Scarcely a week goes by for anyone with a Ph.D. these days that does not bring some sort of request for a financial contribution from the one or other alma mater. I can easily imagine that the sort of letter transcribed below from the head of the department of economics at the University of Chicago was still something of a novelty in 1931.
Looking at the list of the former Chicago economics fellows from whom contributions had been requested, I noticed that the first four names are alphabetically arranged, the next four names are likewise alphabetically arranged, the next four names (with one exception) are also so arranged as are the next two and the final three. The facts, that (i) the sample letter (December 16, 1931 to Trevor Arnett) was addressed to the 13th person on the list and (ii) dated only two days before the cover letter to University of Chicago Trustee James Stifler was sent, lead me to conclude that Chairman Millis had a response rate of two for the dozen letters he first sent out. I am somewhat surprised he even sent off his letter to James Stifler before receiving at least one positive response. Maybe Millis was told something like “Why don’t you folks write to some of your earlier fellows and ask for money” and he just wanted to show for the record that he had tried.
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The University of Chicago
Department of Economics
December 18, 1931
Dr. James M. Stifler
The President’s Office
Faculty Exchange
Dear Mr. Stifler:
I enclose a carbon copy of a letter written to Mr. Arnett, one of the former fellows in Economics, and a list of the seventeen persons to whom such letters were sent. For your information, I may say that to date I have had only two replies, both of them in terms of “I regret.”
Sincerely yours
[signed]
H. A. Millis
HAM-W
Encl.
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December 16, 1931
COPY
Mr. Trevor Arnett
General Education Board
61 Broadway
New York City
Dear Mr. Arnett:
I have talked over an idea I have had for some time with a few men who have held fellowships in Economics at the University of Chicago, and, finding a favorable reaction to it, now write you. The idea is this: that those of us who feel so inclined should contribute at our convenience some part of all of the stipend received when fellows to a fund to finance fellowships in Economics at the University. The underlying thought is that there is a good case for those of us who were fortunate enough to have assistance at a crucial time in our training to lend help to others in the generation following us. The need for well trained men is great; many very promising young men and women cannot get the necessary training without some financial aid. Last year, for example, our Department had 175 applications for fellowships and scholarships. Twenty of the applicants for fellowships, and twenty-seven altogether, we graded as A-1, but, with some funds secured from the outside, we were able to grant fellowships to only six of the twenty. From the information I have, it would appear that more than one-half of the remaining fourteen have had to forego entirely or postpone their program of work leading to the doctorate in Economics here or elsewhere. Next year we shall have less fellowship money from the sources available this year.
Do you feel inclined to join some of us in this plan? If you do, will you not write me and state to what extent you wish to contribute and when? In making your decision, you will, of course, keep in mind that there is no desire to exert pressure upon any one, and that there is no thought that a fellowship granted has not been fully earned.
Sincerely yours,
H. A. Millis
HAM-W
List of those written:
| 1. | Professor Henry Rand Hatfield | Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, California |
| 2. | Dr. Simon J. McLean | Board of Railway Commissioners, Ottawa, Canada |
| 3. | George G. Tunell | The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, Railway Exchange Building, Chicago, Ill. |
| 4. | Professor Henry P. Willis | Columbia University, New York City |
| 5. | Professor C. A. Arbuthnot | Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio |
| 6. | Dr. Earl Dean Howard | Hart, Schaffner & Marx, 36 South Franklin Street, Chicago, Illinois |
| 7. | Professor W. W. Swanson | Department of Economics, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada |
| 8. | Miss Anna Pritchitt Youngman | 97 Columbia Heights Post Office, Brooklyn, New York |
| 9. | Professor H. G. Moulton | The Brookings Institution, 744 Jackson Place, Washington, D.C. |
| 10. | Professor W. C. Mitchell | c/o D. H. MacGregor, Oxford University, Oxford, England |
| 11. | Professor Duncan A. MacGibbon | Board of Grain Commissioners, Winnipeg, Canada |
| 12. | Professor James A. Moffat | University of Indiana, Bloomington, Indiana |
| 13. | Mr. Trevor Arnett | General Education Board, 61 Broadway, New York City |
| 14. | Professor Stephen B. Leacock | McGill University, Montreal, Canada |
| 15. | Professor Spurgeon Bell | Department of Economics, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio |
| 16. | Miss Hazel Kyrk | University of Chicago, Faculty Exchange |
| 17. | Professor Sumner Slichter | School of Business Administration, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts |
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[Carbon copy]
December 21, 1931
Dear Mr. Millis:
I have received and read with great interest the letter which you sent to Mr. Trevor Arnett. It seems to me to be an excellent letter and I do not see how anybody could object to it.
I fancy that you may receive some further regrets but I hope that there may be a considerable number who will feel that they can fall in with the plan.
Faithfully yours,
James M. Stifler
Mr. H. A. Millis
Department of Economics
Faculty Exchange
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Source: University of Chicago Archives. Office of the President. Hutchins Administration. Records. Box 72, Folder “Economics Dept, 1929-1931”.
Image: Social Science Building, University of Chicago.