The following memorial to the late
Professor Henry C. Adams was present
ed to the University Senate at a recent
meeting. It was prepared by a commit
tee of which R. M. Wenley; Professor of
Philosophy was the chairman. The other
members were S. Lawrence Bigelow,
Professor of Chemistry and I. Leo
Sharfman, Professor of Economics.
An obvious drawback of academic life is
that titles tend to obscure persons: and when,
as with our colleague Henry Carter Adams,
the man dwarfs the title, liability to misjudge
or overlook becomes serious. Not till too
late, death prompting inquiry or reflection, do
we grow aware of the true reasons for the
magnitude of our gain and loss. Even so,
when we attempt a fit Memorial, the Odyssey
of the spirit is all too apt to evade our tardy
heed. The career of Professor Adams furn
ishes a typical case in point.
Henry Carter Adams was born at Daven
port, Iowa, December 31, 1851. He came of
old New England stock; his forebears had
made the great adventure oversea in 1623. His
mother, Elizabeth Douglass, and his father,
Ephraim Adams, were a like-minded pair,
representative of the soundest traditions of
New England character and nurture. Ephraim
Adams, one of a small band of missionaries
from Andover Theological Seminary who for
sook everything for Christ’s sake, arrived on
the open prairies of Iowa in 1842—the goal
of three weeks’ hard journey from Albany, New York. Their mission it was to kindle
and tend the torch, not merely of religion, but
also of education, among the far-flung pioneers.
Consequently, it is impossible to understand
why Henry Adams was what he was, became
what he became, unless one can evoke sympa
thetic appreciation of the temper, which de
termined his upbringing. For example, it may
well astonish us to learn that his nineteenth
birthday was but a few months off ere he
received his first formal instruction. The
reasons thereof may astonish us even more.
The child had been sickly always, physicians
informing the parents that he could not survive the age of fourteen. The “open prairies”
proved his physical salvation. Given a cause
and a gun, the boy roamed free, passing from
missionary home to missionary home, some-
times bearing parental messages to the scat
tered preachers. In this way he outgrew
debility and, better still, acquired a love for
nature, and an intimacy with our average
citizenry, never lost. Meanwhile, the elder
Adams taught him Greek, Latin, and He brew
as occasion permitted. At length, in 1869, he
entered Denmark Academy whence, after a
single year, he was able to proceed to Iowa
College, Grinnell, where he graduated in 1874. During these five years, the man whom we
knew started to shape himself.
In the home and the wider circle of friends, the impressionable days of childhood had been
moulded by Puritanism. God’s providence,
the responsibility of man, the absolute distinc
tion between right and wrong, with all result-
ant duties and prohibitions, set the perspective.
Fortunately, the characteristic Yankee interest
in education—in intelligence rather than learn
ing—contributed a vital element. An active
mind enlarged the atmosphere of the soul. De-
spite its straight limitations as some reckon
them; here was a real culture, giving men in
ner harmony with self-secure from disturbance
by the baser passions. As we are aware
now, disturbance came otherwise. To quote
Adams’ own words, he was “plagued by doc
trines” from the time he went to the Academy.
The spiritual impress of the New England
home never left him; it had been etched upon
his very being. But, thus early, Calvinistic
dogma aroused misgivings, because its sheer
profundity bred high doubt. As a matter of
course, Ephraim Adams expected his son to
follow the Christian ministry, and Henry him
self foresaw no other calling meantime. Hence, when scepticism assailed him, he was destined
to a terrible, heart-searching experience, the
worse that domestic affection drew him one
way, mental integrity another. His first years
at Grinnell were bootless; the prescribed stud
ies held no attraction and, likely enough, sick
ness had left certain lethargy. But, when
he came to history, philosophy, and social
questions, he felt a new appeal. His Junior
and Senior years, eager interest stimulating,
profited him much. Still dubious, he taught
for a year after graduation at Nashua, Iowa. Then, bowing to paternal prayer and maternal
hope, he entered Andover Theological Semi-nary, not to prepare for the ministry, however,
but “to try himself out”—to discover whether
preaching were possible for him. In the Spring
of 1876, he had decided irrevocably that it was
not. Adams’ “first” education—education by
the natal group—ended here. It had guaran
teed him the grace which is the issue of
moral habit, had wedded him to the convic
tion that justice is truth in action. For, al-
though he abandoned certain theological for
mulae, the footfall of spiritual things ever
echoed through hrs character. The union of
winsome gentleness with stern devotion to
humanitarian ideals, so distinctive of Professor Adams, rooted in the persistent influ
ence of the New England conscience.
