APPENDIX  F

189

may  be  submitted  to  the  full  membership  of  the  association
for  approval  or  criticism;  the  progress  of  such  agreement  to
constitute  an  available  subject  of  annual  discussion  and  report
in  the  proceedings  of  the  association,  and  be  it  further  resolved
that  this  general  committee  may  appoint  or  confirm  working
committees  in  various  departments  to  conduct  the  necessary
correspondence  and  report  partial  or  preliminary  agreements  to
the  general  committee.*
An  incident  of  such  a  concerted  movement,  as  above  outlined,
might  be  an  enthusiast^  equal  to  or  exceeding  that  of  the  recent
Columbus  Conference  on  Taxation,  an  interest  that  promises
to  be  permanent  and  increasing.  Work  of  this  nature,  which
must  of  course  be  a  growth,  might  afford  pleasure  as  well  as
profit,  and  might  readily  enlist  the  interest  of  those  who  would
make  of  themselves  centres  of  agitation  and  development  in  the
various  fields  of  Capital,  Labour,  Rent,  Wages,  Interest,
Taxation,  Population,  Production,  Distribution,  etc.  If  such
a  race  is  worth  the  running,  what  more  appropriate  than  that
the  American  Economic  Association  should  set  the  pace  ?
It  is  not  expected  that  agreements  like  these  will  be  new
discoveries,  but  simply  old  discoveries  brought  into  stronger
light,  formulated,  and  subjected  to  continuous  correction  and
perfection,  through  reconciliation  of  differences  and  re-statement ­
  of  old  agreements  to  conform  to  the  latest  thought.
Such  an  assembly  and  exposition  of  essential  principles  can
but  be  of  inestimable  profit  to  the  student,  the  teacher,  the
university,  and  the  State,  compassing,  as  it  must  eventually,
an  accepted  body  of  principles  —  principles  that  may  be  taught
fearlessly  by  teachers  old  and  young,  experienced  or
inexperienced,  leading  or  led,  and  with  a  confidence  and
satisfaction  akin  to  that  pervading  the  domain  of  exact  science.
On  the  relatively  solid  ground  of  such  accepted  doctrine  the
*  Professors  Hollander,  Carver,  Seager,  Fetter  and  others  spoke  in  approval
of  the  plan  as  presented,  Professor  Carver  expressing  the  opinion  that  its  adoption ­
  would  mark  a  new  epoch.  At  a  subsequent  business  meeting  of  the
association  the  executive  committee  unanimously  recommended,  and  the
association  adopted,  the  resolution  without  dissent.