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Columbia. Economics Ph.D. alumnus. Social insurance pioneer Isaac M. Rubinow, 1914

 

In the process of identifying participants in Edwin R.A. Seligman’s advanced seminar in Political Economy and Finance at Columbia University in 1902-03, I came across the name of Isaac Max Rubinow. His life and career were definitely interesting enough to warrant a separate blog post. Rubinow was a Russian-Jewish immigrant who became interested in social insurance after writing a paper on “Labor Insurance” for Seligman’s seminar. I’ll let the materials put together below speak for themselves, but I am puzzled by the three year delay between the submission of a printed draft of his dissertation submission (1911) and the awarding of a Ph.D. (1914). 

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Rubinow’s major works on social insurance

Studies in Workmen’s Insurance: Italy, Russia, Spain“ Copy of dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy” in the library of the University of California. New York, 1911. These are the three chapters he wrote for Volume II of the Twenty-Fourth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor 1909. Workmen’s Insurance and Compensation Systems in Europe.  Two volumes. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1911. [First volume: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany]

Social Insurance, With Special Reference to American Conditions. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co; 1913.

From a series of fifteen lectures given at the New York School of Philanthropy in the spring of 1912.

The Quest for Social Security. New York: H. Holt, 1934.

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Negative review of Columbia Professor, Vladimir Simkhovitch,
on Karl Marx and socialism

Was Marx Wrong? The Economic Theories of Karl Marx Tested in the Light of Modern Industrial Development. New York: The Marx Institute of America, 1914.

Revised review of Vladimir Simkhovitch’s book Marxism versus Socialism originally published in the Sunday magazine section of the New York Call (Nov. 2 and 9, 1913).

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Rubinow’s life up to age 36
(The addenda to his submitted dissertation)

VITA

I.M. Rubinow was born on April 19, 1875, in the Province of Grodno, Russia. In 1883 he moved with his parents to Moscow, where he remained until 1892, receiving his secondary education in the Classical Department (Gymnasialabteilung) of a German school, Petri-Pauli-Schule.

He arrived in America in February, 1893, and entered the junior class of Columbia University in the fall of the same year, graduating in 1895 as A.B. He was appointed University Scholar in Biology for 1895-1906, and studied Biology, Physiology and kindred subjects under Professors Henry F. Osborn, Edmund Wilson, Frederick S. Lee and others. In 1898 he graduated from the New York University of Medicine with the degree of M.D., and remained in medical practice until 1903. Meanwhile in 1900 he entered the School of Political Science of Columbia University, and studied there until 1903, taking courses in Economics, Statistics, Sociology and Political Philosophy, under Professors Edwin R A. Seligman, Franklin H. Giddings, Henry B. Seager, Henry L. Moore and William A. Dunning.

In July, 1903, he gave up the practice of medicine to accept a position of examiner in the United States Civil Service Commission in Washington, D. C. In July, 1904, he was transferred to the Bureau of Statistics of the United States Department of Agriculture, as Economic Expert; in May, 1907, to the Bureau of Statistics of the United States Department of Commerce and Labor, as Chief of the Division of Foreign Statistics, and in March, 1908, to the Bureau of Labor of the United States Department of Commerce and Labor, as Statistical Expert.

He severed his connection with the United States civil service on May 1, 1911, to accept a position as Chief Statistician of the Ocean Accident & Guarantee Corporation in New York.

In the fall of 1911 he was appointed lecturer on Social Insurance in the New York School of Philanthropy.

He began his literary activity in 1897 as American correspondent of several Russian daily papers in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and since 1898 was the staff correspondent of all the publications of the Russian Ministry of Finance which include a daily and weekly, and at one time a monthly economic review.

In addition to fifteen years of newspaper work he has published many Government reports and magazine articles on economic, statistical, financial and social topics in English and Russian, a list of which is given on the following pages.

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

ENGLISH

  1. How Much Have the Trusts Accomplished? Soc. Rev., Oct., 1902.
  2. Bernstein and Industrial Concentration. Soc. Rev., Feb., 1903.
  3. The Industrial Development of the South. Soc. Rev., March, 1903.
  4. Concentration or Removal, Which? Hebrew, July 17th and 24th, 1903. (Reprinted in Menorah, Aug., 1903.)
  5. The Kisheneff Pogrom. Arena, Aug., 1903 (signed “A Russian”).
  6. Removal: A New Patent Medicine. Hebrew, Sept. 25th, 1903.
  7. Labor Insurance. Pol. Econ., June, 1904.
  8. Compulsory State Insurance of Workingmen. Amer. Acad., Sept., 1904.
  9. Compulsory Insurance. The Chautauquan, March, 1905.
  10. Economic and Industrial Conditions of the Russian Jew in New York. (A chapter in the “Russian Jews in the United States,” by Ch. S. Bernheimer, Philadelphia, 1905, John C. Winston Co.)
  11. The New Russian Workingmen’s Compensation Act. Bulletin, U. S. Bur. Labor, May, 1905.
  12. Premiums in Retail Trade. Polit. Econ., Sept., 1905.
  13. Poverty and Death Rate. Publ. Am. Stat. Assoc., Dec., 1905.
  14. The Jews in Russia. Yale Review, Aug., 1906.
  15. Is Municipal Ownership Worth While? Soc. Review, Aug., 1906.
  16. Meat Animals and Packing House Products. S. Dept. Agric., Bur. Statistics, Bull. No. 10, 1906 (published anonymously).
  17. Norway, Sweden and Russia as markets for packing house products, Ibid., No. 41, 1906, (published anonymously).
  18. Russia’s Wheat Surplus. Ibid., No. 42, 1906.
  19. The Problem of Domestic Service. Polit. Econ., Oct., 1906.
  20. Women in Manufactures: A Criticism. Journ. Polit. Econ., Jan., 1907.
  21. Economic Condition of the Jews in Russia. No. 72, U.S. Bur. Labor., Sept., 1907.
  22. Western Civilization and the Birth Rate (discussion). Journ. Sociol., March, 1907.
  23. Russia’s Wheat Trade. S. Dept. Agric., Bur. Statistics, Bull. No. 65, 1908.
  24. Russian Wheat and Wheat Flour in European Markets. Ibid., Bull. 66, 1908. 99 pages.
  25. Commercial America in 1907. (Compiled and edited anonymously). of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Statistics, 1908.
  26. The Economic Aspects of the Negro Problem. Soc. Rev., Vol. VIII: Feb., March, April, May, June, 1908. Vol. IX: July, Sept., Oct., 1908; Jan., March., June, 1909. Vol. X: July, Sept., Dec., 1909; May, June, 1910. (Signed I. M. Robbins.)
  27. Problem of Domestic Service (discussion). Journ. Sociol., March, 1909.
  28. Depth and Breadth of the Servant Problem. McClure’s, March, 1910. (In conjunction with Daniel Durant.)
  29. Domestic Service as a Labor Problem. Home Econ. April, 1911.
  30. Compulsory Old Age Insurance in France. Sc. Quart., Sept., 1911.
  31. Workmen’s Insurance in Italy. Twenty-fourth An. Rept., S. Comm. and Labor, Chapter VII. 1911.
  32. Workmen’s Insurance in Russia. Ibid., Chapter IX. 1911.
  33. Workmen’s Insurance in Spain. Ibid., Chapter X. 1911.
  34. Workmen’s Insurance in France. Ibid, Chapter IV. (In conjunction with G. A. Weber) 1911.

RUSSIAN

  1. The School Season in New York. Viestnik Vospitania (The Messenger of Education.), Oct., 1897.
  2. American University Education. Ibid., Jan., Feb., 1898.
  3. A University for the People. Ibid., Oct., 1898.
  4. The Social Movement in the United States. Sieverny Viestnik (The Northern Messenger), March, 1898.
  5. The Policy of Expansion. Znamya (The Banner), May, 1899.
  6. New Journalism in America. Knizhki Nedieli (The Week’s Library), March, June, July, 1900.
  7. Coeducation in America. Viestnik Vospitania (Messenger of Education), Oct., 1900.
  8. Secondary Education in America. Russkaya Shkola. (The Russian School), Nov., Dec., 1901.
  9. The Process of Concentration in American Industry, Narodnoye Khoziaistvo (National Economics), March, Apr., 1902.
  10. Letters from America. Voskhod (The Dawn), Apr., 1902.
  11. John B. Clark’s Trusts. A Review. Russkoye Economicheskoye Obosrenie (Russian Economic Review), July, 1902.
  12. Peters’ Capital and Labor—A Review. Ibid, Aug., 1902.
  13. Roberts’ The Anthracite Coal Industry—A Review. Ibid, Sept., 1902.
  14. Burton’s Commercial Crises—A Review. Ibid, Oct., 1902.
  15. The American Immortals. Obrazovanie (Education). Oct., 1902.
  16. Industrial Feudalism in the United States. Nauchnoe Obosrenie (The Scientific Review), Jan., Feb., 1902.
  17. Hamilton’s Savings and Saving Institutions—A Review. Russkoye Economicheskoye Obosrenie (Russian Economic Review), Jan., 1903.
  18. Seligman’s Economic Interpretation of History—A Review. Ibid, Jan., 1903.
  19. Labor Legislation in the U.S. Congress. Ibid., Aug., 1903.
  20. Laughlin & Willes’ Reciprocity—A Review. Ibid., Sept., 1903.
  21. Laughlin’s Money—A Review. Ibid., Nov., 1903.
  22. The Jewish Problem in New York. Voskhod (The Dawn), May, June, July, Aug., 1903.
  23. Chautauqua—an Educational Center. Russkaya Shkola (Russian School), Nov., Dec., 1903.
  24. Child Labor in America. Russkaya Mysl (Russian Thought), Oct., Nov., 1903.
  25. Mead’s Trust Finance—A Review. Ibid. Russkoye Economicheskoye Obozrenie (Russian Economic Review), Feb., 1904.
  26. Mitchell’s Organized Labor—A Review. Ibid., Feb., 1904.
  27. Roberts’ Anthracite Coal Communities—A Review. Ibid., May, 1904.
  28. Gillman’s Methods of Industrial Peace—A Review. Ibid., August, 1904.
  29. To My Correspondents. Voskhod (The Dawn), Sept., Oct., 1904.
  30. American Imperialism. Viestnik Samoobrazovania (The Messenger of Self-Education), Nos. 34, 37, 39, 1904.
  31. Children’s Courts in America. Pedogogicheski Listok (The Pedagogical Monthly), Jan., 1905.
  32. Economic Condition of the Russian Jews in New York. Voskhod (The Dawn), Jan., 1905.
  33. Letters from America. Ibid., April, 1905.
  34. New York Impressions. Ibid., Aug., Sept., Nov., 1905; Jan., 1906.
  35. Ghent’s Benevolent Feudalism—A Review. Russkoye Economicheskoye Obosrenie (Russian Economic Review), Feb., 1905.
  36. Leroy Beaulieu’s Les États-Unis au XX Siècle—A Review. Ibid., Aug., 1905.
  37. Evolution of Domestic Life. Russkaya Mysl (Russian Thought). June, 1905.
  38. American Bureaucracy. Mir Bozhi (God’s World), Sept., 1905.
  39. The Cotton and Cotton Manufactures in the United States. Viestnik Finansov (Messenger of Finance), 41-44, 1905.
  40. Municipal Corruption in the United States. Izvestia Moskovskoi Gorodskoi Dumy (Annals of the Moscow Municipal Council), Oct., 1905.
  41. The Struggle Against Municipal Corruption in Philadelphia. Ibid., Nov., 1905.
  42. Municipal Elections. Ibid., Feb., 1906.
  43. Franchise Capital in American Municipalities. Ibid., March, Apr., 1906.
  44. Municipalization of Street Railways in Chicago. Ibid., June, 1906.
  45. Care of Dependent Children in the United States. Ibid., Sept., 1906.
  46. The Public School System of New York City. Ibid., Oct., 1906; Jan., Feb., 1907.
  47. Domestic Service in America. Russkaya Mysl (Russian Thought), Feb., 1906.
  48. Women in American Industry. Ibid., Apr., 1906.
  49. Professional Work of American Women. Ibid., Sept., 1906.
  50. Capital and Nation’s Food. Sovremenny Mir (The Modern World), Sept., 1906.
  51. Russian Jews in America: I. Economic Condition. Ibid., March, 1907.
  52. Russian Jews in America: II. Social Life. Ibid., June, 1907.
  53. Current Municipal Problems in America. Izviestia Moskovskoy Gorodskoy Dumy (Annals of the Moscow Municipal Council), Aug., 1907.
  54. Finances of New York City. Ibid., March, April, May, 1908.
  55. Women in American Universities. Russkaya Mysl (Russian Thought), Sept., 1908.
  56. The Labor Problem and the American Law. Russkaya Bogatstvo (Russian Wealth), Sept., 1908.
  57. The Presidential Election in the U. S. Ibid., Jan., Feb., 1909.
  58. American Milling Industry. Russky Melnik (The Russian Miller), Jan., Feb., 1909.
  59. A New Study of Municipal Ownership. Ivziestia Moskovskoy Gorodskoy Dumy (Annals of the Moscow Municipal Council), March, 1909.
  60. The Pure Milk Problem. Ibid., May, June, 1909.
  61. Medical Inspection of Schools. Ibid., Sept., 1909.
  62. Playgrounds in American Cities. Ibid, March, 1910.
  63. One Week at a Negro University. Pusskoye Bogatstvo (Russian Wealth), Jan., Feb., 1910.
  64. The High Cost of Living. Viestnik Finansov (Messenger of Finance), No. 20, 1910.
  65. The Problem of Accident Compensation in American Legislation. Ibid., No. 38, 1910.
  66. The Sinking Funds of New York City. Izviestia Moskovskoy Gorodskoy Dumy (Annals of the Moscow Municipal Council), June, 1910.
  67. The Housing Problem in America. Ibid., Dec., 1910.
  68. Industrial Education in the United States. Ibid., March, 1911.

