mathematics loophole. Their insistence on a mathematics examination is based entirely on the recognition that they cannot become proficient in their specialty while carrying in addition the same load as their colleagues.

Three different suggestions were offered as alternatives to the proposed motion.

(1) Professor Dunlop accepted the introduction of the new field as long as examinations in any or all of the three fields of theory, statistics, and mathematical economics and econometrics would not count toward more than two of the five fields required.

(2) Professor Chamberlin did not change the present field listing but proposed that a student could by previous arrangement ask to be examined in theory with emphasis on mathematical analysis, the requirements be correspondingly milder with respect to traditional theory and history of thought.

(3) Professor Bergson offered a variation of Professor Chamberlin’s proposal pointing out that, even without the introduction of mathematical analysis, economic theory is now a broad and somewhat ill-defined field so that, in order to better test the students’ analytical scale, fields of concentration should perhaps be agreed upon before the Ph.D. examination. He also emphasized that students do not after all stop learning after their oral examination and that since a student proficient in mathematics can be expected to make use of mathematical techniques in his thesis work the special examination might be the best time to test him on his ability in this field.

Professor Leontief injected a fatalistic note indicating that the problem will solve itself in the future as more and more students join the graduate school with a mathematical preparation such that the theory courses can make use of mathematical tools. For the present it would be unfortunate to have students neglect economic theory for the purpose of acquiring mathematical proficiency. We should, however, provide adequate training facilities for those who because of superior ability or previous preparation can benefit from courses in mathematical economics and, to the extent that recognition may be helpful, include a mention of their special skill in their records.

In view of the lack of agreement evidenced by the meeting, Professor Dunlop asked that the motion be tabled. All were in favor.

Andre Daniere
Secretary

Dictated 12/14/59

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics Correspondence and Papers, 1930-1961 and some earlier. (UAV349.11), Box 13.

Image Source: Harvard Faculty Club from JDeQ’s August 2, 2013  blog entry “Dinner at the Harvard Faculty Club“.

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Computing M.I.T.

M.I.T. Request for funds so Samuelson can multiply, 1941

 

 

I fondly remember the experience of having a desktop Wang calculator that could calculate logarithms when I was an intern at the Council of Economic Advisers in 1972. Hard to imagine that only three decades earlier, Paul Samuelson had to hustle to find funds to pay for access to an IBM punch card calculating machine that would multiply, multiply I say! A casual search of the internet turned up the Wikipedia article on the first IBM calculating machine that could multiply, the IBM 601. I am guessing that must be the machine in question since the IBM 602 (that could do division) was only introduced in 1946. 

Source: IBM 601 multiplying punch. By Sandstein – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0.

________________

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of
Economics and Social Science

Cambridge, Mass

February 20, 1941

Mr. J. R. Killian
Room 3-208
M.I.T.

Dear Mr. Killian:

As I mentioned in our conversation of yesterday, the Department is badly in need of about $150.00 to defray expenses involved in the use of punch card computing services. The Institute’s Hollerith machine can be used for part of the work, but since this machine does not multiply we need to supplement it from the equipment available at the International Business Machine Co. The money will be required to cover the rental of machines, cost of cards and to hire a trained operator. The work arises out of research problems in business cycles in which Professor Samuelson is engaged.

Since the Department funds are at a very low ebb, I should be extremely grateful if you could charge this expense to any fund that may be available and appropriate.

Yours sincerely,
[signed]
Ralph E. Freeman

REF:d

 

Source:  MIT Archives. MIT. Office of The President, 1930-1958. Box 93, Folder “1940-1944. Freeman, R.E.”.

Image Source: Paul A. Samuelson, fellowship awarded 1948 .  John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Categories
Columbia Computing Statistics

Columbia. Statistician Robert Chaddock and his Statistical Laboratory, 1912

 

 

The Statistical Laboratory at Columbia University in the second decade of the 20th century was run by the young assistant/associate professor, Robert E. Chaddock. An earlier post provided Chaddock’s 1911 request for equipment and literature for the Statistical Laboratory along with information about the calculating machines being considered and included a newspaper account of his suicide in 1940. From Professor Seligman’s papers I include today a recommendation for a promotion in rank for Robert E. Chaddock and his 1912 request for more equipment and literature. It is interesting to read that a Mannheim slide rule cost $10 in 1912. Finally from a letter from 1913, we can see that Brunsviga electric “Millionaire” must have been ordered for the Statistical Laboratory (cost $520).

