In a handwritten letter to President William R. Harper, the head of the Department of Political Economy, Professor J. Laurence Laughlin, responds to a request for harmonizing the course offerings between his department and those of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology headed by (Sociology) Professor Albion W. Small.
Laughlin signals his interest in establishing mutually recognized borders between the disciplines and he appears to hint that because Professor Small believes “Social Science” (by which the Department of Sociology/Anthropology is apparently meant) is “the dome built on the pillars” of ethics, political science, jurisprudence, history and political economy, Small’s department imperially claims curricular turf in the named disciplines.
Laughlin wants to reassure Harper that reports that had apparently filtered to the university administration of personal animosity between Small and Laughlin have no real foundation but he remains firm about the principle of rendering to the department of political economy what is due political economy.
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Newman, N. Y.,
July 17, 1894
My dear Pres. Harper,
I have your letter of the 10th inst. [instante mense] in which you say: “I hope that it will be possible for you and Mr. Small to arrange the work of the departments in such a manner as that (1) there shall be no duplication, and (2) the courses may fit into each other to the best possible advantage”.
I think you will find both Mr. Small [Albion Woodbury Small, Head Professor of Sociology] and myself quite ready to do anything we can to save the University from any criticism. Both of us, however, will probably be struck by the lack of point in what has been said. I do not quite see what is meant by “harmony of work between the two departments”, as opposed to what now exists. As I understand Mr. Small, Social Science takes its data from the existing sciences, of which Political Economy is only one, the others being Philosophy (or Ethics), Political Science, Jurisprudence, and History. Social Science is the dome built on the pillars of all these sciences. The relations of Political Economy to Social Science are not other than the relations of Political Science, or Philosophy, or History—and there is no reason for singling out Political Economy. I can see, of course, that students of Social Science should have their Political Economy before they enter Social Science—under the above relations, and I have noticed that few students in Social Science are also taking Political Economy. But this probably quite as true of Social Science and Political Science.
I am speaking, of course, not of the sub-divisions of Anthropology, or Sanitary Science. They are not in question. And as to the study of dependent classes (Dr. Henderson’s [Charles Richmond Henderson, Associate Professor of Sociology in the Divinity School and University Chaplain] work) much of it is independent of economic data. So I have spoken only of Mr. Small’s work.
If there has been any discourtesy as to personal work, I shall do my best to stop it. But if any discussion exists relating to scientific work, independent of persons, such as that of the relations of the sciences, I believe it to be healthy, and I should welcome it so far as it relates to Political Economy. The proper University spirit demands it. And it is also to be remembered that the University of Chicago is the only institution in the world—so far as my knowledge goes—in which a division is made into Political Economy, Political Science, History, Social Science, and Ethics; and there must naturally be some questions arise [sic] to boundaries.
So far as reduplication goes the only case I know of is a course by Mr. Cummings [John Cummings, Reader in Political Economy; A.B. (1891), A. M. (1892), Harvard; University of Chicago (1894), Ph.D.] on the Utopias (similar to one by Mr. Thomas [William I. Thomas, Instructor in Ethnic Psychology; A.B. (1884), A.M. (1885), Ph.D. (1886) University of Tennessee]). I was ignorant of Mr. Thomas’s course when it was agreed to allow Mr. Cummings to give his. Before leaving Chicago, it happens that I had advised Mr. Cummings to drop that course, & he assented. Hence, although it appears in our programme, it will not appear in the quarterly calendar. Even though he expected to give it an economic treatment, I felt that the could use his powers better elsewhere. As to all the other courses they have a purely economic raison d’être; and when first sent to Mr. Small he found no difficulty in seeing clearly the line of demarkation between his field and mine.
That the courses should “fit into each other” in the two departments more than they do now, it would be our wish to arrange; but I think it would be difficult to do it better.
May it not be possible that the remarks you have heard have come from people who really know very little of the actual work of the two departments? Certainly in connection with the examinations of Mr. Cummings and Mr. Learned [Learned, Henry Barrett: A. B. (1890) Harvard; A.M. (1894) University of Chicago], Mr. Small was eminently fair & candid. If there is anything more explicit than you have written me, I should be glad to hear of it.
Sincerely yours,
[signed]
J. Laurence Laughlin
Source: University of Chicago Library, Department of Special Collections. Office of the President. Harper, Judson and Burton Administrations. Records. Box 57, Folder “Laughlin, J. Laurence, 1892-1917”.
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Department of Political Economy
Social and Economic Ideals. Plato. Aristotle. Aquinas. Machiavelli. More. Hooker. Hobbes. Locke. Modern schemes of social reformation. Reading and Reports.
4 hrs. a week, [Double major]. Autumn Quarter.
Dr. Cummings
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
The Historical Sociologies.—Exposition of significant classical, mediaeval, and modern attempts to interpret social phenomena. Criticism of data, methods, and conclusions.
[Double major] Summer and Winter Quarters.
Dr. Thomas [Fellow in Sociology].
Lecture-Study Department (University Extension Division)
Utopias: (1) Plato, The Republic. (2) More, Utopia, (3) Hobbes, The Leviathan. (4) Swift, Gulliver’s Travels. (5) Socialistic Dreamers: St. Simon, Fourier, Robert Owen, Cabet. (6) Bellamy, Looking Backward.
Daniel Fulcomer, A.M., Lecturer in Sociology.
Source: University of Chicago. Annual Register, 1893-1894, pp. 47, 63, 246
Image Source: University of Chicago. Cap and Gown, 1895.