 

Source:  Studies in Workmen’s Insurance: Italy, Russia, Spain. “A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy”. New York, 1911.

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Two Roosevelts

Rubinow’s views influenced Theodore Roosevelt in the drafting of the Progressive Party platform in 1912, which was the first major political party platform to call for social insurance. His 1934 book, The Quest for Security, further established Rubinow as probably the most eminent theorist of social insurance in the first three decades of the 20th century.

Former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Wilbur Cohen, would say of Rubinow: “I.M. Rubinow was one of the giants in the field of social insurance in the pioneering days of social reform in the United States. . . In my 35 years of work in social security, I.M. Rubinow has been an inspiration and an example.” According to former U.S. Senator Paul Douglas (D-IL), President Roosevelt was much influenced by Rubinow’s book and Roosevelt considered Rubinow to be the “greatest single authority upon social security in the United States.”

President Roosevelt owned a copy of Rubinow’s 1934 book “The Quest for Security” and had been reading in the months surrounding the formation of the Committee on Economic Security (CES) which drafted the Administration’s Social Security proposals. When he learned Rubinow was terminally ill, he autographed his copy of Rubinow’s book and sent it to him with this inscription on the flyleaf: “For the Author—Dr. I. M. Rubinow. This reversal of the usual process is because of the interest I have had in reading your book.” (Signed) Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Source: United States Social Security Administration. Social Security History Web page: Social Security Pioneers: Isaac M. Rubinow.

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Rubinow’s relations to the American Medical Association and to Jewish philanthropy

Also active in various political and reform movements during America’s Progressive Era, Rubinow was a member of the American Association of Labor Legislation (AALL) from its formation in 1906. In the early 1910s, he was one of the most effective advocates for workmen’s compensation legislation. Inspired by the success of that movement, in 1913 he turned with other AALL leaders to what Dr Rupert Blue, president of the American Medical Association (AMA), called “health insurance—the next great step in social legislation.” The AMA joined the campaign and appointed Rubinow executive secretary of its newly created Committee on Social Insurance. Rubinow worked tirelessly in this position until, in early 1917, the AMA, in a sharp reversal, cut off funds to the committee.

After several short-term positions and a 4-year stint as head of the American Zionist Medical Unit in Palestine, Rubinow returned to the United States in 1923 and made a new career in the world of Jewish philanthropy and social service. Between 1925 and 1929, he also edited the Jewish Social Service Quarterly and in 1927 became vice president of the American Association for Old-Age Security. In this position and others, he led efforts in the late 1920s and early 1930s to create unemployment and old age insurance. In 1931, Rubinow chaired an important conference in Chicago whose purpose was to draw up a unified program of legislation for old age. Early in the New Deal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote to Rubinow to express “great interest” in his suggestions. When the president appointed the Committee on Economic Security in the summer of 1934 to advise on drafting the Social Security Act, Rubinow served as a consultant.

Source: Theodore M. Brown and Elizabeth Fee. Isaac Max Rubinow: Advocate for Social Insurance. American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 92, No. 8 (August 2002), pp. 1224-1225.

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Biographical Timeline of Isaac Max Rubinow

1875 Born in Grodno, Russia

1893 Immigrated to the United States

1895 Columbia University, A.B. Degree

1898 New York University Medical College, M.D.

1899 Practiced medicine

1900-03 Columbia University, Studied political science

1903 Gave up practice of medicine

1903-07 Examiner, U.S. Civil Service Commission

1907 Economic Expert, Bureau of Statistics, U.S. Department of Agriculture

1907-08 Member, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Commerce & Labor

1908-11 Member, Bureau of Labor

1911-16 Chief Statistician, Ocean Accident and Guarantee Corporation

1913 First book published, Social Insurance.

1914 Columbia University, PhD.

1914-16 President, Casualty Actuarial Society

1916-17 Executive Secretary, American Medical Association, Social Insurance Commission

1917 Expert, California Social Insurance Commission

1917 Director, New York City Department of Public Charities, Bureau of Labor Statistics

1917-18 Investigator, Federal Trade Commission

1919-23 In Charge of American Zionist Medical Unit (renamed Hadassah Medical Organization)

1923-28 Director, Jewish Welfare Society of Philadelphia

1926-36 Executive Secretary, B’nai B’rith

1929 Executive Director, United Palestine Appeal

1932-33 President, National Conference of Jewish Social Service

1934 The Quest for Security published.

1936 September, Died at the age of 61.

Source: Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library. Guide to the Isaac Max Rubinow Papers.

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Secondary Literature

Obituary, Isaac M. Rubinow, 1875-1936 in Casualty Actuarial Society Proceedings Vol. XXIII, Nos. 47 (1936), pp. 118-120.

New York Times Obituary for Isaac M. Rubinow. September 3, 1936.

J. Lee Kreader. America’s Prophet for Social Security: A Biography of Isaac Max Rub inow [dissertation]. Chicago, Ill University of Chicago. 1988.

J. Lee Kreader. Isaac Max Rubinow: Pioneering Specialist in Social Insurance. Social Service Review Vol. 50, No. 3(September 1976), pp. 402-425.

Achenbaum WA. Isaac Max Rubinow. In: Garraty JA, Carnes M, eds. American National Biography. Vol 19. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 1999:25–26.

Deardorff NR. Isaac Max Rubinow. In: Schuyler RL, James ET, eds. Dictionary of American Biography. Suppl 2. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons; 1958:585–587

 

Image Source: Isaac M. Rubinow Papers, Labor-Management Documentation Center, M. P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Columbia

Columbia. Economics Seminar participants. J.B. Clark, 1901-1902

 

The original version of this post only provided a transcription of hand-written notes by John Bates Clark that appears to be an incomplete draft of part of an “teaching activities report” for the annual Dean’s report. The two semester course Economics 14,  Seminar in Political Economy and Finance, alternated every other week between Clark and E.R.A. Seligman. The next post will provide information about Seligman’s seminar schedule.

This post is another exercise in establishing the identities of students who attended advanced economics courses. I feel confident that I have identified eight of the seventeen paper-presenters. That information follows the schedule.

The participants of the Harvard Economics Seminary for 1897-98 have been tracked down for an earlier post, as have the Radcliffe women who signed a letter requesting permission to attend the Harvard Economics Seminary in 1926.

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Seminar in Political Economy and Finance
Professor Clark. 2 hours fortnightly. 16 members.

The following papers were presented:

Municipal Activities. Ray McClintock

Municipal Activities in England. Frank F. Nalder

Municipal Activities in the United States. Ray W. Thompson

Socialism. James A. McQueen

Socialism in the Southwest. Wallace E. Miller

The Theory of Monopolies. Henry R. Mussey

Governmental Monopolies. Yoshimasa Ishikawa

Laws Concerning Monopolies. George B. Keeler

Theories of Protection. Arthur J. Boynton

Modern Aspects of the Tariff. Harry B. Bennett

Theories of Wages. Isaac R. Henderson

The Bargain Theory of Wages. John S. Hershey

Von Böhm-Bawerk’s Theory of Interest. Robert B. Olsen

Over-Production. Samuel Peskin

European Trusts. Everett B. Stackpole

The Value of Money. Joseph C. Freehoff

Child Labor in the United States. Anna M. Cordley

Source: Columbia University. Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer to the Trustees for the Year Ending June 30, 1902, p. 155.