_______________

Recommendation of promotion to rank of associate professor for Robert E. Chaddock
[Copy of letter to President Butler from Professor E.R.A. Seligman]

March 30, 1912

Nicholas Murray Butler, LL.D.,
President, Columbia University,
New York.

My dear President Butler:-

Referring to our conversation of the other day, I should like to bring before you more formally the matter of Professor Chaddock.

Professor Chaddock is at present assistant professor of Statistics on the Barnard Foundation, at a salary of $2,500. His work during the year as head of the Statistical Laboratory has been exceedingly fine. The Laboratory has now become a busy hive of industry at almost any time of the day or night, and Professor Chaddock has been no less successful a teacher than he has been a director.

So successful has his work been as to have attracted attention in various quarters. The New York School of Philanthropy, together with the Sage Foundation, proposes to start a comprehensive scheme of statistical investigation into social problems and on looking over the whole country decided on Professor Chaddock as by all means the best man. They have, therefore, offered him the position of head of that investigation at a salary of $1,500 in advance of what he is getting at Columbia and with all the assistance and possibilities of European travel that might be needed. After carefully considering this proposition he has finally decided to remain at Columbia on the understanding that his salary would be increased to $3,000 and with no further obligation on the part of the Department or of anyone else, except the general understanding that he will take his chance of gradual promotion with the other members of the Department as opportunity offers.

The $500 addition to his salary has been made possible by the School of Journalism. Professor Chaddock will give a one-term course in Statistics to the third year men, for which the budget in the School of Journalism appropriates the sum of $500.

The Department deems itself exceedingly fortunate in being able to keep Professor Chaddock on these terms. But precisely because he made no other conditions and because of the fine spirit manifested by him, as a married man with a family, in being willing to make this considerable financial sacrifice, we feel that we ought to do our utmost possible for him. Our proposition is that his title be changed from assistant professor to associate professor.

When Professor Chaddock was called to Columbia he was offered a full professorship at the University of Pennsylvania, but he preferred to come to Columbia. He would naturally have been given an associate professorship, which he fully deserved, but unfortunately the financial adjustments which were made by Barnard College on the resignation of Professor Clark left only $2,500 available for his salary, and under the circumstances we were compelled to offer him an assistant professorship. Now that this financial difficulty has been removed, we respectfully suggest that the spirit rather than the letter of the rule be observed and that Professor Chaddock be given the title which he would surely have received originally had it not been for this financial complication. The Department feels that not only from every point of view is Professor Chaddock worthy of an associate professorship but wishes especially to emphasize the desirability of rewarding his loyalty and the fine spirit that he has displayed in staying by us. We feel that with Professor Moore to represent the theoretical side and Professor Chaddock to represent the sound, common sense, practical side, there is no reason why the Statistical Laboratory of Columbia should not very soon become a unique institution of its kind in this country. If for no other reason than that, Professor Chaddock, as the director of the Laboratory, ought to have a title corresponding to the dignity of his position.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

[presumably E.R.A. Seligman]

_______________

Chaddock’s Additional Budgetary Request for his Statistical Laboratory

Columbia University
in the City of New York
Faculty of Political Science

April 19, 1912

Professor E. R. A. Seligman
Columbia University

My dear Professor Seligman:-

At your suggestion I am describing the most pressing needs for our statistical laboratory for the coming year. As you know, the equipment has been in pretty constant use during the past year and the effort has been made to divide the group into laboratory sections of from 6 to 10 persons in order that all might have a chance to learn the use of the mechanical devices by which the statistician makes his work possible, i.e., the Burroughs Adding Machines, the Brunsviga Calculating Machines, the graphic devices of various sorts, and the calculating tables.

With the added courses in the School of Journalism and the School of Commerce which we are undertaking for next year and the increasing use of our equipment by our graduate students, it has seemed to me that our numbers using the laboratory at one time will be larger and our present equipment will be quite inadequate.

We have one set each of tables of squares and cubes and tables (Crelle’s) for multiplication. We have no drawing set, no drawing crayon, and only 2 slide rules. I suggest the following additions, in order that a group may be kept working at the same time to better advantage.

 

10 copies Barlow’s tables of squares, etc. @ $2.50

$25.00
10 copies J. Peters’ Neue Rechentafeln for multiplication—English introduction–@15 m.

