Michiganensian. [1900]

Henry Carter Adams.
ENRY CARTER ADAMS was born in Davenport, Iowa, December
31st, 1852 He received his bachelor's degree at Iowa College,
and after teaching a year, spent some time at Andover Theological
Seminary. Having always had an inclination for newspaper work, he
was considering a change from preparation for a theological to preparation for a journalistic career by accepting a position as reporter on the
New York Ti'mes, when he was honored by the offer of a fellowship at
Johns Hopkins University. He finally decided to accept the fellowship,
upon the advice, it is said, of Mr. E. L. Godkin, then of the Nation. If
this be true, economists owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Godkin, for once
at the University, the young student was so filled with its spirit that he
gave up all thoughts of a journalistic career. This enthusiasm for academic work was due to many influences, among which was the contact
with so many brilliant young minds afforded by the university, some of
whom had studied in Germany and brought back the German university
spirit: but-chief of all the influences was that of two men who were lecturing at Johns Hopkins at that time, Judge Thomas M. Cooley and the
late President Walker. In 1878, the doctor's degree was conferred upon
him, his examiners being the Historian Bancroft and President Walker.
Appointed by courtesy Fellow in Political Science, he spent a year and a
half in Germany, studying at Heidelberg under Knies and Bluntschli,
and at Berlin under Wagner and Engel. After his return, he lectured in
quick succession at Cornell, the University of Michigan and Johns Hop
kins, and in 1887 was appointed Professor of Political Economy and
Finance at the University of Michigan.
In this brief outline, two things have probably suggested themselves to the reader. Here was a young man evidently endowed with
great natural ability, and here were names in Political Science and Political Economy, that represent the highest achievments of scholarship.
The contact between such a student and such masters could not but be
productive of interesting results. It is our honor to be assigned the task
of reviewing these results.