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Northwood Institute. A Libertarian Credo. V. Orval Watts, 1973

In the Beginning…

…Mr. Leonard Read became general manager of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the largest C. of C. in the country and, I believe, the most enlightened. He had me chosen as a member of his board of directors, which position I have held since 1939. Another result was that the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce added an economic counsel to its staff, Dr. V. O. Watts, a former student of mine at Harvard.

     Through the influence of Messrs. Mullendore [president of the Southern California Edison Co.] , Read, Watts, and myself, the L.A. C. of C. became the spearhead of an active crusade for the return to the principle of freedom of enterprise. That crusade seems to have made an impression, since nearly everybody now (1947) talks in favor of free enterprise and against the police state. If I had something to do with starting Mullendore, Read, and Watts on this crusade, it may turn out to be the most important work of my life.

Source: Thomas Nixon Carver, Recollections of an Unplanned Life (Los Angeles, 1949), p. 241.

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The following artifact is found in the papers of V. Orval Watts at the Hoover Institution Archives. It bears no date, but essentially the same document has been posted as an article at the Foundation for Economic Education with a date of March 1, 1973 with a prefatory note “This article is from remarks at a recent faculty meeting [at the Northwood Institute].” The introductory paragraphs differ and there is an interesting obiter dictum added to the FEE version that “our rules prohibiting the use of liquor and marijuana and requiring the women students to return to the dormitories at a certain time” are not coercive.

V. Orval Watts, Harvard Ph.D. (1932), was a disciple of Harvard Professor Thomas Nixon Carver, his initial academic career morphed into becoming an apostle of laissez-faire, anti-Keynesianism, anti-globalism, and anti-communism. Ultimately he continued his crusades as the economics research pillar at the Judeo-Christian libertarian Northwood Institute (now Northwood University). Watts’ biographical details can be found in a 2018 post and his graduate economics record at Harvard has also been transcribed by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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THE NORTHWOOD IDEA

By V. Orval Watts, Ph.D.
Northwood Institute

NOTE ON AUTHOR

Dr. V. Orval Watts has served as an inspiration and mentor for colleagues and the students of Northwood Institute for almost as long as the College has existed. Organizations grow and prosper because of their distinctive personalities. Ours has been molded and maintained by Dr. Watts. As director of Economic Education, he has reminded us of what we can be, if we will. More than this he carried the message of freedom to every corner of our country for more than six decades. His explanation of the Northwood Idea is a declaration of beliefs around which this institution has been built.

Dr. David E. Fry
President

Introduction: The Northwood Idea

By V. Orval Watts

The Northwood Idea — the thought that went into the founding of Northwood Institute — is as conservative as The Ten Commandments or The Golden Rule.

It is as liberal and progressive as the gains that come to humans as they learn to live by these principles.

Yet this does not make The Northwood Idea new or different. “Education,” we hear again and again, is the one way to solve our problems of crime, poverty, prejudice, racism, and war. Particularly in these United States, schooling in regard for one another’s welfare and in the skills necessary for making ourselves useful in a peaceful society are what every parent and teacher want for our huge investments in the world’s greatest educational effort.

This schooling, we all agree, should teach the ways of peace, goodwill and mutual aid.

Yet crime — especially juvenile crime — is higher than ever and is increasing faster in our cities and states where these expenditures of time and resources are greatest. Levels of literacy and self-discipline actually rose faster in the days before these great investments in compulsory and universal schooling.

The menace of terrorism, war, economic breakdown and famine is greater despite advances in technology which make peaceful cooperation more fruitful than ever before in human history. They offer the opportunity to abolish hunger, famine and pestilence forever.

Clearly something is wrong or lacking in our systems of schooling. At least, the founders of Northwood Institute thought so. Therefore, they ventured and risked greatly to offer something different from the general run of college schooling. My work and contacts with these men and women, and with their helpers and supporters, almost from the beginning of this institution, make me think of their aims — The Northwood Idea — in these terms:

First, the philosophy of Northwood’s founders springs from certain oft-forgotten aspects of the Judeo-Christian Ethic, or culture. In particular, it implies firm belief in the fact of personal, individual responsibility.

Second, the founders and supporters of Northwood Institute have shown by their lives and dedicated efforts that they look on work not merely as the means for obtaining the material necessaries and comforts of life but also as the way to what some call “mental health.” Strenuous and continuing effort in the hope of achieving a better life for oneself and others they see as essential for spiritual (psychological, emotional, mental) well-being.

Finally, they recognize that human progress depends on freedom for business enterprise. This requires private property. It means freedom to buy and sell, freedom to advertise and dicker, freedom to lend and borrow, and freedom to save and invest for profit.

This free-enterprise business, they believe, has been essential in the rise of great civilizations. It arises with acceptance of individual responsibility, the work ethic, and the self-discipline necessary for freedom.

I. THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN ETHIC

As to the Judeo-Christian Ethic, I’ve been tempted to use instead the phrase “Bourgeois Ethic,” meaning the ethic of the tradesman, but Karl Marx and others have given that phrase so nasty a connotation that I know I would have two strikes against me at the outset if I called our moral code the “Bourgeois Ethic.” Yet, whatever we call it, the moral basis for our Northwood philosophy is the ethic which is necessary for a good life as a trader or financier.

The Idea of Individual Responsibility

This ethic begins with the idea of individual responsibility. That concept is basic for the Judeo-Christian Ethic.*

* The Islamic faith, we should note, stems from the Judeo-Christian ethic and theology.

The Ten Commandments and the moral injunctions of both the Old and the New Testaments were always directed to the individual: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”; “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image”; “Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.“

Note that “thou,” “thy” and “thee” are singular pronouns, not plural as is “you” or “your.” Therefore, these ancient commandments were directed to one person, the individual, who is thereby charged with responsibility for what he chooses to do. They take it for granted that humans can choose. Our actions are not determined by instinct.

In fact, humans must choose. That is what individual responsibility and self-determination mean. Ideas and acquired values determine our specific actions, and they may prompt us to ignore various influences in the outside environment. We can direct our own actions to prolong and enrich our lives, or we can choose suicidal paths as people choose to smoke when they have abundant evidence that it shortens life. We can choose to jump off cliffs, we can choose to play Russian roulette; or we can choose to follow ways of life, ways of health and well-being.

The Idea of Moral Law

Of equal importance in the Judeo-Christian Ethic is recognition of the enduring nature of Moral Law. The essence of this moral law is summed up in the “Golden Rule,” and it derives from the fact that humans need one another.

Without other human beings, we cannot be born, cannot be reared, cannot prosper; and to have the cooperation of other humans — to avoid the conflicts which would be suicidal for humans — we must follow the “Golden Rule.” When we apply that rule in practice, we find it is the unifying principle of these commandments that refer to the relations between the individual and his fellows: “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not kill,” and “Thou shalt not bear false witness.”

Now, it should be clear that obedience to Moral Law means voluntary cooperation and freedom. If we don’t steal, we leave other persons free to use their talents in peaceful and cooperative ways to produce goods for their own use, for exchange, or for gifts to others, such as gifts to one’s family or heirs.

Therefore, we have a state of individual freedom if we live by the “Ten Commandments.” We have private property and numberless associations for voluntary cooperation. Humans develop as humans and make progress only in this condition of individual freedom and voluntary association established by adherence to these moral principles. Therefore, these moral principles are antecedent to and take precedence over all man-made laws and customs.

Respect for Property

In other words, these enduring moral principles require of us respect for the property rights of other people — that is, respect for their rights to control their own persons and for their rights to control those things which they obtain in voluntary cooperation, whether by gift, by voluntary exchange, or by the productive use of these things. Living by these principles requires that we fulfill our contracts, that we speak the truth, and that we revere the laws of Life and Nature. The first four of The Ten Commandments tell us of this need for reverence: a Higher Authority enforces laws vastly more enduring and exacting than the statutes of kings and parliaments.

We should note, incidentally, that this voluntary cooperation and exchange is doubly productive of benefits in contrast to the one-sided gain that anyone may get by coercion, as for example, by burglary, by slavery, or by taxation. In voluntary cooperation, all participants must benefit if the cooperation is to continue, for if it is voluntary, anyone may withdraw when he feels he is not benefiting, when he feels that the gains are distributed unjustly or going entirely to one person or group at the expense of the time and energy of others.

We should note also that living by the Golden Rule involves respect for privacy — the right to be left alone and the right to choose one’s associates. Coercion — the attempt to compel people to associate with others — leads to conflict rather than to the attitudes and actions which are mutually beneficial. Freedom established by the Moral Law of the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments includes the moral right to withdraw from an unwelcome contact with other persons, as well as the right to cooperate freely in mutually beneficial ways.

As Paul wrote in his “Second Letter to the Corinthians” two thousand years ago, “Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness? … Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord … and I will receive you.” (II Cor. 6:14-17)

II. EMPHASIS ON WORK AND THRIFT

Next, I wish to call attention to Northwood’s emphasis on work and thrift as marks and means of human progress. It is fashionable in some circles nowadays to disparage both of these values. But, work is merely persistent, purposeful effort. It is investment of human time and energy for long-range, indirect benefits.

Long-range benefits are those that occur in the future. Indirect benefits are those that may first benefit another person, but bring a return benefit of some sort to us later.

Such planned, purposeful effort for a long-range or indirect benefit is surely necessary for human survival and progress; and the traits of character and personality developed by such effort we regard as virtues.

Thrift is the postponement of present consumption in order to obtain greater satisfactions in the future. Like work, it requires the highest human qualities of understanding and imagination to foresee the future and to hold it in mind in order to gain the necessary self-restraint.

In short, work and thrift require understanding, self-control. They are means, not only of self-development, but of service to others.

We’d Still Live In Caves

Where would we be today had it not been for the thrift and work involved in the creation of our buildings, and the production of the myriad tools, or capital goods, that we use? The answer is we would still be living in caves, scratching out a short-lived, hand-to-mouth existence derived from the roots and grubs we could dig up, the small animals we could catch in our hands, and the berries we could get in season.

Everything that we call the material aspects of civilization, and the moral and spiritual ones as well, our understanding that enables us to live longer, to live better and to cooperate — all of this comes from thrift and work, the accumulations of thousands of years of human effort, inventiveness, planning, thrift and self-discipline.

This Puritan Ethic — this system of values, this way of life — is essential to progress. It is essential not only for economic progress but also for developing the qualities that are most distinctively human, the qualities that make us humans. It is mental, moral and spiritual “therapy,” to use a modern cliche.

III. THE IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS

Finally, if we are to have cooperation, we must exchange services; and as the cooperation gets more and more complicated, we need specialists to work out the terms and procedures of the multitudinous exchanges. Therefore, we must use money and credit; and we must have traders and financiers, advertisers, brokers and salesmen, accountants and collection agencies to complete the exchanges, including those exchanges which are made over a period of time and which therefore require credit and finance.

Finance is the monetary aspect of credit. Credit is merely a delayed exchange, an incomplete exchange. In every civilized society, most exchanges take time to complete because they are indirect, three-cornered or four-cornered exchanges, taking place over a distance and involving roundabout capital-using methods of production. In all such time-consuming transactions, we must have credit (trust and waiting). Therefore, money, credit and financial experts are as necessary for civilized life and progress as are tools and machines, mechanics, and engineers.

Business, then, means those aspects of voluntary cooperation which we call commerce and finance, and the function of the businessman is to promote, inspire, and guide cooperation. He organizes and teaches competitive cooperation — cooperation to provide better opportunities for life and for a more abundant life. These business activities — organizing, inspiring, leading and teaching cooperation — promote development of the highest qualities of mind, character and personality.

Now, from time immemorial — from the first introduction of money and the specialists who traded and promoted trades — business has been widely regarded with suspicion and looked down upon as a degrading occupation. In primitive societies, the view prevails that a merchant or moneylender profits only at the expense of producers. This belief helps explain why such societies remain backward, or “under-developed.”

Of course, this belief is an entire misjudgment as to what most of a businessman’s wealth consists of and what he contributes to the value of other producers’ services and incomes. Most of his wealth consists of the means for serving his customers, and he contributes some of the most essential ingredients of human progress.

Wherever this disparaging attitude toward business becomes general, we find that business is harassed, regulated, plundered and repressed. Under such persecution, the character and wisdom of businessmen tends to fall.

Where opinion-makers teach that business is a dishonest racket, then those who are willing to be racketeers or cheats will monopolize business, while achievers who value the good opinion of their fellows will choose other occupations, such as religion, politics and the military. Then we find the kind of government the Pharaohs had in ancient Egypt, or that prevailed as the Roman Republic gave way to a welfare state Empire. Under such oppressive governments, a businessman must be something of a trickster to survive.

Spreading Hostility

As hostility to businessmen grows, politicians tax them more heavily, while debasing and inflating the currency to maintain an illusion of prosperity. Then, when these policies cause rising price levels, a deluded populace demands price controls, which ambitious politicians are all too ready to impose.

