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Expected New PhD Starting Salaries in U.S. Economics Departments (5), 1966/67

 

 

This is the fifth table from the so-called “Cartel” summary report from December 1965 of 9-10 month salaries paid in U.S. economics departments. Table 5c give figures for the anticipated range of salaries for “freshly completed PhD’s” for the coming academic year (1966-67) across the departments reporting. Earlier postings gave the distribution for full-professors, the distribution for associate professors, and the distribution for assistant professors. The previous posting has the actual distributions for entering salaries for new Ph.D.’s for 1964-65 and 1965-66. Refer to the first posting in this series of tables for information about the compiler Professor Francis Boddy of the University of Minnesota and a list of the 30 departments belonging to the Chairmen’s Group.

The copy of this table in the Johns Hopkins University archives has a useful handwritten addition. It is noted that the median lower bound of the range is $9,250 and the median higher bound of the range is $10,000. Thus one might say a measure of the range of the anticipated, as of December 1965), 9-10 month salary offers for “freshly completed PhDs” for 1966-67 was ($9,250 — $10,000), though such a range was not necessarily anticipated by any one of the 27 departments responding to that question.

Compared to Table 4c, this table tells us that the range of offers for “freshly completed PhDs” was anticipated to move up $250 about a 2.67% nominal increase from 1965-66 to 1966-67.

Using the BLS web CPI Inflation calculator, one can inflate nominal levels (say for December 1965, the date of the report) to April 2017 using a factor of 7.69.

 

____________________

TABLE 5c
Departments Expect to Have to Offer to Get
“Freshly Completed PhD’s for Next Year, 1966-67

 

MID-POINT OF RANGE

 FROM TO
13,000 0

0

12,500

 0 0
12,000 0

1

11,500

 0 0
11,000 0

6

10,500

 0 7
10,000 5

6

9,750

 0 0
9,500 8

4

9,250

 1 0
9,000 8

2

8,750

 1 0
8,500 1

1

8,250

 0 0
8,000 3

0

N=

 27

27

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 5, Box 6, Folder 2 “Statistical Information”.

Image Source:  Caption under the drawing: “No class of labor feels the grip of grinding monopoly more than our underpaid, overworked ball-players.”  “The base-ball Laocoon” by L. M. Glackens. Cover of Punch, May 14, 1913. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

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New PhD Starting Salaries in U.S. Economics Departments (4), 1964/5-1965/66

 

 

This is the fourth table from the so-called “Cartel” summary report from December 1965 of 9-10 month salaries paid in U.S. economics departments. Table 4c give figures for the distribution of salaries for “freshly completed PhD’s” across the departments reporting. Previous postings gave the distribution for full-professors, the distribution for associate professors, and the distribution for assistant professors. The next posting has the anticipated (as of December 1965) range of salaries to hire freshly completed PhD’s for the coming academic year, 1966-67. Refer to the first posting in this series of tables for information about the compiler Professor Francis Boddy of the University of Minnesota and a list of the 30 departments belonging to the Chairmen’s Group.

Using the BLS web CPI Inflation calculator, one can inflate nominal levels (say for December 1965, the date of the report) to April 2017 using a factor of 7.69.

______________________

TABLE 4c
Entering Salaries of “Freshly Completed PhD’s” of New Staff Members
in the Fall of 1965-66 1964-65

 

MINIMUM MEDIAN MAXIMUM
MID-POINT OF RANGE 1965-66 1964-65 1965-66 1964-65 1965-66

1964-65

Over 10,999

 0 0 0 0 1 0
10,500 0 0 0 0 2

1

10,000

 2 0 4 3 7 0
9,750 2 0 4 0 1

0

9,500

 4 1 2 0 2 4
9,250 1 2 3 3 1

3

9,000

 3 6 0 5 3 6
8,750 1 1 3 5 0

1

8,500

 4 5 3 5 2 5
8,250 1 1 0 2 0

1

8,000

 2 3 1 0 1 0
7,750 0 0 0 0 0

1

7,500

 0 1 1 2 0 1
7,250 1 1 0 0 0

0

N=

 21 21 21 25 20 23
Median $9,000 $8,500 $9,250 $8,750 $9,750

$9,000

Mean

 $8,952 $8,583 $9,190 $8,820 $9,600

$8,913

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 5, Box 6, Folder 2 “Statistical Information”.

 

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Assistant Professors’ Salaries in U.S. Economics Departments (3), 1964/5-1965/66

 

 

This is the third table from the so-called “Cartel” summary report from December 1965 of 9-10 month salaries paid in U.S. economics departments. Tables 3c give figures for the distribution of assistant professor salaries across the departments reporting. Last posting gave the distribution for full-professors and the distribution for associate professors. The next posting has the distribution for entering salaries for new Ph.D.’s. Refer to the first posting in this series of tables for information about the compiler Professor Francis Boddy of the University of Minnesota and a list of the 30 departments belonging to the Chairmen’s Group.

Also there is a table of the anticipated (as of December 1965) range of salaries to hire freshly completed PhD’s for the coming academic year, 1966-67.

Using the BLS web CPI Inflation calculator, one can inflate nominal levels (say for December 1965, the date of the report) to April 2017 using a factor of 7.69.

____________________

TABLE 3c
ASSISTANT PROFESSORS 1965-66, 1964-65

(1)
Median Salaries
All Assistant Professors

MID-POINT
OF RANGE

 1965-66 1964-65
Over 11,249 0

1

11,000

 0 0
10,500 3

0

10,000

 7 1
9,750 2

0

9,500

 6 6
9,250 3

2

9,000

 4 5
8,750 1

6

8,500

 1 2
8,250 1

3

8,000

 1 2
7,750 0

0

7,500

 0 0
7,250 0

1

N=

 29 29
Median $9,500

$8,900

Mean

 $9,402

$8,936

 

 

TABLE 3c
ASSISTANT PROFESSORS 1965-66, 1964-65

(2)
Average Salaries
“Superior Assistance Professors”
(Top 1/3)

MID-POINT
OF RANGE

 1965-66 1964-65
Over 11,249 4

1

11,000

 3 2
10,500 8

5

10,000

 7 3
9,750 2

2
9,500 3 4
9,250 0

3

9,000

 1 3
8,750 1

3

8,500

 0 0
8,250 0

2

8,000

 0 0
7,750 0

0

7,500

 0 0
7,250 0

1

N=

  

29

  

29
Median $10,250

$9,500

Mean

 $10,333

$9,575

 

 

TABLE 3c
ASSISTANT PROFESSORS 1965-66, 1964-65

(3)
Average Salaries
“Average Assistant Professors”
(Lower 2/3)

MID-POINT
OF RANGE

 1965-66 1964-65
Over 10,749 0

1

10,500

 1 0
10,000 5

0

9,750

 2 0
9,500 4

3
9,250 7 1
9,000 2

8

8,750

 4 3
8,500 1

5

8,250

 2 3
8,000 1

1

7,750

 0 2
7,500 0

1

7,250

 0 1
N= 29

29

Median

 $9,300 $8,800
Mean $9,251

$9,063

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 5, Box 6, Folder 2 “Statistical Information”.