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Handwritten note of John Bates Clark
[no date]

1—The seminar in Political Economy and Finance has held 14 meetings under my direction and the same number under the direction of Professor Seligman. The following papers have been presented:—

by Mr. F. F. Nalder, on Municipal activities in England;

by Mr. J. C. Frihoff [sic], on The Value of Money;

by Mr. Ray McClintock on Municipal Activities.

by Mr. H. Thompson on Municipal Activities in the United States;

by Miss. A. M. Cordley on Anarchism Child [Labor] in U.S.

by Mr. A. J. Boynton on Theories of Protection:—

by Mr. J. S. Hershey on The Bargain Theory of Wages:—

by Mr. I.R. Henderson on Theories of Wages:—

by Mr. H. B. Bennett on Modern Aspects of the Tariff:—

by Mr. Y. Ishikawa on Governmental Monopolies:—

by Mr. H.A. Keeler on Present Laws Concerning Monopolies:—

Source: Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library. John Bates Clark Papers (MS #1419). Box 9, Folder 1. Series II.4.

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Frank Fielding Nalder

Frank Fielding Nalder was born on November 5, 1876 in Penhurst, Providence of Victoria, Australia, and brought to the United States in 1884. He received his B. A. from the State College of Washington in 1901, his M.A. from Columbia in 1902, and his Ph. D. from the University of California in 1916. He was Registrar and instructor in history at the State College of Washington from 1903-1908, superintendent of schools in Tekoa, Washington from 1908-1909, with the department of state public instruction in Washington from 1909-1911, director of education for the Washington State Reformatory from 1912-1913, with the extension division of the University of California 1914-1919, and professor of social science and director of the college extension at the State College of Washington from 1919. He died on January 17, 1937.

Source:  Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State Libraries. Guide to the Frank Fielding Nalder Photographs 1913-1914. 

Note: According to the Columbia University alumni register, Nadler was awarded an A.M. in 1904.

Source: Columbia University alumni register, 1754-1931, compiled by the Committee on General Catalogue. New York: Columbia University Press, 1932, p. 635.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Joseph C. Freehoff

Cornell College.-Mr. Joseph C. Freehoff has been appointed Professor of Economics in Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa. He was born on December 25, 1869, near La Crosse, Wis., attended the public schools of this region and the State Normal School at River Falls. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin with the degree of B.S. in 1897 [sic], where he also pursued graduate work in Sociology and Political Economy. In 1898 he became Acting Professor of Political Economy at Cornell College. In 1899 he declined an election as Fellow at the University of Chicago, to accept a similar election at the University of Wisconsin, but resigned this fellowship upon receiving the permanent appointment at Cornell College.

Source: Personal Notes. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 14, Issue 3, 1899. p. 349.

(INSP.) Ph.D., 04; B.S., 91, Univ. Wis.
b. La Crosse, Wis.; River Falls (Wis.) Normal Schedule., 89; Univ. Wis., 89-91; N.Y.U. Grad. Sch., 02-4; fellow of sociol. and pol. econ., Univ. Chicago, 96-98; actg. prof. pol. econ., Cornell Coll., Ia., 98-01; sanitary inspector, N.Y.C.; publ.: Value of Money.

Source: New York University. General Alumni Catalogue, v. 2 (1905), p. 176.

Joseph C. Freehoff, formerly of New York University, was recently appointed statistician for the Public Service Commission of New York, first district.

Source: The Economic Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Dec. 1908), p. 285.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Holland McTyeire Thompson

Thompson, Holland A.M. 1900, PhD 1906, College of City of NY, NYC, coll prof.

Source: Columbia University alumni register, 1754-1931, compiled by the Committee on General Catalogue. New York: Columbia University Press, 1932, p. 876.

See: Biographical entry “Holland Thompson, 1873-1940” in Dictionary of North Carolina Biography.

Published dissertation:  From the Cotton Field to the Cotton Mill: A Study of the Industrial Transition in North Carolina. New York: Macmillan, 1906.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Annie Minto Cordley

Born September 26, 1863 in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Cordley, Annie Minto. Glen Ridge, N.J.
Lawrence; 82 [non-graduate of Mount Holyoke]; B.S. Wellesely Coll. 87, M.A. Columbia Univ. 03; teacher New York N.Y. 87-05, Briarcliff Manor N.Y. 05-10.

Source: General Catalogue of Officers and Students of Mount Holyoke College 1837-1911., p. 167.

Annie Minto Cordley. AM 1903, d. Jan 1, 1915.

Source: Columbia University alumni register, 1754-1931, compiled by the Committee on General Catalogue. New York: Columbia University Press, 1932, p. 180.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Arthur Jerome Boynton

Arthur Jerome Boynton–Emerald Grove, Wis.
Ph.B., Beloit College, 1896;
A.B., Harvard University, 1901
Major subject: Political economy and finance
Minor subjects: Sociology and Statistics; International Law
Essay: The philosophy of the single tax.

Source: Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Minutes of the Faculty of Political Science, 1902, p. 93.

Arthur Jerome Boynton, A.B., 1901, (Harvard); A.M., 1902, (Columbia). Associate Professor of Economics, 1910; 1903 [first appointment at the University of Kansas]

Source:  Annual Catalogue of the University of Kansas, 1912-1913, p. 13.

Professor Arthur Jerome Boynton. Lawrence Kan., March 18 (AP). Arthur Jerome Boynton, Professor of Economics at the University of Kansas, died here today.

Source: The New York Times, March 19, 1928 (p. 16).

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

J. S. Hershey

J. S. Hershey, School of Law [graduate], 1904.

Source: Columbia University alumni register, 1754-1931, compiled by the Committee on General Catalogue. New York: Columbia University Press, 1932, p. 1102.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Yoshimasa Ishikawa

Ishikawa, Yoshimasa. A.M. 1903, 584 Omori Iriarai-Machi Tokyo Japan, coll prof.

Source: Columbia University alumni register, 1754-1931, compiled by the Committee on General Catalogue. New York: Columbia University Press, 1932, p. 434.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Howard Allan Keeler

Columbia College class of 1903.  Intercollegiate chess player for Columbia

Source: Columbia Spectator (January 23, 1903).

Worked as an advertising manager, living in New York City according to the 1920 U.S. Census.
… at an advertising agency, living in Great Neck Estates in New York according to the 1930 U.S. Census.
….as an agent for casulty insurance in Great Neck Estates in New York according to the 1940 U.S. Census

Born January 23, 1883 in Manhattan, died November 1963.

 

Image Source: John Bates Clark portrait from the webpage “Famous Carleton Economists“.

Categories
Columbia Economist Market Economists Iowa Salaries

Columbia. Hiring Albert Gailord Hart as visiting professor. Bureaucracy light, 1946

 

Up through the academic year 1945-46, Arthur F. Burns offered the first core economic theory course, Economic Analysis (Economics 153-154), in the Columbia graduate program. The following year, 1946-47, the course was taught by the visiting professor of economics (who would be offered and accepted a regular appointment that same year), Albert G. Hart.

Materials from Hart’s core economic courses in his first year at Columbia have been posted earlier.

This post provides a few brief items regarding Albert G. Hart’s initial Columbia appointment. What I was most struck with is the relative brevity of the documentation expected (demanded) by university administrators for a visiting professor appointment.

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From the budget proposals for 1946-47,
Columbia’s salary structure for economics professors

Actual professorial salary appropriations at Columbia for 1945-46
and proposed for 1946-47

Professors:

Robert M. Haig, Leo Wolman, John Maurice Clark, Harold Hotelling:  $9,000

James Waterhouse Angell, Carter Goodrich, Horace Taylor, Arthur F. Burns, Abraham Wald: $7,500

Associate Professors ranged from $4,500 to $7,500.

Assistant Professors ranged from $3, 500 to $4,000

A vacant professorship: for Hart ($7,500) and a slot proposed for a visiting professor of international economics, also budgeted at $7,500.

________________________

Columbia University
in the City of New York

[New York 27, N.Y.]

FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

March 25, 1946

Dr. Frank D. Fackenthal, Acting President,
Columbia University,
213 Low Memorial Library.

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing to advise you that Dr. Albert Gailord Hart, formerly of Iowa State College, has accepted the invitation of the Department of Economics to serve as Visiting Professor of Economics during the academic year 1946-47. Dr. Hart’s salary for the period will be $7,500, chargeable to the vacant professorship in Economics carried in our budget for the year 1946-47.

I am requesting Professor Evans, chairman of the Committee on Instruction of the faculty of Political Science, to take what steps may be necessary in order that Dr. Hart may have a seat on the Faculty of Political Science during the period of his residence.

A brief statement on Dr. Hart’s education and scholarly background is enclosed.

Sincerely,
[signed] Frederick C. Mills

________________________

ALBERT GAILORD HART

Born in 1909.

A.B., Harvard, 1930; Ph.D., Chicago, 1936.

Sheldon Traveling Fellow, 1930-31.

Spent 1934-35 in London.

Title of Doctoral dissertation: Anticipations, business planning, and the cycle.

Full professor, Iowa State College, Department of Economics, 1944-45.

At present on research staff, Committee on Economic Development.

Major interests: Economic theory, public finance, consumption, business fluctuations.

Publications:

Debts and recovery (Twentieth Century Fund, 1938)
Paying for defense (with E. D. Allen and others). 1941.
The social framework of the American economy. (with J. R. Hicks). 1945.

Lectured in California, 1936, and served at one time as Economic Analyst with the United States Department of the Treasury.

Source:  Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Archives. Central Files 1890-. Box 396, Folder “Mills, Frederick Cecil”.

Image Source:  Columbia University Record, vol. 23, no. 5 (Oct. 3, 1997).

Categories
Chicago Columbia Economists Gender Wellesley

Chicago. Economics Ph.D. alumna, Anna Prichitt Youngman, 1908

 

This entry in the series “Get to know an economics Ph.D. alumna/us” is dedicated to the life and professional career of Anna Prichitt Youngman, the third woman to receive a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. I have spent several hours verifying that her middle name is indeed spelled “Prichitt”, though even University of Chicago alumni publications and references have sometimes gotten it wrong as have later historians.

A timeline, a linked list of publications, and miscellaneous artifacts documenting her life, e.g. courses taught at Wellesley and salaries paid her while working at the Federal Reserve Board have been assembeled for this post.

________________________

Barbara Libby provides a brief discussion of Youngman’s more important publications in “Anna Pritchett [sic] Youngman” in A Biographical Dictionary of Women Economists, Robert W. Dimand, Mary Ann Dimand, and Evelyn L. Forget (eds.). Northampton, Mass : Edward Elgar, 2000. Pages 486-489.

________________________

Anna Prichitt Youngman.