The resulting shortages and “black markets” provide further excuses for more government action to combat these supposed evidences of private “greed.”

This cancerous growth of government produces political “leaders” who promise peace and plenty even while they squander the fruits of industry in pauperizing the poor and waging “perpetual war for perpetual peace.”

The result must be, sooner or later, a spreading decline in the quality of life despite (or because of) the increasing largess to “the poor” and the privileged, the rise of great new public works, and the display of awe-inspiring armaments.

Civilization progresses when business is widely regarded as Horatio Alger represented it in his stories seventy-five or more years ago. In those once-popular tales, work and thrift in honest business service were the high road to personal success in the broadest sense of that word. That view of business helped attract able, enterprising youths into business careers. It prevailed in this country long before Alger wrote and helps explain the astounding economic and cultural progress of the United States during the past two centuries.

On the other hand, insofar as we lose the Horatio Alger understanding and spirit, we succumb to increasing paternalism and despotism, collectivism and war, which demoralize and belittle the individual and produce a wide-spread cultural decline. This retrogression has happened time and time again in history, and if we don’t learn the lesson from this history, we shall be doomed to repeat it.

Every nation has developed and flowered — with art, music, and the other ornaments and means of civilization — only on the basis of flourishing business, trade, commerce. This was true of the Phoenicians, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Egypt, the Chinese civilization, the Byzantine Empire, Venice, Florence, Spain, England, France, Germany and the United States. Go through the history of each and you’ll find in its origins that period in which commerce and finance were highly regarded and relatively free in a developing civilization.

Again and again, however, these eras of progress have ended as the intelligentsia became worshipers of the Almighty State. Then these intellectuals — scribes and priests — became more and more scornful of businessmen; and business lost its vision because it lost its men of vision. Men of talent and imagination, instead, accepted the faith of the state-employed intellectuals that a well-schooled elite must make more and more choices for the general run of the population and compel the inferior masses to accept this planning and direction of their lives.

Submerging the Individual

With this elitist excuse for tyranny, governments organize militaristic and imperialistic gangs to substitute forms of slavery for the voluntary cooperation of free individuals. Then, as in Communist countries today, even the ablest of the ruling bureaucracies find that any individual is expendable — trapped and exploited or liquidated — as millions of humans are sacrificed on the altars of Planned Perfection. The Moral Law of the Golden Rule and of the Ten Commandments may be violated, but not with impunity. He who harms others, harms himself; he who deceives another, cheats himself.

This faith in Moral Law permeates the philosophy of our Northwood administration and faculty. Along with it goes insistence on the fact of individual responsibility and a broad, long-range view of personal success. A businessman’s moral responsibility is no less than that of a teacher, physician, minister, artist or writer.

Essential to The Northwood Idea, then, is appreciation of the unlimited opportunities for character development in voluntary business enterprise.

Temptations correspond to the opportunities, and each occupation has its own peculiar temptations as it has its own peculiar opportunities. As few find the “strait gate” and “narrow way” of righteousness in other walks of life, likewise few businessmen will claim that they have always followed the right path in their work. Only those who look for business profits in life-supporting efforts that are mutually beneficial can achieve success in the true meaning of that word.

This objective may be the most distinctive feature of The Northwood Idea — the view that our graduates should look on business not merely as an easier way to attain ease and affluence but also as an opportunity for utilizing their highest human qualities and attaining lasting satisfaction in a life well spent.

Image Source:  Freedom School. Newsletter (January 1964).

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. Academic record of Vervon Orval Watts, Ph.D. 1932

 

Vervon Orval Watts (1898-1993) was a faithful libertarian disciple of Harvard economics professor Thomas Nixon Carver. One of his course outlines from his time at Antioch College in Ohio has been transcribed and posted earlier.

In this post you will find the paper record of Watts’ march through the Division of History, Government and Economics that was rewarded with the award of a Ph.D. by the department of economics in 1932.

_______________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Application for Candidacy for the Degree of Ph.D.

[Note: Boldface used to indicate printed text of the application; italics used to indicate the handwritten entries]

I. Full Name, with date and place of birth.

Vervon Orval Watts, March 25, 1898, Walkerton, [Ontario] Can.

II. Academic Career: (Mention, with dates inclusive, colleges or other higher institutions of learning attended; and teaching positions held.)

University of Manitoba, 1914-1918; Harvard University, 1921—
Teaching Positions: Brandon College, Jan. 1 – July 1, 1919; Gilbert Plains, high school, 1919-1921; Harvard, Assistant in Economics, 1923-24 (Asst.); 1926-27 (gr.); T + T 1927-29.

III. Degrees already attained. (Mention institutions and dates.)

A.B., University of Manitoba, 1918
A.M., Harvard University, 1923.

IV. General Preparation. (Indicate briefly the range and character of your under-graduate studies in History, Economics, Government, and in such other fields as Ancient and Modern Languages, Philosophy, etc. In case you are a candidate for the degree in History, state the number of years you have studied preparatory and college Latin.)

History:— Greek + Roman, 1 course; European, 2 1/2 courses; English History, 2 courses; Canadian History 1/2 course.
Economics:— Courses in Theory, Economic History, Public Finance, Money + Banking, Foreign Trade + Finance.
Government:—  1 course, Logic:—  1 course.
Languages:— Greek + Latin.

V. Department of Study. (Do you propose to offer yourself for the Ph.D., “History,” in “Economics,” or in “Political Science”?)

Economics.

VI. Choice of Subjects for the General Examination. (State briefly the nature of your preparation in each subject, as by Harvard courses, courses taken elsewhere, private reading, teaching the subject, etc., etc.)

  1. Economic Theory and Its History.
    At Harvard – Ec. 11, Ec. 14; at Manitoba – course in Theory + its History. Private Reading.
  2. Public Finance.
    At Harvard, Ec. 31; at Manitoba – 1 course. Private Reading.
  3. International Trade + Tariff Policy.
    At Harvard – Ec. 9b, Ec. 39;
    At Manitoba – 1 course; Private Reading.
  4. Economics of Agriculture.
    At Harvard – Ec. 9a, Ec. 32;
    – Assistant in Ec. 9a, 1923,
    Private Reading.
  5. Sociology.
    At Harvard, Ec. 8,
    –Assistant in Ec. 8, 1923
    Private Reading.
  6. History of England since the Reign of Henry VII.
    At Harvard: Hist. 12; Auditor in Hist. S9 + Hist. 11.
    At Manitoba: 1 course
    Teaching of English History in high school; Private Reading.

VII. Special Subject for the special examination.

Sociology.

VIII. Thesis Subject. (State the subject and mention the instructor who knows most about your work upon it.)

The Development of the Technological Concepts of Production in Anglo-American Thought.

IX. Examinations. (Indicate any preferences as to the time of the general and special examinations.)

I should prefer the General Examination not before Feb. 1. Middle of March or few days after. [Handwritten note: “May 27/32”]

X. Remarks

Professor Carver.

Signature of a member of the Division certifying approval of the above outline of subjects.

[signed] T. N. Carver

*   *   *   [Last page of application] *   *   *

[Not to be filled out by the applicant]

Name: Vervon Orval Watts

Approved: January 11, 1924

Ability to use French certified by C. J. Bullock, May 29, 1923.

Ability to use German certified by C. J. Bullock, May 29, 1923.

Date of general examination Monday, March 31, 1924. Passed. T.N.C.

Thesis received March 28, 1932

Read by Professors Carver and Taussig

Approved May 16, 1932

Date of special examination Friday, May 27, 1932

Recommended for the Doctorate June 9, 1932

Degree conferred  June 23, 1932

Remarks.  [left blank]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Certification of reading knowledge
of French and German for Ph.D.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Cambridge, Massachusetts
May 29, 1923

Dear Haskins:

This is to certify that I have examined Mr. V. O. Watts and find that he has such a knowledge of French and German as we require of candidates for the Ph.D. degree.

Very sincerely yours
[signed]
C. J. Bullock

Dean C. H. Haskins

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

General Examination, date and
examiners
[carbon copy]

Division of History, Government, & Economics
Harvard University

21 March 1924

My dear Mr. Watts:

We are arranging your general examination for the Ph.D. in Economics for Monday, 31 March, at 4 p.m. Your committee will consist of Professors Carver (chairman), Abbott, Williams, Bullock, and Dr. Meriam.

Very truly yours,
[unsigned copy]
Secretary of the Division

Mr. V. O. Watts

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

General Examination
Information Sent to Examiners
[carbon copy]

Division of History, Government, and Economics
Harvard University

24 University Hall
25 March 1924

My dear Professor [blank]

Since the Ph.D. pamphlet is not yet out, I am sending you herewith the information which will appear in it about V. O. Watts, whose general examination is to be held on Monday, 31 March, at 4 p.m.

Very truly yours,
Secretary of the Division.

Carver
Abbott
Williams
Bullock
Meriam

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

General Examination, Watts Reminder
[carbon copy]

27 March 1924

My dear Mr. Watts:

This is to remind you that your general examination for the Ph.D. in Economics is to be held on Monday, 31 March, at 4 p.m. in Widener N.

Very truly yours,
Secretary of the Division

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

General Examination, Carver Reminder
[carbon copy]

27 March 1924

My dear Professor Carver:
This is to remind you that you are chairman of the committee for the general examination of Mr. V. O. Watts for the Ph.D. in Economics, to be held on Monday, 31 March, at 4 p.m., in Widener N. I enclose Mr. Watts’s papers herewith. The other members of the committee are Professors Abbott, Williams, Bullock, and Dr. Meriam.

Very truly yours,
Secretary of the Division.

Professor T. N. Carver

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Passed General Examination

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Cambridge, Massachusetts
April 1, 1924

Dear Professor Haskins:

I beg to report that the general examination for the Ph.D. degree of Mr. Vernon [sic] Orval Watts was held in Widener N, Monday afternoon, March 31. The committee voted unanimously to accept Mr. Watt’s examination as satisfactory.

Signed: T.N. Carver
Chairman of the Committee

Dean C. H. Haskins

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Thesis summary still needed
[carbon copy]

March 29, 1932

Dear Mr. Watts:

Your thesis has arrived in good shape. I do not find any summary with it, however. Each thesis is required to be accompanied by a summary, not over 1200 words, which is later published by the University, along with others, in a volume. I note that you have a Digest at the beginning of your thesis; perhaps you intended this to be the summary. However, it should not be bound in with the thesis, and the form should be consecutive and not in outline as you have it. It will be a simple matter for you to re-write this Digest into an appropriate summary.

I believe I wrote you as to the date for your examination, May 27. I should be glad to hear from you confirming this, as the pamphlet goes to press soon, and I cannot hold dates open after April 1st.

Sincerely yours,
Secretary

Mr. V. O. Watts

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Last-minute thesis preparation

Antioch college
Yellow Springs
Ohio

March 5, 1932

Secretary of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dear Sir:

I have almost completed my doctoral dissertation in the field of economics, and I wish to be informed if there are any rules concerning the nature of the binding for the volume.

I am writing the thesis in Sociology under Professor Carver. Shall I send it to you or to him when it has been completed?

Very truly yours,
[signed] V. Orval Watts

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Scheduling Special Examination

Antioch college
Yellow Springs
Ohio

March 15, 1932

Miss Helen Prescott
772 Widener Memorial Library
Harvard University
Cambridge, Mass.

Dear Miss Prescott:

I should like to have my special examination placed at the end of May or the beginning of June if that will be convenient for Professor Carver.

Sincerely yours,
[signed] V. Orval Watts

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

V. O Watts: Apology for late thesis summary

Antioch college
Yellow Springs
Ohio

March 31, 1932

Dear Miss Prescott:

I regret that my delay in writing you and in sending the summary of my thesis should have caused you the trouble and annoyance of writing me age in about it. For the past two weeks I have been exceedingly busy finishing the thesis while carrying the work of four courses. We also have an economics seminar which meets every week and I am serving on two faculty committees, one of which meets every week.

At the last moment, moreover, last Tuesday, I decided to have most of the thesis re-typed because the previous typing had been so faint. It may have been that the chemicals which are used on that ripple-finish paper may have caused the ink to fade on the earlier copy. At any rate, the work of supervising the typing and doing the proof-reading in addition to my regular teaching load led me to postpone everything I could as long as possible. I sent the summary off yesterday by special delivery, however, so that you should have received it by April first.

I should very much appreciate it if you could let me know soon whether or not my thesis appears to be acceptable. I am naturally anxious about it, especially since the last half of it has been written without Professor Carver’s supervision. It has certain merits, I believe, but I am very conscious of its short-comings. It would have been better if I had showed the earlier drafts of it to Professor Carver to secure his criticisms and suggestions; but every time I wrote a chapter I saw so many things I knew myself should be corrected that I disliked to show it to him, or to any one whose good opinion I valued, until I had done it as well as I could with it myself. In fact I still wanted to give it another revision before turning it in.

I trust that you and your sister are well. It was a pleasant surprise to discover that you were working with Professor Carver again. I am looking forward to seeing you and him again this spring, and I may bring my family along with me.

