New-York tribune., 1909-12-29
ECONOMISTS MEET
J4LkS BY DIR. H1DLEY
md DR.. LOWELL.
Latter Deplores Lack of
Practical Political noscIedge
DR.. De1cey on Panic.

S14nss' Tecepuons and meals marAed
yesterday session OF the convention which
Is oeiehrating the quarter centennial of the
American Historical Association and the
American Economic Association And II
"as notable. too. for addresses. among many
others by the presidents of Yale and Har
ward both figures of prominence in the field
Of political science
president Hadley's speech was delivered
over the debris OF dinner in the Columbia
University commons TO collea gues in his
profession, members of the American Eco
nomic Association. II dealt entirely with
the association, its work and influence and
vas TO some degree personal induICing in
retrospect rather than prospect as he ex-
pressed il.
In reply to wish expressed by Profess
s"r Dewey, OF the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, who presided that some dav
the president OF Yale might tire of his ex
ecutive duties and become again an active
teacher Of economics, DR. HadIey said h.
was not without hope that when he finished
his work as president he might do some
more work in his old field
Then he took his audience back twenty
I've years IN the history Of the science in
this country. pointed out that Professor
GiddinSs was then working in the Office of
Tho Springfield Union that other econ
were
along on small incomes, with little pros
poets. and that Professors Clark and selis-
man were the plutocrats of the profession.
both being fun professors
We thought il peculiarly appropria+e
said President Hadley, that they who had
50 much OF it should be philosophizing on
wealth"
me speaker pointed out that the as
N"eiation had its inception az time when
Inc more active minds in the profession
We're breaking away from the strictly
orthodox teachings of John Stuart Mil and
the oider school and beginning to advocate
4 mild form Of government regulation.
Pity years ago. he said, partial heretics
Ike Basehot and General Walker vera
barely tolerated. and as for the nameless
'oonoclasts hell had no depths great
enough 70 bury their infamy."
fTesident Hadley considered the influence
~ Inc association great in bringing to-
eether into an organized movement what
o1herWlse might have developed into
series Of isolated and comparatively un-
related efforts. He said the achievement of
me association could be measured nv tn.
aggregate change Of attitude OF American
'ninhers and the American public toward
me study OF economies
Or LOWELL on POLITICS
Fard was a more formal affair made AZ
the afternoon meeting Of the Joint hod, in
fhe Horace Mann Auditorium THE
FhFsioioSy Of Politics" was his suhiect
which, he explained related to rbe func-
'o7s actually performed by political insti-
'--''ls ana orgs nizations- His plea was
for closer obeerva ton bv students OF
porucal science Of the actual workings NJ
poitics- substituting for the present Isho-
Tatorr Of books that of active government
''7e useful test of the success Of fnves-
l-=t'oHs in any branch of learning" he
SAID. is the extent To which persons en-
EaEed IN the practice OF the subject turn 70
1hNin for advice. But how much do
statesmen turn TO professors of political
science. Surely students of politics do
Hof lesd public thought so much as they
ought 70 do, and is this not largely he
eause they are regarded as theoretical: be
cause. IN other words, they DO not study
enough the actual workings Of govern
meut2
The subject OF direct primaries is
hlTu'ng one az the present moment. and
one in which the practical operation Of
principle u OF vital consequence But
Vre1 legislators inquire concerning il, our
political students are fertile with sugges-
dons about the way II ought to work, but
almost dumb about its effect in practice
There are manv things we ought TO
Know about The present working OF politi-
cel institutions Of which ar present we are
Tar too ignorant To mention only matters
that affect our own government We ought
10 know far better than We do in what
places and under what conditions political
bosses exist in the United States and we
ought 10 understand more fully the func-
tons that they actually perform"
PRACTICE AND THEORY
Another educator who depIored the un-
familiarity Of American economists with the
actual conditions OF business and political
life was Professor J Laurence Iaughliu
Of Chicago. vino spoke at the evening meet
inE of the Economic Association. In Ger
many. the most theoretical country in the
world he declared. economic thinking
and teaching are the most practical In
America. the most practical country in the
world. economic tea ching is the most theo-
reticai. We must learn the trick of clear
and direct exposition. The disregard Of the
business community is due TO our love of
the metaphysical"
Al the morning session in Horace Mann
4 ditorium presidential addresses were
nade by Professor Albert Bushnell Hart
OF Harvard. president OF the American
Historical Association. and by Professor
Davis r. Dewey, Of the Massa chusetts In
stifute Of Technology, president OF the
american Economic Association. Professor
Hart's subject was lima gina ton in His
tory and he poceeded discredit some
q the cherished ideas instiled into Amer
i-au minds al early age with regard 10
their country's history.
HISTORICAL MYTHS
Tho piety of the Pilgrims. who did not
land Plymouth Rock he took as an
example OF the imaginative exaggeration
OF historians To ~ band of men and
women who represented a splendid cause
and we're pioneers in a magnificent his
tor4cai pageant were ascribed, he said.
virtues possessed only BY their descend
ants. 4 similar myth, he asserted. caused
the exaitation OF the Southern cavalier.
who a person about infrequent in
Virginia in New York
Professor Dewey who spoke on "Observa-
Ton IN Economics" pointed out that stu
dents today did not receive adequate train
llg in the arr IF observation, which he crl-
rhasiZe1 the basis for necessary accu-