Image Source: Brussells conference, cartel magnate (detail). Postcard from 1902. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

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Associate Professors’ Salaries in U.S. Economics Departments (2), 1964/5-1965/66

 

This is the second table from the so-called “Cartel” summary report from December 1965 of 9-10 month salaries paid in U.S. economics departments. Tables 2c give figures for the distribution of associate professor salaries across the departments reporting. Last posting gave the distribution for full-professors. Future postings include the actual salary distributions for assistant professors and freshly completed PhD’s 1964/65 and 1965/66. Refer to the first posting in this series of tables for information about the compiler Professor Francis Boddy of the University of Minnesota and a list of the 30 departments belonging to the Chairmen’s Group.

Also there is a table of the anticipated (as of December 1965) range of salaries to hire freshly completed PhD’s for the coming academic year, 1966-67.

Using the BLS web CPI Inflation calculator, one can inflate nominal levels (say for December 1965, the date of the report) to April 2017 using a factor of 7.69.

____________________

TABLE 2c
ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS 1965-66, 1964-65

(1)
Median Salaries
All Associate Professors

MID-POINT
OF RANGE		 1965-66 1964-65
Over 13,749 3 0
13,500 2 0
13,000 2 1
12,500 6 3
12,000 5 2
11,500 4 3
11,000 3 11
10,500 2 4
10,000 0 0
9,750 0 1
9,500 0 2
N= 27 27
Median $12,000 $11,000
Mean $12,173 $11,093

 

 

TABLE 2c
ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS 1965-66, 1964-65

(2)
Average Salaries
“Superior Associate Professors”
(Top 1/3)

MID-POINT
OF RANGE		 1965-66 1964-65
Over 16,249 0 1
16,000 1 0
15,500 1 0
15,000 2 0
14,500 2 0
14,000 5 2
13,500 6 4
13,000 4 6
12,500 3 3
12,000 0 4
11,500 1 3
 [sic, cell empty] 1 2
 [sic, cell empty] 0 1
N= 26 26
Median $13,000 $12,186
Mean $13,082 $12,159

 

 

TABLE 2c
ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS 1965-66, 1964-65

(3)
Average Salaries
“Average Assoc Professors”
(Lower 2/3)

MID-POINT
OF RANGE		 1965-66 1964-65
14,500 0 0
14,000 1 0
13,500 0 0
13,000 4 1
12,500 4 1
12,000 2 2
11,500 3 2
11,000 7 8
10,500 3 4
10,000 2 4
9,750 0 1
9,500 0 2
9,250 0 0
9,000 0 0
8,750 0 1
8,500 0 0
N= 26 26
Median $11,265 $10,775
Mean $11,640 $10,760

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 5, Box 6, Folder 2 “Statistical Information”.

Image Source: “The monopolists’ may-pole” by F. Opper.  Centerfold of Puck, vol. 17, no. 425 (April 29, 1885). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

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Professors’ salaries in U.S. economics departments (1), 1964/5-1965/66

 

 

From my March 2017 expedition to the Johns Hopkins University archives’ collection of material from the Department of Political Economy, I came across one of those documents that help to provide an empirical baseline for the history of the market for economics professors. It is worth savouring the sets of tables one by one. In all, this so-called “cartel” summary with information collected from 29 departments in October 1965 consists of eight sets of tables.

On the last page of this summary for full-professor salaries can be found the name of the presumable compiler of the tables: Francis M. Boddy, Graduate School, University of Minnesota. It is dated December 21, 1965.

Two documents later in the same folder I found the list of 30 members of the Chairmen’s Group, dated December 13, 1965. With 29 responses to the salary questionnaire from which the “cartel” data have been assembled, it leaves only to guess which department did not report back to the “cartel”. I do believe that the ironic self-designation of cartel is not entirely contrary to functional fact here.

The salary distributions across the participating departments for associate professors, assistant professors, and for the starting salaries for newly minted Ph.D. hires have been posted in the meantime. Also there is a table of the anticipated (as of December 1965) range of salaries to hire freshly completed PhD’s for the coming academic year, 1966-67.

Using the BLS web CPI Inflation calculator, one can inflate nominal levels (say for December 1965, the date of the report) to April 2017 using a factor of 7.69.

___________________________________

About Francis M. Boddy

Boddy, Francis M, 1115 Bus. Admin., West Bank, Dept. of Econs., U. of Minn., Minneapolis, MN 55455. Phone: Office (612)373-3583;Home (612)926-1063. Fields: 020, 610. Birth Yr: 1906. Degrees: B.B.A., U. of Minn., 1930; M.A., U. of Minn., 1936; Ph.D., U. of Minn., 1939. Prin. Cur. Position: Prof. Emer. Of Econs., U. of Minn. At Twin Cities. 1975-. Concurrent/Past Positions: Acting Exec. Secy., Bd. Of Investment, State of Minn., 1978-79; Assoc. Dean of Grad. Sch. U. of Minn., 1961-73.

Source: “Biographical Listing of Members.” The American Economic Review 71, no. 6 (1981): p. 67.

___________________________________

Research Hint:
Boddy’s data go back to 1957/58

“I have, over the past six years, conducted an informal survey of some 30 of the leading departments of economics in the country, defined largely as being those departments which have been major producers of Ph.D.’s in economics.”

Source:  Boddy, Francis M. “The Demand for Economists.” The American Economic Review 52, no. 2 (1962): 503-08.

