Vou. Vii: Nese
NEW HAVEN, CONN., THURSDAY, MAY 19, 1898.
Price Trn Cayrs,
A STRONG DEPARTMENT.
The Teaching of Political and Social
Science at Yale.
No better evidence of the growth of
the social sciences can be had than that
offered by a comparison of the cata-
logue of Yale of a half a century ago
with that of the present. As the branch-
es of this subject have been carefully
differentiated and the spirit of scientific
inquiry has spread to this field, it has
become necessary to put several men
in charge of the work formerly success-
fully conducted by one. In 1825 we
first find instruction given in Political
Economy that was limited to lectures
delivered before the Senior class during
the first two terms. While President
Woolsey was at the head of the Uni-
versity he took entire charge of this
Department, and it was not until 1872.
that there was a professorship for this
and allied subjects. In the catalogue
of that year was the following state-
ment: “Professor Sumner will instruct
in Political Economy.” Compare this
‘provision for instruction with the con-
dition of the Department to-day, when
there are twenty-seven courses offered
to graduate students by seven men
eminent in some special branch of the
subject and a fair idea of the advance
can be gained.
The American college student, as a
rule, is interested in the history of the
political and financial policy of his
country and desires a working knowl-
edge of the law of economic forces.
To gain this end the general under-
graduate courses are well fitted. But
there are many who after graduation
from College wish to pursue farther
their researches along these or some
allied lines under the head of political
science, and it is for the higher educa-
tion of such that this department has
been developed at Yale. The graduate
student is concerned principally with
the nature of the courses offered, with
the professors connected with the
Department in which he intends to
study, and with the opportunities for
original work presented by the libraries
accessible to him.
In charge of the courses in Socie-
tology and Anthropology stands Pro-
fessor William G. Sumner, who needs
no introduction to the reader, for his
economic and biographical writings
dealing with the history and finance of
this country are well known. The
works with which the student of Ameri-
can politics is best acquainted are prob-
ably “The Financier and Finances of
the American Revolution,” the lives of
Andrew Jackson, Alexander Hamilton
and Robert Morris, and “The History
of Banking,in the United States.” Of
all of his writings, “What the Social
Classes owe each other” has had the
widest circulation. He has ever been
anxious to preserve the financial integ-
rity of this country. Valuable assist-
ance is rendered to the course in
Anthropology by the collections in the
Peabody Museum. Although to the
outside world Professor Sumner is best
known as an author, those who have
had the opportunity of working under
him will rather remember him as an
educator and lecturer.
Professor Henry W. Farnam, who is
in charge of the Department of Polliti-
cal Economy in the Sheffield Scientific
School, offers to the graduate student
valuable courses in Finance, Labor
Organization and Pauperism. He has
been much interested in the problem
of poor relief and has written quite
extensively on this subject. Among
his articles along this line are ‘The
State and the Poor” and “Progress and
Poverty.” Professor Farnam is senior
editor of the Yale Review, to which he
has been a frequent contributor on
questions of finance.
The Economic Problems of Corpora-
tions and the Relation between Eco-
nomics and Ethics are under Professor
Arthur T. Hadley. He has been recog-
nized as an able writer and close rea-
soner ever since the appearance of his
“Railroad Transportation’ in 1885,
which has been translated into the Rus-
sian and French. The course which
Professor Hadley offers in this subject
to a select number of Seniors, but open
to graduate students, is extremely valu-
able. In most of the courses under
him the student is expected to prepare
during the year one or more papers to
be read before the class. In the recent
publication of his “Economics” there
has been given not only a new text
book for college men but a work which
the man of business can read. with
enjoyment. He was formerly Com-
missioner of Labor Statistics of the
State of Connecticut.
Professor William F. Blackman, al-
though connected with the Theological
School, offers several courses to the
graduate students. In connection with
these there is given the opportunity for
the inspection of the working of the
charity organizations of this city and
New York.