$30.00
1 Drawing set,

$20.00
Drawing crayons for graphic and map work

$10.00
3 Mannheim slide rules for calculating

$30.00

In addition, I am very anxious to see one more calculating machine added to our equipment which will do all four operations. Thus, adding one machine at a time we shall be able gradually to build up such a mechanical equipment as will enable our students to do their statistical calculations with facility and put their thesis and other statistical work in the best possible form. We have now 3 Brunsviga Machines which do all the operations but there are machines that do multiplication and division with more facility. I suggest an electric “Ensign” machine at $450. or the long tested “Millionaire” at $375. or electric “Millionaire” at $520. The selection of one of these three would be only after careful testing in our laboratory for our particular needs, altho the “Millionaire” is widely used in statistical laboratories, government offices, and insurance companies, and the “Ensign” is a Boston machine meeting with rapid adoption.

I make these suggestions only after the most careful consideration and information by correspondence with other laboratories and persons doing statistical training work, and in view of the added burdens to be placed next year upon the laboratory facilities.

Very truly yours,
[signed]
Rob’t E. Chaddock.

_______________

Approval of Chaddock’s Budgetary Increase

Columbia University
in the City of New York
Faculty of Political Science

May 6, 1912

Dear Prof. Seligman:

Thank you for sending me President Butler’s letter. It pleases me more than I can say to have our laboratory work thus recognized. It is due to your untiring interest in every detail of our whole department’s work, and for your care over my end of the work I wish to thank you very cordially.

I shall try to see that the added appropriation is well spent.

With best wishes for all your plans, I am

Sincerely
[signed]
Robt. E. Chaddock

Prof. E.R.A. Seligman
Kent Hall, Columbia U.

_______________

Regarding a Bill to the Statistical Laboratory for $520

February 3, 1913

Mr. Charles S. Danielson,
Columbia University.

My dear Mr. Danielson:-

Professor Chaddock advises me that a refund of $90.00 made by W. A. Morschhauser on bill of October 31st, 1912 has been turned over to your office. This $90.00 covers the import duty which had been included in the bill of $520.00.

Will you therefore please apply this $90.00 to the account “Special Appropriation for Statistical Laboratory,” and recharge to the same account $22.00 of the $29.20 overdraft charged to the “Economics” appropriation at the end of last year? When these entries and transfers have been made the “Economics” appropriation balance should show an increase of $22.00 and the balance of the “Special Appropriation for Statistical Laboratory” should be $68.00.

If this is not correct, kindly let me know.

Very sincerely yours.
[presumably E.R.A. Seligman]

 

 

 

 

Source:  Columbia University Archives. E.R.A. Seligman Collection. Box 98A [now in Box 36], Folder “Columbia (A-Z), 1911-1913”.

Image Source: Robert Emmet Chaddock from Barnard College, Mortarboard, 1919.

 

Categories
Columbia Computing

Columbia. Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory, 1948

 

 

Columbia professor of economics and statistics and NBER researcher Frederick C. Mills was sent the following invitation to visit an open-house at Columbia’s Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory followed by a dinner in honor of Thomas J. Watson (IBM) that was to take place April 20, 1948. [In absence of evidence to the contrary, I presume for now that the dinner took place as announced.] A link is provided below to a history of the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory. My favorite illustration is a photo of a “grandfather type clock” that synchronized all clocks throughout the laboratory.

 

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Carbon Copy of Invitation from Frank Diehl Fackenthal to Frederick C. Mills

[handwritten note:] 3.30.48

Professor Frederick C. Mills
401 Fayerweather

Dear Professor Mills:

I am inviting you to join a small group of approximately fifty scientists who are interested in modern calculating devices to dine with me on April 20 to honor Mr. Thomas J. Watson for his outstanding leadership in the development of mathematical calculating machines and laboratories which has stimulated research in many fields of science. The dinner will be at Faculty House, 400 West 117th Street, at six-thirty p.m. The Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory, at 612 West 116th Street, will be open for inspection from five to six-fifteen p.m., and you are invited to visit that laboratory just before the dinner.

Mr. Watson’s interest in scientific calculating machines began twenty years ago with a series of adaptations of IBM tabulating machines for complex statistical computations which were first applied on a large scale in the Columbia University Statistical Bureau. In 1934 Mr. Watson set up the computing laboratory which has become the Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau. In 1940 came the Matrix Multiplier adaptation of the IBM Test Scoring Machine announced in 1936. In 1944 several projects came to dramatic fruition in the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, The Relay Calculators, and the Automatic Recording and Computing Equipment for the wind tunnel laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. In 1945 the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory was established, and in January 1947 the great IBM Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator was dedicated to science.