The Second Education
Turning to the “second” education, destined
to enroll our colleague among economic lead
ers, it is necessary to recall once again conditions almost forgotten now. When, forty-five
years ago, an academy and college-bred lad,
destined for the ministry, found it necessary
to desist, he was indeed “all at sea.” For
facilities, offered on every hand today by the
Graduate Schools of the great universities,
did not exist. The youth might drift—into
journalism, teaching, or what not. But drift
ing was not on Adams’ programme. He wrote
to his parents who, tragically enough, could
not understand him, “I must obtain another
cultural training.” His mind had dwelt already upon social, political, and economic prob
lems: therefore, the “second” education must
be non-theological. Whither could he look? At this crisis his course was set by one of
those small accidents, which, strange to tell,
play a decisive part in many lives. By mere
chance, he came upon a catalogue of Johns
Hopkins University, so late in the day, more-
over, that his application for a fellowship,
with an essay enclosed as evidence of fitness,
arrived just within time limits. Adams was
chosen one of ten Fellows from a list of more
than three hundred candidates, and to Balti
more he went in the fall of 1876. His letters
attest that the new, ampler opportunities at
tracted him strongly. He availed himself of
concerts, for music always moved him. Here
he heard the classics for the first time. Hither-
to he had known only sacred music. Sometimes
he played in church and, as records show, he
sang in our Choral Union while a young pro
fessor. We find, too, that he served as assistant in the Johns Hopkins library, not for
the extravagant salary, as he remarks humor
ously, but on account of access to books—”I
am reading myself full.” His summers were
spent in his native State, working in the fields.
In 1878 he received the doctorate, the first
conferred by the young and unique university.
Study in Europe
The day after graduation President Oilman
sent for him, and told him, “You must go to
Europe.” The reply was typical—”I can’t, I
haven’t a cent.” Oilman continued, ”I shall
see what can be done,” with the result that the benefactor to whom Adams dedicated his
first book found the requisite funds. Brief
stays at Oxford and Paris, lengthier at Berlin
and Heidelberg, filled the next fourteen
months. The journalistic bee still buzzing in
his head, Adams had visited Godkin before
leaving for Europe, to discuss the constructive
political journalism he had in mind. Godkin
received him kindly, but as Adams dryly re-
marks, had a long way to travel ere he could
understand. In the summer of 1878, President
Andrew D. White, of Cornell, traveling in
Germany, summoned Adams, to discuss a
vacancy in this university. To Adams’ huge
diappointment, as the interview developed, it
became apparent that White, with a nonchalance some of us remember well, had mistaken H. C. Adams, the budding economist,
for H. B. Adams, the budding historian. The
vacancy was in history, not in political science
or economics. Expectation vanished in thin
air. But Adams was not done with. Return
ing to his pension, he sat up all night to draft
the outline of a course of lectures which, as
he bluntly put it, “Cornell needed.” Next day
he sought President White again who, being
half persuaded by Adams’ verbal exposition,
kept the document, saying he would communicate with Cornell, requesting that a place be
made for the course if possible. Writing from
Saratoga, in September 1879, Adams tells his
mother that all is off at Cornell, that he must
abandon his career and buckle down to earn
ing a livelihood. A lapse of ten days trans
formed the scene. The Cornell appointment
had been arranged, and he went to Ithaca
forthwith. So meagre were the facilities then
offered in the general field of the social sci
ences that Adams gave one semester, at Cornell and Johns Hopkins respectively, to these
subjects in the year 1879-80. The same ar
rangement continued till 1886, Michigan be
ing substituted for Johns Hopkins in 1881. As
older men recall, Dr. Angell taught economics,
in addition to international law, till the time
of his transfer to Pekin as Minister to China.
At this juncture, Adams joined us, forming a
life-long association. He himself says that he
“gave up three careers, —preaching, journalism,
and reform—to devote himself to teaching”
where he believed his mission lay.