The courses offered by Assistant
Professor John C. Schwab are intended
to give the student a general knowl-
edge of the fundamental principles of
taxation and finance, together with a
broad outline of the financial and in-
dustrial history of this country. He is
a recognized authority on the finances
of the Confederate States and has writ-
ten extensively along this line. He
also offers a course on this subject,
which is the only one to be found in
the catalogue of any American univer-
sity. Professor Schwab is the active
editor of the Vale Review. Of his
earlier writing, the ‘History of the
New York Property Tax” was the
most elaborate.
Assistant Professor Irving Fisher is
interested chiefly in the theory of Poli-
tical Economy and has written con-
siderably along this line; his ‘“Appreci-
ation and Interest” and, more recently,
the series of articles on Capital have
been favorably received. From the
study of his “Theory of Value and
Prices’ we can see how he has applied
to the problems of Political Economy
the principles of Mechanics and Hydro-
statics. Professor Fisher has prepared
an introduction to Infinitesimal Cal-
culus. Believing that the study of
Economics is at many points rendered
much clearer by the applications of
Mathematics, he offers a course on the
Principles of Economics, to which this
method of treatment is applied. He is
in charge of a course in the formation
of life insurance tables and general
statistics.
Principal George L. Fox, of the
Hopkins Grammar School, offers a
course on Comparative Municipal Gov-
ernment, and by approaching the sub-
ject from-a practical point of view
would teach the duties of the student in
politics.
-As a result of the increasing size of
the classes in this Department, it has
been thought advisable to appoint as-
sistants, who shall relieve the profes-
sors of part of the care of the class-
room. In this capacity are Dr. William
B. Bailey, who has specialized in Soci-
ology, Mr. George K. Olmstead in
Finance, and Mr. John M. Gaines, who
is interested in the mathematical inter-
pretation of Economics.
In order to further the development
of Political* Science in the University,
there was published in May 1802 the
first number of the Vale Review, which
has since become one of the leading
economic journals of the country. The
with
magazine is edited by the professors
in this Department, including Professor
Edward G. Bourne of the Department.
“Committed to no school
and to no party, but only to the ad-.
vancement of sound learning, it aims
to present the results of the most sci-.
entific and scholarly investigations in
of History.
Political Science.”.. The. Review ap-
pears quarterly, and about seventy
pages of the body of the magazine are
filled by the contributions of econo-
mists who are, as a rule, not connected.
with the University. These are pre--
ceded by several pages of editorial
comment, generally devoted to the dis-
cussion of questions of the day, and
are followed by notes. A number of
the most recent works that have ap-
peared in the field of Economics or
History are reviewed in each number.
Among the list of contributors to the
Review are Taussig, Levasseur, Fia-
mingo;). B. Clark, Ex Le BR. Gould
Gen. Walker, Pres: Andrews. -T. oS
Woolsey, G. P. Fisher, Horace White,
Schouler, Mayo Smith and Seligman.
One of the most useful adjuncts to
this Department is the Political Science
Club, formed of the faculty and gradu-
ate students interested in general eco-
nomics. The meetings, which are held
every two weeks, are occupied with the
discussion of questions of the day or
with the reading of one or more papers
on any subject of interest to the mem-
bers. Owing to the generosity of Pro-
fessor Farnam, the society has a room
very tastefully furnished and provided
a good working library. The
room is open to members at all hours,
and as the library is composed largely
of reports and works in general de-
mand, it is admirably fitted for pur-
poses of reference.
In 1896 there was given to the Uni-
versity in memory of Mary, the wife
of Mr. S. W. Boocock, a fund, the
income of which should be used to pur-
chase books for the assistance of those
studying in the Department of the
Social Sciences. Professor Sumner has
charge of this library, and not only can
any book on the shelves be drawn by
the graduate students working under
him, but works are often purchased for
it at the request of those engaged in the
special research of some subject in this
field |
a ee
Class of Ninety Scholarship.
