 | The University of Virginia record March 15, 1934 |  |
STUDIES IN PROGRESS
1. Life of Mazzini
By Stringfellow Barr, Professor of History.
A biographical study of the nineteenth century nationalist, of whom no satisfactory
biography has been written in any language to date.
2. 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 are being investigated.
3. 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.
4. Land Jobbing and the Revolution
By Thomas P. Abernethy, Associate Professor of History.
The value and extent of the public lands rendered this one of the most important
questions dealt with by the legislatures of the Revolutionary and Early
Republican periods. The statutes passed in this connection throw unimpeachable
light upon the struggle between democracy and privilege which went on in the
new States. Speculations, sponsored by individuals or chartered land companies,
often give an insight into important political situations and the motives of public
officials. It is with the hope of discovering some of the secret springs of Virginian
politics during this important period that the study of the land question is undertaken.
5. Experimental Study of Human Instincts
By Wayne Dennis, Assistant Professor of Psychology.
In spite of an enormous literature concerning human instincts, practically the
only experimental investigations of instinctive human responses are those of Watson.
These studies were limited to infants so young that many instinctive responses
may have been as yet undeveloped. The present project will utilize older
subjects. The difficulty of making certain that the responses to be observed, such
as responses to strangers, to animals, to the sea, etc., have not been influenced by
training will be met by a careful selection of subjects from among hospitalized
children, institutionalized children, and children from isolated communities. When
techniques are developed and a general knowledge of instinctive responses acquired,
the problem can be widened to include a comparison of racial and social groups.
6. Scientific Interests in the Old South
By T. Cary Johnson, Jr., Associate Professor of History.
In working up this project an attempt will be made to answer, among others,
such questions as the following: What was the effect of the agricultural philosophies
of Jefferson's day, with their all-embracing interests, in stimulating a genuine
enthusiasm for science? Did the achievements in some special field by Southerners,
as for instance in geology by LeConte, or in hydrography by Maury, or in
ornithology by Audubon, or in anesthetics by Long, develop from this earlier
scientific curiosity by any discernible process of differentiation? How widespread
was this curiosity in regard to natural phenomena? What effect did it have on
schools and colleges? And what effect on ante-bellum religious beliefs? What
were its contributions to material well-being in the form of useful inventions?
What part did Southerners play in preparing for the Industrial Era and in bringing
about the Machine Age? These are some of the questions to be answered in
a volume of moderate size.
7. The Executive Power in Virginia
By G. W. Spicer, Associate Professor of Political Science.
In this study the development of the office of Governor of Virginia will be
traced through its various stages, and a critical estimate given of the desirability
of the changes which it has undergone. Finally, special emphasis will be given to
the present status of this office in its relation to the legislative function, the
judicial function, the administrative function, political leadership, etc. In short,
government of Virginia as it revolves about the office of the Governor.
8. Guide to Manuscript Sources and Collections in Virginia
By Lester J. Cappon, Archivist and Research Associate in History.
The need of a guide to manuscripts in Virginia, to bring to light for the
research student materials hitherto unknown in libraries, government offices, and
in private hands, led to the inception of this project to make a State-wide inventory
of all original records available or which can be made accessible. This
survey includes detailed lists of records in the State, county, and city archives,
in college and university libraries, and in historical societies; also the original
record books and papers of business houses, churches and lodges, schools, banks,
public utilities, and other organizations. The survey also includes a list of Virginia
newspaper files throughout the State. A card index by county is kept so
that the information can be re-organized later for publication. In addition to the
survey, the archivist is collecting manuscripts for the Library of the University
where they are cataloged and filed for research work.
9. The Institutionalization in Roanoke, Virginia
By Floyd N. House, Professor of Sociology, Frank W. Hoffer, Associate
Professor of Sociology, and Dorohy Havens Wheeler, Research Assistant
in Sociology.
This study is a unit of a comprehensive and thorough social study of the
community of Roanoke and environs, which the authors are planning to make,
and which will present a concrete and realistic picture of the social and cultural
life of the people of Roanoke, and of the various social classes and smaller groups
of which the community as a whole is composed. It is planned to focus the comprehensive
study around three major topics: (1) the ecology of the community—
the spatial distribution of population and institutions, and trends of change in that
distribution—suburban expansion, development of outlying sub-centers, and the
like; (2) the history and functioning of institutions—schools, churches, welfare
agencies, governmental institutions, business institutions, and the many other institutionalized
forms of social life which develop in a community the size of
Roanoke; (3) the nature and trend of cultural life.
10. Economic Theory in the Crucible
By Abraham Berglund, Professor of Commerce and Business Administration
and William H. Wandel, Research Associate in Economic Theory.
