DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY.* 



Henry W. Farnam, Chairman. 



Steady progress has been made in the work of most of the divisions 

 during the past year, and the early history of transportation, running 

 to about 1850 and prepared under the direction of Professor B. H. 

 Meyer, is practically completed and can soon be submitted to the 

 Institution for publication. In the case of several other divisions 

 the time required for revision, verification, and preparation for the 

 press has been longer than was anticipated. Professor Commons, 

 however, hopes that his history of the labor movement will be finished 

 in the winter, and the same may be said of the history of commerce in 

 charge of Professor Johnson. Dr. Clark resumed work for the depart- 

 ment on September 1, 1913, after an almost complete interruption since 

 April 1909. He occupies a room in the Administration Building, at 

 Washington, and has been steadily at work on his history of manufac- 

 tures since last autumn. He hopes to have the first volume completed 

 before the close of the calendar year. Professor Willcox has taken a 

 leave of absence for half of the academic year in order to devote him- 

 self intensively to the subject of Population and has made good pro- 

 gress, though he will probably require another year to complete the 

 work. Similarly Mr. E. W. Parker has obtained permission from the 

 Director of the Geological Survey to devote half of his time from 

 January to July of the present year to his work under this Department. 

 He is now at work upon the history of mining, using as a basis for part 

 of his volume the extended monographs on separate parts of the subject 

 already prepared under his direction. The writer has continued un- 

 interruptedly his study of social legislation, but has found it impossible 

 to complete it in all its details. 



In the Division of Agriculture, several of the sections report material 

 progress during the year. Professor Blackmar has collected a good 

 amount of material bearing on the history of agriculture prior to 1825, 

 and Professor Taylor's study of agricultural prices from 1840 to 1860 is 

 well advanced. Professor Hibbard and Professor Jones are also at 

 work on the subjects of land tenure and markets, respectively. In this, 

 as in some other divisions, the limits of time and available funds make 

 it impossible to treat the subject with absolute completeness, but im- 

 portant sections should be finished within a year or two. Professor 

 Dewey, after considerable interruption through ill health, has resumed 

 work on the history of banking, and Professor Gardner is securing 

 additional monographic material on the subject of public finance. 

 For the reasons explained in earlier reports, the study of the Negro 



♦Address, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. (For previous reports see Year Books 

 Nos. 3-12.) 



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