 

Also of interest from about the same time is the AER Supplement:

Tolles, N. Arnold, and Emanuel Melichar. “Studies of the Structure of Economists’ Salaries and Income” The American Economic Review 58, no. 5 (1968):

___________________________________

MEMBERS OF THE CHAIRMEN’S GROUP, 1965-66
December 13, 1965

  1. Professor Gerard Debreu
    University of California
    Berkeley, California 94720
  2. Dean R. M. Cyert
    Carnegie Institute of Technology
    Pittsburgh 13, Pennsylvania
  3. Professor Arnold C. Harberger
    University of Chicago
    1126 East 59th Street
    Chicago 37, Illinois
  4. Professor Carl McGuire
    University of Colorado
    Boulder, Colorado
  5. Professor William Vickrey
    Columbia University
    New York 27, New York
  6. Professor Douglas F. Dowd
    Acting Chairman
    Cornell University
    Ithaca, New York
    (Professor Frank H. Golay, the Chairman, is on leave in 1965-66.)
  7. Professor Robert S. Smith
    Duke University
    Durham, North Carolina
  8. Professor John Dunlop
    Harvard University
    Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
  9. Professor John F. Due
    University of Illinois
    Urbana, Illinois 61803
  10. Professor George Wilson
    Indiana University
    Bloomington, Indiana 47405
  11. Professor Karl A. Fox
    Iowa State University
    Ames, Iowa 50010
  12. Professor Carl F. Christ
    Johns Hopkins University
    Baltimore, Maryland
  13. Professor Robert F. Lanzilotti
    Michigan State University
    East Lansing, Michigan
  14. Professor Warren L. Smith
    University of Michigan
    Ann Arbor, Michigan
  15. Professor E. Cary Brown
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Cambridge 39, Massachusetts
  16. Professor Emanuel Stein
    New York University
    New York 3, New York
  17. Professor John Turnbull
    University of Minnesota
    Minneapolis, Minnesota
  18. Professor Ralph W. Pfouts
    university of North Carolina
    Chapel Hill, North Carolina
  19. Professor Robert Eisner
    Northwestern University
    Evanston, Illinois
  20. Professor Paul G. Craig
    Ohio State University
    Columbus, Ohio
  21. Professor Irving B. Kravis
    University of Pennsylvania
    Philadelphia 4, Pennsylvania
  22. Professor Richard A. Lester
    Princeton University
    Princeton, New Jersey
  23. Dean Emanuel T. Weiler
    Purdue University
    Lafayette, Indiana
  24. Professor Lionel McKenzie
    University of Rochester
    Rochester 20, New York
  25. Professor Edward S. Shaw
    Stanford University
    Stanford, California
  26. Professor Carey Thompson
    University of Texas
    Austin, Texas
  27. Professor James W. McKie
    Vanderbilt University
    Nashville, Tennessee
  28. Professor Alexandre Kafka
    Acting Chairman
    University of Virginia
    Charlottesville, Virginia
    (Professor Warren Nutter, the Chairman, is on leave in 1965-66.)
  29. Professor David B. Johnson
    University of Wisconsin
    Madison, Wisconsin
  30. Professor Raymond Powell
    Yale University
    New Haven, Connecticut

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 5, Box 6, Folder 2 “Statistical Information”.

 

___________________________________

 

CARTEL
SUMMARY of the October-1965 Questionnaire to Departments of Economics in the United States

SUMMARY of the salary (1965-66 and 1964-65 academic years, 9-10 month basis) and other data of 29 (out of 29) Departments of Economics. N = Number of Departments reporting.

 

TABLE 1c
PROFESSORS 1965-66, 1964-65

(1)
Median Salaries
All Professors

MID-POINT
OF RANGE

 1965-66

1964-65

Over 20,249

 2 1
20,000 4

0

19,500

 0 1
19,000 3

1

18,500

 2 3
18,000 2

1

17,500

 3 1
17,000 2

4

16,500

 2 4
16,000 1

4

15,500

 2 0
15,000 2

1

14,500

 0 2
14,000 3

1

13,500

 0 1
13,000 1

4

N=

 29 29
Median $17,500

$16,500

Mean

 $17,377

$16,319

 

 

TABLE 1c
PROFESSORS 1965-66, 1964-65

(2)

Average Salaries
“Superior Professors”
(Top 1/3)

MID-POINT
OF RANGE

 1965-66

1964-65

Over 23,749

 3 1
23,500 2

0

23,000

 0 0
22,500 3

0

22,000

 1 2
21,500 4

3

21,000

 1 2
20,500 4

2

20,000

 0 3
19,500 2

2

19,000

 2 4
18,500 1

0

18,000

 3 1
17,500 1

2

17,000

 0 0
16,500 2

1

16,000

 0 4
15,500 0

1

15,000

 0 0
14,500 0

1

14,000

 0 0
N= 29

29

Median

 $20,600 $19,500
Mean $20,677

$19,093

 

 

TABLE 1c
PROFESSORS 1965-66, 1964-65

(3)

Average Salaries
“Average Professors”
(Lower 2/3)

MID-POINT
OF RANGE

 1965-66

1964-65

Over 18,749

 4 2
18,500 0

1

18,000

 3 1
17,500 1

1

17,000

 3 1
16,500 3

2

16,000

 5 8
15,500 1

4

15,000

 2 1
14,500 1

1

14,000

 2 0
13,500

2

2

13,000

 1 4
12,500 1

0

12,000

 0 1
11,500 0

0

N=

 29 29
Median $16,100

$15,390

Mean

 $16,192

$15,119

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 5, Box 6, Folder 2 “Statistical Information”.

Image: From left to right: Monopolies, Uncle Sam, Trusts.

Taylor, Charles Jay, Artist. In the hands of his philanthropic friends / C.J. Taylor. , 1897. N.Y.: Published in Puck, March 10, 1897. . Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . (Accessed May 12, 2017). https://www.loc.gov/item/2012647652/

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Cornell Exam Questions Statistics

Cornell. Final Examination for Economic Statistics. Willcox, 1921

 

 

While I was unable to retrieve very much at all at the Library of Congress relevant to Walter F. Willcox’s teaching at Cornell, I did come across the following final examination in economic statistics from 1921. As can be seen from the questions, “statistics” was limited to meaning the tables of economic data compiled and published, especially by government agencies. 

_____________________________

Course Announcement

[Economics] 76b. Second term. Credit three hours. Prerequisite, course 51 [Elementary Economics]. Professor Willcox.