It will give me and my colleagues much pleasure to have word that you will be our guest on April 20.

Sincerely yours,

Frank Diehl Fackenthal
Acting President

(Business dress at the dinner)

 

Source: Columbia University Archives. Central Files 1890-. Box 396, Folder “Mills, Frederick Cecil”

Image Source: First home of the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory was a renovated former fraternity house. Illustration on page 15 from The IBM Watson Laboratory at Columbia University—A History by Jean Ford Brennan. 1971.

Categories
Columbia Computing Economists

Columbia. Chaddock’s Request for Funding for his Statistical Laboratory, 1911.


From time to time I like to add a little budgetary detail.  For the year 1911-12 assistant professor Robert E. Chaddock’s salary was $2500 (the top professor salary in economics, $6000, went to Henry R. Seager). Today’s post is a request for $500 of additional funds for the 1911-12 budget for the statistical laboratory run by Chaddock.  I add some biographical material for Chaddock (the photograph from the 1919 Barnard College yearbook is the only picture of him I have been able to find in my online search), including the Columbia Spectator’s report of his suicide in 1940.

Earlier posts at Economics in the Rear-View Mirror concerning the purchase of calculating equipment for economic research were:  1928 (Henry Schultz at Chicago) and  1948 (George Stigler at Columbia).

______________________________

Source: Barnard College, Mortarboard, 1919.

Memorial:  Frederick E. Croxton, “Robert Emmet Chaddock, 1879-1940,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 36, No. 213 (March, 1941), pp. 116-119.

 

______________________________

 

Copy of letter by Seligman to Butler

December 18, 1911

Nicholas Murray Butler, LL.D.,

President, Columbia University

New York.

Dear President Butler:-

I have asked Professor Chaddock, our new assistant professor of statistics, to give me a report of the work that has been done in the statistical laboratory this year. I take pleasure in sending a copy of his report herewith and with your permission I should like to amend the budget letter of the Department, if that is still practicable, to the extent of asking for a special appropriation of $500 for the statistical laboratory, the amount to be expended for the statistical machine and for such supplies, charts, atlases, etc. which would not properly come under the head of the library appropriation.

You will remember that two or three years ago you were kind enough to secure a special appropriation of $500 for some comptometers for the laboratory. That amount was not included in our budget letter. Perhaps this also could be taken care of in a similar way.

Respectfully,

[unsigned copy, E.R.A. Seligman]

SE-S

______________________________

Copy of letter by Chaddock to Seligman

C O P Y

December 18, 1911

Professor E. R. A. Seligman,

Columbia University.

Dear Professor Seligman:

As suggested, I am sending you this letter to describe the work and needs of the statistical laboratory. On the theory that the laboratory is a place for practice and a place where sources of information may be found, it has been our aim this year to keep the laboratory open between the hours of 9 A.M. and 6 P.M. Much of the time some men have been found there at its opening and closing hours.

The class in elementary statistics numbers about 45, of whom 40 are engaged in doing actual laboratory work in addition to the two hours of lectures weekly. Our plan has been to divide the lecture group into five sections for their laboratory work, meeting Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at nine o’clock and Monday and Wednesday at eleven o’clock, in addition to lectures Monday and Wednesday at ten o’clock. By this plan the groups are reduced to eight or ten men and scientific work is possible. The lecture work is made concrete to each individual through his own work and his misconceptions are checked and corrected by personal supervision. The student is thus enabled also to know and to use the mechanical aids without which the work of the statistician would be largely impossible today.

Besides the class in elementary statistics, there are students who, having had the lecture work, are engaged in writing their dissertation which involves statistical work. The laboratory offers facilities for work of this character and should aim to make it possible to turn out better digested statistical material in our dissertations.

An effort is being made to provide in the laboratory sources of information contained in Federal, State, and City reports and in reports of special investigations. Periodical document lists of the State and Federal governments are kept convenient for reference.

The effort has also been made to get into touch by correspondence and personal conference, with the practical statistical work being done in the city both by public and private agencies, with the view of impressing the student with the concrete problems of statistical work and with the importance of a working knowledge of how to use and judge supposed facts.

It would seem also to be important that the statistical laboratory at Columbia, by its equipment, demonstrate to all who see it and use it what the ordinary working equipment of a statistician ought to be, what the sources of information are, and how they may be handled.