The study of Economic Theory in the Crucible is proceeding along the line
of making a close analytical and comparative inquiry into the doctrines of leading
economists, both academic and lay, of the last quarter century. The analysis includes
a consideration of the scope of the scientific field adopted or assumed by
these economists, their approaches and methods, their assumptions and postulates
with some notes as to the validity of these, and their conceptions of value and
distribution. The comparisons are drawn to discover whatever unity may exist
either in doctrines, in emphasis, or in divergence from the more conventional theory,
conventional theory being taken to signify not the use of a standard but merely
the recognition of the existence of certain fairly well defined schools: the Classical
and the Austrian.
11. History of Taxation in Virginia Since 1776
By Tipton R. Snavely, Professor of Economics, and Emory Q. Hawk, Research
Associate in Economics.
The purpose of this study is to give a factual account and interpretation of
the development of taxation in Virginia from the end of the Colonial Period. Some
forty years ago, Professor William Z. Ripley, of Harvard University, published
a financial history of Virginia from the beginning of the Colony to the year 1776.
A similar study has not been published for the subsequent period, although it
has long been evident that there is urgent need to bring the history of taxation
down to date. Dr. William H. Stauffer, economist for the Virginia State Tax
Department, recently published a volume bearing upon current aspects of taxation
in the State, but no treatise exists covering the period from 1776 to the appearance
of Dr. Stauffer's monograph.
12. The Supervision and Control of Virginia State Banks
By Allan G. de Gruchy, Research Associate in Commerce.
One of Virginia's important economic problems is the proper control of her
banking system, and it is the purpose of this investigation to indicate where it is
possible to improve the present system of State bank supervision. The investigation
falls into three divisions: 1. historical background; 2. analysis of the legal
status of State bank supervision; 3. present system of State bank supervision in
Virginia. The conclusion is reached that State banking in Virginia is still largely
uncontrolled banking. In the hope of instituting a more satisfactory control of the
State banking system, the writer will offer a number of suggestions which would
materially strengthen Virginia's system of supervising and controlling the State
banks.
13. The French Parliamentary Committee System
By Robert K. Gooch, Professor of Political Science.
A manuscript on French Parliamentary Committees, which is being revised
and brought up to date on the basis of studies undertaken in France during the
summer of 1933, is a study of the system of committees in the French Parliament
of the Third Republic, with especial reference to the influence of these committees
on the phenomenon of ministerial responsibility. With the exception of the
United States, every important country which has in modern times attempted to
establish a democratic system of government has taken the English parliamentary
system as a model. Of these countries, France is the most important. It has both
consciously and unconsciously borrowed its governmental institutions from England.
At the same time, France, in following in broad outline the principles of the
parliamentary system, has modified the English system in keeping with its own
experience and temperament. The most striking difference is marked by the
highly developed system of legislative committees existing in the French Parliament.
It may well be said of France, as is often said of America but not of
Great Britain, that it is "governed by committees."
14. Municipal Administration in Virginia: A Critical Study
By Rowland A. Egger, Head, Bureau of Public Administration.
A study of the major administrative functions of Virginia cities, of the costs
of those functions, of the techniques of their administration and a critical reappraisal
of the functions with a view to decreasing costs or increasing efficiency.
15. Roanoke: A Study in Population
By Frank W. Hoffer, Associate Professor of Sociology, and Floyd N. House,
Professor of Sociology.
During the next few years there will be prepared a number of semi-separate
studies of social conditions in Roanoke, Virginia. Among these contemplated
studies are the following: (1) a detailed study of the population of Roanoke by
census tracts and other areas, and of the history of the natural areas of the city;
(2) the nature and trend of cultural life in Roanoke; (3) the care of the aged in
Roanoke; (4) divorce and family disorganization in Roanoke; (5) a statistical
study, supplemented by some analysis of individual cases, of the post-school careers
of Roanoke high school students of the years 1920-24; and (6) a study of crime
and delinquency in Roanoke.
16. Electricity in Virginia
By Rowland A. Egger, Head, Bureau of Public Administration, and Allan
G. de Gruchy, John S. Gates and Corbett C. Long, Research Assistants.
Electricity in Virginia is a study divided into two parts. Part I deals with the
regulation of public utlities, among which are the electrical companies, and particularly
with the statutory, constitutional and judicial background of the State
Corporation Commission, the work of the Commission, including a detailed
statistical study of its operations since its establishment, the personnel of the State
Corporation Commission and employees, the finances of the State Corporation
Commission, and a critical re-appraisal of the Commission as a regulatory and
administrative unit. Part II deals with municipal ownership of electrical undertakings—the
only form of public electrical utility ownership in Virginia. It treats
of the rise and decline of municipal ownership, the legal status of municipal ownership,
the administration of municipal electrical undertakings, the financial policies
of the rate-structure of local electricity enterprises. It contains also a critical
re-appraisal of municipal ownership and seeks to ascertain means whereby the
decline in public ownership may be combatted by sound organizational and technical
reform.
| The University of Virginia record March 15, 1934 | |