Very truly yours
[signed] V. Orval Watts

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Letter to Carver

Antioch college
Yellow Springs
Ohio

April 8, 1932

Professor Carver:

Professor Taussig read a short article I wrote in criticism of Stuart Chase’s Tragedy of Waste when I first considered the topic of waste as a thesis subject. At that time my ideas concerning my plan of procedure were vague, and Professor Taussig merely approved the general subject of economic waste as one worthy of further development. I did not return for further conferences with him.

Most of my conferences, other than those with yourself, were with Professor Young, whom I used to consult frequently during the last year he was at Harvard. The distinction between the economic and the engineering point of view and the historical approach which I took are largely the result of those conferences.

I had several conferences with Professor R. B. Perry of the philosophy department, and he read and discussed at some length with me the first chapter. Professor Mason also read a few of my earlier essays, and I had a few talks with him concerning the general subject. I have felt, however, that he never approved
either of me or of my ideas. Professor Black has  stated the central idea of my thesis — the distinction between the economic and technological points of view — more clearly than any one else with whose work I am familiar, but I never had any conferences with him.

It seems to me that, all things considered, Professor Taussig is the most logical choice in the Economics Department for the examining board. He is very conscientious and honest in his criticisms and evaluations of students, yet I believe he is just and sympathetic towards new ideas.

I feel more keenly than ever at this time the loss of Professor Young, and I realize now that I may have made a mistake in not seeking the advice of Professor Taussig in writing my thesis after Professor Young left us. I always felt very reluctant to show my work to anyone, however, until I had done all I could with it myself. The distinction I have made in the thesis has not been clearly drawn by any other English writer, as far as I could discover, except by Professor Black, and I therefore felt it all the more necessary to state the idea as well as possible before
seeking criticism for it.

I expect to visit Cambridge and to see you and Professor Sorokin next Thursday or Friday. I am rather concerned about my ignorance of European sociology in view of Professor Sorokin’s interest in that field. I have been reading diligently in the history of sociological theory, but it is a very large field to cover, and I am hoping that Professor Sorokin may have some suggestions which will make my efforts more effective.

Sincerely yours,
[signed] V. Orval Watts

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

V. O Watts: List of Positions

Antioch college
Yellow Springs
Ohio

May 3, 1932

Dear Miss Prescott:

I have just recalled that you asked me some time ago to send you a list of the positions I have held. If you wanted the list for the pamphlet which was being printed three weeks ago when I was in Cambridge it will be too late to send it now. But in case you may have a further use for it I am giving it herewith. You have my permission, however, to mention any or all of these titles if you wish.

1918-1919. Instructor, Brandon College, Canada
1919-1921. Assist. principal, Gilbert Plains High School, Gilbert Plains Canada.
1922-1923. Thayer Scholar, Harvard University
1924-1926. Instructor in Economics and Sociology, Clark University
1926-1927. Weld Scholar, Harvard University
1917-1929. Tutor in History, Government, and Economics, Harvard University
1929-1930. Lecturer in Economics and Sociology, Wellesley College
1930–. Assoc. Professor of Economics, Antioch College

As you may guess I am very anxious concerning the progress of my thesis through the gauntlet of the readers. I should very much appreciate it if I could obtain a hint of good news from the scene of action, but I suppose that the long list of theses presented this year is delaying the progress of all of them.

Yours sincerely,
[signed]
V. Orval Watts

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Passed Special Examination

The committee appointed to conduct the special examination of Mr. V. Orval Watts on Friday, May 27, 1932, voted unanimously to accept the examination. It was agreed by all three examiners that it was a brilliant examination..

Signed: T. N. Carver

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Antioch College informed
that Watts completed his Ph.D.

Antioch college
Yellow Springs
Ohio

Office of the President

June 6, 1932

Dr. T. N. Carver
Department of Economics,
Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dear Dr. Carver:

I thank you for your note about Mr. V. O. Watts. It is good to know that he did so well. His interest and enthusiasm in his work with us make his scholarly qualifications all the more productive.

Sincerely yours,
[signed] Arthur E. Morgan,
President.

AEM:HG

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Ohio State Not Hiring

the ohio state university
George W. Wrightmeyer, President
Columbus

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
M. B. Hammond Alma Herbst
A. B. Wolfe R. H. Rowntree
H. G. Hayes J. D. Blanchard
H. F. Walradt J. M. Whitsett
Grace S. M. Zorbaugh H. J. Bittermann
F. E. Held C. J. Botte
L. Edwin Smart R. T. Stevens
E. L. Bowers Louis Levine
R. L. Dewey Maurice A. Freeman
C. L. James R. L. Horne
R. D. Patton Wm. H. Mautz
Louise Stitt J. H. Sloan
Virgil Willit

June 6, 1932

Professor T. N. Carver
Department of Economics
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dear Professor Carver:

I thank you for calling to my attention Mr. V. O. Watts, now teaching Economics at Antioch College. With your recommendation I do not doubt his ability to satisfy. However, the situation is about the same with us as it is at other western
institutions. We are not likely to make additions to the staff during the coming year. Those who are already employed are fighting hard to hold their jobs and there is a steady pressure on the part of graduate students to secure employment as assistants, readers, or in any other capacity, so that I do not anticipate any chance for Mr. Watts to find employment here. However, I will pass your letter to Dr. Bowers, who is acting chairman of the department, so that he can make use of it if there should be any change in the situation which calls for a new man.

I am, with best wishes,

Cordially yours,
[signed] M. B. Hammond

MBH:KU

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Record of V. O. Watts in the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

1921-22 Course

Half-Course

Economics 9a

A

Economics 9b1

A

Economics 11

B plus

Economics 322

A

Economics 392

A

German A

A minus

1922-23 Course

Half-Course

Economics 8

A

Economics 14

A minus

Economics 31

A

History 12

A minus

1923-24 Course

Half-Course

Economics 20

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government & Economics, Ph.D. Degrees Conferred 1929-30. (UA V 453.270), Box 12.

__________________________

Course Names and Instructors

1921-22

Economics 9a 1hf. Economics of Agriculture [primarily for undergraduates]. Professor Carver.

Economics 9b 1hf. International Trade and Tariff Policies. Professor Taussig.

Economics 11. Economic Theory. Professors Taussig and Young.

Economics 32 2hf. Economics of Agriculture [primarily for graduates]. Professor Carver.

Economics 39 2hf. International Finance. Asst. Professor Williams.

German A. Elementary Course. Professor Bierwirth et al.

1922-23

Economics 8. Principles of Sociology. Professor Carver.

Economics 14. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. Professor Bullock.

Economics 41. Statistical Theory and Analysis. Professors Young and Day.

History 12. The History of England from 1688 to the Present Time. Professor Abbott.

1923-24

Economics 20. Course of Research in Economics.

Image Source: Portrait of Vervon Orval Watts in the Harvard Class Album, 1932.

Categories
Harvard Libertarianism Principles Suggested Reading Syllabus

Antioch College. Syllabus for principles of economics. Watts, 1935-1936

Vervon Orval Watts (1898-1993)  was a Thomas Nixon Carver  inspired libertarian economist from pre-Keynesian Harvard times. Before going on to become the first head economist for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce (1939-46) and later an economic adviser to the Foundation for Economic Education starting in 1946, Watts taught economics at Antioch College (1930-36) and Carleton College (1936-39). His full biographical timeline can be found at the link above. For this post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has transcribed the syllabus with the assigned and optional readings for the principles course Watts taught at Antioch College in 1935-36.

In the mid-1960s Watts was the Dean of the short-lived Freedom School Phrontistery in Colorado, the brainchild of Robert LeFevre that was to become a libertarian version of a Politics, Philosophy, and Economics program of study.

_____________________________

Harvard Ph.D. awarded in 1932

Vervon Orval Watts, A.B. (Univ. of Manitoba) 1918, A.M. (Harvard Univ.) 1923.
Subject, Economics. Special Field, Sociology. Thesis, “The Development of the Technological Concept of Production in Anglo-American Thought.”
Associate Professor of Economics, Antioch College.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1931-1932, p.124.

_____________________________

A Syllabus of Instruction
for
Economics 101-102

A Survey of Modern
Economic Life

V. O. Watts
Antioch College
1935-1936

PURPOSES OF THE COURSE

  1. To obtain information concerning American economic institutions.
  2. To develop the habit in the ordinary experiences of daily life of observing, analyzing and appraising the economic results of the conduct of individuals and of groups of individuals as wage-earners, employers, farmers, manufacturers, merchants, financiers, and legislators.
  3. To develop skill in tracing out and explaining the ramifications of the economic effects of an event.

CONDUCT OF THE COURSE

Required Readings

Study of the required readings, those starred and underlined in the list of references in this syllabus, constitutes the larger part of the work of this course. The following methods of study are therefore suggested:

  1. Note the relation of each chapter or section in the text or syllabus to the sections preceding and following it.
  2. Read or scan quickly the material in one or two chapters at a time before underlining or taking notes, so that you may gain perspective and distinguish the more significant principles from the accompanying illustrations and qualifications.
  3. Think out answers to the questions and problems given at the end of each section or chapter in the text or question book, referring back to the appropriate section of the text, when necessary, to clarify your understanding of the principles involved.
  4. Re-read the text, making written note of essential points in definitions of technical terns, statements of important principles, list of arguments pro and con on controversial issues, advantages and disadvantages of proposed policies, and qualifications of principles.
    This note-taking should provide opportunity for practice in expressing yourself in economics, therefore do not copy the author’s words, but put his ideas into your own words. It should also provide an aid to quick and effective review and help you to organize your thinking in this field, therefore keep your notes brief, well-organized, and neatly arranged.
  5. Before class discussions and examinations review those notes, practicing recall, illustrating the points noted, questioning and criticizing the author’s ideas, and formulating your own conclusions.

Periodicals

Each student in this course is expected to keep posted on current economic and political events and opinions through the regular reading of a newspaper or news weekly.

                  Some acquaintance with a number of leading journals in the fields of business and political economy is also required. To that end some of the journals listed below should be consulted with the following questions in mind concerning each: (1) How often is it published? (2) Who are the publishers or editors? (3) What is the professional status or occupation of its contributors? (4) What is the general character or point of view of most of its articles? (5) What special place does it fill in the field and to what type of reader is it likely to have most appeal?

Examine the table of contents for several recent issues of some of these magazines to see if there may be articles which especially interest you. In some journals you may find few or none, but in others you should find many such articles. Try to read at least one article during the semester in each of several of the journals listed.

Recommended Readings

The optional, or recommended, readings listed below present additional information or develop points of view differing more or less from that dominant in the required text. In some cases they may present clearer explanations of the points covered in the required readings.

Class Meetings

There are customarily three class meetings per week.

Conferences

Each student should meet the instructor for a conference at least once in each five-week period. To these conferences the student should bring his economics notebook and recent test papers.

Tests and Examinations

Approximately once a week there will be a ten-minute written test on the subject matter of the required readings. At the end of the first and third divisions there will be a one-hour examination on the readings and lectures. At the end of each semester there will be a three-hour examination covering the entire work of the course to date.

Answers to examination questions should be well planned and neatly written. Each distinct point or argument should be treated in a separate paragraph, and points correlative in meaning and importance should be numbered. All papers should be written in ink.

Oral Report

In the second division of the second semester each student will be expected to present to the class in a ten or fifteen minute report the results of his study outside the required readings of a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor. The time allotted for preparation of this report should be approximately one-tenth of the time devoted to the entire course. The report itself should not take the form of reading an essay, but should be a short talk from a brief outline.

Textbooks

L. A. Rufener, Principles of Economics

R. M. Rutledge, Everyday Economics

SCHEDULE OF READINGS, LECTURES, AND EXAMINATIONS

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

FIRST SEMESTER

First Week

*Rufener, ch.1. Wants, Goods, and Welfare

*Rutledge, ch. 1.

Stuart Chase, Your Money’s Worth

C. E. Carpenter, Dollars and Sense

Fairchild, Furniss, and Buck, Elementary Economics, chs. 1, 7.

S. H. Slichter, Modern Economic Society, ch. 22.

Lecture: The Significance of Scarcity.

Second Week

*Rufener:

ch. 2. Improving Methods of Production
ch. 3. Exchange, Value, and Price
ch. 4. Business Organization and Profits

*Rutledge, ch. 4.

V. O. Watts, The Myth of the Industrial Revolution

Third Week

*Rufener:

ch. 5. Demand and Supply and Market Price
ch. 6. Demand and Supply and Market Price (continued)
ch. 7. Demand Schedules for Producers’ Goods

*Rutledge, ch. 6

W. H. Hamilton, Current Economic Problems, selections 63-66

Slichter, chs. 12, 13, 14

Fairchild, Furniss, and Buck, chs. 11-15.

Fourth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 8. Costs of Production, Market Price, and Profit
ch. 9. Cost and Price in Agriculture: Wheat-Growing
ch. 10. The Rent and Price of Agricultural Land

*Rutledge, ch. 10.