In view of these aims we venture to set forth certain needs, the satisfaction of which conditions the complete efficiency of the laboratory:

(1) One calculating machine of “Millionaire” or “Ensign” type—probably $250 or $300. The present equipment of machines is not adequate to keep a group busy without loss of time.

(2) A Statistician’s working library to be kept on the laboratory shelves. Some appropriation toward this library which is to contain the chief works on theory and method as well as special sources, i.e., Webb, Dictionary of Statistics.

(3) 10 copies of Barlow’s tables of squares, cubes, etc., up to 10,000 @ 6 s. each—60 s.

(4) 10 copies of Peter’s Multiplication and division tables at 15 s. each—150 s.

(5) Provision for a card file in the laboratory itself of all the statistical material available in the library so that the student in statistics may have a ready reference. Also for the purpose of recording all documents and sources received and kept in the laboratory itself.

(6) Provision for securing portraits of certain men most prominent in the development of statistical science, for the laboratory walls, i.e. Pearson, Quetelet, Engel, La Place, etc.

Attempts have been made by correspondence and conference, and will be made, to find out the best equipment for a laboratory such as ours and we ask your cooperation.

Sincerely,

(signed) Robert E. Chaddock.

 

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Papers of Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman, Box 98A, Folder “Columbia (A-Z) 1911-1913”.

 

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Professor Chaddock Dies in Fall
Sociology Head, 61, Plunges from Roof; Believed a Suicide

 

Dr. Robert Emmet Chaddock. Professor of Statistics and head of the Columbia Department of Sociology, died yesterday morning at 11:20 after falling eleven stories from the roof of his apartment house at 39 Claremont Avenue. He was sixty-one years old.

It is believed that Dr. Chaddock’s death was a suicide.

Professor Chaddock left his apartment on the fifth floor at 10 A.M., the usual hour he left for his office, and walked to the roof of the building. He was dressed in an overcoat and hat, and carried a brief case and an umbrella.

Shortly after 11 A.M., a maid from an adjoining apartment, Ethel Anderson, discovered him sitting on the parapet on the west side of the building. She called the elevator boy, but before either could summon assistance, Dr. Chaddock jumped or fell to the courtyard below. He left his overcoat, hat, brief case and glasses along the edge of the roof.

Worried About Wife

Seemingly In good health and spirit prior to his death, it was learned on good authority yesterday that the 61-year old professor had been worried over the health of his wife, Mrs. Rose A. Chaddock, who survives him. Dr. Chaddock left no communication, but fatigue and overwork were some of the motives put forth as possible causes of his death.

A daughter, Mrs. Parker Soule of Roswell, New Mexico, is his only other survivor. She was in Roswell at the time of the accident.

Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of the University headed the list of bereaved faculty associates. In a statement to The Spectator yesterday, Dr. Butler stated:

“Our whole University family is stupefied and heartbroken at the tragic death of Professor Chaddock. Himself a scholar of outstanding importance and large influence in his chosen field, we all held him in affectionate friendship and looked forward to many years yet of continuing accomplishment. Our feeling at this sudden ending of his life is too deep to be put into words.”

Speaking for the entire Sociology Department of which he has been acting in the capacity of chairman for the past two weeks, Dr. Willard W. Waller, Associate Professor of Sociology, stated, “We have lost a sincere friend and a valued colleague. That is the sentiment of Fayerweather Hall.”

Dr. Chaddock was born in Minerva, Ohio on April 16, 1879. A member of the University faculty for thirty-one years, he was Professor of Sociology and Statistics since 1922.

Held Two Degrees

His degrees included A.B. Wooster College, Wooster, Ohio; LL.D. (Hon.) 1929. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa; Fellow of the American Statistical Association, American Public Health Association and the Population Association of America and a member of the American Sociological Society.

He was one of the founders of the Cities Census Committee which developed the “census tract” unit for enumeration and tabulation of population and other types of data in New York City. This “census tract” idea has now been adopted by many cities, following the lead of New York.

Dr. Chaddock’s book, “Principle and Methods in Statistics,” published in 1925, has long been accepted as the standard text in the field.

Source: Columbia Daily Spectator, Volume LXIV, Number 20, 22 October 1940.