1882, August 21. Born in Lexington, Kentucky.
1901. Graduated from Female High School in Louisville, Kentucky. Highest grade point average of her class, winning her a scholarship to University of Chicago.
1904. Ph.B. University of Chicago.
1908. Ph.D. University of Chicago.
1908-14. Instructor in economics, Wellesley College.
1911-2. Winter Semester at the University of Berlin. Later at the University of Frankfurt/Main.  August 1911 to July 1912 in Germany.
1914-20. Associate Professor, Wellesley College.
1919-20. Leave of absence from Wellesley College to work at the Federal Reserve Board.
1920-21. Lecturer in Banking, School of Business, University Extension, Columbia University.
1921-22. Research Assistant, Division of Analysis and Research, Federal Reserve Board;
1922. July 5.  Sailed from New York for a three month trip to Europe: countries listed on passport application were Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, British Isles.
1924-1933. Editorial writer, Journal of Commerce, 46 Barclay St., New York, N.Y.
1933-52. Editorial Writer, The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
1974. February 16. Died in Silver Spring, Maryland.
1974. February 21. Buried in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville Kentucky

________________________

Publications of Anna Prichitt Youngman

“The Growth of Financial Banking,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 14, No. 7 (July, 1906), pp. 435-443.

“The Tendency of Modern Combination. I,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 15, No. 4 (April, 1907), pp. 193-208.

“The Tendency of Modern Combination. II,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 15, No. 5 (May, 1907), pp. 284-298.

“The Fortune of John Jacob Astor. [I],” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 16, No. 6 (June, 1908), pp. 345-368.

“The Fortune of John Jacob Astor. II. Investments in Real Estate,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 16, No. 7 (July, 1908), pp. 436-441.

“The Fortune of John Jacob Astor. III. Conclusion,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 16, No. 8 (October, 1908), pp. 514-530.

The Economic Causes of Great Fortunes [University of Chicago Ph.D. Thesis]. New York: Bankers Publishing, Co., 1909.

The New York Times Saturday Review for February 12, publishes a review of Miss Youngman’s new book which considers the source of some of our large American fortunes. We quote the first paragraph of the review:
“There is nothing feminine about the discussion of the ‘Economic Causes of Great Fortunes,’ by Anna Youngman, Ph.D., (the Bankers’ Publishing Company). She is Professor of Economics in Wellesley College for Women, but she writes as a man to men, rather than as a woman to women…”

Source: Wellesley News (February 16, 1910), p. 6.

“The Tobacco Pools of Kentucky and Tennessee,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 18, No. 1 (January, 1910), pp. 34-49.

Review of History of the Great American Fortunes by Gustavus Myers. Journal of Political Economy Vol. 18, No. 8 (October, 1910), pp. 642-643.

Review of Untersuchungen zum Maschinenproblem in der Volkswirtschaftslehre. Ruckblick und Ausblick. Eine dogmengeschichtliche Studie mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der klassischen Schule by Carl Ergang. American Economic ReviewVol. 1, No. 4 (December, 1911), pp. 806-808.

“Frankfort-on-the-Main: A Study in Prussian Communal Finance Part I,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 27, No. 1 (November, 1912), pp. 150-201.

“Frankfort-on-the-Main: A Study in Prussian Communal Finance Part II,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 27, No. 2 (February, 1913), pp. 329-372.

Review of Der Wandel des Besitzes. Versuch einer Theorie des Reichtums als Organismus by Emaneul Sella (trans. by Dr. Bluwstein). American Economic ReviewVol. 3, No. 3 (September, 1913), pp. 627-629.

Review of Die Lohntheorien von Ad. Smith, Ricardo, J. St. Mill und Marx by Fredinand von Degenfeld-Schonburg. American Economic ReviewVol. 5, No. 1 (March, 1915), p. 55.

“The Revenue System of Kentucky: A Study in State Finance,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 32, No. 1 (November, 1917), pp. 142-205.

Review of The Conflict of Tax Laws by Rowland Estcourt. American Economic ReviewVol. 8, No. 4 (December, 1918), pp. 831-832.

“The Efficacy of Changes in the Discount Rates of the Federal Reserve Banks,” American Economic Review, Vol. 11, No. 3 (September 1921), pp. 466-485.

“A Popular Theory of Credit Applied to Credit Policy,” American Economic Review, Vol. 12, No. 3 (September, 1922), pp. 417-446.

Review of Money, Banking and Exchange in India by H. Stanley Jevons. American Economic ReviewVol. 13, No. 3 (September, 1923), pp. 512-513.

Participant in Discussion: Liquidating the War. Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, Vol. 14, No. 2 (January, 1931), pp. 45-50.

The Federal Reserve System in wartime. National Bureau of Economic Research Occasional Paper No. 21, Jan 1945.

________________________

High School Class Rank

Miss Anna Prichitt Youngman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C.A. Youngman, of 1313 Second street, received the highest average of the class of 1901 at the Female High School, and by a unanimous vote of the faculty she was awarded the scholarship at the Chicago University.

Source: The Courier-Journal of Louisville Kentucky (June 8, 1901), p. 6.

_______________________

Appointed at Wellesley to succeed Edith Abott in 1908

The fact that Dr. Edith Abbott of the Economics Department has refused reappointment in order to take up research work in Chicago is a source of sincere regret to all who have been brought into contact with her here this year. Miss Abbott will live at Hull House and work in the research department of the Chicago Institute of Social Science.

Dr. Abbott’s successor in the department of Economics is to be Miss Anna Youngman of Louisville, Kentucky. Miss Youngman graduated from the University of Chicago in 1904 and since that time has been doing graduate work in Economics and Political Science. She has held one of the University Fellowships in Political Economy and will receive the Ph.D. degree in June. Miss Youngman’s special studies have been in the line of Trusts and Corporation Finance. During the past year she has published a series of articles in the Journal of Political Economy on “Tendencies in Modern Combination” and her doctor’s thesis on “Great Fortunes” is already in press. Miss Youngman has been assisting in editorial work on the Journal of Political Economy during the past year.

Source: [Wellesley] College News (May 13, 1908), p. 3.

_______________________

Berlin and Frankfurt a.M.
Winter Semester, 1911/12

…During her stay at Wellesley, Youngman took time off to study economics at Berlin for the Winter Semester of 1911/12. At Berlin and later at the University of Frankfurt/Main, she concentrated on taxation and banking.
In 1919 Youngman took a leave of absence from Wellesley to work as an economist for the Federal Reserve Board. Youngman then resigned from Wellesley to continue her work with the Federal Reserve Board. From 1924 to 1933 she held a position as an eidtorial writer for the Journal of Commerce in New York City. She left that position to become an editorial writer for the Washington Post, where she remained until her retirement in 1952. At the Post, she wrote columns on financial and business topics. After retiring, Youngman continued to write for the Journal of Commerce.

Source: Sandra L. Singer. Adventures Abroad: North American Women at German-speaking Universities. Contributions in Women’s Studies, Number 201 (Westport, CT: Praeger, 203) p. 141.

_______________________

Wellesley College
1912-13
ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY

Professor: Katherine Coman, Ph.B. (on leave 1912-13)
Associate Professor: Emily Greene Balch, B.A.
Instructors: Anna Youngman, Ph.D., Emilie Josephine Hutchinson, M.A.

 

  1. Elements of Economics. I

Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors, but intended primarily for sophomores. Three hours a week for the year.

Miss Youngman

An introductory course designed to give the student acquaintance with economic facts and training in economic reasoning. Illustrations will be drawn from actual observation of the conditions determining prices, land values, wages, profits, and standards of living. In the second semester, certain legislative problems relating to currency, banking, the tariff, etc., will be discussed in class.

[…]

  1. Statistical Study of Certain Economic Problems. III [not offered 1912-13]

Open to juniors and seniors who have completed two courses in Economics. Three hours a week for the first semester.

Miss Youngman

The course is introduced by lectures on the principles of statistical research. Each member of the class undertakes the investigation of a particular problem, and reports the results of her inquiry in the form of a final paper. Emphasis is placed upon the critical examination of statistical methods.

[…]

  1. The Trust Problem. III.

Open to juniors and seniors who have completed one course in Economics. Three hours a week for the second semester.

Miss Youngman

This course will deal with the various forms of monopolistic organization, the growth of the movement toward large scale production, the history of characteristic combinations, federal and state legislation and judicial decisions relating to the subject, the alleged advantages and evils of trusts, and proposed remedies for the latter.

[…]

  1. Money and Banking. III.

Open to juniors and seniors who have completed one course in Economics. Three hours a week for the first semester.

Miss Youngman

This course deals mainly with the principles of money and banking, but it is also designed to give the student some acquaintance with the history and chief characteristics of typical modern systems of banking.

[…]

  1. Conservation of our Natural Resources. III.

Open to juniors and seniors who have completed two courses in Economics. Three hours a week for the second semester.

Miss Youngman

A consideration of the wastes involved in the exploitation of forests, mineral resources, soil and water power, and the means proposed for scientific conservation. The work of the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Forestry, the Reclamation Service, the Bureau of Mines, etc., will be studied in detail.

 

  1. The Distribution of Wealth. III. [not offered 1912-13]

Open to juniors and seniors who have completed course 1 or 15. Three hours a week for the second semester.

Miss Youngman

A discussion of the principles regulating wages, interest, and rent. The course will involve a critical and comparative examination of the distributive theories of such leading exponents of the classical school, as Ricardo, Mills, and Cairnes, and of certain important economists of the present day.

Source:  Wellesley College Bulletin, Calendar 1912-13, pp. 72-77.

_______________________

Salaries of the Federal Reserve Board Employees, 1919

ANALYSIS & RESEARCH Present Basic Salary, including Extra Compensation (1919)
Olive M. Bode $1,200
Ruth Cornwall $1,800
Mary Johnson $1,320
W. H. Steiner $2,750
Anna Youngman $2,500

Source: Meeting Minutes of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, December 18, 1919, 3:30 PM, Volume 6, Part 3, page 5.

_______________________

Salaries of the Federal Reserve Board Employees, 1920

Dated June 21st [1920] recommending approval of increases in salaries of employees of the Division of Analysis and Research, as follows:

From To
W. H. Steiner $3,500 $4,000
Miss Anna Youngman $2,750 $3,000
Miss Katherine Snodgrass $2,000 $2,750
F. W. Jones $2,400 $2,750
Miss Ruth Cornwall $2,000 $2,400
Miss Faith Williams $1,800 $2,250
J. M. Chapman $1,200 $1,500 ($750 half time)
M. R. Adams $1,500 $1,560
Miss Alice Ross $1,500 $1,560
Miss Rose Heller $1,080 $1,440
Miss Mary Johnson $1,440 $1,560
Miss Helen S. Grant — $1,440
Miss Olive M. Bode — $1,500

Approved.

Source: Meeting Minutes of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, June 22, 1920, 11:00 AM, Volume 7, Part 2, page 7.

_______________________

Anna Youngman’s (final) annual salary, 1922

“Letter dated May 8th, from the Director of the Division of Analysis and Research, requesting approval of the appointment of Mr. Woodlief Thomas as an employee in that Division at annual salary of $2600, said authority being requested in view of the retirement of Miss Anna Youngman, who has previously been employed in the Division of Analysis & Research, at annual salary of $3500.”

