DIVISION OF ECONOMICS AND HISTORY REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: It was apparent a year and a half ago that much of the work in European countries which the Division of Economics and History then had under way would be interrupted and that the number of works which could be carried to completion during the continuance of the war would be relatively few. Plans were therefore made for increasing the work of the Division in the three AmeriAs bearing directly on problems of international warfare, studies in the Western hemisphere can not be as fruitful as those in the Eastern hemisphere. The population of the western half of the world is less than a seventh of that of the eastern half. Wars between states in the west have been few and small; and in some of them the data for studies and the force of trained economists competent to prosecute them are meager. When investigators from North America are sent to Central and South America and the West Indies, they work under a certain disadvantage; and yet some investigations of this kind have been made. It has been and still is Professor Kinley's desire to make a tour for the purpose of finding competent scholars and initiating studies in the South American countries. Advantage was taken of the recent Pan American Scientific Congress to prepare the way for this work, in so far as it was possible to do it in the midst of the crowded appointments of the members of the Congress. Those who were guests of the Division of Economics and History, and a few others, were invited to meet at luncheon, on January fourth and again on January fifth, for the purpose of selecting available subjects for investigation in the several countries represented. Most of those invited to these conferences were present, and at the first meeting, three committees were appointed to recommend topics for research in each of three fields. Of these the first was the field of international commerce and finance; the second, that of the internal development of states as affecting their relations to others; and the third, the causes and effects within the several countries of wars and armaments. A list of topics had already been prepared by the Director of this Division, in consultation with Professor Kinley and Professor Leo S. Rowe; and, as a result of the conferences of the representatives of Spanish American states, a selection from this list was made of topics which appeared to the delegates to be most worthy of immediate study. If even a few of these subjects can be thoroughly studied in each of a considerable number of American republics, a large result may reasonably be expected. Throughout this work international relations will be kept steadily in view. Whatever obliterates unreasonable limitations on commerce and on financial dealings between the states of this continent, will remove causes of irritation and substitute influences tending in the direction of mutual understanding and mutual respect and friendship. There is small reason for attempting to conquer a commercial and financial domain by violence, when it can be won by measures tending to the common benefit; and friendly coöperation by the American states of the North and the South will ensure a "place in the sun" for each of them. The work of this Division in Asia has proceeded in a particularly satisfactory way, and its results are rapidly nearing completion. Our efficient Japanese committee will need soon to enlarge its list of subjects of investigation, and it may be hoped that within a comparatively few months, a series of reports prepared by that committee will begin to come to us, in both Japanese and English. In Europe, since the war began, a few works have been completed and forwarded to this office. One or more others are in the hands of the Committee of Research, but are detained for lack of safe means of transportation. In the case of a large number of writers no recent report of progress has been received, and the probability is that since the war began little progress has been made; but there is every reason to suppose that after the war shall have ended, it will be possible to continue and complete nearly all of these studies. Letters of inquiry have recently been sent to members of the Committee of Research, with a view to ascertaining how many of the works initiated under their direction are in a sufficiently advanced state to afford ground for hoping that they can easily be completed in accordance with existing contracts, though with a postponement of the date of completion. The war itself furnishes a transcendent subject of inquiry and has made necessary the work of collecting materials, as a ground work for an economic history of the war. Very many such materials would have been preserved in any case; but some would have been in danger of perishing and others would have become difficult of access if no measures were taken during the war to secure and preserve them. Professor Harald Westergaard is collecting reports and papers in the Scandinavian countries and Russia, and Professors Eugen von Philippovich and Professor Friedrich von Wieser have organized a committee to do the same in Austria. Mr. Hirst and an assistant are collecting historical materials in the United Kingdom; and Professors Schiemann and Brentano in Germany, Professor Pantaleoni in Italy, Professor Charles Gide in France and Minister Reinsch in China and Baron Sakatani and a committee of collaborators in Japan have undertaken to make similar collections. A large amount of mate rial is already in the hands of our representatives awaiting the time when it can be utilized for the preparation of the economic history of the present war. It will be necessary to add supplementary chapters to a very considerable number of the works already undertaken, some of which have been completed and have been withheld from publication for this purpose. A number of those which have not been completed will require a certain modifying as well as supplementing. In general the work of this Division during the next three or four years gives promise of being larger rather than smaller than that which has been carried on