 

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Comptometer

 

Comptometers were made by the Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company of Chicago, Illinois and the initial patent holder was Dorr E. Felt. This is a very unusual model in black paint and gold decorations. Almost all Comptometers are in copper patena or polished copper housings. While there are some very rare listing (printing) models, the ones most often found do not have printing capability as is the case with this particular one. The Comptometer was probably the most important adding machine or calculator ever made. The first one (model one) was made with an all wooden case (see the model one in our collection) and came out in 1887 and the last one was made with an cast aluminum case sometime in the early 1960s. The people who operated them (usually women) were also called comptometers and the modern term for the person in charge of an accounting department, Comptroller, is the evolution of the name comptometer (operators titles). The more modern term for the chief accountant, Controller, is also an evolution from Comptometer. The last listed patent date on this Comptometer is 1914 and that is most likely, or very close to, the year it was manufactured. This machine comes with its original tin case and the case is prlobably more rare than the machine. Both the machine and the case have an estimated condition rating of 2+, 2.

Source: Comptometer at Branford House Antiques Website.

 

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Millionaire Calculator

This lever-set, manually operated non-printing calculating machine has a brass mechanism and a metal case with lid. The lid and the flat plates that cover the mechanism are painted black. The carriage is entirely contained within the case. The machine carries out direct multiplication.
Ten German silver levers are pulled forward to set up numbers. A crank left of these may be set anywhere between 0 and 9 for direct multiplication and division. A lever right of the digit levers may be set at addition, multiplication, division, or subtraction. Right of it is the operating crank. A row of ten windows in front of the levers shows the number set on the levers. It is labeled DIVISOR.
In front of this is the carriage, with two other rows of windows. The row closest to the levers (further from the front) indicates the multiplier or quotient. The other row shows the result or the dividend. The result windows are labeled DIVIDEND and may be set with a dividend using thumbscrews. The carriage has zeroing knobs for both these registers. Holes for decimal markers are between the digits of all three registers. Between the front two registers, at left, is a button used to shift the carriage. A bell rings if the number in the result window changes sign (as when subtraction produces a negative number).
A paper sheet inside the lid gives instructions for operating the machine and related tables, along with a cleaning brush and key. The stand is stored separately.
A mark on the middle of the front of the machine reads: THE MILLIONAIRE. A metal tag on the right reads: Hans W. Egli (/) Ingenieur (/) Fabrikation von Rechenmaschinen (/) Pat. O. Steiger (/) ZURICH II. A metal tag on the left reads: W.A. Morschhauser (/) SOLE AGENT (/) 1 Madison Avenue (/) NEW YORK CITY. Just under this tag is stamped the serial number: No 2609. A mark on the carriage next to the result register reads: PTD MAY 7TH 1895. SEPT. 17TH 1895. Scratched in the middle of the front of the machine is the mark: FOR PARTS ONLY.
For related documentation see MA*319929.03 through MA*319929.07.
Daniel Lewin has estimated that Millionaire calculating machines with serial number 1600 date from 1905, and those with serial number 2800, from 1910. Hence the rough date of 1909 is assigned to the object.
This calculating machine was used by the physicist William F. Meggars of the United States National Bureau of Standards.

 

Source: Smithsonian. The National Museum of American History.

 

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Ensign Model 90 Calculating Machine

This full-keyboard direct multiplication non-printing electric calculating machine has an iron and steel case painted black, The nine columns of plastic black and white keys are colored according to the place values represented. Complementary digits are indicated on the keys. Keys for odd digits are concave, and those for even ones are flat. The keyboard is covered with green felt.

Right of the number keys is an addition bar. Considerably to the right of this is a key to be depressed in division and ten digit keys used to enter digits directly in multiplication. To the left of the keyboard is a key marked “C” that, when depressed, locks the keyboard. A row of seven number dials serves as a revolution counter. These dials are covered with glass.

On the left side is a handle for clearing the revolution counter and result register. Behind the keyboard and revolution counter, inside the machine, in a row of 16 number dials recording the result. These dials are also covered with glass. They are deep within the machine, and difficult to read. The result register may be divided to record two results simultaneously. The base of the case is open, with a cloth cover inside it. This example has no motor.

A mark on the front of the machine reads: The Ensign. A mark on the right side reads: ENSIGN (/) MANUFACTURING CO. (/) BOSTON, U.S.A. (/) PATENTED (/) NOV. 1, 1904. – JAN. 2, 1906. (/) JULY 9, 1907. – FEB. 18, 1908 (/) JUNE 2, 1908. (/) OTHER PATENTS PENDING.