J. B. Hubbard, Current Economic Policies, pp. 180-207

Slichter, chs. 17, 19. “Public Authority as a Determinant of Price”.

Fifth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 11. Indirect Costs in Agriculture
ch. 12. Economic Rent and the Unearned Increment
ch. 13. Cost of Production in Manufacturing: Decreasing Cost

*Rutledge ch. 12.

Fairchild, Furniss, and Buck, chs. 31, 32.

Hour Examination

Sixth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 14. Decreasing Costs, Indirect Costs, and Price
ch. 15. Monopoly and Monopoly Price
ch. 16. Industrial Monopolies and Government Control

*Rutledge:

ch. 15.
ch. 16.

F. A. Fetter, The Masquerade of Monopoly

M. W. Watkins, Industrial Combinations and Public Policy

Lecture:
The Economies and Limitations of Large-Scale Methods

Seventh Week

*Rufener:

ch. 17. Public Utilities and Government Control
ch. 18. Railroads and Government Control
ch. 19. Demand Schedules for Labor

Slichter, ch. 18.

Eighth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 20. Differences in Wages
ch. 21. Labor Organization

*Rutledge:

ch. 20
ch. 21

Paul Douglas, Real Wages in the United States

Slichter, ch. 24. “The Labor Bargain—The Determination of Wages”

Fairchild, Furniss and Buck ch. 35. “The General Law of Wages.”

Rufener, ch. 22. “Labor Legislation”

Lectures:

Principles of Justice in Distribution
Wage Theories
The Malthusian Principle of Population

Ninth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 23. The Price of Loans.
ch. 24. Producers’ Loans and the Rate of Interest.

*Rutledge, ch. 23.

*R. Epstein, Supplementary Readings in Economics, ch. 18. “The Nature of Capital and Interest”

Lecture:
The Nature and Importance of Saving and Investment.

Tenth Week

Semester Examination

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

SECOND SEMESTER

First Week

*Rufener:

ch. 25. The Qualities and Quantity of Money
ch. 27. Government Paper Money

*Rutledge:

ch. 25
ch. 27

*Rufener, ch. 28. Bank Deposits and Bank Notes

D. H. Robertson, Money

Rufener, ch. 26

Second Week

*Rufener:

ch. 29. Bank Credit and Business Cycles.
ch. 30. Government Regulation of Banking in the U.S.

*Rutledge, ch. 29.

Slichter, ch. 11, ch. 20 (pp. 471-491).

L. Robbins, The Great Depression.

H. Clay, J. Stamp, J. M. Keynes, The World’s Economic Crisis and the Way of Escape.

L. Ayres, The Economics of Recovery.

W. C. Mitchell, Business Cycles, ch. 1, sections 3, 4.

Lecture:
The Causes of the 1930-1935 Depression.

Third Week

*Rufener:

ch. 31. Risk, Insurance and Speculation.
ch. 32. Clearings, Collections, and Exchange.

*Rutledge, ch. 31.

Slichter, ch. 30. “International Economic Policies—Monetary and Financial Problems.”

H. G. Moulton:

Germany’s Capacity to Pay.
The World War Debt Settlements.

Rufener, ch. 33.

Fourth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 34. International Trade
ch. 35. Protection and Free Trade.

*F. W. Taussig, Free Trade, the Tariff, and Reciprocity, pp. 44-57 and chs. 3,4,7, and pp. 168-179.

S. Crowther, America Self-Contained.

W. Redfield, Dependent America.

J. M. Jones, Tariff Retaliation.

F. Bastiat, Economic Sophisms.

H. F. Fraser, Foreign Trade and World Politics.

Rutledge, ch. 35.

Fifth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 37. Theories of Taxation.
ch. 38. The Tax System of the United States.

Hour Examination

Sixth to Ninth Weeks

*Rufener:

ch.39. Problems of Agriculture.
ch.36. The Functions of Government
ch.40. Evils of the Price and Profit System, and Remedies Proposed.

*Rutledge ch. 40.

*Hubbard, Current Economic Policies, pp. 3-21.

Stuart Chase:

The Tragedy of Waste.
The Economy of Abundance.

T. N. Carver:

Essays in Social Justice, chs. 4-7, 9-16.
The Economy of Human Energy, chs. 2, 3, 6—9.

P. Sorokin, Social Mobility.

A. T. Hadley, Standards of Public Morality, chs. 1-3.

H. M. Robinson, Relativity in Business Morals.

See also the following references to current periodicals.

Lectures:

Economic Inequality
The Social Nature of Property
The Economy of Abundance
Planned Production
A Program of Economic Reorganization.

Tenth Week

Final Examination.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

PERIODICALS

                  The following publications are devoted partly or wholly to economic and business subjects.

Academy of Political Science, Proceedings

*American Economic Review

*American Labor Legislation Review

American Statistical Association Journal

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

*Annalist

*Business Week

Chase Economic Bulletin

*Commercial and Financial Chronicle

Commonweal

Congressional Digest

*Economic Forum

Economic Geography

*Economic Journal

Factory Management and Maintenance

Foreign Affairs

Fortune

Harvard Business Review

International Labor Review

*Journal of Political Economy

*Magazine of Wall Street

Monthly Labor Review

Nation (New York)

National City Bank of New York Bulletin

Nation’s Business

New Republic

Personnel Journal

*Political Science Quarterly

*Printer’s Ink

*Quarterly Journal of Economics

Review of Economic Statistics

Yale Review

*Current issues in the Economics Reading Room, Main Bldg., Room 37.

The following articles in issues of the past year are especially recommended:

First Semester

“The Coal Resources of China,” W. Belden, M. Salter, Economic Geography, July 1935.

“The Public Utility Issue,” L. Olds, The Yale Review, Summer, 1935.

“Economic Effects of Wages and Hour Provisions in Codes,” T. O. Yntema, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Supplement (Papers and Proceedings) March 1935.

“The American Labor Movement Since the War,” D. J. Saposs, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Feb., 1935.

“Economic and Political Radicalism,” M. C. Kruger, American Journal of Sociology, May, 1935.
(The effect of the depression on the economic and political policies of organized labor.)

“Workers’ Education in the United States,” A. S. Cheyney, International Labor Review, July, 1935.

“The Negro in Industry,” G.S.Mitchell, The American Scholar, Summer 1935.
(The problem of race prejudice in trade unions)

“Incidence upon the Negroes,” C.S. Johnson, American Journal of Sociology, May, 1935.
(Incidence of the burdens of the depression upon negroes)

“Compensation of Corporation Executives, 1928-1932 Record,” J.C.Baker and W. L. Crum, Harvard Business Review, Sumner 1935.

“Old Age Security,” E. E. Witte, National Municipal Review, July 1935.

“Paying for Economic and Social Security,” J. P. Harris, National Municipal Review, August 1935.

“Problems of Social Security Legislation in the United States,” several articles in the Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, June 1935.

Second Semester

“The Royal Road to Inflation,” A. Wolff, Economic Forum, Spring 1935.
(Shows how continued federal budget deficits may lead to currency inflation.)

“Trade Treaty Need,” Cordell Hull, “American Trade Policy and World Recovery,” P. Molyneaux, International Conciliation, June 1935.

“Death Duties, Enterprise, and the Growth of National Capital,” B. M. Anderson, Chase Economic Bulletin, August 6, 1935.

“The Outlook for American Cotton,” J. D. Black, Review of Economic Statistics, March 1935.
(Is America losing her foreign cotton markets?)

“The New Deal and Economic Liberty,” A. A. Berle, and other articles on government control of business, Annals of the American Academy of Political Science, March 1935.

“A Planned Economy for Wall Street,” C. H. Meyer, The American Scholar Summer 1935.
(The economic consequences of the Securities Acts of 1933, 1934)

“Government Control of Investments and Speculation,” R. S. Tucker, American Economic Review, Supplement, March 1935.

“The Paths of Economic Change,” Calvin B. Hoover, American Economic Review, Supplement (Papers and Proceedings) March 1935.
(Fascism, Communism, and Capitalism compared.)

“The Corporate State and NRA,” G. Bottai, Foreign Affairs, July 1935.

“The Permanent New Deal,” W. Lippmann, The Yale Review, Summer 1935.
(A comparison of the policies of Herbert Hoover with those of Franklin D. Roosevelt.)

“Borrowing Machines,” H. A. Davis, National Municipal Review, June 1935.
(Are the now “authorities” a blessing or menace?)

“Gyp Vendor & Co.,” G. B. Seybold, National Municipal Review, June 1935.
(New York’s attempt to secure economy in municipal expenditures discloses numerous rackets and forms of graft.)

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of V. Orval Watts, Box 1, Folder “Misc. writings, etc. 1930s + 1940s”.

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1932.

Categories
Libertarianism

Freedom School. First Newsletter. January, 1964

Robert LeFevre’s Freedom School in the late 1950’s through the 1960’s offered two kinds of libertarian agit-prop courses at its log-cabin campus located in the Rampart Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado: a two week comprehensive course and shorter intensive courses designed for business executives interested in the fundamentals of libertarian philosophy, politics, and economics. The 1962 Prospectus for the Freedom School was posted earlier.

An academic upgrade was introduced for the 1963-64 academic year, named the Phrontistery [“a thinking place”]. The goal was to have a two semester course organized around a series of invited distinguished lecturers that included Ludwig von Mises, Milton Friedman, Gordon Tullock, and Warren Nutter.

Fun fact: the main house of Milton and Rose Friedman’s “Capitaf” was designed using the plans for the hexagonal Falcon’s Lair building at the Freedom School provided to them by Robert LeFevre.

_________________

The Freedom School is an educational institution offering short courses of instruction in the field of economics, philosophy, ethics, history and political science. Special sessions each year are reserved for executives and those making managerial decisions in business and the professions. Eight two-week comprehensive courses are offered to adults each summer from June through September. Special Workshop and library facilities are available for graduates.

                  Write for informational folder.

_________________

To Our Readers…

With this issue of the Newsletter, the Freedom School initiates a new monthly publication, designed to keep you informed on news of the Freedom School. It will bring you information about additions to the staff, faculty and trustees, as well as plans for the progress of the School — in its summer sessions and in its development of Rampart College.

The Newsletter will give you information on our graduates  – what they are doing and how they are communicating the philosophy of freedom.

This publication is for you  – we want you to read it, we want it to be interesting to you and, therefore, we want to hear about it from you. We want to know what interests YOU particularly, what features we can incorporate into the Newsletter that will give you and the School an instrument of mutual communication.

Please don’t hesitate – give us your opinion of the Newsletter: good, bad or indifferent.

_________________

Texas Biochemist Discusses “Equality

Professor Roger J. Williams

No man is the equal of any other man in the view of a leading biochemist from the University of Texas who spoke at the Freedom School Phrontistery last November.

He is Dr. Roger J. Williams, who has been the director of the Clayton Foundation Biochemical Institute at the University since 1941.

The professor has spent a life-time studying, teaching and researching bio-chemistry, and has pioneered in thought and research on the human side of the problem.

In his studies, the professor has concluded that biochemically and every other way every human is different, even though all may look alike superficially. He explained in his lectures how each person is different anatomically, neurologically, endocrinologically, biochemically, and psychologically.

The professor has been a trail-blazer in his field, and is the discoverer of pantothenic acid (one of the B vitamins) which is required in the machinery of all oxygen-using organisms.

He also did pioneer work on folic acid, and named it. It is another B vitamin that is used in the treatment of anemias. At the Clayton Institute, more vitamins have been discovered than in any other laboratory in the world.

The professor was the first biochemist to be elected president of the American Chemical Society, which now has about 100,000 members, and has received the Mead Johnson award of the American Institute of Nutrition.

Williams is a firm believer in the individuality of each person and his belief is backed up with facts acquired during his long career in biochemistry.

He is a living example of his own theory, having a great interest in literature as well as in his chosen field of study, and he maintains a parallel interest in people. Williams is the kind of man who can say with a twinkle in his eye, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating and in the subsequent metabolic effects,” and mean what he says.

A little key to what the professor is talking about is found in his book, “Nutrition in a Nutshell”, which tells a reader more about his own nutritional problems than he probably knew before — facts he ought to know — and he does it in words that we can understand. In the book Williams points out that each individual has his own nutritional problems.

Two other books by Williams may be time bombs planted in the field of social sciences. They are “The Human Frontier” and “Free and Unequal”, which discusses the biological basis of individual liberty.

What Williams has learned in a life-time of study and reflection about people and each man’s individuality was discussed by him under the theme, “The basis of our love of liberty is biological.”

_________________

Tullock Tells of New Approach to Politico-Economic Study

Professor Gordon Tullock

Dr. Gordon Tullock, associate professor, Thomas Jefferson Center for Studies in Political Economy, University of Virginia, was the second visiting professor to lecture at the Freedom School Phrontistery.

The professor is one of a small group of men in America, numbering about 30, who set about studying political science in a different way.