 

Source: Cornell University Official Publication, Vol. XII, No. 17 (1921), The Register 1920-21, p. 93.

_____________________________

 

Economic Statistics 76b

Final Examination June 7, 1921.
(Answer any ten questions)

  1. Describe the nature and scope (a) of economic statistics, (b) of business statistics. Explain the differences between them.
  2. What are the main economic uses of water as a natural resource in the United States?
  3. Describe briefly the coal resources of the United States in comparison with those of other countries.
  4. What effects have been produced on the distribution and growth of population by the location of the world’s coal fields?
  5. Explain the discrepancy between the statistical results reached by the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of the Census. Which set of figures is preferable? Why?
  6. How is the line drawn between (a) agricultural products and manufactured products? (b) mineral products and manufactured products? Why is it drawn in that place?
  7. Is the yield of agricultural products per acre in the United States increasing or decreasing? Give the evidence in support of your reply.
  8. How are manufactured products classified? Why is their classification a matter of importance?
  9. How are hand trades and their products distinguished from manufactured products? how are the former treated at a census? Why?
  10. What are the main sources of information regarding American wage statistics? How may the apparent discrepancy in their results for the period 1890-1900 be reconciled.
  11. How is the wealth of a country or state estimated? If you were asked to estimate the wealth of New York State what method would you follow? Why?
  12. Describe the general nature of German university statistics. Sketch the history of its development.

 

Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division. The Papers of Walter Willcox, Box 39, Folder “Introduction to Social Philosophy”.

Image Source: Cornell North Campus from a photomechanical print from 1903 in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

 

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Cornell Economists Statistics

Cornell. Life of Walter F. Willcox, economic statistician

 

Following up the previous posting about the department of political science at Cornell University in 1900, now I add two items of interest relating to the professor of economic statistics at that time, Walter F. Willcox, who lived to the ripe old age of 103(!). At the tender age of 93 Willcox was asked to read a short statement about his personal creed for a radio show hosted by the legendary Edward R. Murrow. That statement is included below, followed by the Cornell’s Faculty Memorial Statement issued after his death in 1964.

Available on line is an excerpt from the article “Walter F. Willcox: Statist” from The American Statistician (February, 1961).

 

Research Hint: From Anderson through Zellner, over 70 short biographies at the American Statistical Association website’s “Statisticians in History” webpage.

_____________________________

 

This I Believe
Walter F. Willcox

In his 93rd year, i.e. most likely in 1956, Walter F. Willcox read the following statement in the “This I Believe” radio program hosted by Edward R. Murrow.

I have been asked to state what I believe, or in other words, my creed. It consists mainly of selections from the writings of others woven into a loose fabric on which I have come to stand. Seventy years ago, a college teacher told us “a man’s creed is a monument set up to show where he stopped thinking.” He might have gone on to add: you are supposed to be scholars and a scholar never stops thinking, so you can set up no such a monument as a destination, but only as a temporary camp carrying, perhaps, a date to show when you tarried a while at that point.

I believe that each person is born into what seems to him a chaos and given his share in mankind’s task of transforming that chaos into a cosmos. I believe that modern science is beginning to reveal the skeleton of the cosmos but that emotion and action are needed to give it flesh and life. I believe that the aim of all life is “life more abundant,” that life on this planet has steadily become richer, and that in this tiny corner of the cosmos and this bit of unending time there has been irregular progress towards a more abundant life.

I believe with John Dewey, that “Humanity cherishes ideals which are neither rootless nor completely embodied in existence,” and that these cherished ideals form the basis for man’s conception of a God. I believe with Goldwin Smith, that “Above all nations is humanity.” I believe that man receives, through heredity and environment, influences which his own efforts modify, and passes them on to uncounted future generations. Or, as Browning words it, “All that is at all/ lasts ever past recall/ Earth changes/ but thy soul and God stand sure/ What entered into thee/ that was, is, and shall be/ time’s wheel runs back or stops/ Potter and clay endure.”

I believe that human freedom to experiment and to initiate is the most potent of all the forces working for the progress of mankind. I believe that the spread of human freedom and the resultant decrease of fear, at least until 1914, form the best evidence of man’s advance in civilization. I believe with Becker, that “All values are inseparable from the love of truth and the search for it,” and that truth can be discovered only if the mind is free; and with Justice Holmes, that “Truth is best discovered and defended in the marketplace of ideas.”

I believe with Johnson, that “A man should keep his friendships in constant repair.” I believe with Becker, that “Knowledge and the power it gives should be used for the relief of man’s estate,” and that the best form of government yet devised is one which seeks to be “a government of the people, by the people, for the people.” I believe with Sherrington, that “We have, because human, an inalienable prerogative of responsibility which we cannot devolve, as once was thought even upon the stars. We can share it only with each other.”

Source: The actual recording of Walter F. Willcox reading his statement can also be found at the website: “This I Believe: A public dialogue about belief—one essay at a time.”.

_____________________________

 

Cornell University Faculty Memorial Statement
Walter Francis Willcox
March 22, 1861 — October 30, 1964

Walter Francis Willcox died at his home, after a brief illness, October 30, 1964. On March 22 he had celebrated his one hundred and third birthday. At the time of his death he was the oldest living alumnus of Phillips Andover Academy, of Amherst College, from which he received degrees of A.B., A.M. and LL.D., and (it was believed) of Columbia University, from which he received the LL.B. and Ph.D. He was also the oldest Professor Emeritus of Cornell and the only one known to have a son also a Professor Emeritus of the same institution.

Born in Reading, Massachusetts, in 1861, he was the son of a Congregational clergyman. Both his mother and father hoped that he, too, would enter the ministry but, after a passing interest in Greek, he turned instead to philosophy. Even before completing his graduate work, however, he found his attention drawn to those human and social problems that were to be his principal concern for the rest of his life. Although he came to Cornell in 1891 on a temporary appointment as an instructor of philosophy, the following year he accepted a position in the Department of Economics, rapidly making statistics his special field and himself a recognized authority and important innovator in that subject.