The Ensign was an early example of an electrically operated calculating machine. The Ensign Manufacturing Company of Waltham, Massachusetts is listed in Thomas’ Register for 1909. The dates on the machine refer to dates of patents of Emory S. Ensign, who was president of the company. The Ensign Manufacturing Company of Boston, Massachusetts, is listed in Thomas’ Register for 1912, 1914, 1915, 1916, and 1917. It was not listed in 1918. By this time, Ensign seems to have moved to Queens, New York. The machine was manufactured until about 1925.

 

Source: Smithsonian. The National Museum of American History.

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Image Source: Robert Emmet Chaddock from Barnard College, Mortarboard, 1919.

 

 

Categories
Columbia Computing

Columbia. Statistical Lab Equipment for Economics Faculty Request, 1948

__________________________

One detects George Stigler’s style in the justification below for the purchase of two pieces of calculating equipment for the use of economics faculty at Columbia in 1948: “…the economist requires more than a library, a pen, a desk, and possibly a crystal-ball to prosecute his studies. He requires empirical material, lots of it, and this material is often numerical.” In the same budget request we also find a list (with current costs) of mundane faculty office furniture items, classroom accessories, and a dictionary for the department administrator.

Cf. An earlier posting for the purchase of a calculator by Henry Schultz at the University of Chicago in 1928.

__________________________

Columbia University
in the City of New York
[New York 27, N.Y.]

FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

January 13, 1948

Dr. Frank D. Fackenthal, Acting President,
213 Low Memorial Library.

Dear Mr. President:

I beg to submit the requests of the Department of Economics for fixed equipment and physical changes for the fiscal year 1948-49. The greater part of the sum asked is for non-recurring items. The total request is for $1,465, divided as follows:

1) New furniture necessitated by recent alterations in Fayerweather and Hamilton Halls

$270.00

2) Ordinary needs for 1948-49

$195.00

3) Statistical equipment for Economics Faculty

$1000.00

            Item 1) represents furniture equipment urgently needed as a result of the alterations in the two halls. The details are given on the following page. A part of this equipment has already been asked for during the present fiscal year and all of it should, if possible, be provided at once and paid for on the present budget.

Item 2) is explained on the second page following.

Item 3) represents a request for technical equipment which would be of great service in the work of members of the Department. This request is explained and justified in detail in the appended statement prepared by a Departmental committee consisting of Professor Stigler, chairman, and Professors Haig and Harriss.

Respectfully yours,
[signed] Carter Goodrich

__________________________

1) [New furniture]

Item For Cost
Book shelves A. R. Burns $30.00
Clothing tree A. R. Burns $ 5.00
Club chair R. Nurkse $75.00
Legal size filing cabinet R. Nurkse $75.00
6 straight chairs H. Taylor $30.00
Swivel chair C. L. Harriss $15.00
4 coat racks H. Taylor $20.00
Small table O. Hoeffding $20.00
[Total] $270.00

2)        Ordinary needs for 1949-49

Item For Cost
Wall map of Europe R. Nurkse $   20.00
Grid-panel blackboard in classroom W. S. Vickrey $   20.00
Dictionary G. D. Stewart $     5.00
Other needs $150.00
[Total] $195.00

 

3) Proposal of a Statistical Laboratory for Faculty in Economics

$1,000.00

  1. The need

Contrary to a widely held opinion, the economist requires more than a library, a pen, a desk, and possibly a crystal-ball to prosecute his studies. He requires empirical material, lots of it, and this material is often numerical. Statistical analysis, broadly defined, is the social scientist’s laboratory, and in principle the social scientist must spend more time in his laboratory than the natural scientist in his because the social scientist’s findings become obsolete even in the absence of improved techniques and doctrines. The statistical method is important in all branches of economics; it is noteworthy that the present proposal is energetically supported by five teachers of economic theory.

Granting the necessity for quantitative work, and noting the frequency with which such work leads to fairly extensive computations, the faculty requires access to computational equipment (and, one is tempted to say, assistance). At present this access is small and fortuitous. The available computational equipment is being used extensively by students, and it is common to be unsuccessful for several days before obtaining use of a machine. Since the department of economics has no such equipment, a protracted use of the machines (that is, more than say 6 hours a week) is properly objected to by the administrator of the laboratory, but usually this is an unattainable limit.

  1. The detailed proposal

1.  Equipment. We propose to purchase two machines:

Underwood Sundstrand, tape adding machine, Model 1014p
Marchant Calculator, Model ACT – 10M

2. Cost. The purchase price of these machines would be:

Sundstrand: $330 less 10 percent plus 6 percent = $316.80
Marchant:     $750 less 15 percent plus 6 percent = $682.50,

a total of $999.30. The annual cost of servicing the machines would be (1) nothing the first year, (2) $18 for the Sundstrand and $36 for the Marchant thereafter. In addition there would be the cost of the tapes for the Sundstrand, electricity, and space.