A committee of the Class of Ninety,
composed of Thomas F. Bayard, Jr.,
Willard Parker, Jr., Herbert Parsons
and James Locke, has undertaken to
raise funds in the Class for the estab-
lishment of a.research scholarship in
the Post Graduate Department, to be
known as the “Scholarship of the Class
of 1890.” It will be in effect next
year. The scholarship is intended to
be available for five years, and the
money, which will be raised by sub-
scription, will probably not fall below
$150.00 for each year.
The following conditions govern it:
I The disposal of the Scholarship
shall be determined by the Faculty’s
Committee on Scholarships. It shall
not be confined to any one course of
studies, but be open to any student of
the Post Graduate Department who is
engaged in research work.
2. The Scholarship may be held by
one and the same student for more than
one year, at the discretion of the Facul-
ty. But no student shall receive it for
two sticcessive years, whose studies
during the first year of its possession
shall not have led to publishable results.
The courses of study selected by the
members of 1901 for next year, as
shown by the 288 choices reported,
were as follows: English, 280; Latin,
266; Mathematics, 219; Physics, 217;
Greek, 169; French, 149; German, 130.
MONEY CAME EASILY,
Cruiser Fund Committee Ready to
Pay for Maxims and Colors,
The Yale Cruiser Fund Committee
have stopped asking for money. Thee
have been ready for several’ days to
meet the bill for the brace of rapid fire
guns, without asking a guarantor for a
cent. - Besides that, the money that has
come in and has been already promised
by various associations, will allow for a
magnificent stand of colors in fifty-one
different pieces and pay all cost of col-
lection. The probabilities at this writing
are in the direction of a surplus, even
after this second gift. It would not
have been difficult to secure money for
the whole battery of the Yale.
A meeting of the University, includ-
ing all graduates who can attend, has
been called for Friday evening of this
week in College Street Hall at 7.15
p.M. The first definite and complete
report from the Cruiser Fund Com-.
mittee will then be made and resolu-
tions will be presented formally thank-
ing the government for the honor done
to Yale in the naming of the cruiser,
and formally tendering the guns (al-.
ready informally accepted and doing
duty on the boat) and the stand of
colors. The latter is now in process of
construction and will be placed on
board at the first opportunity. A few
informal speeches will probably be.
made by graduates and undergraduates.
Until this meeting the committee are
not willing to make. a. detailed state-
ment of the work and the returns, so
that it will not be possible to give any
other than the ‘general’ facts already
noted in this issue or the WEEKLY..
Suffice it to say that the fund took its
particularly long leaps within the last
few days. Associations and cities were
not content with the sum_ requested,
and in many cases went beyond “it.
New York has already done better. than
its assessment by a thousand dollars.
The committee feel perfectly sure that
the whole sum would have been raised
on the dollar basis, if there. had: been
sufficient. time to work the. machinery
of collection. The amounts received
have varied from one dollar to -two
hundred dollars. There have been a
few one hundred dollar contributions
and a number. have subscribed _ fifty
dollars each: But the great majority
have been of moderate size, and a very
large part of Yaledom is represented
in the total. oa 3
One communication has beet ne
ceived objecting to the idea of the gift,
and that was anonymous.
DR. DEPEW ON THE’ COMMITTEE.
When the committee was first organ-
ized, Dr. Chauncey M. Depew, ’56,
was asked to be one of its members.
Through an unavoidable delay his ac-
ceptance did not reach the committee
until a few days ago. Dr. Depew has
heartily and substantially endorsed and
furthered the work.
The students here and Yale men
everywhere have followed with the
utmost interest the successful work of
the Yale. This has undoubtedly helped
in gathering in the money so fast. The
successful voyage across the Atlantic
after war was declared, the first report
of the bombardment of San Juan, the
first news for Washington of the
whereabouts of the Cape Verde fleet,
so-called, which the Yale traced off
Martinique, and the capture of the
prize,—the first by any auxiliary crwuiser
—have all increased the enthusiasm for
the gift.