In 1899 he was asked to serve as chief statistician of the Twelfth Census of the United States, a post that took him to Washington until 1901. Part of his assignment consisted in preparing the new apportionment tables for the Congress; this brought to his attention the alarming rate at which the House had been growing as new seats were added to provide representation for the country’s expanding population, and the unsound method by which seats were apportioned. The House, he felt, could never realize its potentialities as a constructive political institution unless it were reduced to a manageable size—he considered three hundred the optimum number; but he also recognized the virtually insuperable obstacles in the way of any revision that would require incumbent representatives to vote some of their own seats out of existence. He did think, however, that it should be feasible to stem the previously unchecked growth of the body by a law fixing its existing size and providing for automatic reapportionment following each census. He even hoped that this technique might be used to reduce the size of the House by ten seats with each successive census. That proved too Utopian but in 1931, after a very long campaign, Congress finally did fix the size of the House at its existing 435 seats and also provided for regular reapportionment according to a plan Dr. Willcox himself had derived from the principle of “major fractions” originally formulated by Daniel Webster. Walter Willcox’ contribution to this achievement received unprecedented tribute from Senator Arthur Vandenberg, the sponsor of the bill, in a letter to Cornell President Jacob Gould Schurman. Some of Dr. Willcox’ personal satisfaction in this accomplishment was diminished, however, when a group of Harvard mathematicians persuaded Congress to adopt a rival statistical formula for reapportionment. Never convinced of the validity of the “Harvard method,” he continued throughout the remainder of his life to perfect and advocate his own system, and to urge to apparently hopeless cause of reducing the size of the House. His last appearance before a Senate judiciary subcommittee hearing on this subject was in 1959 when he was ninety-eight.

The role Walter Willcox played in national and international organizations can only suggest the nature and extent of his influence in the developing field of statistics. In 1892 he joined the American Statistical Association, becoming its president in 1912 and a fellow in 1917. In addition, he was instrumental in bringing the United States into effective membership in the International Statistical Institute, which he himself had joined in 1899. He served as the United States delegate to its session in Berlin in 1903, and to most of its subsequent biennial meetings in various capitals throughout the world until his final appearance at Paris in 1961. Having been a vice president of the Institute since 1923, he took the lead in reviving it after World War II, and served as its president at the first post war meeting, held in Washington, D.C., in 1947. From that time until his death he held the title of honorary president. In addition, he was a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and an honorary member of the Statistical Society of Hungary, the Czechoslovakian Statistical Society, and the Mexican Society for Geography and Statistics. He served as a member or adviser of innumerable statistical commissions and boards, the Census Advisory Commission, the New York State Board of Health, the International Congress of Hygiene and Demography (1912), and the World Statistical Congress.

Although each of his four books—The Divorce Problem, A Study in Statistics, 1897, Supplementary Analysis and Derivative Tables, Twelfth Census, 1906; Introduction to the Vital Statistics of the United States 1900-1930, 1933; and Studies in American Demography, 1940—made a significant contribution, it was through his innumerable articles, letters to the editor, and personal written and oral communications that he exerted his surprising influence, not only in the fields of statistics and economics but in the general affairs of the nation. If his attention was habitually attracted by the “facts,” he had an extraordinary instinct for the right facts and great persistence in calling them and the problems and injustices they represented to the attention of his fellow citizens. Characteristically he was one of the very first to study the economic and social conditions of our Negro citizens; and it has been widely recognized that the recent Supreme Court decision establishing the principle of equal representation in state as well as national government reflects his efforts and influence. Both the problems of world government and the United Nations and the affairs of Ithaca and New York State were for him serious preoccupations. When on the occasion of his one hundredth birthday he was asked to comment on his life, he astonished his audience by saying, “If I were to start all over again I think I would go into politics. I don’t think I would have been so successful at that profession, but I would have enjoyed it more.”

In spite of his extensive professional interests and accomplishments and wide travels, the focus of his life, at least next to his family, was surely the University. Having come early enough to know most of the great personalities in Cornell’s early history and notably, all of its presidents from Andrew D. White to James A. Perkins, he had an insatiable interest in anything that pertained to the history, growth, or welfare of Cornell. From 1902-1907 he was Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, from 1916 to 1920 faculty representative on the Board of Trustees, and from 1931 Professor Emeritus.

An inveterate attender of faculty meetings, he also sought and made informal occasions for faculty discussion. He took a major part in reviving the Faculty Club after World War II, serving as its first president and making a substantial donation to its library. It was in one of the club’s small dining rooms, most fittingly named the Willcox Room, that he met regularly twice a week with luncheon groups. He himself had founded one of these groups nearly forty years ago, and modeled it after a “round table” which he had been invited to attend at the Library of Congress during his stay in Washington at the turn of the century. Although he always referred to it as the Becker luncheon group because, as he explained, he had begun it to serve as an occasion for Carl Becker’s conversation, it has long since been known to others as the Willcox group. Its members have included many of Cornell’s most distinguished citizens from Carl Becker to Liberty Hyde Bailey, Dexter Kimball, and Miss Francis Perkins, to mention a very few. We all, guests and new members, came to appreciate the unobtrusive skill with which the quiet figure of Walter Willcox drew out and directed the conversation.

Walter Willcox was throughout his long life not merely a distinguished economist and citizen; he was a model of a nineteenth-century gentleman and scholar concerned with the fate of his fellow man. He managed the rare feat of keeping his interest up to date without relinquishing his hold on his original values. As nearly as any one man could, he seemed to embody the ideal around which Ezra Cornell and Andrew White had established the University.

Mario Einaudi, Felix Reichmann, Edward W. Fox

 

Source: Cornell University eCommons. Cornell University Faculty Memorial Statement.

Image Source: Cornellian 1919, p. 128.

Categories
Cornell Research Tip

Cornell. Economics in the Department of Political Science, 1900

 

 

Soon I’ll get back to the necessary work of transcribing exams to match remaining courses already entered into Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. While my core three departments (Harvard, Columbia and Chicago) constitute the source of the vast majority of the artifacts gathered thus far, regular visitors will have also noticed an occasional foray into other departments as have struck my fancy.

The next few postings are the result of my recent visit to the Library of Congress where I looked into the papers of the economic statistician Walter F. Willcox of Cornell. Following up, I checked out the digital repository of Cornell, eCommons that I can most highly recommend both to researchers (for historical material) as well as to university archivists (for its structure and user-friendliness).

Among other things I found (and immediately transcribed) the following “snap-shot” of Cornell’s department of political science in 1900 that was made up of three professors who were working on economic theory, policy and statistics. Modern eyes see there an economics department with an interdisciplinary social-scientific scope, not unsimilar to the early School of Political Science at Columbia.