“We are trying to apply a logical, scientific approach to the political phenomena in an effort to improve our knowledge of politics,” is the way Tullock explains why these few are interested in approaching the study of politics from an unconventional view.

He passed on some of his theories on that subject to Freedom School Phrontistery enrollees in his two series of lectures last November. The two topics were, “Property Institutions” and “Modern Political Theory”.

In the new approach to political science, Tullock attempted to apply the classic economic theories to politics. He hastened to point out that he and fellow theorists are not another group of economic determinists.

Rather, he explained, he and his confreres are applying economics to the study of politics as the pioneer political geographers applied geography to the study of politics.

Tullock added that the studies have no particular relevance to the specific political activities that are going on now and will increase later this year.

“Some people think that a professor of economics ought to be able to make a fortune in the stock market, but this is not necessarily so. That is the case with us. We are studying politics, but are not necessarily able to make predictions on any campaign,” Tullock said.

Tullock was graduated from the University of Chicago in 1947 with a degree in law, after having earned his bachelor’s degree there during prior study.

Shortly after his graduation he went to work in a law office in Chicago, and was given a chance to enter foreign service. In 1948 he was on duty in Tientsin, China. He was there for two years, including a year under the communists. He also served in Hong Kong and Korea and did post-doctoral studies in Chinese at Yale and Cornell Universities before he resigned from the service in 1955 to enter the academic world.

He now claims to have found the field of study which intrigues him most. He says there is plenty to keep him busy in his area of economics-political science.

Tullock knows there is lots of hard work ahead. “I’m an optimist and a crusader,” he explained. He and his fellow students in the field intend to push toward their goals as far as they can in one generation.

“We have a genuine theory of politics. We think ours is a more sensible view of politics,” he explained. The immediate goal of his studies is to learn more about how politics works and to determine these facts through scientific investigation.

_________________

Freedom School Growth Measured
in Land, Construction, Students

During the calendar year 1963, the Freedom School’s growth has been such as to amaze the early graduates of the School. In March, 206 acres of rolling meadow-land were added to the 320 acres that originally comprised the campus. This land adjoins the eastern boundaries of the School, and provides a mile of road frontage along Perry Park Road, Colorado Highway 105. This land will probably play a major role in the location and development of Rampart College.

Also in 1963 a new building was completed. Although construction was started in the fall of 1962, the building was not ready for occupancy until February. The major part of this building (called Falcon Lair) is hexagonal in shape, built of logs, and the focal point is a huge hexagonal stone fireplace in the center of a large room which serves as a combination living room-lounge, in which students can relax and where informal entertainment and discussion take place.

Also within the “hex” is a modern kitchen and other facilities. Attached to the “hex” and also built of logs is a rectangular building containing living accommodations for the president and his wife. A wide, open porch extends from the north and east sides of the building.

Other improvements include a general remodeling of Falconwood Lodge, the main building which housed the first classroom and the kitchen and dining room. The kitchen has been doubled in size — with commercial equipment added, making it possible to maintain the same high standard of food preparation and service the School has featured. The new, modern, attractive and comfortable dining room, which can seat 50, has new tables, chairs and lighting.

Below the dining room, the “Bunkhouse” which has, during the life of the School, served as student quarters and office space, is now a recreation room for students. Soft drink, coffee and hot chocolate machines have been added, along with a “Skittles” game and a regulation size pool table, making it a convenient place for students to relax and play various games.

Carpeting has been added to the living quarters in Reno Sales Lodge and to the two cabins that house four students each — Deer Haven and Tall Pines — resulting in more comfortable quarters for students.

The growth of the School can also be measured in the increased number of students who have been graduated each year. During the first year of operation, 26 students were graduated. That number has increased yearly and during the summer season of 1963, 143 students were graduated from Freedom School.

In addition, three special sessions (a workshop and two three-day seminars) were held, with a total enrollment of 44 persons. Inquiries for 1964 courses were received months before the new 1964 Bulletin was in the mails.

View of fireplace in Falcon Lair. The hexagonal stone fireplace, focal point of the 1469-square-foot main room, weighs 23 tons, seven tons of which is the stone facing, and is 14 feet tall. The striking hexagonal wrought-iron chandelier was a gift of Freedom School graduate Brian Monahan.

[Note: Substituted this better image from the Rampart College Bulletin, 1966.]

_________________

F.S. CALENDAR [1964]

Jan. 13 – 17: Prof. Ludwig von Mises, speaking on:
1) Determination of Prices of the Factors of Production;
2) Savings and Accumulation of Capital;
3) Profit and Loss.

Jan. 27 – 31: Prof. Sylvester Petro, speaking on:
1) Freedom, Competition and Property as Juridical Concepts;
2) the Monopoly Issue at Common Law and Under Interventionism;
3) Freedom and Trade Unionism.

Feb. 10 – 14: Dr. F. A. Harper, speaking on the Philosophical Aspects of Peace.

 These lectures will take place from 9 a.m. until noon, with discussion from

2 to 5 p.m. on each of the dates specified. Anyone interested in attending any of these meetings may do so by applying to the Registrar of the Freedom School.

Information will be sent upon request.

_________________

Hamowy Wins Oxford Grant

Ronald Hamowy, graduate of the Freedom School (1962) and author of the Phrontistery Organizational Plan, is the recipient of a two-year fellowship to Oxford.

Hamowy’s association with the Freedom School began in the summer of 1962 when his services were obtained to prepare the outline and to project the operation of the Phrontistery. The Organizational Plan was the result of much study and with on modest modification is the working format presently employed. Hamowy also made the recommendations for enrollees and guest lecturers, but was required to depart for England and his studies at Oxford a few weeks before the Phrontistery program.

During much of the time he was preparing the outline and interviewing prospective students, Hamowy was conducting research at the University of Paris.

He is a graduate of City College of New York (1960), is a candidate for doctorate in social thought under F. A. von Hayek at the University of Chicago, and now Earhart Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford.

During his two-year fellowship, Hamowy plans on making frequent trips to the United States, and hopes to visit the Phrontistery early in the year.

_________________

Phrontistery Under Way

Phrontistery enrollees are (seated): Dale M. Haywood, Michael F. Helm, Peter C. Blake, Kameon Kimball, Leanna Koehn, Eduardo Helguera, R. Douglas Pinkney; (standing) Juan Manzano-Taylor, Calvin Byles, Jerry Woloz, William A. Colson, Robert E. Gaskins, Jr., David S. Jackman III, R. James Graser, Charles M. McGehee, Charles F. Adams, Hollis B. Danvers, Burl B. Bigelow, and Juan Larreta.

[ Note: This clearer image has been substituted from a Colorado Public Radio podcast episode “Liberty’s Pitchman, Robert LeFevre: The Freedom School” ]

Dean of the Freedom School Phrontistery is Dr. V. Orval Watts, who for 17 years has been a college instructor and professor of economics. Dr. Watts has taught at Clark University, Harvard University, Antioch College, Carleton College, Claremont Men’s College and the Freedom School. Most recently he served as Visiting Professor of Money and Banking at Pepperdine College, California. He received his B.A. from the University of Manitoba and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. In conjunction with his duties at the Freedom School, Dr. Watts is Director of Economic Education for Northwood Institute in Midland, Michigan.

Dr. V. Orval Watts

Dr. Watts is a charter member of the Mont Pelerin Society and a member of the Economists’ National Committee on Monetary Policy, and has been economic counsel for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the Foundation for Economic Education, and business and industrial institutions in Southern California, as well as producer and moderator of radio and television forums. His experience and talents make him a valuable asset to the Phrontistery.

Assisting Dr. Watts is Robert J. Smith, assistant dean of the Phrontistery. Smith is a Freedom School graduate (1958) and received his B.S. from Stanford University. During the summer of 1959 he managed the Stanford Geological Survey, later joining the Foundation for Economic Education as a part time staff member. He was recently a William Volker Fellow in economics at New York University, and is working toward his master’s degree in Business Administration under Professor Ludwig von Mises.

                  Participating in the Phrontistery are 19 students, 16 of whom are Freedom School graduates, listed below:

Charles F. Adams, Denver, Colo., University of Colorado; Burl B. Bigelow, Denver, Colo., Western State College; Peter C. Blake, Weslaco, Tex., Yale University, University of Colorado; Calvin Byles, New Braunfels, Tex., Texas University; William A. Colson, Bellevue, Wash., San Jose City College, Calif.; Hollis B. Danvers, Houston, Tex., Southern Methodist University; Robert E. Gaskins, Jr., Encino, Calif., Summerfield Scholar, University of Kansas; R. James Graser, Oconomowoc, Wis., Beloit College, University of Wisconsin; Dale M. Haywood, Arcadia, Neb., University of Nebraska, New York University; Eduardo Helguera, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Universidad de Buenos Aires; David S. Jackman III, Wichita, Kans., University of Kansas; Kameon Kimball, Waterville, Wash., University of Washington; Leanna Koehn, Dodge City, Kans., University of Kansas; Juan Manzano-Taylor, Rizal, P.I., University of the Philippines; Charles M. McGehee, El Paso, Tex., Texas Western College; and R. Douglas Pinkney, Willoughby, O., Grove City College, Pa.

Students who had not attended the Freedom School prior to the Phrontistery are: Michael F. Helm, Reseda, Calif., San Fernando Valley State College, Calif.; Juan R. Larreta, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Universidad de Buenos Aires; and Jerry Woloz, Brooklyn, N.Y., San Fernando Valley State College, Calif.

_________________

Many Thanks

The Freedom School wishes to express its sincere gratitude to the following graduates for their recent contributions to the School (September through November, 1963).

$1,000 and above:

R. C. Hoiles
Mr. and Mrs. R. D. Threshie, Jr.

$100 and above:

Mrs. Mabelle Acorn
Robert E. Ahern
Russell E. Baetke
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Bassett
Burton Bergman
Mrs. May Bowman
Henry B. Herreid
Roland W. Holmes
Mr. and Mrs. Ned W. Kimball
Mrs. Mary H. Vincent

Up to $100:

Miss Susan M. Breck
Mr. and Mrs. George A. Brightwell, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Axtell Byles
Floyd E. Camp
Mr. and Mrs. Wayne T. Carroll
Mrs. Patricia F. Cornell
Miss Carol E. Dazey
Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Estes
Miss Margaret Harkness
Russell Johnson
Mrs. Marjorie Lawrence
Mr. and Mrs. J. Dohn Lewis
Dr. Ruth S. Maynard
Brian J. Monahan
Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Pavey
James Pessagno
John V. Peters
Cecil Quinn
Mr. and Mrs. John L. Russell
Butler D. Shaffer
Mrs. Katharine W. Spaulding
Leonard A. Talbot
Herman A. Tessmann
Joseph M. White, Jr.
Mrs. Louise Young

_________________

“Freedom and liberty always refer to interhuman relations. A man is free as far as he can live and get on without being at the mercy of arbitrary decisions on the part of other people.” —

Ludwig von Mises, “The Individual in Society”,
Essays on Liberty, 1952.

_________________

The Freedom School
NEWSLETTER

NAN CORBY
Editor

J. DOHN LEWIS
Director of Publications

Published on the 15th of each month.
Third class postage paid at Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Mailed to those interested in education for liberty.

Published by
Pine Tree Press
for The Freedom School, Inc.
Box 165
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Source: HenryHazlittarchives (Beta). Series>Henry Hazlitt Articles>LeFevere’s [sic] Journal 1964-1974.

Categories
Libertarianism Philosophy Popular Economics Wing Nuts

Freedom School. Summer Prospectus. Robert LeFevre, 1962

We step outside the bounds of conventional economics education in this post to enter the intensive boot-camp for libertarians established in 1957 by Robert LeFevre in Colorado Springs. Economics in the Rear-view Mirror’s latest artefact is the 1962 Prospectus for the Freedom School transcribed below.

Like many prophets of new religions, Lefevre brought definite charismatic talent along with a checkered past to his job as entrepreneurial educator. 

In the libertarian encyclopedia article about LeFevre, an observer-participant of the movement (Brian Doherty, the leading historian of Libertarianism in the United States) wrote:

“LeFevre worked as an actor, radio broadcaster, door-to-door salesman, real estate speculator and manager, TV newsman, and assistant to a pair of charismatic American cult leaders in a religious movement known as the Mighty “I AM.”

