82 REPORTS OF inve;stigations and projects. 



Not only is the field a vast one, but the workers in it are comparatively few. 

 Before 1880 we had barely a handful of trained economists in the United 

 States. The popularity of the study of economics, the rapidly increasing call 

 for teachers on the part of the universities and colleges, the need of experts 

 on the part of the Government and of various private enterprises, have 

 created a demand for economists which has thus far been inadequately met. 

 It has been consequently impossible to secure the exclusive services of 

 workers in this field. Of the twelve collaborators, including Colonel Wright, 

 eight are college professors or college presidents and two hold Government 

 offices. All have prior demands upon their time. The only two who have 

 been free in the past to give their time to the work are obliged to consider the 

 importance of deriving a living income from other sources. Both of them 

 are drawn away from the work of the Institution during the present year, the 

 one in order to fill a temporary Government position, the other in order to 

 look after business interests. 



It will be seen from the statements made on behalf of several of the collab- 

 orators that many of the men engaged in teaching find it necessary to secure 

 a leave of absence from the institution with which they are connected in 

 order to bring the work of the Carnegie Institution of Washington to a 

 conclusion. 



In a separate report made at the request of the Executive Committee, it 

 was pointed out that none of the collaborators had drawn from the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington for personal services anything that could be fairly 

 considered a compensation for his work. Some have drawn nothing at all ; 

 the largest sum drawn by any individual averages a little over $500 a year. 

 They have undertaken the work on account of their interest in the subject, 

 devoting to it such time as they could spare during the vacation or at odd 

 times, and have endeavored to put as much as possible of the appropriation 

 into securing preliminary investigations. Even these have been, in most 

 cases, prepared without any adequate payment. In many cases such studies 

 have been made by graduate students who were working for their doctor's 

 degree, and who received from the Carnegie Institution of Washington only 

 enough to cover the additional expense, mainly for travel, incurred in conse- 

 quence of taking up a thesis subject assigned by us. 



In spite of these difficulties, a large amount of preparatory work has been 

 done. The writer is compiling a bibliography of the studies, both published 

 and unpublished, which have been made under this grant. The task is not an 

 easy one, and exact figures can not be given until after some verifications ; 

 but apart from the eight large volumes of the Index to State Documents, we 

 have secured the preparation of about 130 elaborate monographs and books, 

 in addition to a number of shorter articles. Between 60 and 70 are still in 

 course of preparation. Thus the greater part of the preparatory work is now 

 done. In the case of several of the divisions, a considerable part of the final 