Source: Meeting Minutes of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, May 10, 1922, Volume 9, Part 1, page 1.

________________________

From Passport Application.
Sworn May 3, 1922

Permanent residence 35 Schermerhorn St., Brooklyn, New York.
Occupation: research assistant.
Height: 5 feet 7 ½ inches

July 5, 1922 to sail from New York on the “Mongolia” to Europe: Germany, Austria, Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary, France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, British Isles (“intend to return to the United States within 3 months”)

_______________________

Internal Memorandum

February 18, 1954
Washington, D.C.

Interview with Miss Anna Youngman at her new
residence in the Marlyn Apartments

Miss Youngman worked with Parker Willis on the Journal of Commerce. She was an editorial writer but the rumor that she wrote some of the Willis editorials is something which she denies. She says she did not agree with Mr. Willis on banking policies and would not have written editorials attributed to him. She has kept no files and was by no means as useful in connection with the Willis papers as I had had reason to think she would be.

Miss Youngman confirmed what I had heard from other sources that Mr. Willis headed the first Research Division of the Federal Reserve Board and that on being asked to teach at Columbia he took the Division to New York and kept it there for three years. During this time a running fight went on with Mr. Jacobson (now deceased) and Mr. Goldenweiser and Mr. Adolf Miller.

Obviously the distance between the Research Division and the Board for which research was being done caused a great deal of the difficulty and at the end of three years the division was restored to Washington and put into other hands.

When Mr. Eugene Meyer bought the Washington Post he took Miss Anna Youngman with him to write editorials there. She did financial editorials for the Post for many years. Her last job at the Post was the classification of Mr. Myer’s own papers. Miss Youngman says that these papers have now been brought from New York and the summer place belonging to Mr. Meyer at White Plains and are in Washington. She says that they include seven or eight volumes of diaries carefully typed and indexed.

Obviously some of these diaries which, according to Miss Youngman, are better in the earlier period than the later ones will have material which is important to this project. Miss Youngman says that Mr. Floyd Harrison, who is Mr. Meyer’s right hand man in New York, is the person who can give further information about the papers and who will know if any provision has been made for their disposal after Mr. Meyer’s death.

Miss Youngman lives alone with her sister. Both ladies are far from young and any information which is needed from Miss Youngman should be gained as soon as possible.

Concerning Mr. Willis she said that he was not a difficult man to work with because he protected the people who worked with him. Assumed responsibility for the things they did and gave them credit when he thought they deserved it. He was on the other hand a man of lively mind and extremely fond of argument. She suggested that Mr. Jules Bogen, Mr. John M. Chapman of the school of business at Columbia University, who was at one time assistant to Mr. Williams and Mr. W. H. Stiner (correction that might be Steiner but I am not sure [Note: “W. H. Steiner” is correct spelling). At 328 Riverside Drive, New York[.] Might at all of them have further information about Mr. Willis.

Source: Committee on the History of the Federal Reserve System. Interview with Miss Anna Youngman at her new residence in the Marlyn Apartments, Washington, D.C. (February 18, 1954). Entry 167, Box 2, Folder 1, Item 42.

Image Source: Passport application of Anna Youngman (May 3, 1922).

 

 

 

Categories
Chicago Columbia Economists Gender Minnesota Social Work

Columbia. Economics Ph.D. Alumnus Max Ira West, 1893.

 

 

Max Ira West (b. Nov. 11, 1870 in St. Cloud, MN; d. Jan 7, 1909 in Washington, D.C.) entered government service relatively soon after being awarded his Ph.D. in economics at Columbia University with a dissertation on the inheritance tax. He was a student of E.R.A. Seligman. West died at age 38, leaving a wife and five children. 

Max West and his future wife Mary Mills were fellow officers of the University of Minnesota’s Class of 1890. She was the designated class “prophet” and he served as the class “statistician”. Max was a professional economist of the family and rightly the main subject of this post. Max’s widow deserves some mention in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror for her later work. Mary attained great prominence for her pamphlets on pre-natal and infant care for the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor that were analogous to Dr. Benjamin Spock’s Baby and Child Care for later generations of parents. The Children’s Bureau was an absorbing state for the careers of many a professional woman economist of the time.

________________________

Announcement of death of Max Ira West

The following communication with reference to the unfortunate death of Dr. Max West is printed at the request of the committee whose names appear below:

The members of the Association have no doubt read of the recent death, under most unfortunate circumstances, of Dr. Max West, of the Bureau of Corporations, Department of Labor, Washington, D. C.

Dr. West died after a short illness, a slight cold developing into pneumonia. He has left a wife and five children, ranging from thirteen years to only nine months, with no visible means of support, save a very small annuity terminable in ten years. Friends in Washington have contributed a considerable sum for immediate needs, including the expenses pertaining to Dr. West’s sickness and death, and have secured for Mrs. West a temporary position in the Government, which we hope will become a permanent position. This, with the closest economy, will enable Mrs. West to look after the bare physical needs of her five little children, but will leave no margin at all either for education or for contingencies.

It has therefore occurred to us and to some of the other friends of Dr. West that it might be possible to solicit and collect a fund for such a purpose. It is hoped to raise a fund of at least $5000. The suggestion is to be sent to all those who may be supposed to have known Dr. West personally, or to be in sympathy with the scholarly work for which he stood, and the committee will be very glad to receive any subscriptions that you may deem fit to make.

Checks may be sent to Mr. Edwin R. A. Seligman, at No. 324 West 86th street, New York, who has consented to act as treasurer for the committee.

Respectfully yours,

EDWIN R. A. SELIGMAN, Columbia University.

JACOB H. HOLLANDER, Johns Hopkins University.

E. DANA DURAND, Dept. of Commerce and Labor, Washington.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Dr. Max West died of pneumonia at his home in Washington, D. C., on January 7, 1909.

Dr. West was born at St. Cloud, Minnesota, in November, 1870. He was graduated from the University of Minnesota at nineteen, and went at first into newspaper work. In 1891 he went to Columbia University as a fellow in economics. There he received his master’s degree the next year, and his doctorate the year following. From 1893 to 1895 he was connected with the University of Chicago, first as an honorary fellow and then as a docent. The great railroad strike of 1894 drew him again into newspaper work; he reported it for the Chicago Herald. In 1895 he was an editorial writer for the Chicago Record. During the academic year 1895-1896 he lectured at Columbia.

In 1896 he entered the government service, to which the rest of his life was chiefly devoted. For four years he was connected with the Division of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture, and for nearly two years with the Industrial Commission. During the latter part of this period, from 1900 to 1902, he was also associate professor of economics in Columbian University, Washington, and in 1902 he again lectured at Columbia. In that year he became assistant registrar of the Tenement House Department of New York City. In 1903 he went to Porto Rico as chief of the island Bureau of Internal Revenue. His health did not permit him to continue there, and in 1904 he returned to Washington as a special examiner of the Bureau of Corporations. Here he remained until his death.

Dr. West’s chief published work was The Inheritance Tax, which appeared in 1893, was translated into French in 1895, and was republished in a revised and enlarged edition in 1907. A projected work, entitled Principles of Taxation, is left unfinished. He wrote many articles for periodicals, dealing oftenest with taxation, but sometimes with sociological subjects, questions of constitutional law, and other topics.

More of Dr. West’s scanty strength than he could well spare was devoted to the promotion of public well-being. During his two years in Chicago he was a resident successively of Hull House, the University of Chicago Settlement, and the Chicago Commons. At Washington he was warmly interested in social settlement work and in the Associated Charities, and he was the most active and efficient member of the Civic Center.

Source: American Economic Association, The Economic Bulletin, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Apr., 1909), pp. 12-14.

________________________

Mary Mills West, ca. 1926

The following photograph was from a short alumna feature in the University of Minnesota yearbook The Gopher (1926). It is noted there that she was a member of the class of 1890, an editor of that year’s Gopher, and a member of the Delta Sigma literary society. The entry adds:

In 1909, she entered the Government service and filled various offices for the following ten years. She took a great interest in the newly created Children’s Bureau, and while there wrote three pamphlets regarding the health and care of mothers and babies which are widely distributed throughout the United States.

Mrs. West resigned her position with the Children’s Bureau in 1919, and moved to Berkeley where she engaged in newspaper syndicate work and other writings. She is, at present, an instructor in short-story writing for the University of California, and is gaining a considerable foothold in fiction writing for herself. She recently submitted a story to the Forum short story contest of 1924 and was awarded second place by a jury of noted writers and critics.

Image Source: University of Minnesota, The Gopher, 1926, p. 181.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Production of Mary Mills West’s pamphlets

West’s publications became the best-selling pamphlets of the Government Printing Office in the 1910s. The first edition of West’s pamphlet, Prenatal Care, sold out in two months. Only six months later, the Bureau had distributed 30,000 coopies and could have sent out twice that number but for the inability of the printeres to keep up with the demand. …Nearly a million and a half copies of West’s second pamphlet, Infant Care, were disseminated between 1914 and 1921.

Source:  Robyn Muncy. Creating a Female Dominion in American Reform, 1890-1935 (Oxford University Press, 1991) p. 55.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Children’s Bureau Publications of Mary Mills West

(with Nettie McGill) Child-Welfare Programs: Study Outlines for the Use of Clubs and Classes. U.S. Department of Labor, Children’s Bureau. Bureau Publication No. 73, Children’s Year Follow-up Series, No. 7. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1920.

Prenatal Care. Care of Children Series, No. 1 Children’s Bureau Publication No. 4. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1913.

Infant Care. Care of Children Series, No. 2 Children’s Bureau Publication No. 8 (Revised) Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1921. (first published in 1914)

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Mary Mills West’s obituary

Mrs. Mary West, Writer, Dies at 88

BERKELEY, Aug. 13. Mrs. Mary Mills West, whose pamphlets’ on infants and children’s care have been distributed by the United States Children’s Bureau to millions of American homes, died here yesterday. Her home was at 549 Santa Barbara Road.

Mrs. West, 88, was the widow of Dr. Max West, an economic consultant for the U.S. Departments of Labor and Commerce. She became associated with the Children’s Bureau when it was organized in 1915. After moving to Berkeley 30 years ago, she was associated with the University of California Extension Division as a writing instructor.

Surviving Mrs. West are two daughters, Mrs. W. R. Lorimer of Honolulu and Mrs. Charles Manson of Wausau, Wis., and a son, Philip S. West of Berkeley. Three grandchildren also survive.

Funeral services will be held at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow; in the Berkeley Hills Chapel, Shattuck Ave. and Cedar St .The Rev. Ray L. Wells, assistant pastor of the First Congregational Church, will officiate.

Source: Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California), August 3, 1955, p. 30.

________________________

Image Source: Alumnus feature on Max West published in University of Minnesota, The Gopher, 1896, p. 133.