These machines will last, at a very conservative minimum, 10 years. Hence, the pro-rate annual cost of the laboratory would be on the order of $170 (of which $100 is depreciation), or $10 per member of the department.

  1. Administration. The machines would be most generally useful if they were placed in some small room to which the faculty had access. A much less efficient alternative would be to keep them in the departmental office when not in use.

 

Source: Columbia University Archives, Central Files 1890- (UA#001). Box 406. Folder “1.1.313 (1/4);  Goodrich, Carter; 7/1946 – 6/1948”.

Image Source: Marchant Calculator, Model ACT-10M. Smithsonian. The National Museum of American History.

Categories
Chicago Computing Economists Salaries

Chicago. Purchasing order for a calculator for Henry Schultz. 1928.

Monroe KAA-203

Here is an item to file away under the cost of computing. Henry Schultz, the young hot-shot professor for mathematical economics and statistics wanted a fully-automatic Monroe calculator with an electric motor drive (pictured above). With discounts, the calculator and stand cost $631.  To get a relative price (in a hurry), I note that the nine month salary for Henry C. Simons at the rank of Lecturer was $2790, i.e. $310 per month. Thus figure that calculator-with-stand ran roughly two months of (approximately) instructor rank pay today.

Recommendation to appoint Henry C. Simons May 20, 1927: University of Chicago Archives. Office of the President, Mason Administration. Box 24, Folder 2.

Cf. a request to purchase two calculators for the use of the Columbia University economics faculty in 1948.

_______________________

[carbon copy]

January 8, 1928

 

Mr. J. C. Dinsmore [Purchasing Agent]
Faculty Exchange

My dear Mr. Dinsmore:

I am enclosing a requisition against the instruction fund of the Department of Economics for $652.13 [sic] which is to cover the purchase of the following material:

1 Monroe Machine – KAA 203…$825.00

less 15% and 10%…….$631.13

1 Fowler Manson Sherman Stand (low)… 21.00

Total                                       $651.13

 

Professor Henry Schultz is anxious to have these articles delivered as promptly as possible. Will you please telephone me when they arrive so that I can tell you to what room they should be delivered.

So that there will be no delay in the attached requisition being approved promptly, I quote a paragraph taken from a letter of September 24 from Mr. Woodward to me:

“I have arranged with Mr. Plimpton for you to draw on the instruction budget of the Department of Economics for the sum of $2600 in order to provide Mr. Schultz with equipment, supplies, and clerical assistance. It should be clearly understood that this arrangement is for the present year only.”

Yours very sincerely,

L. C. Marshall [chairman of the department]

LCM: GS

Source: University of Chicago Archives. Economics Department. Records & Addenda. Box 6, Folder 2.

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About the KAA model:

“Model KA from 1922 was the first Monroe calculator with an electric motor drive. The machine has an AC induction motor of about 5″ diameter mounted externally on a cast-iron bracket at the left-hand rear. The motor occupies the dead area under the extended carriage, and so requires no additional desk space. The motor rotates in one direction only at 1500RPM. The mechanism is driven through a planetary gearset, with two dog clutches operated by the Add and Subtract bars to select forward or reverse rotation. The case has been widened by an inch and a half to accommodate the control mechanisms on the left-hand side. The winding handle has been replaced with a knurled brass knob, but the crank can easily be re-fitted to operate the machine by hand.

The carriage has glass windows above the numerals, but carriage shift and register clearing are still manual. The item count knob is at the lower left of the keyboard, with an additional control lever at the upper left to silence the overflow bell.

…[The] Monroe’s head office, which was in New York City until the mid-1920s.

A fully-automatic variant (the Model KAA) was built during the mid to late 1920s. The KAA is wider again than the KA, and has a single column of “on-the-fly” multiplier keys to the left of the main keyboard.”

Source:  John Wolff’s Web Museum. The Monroe Calculating Machine Company

Image Source: KAA-203 photo attributed to contribution by Helmut Siebel. See the link above.

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For a history of the company.

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An image of a representative typewriter stand made by a Chicago company (note: a bicycle manufacturer) from the antique dealer Urban Remains of Chicago.

FowlerMansonShermanTubularStand