FRANCIS AMASA WALKER. 351 



appeared iu the midst of a heated Presidential canvass, in which the 

 issues had taken such form that some, who like himself were supporters 

 of " sound money," found a jarring note ia what they regarded as need- 

 less concessions to " free silver," and iu the sharp phrase in which his 

 ardor and deep conviction sometimes found expression. But the book 

 was not written for effect upon an election ; it was the last stroke of a 

 soldier, in a world-wide battle, — soon to lay aside his arms. 



It was General Walker's good fortune to enter the Held as an econo- 

 mist when the study of economics was gaining new strength in the 

 United States from the powerful stimulus of the Civil War, and of the 

 period of rapid material development and change which followed. The 

 revision of all accepted theories which set in did not displease him, and 

 he took his share in the ensuing controversies, whether raised by himself 

 or others, with equal zest. His own tendency, however, was towards a 

 rational conservatism, and his modes of thought never ceased to show 

 the influence of writers, French and English, of whom he appeared to the 

 superticial observer to be the severe critic. " A Ricardian of the Ri- 

 cardians "■ he styled himself in his Harvard lectures on laud, published 

 under the title of "Land and its Rent" (1883). His theory of distri- 

 bution, if enunciated by one of narrower sympathies than himself, might 

 have been thought to be designed as a justification of the existing order 

 of things. In his monetary discussions he contended for a return to 

 what he deemed the safe ways of the past. As for his view of the 

 future, in a public address in 1890, after a remarkable passage describ- 

 ing the sea of agitation and debate which had submerged the entire do- 

 main of economics, and threatened to sweep away every landmark of 

 accepted belief, he said, " I have little doubt that in due time, when these 

 angrv floods subside, the green land will emerge, fairer and richer for 

 the inundation, but not greatly altered in aspect or in shape." 



The election of General Walker as the first President of the Ameri- 

 can Economic Association, in recognition of his acknowledged eminence, 

 deserves a passing notice at this point. The Association was organized 

 at Saratoga in 1885, under circumstances which threatened to make it 

 the representative of a school of economists rather than of the great 

 body of economic students in America, and with a dangerous approach 

 to somethino- like a scientific creed. General Walker cannot be said to 

 have represented any particular school. He was both theorist and 

 observer, the framer of a theory of distribution, and also an industrious 

 student of past and current history. By a happy choice the new Asso- 

 ciation strengthened its claim upon public attention by electing him its 



