University of Virginia Library

Establishment.—The announcement was made by President Alderman
to the Rector and the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia during
the commencement exercises in June, 1926, that the Laura Spelman Rockefeller
Memorial had made a grant of $137,500 to the University for research in the
field of the social sciences; economics, government, sociology, history, psychology,
jurisprudence and related subjects. The grant extends over a five-year period,
$27,500 becoming available each of the years from July 1, 1926, through June
30, 1931.

The work under the provisions of the grant has been organized as an
Institute for Research in the Social Sciences. The President of the University,
the Assistant to the President, the members of the University faculty of professorial
rank in the schools of History, Economics, Government, Jurisprudence,
Philosophy, Psychology, Rural Social Economics, and Sociology, and the employed
personnel constitute the membership of the Institute.

As outlined in the resolutions which were adopted by the Institute, "the
duty of this Institute shall be to promote research effort, both individual and
group, in the Social Sciences at the University of Virginia—at the outset
primarily in the field of Virginia problems. It shall further be the function
of the Institute to consider any matter that concerns the development of the
Social Sciences in the University of Virginia, making recommendations thereon
to the President of the University."

Social Science Building.—The Institute is housed in one of the original
Jefferson buildings of the University formerly known as the Old Medical Building.
The interior of the structure has been thoroughly repaired and put in
excellent condition for the activities of the Institute. Provision is made for
office space and equipment for the research workers, and also a general office
has been set up where supplies and secretarial assistance are provided.

Scope of Research Effort.—The grant to the University of Virginia is
being utilized at the outset primarily for research into a number of vital
economic and social problems in the life of the State. It has chosen this field
for two reasons. First, because Virginia is in a changing period in its history,
and needs full light on its problems to direct as wisely as possible the current
of transition. And secondly, the University of Virginia realizes that it is a
State University and desires to relate itself more and more intimately with
the people and the life of the State in general, feeling that such a relationship
will be mutually beneficial. However, the work of the Institute in its
full development will not be limited to the field of Virginia problems but large
provision will be made for scholarly research in the broader phases of social
science research without respect to geographical boundaries.

The research in the Institute is carried on as the professor's own research
project assisted by well-trained research workers. The plan is to limit the number
of problems to be studied, and to do these thoroughly, and in a way that
will make the investigations of an immediate or ultimate usefulness in the life
of the State, as well as constituting contributions to the broader field of social
science research. A definite portion of the grant is being allotted for the publication
of the studies when completed.

A List of Research Projects Undertaken by the Institute for Research
in the Social Sciences at the University of Virginia: 1926-1931.

PUBLISHED STUDIES

1. A Statistical Study of Virginia

By Wilson Gee, Professor of Rural Economics and Rural Sociology, and
J. J. Corson, III, Research Assistant in Rural Social Economics.

Institute Monograph No. 1, 201 pages, 184 tables, and 18 charts. 1927.

2. Counties in Transition: A Study of County Public and Private Welfare
Administration in Virginia

By Frank W. Hoffer, Associate Professor of Sociology.

Institute Monograph No. 2, 256 pages, 60 tables, 13 charts and figures,
and 3 maps. 1929.

3. Public and Private Welfare, Roanoke, Virginia[1]

By Frank W. Hoffer, Associate Professor of Sociology.

141 pages, 49 tables, 14 maps, 11 charts, and 29 illustrations. 1928.

4. Rural Depopulation in Certain Tidewater and Piedmont Areas of
Virginia

By Wilson Gee, Professor of Rural Economics and Rural Sociology, and
J. J. Corson, III, Research Assistant in Rural Social Economics.

Institute Monograph No. 3, 104 pages, 59 tables, map and 2 charts. 1929.

5. Research in the Social Sciences: Its Fundamental Methods and Objectives[2]

Edited by Wilson Gee, Director of the Institute.

305 pages. 1929.

6. Life Insurance in Virginia

By C. N. Hulvey, Associate Professor of Commercial Law and William
H. Wandel, Research Assistant in Insurance.

Institute Monograph No. 4, 167 pages, 58 tables and 7 charts. 1929.

7. Bibliography of Virginia History Since 1865

By Lester J. Cappon, Research Associate in History, with a foreword by
Dumas Malone, Sometime Professor of History.

Institute Monograph No. 5, 900 pages. 1930.

8. Rural and Urban Living Standards in Virginia

By Wilson Gee, Professor of Rural Economics and Rural Sociology and
William H. Stauffer, Research Associate in Rural Social Economics.

Institute Monograph No. 6, 133 pages, 58 tables and 2 charts. 1929.

9. Fort Lewis: A Community in Transition

By Floyd N. House, Professor of Sociology, F. W. Hoffer, Associate Professor
of Sociology, and others.

Institute Monograph No. 7, 56 pages, 14 tables, 1 map, illustrated. 1930.

10. Problems in Contemporary County Government

By Wylie Kilpatrick, Associate Research Professor of Government.

Institute Monograph No. 8, 657 pages, 100 tables. 1930.

11. Labor in the Industrial South

By Abraham Berglund, Professor of Commerce, G. T. Starnes, Associate
Professor of Commerce and Business Administration, and Frank T.
de Vyver, Research Assistant in Labor Problems.

