Richard T. Ely

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Richard Theodore Ely (April 13, 1854 – October 4, 1943) was an American economist and leader of the progressive Movement who called for more government intervention in order to reform the injustices of capitalism, especially regarding factory conditions, compulsory education, child labor and labor unions. He opposed the individualism he found troubling in capitalism, calling for an evolution to a higher stage of social conscience. He helped inspire and lead the Social Gospel movement.

Ely was born in Ripley, New York. He was born as the eldest of three children of Ezra Sterling and Harriet Gardner (Mason) Ely. He parents were Presbyterian but he never had a religious conversion experience and became an Episcopalian in college. Ely received his undergraduate degree from Columbia, later receiving his doctorate in economics from the University of Heidelberg, where he studied under Karl Knies. He was a product of the German historical school with an emphasis on evolution to new forms, and never accepted the marginalist revolution that was transforming economic theory in Britain and the U.S. He held the professorship of economics at Johns Hopkins University from 1881 to 1892, and was subsequently professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1894 an unsuccessful attempt was made to depose him from his chair at Wisconsin for teaching socialistic doctrines: an effort met by the state Board of Regents with a ringing proclamation of the necessity for freely "sifting and winnowing" among claims of truth.^[1]

Ely was in fact opposed to socialism. "I condemn alike," he declared, "that individualism that would allow the state no room for industrial activity, and that socialism which would absorb in the state the functions of the individual." ^[2] He argued that socialism was not needed, and "the alternative of socialism is our complex socio-economic order, which is based, in the main, upon private property." He warned that the proper "balance between private and public enterprise" is "menaced by socialism, on the one hand, and by plutocracy, on the other."^[3]

Ely was strongly influenced by Herbert Spencer and strongly favored competition over monopoly or state ownership, with regulation to "secure its benefits" and "mitigate its evils." What was needed was "to raise its moral and ethical level."^[4]

Ely did support labor unions and opposed child labor, as did many leaders of the Progressive Movement, including such conservatives as Mark Hanna. He was close to the Social Gospel movement, emphasizing that the Gospel of Christ was social, not merely individualistic; he worked hard to get churches to realize their responsibility to reform capitalism so that workers got fair treatment. Ely strongly influenced his friend Walter Rauschenbusch, a leading spokesman for the Social Gospel.

Professor Ely took an active part in the formation of the American Economic Association, serving as its secretary from 1885 to 1892 and its president from 1899 to 1901. He also edited Macmillan's Citizen's Library of Economics, Politics, and Sociology. Throughout his teaching career he was a frequent contributor to periodical literature, both scientific and popular. He died in Old Lyme, Connecticut

Contents 1 Works 2 References 3 Bibliography 4 Primary sources 5 External links

[edit] Works

• French and German Socialism (1883)
• Labor Movement in America (1886)
• Taxation in American States and Cities (1888)
• Introduction to Political Economy (1889)
• Outlines of Economics (1893)
• The Labor Movement in America (1883)
• Problems of To-day (1888)
• Social Aspects of Christianity (1889)
• Socialism and Social Reform (1894)
• Monopolies and Trusts (1900; new edition, 1912)
• The Coming City (1902)
• Studies in the Evolution of Industrial Society (1903; new edition, 1913)
• Property and Contract in their Relation to the Distribution of Wealth (1914)

In collaboration with Prof. G. R. Wicker he wrote Elementary Principles of Economics (1907); and in collaboration with T. S. Adams, M. O. Lorenz, and A. A. Young, Outlines of Economics (1908; several subsequent editions). In collaboration with G. S. Wehrwein he wrote Land Economics (1940).

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Fine, Sidney. "Richard T. Ely, Forerunner of Progressivism, 1880-1901." The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 37:4 (March 1951). in JSTOR
• Rader, Benjamin G. "Richard T. Ely: Lay Spokesman for the Social Gospel." Journal of American History. 53:1 (June 1966). in JSTOR

[edit] Primary sources

• Richard Theodore Ely, Thomas Sewall Adams, Max Otto Lorenz, and Allyn Abbott Young. Outlines of Economics‎ (1919), textbook; 769 pages online edition
• Richard Theodore Ely, The Labor Movement in America‎ (1905) 399 pages online edition
• Richard Theodore Ely, Social Aspects of Christianity: And Other Essays‎ (1889) 132 pages online edition
• Richard Theodore Ely, Socialism: An Examination of Its Nature, Its Strength and Its Weakness (1894) 449 pages online edition

[edit] External links

• Private colonization of land (1918), Ely, Richard Theodore, 1854-1943. Present by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Digital Collections Center.
• Profile at History of Economic Thought website
• Profile at University of Wisconsin-Madison website
• Academic Freedom on Trial: on Ely's 1894 trial
• Extract from The Social Law of Service

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.