Research Tip: The Cornell Register is an official Cornell University publication containing a record of the personnel and organization for the academic year.  PDF copies for 1882-1883 through 1931-32 at the digital repository of Cornell. Page views going back to 1869 from the hathitrust.org collection.

 

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DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

The Development of the Work—
What is being Accomplished Today.

Political Science has always been considered important at Cornell. President White, in his inaugural address, laid down the principle that “There are two permeating ideas which must enter into the work of the University in all its parts. The first is the need of labor and sacrifice in developing the individual man in all his nature and in all his powers as a being intellectual, moral, and religious. The second of these permeating ideas is that of bringing the powers thus developed to bear upon society. We should provide ample instruction in history, in political and social science and in the modern literature….We would give ample opportunity for those classes of study which give breadth to the mind, and which directly fit the student for dealing with state problems and world problems. In this view, historical studies and studies in political and social science will hold an honored place; but these studies will not be pursued in the interest of any party. On points where honest and earnest men differ, I trust we may have courses of lectures presenting both sides.”

Instruction in this line consisted at first of a course of lectures in Political Economy given during one term of each year by Dr. William D. Wilson, professor of moral and intellectual philosophy. A few years later, Theodore Dwight began a series of lectures on constitutional law, and in 1875 this course was superseded by a series of lectures on the constitution of the United States and American jurisprudence.

The department was formally organized in 1881, when a four years’ course in History and Political Science was established. Graduates from this course received the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy in History and Political Science. Courses in systematic politics, public finance, and practical economic questions were added to the curriculum year by year, and in 1887 the departments of History were organized into the President White School of History and Political Science, and a fellowship in political and social science was established. While Professor Laughlin was in charge of the work in economics, in 1890, two fellowships in that field were founded.

In 1891, Professor Jeremiah W, Jenks was called to a chair of municipal, political, and social institutions. The next year, the departments of economics and finance and of political and social institutions were brought under one head. Professors Walter F. Willcox and Charles H. Hull were appointed, with Professor Jenks, to take charge of the work, which is being carried on as a unit, in so far as this is practicable.

Each professor, with his assistants, has charge of some special branch of the work. Professor Jenks gives his time chiefly to the work in politics, political science, and economic legislation; Professor Willcox to social science and statistics; and Professor Hull to political economy and finance. The assistants, Mr. Brooks and Mr. Weston, divide their time between advanced work in economic history and municipal government and the text-book work with the classes beginning the study of economics. In all branches the aim is to make the work of direct, practical value, while not neglecting economic and political theories. Andrew D. White’s idea of presenting both sides of questions is carried out as far as possible. The political questions of the day are treated fully, and students are taught to think impartially and independently. For the last two years the department has invited the most eminent men in business and politics to give lectures before the University. John W. Foster, ex-Secretary of State, has lectured on “Diplomacy;” Charlton T. Lewis, counsel for the Mutual Life Insurance Company, on “Insurance;” W. H. Baldwin, Jr., president of the Long Island Railroad, on “Railroad Management;” and Edward Rosewater, editor of the Omaha Bee, on “Journalism.” A course of lectures on the work of the State departments by prominent State officials has been provided for this year. The object of these lectures is to give the students more accurately the point of the business man and the politician.

The work the professors are doing outside of the department shows that the practical nature of their work is widely recognized. Professor Jenks is now the expert agent of the United States Industrial Commission in their investigation of trusts and monopolies undertaken with the view of recommending legislation on the subject to Congress and the several states. He has had special charge of selecting and examining the witnesses for and against the trusts and of editing the testimony. In this connection, he has collected in one volume the laws of the United States and the different states which concert trusts, with a digest of all the decisions under these statues and leading common law decisions concerning trusts. A second volume will contain the testimony and the economic results of the study. He has, further, been assigned by the Commission the task of investigating the trusts of Europe during the coming summer. This investigation has also led Governor Roosevelt to call him into consultation several times this winter to aid in the preparation of his message and in proposing measures for state legislation concerning trusts and corporations.

The administration wished the national census department to come closely into touch with the universities of the country, and therefore appointed Professor Willcox one of the Chief Statisticians of the census. He is investigating “methods and results” and is planning the methods of taking the census and interpreting the results—the work which, more than any other, calls for breadth of statistical knowledge and soundness of judgment. To him has also been given the task, together with one of his colleagues on the Census, Mr. Gannett, of interpreting and writing up the results of our first Colonial Census, the one lately taken in Porto Rico and Cuba. His interest and experience in practical social questions is shown by his acting for years as a member of the local Board of Health, and by Governor Roosevelt’s appointing him a year ago a member of the State Board of Health. While Professor Willcox is in Washington, his work is ably carried on by Professor Powers, formerly of Leland Stanford University.

Professor Hull has just published one of the most scholarly books produced in this field for a long time. This book, a collection of the works of Sir William Petty, with an introduction and critical annotations, has been very favorably reviewed in all the principle countries of Europe. Beside his accurate scholarship and his remarkable critical acumen, Professor Hull is well known also for his sound judgment and business sense. These qualities have been long recognized by his colleagues in the faculty, of which he is Secretary. Upon earnest solicitation he has acted as President of the Cornell Coöperative Society from the beginning and is perhaps chiefly responsible for its success. For some years he has been Treasurer of the American Economic Association, and at its last meeting that body insisted on making him its Secretary also, thus putting practically all of its business—publishing included—into his hands. The joint committee of the Legislature on taxation submitted to him lately for criticism its new plan of taxation.

The department has been greatly aided in its work by having at its disposal excellent laboratory and library facilities. It has perhaps the best material in reports, apparatus, etc., for work in statistics possessed by any university in the country. It is unusually well equipped in periodical literature and rare books on the history of economics. The library of foreign statues is also large and growing rapidly.

The Seminary, for graduate students only, is carried on jointly by the three professors in the department. Each professor takes special charge of the work of those men whose theses are in his special field, and of the Seminary on days when reports on these theses are in order. Besides the regular thesis work, the Seminary usually has on hand some special subject. This year Colonial governments have been studied, the relations of our government to its dependencies is being considered, in the light of our own history, legal and political, and in that of the leading colonial powers.