Dismissal from Cornell
There is no better index to the enormous
change that has overtaken the usual approach
to social questions than the circumstances
, which caused Adams’ expulsion from Cornell
University. The Scientific American Supple
ment (p. 8861) of date August 21st, 1886, con
tains the substance of an address, “The Labor
Problem.” We quote Adams’ comments, inscribed beside the clipping in his personal
scrapbook.
“This is the article that caused my dismissal
from Cornell. This article was given on the
spur of the moment. Professor Thurston had
invited a man from New York to address the
engineering students, but the lecturer failed
to come. I was asked to come in and say a
few words on the Gould Strike. It was said
to me that other members of the Faculty
would speak, and that I might present my
views as an advocate.
“The room was crowded for, besides the
engineering society, my own students, getting
word of it, came over to the Physical Laboratory room where the addresses of the society
were given. A more inspiring audience no
man could have, and I spoke with ease, with
pleasure and, from the way my words were
received, with effect. The New York papers
reported what I said and, three days after, Mr.
Henry Sage, than whom I know no more
honest hypocrite or unchristian a Christian,
came into the President’s office and, taking
the clipping from The New York Times out
of his pocket said, “This man must go, he is
sapping the foundations of our society.” It
was not until then that I thought of putting
what I said into print, but I then did it, fol
lowing as nearly as possible what I said and
the way I said it.
“The effect of this episode upon myself was
to learn that what I said might possibly be of
some importance.
“Of course, there is a good deal of secret
history connected with the matter, but I am
not likely to forget that.”
This echo of old, far-off, unhappy things is
most suggestive, because more than any other
man, perhaps, Adams mediated the vast, silent
change marking these last thirty-five years.
As has been aptly said, “he had a most roman
tic intellectual career.”
Appointment at Michigan
In 1887, he was appointed to the Michigan
chair, which he greatly graced till death. At
this time, too, on the urgent request of his
close friend, Judge Thomas M. Cooley, then
Chairman, he joined the Interstate Commerce
Commission, much against his own inclination.
When he founded the Statistical Department,
he had the assistance of a single clerk; when
he resigned, in 1911, the personnel numbered
two hundred and fifty. Mutatis mutandis, a
parallel expansion overtook our Department
of Economics under his leadership.
It must suffice merely to mention his services with the Eleventh Census, the Michigan
Tax Commission, and the Chinese Republic,
pointing out that such positions come only to
men of high distinction and proven authority.
More than a quarter of a century has elapsed
since his election to the Presidency of the
American Economic Association, which he
helped to found; nearly as long since he was
presiding officer of the American Statistical
Association. In short, he ranked among the
most important and influential leaders in his
chosen field. His Alma Mater honored her-
self in honoring him with the degree of LL.D
twenty-three years ago; Wisconsin followed suit in 1903; Johns Hopkins in 1915. Needless
to say, he had many offers, some most tempt
ing, to leave Michigan. But, entertaining pro
found confidence in the State University, be
lieving that it was destined to be instrumental
in the diffusion of those opportunities in high
er education indispensable to a free democracy,
he refused to move. In attachment to this
University, like not a few men whom she has
imported, he outdid many alumni.
His Original Work
Naturally, Adams produced a mass of orig
inal work. Upon two fields of economic investigation, particularly—public finance and
public control—he imposed a durable imprint.
His interest in public finance dated from his
doctoral dissertation, Taxation in the United
States, 1789-1816. In Public Debts, an Essay
in the Science of Finance, later translated into
Japanese, and in The Science of Finance, an
Investigation of Public Expenditures and Pub
lic Revenues, he not only manifested wide
economic grasp and remarkable power of an
alysis, but exhibited the principles of public
finance as a scientific unity, in their manifold
relations to social, political, and economic progress. His memorable essay, The Relation of the State to Industrial Action, marked his initial, and most significant, contribution in the
field of public control. He subjected the preva
lent doctrine of laissez-faire to searching analysis, and, with profound appreciation of the
demands of a dynamic world, formulated basic
principles for the guidance of industrial leg
islation. His emphasis on the function of the
State in moulding the plans of competitive ac
tion, in realizing for society the benefits of
monopolistic control, and in restoring condi
tions of social harmony to the economic order,
foreshadowed much of the theoretical dis
cussion and practical reorganization of a later
day. His subsequent achievements in the de
velopment of public control, especially over
railroad transportation, are incorporated in the
accounts and classifications which he slowly
evolved as statistician of the Interstate Com
merce Commission. The universal acceptance
today of statuted accounting and statistical
practice as an indispensable instrument for the
effective regulation of railroads and public
utilities remains a lasting monument to the
intelligence and validity of his pioneering ef
forts. It is a distinct loss to economic scholarship and to historical tradition that his Ameri
can Railway Accounting published seven years
after his resignation from the Interstate Com
merce Commission, was but a commentary on
these accounts and classifications rather than
that graphic picture of their origin and de
velopment such as he alone was competent to
produce.
