work in "conducting judicious investigations and the fearless publication of the results. ...

Wright was born in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, in 1840, the son of a Universalist parson and farmer. His early life gave no hint of his later career except for its heavy emphasis on religion and civic duty. Wright taught school while he studied at academies, and later read for the law. During the Civil War, at the age of 22, he enlisted in the New Hampshire Volunteers, making a distinguished record and receiving his commission as colonel in the fall of 1864. Ill health, which was to plague him periodically the rest of his life, cut short his service, and he returned to his old neighborhoods in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Wright established himself as a patent attorney in Boston with a residence in Reading, Massachusetts. He had a brief political career, winning a seat in the State Senate in 1871 and again in 1872, before declining renomination, as was the custom, in 1873. He sought nomination to Congress in 1874, 1876, and 1878, failing each time.

In the meantime, in 1873, Governor William B. Washburton appointed him Chief of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, which, under earlier leadership, had become embroiled in controversy. Wright moved quickly to put the Bureau on a solid foundation of objectivity and impartiality, soon making an international reputation for himself and the agency.

As Chief, Wright investigated wages and prices, and supervised the Massachusetts Census of 1875 and the State section of the 1880 Federal Census. He also directed studies on such social problems as drunkenness, education of youth, and convict labor. He continued as head of the Massachusetts Bureau for 15 years, until 1888, a tenure which overlapped his Federal appointment for 3 years.

Self-trained, Wright pioneered in the development of the fields of economics and sociology in the United States. He contributed through statistical reports, papers, lectures, and new professional associations to the pragmatic approach to economic thinking, which had been limited to the narrower abstractions of classical economics. His optimistic view of human prospects made its mark on the direction of economic thought in the United States.2

Wright's views

A belief in the ability of man to study his situation and to devise ways to improve it put Wright in the forefront of the opposition to the prevailing doctrines of Social Darwinism. He has been linked to Lester Frank Ward, the great pioneer sociologist, in the "faith that mankind is intelligent enough, or may become so, to play a constructive part in the creation and organization of his social as well as of his physical environment."3

Wright expressed his ethical consciousness in a lecture delivered before the Lowell Institute in 1879 in which he attacked John Stuart Mill and others of the "old school" as urging, "Love thyself; seek thine own advantage; promote thine own welfare; put money in thy purse; the welfare of others is not thy business." In contrast, he spoke hopefully of the "new school" which sought "the amelioration of unfavorable industrial and social relations wherever found as the surest road to comparatively permanent material prosperity." The "new" would combine "with the old question the old school always asks, 'Will it pay?' another and higher query, ‘Is it right?"" Wright would repeat this theme many times.4

Unrest in labor-management relations did not trouble Wright, who saw it as the basis of continuing improvement in the human condition. But it was the responsibility of government to provide information to educate those in the midst of the unrest. In the Eighth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau (1877), Chief Wright explained, “Any means which the Legislature can adopt which will add to the information of the people on subjects which concern their daily lives are of untold value. . . . To popularize statistics, to put them before the masses in a way which shall attract, and yet not deceive, is a work every government which cares for its future stability should encourage and enlarge." In his 1886 presidential address to the American Social Science Association, he declared, "With the enlightenment of the workers of society, the reforms so much sought for will come as a natural consequence.

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Wright saw the benefits as well as the evils of the factory system. He praised the industrialist: "He is something more than a producer, he is an instrument of God for the upbuilding of the race." At the same time he stated, "The evils of the factory system are sufficient to call out all the sentiments of justice and philanthropy which enable us

to deal with wrong and oppression; all this I do not dispute, but I claim that, with all its faults and attendant evils, the factory system is a vast improvement upon the domestic system of industry in almost every respect." He wrote, in The Outline of Practical Sociology in 1899, "Every material improvement by which society is permanently benefitted temporarily hurts somebody or disturbs some interest; every advance in civilization means the temporary discomfort, inconvenience, and loss, even, to some man or some set of men.” The introduction of machines displaced some individuals; however, he argued, “Machines not only create new demands in old lines, they also create occupations that never existed prior to their introduction."8 Thus, society as a whole benefitted.