The most prominent characteristic of the department throughout is that it has always tried to keep closely in touch with practical work in politics, in government, and in business, in order to prepare its students especially for practical work in life. This does not involve neglect of theory or neglect study of principles; but it does involve the effort to apply these principles to the solution of practical problems; while the experience of teachers in aiding our public men to solve non-partisan questions enables them to judge more soundly regarding what is really practical.

 

Source: Cornell Alumni News, Vol. II, No. 22 (March 7, 1900), pp. 143-144.

Image: (left to right) Jeremiah W. Jenks, Walter F. Willcox and Charles H. Hull taken from ibid.

Categories
Chicago Cornell Economists Harvard

Harvard and Chicago. Harvard Class of 1873 reports from J. Laurence Laughlin 1879-1913


James Laurence Laughlin (1850-1933) was the founding head of the Department of Political Economy at the University of Chicago. One earlier post provided a mid-career biographical sketch of Laughlin and another his proposal at Cornell to expand the economics course offerings. Also of interest is his list of suggested titles for a personal library of economics as of 1887.

When compared to the notes submitted to the respective Harvard Class Secretaries,   Frank W. Taussig (Class of 1879) or Robert Franz Foerster (Class of 1909), Laughlin appears to have had a less intense filial attachment to his alma mater.

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1879

JAMES LAWRENCE [sic] LAUGHLIN.

Secretary has heard nothing from him. At last accounts he was teaching school in Boston

Source: The Second Triennial Report of the Secretary of the Class of 1873 of Harvard College. Boston, Geo. H. Ellis Press, Commencement 1879. Page 18.

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1883

JAMES LAWRENCE [sic] LAUGHLIN.

Received degree of Ph. D. from Harvard in 1876 and was appointed instructor in Political Economy in 1878. Has been made Assistant Professor in the same department the current year. Has been a contributor to the “Atlantic,” “International,” etc. Was married September 9, 1875, to Alice McGuffey of Cincinnati. A daughter, Agatha, was born January 3, 1880, and his wife died January 11, 1880.

Source: The Third Triennial Report of the Secretary of the Class of 1873 of Harvard College. Newport, Davis & Pitman, Commencement 1883. Page 17.

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1885

JAMES LAWRENCE [sic] LAUGHLIN.

Assistant professor of political economy at Cambridge. Has published ” Laughlin’s Mill’s Political Economy,” and written a few magazine articles. Was married to Miss H. M. Pitman, Sept. 4, 1883.

Source: The Fourth Triennial Report of the Secretary of the Class of 1873 of Harvard College. Boston, Rand, Avery, & Co., Commencement 1885. Page 14.

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1888

JAMES LAURENCE LAUGHLIN.

626 Chestnut St., Philadelphia. “I have written a new book : ‘The Elements of Political Economy; with some applications to Questions of the Day,’ in 1887, and it has gone into a second edition. ‘Gold and Prices since 1873;’ a study on the so-called appreciation of gold, etc., etc. My ‘History of Bimetalism,’ has gone into its second edition; and my edition of ‘Mill,’ into its fourth or fifth. I have resigned my position in Cambridge, and

have come to Philadelphia to take the management of an Insurance Co., the ‘Philadelphia Manufacturers Mutual Fire Insurance Co.;’ but shall continue my economic writing.”

Source: The Fifth Triennial Report of the Secretary of the Class of 1873 of Harvard College. Boston, S. J. Parkhill & Co., Commencement 1888. Page 21.

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1891

JAMES LAWRENCE [sic] LAUGHLIN.
“I am Professor of Political Economy and Finance at Cornell University and see Jack White every day. These are my two distinctions since last writing.”

[…]

HORATIO STEVENS WHITE.

“I have just finished my third year as Dean of the Faculty. This spring I was called to the chair of Germanic languages in the new Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. The trustees here meanwhile appointed me as head of the German department with an increase in salary. The California offer however remains open, and I shall visit the Pacific coast next winter and study the situation on the spot before coming to a final decision. Our Faculty baseball nine, which has been organized for several years, continues to win a majority of its games with various student clubs. The chair of Political Economy left vacant by the resignation of Professor E. B. Andrews, who was elected President of the Brown University, has been filled by the appointment of our classmate Laughlin, who has occupied the position this year with general acceptance. As a result of his efforts the trustees have decided to appoint an associate professor in the department, to establish two special fellowships in Political Economy, and to place at his disposal a generous publication fund. The University is to be congratulated upon this able contribution which ’73 has thus made to our Faculty.”

Source: The Sixth Triennial Report of the Secretary of the Class of 1873 of Harvard College. Boston, S. J. Parkhill & Co., Commencement 1891. Pp. 19, 39.

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1898

JAMES LAWRENCE [sic] LAUGHLIN.

5747 Lexington Ave., Chicago, I11. Taught school in Boston, and took degree of Ph.D. at Cambridge in 1876. Was appointed instructor in Political Economy at Harvard in 1878 and Assistant Professor in 1883. In 1888 he was in Philadelphia, where he had the management of the Philadelphia Manufacturers’ Mutual Fire Insurance Co. Subsequently he was Professor of Political Economy and Finance at Cornell, and is now at Chicago University in a similar capacity. He has devoted much time to writing on political economy and finance, and has published some important books on those subjects.

Source: The Seventh Report of the Secretary of the Class of 1873 of Harvard College Issued upon the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of Graduation. Boston, S. J. Parkhill & Co., Commencement 1898. Page 23.

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1905

JAMES LAWRENCE [sic] LAUGHLIN.

Since 1892 he has been Head Professor of the department of Political Economy in the University of Chicago. For some years he has been editor of the “Journal of Political Economy.” He served on the Monetary Commission appointed by the Indianapolis Convention of Boards of Trade, in 1898, and was entrusted with the preparation of the report which appeared in a volume of six hundred and eight pages. In 1894 he was invited to prepare a currency law for Santo Domingo. The visit to the island on a special steamer, the negotiations with the government, the enactment of the law and its provisions, were subsequently published in the “Journal of Political Economy.” In 1902 he published the first volume of a magnum opus on money. This volume, “The Principles of Money,” will be followed by five succeeding volumes “when time is granted to finish them.” In addition to this work he has written many books and articles treating of the various phases of his specialty in this and other countries.

Source: The Eight Report of the Secretary of the Class of 1873 Harvard. Boston, Rockwell and Churchill Press, Commencement 1905. Pp. 23-4.

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1913

JAMES LAURENCE LAUGHLIN.