The Social Philosopher
Throughout life, Adams’ intellectual ap
proach was that of a social philosopher rather
than of a technical economist. This is plain
throughout his published work. Intuitive yearn
ing for social justice, prompted by a Puritan
conscience, stimulated by an analytical intel
lect, colored all his writings. Human rela
tions uniformly served as his point of depar
ture, and humane amelioration was ever the
horizon toward which he moved. Such was
the spirit of his Relation of the State to In
dustrial Action, and of his fundamental stud
ies in public finance. His papers on the social
movements of our time, and on the social
ministry of wealth, contributed to The Inter
national Journal of Ethics; his discussions, in
the economic journals, of economics and jur
isprudence, publicity and corporate abuses, and
of many of the more technical aspects of rail-
road taxation; of the developments of the
Trust movement, budget reform, and foreign
investments as a crucial element in international maladjustments, were moulded by a similar
insight into primary human relations, and by
a like desire to contribute to the realization of
human betterment.
Accordingly, it was the more remarkable
that Professor Adams proved himself so ef
fective a public servant in the formulation of
practical and concrete machinery for the regulation of transportation agencies, in this
country and in China. The reason for this
success is to be found in his consistent adher
ence to the conception of accounts and sta
tistics as mere instruments of social control
rather than as fields of inquiry for their own
sake. From first to last, then, he remained the
social philosopher. His plans for the future
promised a return to the synthetic intellectual
activity of his early career. Death overtook
him with his labors unfinished, but the direc
tion of his interests was clear and unmistak
able.
In sum, then, remarkable as was the career,
formative as were its results, the personality
overtopped all else, mainly because Adams’
austere judgment of self, his nigh innocent
attitude toward his great attainments, won
upon others. Indeed, no one would have been
more surprised than he at the words we have
addressed to you this evening, —partly on ac-
count of his innate modesty, partly thanks to
his very reticence, which prevented us from making known to him how we esteemed his
deep, pervasive glow.
S. LAWRENCE BIGELOW
I. LEO SHARFMAN
R. M. WENLEY, Chairman
In this article we give a brief sketch of the school of Applied Ethics and Prof. Henry C. Adams’ work in connection with it.
The following, taken from the secretary’s report, describes the origin and purposes of the institution:
“The School of Applied Ethics held its first session at Plymouth, Mass., from July 1 to August 12, 1891. This was an experimental undertaking, and the first step towards the carrying out of a large and important educational project, the founding of a fully-equipped School of Applied Ethics in connection with some large university. It is proposed, not to found another school similar to and is as a rival of any schools already existing, but to meet a real educational need by furnishing systematic instruction in a field of investigation not especially provided for in established institutions.
The experiment of last summer proved so successful that it has been decided to hold a similar session another year at the same time and place, and the managers hope that not only the summer school, but also the permanent school referred to will be successfully established, and occupy in time an important place among educational institutions.
The proposition to establish a School of Applied Ethics, either independently or in connection with some large university, has been under discussion for several years. Attention was first called to the need of such a school, in a public address in Boston, by Prof. Felix Adler, during the May anniversary week of 1879. The project was afterwards discussed in the Index and other papers; but the plans were still too indefinite and public interest was not sufficiently awakened to the importance of the undertaking.
