Evening star., 1924-11-02
Real Workers in the National Capital

sthcse argumentative election
days, American business can look
serenely to E. Dana Durand for
| i the reliable, basic, fundamental
ngures which show the actual con-
ditions In trade at home and abroad.
Particularly during the auadrennial
presidential campaign such as we
have Just been experiencing the
| question of general prosperity is
| made main issue in the public mind,
and business prospects are argued pro
and con-often without recourse to
| authentic sources. The carefully di-
| gested statistics that show how the
United States is prospering and those
| that are consulted by business men
| as a reliable guide in planning trade
developments are the special hobby
Of Mr.. Durand
Recognized all over the world as
| an outstanding statistician and econ
| omist. he has given nearly a quarter
OF a century Of the best years Of his
life and extraordinary talent to the
Federal service. Just now he is get
ting out two handbooks that are in
valuable to business men and all
| leaders of economic thought-the
Commerce Yearbook" telling all the
essential points about the worlds
business, and a revised Statistical
twice as much information as was
ever previously made available i'm one
volume
Durand knew the West when it was
young, having been born in Romeo.
Mich. and when he was IL years old
his parents "staked out a claim near
the very new town of Huron, S. Oak.
His first important job was as ste
nographer to the secretary OF the
Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chi
cago. While taking a ost-graduate
course in political science, economies
and statistics at Cornell University
he was assistant to Prof. J. w. jerks,
secretary Of the American Econ omic
Association. That's how he COM
bined theoretical study and practical
experience in fitting himself for his
distinguished life work.
He was legislative librarian in the
New York State Library for nearly
| two years, his special duty being to
prepare material for the assistance of
members of the State Legislature, in
cluding the publication of indexes and
digests of the laws passed annually
by the various States OF the Union.
Each successive stage in his career
tended to better equip him through
further study and training of his
natural inclination for the funda-
! mental work he is now doing as
chief Of the Statistical Research Divi-
sion of the Bureau of Foreign and
Domestic Commerce, so that Amert-
can trade can be built on healthy
foundation. He taught political econ
omy and finance at Stanford Univer-
sity, California;: then he was editor
of the publications of the United
States Industrial Commission; later
he was secretary of that commission
and served until the commissions
work was completed in 1902. That
was a special temporary commission
by the President under act OF Con-
gress to Investigate economic condi-
tions generally-principa in rela-
tion to labor, corporations and rail-
roads. Nineteen volumes Of reports
were largely his work.
X X
Next he was instructor in economics
at Harvard University, where he lee
tured on corporations and the labor
question Then he was appointed an
expert on street railways in the Cen
sus Office and prepared a valuable
report on that subject. He was trans
ferred to the Bureau Of Corporations
and made a special examiner, and
later deputy commissioner of corpo-
rations> as successor to Herbert Knox
Smith.
He did notable work in connection
with the Governments suit to dis
solve the Standard Oil Company,
which won him the special commen-