Evening star., 1939-08-14
Rogers Early Adviser
On Administration
Gold Policy
Yale Professor Killed
At Rio on Way to Study
>BruziIiun Economics

James Harvey Rogers, who was
killed at Rio de Janeiro in the crash
of the Pan-American plane SAB
yesterday, was one of the specialists
of the early Brain Trust" and the
gold policy on which the admins
tration embarked in October. 1888,
came as a result of Prof. Rogers
studies and recommendations.
Prof. Rogers arrived in Washing
ton in July, 1888. He was drafted
into the Federal Government on the
strength of his reputation as an sx-
ponent of the managed dollar"
whose value could be controlled
through shifts in its gold content,
with corollary domination of the N.l
tion's price structure.
DR.. Rogers was intimately asso-
ciated during the summer of 1888
with Prof. George Warren of Cor
nell University. The two were
known as The Gold Dust Twins"
Both had inflationist views, and
both differed with the President on
the question of price, for while he
was inclined in 1888 to favor rails
ing prices the Twins" were against
it. For this reason, DR.. Rogers op-
posed both the National Recovery
Administration and the Agricultural
Adjustment Administration, which
limited production and raised prices.
Political Economy Professor.
Although it has been almost five
years since he severed his connec-
ton with the administration, Prof.
Rogers, one of the country's out
standing authorities on monetary
affairs, remained active in public
affairs, as we'll as professor of politi-
cal economy at Yale University
His colleagues at Yale said he had
acquired recently special interest"
in international economy and had
gone to Brazil to obtain first-hand
information about the economic
situation in that country, especially
as it pertained to international eco
nomic problems. He planned to
visit in Brazil with bankers and in
dustrialists he had met as a result
of his studies.
During the years from 1888 to
1887, Prof. Rogers was the Amer
can member of the Economic Coun-
Gil of the League of Nations. In
1884, when he was technically on
the rolls of the Treasury Depart
ment (although he never accepted
pay from the GOVERNMENT, he made
trip to the East at the instance
of Secretary Morgenthau, inquir-
ing into the silver currency Situ-
alton in China, India and Japan.
Upon his return, when it became
apparent to Mr.. Morgenthau that
the Yale professor would be unable
to devote all his time to Treasury
affairs, the Rogers connection with
the administration was severed.
Friend and Critic.
DR.. Rogers attitude toward the
New Deal is best developed in his
most recent book, Capitalism in
Crisis where he treats it with
both friendship and criticism. He
was drawn into the Roosevelt orbit
in 1882, during the presidential cam
paign. He was in sympathy with
what he then considered the basic
objectives of the Roosevelt pro-
gram: The creation of conditions
that would be favorable to the effec-
tive operation of capitalism.
Prof. Rogers was born in Society
Hill, S. c., September Is, 1886, the
son of John Terrell and Florence
Coker Rogers. He was graduated
from Yale in 1909. In 1916 he was
appointed an instructor in eco
nomics at the University of Mis-
souri,. In 1918 he served in the
Army, as first lieutenant, and in
1919 returned to Missouri as an
associate professor.
A clash with the university ad-
ministration led to his resignation in
1920. He opposed the dismissal of
Prof. Harmon De Graft and the sus-
pension of Prof. Max Meyer by the
administration because of sex
QUESTIONABLE they distributed. This
show of academic independence
had deep effect on his future, for
he moved from the University of
Missouri to Cornell University,
where he met DR.. Warren. The two
men worked together at Cornell
until 1923.
His stand in 1920 was vindicated
in 1928, when the University of Mis-