The subject was next brought to public notice, and in a more definite shape at the third convention of the Ethical Societies, held in Philadelphia, January, 1889. It was the topic of a special public meeting, and addresses were made by Prof. Adler, Mr. Thomas Davidson, Professor Royce, Rev. Wm. J. Potter, and others. Numerous letters endorsing the proposed school were received from distinguished representatives of different professions in various parts of the country. At the next convention of the Ethical Societies, held in New York, December, 1890, the project was again brought forward and endorsed at a public meeting by President E. Benj. Andrews, Rev. Lyman Abbott, Professor Daniel G. Brinton, Rev. R. Heber Newton, Dr. A. S. Isaacs, and Professor Adler. Definite action towards the realization of the project was taken in the following resolution, passed by the convention:
Resolved, That the Executive Committee be empowered to raise $4000 to establish a Summer School of Ethics for one year, and to hand over its management to a committee of nine, three of whom shall be lecturers of the Ethical Societies.
In consequence of this resolution a committee was appointed, which met in New York, March 2, 1891. There were present Professor H. C. Adams, of the University of Michigan, Professor C. H. Toy, of Harvard University, Professor Felix Adler, of New York, President E. Benjamin Andrews, of Brown University, Professor Morris Jastrow, Jr.,of the University of Pennsylvania, and Mr. S. Burns Weston, of Philadelphia. The trust implied by the above resolution was accepted by the committee, and plans were presented and adopted for a summer session of six weeks with the three departments of Economics, History of Religions, and Ethics. Professor Henry C. Adams was made director of the department of Economics, Professor C.H. Toy, of History of Religions, and Professor Felix Adler, of Ethics proper. It was decided that the office of Dean should be filled in rotation by the heads of the departments in the order given, and Prof. Adams became Dean of the school for the first year.
The first session opened July 1, at Lyceum Hall, Plymouth, Mass., with public addresses by Professors Adams, Toy, and Adler on the work to be done in their respective branches. The regular daily lectures began Thursday, July 2, with a good attendance.
In the department of economics the main course consisted of a series of sixteen lectures by Professor Adams, on the History of Industrial Society and Economic Doctrine in England and America, in which special attention was given to the gradual rise of those practical problems in the labor world, which cause so much anxiety and discussion today. The subjects of the lectures in this course were as follows:
The Modern Social Movement, and the True Method of Study. The Manor considered as the Unit of Agricultural Industry in Feudal Times. The Town considered as the Unit of Manufacturing Industry in Feudal Times. The Black Death and Tyler’s Rebellion considered in their Industrial Consequences. The Times of Henry VIII and Elizabeth considered as foreshadowing Modern Ideas of Capital. The Spirit of Nationalism as expressed in Industrial Legislation of the 17th and 18th’s Centuries. Liberal Writers of the Eighteenth Century, considered with Especial Reference to the Industrial Liberalism of Adam Smith. Industrial and Social Results of the Development of Textile Machinery. Critical Analysis of the Effect of Machinery on Wages. Industrial and Social Results of the Development of Steam Navigation. Mill’s Political Economy, considered as the most Perfect Expression of the Industrial Ideas of the Middle Classes. Changes in Economic Ideas since Mill; (a) Fundamental Economic Conceptions, (b) Relation of Government to Industries. Trades-Unions considered as the Workingman’s Solution of the Labor Question. Public Commissions considered as a Conservative Solution of the Monopoly Question. An Interpretation of the Social Movement of Our Time.”
The following, clipped from the article by Rev. W. H. Johnson in the Christian Register, shows that Prof. Adams sustained his well-merited reputation as a political economist of the first rank:
“The chief interest of the school seems to have centered in the Department of Economics, testifying to the growing appreciation of the profoundly vital manner in which the great social topics of the times touch us all. Here were numbers of people gathered together who had become tired of the cure-alls offered by narrow-minded enthusiasts, not less than heartsick of the social wrongs and miseries which bring this class into existence, and intensely anxious for some teaching which would point out clear landmarks. Only the existence of this feeling of earnest longing for some measure of authoritative exposition can account for the enthusiasm which has attended the economic course. In Prof. Adams, this department has had for its director and chief expositor a mastermind. Apart from the interest of the subject, it would be impossible to listen without keen satisfaction to his rigid analysis and lucid explanations of a subject which is, for the most of us, wrapped in “chaos and perpetual night.” Prof. Adams’ final lecture, summing up the economic teaching of the school during the six weeks’ course, was one of rare merit. He was at once overwhelmed with requests for its publication, to which he has consented.”