 

 

Categories
Columbia Economists Statistics

Columbia. Promotions and Memorial Minute for Abraham Wald

 

 

Abraham Wald (1902-1950) got his foot into the Columbia economics department door thanks to a grant from the Carnegie Foundation arranged for him by Harold Hotelling in 1938. In this post we follow Wald’s Columbia career up through the faculty memorial minute that followed his tragic, untimely death in an airplane accident during a lecture tour in India in December 1950.

___________________

Promotion to Assistant Professor

From the November 26, 1941 letter to President Nicholas Murray Butler from Robert M. Haig, Chairman of the department of economics (pp. 3-5 and supporting annex B).

“…We feel that it is important, if at all possible, that the following action be taken.

  1. Appoint Abraham Wald to an assistant professorship at $3,600 (Wald is now a lecturer at $3,000, of which $2,400 is financed by a special grant, the continuance of which is not assured.
    (See Annex B)

A recent development in the case of Wald is an offer of a permanent post (presumably an assistant professorship) at Queens College. This post will be open to him in case it proves impossible for us to give him the status recommended. Our enthusiasm for him has increased since last year when I wrote as follows:—

“The position of this recommendation at the very head of our list is attributable primarily to a conviction that Abraham Wald is an unusually interesting gamble. By risking a moderate stake, the University can put itself in a position where it may (and in our judgment probably will) be rewarded a hundred-fold. For Wald is not only a young scholar whose attainments are of a high order of merit, but one whose potentialities are obviously large.

“When Wald came to us two years ago, as a lecturer whose stipend was supplied by a special and presumably temporary grant, we were frankly apprehensive lest we should presently find ourselves indirectly committed, without adequate consideration, to a permanent addition to our staff concerning whom we might not be enthusiastic. Consequently care was exercised to make it clear to all concerned that his appointment as a lecturer supported by a special grant carried with it no future obligation. Fortunately then, we are able to approach the consideration of his case at this juncture free from any pressure of old commitments, express or implied.

“Our recommendation of Wald should be interpreted then as a free and fresh expression of our admiration for his accomplishments and of our faith in his future. As a result of our contacts with him and with his work, we are convinced that here is a man whose contributions are reasonably certain to continue to break new ground on a section of the frontier of knowledge where notable progress seems imminent.

“We recognize that Wald’s field is one that is of interest and significance to several departments of the University and that there are unsettled questions as to whether ultimately it should be attached to our own or to some other department or whether it should constitute a separate department in its own right. Irrespective of the answers that may ultimately be given to such questions of structural organization, we, in the Department of Economics, desire to express the hope that it will prove possible for the University to provide for the further development of teaching and research in statistics on a high level and we wish to take this opportunity to make it clear that, pending a final decision as to organization, we should consider it an honor to be permitted to shelter and to stand sponsor for scientific work such as that of Wald.”

[…]

ANNEX B.
BIOGRAPHIC MEMORANDUM OF ABRAHAM WALD

I was born in Cluj, October 31, 1902. I studied at the University in Cluj and at the University of Vienna, and obtained my doctor’s degree in mathematics at the University of Vienna in 1930. The subject of my doctor’s thesis was the Hilbert system of axioms of Geometry.

For the next four years I did mathematical research at the University of Vienna and collaborated with Professor Karl Menger. I was co-editor with him of “Ergebnisse eines mathematischen Kolloquiums.” During this time my interests were chiefly in general abstract and metric geometry, theory of probability, and mathematical economics, in which fields my papers were written.

In 1934 I became in addition a research associate of the Institute for Business Cycle Research in Vienna and published several papers in mathematical economics. My interest in statistics and its application in economics dates from this time, when I became the statistical expert of the Institute.

After the annexation of Austria, I came to the United States and was for several months a fellow of the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics. Thereafter I became a lecturer at Columbia University which is the position I hold at present. Since my arrival in the United States I have been interested chiefly in statistics and mathematical economics and have published a series of papers in these fields. I have been elected a fellow of both the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the Econometric Society.

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

  1. Abstract and metric geometry
    1. Über den allgemeinen Raumbegriff, Ergebnisse eines math. Kolloquiums, Heft 3, Vienna. [1931]
    2. Axiomatik des Zwischenbegriffes in metrischen Räumen, Mathematische Annalen, Vol. 104. [1931]
    3. Der komplexe euklidische Raum [Komplexe und indefinite Räume], Erg. eines mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 5, Vienna.
    4. Indefinite euklidischen Räume, Erg. eines mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 5, Vienna.
    5. Vereinfachter Beweis des Steinitzschen Satzes, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 5, Vienna.
    6. Bedingt konvergente Reihen von Vektoren, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 5, Vienna.
    7. Riehen in topologischen Gruppen, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 5, Vienna.
    8. Eine neue Definition der Flächenkrümmung, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 6, Vienna
    9. Sur la courbure des surfaces, C. R. [Acad. Sci.] Paris, 1935.
    10. Aufbau [Begründung] einer kooridinatenlosen Differentialgeometrie der Flächen, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 7, Vienna.
    11. Eine Characterisierung des Lebesgueschen Masses, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 7, Vienna.
  1. Probability, Statistics and Mathematical Economics.
    1. Sur la notion de collectif dans le calcul des probabilités, C.R. [Acad. Sci.] Paris, 1936.
    2. Die Widerspruchsfreiheit des Kollektivbegriffes, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 8, Vienna.
    3. Die Widerspruchsfreiheit des Kollektivbegriffes, Actualités Scientifiques, 1938, Paris.
    4. Berechnung und Ausschaltung von Saisonschwankungen, Julius Springer, Vienna, 1936.
    5. Zur Theorie der Preis Indexziffern, Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, Vienna, 1937.
    6. Über die Produktionsgleichungen der ökonomischen Wertlehre, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 6, Vienna.
    7. Über die Produktionsgleichungen der ökonomischen Wertlehre, zweite Mitteilung, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 7, Vienna.
    8. Über einige Gleichungssysteme der mathematischen Ökonomie, Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, Vienna, 1936. [translated into English by Otto Eckstein, Econometrica, 1951, pp. 368-403]
    9. Extrapolation des gleitenden 12-Monatsdurchschnittes, Beilage zu den Berichten des Öster. Institutes für Konjunkturforschung, Vienna, 1937.
    10. Grundsaetzliches zur Berechnung des Produktionsindex, Beilage zu den Berichten des Öster. Institutes für Konjunkturforschung, Vienna, 1937.
    11. Generalization of the inequality of Markoff, The Annals of Math. Statistics, December, 1938.
    12. Long Cycles as a result of repeated integration, American Mathem. Monthly, March, 1939.
    13. Confidence limit for continuous distribution functions (co-author J. Wolfowitz), The Annals of Math. Statistics, June, 1939.
    14. Limits of a distribution function determined by absolute moments, Transact. of the Amer. Mathem. Society, September, 1939.
    15. A new formula for the index of cost of living, Econometrica, October, 1939.
    16. Contributions to the theory of statistical estimation, The Annals of Mathem. Statistics, December, 1939.
    17. A note on the analysis of variance with unequal class frequencies, The Annals of Mathem. Statistics, March, 1940.
    18. The approximate determination of indifference surfaces, Econometrica, April, 1940.
    19. On a test whether two samples are from the same population (with J. Wolfowitz), The Annals of Mathem. Statistics, June, 1940.
    20. Fitting of straight lines when both variables are subject to error, The Annals of Mathem. Statistics, September, 1940.
    21. Asymptotically most powerful tests of statistical hypotheses, Annals of Mathem. Statistics, March, 1941.
    22. Some examples of asymptotically most powerful tests will appear in the December, 1941 issue of the Annals of Mathem. Statistics.
    23. Asymptotically shortest confidence intervals paper presented at the meeting of the Amer. Math. Soc., September, 1940. Accepted for publication in the Annals of Mathem. Statistics.
    24. On the distribution of Wilks’ statistic for testing the independence of several groups of variates (in collaboration with R. Brookner), Annals of Mathem. Statistics, June, 1941.
    25. The large sample distribution of the likelihood ratio statistics, paper presented at the meeting of the Institute of Mathem. Statistics, September, 1941, Chicago. It will be published in the Annals of Mathem. Statistics.
    26. On testing statistical hypotheses concerning several unknown parameters, paper presented at the meeting of Amer. Mathem. Society, February, 1941, New York City. It will be published in the Annals of Mathem. Statistics.
    27. On the analysis of variance in case of multiple classifications with unequal class frequencies, Annals of Mathem. Statistics, September, 1941.

Source: Columbia University Archives. Central Files 1890—Box 386, Folder “Haig, Robert Murray 7/1941-6/1942”

Cf: “The Publications of Abraham Wald” [1931-1952] was published in The Annals of Mathematical Statistics 23:1 (March 1952, pp. 29-33.

___________________

Aliens in the Department of Economics

December 19, 1941

Mr. Philip M. Hayden, Secretary,
213 Low Memorial Library.

Dear Mr. Hayden:

In reply to the request contained in your recent Memorandum to executive officers, I report the following aliens from the Department of Economics:

Harold Barger

29 West 8th Street, New York City

Nationality: British
Age: 34
Alien Registration No.: 3239174

 

Donald Bailey Marsh

106 Morningside Drive, New York City

Nationality: Canadian
Age: 30
Alien Registration No.: 1152252

 

Robert Valeur

40 Barrow Street, New York City

Nationality: French
Age: 38
Alien Registration No.: 5061531

 

Abraham Wald

241 West 108th Street, New York City

Nationality: born in Kolozsvar [Note: Hungarian spelling of Cluj-Napoca], Transylvania, Alien Registration officials were in doubt how to describe nationality.
Age: 39
Alien Registration No.: 4506027

Very truly yours,
Chairman, Department of Economics

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Department of Economics Collections, Faculty. Box 2, Folder “Faculty Beginning Jan 1, 1944 [sic]”.

___________________

Promotion to Associate Professor

February 7, 1944

Professor Abraham Wald,
608 Fayerweather.

Dear Professor Wald:

I am authorized by the Provost of the University to inform you that in the provisional budget for the academic year 1944-45 you are designated associate professor of Statistics at an annual stipend of $5,000. This provisional budget goes to the Trustees with the approval of the Committee on Educational Policy. While your promotion is not final until it is adopted by the Trustees at their meeting on the first Monday in April, the Provost and I agree that there is no reason whatsoever to doubt that the recommendation for your advancement will be approved, and that you run hardly an risk in declining the offer of an associate professorship at the University of Chicago.

As an associate professor you would hold your position at the pleasure of the Trustees, i.e., you would no longer be subject to year-to-year appointment and would, in effect, have continuing tenure. The position of associate professor in this respect is the same as that of a full professor.

I should like to add my personal assurance that the Department and the Administration stand behind the recommendation for your advancement. The reputation that you have won for yourself at Columbia is a very high one indeed. You have the friendship and warm support of all of your associates in the graduate faculties. I believe that you will have here a rich and promising career of creative scholarship.

