318 ECONOMIC ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JOHN BATES CLARK
have taught political economy. At Brown University, Francis G.
Wayland was elected to the presidency in 1827, and in the follow-
ing year began the teaching of political economy. At the same
time—1828—the subject was introduced into the curriculum of
Dartmouth College in the North, and in the College of Charleston
in the South.
It was not until the following decade that the subject was
introduced in the smaller New England colleges. At Amherst,
as we are informed as the result of an investigation by the
president, Hon. Samuel Clessen Allen was made lecturer in
political economy in 1832. He was followed in 1835 by Hon.
William Barron Calhoun, who retained the position until 1850.
From 1860 to 1869 the lectureship was occupied by Amasa
Walker, one of the leading authorities of the day.
At Williams College, according to information kindly placed
at our disposal by acting President Maxey, the Reverend Joseph
Olden was made professor of Rhetoric and Political Economy in
1836. His successor was Arthur L. Perry, later to become one of
the most prominent teachers of the subject. In 1854 he was made
Professor of History, Political Economy and German, continuing
under this title until 1871, when he became Orrin Sage Professor
of History and Political Economy. In 1891 Mr. Perry retired as
Emeritus Professor and was replaced by John Bascom, who had
been lecturer on sociology since 1887.
The earliest attempt to introduce what we now call Business
Economics was made in the next decade in the South. Through
the generosity of some citizens of New Orleans a fund was col-
lected in 1848 for a chair of Commerce, Political Economy and
Statistics in the University of Louisiana, which was filled in the
following year by De Bow, the editor of the well known Com-
mercial Review of the South and Southwest. De Bow had, in
fact, begun to lecture on the topic three years earlier. In 1853,
however, he was appointed Superintendent of the Census, and
instruction in the subject probably came to an end. In fact, the
College of Liberal Arts, in which the lectures took place, closed
its doors in 1855.» In the meantime it is to be noted that a pro-
fessorship of Public Economy was instituted at Trinity College,
in Connecticut, and was filled by Calvin Colton, the well known
protectionist writer.
L Wills, op. cit., p. 143.