during a like period in the past; and the character of it is such that it will entail a much larger outlay than we have actually made, though probably not materially larger than the outlay which was expected if the war had not supervened. The Division has been prevented by the war from using the allotments voted. When this cause shall be removed and the interrupted work shall be resumed, we may expect that there will be work enough, all told, to yield a much larger number of manuscripts and entail a much larger amount of printing and publishing, than the work of the earlier period. The maturing of the earlier studies and the publication of their results will entail an amount of money which will necessarily become larger from year to year, as the number of actual publications shall increase. It will be relatively little in the first year following the war, and will probably reach its full dimensions after about two years shall have passed. If so, our later needs will probably call for considerably more than has thus far been appropriated in any year for the use of this Division. Until the war shall have ended and two further years shall have passed, our needs will probably fall within a smaller limit. Respectfully submitted, JOHN BATES CLARK, Director of the Division of Economics and History. NEW YORK, March 22, 1916. APPENDIX I REPORT OF THE PRESENT CONDITION OF WORKS AND CONTRACTS Books published and on sale: I 1. Editor, Lord Courtney of Penwith; Author, A Diplomat: Nationalism and War in the Near East. 2. Editor, Westergaard; Author, Drachmann: Protectionist and Industrial History of the Three Scandinavian Countries. II Books in type but publication postponed until after the war: 1. Editor, Hirst; Armament series, by many authors. 2. Editor, Gide; Author, Dumas: The Right of Capture. Works completed but temporarily withheld: III 1. Editor, Reinsch; Author, Hornbeck: The Open Door Policy in China. 2. Editor and Author, Johnson: History of the American Peace Movement. 3. Editor and Author, Johnson: American Labor and War. 4. Editor, Bernstein; many authors: Attitude of Socialists and Trade Unionists toward War and Armaments. 5. Editor, Philippovich; Author, Drachovsky: Foreign Loans in Austria. IV Works in process of printing, or ready for it: 1. Editor, Westergaard; Author, Kellogg: Racial Deterioration as a Result of War. 2. Editor, Westergaard; Author, Prinzing: Epidemics Resulting from Wars. 3. Editor, Philippovich; Author, Grunzel: Economic Productive Trade Policy. 4. Editor, Westergaard; Author, Bodart: The Losses of Life Caused by Wars of Austria-Hungary and France. 5. Editor, Gide; Author, Girault: French Colonial Customs Policy. 6. Editor, Philippovich; Author, Bodart: History of the Causes of War, etc. 7. Editor, Reinsch; Author, Wallace: The Open Door Policy. 8. Editor, Brentano; Author, Gerloff: Military Budgets from 1872, etc., for Germany. 9. Editor, Kinley; Author, Luitwieler; Effects of the Present European War on the Industry, Commerce and Finances of Bolivia. 10. Editor, Kinley; Author, Rowe: Effect of the European Conflict on Trade, Industry and Finance in Peru and Chile. 11. Editor, Kinley; Author, Roorbach: The Effects of the Present European War on the Industry, Commerce, and Finance of Venezuela. 12. Editor, Kinley; Author, Wheless: The Effects of the Present European War on the Industry, Commerce, and Finance of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. 13. Editor, Brentano; Author, Leibig: The Part of Germany in World Production. V Works in process of translation, or waiting to be translated: 92 1. Editor, Brentano; Author, Möller: Effects of War, with Reference to Germany. 2. Editor, Borel; Author, Geering: Influence of the War of 1870–71 on Switzerland. VI Works completed and in hands of Members of Committee of Research: 1. Editor, Philippovich; Author, Slokar: Influence of the National Idea and of the Economic Protective Policy of Austria-Hungary on the Relations Between the Monarchy and the Balkan States. 2. Editor, Philippovich; Author, von Kesslitz: Financial Burdens Caused by Armaments in Recent Times in Austria-Hungary. VII Works overdue; many probably delayed by the war: Author Grünwald, Mises, von, Dumas, Samuel, Wieser, von, Wieser, von, Wieser, von, Wieser, von, Wieser, von, Klofetz, de Greef, La Fontaine, Schüller and Subject Influences of changes in occupations of a people upon the composition and efficiency of armies, etc. Losses of life as a result of war. Ratio between the total income of the Austrian and armaments. War loans in Austria, etc. Protectionist system in its relation to the great armaments, etc. Effects of war on the economy of the Scandinavian countries. Production of the Scandinavian countries. Development of the international relations of the Austrian cotton trade. Taxation laws as influenced by the international relations of Austrian economics. International relations of Austrian manufacturers. Austrian money market as influenced by the money markets of the world. Austrian transport system as influenced by the international relations of Austrian economics. Austrian civil law as influenced by the international relations of Austrian economics. Development of the international relations of the Austrian sugar trade. Austrian labor and laborers and the international relations pertaining thereto. International relations of Austrian economics in the first part of the nineteenth century. Unifying effects of the improvement and extension of all means of communication. Unifying_influences of international life under the title "La Paix, ses conditions et son organisation." Protectionist policy in Austria, its origin and development. Development of the international relations of the Austrian iron trade. Sickness and mortality in the French army. General classification of war loans. Development of the international relations of the Aus trian petroleum trade. Financial, economic and moral influences of the military system in Switzerland. Attitude of anarchists and syndicalists toward war and armaments. Economic development of Switzerland as a neutral state. General considerations of the causes of wars in recent times. |