Sincerely yours,

[copy unsigned, Frederick C. Mills?]

Source Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Columbiana. Department of Economics Collection. Box 3 Budget, 1915-1946-47, Folder “Budget Material 1944-1945”.

___________________

Promotion to Professor

April 23, 1945

President Nicholas Murray Butler,
Columbia University.

Dear Mr. President:

A recent development makes it necessary for me to supplement my letter of November 30th, 1944, in which I submitted to you a provisional budget for the Department of Economics for the year 1945-46. Professor Abraham Wald, who occupies a place of strategic importance in our work in Mathematical Statistics, has received a very attractive offer from another institution. If we are to hold him at Columbia we must give him some advancement here. Although I am reluctant to approach you at this time, to request that you re-open the Department budget for next year, it is my strong opinion that this should be done. This opinion is shared by my colleagues who are interested in Columbia’s past and prospective accomplishments in Mathematical Statistics.

Work in Mathematical Statistics in American universities is in a pioneering stage. The fundamental bases of statistics, in mathematics and logic, have recently been materially extended. New horizons have been opened. We may expect in the next several decades further fruitful advances bearing upon the whole range of inquiry in the social and the natural sciences and in the arts of production and administration. In this field Columbia has already, through the work of Hotelling and Wald, achieved a leading position, one that is recognized throughout the world. Some indication of Columbia’s standing, and of the scientific and practical fruitfulness of our work in this field, I given by the accomplishments of the Statistical Research Group now serving the Army and the Navy as part of Columbia’s contribution to the war effort.

Columbia must hold and extend the position of preeminence we have won. We believe that in Hotelling and Wald we have men of intellectual vigor and established scientific competence who will be in the forefront of future advances in Mathematical Statistics. Their work will supplement and strengthen that of the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory, in which Columbia will cooperate with the International Business Machines Corporation, as the work of that Laboratory will enhance the effectiveness of our efforts in Mathematical Statistics.

The scholarly record of Professor Wald is set forth in an attached statement. I need only add here that Wald’s researches in statistical theory have been fundamental in character and seminal in their influence. A recent outstanding example of the fertility of his thought is provided by his contribution of a new mathematical basis for techniques of quality control in manufacturing production, techniques that have been widely adopted in the control of war production. The sequential methods utilized in Dr. Wald’s procedures are capable of application in scientific experiments, and in a wide variety of other fields.

In the conviction that Columbia should reinforce success, in planning for the future, and should build where firm foundations have already been laid, I urge that the position of the University in the field of Mathematical Statistics be maintained, and strengthened. Dr. Abraham Wald’s continuance here is crucial in such a program. I recommend, therefore, that Dr. Wald, who is now Associate Professor of Statistics at an annual salary of $5,000, be appointed Professor of Mathematical Statistics, at a salary of $7,500 a year, the appointment to be effective July 1, 1945.

Respectfully submitted,

FREDERICK C. MILLS

Source Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Columbiana. Department of Economics Collection. Box 3 Budget, 1915-1946-47, Folder “Budget Material 1944-1945”.

___________________

April 27, 1951

Memorial Minute for Professor A. Wald

Professor Wolfowitz then presented a minute memorializing the late Professor Abraham Wald. It was adopted by a rising vote, and a copy was ordered sent to Professor Wald’s family.

ABRAHAM WALD

Abraham Wald, Professor of Mathematical Statistics and a distinguished member of this Faculty, was killed in an airplane accident in India on December 13, 1950. He had been on a lecture tour of Indian universities and research centers. Mrs. Wald was killed in the same accident.

Dr. Wald arrived in the United States in the summer of 1938, a refugee from Nazi persecution. In the fall of 1938 he came to Columbia as a fellow of the Carnegie Corporation. He became a member of this Faculty in 1942 and professor of Mathematical Statistics in 1945. Much of his statistical work was done here. It shed luster on Columbia and largely helped to make Columbia an important center of mathematical statistics. His work changed the whole course and emphasis of modern mathematical statistics. In addition to many other contributions the theory of statistical decision functions and the theory of sequential analysis were founded by him. He also made important contributions to mathematical economics, the theory of probability, and metric geometry.

He was a good friend to many, a genial colleague, and an inspiring teacher. By his death the University and science have sustained a grievous loss.

Source: Columbia University Archives. Minutes of the Faculty of Political Science, 1950-1962.

Image Source: Naval Ordnance Test Station, Inyokern, California from the obituary by J. Wolfowitz published in The Annals of Mathematical Statistics 23:1 (March, 1952), pp. 1-13.

 

Categories
Columbia Economists Pennsylvania Statistics

Columbia. Statistics PhD alumnus. Robert E. Chaddock, 1908

 

The post provides another life/career overview of a Ph.D. alum. Today’s Ph.D. went on to become professor of sociology and statistics at Columbia University, Robert Emmet Chaddock.

__________________________

Previous posts at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror
with Chaddock content…

Request for funding for his statistical laboratory in 1911 (with a newspaper account of his 1940 suicide).

E.R.A. Seligman’s recommendation for Chaddock’s promotion to Associate Professor in 1912.

__________________________

Chaddock obituaries by…

Frederick E. Croxton in Journal of the American Statistical Association 36:213 (March, 1941), pp. 116-119.

William F. Ogburn in American Journal of Sociology 46:4 (January, 1941), p. 595.

__________________________

Robert E. Chaddock (1879-1940)

1879 born April 16, in Minerva, Ohio

1900 A.B. Wooster College

1900-05. Taught at Wooster College

1906 M.A., Columbia University

1906-08. University Fellow in Sociology, Columbia University

1908 Worked with the boy’s club of the Union Settlement (New York City)

1907-09. Instructor, Columbia University

1908 Ph.D. Columbia University.

1909-11. Assistant Professor of Economics and Statistics. Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

1911-12. Assistant Professor of Statistics, Columbia University

1912-22. Associate Professor of Statistics, Columbia University

1917-24. Secretary-Treasurer of the American Statistical Association

1925 Publication of Principles and Methods of Statistics.

1922-40. Professor of Sociology and Statistics.

1925 President of the American Statistical Association

1925-1940. Member of the Joint Advisory Committee to the Director of the Census.

1928 Represented the Social Science Research Council as delegate to the International Conference on Population in Paris (July).

1929 LL.D. awarded by Wooster College

1933-36. Member of the Committee on Government Statistics and Informational Services (jointly established by the American Statistical Association and the Social Science Research Council)

1937 Chairman of the Joint Advisory Committee to the Director of the Census

1940 October 21. Death by suicide.

Other memberships

Member of the American Committee of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population Problems.

Chairman of the Research Committee, member of the Executive Committee of the Research Bureau of the Welfare Council of New York City.

Consultant statistician of the Commonwealth Fund

Member of the Advisory Council of the Milbank memorial Fund.

Member and Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Research in Medical Economics. Member of the editorial board of the quarterly journal Medical Care.

Fellow of the American Public Health Association

Member of the International Statistical Institute

Member of the American Sociological Society

Member of the Century Club (New York)

Phi Beta Kappa.

__________________________

Political Science Faculty Memorial Minute
Columbia University

Dec. 13, 1940

Robert Emmet Chaddock

Professor Robert Emmet Chaddock served his University for over thirty years. Born at Minerva, Ohio, 1879, he took his A.B. at Wooster College in 1900. From the time he first came to Columbia as a graduate student in 1905, his association with the University was broken only for two years, during which he was Assistant Professor of Economics and Statistics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. At Columbia he was in turn University Fellow in Sociology, Instructor in Economics, Assistant Professor of Statistics, Associate Professor, and from 1922 until his death Professor of Sociology and Statistics. In these various capacities he fulfilled his duties with unsparing devotion, giving attention to his students, whole-heartedly cooperating with his colleagues, freely participating in various organizations for the advancement of public welfare, and contributing always to the improvement of statistical application to social problems, especially those connected with population and public health. He was the author of numerous articles and reports on these and other subjects, and his work on Principles and Methods of Statistics has given guidance to a large number of students throughout the country. His recognition as a leader in this field was shown by the many calls made upon his services, from the Bureau of the Census, the Milbank Foundation, the Welfare Council of New York City, the Cities Census Committee, and the International Statistical Institute, and other bodies. To these calls Professor Chaddock never failed to respond. He won the regard of all who knew him. His death removes a man who gave himself without limit and without afterthought, to his University, to his family, to the community. His colleagues tender their respectful sympathy to those who intimately mourn for him, his wife and daughter.

Robert M. MacIver
Carlton J. H. Hayes
Roswell C. McCrea

 

Source: Columbia University Archives. Minutes of the Faculty of Political Science, 1940-1949, p. 881.

Image Source: Robert Emmet Chaddock from Barnard College, Mortarboard, 1919.

 

Categories
Columbia History of Economics

Columbia. Reading List. Economic Thought Before Adam Smith. Dorfman, ca 1947

 

The following course reading list was included with other history of economics reading lists in Joseph Dorfman’s papers at Columbia University. Course catalogues from 1945-46 through 1957-58 were examined and they confirm that this course was indeed taught by Joseph Dorfman. While listed as offered during the 1947-48 and 1948-49 academic years, the course was explicitly bracketed as not offered from 1949-50 through 1957-58. The course was not offered before 1947-48.

____________________

Course Announcement 1947-1948
[also 1948-49]

Economics 111—History of economic doctrine to Adam Smith. 3 points Winter Session. Professor Dorfman.

Tu.Th. 1:10. 310 Fayerweather.

Various systems of economics with especial attention paid to the wider aspects of connection between theories and organization of industrial society at the time. Antiquity; Middle Ages; mercantilists; Physiocrats; and English precursors of Adam Smith.

Source: Columbia University. Bulletin of Information. Forty-seventh Series, No. 38 (September 13, 1947). Announcement of the Faculty of Political Science for the Winter and Spring Sessions 1947-1948, p. 46.

____________________

ECONOMICS 111

Ashley, W. J. An Introduction to English Economic history and Theory, Chapter VI

Beer, M. An Inquiry into Physiocracy

Beer, M. Early British Economics

Bonar, James Philosophy and Political Economy

Bonar, James Theories of Population

Dempsey, Bernard W. Interest and Usury, Chap. 4-7

Heckscher, Eli Mercantilism

Higgs, Henry The Physiocrats

Johnson, E. A. J. Predecessors of Adam Smith

Laistner, L. M. Greek Economics

Monroe, Arthur Eli Early Economic Thought

Monroe, Arthur Eli Monetary Theory Before Adam Smith

O’Brien, G. An Essay on Medieval Economic Thinking

Somerville, et al. “Interest and Usury,” The Economic Journal, vol. 41, pp. 646-49; vol. 42, pp. 123-37, 3112-23

Viner, Jacob Studies in the Theory of international Trade, Chapters 1 and 2.