A definitely non-libertarian journalist expands on “assistant to a pair of charismatic American cult leaders” as follows:

In 1940, LeFevre published his first book, I AM: America’s Destiny, claiming that he had once driven his car for twenty minutes with his eyes shut while his soul cavorted with Saint Germain somewhere over California’s Lake Shasta. “Now, as I watched, and listened, Saint Germain talked to me. He was real! The world I lived in was unreal. He was the true reality.”
LeFevre quickly discovered how popular he became by claiming this power. Women made themselves available; crowds would gather in apartments to hear his “dictations” from the spirit of Saint Germain. One married woman he lusted after invited LeFevre to live with her and her husband in their San Francisco penthouse, causing her husband to drink himself almost to death.
It’s hard to tell if LeFevre genuinely anguished over his con job; in his memoirs, his language suggests that more than anything, he feared being found out:
“…What if I suddenly announced to all these good people that the whole thing was a sham? I was tempted to do it.”
“Was I guilty of fraud? Had I (subliminally) perhaps been engaged in some monstrous pretense?”
LeFevre’s stint as cult leader was short-lived. In late 1940, the FBI indicted him and 23 other top “I AM” figures with felony mail fraud. LeFevre immediately turned states’ witness, and charges against him were dropped, while Edna Ballard [note: she was the Tammy Faye Bakker of the I AM cult] and her son were sentenced to prison.

Source: Mark Ames, “Meet Charles Koch’s Brain.”

In a future post we will examine Charles Koch’s personal link to LeFevre’s Freedom School as well as some of the economist friends of the Freedom School.

________________________________

1962 Prospectus
The Freedom School

A Call to Introspection
and Thoughtful Appraisal

Today a whole series of concepts alien to the American ideal of 1776 has become acceptable to a great number of American people.

American business finds its back to the wall, confronted by outrageously high taxes, by regulations which impair its ability to operate and, additionally, by union organizers who not only force wages to rise in a manner disassociated with production but who are now usurping the functions of management in the field of hiring and firing. Without deep and thoughtful study of the economic and moral principles underlying a free market, today’s executive is ill-equipped to withstand union and government interventions.

American workers, caught in a vise between mounting taxes and soaring prices, and conditioned by various public media of education and communications, find themselves individually confronted with what appear to be only two possible alternatives: submit to unionism, or face unemployment and economic strangulation.

American students seeking to acquire an education are confronted with compulsion, illogic and ineptitude. Those who express a love and devotion to the ideas and ideals of the American founders are scorned, and admonished to forget “old-fashioned notions” about the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. They are advised that capitalism is outmoded, that private ownership of the means of production and distribution is out-dated and improper, and that a brave new world awaits them if they will conform to governmental intrusion in their lives, submit to authority at every level and try always to keep in mind that Society has become responsible for everything and everybody.

In a climate sired by big government, enormous taxes, legal intrusions, union violence, the threat of war, inflation and educational paucity. the individual must equip himself with the proper means of combatting false ideas and of standing firm in a sea of confusion. Only YOU can decide where you will stand in the ideological warfare of freedom vs. slavery.

This is a call to all Americans who are in rebellion against the foregoing evils and who wish to discover practical ways and means of meeting the challenge to their businesses and industries. to their families, their jobs and their property, and to their own intellectual integrity.

Robert LeFevre

The Freedom School

In poetic harmony with the setting of tall Douglas firs, the buildings comprising the Freedom School reflect in craftsmanship and rough-hewn simplicity the philosophy of individualism. The American tradition is articulated by the log facades on the buildings.

In such an harmonious setting away from jangle and tension, without the pressures caused by appointments, and undistracted by ordinary routine affairs, rigorous study can be pursued. Reflection and intellectual exploration in the field of human action can best be achieved in a tranquil atmosphere.

The student is encouraged to enter classroom discussions to probe human action philosophically, historically, economically, politically, ethically and morally.

He will sweep back through history examining the bright stars of freedom illuminating the course of human progress. The student will awaken to what governments can and cannot do; to the full impact of the merit of private ownership of property and its relationship to liberty.

The student will discover that there is no conflict between the highest moral beliefs and sound economic understanding.

The student is encouraged to seek self-improvement and his own excellence is pointed out as more important than the needs of societal groups.

He will find that all of these ideas, and more, are encompassed in a modern, intelligent philosophy of individualism, which rests its case on the natural, functional, rights of man.

Classwork convenes daily at 1:00 p.m. and continues until 5:00 p.m. when the student has a free hour before dinner, after which he returns to evening class. Evening class starts at 7:00 p.m, and concludes at 9:00 p.m. The student will discover that the pure mountain air, the brisk atmosphere, the rigorous use of his mental faculties encourage an early retiring.

Breakfast is served at 7:30 a.m. after which the student is free to go horseback riding, hiking, or to relax on one of the verandas and enjoy the vista of nature spread before him. There is available a fine libertarian library in which the student may sit in comfortable chairs and enter into lively discussion with his classmates. Superior reference material is close at hand. Each student’s quarters is equipped with a comfortable and well lighted study table. Books may be removed from the library for the student’s personal use.

Weather permitting, luncheon is held out-of-doors. The famous Sunday morning barbecue breakfast is held outdoors in a wooded glen.

Meals are served informally in the western tradition of hearty food. Most students have proclaimed the cuisine to be among the finest. Mrs. Loy LeFevre, who manages the school’s kitchen, has been urged by students to publish a cookbook comprised of the many savory recipes served at the Freedom School

Many days of sunshine each year provide excellent lighting for camera fans. Some of the pictures which appear in the Freedom School publications were taken by students.

At the Freedom School you will sleep better, eat better, think better, and feel better as you examine each facet of individualism.

            One of the most telling statements pointing out a problem present in our country was volunteered by a Freedom School student: “I graduated from an American high school, I’m attending an American university, and I must ask the question: Why is it that I must travel 1100 miles to learn the facts that I have found at the Freedom School?”

Other graduates of the School described their experiences thusly:

*          *          *

“Before going to the Freedom School I considered myself a staunch supporter of liberty, but after experiencing the exchange of ideas that transpires there I discovered untenable taints of socialism remaining in me. These I have now discarded.”

Engineer, Northwest

*          *          *

“Your teachings opened up hitherto neglected directions in my thinking. I had been unknowingly utilizing methods of combating the activities of those who would destroy freedom which methods in themselves aided rather than opposed these activities.”

Former state legislator,
Southeast

*          *          *

“In our class without exception it was agreed that none of us had ever taken a course so thorough and dynamic, so enlightening as this one. We received inspiration and knowledge in the two weeks that would normally not be found in a quarter century. The professor from Milwaukee stated that it was more than a semester of college work so far as study goes.”

Businesswoman, Southwest

*          *          *

“It has provided me with the strongest philosophical underpinning that I have ever experienced. Since returning. I have had much more confidence in my politico-economic discussions and arguments.”

Graduate student, East

*          *          *

“The greatest intellectual challenge I ever encountered.”

Business executive — attorney,
Midwest

Comprehensive Course

This is an intensive, hard-hitting course of general instruction which is useful to any American of mature outlook who wishes to explore and discuss some of the basic questions of our time. The banalities of socialism are exposed. Our heritage of individual liberty and the philosophy of freedom and free enterprise are openly discussed. This course is particularly useful for instructors, ministers, editors, commentators, columnists — concerned with the dissemination of ideas. It is also well adapted for the businessman or for serious-minded students generally.

The Comprehensive Course is open to men and women, regardless of present academic rating, who are willing to work and apply themselves in a pursuit of philosophic and economic truths.

The 1961 Annual available upon request (limited supply).

Explorations in Human Action
(for Executives)

This is a special and definitive course of instruction reserved for executives only.

Executives may bring their wives if they choose; however, wives are excluded from class discussion, tho they may sit in as observers.

The instruction in this two-week period will place special emphasis upon economic problems to be found in today’s business and industrial operations.

Write for illustrated booklet. Do it today. Space is limited and only a few carefully selected executives are chosen each year.

This course is more intensive than the Comprehensive Course and is particularly adapted to the executive who is somewhat familiar with management and labor relations problems.

Explorations in Human Action brochure available upon request.

Workshop

One session is scheduled during 1962 for the accommodation of graduates, instructors in the libertarian philosophy, economists, philosophers, and others, so that they can meet in the atmosphere of the school for the purpose of discussion, sharing ideas in depth and the presentation of papers on a selected topic.

This four-day session will feature a number of the nation’s outstanding leaders in libertarian thought. They will be on hand to confer with students or guests, and to lecture on various phases of the understanding of liberty and economics. Their names will be announced later.

The topic will be: “Are Labor Unions Necessary?”

Graduates wishing to enroll in the Workshop are urged to prepare a formal paper on any phase of the labor union topic and may take any position they wish. A prize in the sum of $100 will be awarded for the best paper, plus a refund of tuition.

Graduates wishing to enroll without making a formal presentation may do so, altho they will not be eligible for the competition. Only graduates of the Comprehensive Course may compete.

Scholarships

Scholarships are available for the Comprehensive Course under three plans.

  1. Full scholarships are available on the basis of a competitive examination. These examinations will be mailed from the Freedom School upon request beginning January 15. All competitive examinations will be judged the week of April 1, 1962, and awards announced thereafter. Winners will receive full tuition for any Comprehensive Course they select, tuition covering all room and board, books, instruction, recreation, and so on.
  2. Full scholarships may also be obtained AFTER April 15, 1962, by application to the Board of Directors of the Freedom School. These scholarships will be awarded on the basis of sincerity and personal worth of application when financial need is demonstrated. In a limited number of cases, outright awards will be made. In other cases, a student loan fund can be utilized with the student agreeing to return funds borrowed without interest.
  3. Partial scholarships may sometimes be obtained by any student who is willing to pay a part of his tuition himself.

Full-tuition scholarships will be presented to 1962 winners of the Freedom School competitive examinations from

The Arthur M. Hyde Foundation
The Rose Wilder Lane Scholarship Fund
The Campaign for the 48 States
The Spruille Braden Scholarship Fund
The Freedom School Alumni Scholarship Fund
and from other interested groups and individuals.

Local committees, such as the Sacramento (Calif.) Freedom School Scholarship Committee, will select candidates and present full-tuition scholarships to their winners.

NOTE: The school does not provide scholarships for either the Workshop or the Explorations in Human Action courses.

1962 Schedule

All courses of instruction at the Freedom School take two weeks. A minimum of six hours per day is spent in classroom work. Customarily, mornings are devoted to study, recreation and free time. Classroom sessions occur in the afternoon and evening.

Here is the schedule of all classes for the 1962 season:

May 20 – June 2 incl. Explorations in Human Action
(for Executives)
June 3 – 16 incl. Comprehensive
June 17 – 30 incl. Comprehensive
July 1 – 14 incl. Comprehensive
July 15 – 28 incl. Comprehensive
July 31 – August 3 incl. Workshop*
August 5 – 18 incl. Comprehensive
August 19 – Sept. 1 incl. Comprehensive
Sept. 2 – 15 incl. Comprehensive
Sept. 16 – 29 incl. Comprehensive
Sept. 30 – Oct. 13 incl. Explorations in Human Action
(for Executives)
(Graduates and top-flight teachers and students only)

Pre-season or post-season courses can be arranged for special groups who wish to obtain exclusive use of the school for a stated period with instruction tailored to any particular business or industrial problem. Write for information.

Instructors
Associate instructors who have served at Freedom School:

R. W. Holmes
Design engineer, Boeing Aircraft, Seattle, Washington

Frank Chodorov
Editor, author, New York City, N.Y.

Elgie C. Marcks
Professor of economics, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee

V. Orval Watts, Ph.D.
Economist, author, Altadena, California

Oscar W. Cooley
Professor of economics, Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio

Ruth Alexander, Ph.D.
Nationally syndicated columnist, New Canaan, New York

James L. Doenges, M.D.
Surgeon; past president, Association of American Physicians & Surgeons, Anderson, Indiana

Ruth S. Maynard, Ph.D.
Professor of economics, Lake Erie Women’s College, Painesville, Ohio

Leonard E. Read
Founder-president, Foundation for Economic Education, Irvington-on-Hudson, New York

Rose Wilder Lane
Author, journalist, Danbury, Connecticut

F. A. Harper, Ph.D.
Economist, author, Burlingame, California

Salvatore Saladino, Ph.D.
Professor of history, Queens College, Flushing, New York

Wm. J. Grede
President and chairman of the board, J. I. Case Co., Racine, Wis.; past president, National Association of Manufacturers; chairman of the board, Grede Foundries

Wm. A. Paton, Ph.D.
Economist, professor of accounting, School of Business Administration, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Chas. E. Stenicka, III
Labor relations consultant, Midwest Employers Council, Lincoln, Nebraska

Transportation

Make your travel arrangements to come to Colorado Springs. It is serviced by leading airlines, bus and train companies. The school management will not guarantee to pick up students at any other destination.

You will be expected to be waiting at the Antlers Hotel in downtown Colorado Springs by 5 p.m. on the Sunday before your course begins. The school station wagon will pick you up from the lobby. You’ll be returned to the lobby of the Antlers Hotel on the Saturday following the conclusion of the course.

On your drive to the school (about 27 miles) you’ll glimpse the colorful rugged Colorado countryside, with Pikes Peak towering off to your left.

After registering, a delicious dinner with your fellow students will introduce you to life at the school, with your first night’s sleep in the pine-scented foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Meals

All meals are served buffet style. With the exception of the Sunday morning picnic, breakfast and dinner are eaten in the school dining room. Weather permitting, luncheon is eaten out-of-door at the tables adjacent to the kitchen.

