Not all graduate students complete the requirements for a Ph.D. and, early in the 20th century, it was quite common for the Master’s degree to be the terminal degree and not all career paths lead to economics education and/or research. From time to time your curator of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror stumbles upon career information of the one or other graduate student of economics who left the formal study of economics for that so-called real world and the information is added as a biographical post.
Here we feature two reports from the Harvard Class of 1905 graduate (summa cum laude), Frank Richardson Mason. A trace of his academic life was encountered in the previous post that dealt with the Principles of Economics course taught at Harvard in 1905-06. Earlier we found mention of his Special Examination for the Ph.D. that was scheduled for May 14, 1908. Presumably something must have wrong in his special examination, because he looked to be on track for a Ph.D., having passed his general examinations and published a paper on his thesis topic in the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
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From the Class of 1905
Twenty-fifth Reunion (1930)
FRANK RICHARDSON MASON
BORN: Hebron, Ill., Oct. 6, 1882. PARENTS: Ralph Nathaniel Mason, Helen May Richardson.
PREPARED AT: John Marshall High School, Chicago, Ill.
IN COLLEGE: 1901-1905. DEGREES: A.B. summa cum laude 1905; A.M. 1906.
MARRIED: Jennie Louise Barr, Chicago, Ill., Sept. 25, 1912. CHILDREN: Alfred Barr, Sept. 5, 1914; Jennie Louise, Oct. 19, 1917; Donald Frank, March 17, 1926.
OCCUPATION: Accountant.
ADDRESSEs: (home) 1124 No. Harvey Ave., Oak Park, Ill.; (business) 10 So. LaSalle St., Chicago, Ill.
For three years after graduating I was in the Graduate School, where I held a teaching fellowship, specializing in economics. For two years I was secretary of Northwestern University School of Commerce, and since then have been in various business positions. For seven years, 1912 to 1919, I was office manager for J. W. Butler Paper Company, in Chicago. For the past several years I have been a public accountant on my own, operating under the firm name of F. R. Mason & Co.
My life has been singularly free from either high lights or shadows. Outside of one trip to Europe before the war, I have had no mad adventures. My chief preoccupation has been raising a family. I meet the Chicago boys of our class about once a month, and so keep in vicarious touch with the past and present glories of our Alma Mater.
PUBLICATIONS: “The Silk Industry in the United States,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1908; “Business Organization and Principles,” (Cree Pub. Co., 1910); various translations from French and German.
MEMBER OF: Harvard Club, Chicago, Ill.
Source: Harvard Class of 1905, Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Report (June, 1930), pp. 410-11.
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From the Class of 1905
Thirtieth Reunion (1935)
FRANK RICHARDSON MASON has spent the last five years “accounting, and getting clients out of trouble when Uncle Sam thinks they’ve ‘rationalized’ on their income tax” During this time he has performed the following public service: “gone to one Phi Beta Kappa dinner and stuck it out to the bitter end; contributed generously to Samuel Insull’s total of defalcation.” He has also written several diatribes condemning the new dealers for not paying the swatters for the home runs they didn’t make, and has spent a good deal of time standing on his head to see if he can’t make the new deal look right side up. His chief aversion is “The guy with one idea which will solve the world’s problems.” But he adds seriously, “After a life of frugal toil, having accumulated a few thousands by diligence and self denial, I have lost everything — except faith, hope, and charity.
Faith — that the American people will rise with the strength of their own backbone out of the Slough of Despond in which they have been wallowing for the past five years; Hope — that there are greater horizons further on than those we have already seen, and that dauntless souls will forge ahead to call us on to the visions discernible from the new heights; Charity — for the loud-mouthed demagogues continually shouting a rallying cry for every mirage that shimmers over the barren desert of our economic outlook. I still have Faith, Hope, and Charity, and I agree with St. Paul, the greatest of these is Charity.” Address: 10 South La Salle Street, Chicago, Ill.
Source: Harvard Class of 1905, Thirtieth Anniversary Report (June, 1935), p. 91.
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Frank Richardson Mason died Jan 22, 1953 in Oak Park, Illinois.
Source: Find-a-grave website.
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Image Source: Frank Richardson Mason’s 1905 Class Album picture and his twenty-fifth reunion portrait.