Institute Monograph No. 9, 167 pages, 43 tables, charts, illustrated. 1930.

12. A Survey of Criminal Justice in Virginia

By Armistead W. Dobie, Professor of Law, F. D. G. Ribble, Professor of
Law, and Hugh N. Fuller, Associate Research Professor of Criminal
Procedure.

Institute Monograph No. 10. 1930.

13. Workmen's Compensation and Automobile Liability Insurance

By C. N. Hulvey, Associate Professor of Commercial Law and William
H. Wandel, Research Assistant in Insurance.

Institute Monograph No. 11. 1930.

STUDIES IN PROGRESS

1. Currency, Credit and Crises in Virginia Since 1860

By E. A. Kincaid, Professor of Finance, and Taylor Musser, Research
Associate in Finance.

A study of the financial reconstruction in the state designed to reveal the
evolution of the state banking system, the effect of the various monetary policies
of the federal government, including the resumption of specie payments, the
issuance of silver certificates, and the return to the gold standard; an analysis of
the several industrial crises; and the effect of all of these on the economic recovery
of the state from the devastation of the Civil War.

2. Regionalism in France

By Robert K. Gooch, Professor of Political Science.

A study of the French method of decentralizing government in order to relieve
an over-burdened federal machine. A political study would naturally be
concerned primarily with administrative regionalism, and its economic, cultural,
and other aspects could not be ignored. For the special student of French government
there are two fundamental problems: (1) the relationship of the executive
and the legislature in the central government; (2) the relationship of the government
of localities to the central government.

3. Distribution of the Tax Burden in Virginia

By William H. Stauffer, Associate Research Professor of Economics.

This study represents an endeavor to ascertain the relative tax burden affecting
business and industrial activities, including agriculture, functioning within
the state through a comparison of the net earnings of the respective industrial
and business types with the taxes which they are called upon to pay. It is assumed
that income is the most equitable basis for making comparisons of the
relative tax burdens.

4. An Investigation of Fundamental Traits in Social Groups

By George O. Ferguson, Jr., Professor of Psychology and Education, Frank
A. Geldard, Associate Professor of Psychology, and Roland C. Davis,
Research Associate in Psychology.

Social groups, such as Negroes, rural and urban whites, population of the
mountain regions, immigrant groups, etc., are seen to differ in general behavior
and way of life. Current intelligence tests have usually shown differences in
average scores obtained by such groups. The present study is an attempt to
analyze such differences in certain fundamental traits, presumably unaffected by
accidents of environment. The speed with which impulses are conducted along
nerves, the rapidity of voluntary movement, the rise and subsidence of activity
in the sympathetic nervous system, the modifiability of nervous pathways, and
possibly other traits, are being, or will be studied. While these are far from
all the traits needing study, it is hoped the investigation will contribute to a
settlement of differences between social groups.

5. A Survey of the Virginia Jails and Police and Magistrate Courts

By Floyd N. House, Professor of Sociology, Frank W. Hoffer, Associate
Professor of Sociology, and Delbert M. Mann, Research Associate in
Sociology.

The purpose of this study is to present a comprehensive and accurate picture
of the equipment, population and administration of the country and city jails of
Virginia, and of the procedure of the lower courts which have much to do with
the selection of the jail population. It is a part of a larger departmental research
program having as its purpose the securing of a factual foundation for a welfare
program and legislation. Under present conditions the study is of necessity primarily
descriptive, laying a foundation for other more detailed studies.

6. The Cotton Cooperative in the South

By Wilson Gee, Professor of Rural Economics and Rural Sociology and
Edward A. Terry, Research Associate in Rural Social Economics.

No part of the United States has been more severely affected by the postwar
agricultural depression than have the Southern States. Some experiments
are being made in the adjustment of national policies to provide farm relief; but
the success of them is considered quite dubious. In any plan of agricultural rehabilitation,
the farmer's own efforts must play a large part. The volume of
farm production must be more intelligently controlled and the marketing of agricultural
products must be greatly increased in efficiency. The most practical approach
to these matters is through cooperative associations. The best form of
cooperative marketing is that organized upon the commodity basis. Hence the
problem of what has been achieved along these lines and the hope for future
progress are matters of first importance in the economy of the South.

7. State Subsidies in Virginia

By Tipton R. Snavely, Professor of Economics, D. Clark Hyde, Associate
Professor of Economics and Alvin B. Biscoe, Research Associate in
Economics.

The purpose of this project is to study the apportionment of State funds
to the local subdivisions of Virginia. It involves an investigation of the policies

which are not followed and which might be followed in making grants-in-aid
from the State government to the counties and cities. The major purposes for
which such grants are made are public education, public highways and public
health. The study will naturally include also an inquiry into the taxable capacity
and the present tax burdens of the local subdivisions.

8. Labor and Labor Conditions in Virginia

By George T. Starnes, Associate Professor of Commerce and Business
Administration and John E. Hamm, Research Assistant in Commerce.

The purpose of such a study is to make a careful investigation of labor conditions
in the more important industrial centers of the state. Such problems as
labor supply, wages, living conditions, living costs, labor legislation, and the development
of labor unions in the state would be dealt with.