Top-right: Following one week of intensive study, weather permitting, a barbecue breakfast is held Sunday at 8:30 a.m. in a wooded glen.
Lower-left: In the foreground is Thunderbird residence cabin, which is duplicated by Falcon cabin (not shown). The building in the upper right portion of the photograph is the dining room. Adjacent to the dining room is the school’s library.

Clothes

There will be no formal functions requiring “dressing up.” On nights when “open house” is held, ordinary street wear is appropriate. Otherwise, comfortable western clothes are preferable. Students who like horseback riding are encouraged to bring at least one pair of jeans. Sturdy shoes which give support to ankles are necessary if you are interested in either riding or hiking.

Resort wear is in keeping for recreational activities. For class, sport shirts and cotton dresses are suitable, with slacks and sweaters for cooler evenings. Clothes should be warm and serviceable. The elevation of the school is at 7,000 feet in the foothills of the Rockies. Days are warm but evenings are always cool.

Accommodations

The Freedom School is placed in a remote setting of woodland beauty. Accommodations are delightful and fully modern. Buildings are finished in natural logs to provide an atmosphere of early American simplicity. Most rooms accommodate from two to four students. There are ample porches, desks and chairs for study or relaxation.

Recreation

The school owns a small string of fine saddle horses which the students may ride during the morning hours. On the property are many fine hiking trails. There is a badminton court, a volleyball court and an archery range. All equipment is furnished by the school.

Library

In the school library is a fine collection of books on libertarian philosophy.

Included is a wide selection of titles on political science, history. biography, economics, philosophy and kindred subjects.

Philosophy

The Freedom School provides an intellectual avenue toward economic truths. From the primary and basic definitions of truth and freedom, the student moves rapidly through the philosophy of socialism, communism, and interventionism to individualism.

The course of instruction is intensive and demanding. It isn’t a “snap” affair. Ideas presented are far-reaching and challenging. To complete the course successfully, it is not necessary to agree with points of view offered. But individual effort is necessary even though conformity is neither required nor sought.

Accreditation

The school is not interested in issuing credits or diplomas.

Certificates of proficiency are presented to those who successfully complete any of the school’s courses. No certificates are awarded during Workshop attendance.

How Do I Enroll?

Make use of the appropriate enclosed enrollment form.

Await confirmation of your enrollment. We will be as prompt as possible.

Enrollment agreements are made for the FULL TWO-WEEK SESSIONS. No reduction or refund is made where a student withdraws during the session or is absent for part of the session, unless upon certification of a physician.

The school reserves the right to ask the withdrawal of a student whose health, in the judgment of the school’s medical advisor, is such as to endanger the student himself or the other students; or of a student who, in the judgment of the school administration, is not in sympathy with the standards, objectives and ideals of the school. A student who is asked to withdraw by the school will receive a pro-rata reduction in charges.

Who Can Attend?

The school is particularly designed for the enrollment of businessmen, executives, branch managers, department heads and others who carry the burden of free enterprise. Special courses limited to executives have been provided. However, executives may also enroll in any of the other courses offered.

The school is also eager to attract young men and women who are at least 16 years of age and who have a mature outlook.

Any American is eligible, man or woman, who is concerned with the conflicting philosophies apparent in our society and who wishes to study the economic truths respecting these philosophies. Prior scholastic achievement is not necessary.

The directors will make every effort to place applicants in courses with enrollees of similar backgrounds and interests. The right to approve or reject applications for enrollment is unconditionally reserved by the Board of Directors.

Tuition

Explorations in Human Action
(for Executives)		 $350.00
Wives who wish to accompany husbands $175.00
Comprehensive Courses $275.00
(Scholarships are available for some of the Comprehensive sessions)
Workshop $ 60.00
NOTE: No scholarships are available for any sessions at Freedom School
except the Comprehensive sessions.

What Tuition Covers

Whether the student elects to pay his own tuition or obtains a full or partial scholarship, all tuitions listed are full-expense tuitions. There are NO extras required.

Tuition includes transportation to the school from Colorado Springs, Colorado, and return to Colorado Springs. It includes all meals and lodging while at the school. It includes all required books and study materials. Certain books will be presented to the student for his permanent use. It includes all costs of instruction and recreation, including horseback riding.

Students wishing to provide notebooks for themselves, to buy extra books, tape recordings of meetings, or photographs of the scenery, do so at their own expense,

How is School Supported?

To begin with, the school is NOT supported by tax money or by government handouts.

Its primary income comes from tuitions paid by students.

In addition, it receives grants, contributions and benefactions from individual Americans.

It has several scholarship funds which assist in providing tuition for students.

It receives assistance from certain business and professional groups, and has been remembered in several last wills and testaments.

All contributions to the Freedom School are exempt from the federal income tax.

Publications

“This Bread is Mine” … $4.95
Robert LeFevre (American Liberty Press)

“Rise and Fall of Society” … $3.95
Frank Chodorov (Devin-Adair Co.)

“Why Wages Rise” (paperback ) … $1.50
F. A. Harper (Foundation for Economic Education)

“Mainspring” (paperback) … $1.50
Henry Grady Weaver (Foundation for Economic Education).

“Liberty – A Path to its Recovery” (paperback) … $1.50
F. A. Harper (Foundation for Economic Education).

“The Nature of Man and his Government” (paperback) … $1.00
Robert Lefevre (Caxton Printers, Ltd.).

“The Law” (paperback) … $1.00
Frederic Bastiat (Foundation for Economic Education)

“Should We Strengthen the United Nations?” (paperback) … $0.75
V. Orval Watts (Pine Tree publication).

“Jobs For All — Who Want To Work” (pamphlet) … $0.35
F. A. Harper (Pine Tree publication) [The Writings of F. A. Harper. Volume 2: Shorter Essays, pp. 184-206]

“Flight to Russia” (pamphlet) … $0.25
Frank Chodorov (Pine Tree publication)

“Liberty Defined” (pamphlet) … $0.25
F. A. Harper (Pine Tree publication).

“Anarchy” (pamphlet) … $0.15
Robert Lefevre (Pine Tree publication)

Quantity purchases are available for discount in some cases. Write for information.

Pine Tree

The Pine Tree is the Freedom School’s tabloid newspaper published every two weeks, with the exception of the period from December 15 through January 15. Subscription rates are $10.00 per year, two years for $17.50, single copies free on request.

It acts as a forum answering questions sent in by its subscribers. Regular columnists include: George Boardman, Ph.D., Chloride, Arizona; Roger Lea McBride, Esq., New York, N.Y.

Robert LeFevre, editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph. Libertarians and economists of note will contribute guest columns.

Board of Directors

Ruth Dazey
William J. Froh
Lois Lefevre
Robert Lefevre
Marjorie Llewellin
Edith Shank
Robert B. Rapp

Board of Trustees

Robert W. Baird, Jr.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

James L. Doenges, M. D.
Anderson, Indiana

Wm. J. Grede
Racine, Wisconsin

Harry H. Hoiles
Colorado Springs, Colorado

R. W. Holmes
Bellevue, Washington

Ned W. Kimball
Waterville, Washington

Board of Graduate Fellows

Mrs. Mabelle Acorn
Colville, Washington		 Mr. Ira T. Langlois, Sr.
Madison, Wisconsin
Mr. C. W. Anderson
Milwaukee, Wisconsin		 Mr. J. Dohn Lewis
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Mr. Harold Angier
San Francisco, California		 Prof. Elgie C. Marcks
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Dr. Lyman W. Applegate
Colorado Springs, Colorado		 Mr. John H. Marsh
New York, New York
Mrs. Hermona C. Beardslee
Woodstock, Illinois		 Rev. Warren L. Norton
Greeley, Colorado
Mr. Robert E. Borchardt
Rockford, Illinois		 Mr. Rodney H. Peck
Seattle, Washington
Mr. George A. Brightwell, Jr.
Houston, Texas		 Mr. Fred C. Petersen
Mexico City. Mexico
Mr. Thomas C. Buckley
Los Angeles, California		 Mr. Sartell Prentice, Jr.
Pasadena, California
Mr. John J. Callahan, Jr.
Reading, Massachusetts		 Mr. Bryson Reinhardt
Cloverdale, Oregon
Mr. William J. Colson
Palm Springs, California		 Mr. George Resch
Burlingame, California
Prof. Oscar W. Cooley
Ada, Ohio		 Mr. O. R. Riddle
Eagle Pass, Texas
Mr. Jim Dean
Houston, Texas		 Mr. Pat O. Riley
Lima, Ohio
Mr. W. Dewey DeFlon
Colorado Springs, Colorado		 Mr. Richard D. Schwerman
Hales Corners, Wisconsin
Mr. Dan Foley
Fairmont, West Virginia		 Mr. Roland R. Selin
Salt Lake City, Utah
Mr. R. N. Gatewood
Samnorwood, Texas		 Mr. Elwood P. Smith
Chicago, Illinois
Mr. Robert M. Gaylord, Jr.
Rockford, Illinois		 Mr. R. J. Smith
Menlo Park, California
Mr. Frederick C. Gosewisch
Elm Grove, Wisconsin		 Mr. Charles E. Stenicka III
Lincoln, Nebraska
Mr. G. F. Grant
Colorado Springs, Colorado		 Mr. R. J. Sumners
Muskegon, Michigan
Mr. J. W. Greene
Spartanburg, South Carolina		 Mr. Leonard A. Talbot
Santa Rosa, California
Mr. Gene Hausske
Palmer Lake, Colorado		 Mr. John E. Tate
Omaha, Nebraska
Mrs. Evis S. Mays
Pueblo, Colorado		 Mr. Herman A. Tessmann
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mr. James D. Heiple
Pekin, Illinois		 Mr. Walter B. Thompson
Fort Worth, Texas
Mr. Roland H. Hennarichs
Milwaukee, Wisconsin		 Mr. Ross Thoresen
Salt Lake City, Utah
Mr. Frederick M. Hoagland
Chicago, Ilinois		 Mrs. Louise Young
Pasadena, Texas
Mr. James Kolb
Edmond, Oklahoma

These graduates are among those who serve as a point of reference for the school. Their own experience enables them to vouch for the work being done at Freedom School.

Source: Images and text from the 1962 Prospectus of the Freedom School found in the Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of V. Orval Watts, Box 4.

Categories
Economists Harvard Sociology Wellesley Wing Nuts

Harvard. Economics Ph.D. alumnus. Vervon Orval Watts, 1932

 

You are about to encounter a Harvard Ph.D. economist, vintage 1932, who illustrates just how deep the roots of American right-wing economics can be traced. 

A disciple of Harvard Professor Thomas Nixon Carver, Vervon Orval Watts evolved from his checkered pre- and post-Harvard Ph.D. (1932) academic career to become an apostle of laissez-faire, anti-Keynesianism, anti-globalism, and anti-communism — first as chief economist of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and later as an editor/economist with the Foundation for Economic Education. In 1963 he became a leading figure at the young conservative business college, the Northwood Institute (now Northwood University) in Michigan, where he headed the Division of Social Studies over the next two decades.

Watts was hired by Leonard Read [greatest hit “I, Pencil”] in 1939 to become the chief economist for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, where Leonard Read was executive director. Read later made Watts the leading economist at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). From Watts’ papers at the Hoover Institution Archives, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror was able to provide some of the back-story to the publication of the FEE publication “Roofs or Ceilings?, a famous Friedman-Stigler anti-rent-control pamphlet from 1946.

The Foundation for Economic Education posted a previously unpublished interview with Watts that took place in the mid-1970s. Here is a link to an archived copy.

Birth/Death Dates for Vervon Orval Watts:

Born: March 25, 1898 in Walkerton, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada
Died:  March 30, 1993 in Palm Springs, California.

Fun Facts: Northwood University is home to the DeVos Graduate School of Management. The DeVos family (Amway) was married into by Elisabeth (Betsy) Dee Prince who is currently serving as the United States Secretary of Education. Her brother Erik Prince is the founder of Blackwater USA.

__________________

From Harvard University sources

1926-27. Vervon Orval Watts was the Christopher M. Weld Scholar in Economics. Fifth-Year Graduate Student. Instructor in Economics and Tutor in the Division of History, Government, and Economics.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1926-1927, p. 111.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Ph.D. awarded in 1932

Vervon Orval Watts, A.B. (Univ. of Manitoba) 1918, A.M. (Harvard Univ.) 1923.
Subject, Economics. Special Field, Sociology. Thesis, “The Development of the Technological Concept of Production in Anglo-American Thought.”
Associate Professor of Economics, Antioch College.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1931-1932, p.124.

__________________

Vervon Orval Watts
(1898-1993)
c.v.

Taught in Gilbert Plains High School in Ontario, Canada.

1923-26. Instructor in Sociology, Clark University.

1927-29. Instructor Harvard University.

1930. Visiting lecturer, Wellesley College.

1930-36. Associate professor of economics, Antioch College.

