Edwin F. Gay was an 1890 alumnus of the University of Michigan (A.B.) whom the Harvard Class of 1890 elected to honorary class membership its 25th anniversary. Five years later we find in the 30th anniversary report of the class a short note paying tribute to Gay’s war service. That note is posted below. Rather than overthink what might be new information worth putting into the digital record here, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror simply decided to transcribe the entire artifact.
The previous post highlights the role Edwin F. Gay and Wesley Clair Mitchell played at the creation of the “Survey of Current Business” of the Department of Commerce, an important legacy of then Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover.
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In-depth look at the life and career of Edwin Francis Gay
Herbert Heaton. A Scholar in Action, Edwin F. Gay. Harvard University Press, 1952.
Contents
Introduction—The man and his work
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- A Scholar in the Making, 1867-1902
- Harvard, 1902-1917
- Wartime in Washington, 1917-1919
- The New York “Evening Post,” 1919-1923
- Harvard and the Squirrel Cage, 1924-1936
- In and Out of the Ivory Tower, 1936-1946
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From the 1920 Report
of the Harvard Class of 1890
EDWIN FRANCIS GAY
DEGREES: (Harvard) LL.D. (Hon.); (Berlin) Ph.D.; (University of Michigan) A.B. 1890.
OCCUPATION: Publisher New York Evening Post.
Offices held in Harvard: instructor in Economics, 1902-03; assistant professor of Economics, 1903-1906; professor of Economics, 1906-1919; dean of Graduate School of Business Administration, 1908-1919. Graduated from the University of Michigan in the class of 1890 and came to Harvard as the dean of the School of Business Administration. He was elected an honorary member of our class at the time of our twenty-fifth anniversary. During the war he went to Washington where he was in charge of the allocation of shipping and at the close of the war he came to New York as the editor of the New York Evening Post where he now is.
Gay really did a wonderful work in Washington in bringing his statistical data to practical results. He started in on the Shipping Board and conceived the idea of restricting imports that were not particularly needed for war work and thus gaining space in ships for carrying munitions, food and men for our Army and those of our Allies from this country abroad. He established a splendid number of expert statisticians, each one of whom made a certain commodity a specialty. These were mostly college deans and professors who quickly acquired a book knowledge of needs and supplies of these various commodities.
For instance, a man would be devoted to the study of rubber. He would know the whole subject and have at his fingers’ ends the amount of rubber imported into this country during the last ten years; the growth of the use of rubber, and what percentage of this total could properly be called essential – to which amount importations might be safely limited without in any way injuring our war preparations. Another man would have similar knowledge of wool; another of minerals; fruits; peanuts; rabbit skins for hats; rattans and reeds for furniture; tobacco, etc., down the list of hundreds of raw materials. In this way over seven hundred and fifty thousand tons of shipping were found for the necessities of the war.
So successful was Gay in quickly starting this bureau that he was made a member of the War Trade Board, and afterwards the War Industries Board, and was the strongest man on both. He was a tremendous worker himself, and had the magnetism to inspire enthusiasm in others. It was generally conceded that he was one of the few strong men in Washington who made it possible for men and supplies to get across the water; a man of great knowledge, but no bigotry. His department was as full of Socialism as were all others in Washington. These college professors were so enthusiastic in keeping out unnecessary commodities that they laughed with glee when an unfortunate business man faced ruin as a result; but the main business was to win the war and it was confidently planned that if the armistice had not come on November 11th, on the following July the United States would have had four million men in Europe and the necessary munitions and supplies.
Source: Harvard College, Class of 1890.Thirtieth Anniversary, 1920, Secretary’s Report, No. 7, pp. 76-77.
Image Source: Portrait of professor Edwin Francis Gay (colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror) from the Harvard Class Album 1914.