The University of Chicago’s first academic year was 1892/93. The first annual publication of the University Register announced the course offering for 1893/94. This is close enough to the big bang of the department of political economy founded by J. Laurence Laughlin for most purposes. I have added some biographical data on the faculty taken from the following year’s Register. That biographical information is placed within brackets. Otherwise, as in most other transcriptions, I have attempted to give the “look and feel” of the original formatting.
_______________________
The following abbreviations are used in the list of Courses of Instruction:
M=Minor. DM=Double Minor. MM=Major. DMM=Double Major.
Courses marked with a star (*) are intended exclusively or primarily for Graduate Students. Courses the numbers of which are enclosed in brackets [ ] are not given in 1893-4.
_______________________
II. THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
OFFICERS OF INSTRUCTION.
J. LAURENCE LAUGHLIN, PH.D., Head Professor of Political Economy.
[A. B., Harvard University, 1873; A. M. and Ph. D., HarvardUniversity,1876. Master in Private Classical School, 1873-8; Instructor in Political Economy, Harvard University,1878-83; Assistant Professor in Political Economy, Harvard University, 1883-8. Secretary and President of the Philadelphia Manufacturers’ Mutual Fire Insurance Co.,1888-90; Professor of Political Economy and Finance, Cornell University, 1890-2; Editor of the Journal of Political Economy.]
EDWARD W. BEMIS, PH.D. University Extension Associate Professor of Political Economy.
[A. B., Amherst College, 1880, and A. M., 1884; Ph. D., Johns Hopkins University, 1885; Lecturer, Amherst College, 1886; Vassar and Carleton Colleges and Ohio University, 1887; Vanderbilt University, 1888-9; Northwestern University, 1892; Adjunct Professor of History and Economics, Vanderbilt University, 1889-92; Secretary of the Training Department, University of Chicago, 1892-4.]
ADOLPH C. MILLER, A.M., Professor of Finance.
[A. B., University of California, 1887; A. M., Harvard University, 1888; Instructor in Political Economy. Harvard University, 1889-90; Lecturer on Political Economy, University of California, 1890-1, and Assistant Professor-elect of History and Political Science in same, 1891; Associate Professor of Political Economy and Finance, Cornell University, 1891-2; Associate Professor of Political Economy. University of Chicago, 1892-3.]
WILLIAM CALDWELL, A.M., D.S., Instructor in Political Economy.
[A. M., pass degree. 1884. A. M., Honors of the First Class, 1886, University of Edinburgh; First place on the Honors List, with Bruce of Grangehill Fellowship, 1886; Student at Jena, Paris, Cambridge, Berlin, Freiburg; Ferguson Scholarship (open to honorsmen of all Scottish Universities), 1887; Assistant Professor of Logic. Edinburgh University, 1888-90; Locumtenens Professor of the Moral Sciences, Cardiff for Winter term of 1888; Sir William Hamilton Fellow, Edinburgh, 1888 for three years; Shaw Fellow, 1890, for five years; Lecturer of University Association for Education of Women, Edinburgh, 1889: Government Examiner for Degrees in the Moral Sciences, St. Andrews University, 1890, for three years; Lecturer on Logic and Methodology, Sage School of Philosophy, Cornell University, 1891-2; Tutor in Political Economy, the University of Chicago, 1892-3; Shaw Lecturer, University of Edinburgh, 1898; Doctor in Mental Science, ibidem, 1893.]
WILLIAM HILL. A.M., Instructor in Political Economy.
[A. B., University of Kansas, 1890; A. B. ,Harvard University, 1891; A.M., ibid., 1892; Lee Memorial Fellow in Harvard University, 1891-3; Instructor in Political Economy, ibid., 1893; Tutor in Political Economy, University of Chicago, 1893-4.]
THORSTEIN B. VEBLEN, PH.D., Tutor in Political Economy.
[A.B., Carleton College, 1880; Graduate student, Johns Hopkins University; Ph.D., Yale University, 1884; Fellow in Economics and Finance, Cornell University, 1891-2; Fellow in the University of Chicago, 1892-3; Reader in Political Economy, ibid., 1893-4.]
ISAAC A. HOURWICH, PH.D., Docent in Statistics.
[Graduate, Classical Gymnasium, Minsk, Russia, 1877; Candidate of Jurisprudence (Master of Law), Demidoff Juridical Lyceum, Yaroslavl, 1887; Member of the Bar, Court of Appeals of Wilno, Russia, 1887-90; Seligman Fellow, Columbia College, 1891-2; Ph.D., ibid., 1893.]
INTRODUCTORY.
The work of the department is intended to provide, by symmetrically arranged courses of instruction, a complete training in the various branches of economics, beginning with elementary work and passing by degrees to the higher work of investigation. A chief aim of the instruction will be to teach methods of work, to foster a judicial spirit, and to cultivate an attitude of scholarly independence. (1) The student may pass, in the various courses of instruction, over the whole field of economics. (2) When fitted, he will be urged to pursue some special investigation. (3) For the encouragement of research and the training of properly qualified teachers of economics, Fellowships in Political Economy have been founded. (4) To provide a means of communication between investigators and the public, a review, entitled THE JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, has been established, to be edited by the officers of instruction in the department; while (5) larger single productions will appear in a series of bound volumes to be known as Economic Studies of the University of Chicago.