1936-39. Associate professor of economics, Carleton College.

1939-46. Economic counsel, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

1946-49. Editorial director and economist, The Foundation for Economic Education.

1949-51. Visiting professor of economics, Claremont Men’s College.

1949-64. Economic counsel, Southern California Edison Company.

1951-57. Columnist, Christian Economics.

1961-63. Visiting professor of economics, Pepperdine College.

In the mid-1960s Watts was the Dean of the short-lived Freedom School Phrontistery in Colorado, the brainchild of Robert LeFevre that was to become a libertarian version of Politics, Philosophy, and Economics.

1963–84. Professor of economics and chairman of the Division of Social Studies, Northwood, Institute.

1975-76. First Lundy Professor of the Philosophy of Business at Campbell University, N.C. [on leave of absence from Northwood Institute].

Producer and moderator of radio and television forum programs.
Regular contributor to The Freeman and The National Review.

Books:

Why Are We So Prosperous.[1938]
Do We Want Free Enterprise? [1944]
Away from Freedom, the Revolt of the College Economists. [1952]
Union Monopoly: Cause and Cure. [1954]
The United Nations: Planned Tyranny.[1955]
Politics vs. Prosperity. [author and editor, 1976]

Sources: V. Orval Watts (Co-Author and Editor). Free Markets or Famine.[link to 1975 second edition] Midland, Michigan: Ford Press, 1967, p. 578. Copy in the Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of V. Orval Watts. Box 17. Obituary in the Los Angeles Times, 1 April 1993.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Obituary by a comrade-in-arms

Murray N. Rothbard, “V. Orval Watts: 1898-1993” reprinted in Making Economic Sense (2nded., 2006), pp. 450-452.

__________________

Vervon Orval Watts (1898-1993)
Selected Awards

1918. Gold Medalist in political economy, University of Manitoba.

1967. Liberty Award, Congress of Freedom, Birmingham, Alabama.

1967. Honor Certificate Award, Freedom Foundation, Valley Forge.

Source: Southwest Dallas County Suburban (Jan. 21, 1971) p. 9.

__________________

Obituary

V. Orval Watts; Chamber of Commerce Economist
by Myrna Oliver

Los Angeles Times, April 01, 1993

V. Orval Watts, the first full-time economist employed by a chamber of commerce in the United States, has died in Palm Springs at the age of 95.

Watts, who died Tuesday, was named in 1939 as economic counsel for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, which at the time was the largest organization of its kind in the world. He continued in the position until 1946, when he became editorial director for the Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Before the United States was thrust into World War II, Watts advised businessmen convening in Los Angeles that “Europe’s war” should teach Americans four things–to avoid war, to avoid monopolies and price-fixing, to avoid restrictions on trade and output designed to make work or maintain prices, and to remember that credit is sound only when based on production.

Once the United States was in the war, Watts repeatedly cautioned that wartime inflation created only the illusion of prosperity rather than actual prosperity.

Vervon Orval Willard Watts was born March 25, 1898, in Manitoba [sic, Ontario], Canada, and earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Manitoba in 1918. He later earned master’s and doctoral degrees in economics at Harvard University.

He taught for more than six decades–at Gilbert Plains High School in Ontario, Canada; Clark University; Harvard; Wellesley; Antioch College; Carlton College; Claremont Men’s College; Pepperdine University, and Campbell College. He was professor emeritus of Northwood University, where he served as director of economic education and chairman of the Division of Social Studies from 1963 to 1984.

Watts also served during the 1950s as economic counsel for Southern California Edison, Pacific Mutual and other companies in Los Angeles. He contributed regularly to publications such as “Christian Economics,” “The Freeman” and “National Review.”

His books included “Why Are We So Prosperous?” in 1938, “Do We Want Free Enterprise?” in 1944, “Away from Freedom” in 1952, “Union Monopoly” in 1954, “United Nations: Planned Tyranny” in 1955, “Free Markets or Famine” in 1967 and “Politics vs. Prosperity” in 1976.

Watts is survived by his wife, Carolyn Magill Watts; a son, Thomas; daughters Joan Carter, Carol Higdon and Louise Crandall; nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren…

Source: Los Angeles Times. April 1, 1993.

__________________

Brief, Official History of Northwood University

On March 23, 1959, two young men with an idea, a goal, and a pragmatic philosophy to encompass it all, broke away from their careers in a traditional college structure to create a new concept in education.

Their visionary idea became a reality when Dr. Arthur E. Turner and Dr. R. Gary Stauffer enrolled 100 students at Northwood Institute. They used a 19th-century mansion in Alma, Michigan, as a school building, a small amount of borrowed money for operating expenses and a large amount of determination.

Northwood was created as the world was changing. The Russians had launched Sputnik and America was soon to follow. Stauffer and Turner watched the race to space. They envisioned a new type of university – one where the teaching of management led the way. While the frontiers of space were revealing their mysteries, Stauffer and Turner understood all endeavors – technical, manufacturing, marketing, retail, every type of business – needed state-of-the-art, ethics-driven management.

Time has validated the success of what these two young educators called “The Northwood Idea” – incorporating the lessons of the American free-enterprise society into the college classroom.

Dr. David E. Fry took the helm in 1982 and then Dr. Keith A. Pretty in 2006, each continuing the same ideals as Stauffer and Turner, never wavering from the core values. The University grew and matured. Academic curricula expanded; Northwood went from being an Institute to an accredited University, the DeVos Graduate School of Management was created and then expanded; the Adult Degree Program and its program centers expanded to over 20 locations in eight states; international program centers were formed in Malaysia, People’s Republic of China, Sri Lanka, and Switzerland; and significant construction like the campus Student Life Centers added value to the Northwood students’ experience. New endeavors such as Aftermarket Studies, entertainment and sports management and fashion merchandising, along with a campus partnership in Montreux, Switzerland, demonstrate an enriched experience for all our students.

With a clearly articulated mission to develop the future leaders of a global, free-enterprise society, Northwood University is expanding its presence in national and international venues. Professors are engaged in economic and policy dialogue; students are emerging as champions in regional and national academic competitions. At all campuses and in all divisions, Northwood University is energized and is actively pursuing dynamic programming and increased influence.

Northwood University educates managers and entrepreneurs – highly skilled and ethical leaders. With more than 57,000 alumni and a vibrant future ahead, The Northwood Idea is alive and well.

 

Source: Northwood University website.

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1932.

 

Categories
Chicago Economists Wing Nuts

Wing-nuts. Rose Wilder Lane on Stigler and Friedman, 1946

 

Visitors to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror today have a special treat: the very first artifact in a gallery of this virtual museum dedicated to the many wing-nuts who have felt a calling to reveal the true error(s) in the ways of economists. 

At the Hoover Archives I found some fascinating letters written to the Foundation for Economic Education’s chief economist, Vervon Orval Watts  (1898-1993). Watts received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1932 with the doctoral thesis “The Development of the Technological Concept of Production in Anglo-American Thought”.  The letters transcribed below were written by the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder (author of Little House on the Prairie), Rose Wilder Lane, who was asked if she would review the famous Friedman-Stigler pamphlet published by the Foundation for Economic Education in 1946, “Roofs or Ceilings? The Current Housing Problem”.

From the Stigler-Friedman correspondence scholars have been long aware of the difficulties the FEE editors had with Friedman and Stigler’s use of the word “rationing” in the context of market allocation and their willingness to discuss income distribution policy at all.  George Stigler was absolutely outraged and puzzled at such an attempt at editorial control. I am sure he would have been at least as amused as shocked by the accusations that he and Milton Friedman had been found guilty of writing a “most damnable piece of communist propaganda”.

 

On Vervon Orvall Watts:

V. Orval Watts’ obituary in the Los Angeles Times (April 1, 1993).

Watts’ 1952 Book Away from Freedom: The Revolt of the College Economists was republished by the Ludwig von Mises Institute (Auburn, Alabama) in 2008. “This book had a powerful impact on a generation — a kind of primer on Keynesian fallacies that still pervade the profession if not by that name.“

On Rose Wilder Lane:

Judith Thurman, “A Libertarian House on the Prairie, The New Yorker, August 16, 2012.

Judith Thurman, “Wilder Women: The Mother and Daughter behind the Little House Stories”, The New Yorker, August 10 & 17, 2009.

Ayn Rand’s Reception

For Ayn Rand’s reception of Rents and Ceilings, see Jennifer Burns. Goddess of the Market. Ayn Rand and the American Right. (2009), pp. 116-8.

 

____________________

From Rose Wilder Lane letter to V. Orval Watts
October 11, [1946]

“…I have re-read RENTS AND CEILINGS with the intention of reviewing it. I am appalled, shocked beyond words. This is the most damnable piece of communist propaganda I have ever seen done. And I can prove that it is, sentence by sentence and page by page. What is the Foundation doing, good God, and WHY? Honest American writers in this country are hungry and desperate, blacklisted by the solid communist front holding the publishing field; why in decency (or lack of it) does the Foundation feed a couple of borers-from-within?…the Foundation writes checks for two of the most damnably clever communist propagandists that I’ve read for a long time. I’m physically sick about it.”

 

From Rose Wilder Lane’s letter to Orval Watts,
October 22, 1946

“…As to ROOFS OR CEILINGS, I think, from internal evidence, that the authors are consciously collectivists; I suspect, from the same evidence, that they intentionally did a piece of propaganda, a piece of “infiltration.” I did not see any of this at first; it seems clear to me now. If you will remember the pictures we used to see when we were children, a picture of trees and flowers that you suddenly saw was a picture of faces or of animals, that was the change in this piece of writing. I think those two men are dangerous. I have no other evidence, I know nothing whatever about them; I am convinced that they have had communist training. I say this confidentially at present, because I have only the internal evidence of this pamphlet.

I can of course explain in detail, and will if necessary. It is a laborious job, however, to analyze and explain the argument hidden under the surface argument and to put it so clearly that you will see it, when it is done to be concealed and in so skillfully done that it is concealed and works into a reader’s mind only by its implications. It is this skill which convinced me that it was not done accidentally, that it was done by trained men. The training is intended to defeat persons like me. It does; and I am not too hopeful that it won’t, in this instance. If you feel that you can ask Ayn Rand to do this job for you, I am sure she can do it much better than I.”

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of V. Orval Watts, Box 13.

Image Source: Rose Wilder Lane, 1942. Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Museum, in Boston Globe series “Little Libertarians”.

 

 

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Principles of Sociology Exam. First Semester, Carver 1922-23.

In the previous post we have a syllabus with links to the assigned readings for the full-year course Economics 8, Principles of Sociology, taught at Harvard by Professor Thomas Nixon Carver. This copy of the printed exam questions for the first term of the academic year 1922-23 was found in the papers of Vernon Orval Watts in the Hoover Institution archives.  The examination questions for the final examination for the second semester has been posted as well.

Watts’ own notes for the course are for following academic year. A brief c.v. for Watts and his obituary from the Los Angeles Times provide some biographic detail for Vernon Orval Watts. He was awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1932 in economics for the dissertation “The development of the technological concept of production in Anglo-American Thought.” His autobiography Recollections of an Unplanned Life is available to read on-line at hathitrust.org.

From Watts’ course notes we can see the following major differences between the 1917-18 syllabus and what was taught in 1923-24.

  • More chapters in Lucius Moody Bristol’s Social Adaptation were discussed in the lectures (Watts’ papers included his notes on Chapters 1-13);
  • Added were the published Sigma Xi Lectures delivered at Yale University, 1921-22 (George Alfred Baitsell, ed., The Evolution of Man. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1922);
  • Added for the second term was the newly published textbook by Frederick A. Bushee, Principles of Sociology. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1924.

Watts’ course notes also show that Carver still assigned the vast bulk of his book of readings in sociology (Sociology and Social Progress, 1905) as well as a collection of his essays published in 1915. Indeed it appears to me that reading the first 13 chapters of Bristol and these two Carver books would have been quite sufficient for a student to get a good grade in the course.

_________________________________

1922-23
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 8

  1. Would you call sociology a branch of economics or economics a branch of sociology? Explain why.
  2. How would you determine whether a given social change is progressive or not?
  3. Do men work together in groups because they are socially minded, or do they become socially minded because it pays economically to work together in groups?
  4. What are the chief eugenic agencies now at work in this country? Defend your answer.
  5. What are the chief dysgenic agencies now at work in this country? Defend your answer.
  6. To which group of factors, the moral or the intellectual, does Buckle attach the greater importance in the promotion of civilization? Why?
  7. What are meant by “self-appraisal,” “consciousness of kind,” sympathy, and imitation, and how is each related to the process of socialization?
  8. How are “self-appraisal” and “consciousness of kind” related to what is known as the race problem?
  9. How does Ross dispose of the “economic interpretation of history”?
  10. Discuss the question: Are human instincts the primary social factors?

Mid-Year. 1923.

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of V. Orval Watts, Box No. 8. Folder: “Harvard Univ. 1922-23 Notes on readings”.