Is at the head of the Department of Political Economy at Chicago, and an authority on finance whose reputation is world-wide. At the Three Hundredth Jubilee of the University of Giessen, Germany, in 1907, he was given an Honorary Doctorate. He writes:

“Any modest member of the Class of 1873 does not feel that he has done anything worth reporting. In 1906 I was appointed by the German Kultus Ministerium an exchange professor from the University of Chicago to Berlin. I lectured in German before the Vereinigung für Staatswissenschaftliche Fortbildung, and also in Cologne, as well as at the University of Berlin. In the winter of 1908-09, I was one of two delegates (the other being Professor A. A. Michaelson, the recipient of a Nobel Prize) to the Scientific Congress of all American Republics in Santiago, Chile. I crossed the Andes, visiting Argentina, and came home by the east coast. In June, 1911, I was given leave of absence from the University in order to take charge of the nation-wide campaign to obtain a reconstruction of our currency and banking system. In this work I was chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Citizens’ League for the promotion of a sound banking system. The results of this campaign are now apparent. Not only is there an insistent and intelligent public opinion demanding reform, but the new administration is ready to put a satisfactory measure through Congress. It now looks as if the purpose of this campaign was certainly attained. Of course I have been guilty off and on of publishing some books and articles, but they are not as good as I should like to have them, and when I get to the next world I am going to revise them and make them just what they ought to be for an audience that I hope will not yet be made up very largely of the Class of 1873. For I hope that the surviving members of the class will long be here after I have departed.”

Source: The Ninth Report of the Secretary of the Class of 1873 Harvard. Boston, Rockwell and Churchill Press, Commencement 1913. Pp. 25-6.

Image Source: Clipped from printed speech given at the 78th meeting of The Sunset Club at the Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago, December 6, 1894 found in Laughlin, James Laurence. Papers, [Box 1, Folder 17], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

 

 

 

 

Categories
Chicago Cornell Economists

Chicago. Labor Economics Professor Robert Franklin Hoxie. Suicide, 1916

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While working on a list of University of Chicago Ph.D.’s in economics, I came across the press report (transcribed below) of the tragic death of an early pioneer in the field of labor economics (then known as “labor problems”) at the University of Chicago.

What might have been, had this scholar’s life not ended so early?

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Hoxie, Robert Franklin in the Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed.)

Charles Robert McCann, Jr. and Vibha Kapuria-Foreman. “Robert Franklin Hoxie: The Contributions of a Neglected Chicago Economist” in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology 34(B), September 2016: 210-304.

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Robert Franklin Hoxie: Life and Career

 

1868, April 29. Born in Edmeston, New York.
1893. Ph.B., University of Chicago.
1893-6. Fellow in Political Economy.
1897-8. Acting Professor of Political Economy, Cornell College, Iowa.
1898-1901. Instructor in Economics, Washington University.
1901-2. Acting Professor of Political Economy and Political Science, Washington and Lee University.
1903. Fellow in Political Economy, University of Chicago.
1905. Ph.D., University of Chicago. An analysis of the concepts of demand and supply in their relation to market price. Published as The Demand and Supply Concepts. An Introduction to the Study of Market Price. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1906.
1903-6. Instructor in Economics, Cornell University.
1906-8. Instructor in Political Economy, University of Chicago.
1908-12. Assistant Professor in Political Economy, University of Chicago.
1915. Scientific Management and Labor. New York: D. Appleton and Company.
1912-16. Associate Professor in Political Economy, University of Chicago.
1914-15. Appointee of United States Commission on Industrial Relations.
1916, June 22. Died [suicide].

1917. Publication of Hoxie’s notes and lectures on trade unionism by Lucie B. Hoxie and Nathan Fine:   Trade Unionism in the United States, with an Introduction by E. H. Downey. New York: D. Appleton and Company.
2006. Publication of “Robert Hoxie’s Introductory Lecture on the Nature of the History of Political Economy [1915]: The History of Economic Thought as the History of Error.” Edited by Luca Fiorito and Warren J. Samuels in  Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 24-C, 49-97.

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TEACHER SUICIDE
Professor Takes Life While Suffering Mental Collapse

Prof. R. F. Hoxie Takes His Life

University of Chicago Student of Labor Problems Cuts His Throat

Robert Franklin Hoxie, associate professor of political economy in the University of Chicago, committed suicide yesterday.

Prof. Hoxie had been for years the subject of a nervous depression, his associates said yesterday upon learning of his death. He was constantly in charge of a physician.

While worry over the justice of his economic conclusions was not a direct cause of his act, his desire to view labor problems scientifically was regarded as the keynote of his career. He has been charged with bias resulting from labor affiliations and socialistic leanings. He denied this, and seemed overanxious to maintain a position of scientific neutrality in his studies.

He was to have delivered his first lecture of the summer term yesterday. He had asked his physician, Dr. Archibald Church, if he would be permitted to meet his classes. Dr. Church told him he could do so with safety. When it came time to leave his home at 6021 Woodlawn avenue for the university he was unable to go.

Unable to Meet Class.

“I haven’t the power to meet the pupils,” he told Mrs. Hoxie. “I think you had better have a notice to that effect posted on the bulletin board.”

Mrs. Hoxie left the house, and in a few moments had placed on the bulletin board the note saying that Prof. Hoxie would not lecture. She returned home, and upon entering found her husband lying on the floor. He had cut his throat and severed the veins of his wrist. Mrs. Hoxie’s screams brought neighbors.

There was an inquest in the afternoon, at which it was determined that the professor had taken his own life in a fit of insanity.

Praise from Judson.

“He was a very enthusiastic student of his subject,” said President Harry Pratt Judson of the university, “and a very able student of labor conditions. His death is a distinct loss to the university. He had been in ill health for years and it is a tribute to his will power that he forced himself to continue in his work as he did.”

Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, who was in the city yesterday, said Prof. Hoxie had done more toward the study of labor problems than any other man.

Prof. Hoxie left besides his widow a son of 4 and a daughter 2 years old.

He was statistician for the United States commission on industrial relations and was associate editor of the Journal of Political Economy. He was the author of a work on political economy and numerous articles. He had been a member of the faculties of Cornell college, Washington and Lee university, and Cornell university. His most recent work was a study of scientific management.

 

Source: Chicago Tribune, June 23, 1916, p. 1.

Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-02878, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.