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Rent In Modern Economic Theory: An Essay In Distribution
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(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Alvin Saunders Johnson was an American economist, educator, and author. He co-founded and served as the first director of The New School.
Background
Johnson was born on December 18, 1874, in Homer, Nebraska, the first son of Jens Jensen Deyrup, whose name was changed to Johnson by the immigration service when he emigrated to the United States from Denmark in 1849, and his third wife, Edel Maria Katrina Bille, also a Danish emigrant. Johnson was raised on his father's farm amid a sprawling family of eight brothers, sisters, and stepsisters.
Education
His mother, who came from a line of scholars, saw to it that Johnson was well read by the time he entered the University of Nebraska in 1892. Although he began as a premedical student, he soon changed majors and obtained both his B. A. in (1897) and M. A. (1898) in classics. In 1902 he was awarded his Ph. D from Columbia University.
He was given honorary doctorates from Brandeis University and the University of Nebraska and from foreign universities, including Brussels, Algiers, and Heidelberg.
Career
Upon his graduation, Nebraska appointed Johnson a teaching fellow in Greek. An accomplished linguist, throughout his life he would read for pleasure books in their original Latin, Greek, French, German, Danish, and Norwegian.
The eruption of the Spanish-American War in 1898 interrupted his academic career; Johnson enlisted in the Second Nebraska regiment. He spent four months in service at a training camp in Georgia, where he fell ill amidst outbreaks of typhoid, dysentery, and malaria. Three of the six men in his tent died. When the war ended, he was mustered out of the army early, in time to enroll in the fall session at Columbia University. He chose economics for graduate study, though he had no background in the subject. Though he survived on hardtack and tutoring stipends, Johnson made his mark with Columbia's excellent faculty, of which Edwin Seligman, John Burgess, Franz Boaz, Franklin Giddings, and John Bates Clark - whom he idolized - were members.
When he passed his doctoral examination in the spring of 1901 he was recommended for the post of reader at Bryn Mawr College, a job that allowed him sufficient time to complete his dissertation. At the end of his first year, Bryn Mawr offered him a promotion, but Johnson accepted a lower-ranking position to return to Columbia. In the ensuing four years there, in addition to his teaching duties, he served as assistant editor of the Political Science Quarterly from 1902 to 1906; assisted historian Charles A. Beard with his semiannual report, "Record of Political Events"; edited doctoral dissertations; and was a staff member for Dodd, Mead, and Company's New International Encyclopaedia. He managed to fit courtship into his busy schedule.
Being something of a maverick, Johnson at times clashed with his mentor, J. B. Clark. The latter criticized his article, "The Effect of Labor-Saving Devices Upon Wages, " published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics (1905) as giving aid and comfort to the socialists; perhaps it did.
After Columbia, Johnson's highly successful teaching career led him from instructor to full professor at the following universities: Nebraska, Texas, Chicago, Stanford (twice), and Cornell. In 1917 he left academia temporarily for publishing, becoming associate editor of the New Republic, where he remained until 1923. He founded the New School's Social Research and edited the periodical for almost ten years. Of all his publishing work, the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences remains the lasting testimonial to his abilities. From 1928 to 1934 he served as chief working editor under Edwin Seligman, his former teacher and colleague at Columbia. Johnson planned the volumes, chose the contributors, recruited and trained the staff, and read, revised, and edited all submissions. Of this venture, published in 1935, it has been said that since Diderot's in the eighteenth century, no encyclopedia generated more excitement or had more influence on the social sciences. Though Johnson lamented that his output was modest, it was by objective standards phenomenal. He wrote some 1, 000 articles, three works of fiction, and two works of nonfiction in addition to his editing tasks.
In the meantime, Johnson returned to the academic fold, finding his niche in the unorthodox New School for Social Research. The institution, founded in 1919 by such innovative thinkers as philosopher John Dewey and economist Thorstein Veblen, was designed to break the mold of adult education, which the founders deemed too formalistic. Between 1930 and 1931 the New School constructed its unique and controversial building at 66 West Twelfth Street in New York City. The structure, designed by Joseph Urban and containing frescoes contributed by Jose Clement Orozco and Thomas Hart Benton, was something of an experiment. So too was the curriculum. The school pioneered courses in comparative music, modern painting and dance, public housing, and psychoanalysis. In 1933 Johnson invited scholars dismissed from their posts in Germany and Italy and later from countries overrun by the Germans to become a "University in Exile" at the New School. In 1941 this faculty was empowered to grant advanced degrees. French and Belgian scholars, similarly rescued, created the École Libre des Hautes Études in 1942 as part of the school. Displaced artists were also welcomed. In all, nearly two hundred scholars of repute were rescued through Johnson's efforts, with the help of the Rockefeller and other foundations. For these humanitarian efforts, Johnson was honored during his lifetime by the governments of Germany, Denmark, Belgium, and France.
After retirement, Johnson characteristically kept busy, writing articles for scholarly journals and creating programs for retired professionals at the New School. He died in his family home in Upper Nyack, New York, on June 9, 1971.
Johnson's early revolutionary political agenda called for government regulation of railroad rates, abolition of trusts, abolition of the sweatshop, a graduated income tax, pensions for the aged and disabled, bank deposit guarantees, and federal public works during economic depression - a program that could be traced to his rural upbringing, when he had read the leaflets of the Farmer's Alliance.
Johnson battled infringements on freedom in the political arena as well, as a member of the New York State Commission against Discrimination in Employment.
Views
In both his academic and private lives, Johnson demonstrated his concern for members of minority groups discriminated against or persecuted at home and abroad. In 1944 he drafted the Ives-Quinn Law for the New York Legislature. This statute was enacted to penalize discrimination against Jews and African Americans.
Interests
reading
Connections
On April 18, 1904, Johnson married Edith Henry, who held an advanced degree in philosophy. They had seven children, all educated at home.