COURSES.
[1893-94]
1. Principles of Political Economy. —Exposition of the laws of Political Economy in its present state. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, (Laughlin’s edition). Dunbar, Banking.
DM. Autumn and Summer Quarters.
PROFESSOR MILLER AND MR. HILL.
Open only to students who elect either 1a or 1b in the Winter Quarter.
1a. Advanced Political Economy.—Cairnes, Leading Principles of Political Economy. Marshall, Principles of Economics (vol. I).
DM. Winter Quarter.
PROFESSOR MILLER.
1b. Descriptive Political Economy. —Lectures and Reading on Money, Banking, Coöperation, Socialism, Taxation, and Finance. Hadley, Railroad Transportation. Laughlin, Bimetallism.
DM. Winter Quarter.
MR. CALDWELL.
2. Industrial and Economic History. —Leading Events in the Economic History of Europe and America since the middle of the Eighteenth Century. Lectures and Reading.
2 DM. Winter and Spring Quarters.
MR. HILL.
3. Scope and Method of Political Economy. —Origin and Development of the Historical School. Lectures and Reports.
DM. Winter Quarter.
MR. CALDWELL.
4. Unsettled Problems of Economic Theory. —Questions of Exchange and Distribution. Critical examination of selections from leading writers.
DM. Spring Quarter.
PROFESSOR LAUGHLIN.
5. History of Political Economy. —History of the Development of Economic Thought, embracing the Mercantilists and the Physiocrats, followed by a critical study of Adam Smith and his English and Continental Successors. Lectures and Reading Reports.
DM. Winter and Spring Quarters.
MR. CALDWELL.
6. Economic Factors in Civilization. —Study of the origin of some phases of our present Industrial Conditions. Lectures and Reports.
Summer Quarter.
MR. CALDWELL.
7. Socialism. —History of Socialistic Theories. Recent Socialistic Developments. Critical Review of Theoretical Writers, Programs and Criticisms. Lectures and Reports.
2 DM Winter and Spring Quarters.
DR. VEBLEN.
8. Social Economics. —Social Questions examined from the Economic standpoint:
A. Poor Laws, and kindred topics to be announced later.
DM. Spring Quarter.
MR. CUMMINGS.
B. Social Reforms—Future of the Working-classes. Immigration. State Interference. Insurance—Legislation. Arbeitercolonien.
DM. Summer Quarter.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR BEMIS.
C. Coöperation. Profit-Sharing. Building Associations. Postal Savings. Trade Unions.
DM. Spring Quarter.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR BEMIS.
9. Money and Practical Economics. —Training in the Theoretical and Historical Investigation of Important Questions of the Day. Lectures and Theses.
DM. Autumn and Winter Quarters.
PROFESSOR LAUGHLIN.
10. Statistics. —Methods and Practical Training. Organization of Bureaus. Tabulation and Presentation of Results.
DM. Autumn Quarter.
DR. HOURWICH.
11. Advanced Statistics. —Statistics of Prices and Markets.
DM. Winter Quarter.
DR. HOURWICH.
12. Railway Transportation. —History and Development of Railways. Theories of Rates. Combination. Investments. State Ownership or Control. Lectures, Reports, Discussions, and Reading.
2 DM. Autumn and Winter Quarters.
MR. HILL.
13. Tariff History of the United States. —Legislation since 1780. Economic Effects. Political Causes. Lectures and Reports with Discussions. Reading.
Spring Quarter.
MR. HILL.
14. Financial History of the United States.—Rapid Survey of the Financial Experiences of the Colonies and the Confederation. Detailed Study of the Course of American Legislation on Currency, Debts. and Banking since 1789. Lectures and Reports.
DM. Spring Quarter.
PROFESSOR MILLER.
15. Finance. —Public Expenditures. Theories and Methods of Taxation. Public Debts. Financial Administration.
DM. Autumn Quarter.
PROFESSOR MILLER.
16. American Agriculture.—Movements of Prices. Foreign Competition. Changing Conditions of Agriculture. Land Tenure. Lectures, Reading, and Reports.
DM. Autumn Quarter.
DR. VEBLEN.
[17.] Banking. —Comparison of Modern Systems. Study of Principles. Lectures and Theses.
DM.
MR. HILL.
*18. Seminar in Finance.
2 DM. Winter and Spring Quarters.
PROFESSOR MILLER.
*19. Economic Seminar.
3 DM. Autumn, Winter, and Spring Quarters.
PROFESSOR LAUGHLIN.
SOURCES:
University of Chicago, Annual Register. July, 1892—July, 1893 with Announcements for 1893-4, pp. 38, 40-41.
University of Chicago, Annual Register. July, 1893—July, 1894 with Announcements for 1894-5, pp. 11-18, 46-47.