March i, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



163 



which we labor, the methods which we follow, and the hopes by 

 which we are inspired. 



A most gratifying sign is the eagerness which young men, whose 

 -accumulations as yet are but small, have shown in their desire to 

 come to our assistance. Many such persons are among our own 

 former pupils ; others are but lookers-on in Baltimore. I am sure 

 that if it were worth while, the amount still lacking could readily 

 be made up by the contributions of those whose love to their young 

 alma mater is as loyal as that of the sons of Harvard, Yale, and 

 Princeton. Here, for example, is the letter of a Baltimore boy, en- 

 closing a modest check for forty dollars, which, although it is 

 marked " private," I venture to read in part : — 



" I can never cease to retain the warmest feelings for my alma 

 mater, for I am not only doubly an alumnus of the university, but 

 .am also, by birth, a Baltimorean, and of an old Maryland family, 

 and as such am proud that the greatest American university is to 

 be found in my city and State. I beg, therefore, that you will ac- 

 cept the enclosed check. ... If you think it desirable, I should be 

 happy to have you call on me for a yearly payment of one hundred 

 ■dollars as long as the university fails to receive an income adequate 

 to meet its expenses. No one is more keenly sensible than I of the 

 extreme paltriness of this sum. I regret that it is all that I can 

 do ; but I can say that if others, equally interested, would contrib- 

 ute in proportion to their income, as I have done with mine, the 

 university would never have to fear pecuniary embarrassment." 



But it will not be necessary to ask such aid. The mature and 

 prosperous citizens, who know the conditions of municipal advance- 

 ment, who know the value of a good name, who know that not money 

 alone has lasting value, but that which money brings in education and 

 refinement, the mature and prosperous citizens of Baltimore, who 

 have received two great gifts from men of New England birth, and 

 two great gifts from an Anne Arundel boy, cannot afford to let an 

 institution that has made the fair name of this city familiar to the 

 scholars of every race and every clime, relinquish in a day of tem- 

 porary embarrassment the prestige which has been acquired by 

 thirteen years of labor. 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIA- 

 TION. 



The American Economic Association has issued a report, by 

 E. W. Bemis, Ph.D., of its branch associations. Eighteen months 

 ago, Mr. Bemis, as secretary of the first economic branch of this 

 association, reported its success, and urged the organization of 

 similar associations elsewhere. That suggestion has been adopted, 

 and now there are six branches, with over one hundred and fifty 

 members, in the following places : Springfield, Mass.; Orange, N. J.; 

 Washington, D.C.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Galesburg, 111.; Canton, O. 



In view of the great possibilities of growth and influence of these 

 economic centres throughout the country, it becomes important to 

 decide upon a plan of organization. These branches are of three 

 types, — that of Springfield, of Galesburg, and that of Buffalo as at 

 present organized. 



The Connecticut Valley Economic Association, organized at 

 Springfield in January, 1886, and now numbering about fifty mem- 

 bers, has prospered from the first. This association, like others, is 

 allowed to retain one-half of the three dollars dues for local ex- 

 penses ; and this small sum, thanks to the generous help of the 

 able speakers who have come to Springfield, has thus far covered 

 all expenses. A good room, lighted and heated, is given without 

 charge in the High School building. Similar cheap but suitable 

 places for meeting have been secured in public buildings and pri- 

 vate offices by the other branches. Meetings have been held once 

 a month save in summer, and many original contributions to eco- 

 nomic theory and investigation have been given which have since 

 seen the light in our economic quarterlies and monographs. A 

 large proportion of these has been given by professors of New 

 England and New York colleges, and by others not connected with 

 the local branch, though six or eight members have also made 

 valuable addresses. 



