APPENDIX A 



REPORTS OF ADVISORY COMMITTEES 



REPORT OF ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON ECONOMICS 



To the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institution. 



Gentlemen : The committee appointed to report upon plans for 

 economic research are of the opinion that, among the numerous 

 topics in Economics, Sociolog}^, and PubHc Law which might be in- 

 teresting and useful to study, none are at the present time more 

 promising than those which are suggested by the economic and 

 legislative experience of our states. This experience presents such 

 diversities and the matter to be studied is so vast that it is almost 

 impossible for an isolated investigator to deal thoroughly with even 

 a ver)' limited phase of it. The government offices are obviously 

 not in a position to treat it with the freedom demanded by science. 

 The Carnegie Institution is, therefore, both on account of the funds 

 at its command and on account of its power of enlisting the coopera- 

 tion of scholars throughout the country, in a position of peculiar 

 advantage with respect to this kind of work, and is able to direct a 

 series of investigations of inestimable value, which, but for its assist- 

 ance, might not be undertaken for many years. 



Among the many topics which fall within this general field, we 

 may specify : 



(i) Social legislation of the states, which should be critically 

 examined with reference to its results. 



(2) The labor movement. 



(3) The industrial development of the states. 



(4) State and local taxation and finance. 



(5) The state regulation of corporations. 



The thorough, scientific presentation of these and other allied 

 topics would constitute a monumental economic history of the United 

 States and occupy a place in economic literature hitherto unfilled. 



(I) 



