When I tried to find an internet link to a copy of the book Domestic and Foreign Exchange: Theory and Practice by Ira B. Cross (1923) for Paul Douglas’ 1925 Amherst reading list, I came upon the following contribution to the oral history of the Berkeley Economics Department by Cross that includes his “review of the troops”.
Portrait of an Economics Professor. An Interview Conducted by Joann Dietz Ariff (1967)
The transcript and 10 page appendix “Economics at the University of California, 1871-1942” (135 pages includes his “Bibliography on Chrysanthemums”, cf. Simkhovitch at Columbia who himself was an expert on delphiniums)
The actual recording (Two parts, 97 minutes)
I append here some biographical information on Cross who appears to have been quite a character (“gadfly of the Academic Senate”).
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Excerpt from University of California:
In Memoriam, September 1978
Ira Brown Cross, Economics: Berkeley
1880-1977
Flood Professor Emeritus
On April 2, 1953, Professor Cross sent an autobiographical statement to the information office, Berkeley campus. In an accompanying letter, he explained his purpose. “I know what difficulties are involved in obtaining data on a deceased member of the faculty…so I have prepared some `stuff’ for your files–which I hope you won’t have to use for years to come.” His hope was fulfilled; death occurred twenty-four years later on March 24, 1977 in his ninety-seventh year. The statement placed in the files reads as follows:
Ira Brown Cross was born at Decatur, Illinois, December 1, 1880, a descendant of Governor William Bradford and John and Priscilla Alden of Plymouth Colony. He was educated in the public schools of Decatur and Moline, Illinois, at the University of Wisconsin (A.B., 1905; M.A., 1906) and at Stanford University (Ph.D., 1909). In 1951, the University of Wisconsin conferred the honorary degree, Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) upon him in recognition of his contributions to the field of economics.
He served on the faculties of Stanford University, 1909-1914, and the University of California, 1914-1951, where he was Professor of Economics on the Flood Foundation from 1919 until the time of his retirement in June 1951. At various times he has been chairman of the Department of Economics and Acting Dean of the College of Commerce. While at Stanford University he served as chairman of the Probation Committee of the Juvenile Court of Santa Clara County. Because of his interest in criminology he became associated with Professor A.M. Kidd, Chief of Police August Vollmer, and Dr. Hoag of Pasadena in the establishment of the Berkeley Police School, which became internationally recognized, and for several years thereafter participated in its activities as a member of its staff.
Dr. Cross has served as a member of the faculties of the Stockton, Oakland, Fresno, and San Francisco chapters of the American Institute of Banking, which is the educational branch of the American Bankers Association, and from 1915 until 1960 [dates added] served as dean of the faculty of the San Francisco Chapter. In 1928 he prepared texts on “Economics” and “Money and Banking” for the national organization. In 1923 he declined appointment to the position of national educational director of the American Institute of Banking. He was one of the original board of regents of the Graduate School of Banking established at Rutgers College by the American Institute of Banking in 1935.
In 1921 the San Francisco Building Trades Council conferred honorary membership upon him because of briefs which he had prepared at various times for local unions engaged in arbitration proceedings. In 1934 he was chairman of the Fact Finding Committee appointed by the late Governor Rolph, which brought to a satisfactory conclusion the violent cotton pickers’ strike in the lower San Joaquin Valley.
During the First World War and under the auspices of the War Industries Board, Dr. Cross gave a course in employment management to a group of personnel relations men and women who were at that time supervising the labor relations of twenty-eight industries engaged in war work in western states. It was the second course of its kind in the United States, the first having been given at Harvard University. He was also active in the formation of the California State Employment Managers Association in 1918, the first in the nation, and for some years thereafter served as its economist and adviser. He also pioneered in labor education by arranging a series of lectures by University professors before the San Francisco Labor Council and by establishing the first labor school on the Pacific Coast.
Dr. Cross wrote numerous articles on economic subjects and the following volumes: A History of the Labor Movement of California (1935); History of Banking in California (two volumes) (1927); Essentials of Socialism (1911); Collective Bargaining in San Francisco (1917); Cooperative Stores in the United States (1906); Economics (1931); Money and Banking (1931); Domestic and Foreign Exchange (1923); and editor of Frank Roney, Irish Rebel and California Labor Leader (1931). He was on the staff of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin as associate book reviewer during 1907-1913, and was editorial writer on the Coast Banker (San Francisco) during 1914-1916.
He was a recognized grower and hybridizer of iris and chrysanthemums, and was the first president of the East Bay Chrysanthemum Study Club.
“The Doc,” as he was called affectionately by associates, his former teaching fellows, and many hundreds of students, portrayed himself in the traditional format of academic biography; but he did not, and no doubt, could not interpret his finest contribution to the University of California. He was undoubtedly one of the greatest teachers on the Berkeley campus during his career. Quantitatively, it is estimated that more than 60,000 students sat below his rostrum in his classes in elementary economics and in money and banking. In addition, many thousands more were enrolled in his courses in the American Institute of Banking and in his popular public lectures. One of his former students, now an Emeritus Professor at UCLA, informed the chairman of this committee that “The Doc” was “extraordinarily influential as a teacher, probably had more impact on more students than any other professor at the Berkeley campus.” He took clean-cut positions in economic and social issues, was thoroughly iconoclastic with respect to some social mores, and above all, was a stern disciplinarian in handling his large lecture classes. There are literally dozens of stories, often by now with considerable embellishment, about episodes in his classes. An important reason for his enormous impact was his basic desire to shake the students (as well as his colleagues) out of their complacency. He was considered the gadfly of the Academic Senate.
One of his former students, Richard G. Gettell, characterized The Doc’s teaching method as “education by sting.” President Robert Gordon Sproul, in conferring the honorary LL.D. degree in 1957, characterized him as “a teacher blessed in the memory of generations of students as a skillful disturber of complacency and a begetter of inquiring minds, seeking always to lead youth from illusion to reality, through a world of panaceas and proverbs.”
The Doc was not only a great teacher, he was also a trainer of teachers. The teaching fellows working with him became members of an extraordinarily well-organized and supervised educational program. He kept in touch with his former assistants up to the very end. His son, Ira B., Junior, has compiled a list of 228 such persons from his records, many of whom have predeceased him. His former assistants took the initiative in founding the Ira B. Cross room in Barrows Hall with its portrait by Peter Blos.
Ira B. Cross truly enjoyed three careers–one in the field of labor and social reform–another in finance and banking–and finally, after academic retirement, as a practicing botanist. In each of these fields he won outstanding recognition.
In 1911, he was married to Blanche Mobley. They had two sons, Ira B., Jr., and Carleton Parker. His wife and second son both predeceased him. Professor Cross is survived by his son Ira B. Cross, Jr. and his wife and four grandsons, and two great-grandchildren.
E.T. Grether M.M. Davisson R.A. Gordon F.L. Kidner
Source: University of California: In Memoriam, September 1978. A publication of the Academic Senate, UC Berkeley.
Image Source: Blue and Gold 1922. (University of California yearbook)