Ware, Norman J. “The Physiocrats”, The American Economic Review, XXI, pp. 607-19

Mitchell, The Background of Greek Economics (pp. 24-37)

 

Source: Columbia University Libraries. Manuscript Collections. Joseph Dorfman Collection. Box 13, Folder “College Bound Reports. Examination questions”.

Image Source: From Joseph Dorfman’s 1973 Columbia University picture Identification Card in Joseph Dorfman Collection, Box 13, Unlabelled Folder.

Categories
Amherst Barnard Berkeley Brown Chicago Colorado Columbia Cornell Dartmouth Duke Harvard Illinois Indiana Iowa Johns Hopkins Kansas M.I.T. Michigan Michigan State Minnesota Missouri Nebraska North Carolina Northwestern NYU Ohio State Pennsylvania Princeton Radcliffe Rochester Stanford Swarthmore Texas Tufts UCLA Vassar Virginia Washington University Wellesley Williams Wisconsin Yale

U.S. Bureau of Education. Contributions to American Educational History, Herbert B. Adams (ed.), 1887-1903

 

I stumbled across this series while I was preparing the previous post on the political economy questions for the Harvard Examination for Women (1874). I figured it would be handy for me to keep a list of links to the monographs on the history of higher education in 35 of the United States at the end of the nineteenth century. Maybe this collection will help you too.

Contributions to American Educational History, edited by Herbert B. Adams

  1. The College of William and Mary. Herbert B. Adams (1887)
  2. Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia. Herbert B. Adams (1888)
  3. History of Education in North Carolina. Charles L. Smith (1888)
  4. History of Higher Education in South Carolina. C. Meriwether (1889)
  5. Education in Georgia. Charles Edgeworth Jones (1889)
  6. Education in Florida. George Gary Bush (1889)
  7. Higher Education in Wisconsin. William F. Allen and David E. Spencer (1889)
  8. History of Education in Alabama. Willis G. Clark (1890).
  9. History of Federal and State Aid to Higher Education. Frank W. Blackmar (1890)
  10. Higher Education in Indiana. James Albert Woodburn (1891).
  11. Higher Education in Michigan. Andrew C. McLaughlin. (1891)
  12. History of Higher Education in Ohio. George W. Knight and John R. Commons (1891)
  13. History of Higher Education in Massachusetts. George Gary Bush (1891)
  14. The History of Education in Connecticut. Bernard C. Steiner (1893)
  15. The History of Education in Delaware. Lyman P. Powell (1893)
  16. Higher Education in Tennessee. Lucius Salisbury Merriam (1893)
  17. Higher Education in Iowa. Leonard F. Parker (1893)
  18. History of Higher Education in Rhode Island. William Howe Tolman (1894)
  19. History of Education in Maryland. Bernard C. Steiner (1894).
  20. History of Education in Lousiana. Edwin Whitfield Fay (1898).
  21. Higher Education in Missouri. Marshall S. Snow (1898)
  22. History of Education in New Hampshire. George Gary Bush (1898)
  23. History of Education in New Jersey. David Murray (1899).
  24. History of Education in Mississippi. Edward Mayes (1899)
  25. History of Higher Education in Kentucky. Alvin Fayette Lewis (1899)
  26. History of Education in Arkansas. Josiah H. Shinn (1900)
  27. Higher Education in Kansas. Frank W. Blackmar (1900)
  28. The University of the State of New York. History of Higher Education in the State of New York. Sidney Sherwood (1900)
  29. History of Education in Vermont. George Gary Bush (1900)
  30. History of Education in West Virginia. A. R. Whitehill (1902)
  31. The History of Education in Minnesota. John N. Greer (1902)
  32. Education in Nebraska. Howard W. Caldwell (1902)
  33. A History of Higher Education in Pennsylvania. Charles H. Haskins and William I. Hull (1902)
  34. History of Higher Education in Colorado. James Edward Le Rossignol (1903)
  35. History of Higher Education in Texas. J. J. Lane (1903)
  36. History of Higher Education in Maine. Edward W. Hall (1903)

Image Source: Cropped from portrait of Herbert Baxter Adams ca. 1890s. Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

Categories
Columbia Regulations

Columbia. Faculty of political science’s discussion of Ph.D. requirements, 1905

Welcome to a 1905 discussion about the requirements for a Ph.D. in American History, Economics or Sociology from the Columbia University Faculty of Political Science. Should sufficient knowledge of Latin (repeat, Latin) be the subject of examination for those fields. From the minutes of the meeting transcribed below we learn that a no-brainer motion to dismiss the Latin language examination was postponed, pending inquiries about the Latin language requirements at other universities. 

Can a I hear a Gloria in excelsis Deo?

______________________

Discussion Questions Regarding Revision of Ph.D. Requirements
Faculty of Political Science, Columbia University (1905)

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

January 25, 1905

President Butler
Columbia University

Dear Sir:

It gives me pleasure to advise you that the Faculty of Political Science decided at its last meeting to hold a special meeting on Friday, January 27, at 3:30 p.m. For the informal and preliminary discussion of the questions submitted by its committee on the Revision of Requirements for the Ph.D. degree, of which I enclose a copy.

Respectfully yours
[signed] Henry R. Seager
Secretary

 

  1. Is it desirable to distinguish the candidates for the doctorate from the rest of the student body and to prescribe preliminary tests or examinations for admission to such candidacy?
  2. Should proficiency in the required languages be treated as such a preliminary requirement?
  3. Should candidates with a major in (a) Economics, (b) Sociology or (c) American History be excused from examination in Latin?
  4. If so, should a third modern language be required of those candidates who do not offer Latin?
  5. How early in his period of residence, or how long before admission to the candidacy for the doctorate, should a student select the subject of his dissertation?
  6. Is it desirable that seminar work should be so organized as to encourage preliminary studies by the candidate in the field of his dissertation?
  7. When the subject selected as a major is one in which relatively few courses (less than eight hours) are offered, should attendance upon other courses, in addition to those now required in the minor subjects, be made compulsory? If this is desirable, should the end be attained by increasing in such cases the requirements in the minor subjects?
  8. When the subjects selected as a major subject is one in which more than eight hours of lectures are offered, should be existing requirements as regards attendance be decreased?
  9. Should it be required, before any candidate is admitted to the general examination on his subjects, that he be recommended by the professors in charge of his major and minor subjects?
  10. Is it desirable that the professor in charge of his major subject should refuse such recommendation unless the work of the candidate upon his dissertation has been carried to such a point as to render it probable that a satisfactory dissertation will be produced within the legal term?
  11. If any of the above changes seem desirable, shall your committee prepared, for submission to the faculty, rules adopted to realize said changes? Or shall say, where ever it seems practicable, draft resolutions which, if adopted, will merely express the general policy of the Faculty, to be made effective in practice by the action of his several members?

Source:  Columbia University Archives. Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Central Files 1890-. Box 338, Folder “11. Seager, Henry R.”

______________________

Minutes of Special Meeting
Jan. 27, 1905

In the absence of the President, the meeting was called to order by the Dean.

Present: Professors Burgess, Munroe Smith, Goodnow, Seligman, Osgood, Dunning, Giddings, Robinson, Sloane, Moore, H.L., and Seager.

Excused: Professors J.B.Moore and Clark

The reading of the minutes of the last meeting was passed over.

On motion, the Chairman of the Committee on the Revision of the Requirements for the Ph.D. degree was requested to read abstracts of the replies received from the different members of the Faculty to the questions propounded by that Committee. On further consideration this action was, on motion, revoked.

The Faculty then proceeded to the consideration of the questions submitted seriatim.

On motion it was

Resolved: That the sentiment of the Faculty is adverse to the plan of distinguishing candidates for the doctorate from the rest of the student body.

On motion, it was decided in connection with the second question, that any candidate for the Ph.D. degree may take the required examination in the languages one year in advance of the examination on his subjects. After some further discussion the Faculty adjourned to meet as a committee of the whole on Friday, February 3rd at 3:30 P.M.

[signed] Henry R. Seager.
Secretary

 

Minutes of Special Meeting
Feb. 3, 1905

In the absence of the President the meeting of the Committee of the Whole was called to order by the Dean.

Present: Professors Burgess, Munroe Smith, Seligman, Dunning, Moore, J.B., Giddings, Robinson, Moore, H.L., and Seager.

On motion it was

Resolved: That the following motion be substituted for that passed at the close of the last meeting: Resolved that it is the sense of the Committee of the Whole that it is desirable to permit and encourage students to take the examination on their languages in advance of the examination on their subjects.

The following resolution was then proposed: Resolved that it is the sense of the Committee of the Whole that it is desirable to excuse candidates for the Ph.D. degree in Economics, Sociology and American History from the examination in Latin, provided that the professors in charge of their major studies certify that that language will not be necessary in connection with the preparation of their theses. After some discussion a substitute motion was passed instructing the Secretary to make inquiry as to the practice of other universities in reference to requiring Latin in connection with the Ph.D. degree.

On motion, Question 4 was passed over for later consideration.

On motion, Questions 5, 9 and 10 were taken up together. After some discussion it was on motion

Resolved: That it is the sense of the Committee of the Whole that a recommendation from one or more professors be pre-requisite to admission to examination for the Ph.D. degree.

On motion it was

Resolved: That it is the sense of the Committee of the Whole that no candidate shall be admitted to examination on his subjects until recommended by the professors in charge of his major and minor subjects, and that in case of disagreement among the latter the decision of the professor in charge of the major subject shall prevail.

After some discussion it was decided that the point covered by Question 10 was sufficiently provided for by the resolution adopted by the Faculty at its regular meeting in May, 1904. [*See below]

On motion, Questions 5 and 6 were laid on the table.

On motion, Questions 7 and 8 were taken up together.

On motion it was resolved, in answer to 8, that it is the sense of the Committee of the Whole that when more than eight hours of lectures are offered in the major subject, the existing requirements in reference to attendance should be decreased.

No action was taken in reference to Question 7.

On motion, the Committee adjourned.

[signed] Henry R. Seager.
Secretary

*From the Minutes of the Regular Meeting
May 20, 1904

…The following resolution was offered by the Secretary:

RESOLVED that it is the sense of this Faculty that no candidate shall be admitted to examination on his major and minor subjects for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy until the professor in charge of the major subject certifies that such progress has been made by the candidate in the investigation of the subject selected by him for his dissertation, as to render it probable that a satisfactory dissertation will be produced.

Source: Columbia University Archives. Minutes of the Faculty of Political Science, 1897-1919, Minutes of The Faculty of Political Science (October 22, 1897 to May 9, 1913), pp. 133-134, 144-148.

Image Source: From archive.org:  Xenophontis Socratici liber, qui Oeconomicus inscribitur. Bernardinus Donatus Veronensis vertit, 1539. Repository: National Central Library of Rome.