BRIGADIER GENERAL FRANCIS A. WALKER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 11/25/1896 - HFSID 86944

BRIGADIER GENERAL FRANCIS A. WALKER
This typed letter that the economist penned his signature on concerns a meeting of the Commission for Daniel Chester French's sculpture
Typed Letter Signed: "Francis A Walker". One page. 8x10¼. Boston, Massachusetts. Dated November 25, 1896. On letterhead of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to Governor Wolcott. In full: "Your note of the 20th inst, reached me only yesterday. I at once consulted Mr. Robinson, the Secretary of the Commission, and Mayor Quincy, who is its Chairman. These gentlemen think, and I agree with them, that it would not be practicable to hold a formal meeting of the Commission on the occasion of Mr. French's presenting the model to the Governor and Council, Thursday, December 3d. The members of the Commission might be present, individually and informally, at that time; but, for the purpose of giving an official opinion, it would be necessary for the Commission to hold a meeting when they could have present the experts who are to be invited to give their views, and when the opportunity would exist for free conference and consultation, among themselves, and with the experts, such as would hardly be found at a session of the Executive Council." The statue of Union Major General Joseph Hooker (1814-1870), the third Commander of the Army of the Potomac, would be erected on the lawn of the Massachusetts state house in 1903, five years after Walker's death. Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), best known for his sculpture of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, sculpted the body for the bronze statue, while Edward Clark Potter (1857-1923), French's former assistant and a prominent animal sculptor, sculpted the horse. Potter, who also worked on the marble lions at the New York Public Library, first collaborated with French for statues for the 1983 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. At the time of this letter, Francis A. Walker (1840-1897) was serving as M.I.T.'s third President (1881 until his death in 1897). One of the most prominent figures in the history of American economics, Walker served in the Union Army during the Civil War; he was eventually brevetted as a brigadier general. Walker, who sought to establish the "scientific" status of economics, was a pioneer in using statistical data to illustrate economic arguments. During his career, he was the first lecturer on economics at Johns Hopkins (1876), Superintendent of the U.S. Census (1880), an economics professor at Yale (1872-1889), U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1871-1872), President of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and first President of the American Economic Association (AEA), which awards the "Francis A. Walker Medal" to leading economists for lifetime achievements every five years. Best known for his theories on wages and profits and his advocacy of international bimetallism, Walker wrote a number of articles and books, including International Bimetallism, published in 1896, the year of this letter. Roger Wolcott (1896-1900) was the Governor of Massachusetts from 1896-1900. Active in Republican politics, he also served in the Massachusetts State House of Representatives (1882-1884) and was Lieutenant Governor (1892-1896). Like Hooker, he, too, was immortalized in a sculpture by Daniel Chester French. Lightly creased and soiled. Folding crease touches paraph of "r" in signature. Pencil note (unknown hand) at upper margin.  Otherwise, fine condition.