Successful as this experiment has been in many ways, three 

 weak points, have been developed : first, a difficulty in securing 

 able lecturers whose regular work would admit of a visit to Spring- 



field, — a difficulty less felt in this branch than would be true 

 almost anywhere else, owing to the peculiarly favorable location of 

 Springfield within thirty miles of Amherst and Smith Colleges, and 

 one hundred and thirty miles of Harvard, Yale, Brown, and 

 Columbia, yet a real source of anxiety often to the officers, and one 

 likely to grow from the exhaustion of the field of economic teachers 

 and writers of note within reasonable distance, for it is too much 

 to ask the same person from outside the branch to give his strength 

 often in this missionary work ; the second weakness in the Spring- 

 field plan lies in the almost inevitable lack of continuity in eco- 

 nomic study as long as a different subject is taken up at each 

 meeting ; the third difficulty has been the failure of a monthly ad- 

 dress, followed by a general discussion, to draw out the resources 

 and greatly stimulate systematic reading in the science of econom- 

 ics on the part of the main body of the members. 



That these are sure to prove serious obstacles to success has 

 been proved in Buffalo, where a branch similarly organized a year 

 ago, but cut off by distance from well-known economists, languished, 

 till restored to vigorous life last month in the manner soon to be 

 described. 



The branch at Galesburg, 111., has avoided the difficulties thus 

 far described, but has fallen into one or two others. There the 

 number in the association is limited to twenty-five, elected by the 

 existing members ; and no one is allowed to join who does not 

 assume the responsibility of preparing in turn, about once a year, a 

 paper for one of the fortnightly meetings. Further, in order to 

 secure continuity of study, half a dozen or more meetings in suc- 

 cession take up various phases of a single subject, as money, 

 monopolies, the labor question, taxation, etc. By this form of or- 

 ganization much mental development and great interest have been 

 secured ; but the limitation of membership and the conditions of 

 admission have kept away a number who would like to join. 



The attempt to combine the Springfield and the Galesburg plans 

 has just been made with prospect of success in Buffalo, N.Y., and 

 Canton, O. At Buffalo a reading-circle within the local branch 

 has been formed of all the local members ready to submit to the 

 conditions of admission, which are, attendance, if possible, at every 

 fortnightly meeting, and assumption of the work involved in prepa- 

 ration for the meetings, at which two lines of study are taken up. 

 The first forty-five minutes of each meeting is to be devoted to 

 systematic study of some portion of the general subject assigned 

 for five to eight successive nights : thus. Professor Ely's " Taxation 

 in American States and Cities " is now being studied. Each of 

 the twenty members of the reading-circle reads in advance as much 

 as possible of the cha*pters assigned for the meeting, and joins in 

 discussion, after two or more members, appointed for the purpose 

 a month previous, and selected in turn from all the members, have 

 given a digest and criticism of the chapters under consideration. 

 The second forty-five minutes is taken up with a review of recent 

 economic articles in twenty-six different American and European 

 magazines, consular reports, and other official publications. One 

 or two of these magazines are chosen for review throughout the 

 year by each member. No constitution for this inner circle has 

 been adopted, but every one who joins does so with a clear under- 

 standing of the obligations thereby assumed. The chair is filled 

 each evening by nomination, and the secretary of the general asso- 

 ciation is secretary of the inner circle. The selection of topics and 

 speakers is in the hands of a topic committee. 



This form of organization is too recent to give much ground for 

 forecast ; but if the character, ability, and enthusiasm of the mem- 

 bers as witnessed by Mr. Bemis the past month be any criterion, 

 excellent results are probable. The Springfield idea of securing for 

 the general membership addresses from outside is adhered to, but 

 no attempt will be made to secure more than four or five such a 

 year. 



At Canton, O., about twenty persons, both men and women, as 

 in all the branches, have just formed a branch similar to that as 

 now re-organized at Buffalo, save that in Canton the inner reading- 

 circle, or the active members so called, elect all the officers of the 

 branch from their own number, and admit the associate members 

 to the meetings and discussions, as is not done in Buffalo save on 

 direct invitation of some active member. In Canton the method 

 of work and the conditions of active membership are like those in 



