 | The University of Virginia record March 15, 1931 |  |
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
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.
| The University of Virginia record March 15, 1931 | |