In 1892, before the Buffalo Liberal Club, Wright declared, "In those countries where machinery has been developed to little or no purpose, poverty reigns, ignorance is the prevailing condition, and civilization consequently far in the rear." In "The Factory as an Element in Social Life," he stated, "The modern system of industry gives the skilled and intelligent workman an opportunity to rise in the scale of employment, in intellectual development, in educational acquirements, in the grade of services rendered, and hence in his social standing in his community."9

His views on the entry of women into the factory system were advanced for his time. Although initially he had felt that factory work would degrade women and disrupt the family, he later declared that the results of various investigations had caused him to change his mind. In one statement, he stressed the independence accruing to the working woman: "As woman has the power given her to support herself, she will be less inclined to seek marriage relations simply for the purpose of securing what may seem to be a home and protection. The necessity under which many young women live, of looking to marriage as a freedom from the bondage of some kinds of labor, tends, in my mind, to be the worst form of prostitution that exists. I cannot see 'much difference between a woman who sells her whole freedom and her soul to a man for life because he furnishes her with certain conveniences and one who sells her temporary freedom and her soul for a temporary remuneration, except this, that the former may be worse than the latter."10

He argued that working women had as high a moral standard "as any class in the community" and that "regular employment is conducive to regular living."11

In early expressions of his philosophy, Wright placed great faith in the power of the individual to bring about reforms. Increasingly, however, at a time of strong opposition to union organization and collective action, he supported both, although he did not accept all union demands. He threw out as "absurd" the claim on the part "of great employers that they can deal only with individual employees. . . .” Rather, “organizations must recognize organizations and the committees of the two must meet in friendly spirit for the purpose of fairly and honestly discussing the questions under consideration."12 And he saw collective bargaining-"a new force comparatively, and one which expresses the most important principles of industrial management"—as the means for achieving what legislation or socialist revolution or unilateral trade union rules could not do to avoid strikes or satisfy strikers.13

While recognizing that strikes were sometimes necessary, Wright constantly urged the use of voluntary means to avoid or settle them. He favored mediation and conciliation but opposed compulsory arbitration, which he viewed as an indirect means of fixing wages and prices by law. Voluntary collective action, then, provided the "practical application of the moral principles of cooperative work."14

Wright did not believe, however, that resolution of the labormanagement problem could be easily achieved. "The Bureau cannot solve the labor question, for it is not solvable; it has contributed and can contribute much in the way of general progress. The labor question, like the social problem, must be content to grow towards a higher condition along with the universal progress of education and broadened civilization. There is no panacea.'

Wright's frank expression of his views did not jeopardize his high standing with either labor or business interests. During his tenure as Commissioner in both Democratic and Republican administrations, and after his retirement, he was listened to with respect and was sought after as a commentator on the current scene.

Laying the foundation

After taking office in 1885, Wright moved quickly to establish professionalism and impartiality in the national Bureau, as he had in Massachusetts. He firmly spelled out the guidelines: Study all social and economic conditions; publish the results; and let the people, individually and collectively, assess the facts and act on them. Facts, not theories, were the foundation stones for constructive action. And facts were to be gained, according to Wright, "only by the most faithful application of the statistical method."16

Staff

He gathered a small force of investigators-capable, well-educated men and women who shared his views on the utility of public education for social reform. If, in the early years, some lacked formal training, as did Wright himself, others were fresh from European universities. The staff reflected Wright's broad interests and contacts with various academic, professional, and reform groups. Several went on to careers in other agencies or to academic pursuits, and some carried public administration into the territories gained during the national expansion of the 1890's.

Among these first staff members was Oren W. Weaver, who served as Chief Clerk from the Bureau's inception until his death in April 1900. Weaver had worked for Wright in Massachusetts, and Wright had recommended him for the post of Commissioner of the national Bureau. G.W.W. Hanger was Chief Clerk until 1913, when he left to become a member of the new Board of Mediation and Conciliation. Gustavus A. Weber, first a special agent and then head of the division of law and research work, went on to the Institute for Government Research, which was to become a part of The Brookings Institution. Other early staff members included William F. Willoughby and Elgin R.L. Gould. Willoughby, a graduate of Johns Hopkins, wrote extensively on foreign labor laws and U.S. factory legislation while at the Bureau, and later became Treasurer of Puerto Rico. Gould, who spent 5 years in Europe conducting several surveys for the Bureau, later played an important role in a number of political and social reform movements.

Wright also reached outside for assistance in special projects. Caroline L. Hunt conducted the fieldwork for a study of the Italians