Oscar Phelps Austin
Encyclopedia
Oscar Phelps Austin was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 statistician
Statistician
A statistician is someone who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...

, born in Newark, Illinois
Newark, Illinois
Newark is a village in Kendall County, Illinois, United States. The population was 887 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Newark is located at ....

, and educated in public schools. The earlier years of his life were spent in journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

, and he served as reporter, editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

, and Washington correspondent
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...

 for metropolitan dailies.

He studied statistics, and in 1898 was appointed chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Commerce and Labor. When the Bureau of Statistics was merged into the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce in 1912, Austin became its assistant chief.

From 1903 to 1914, Austin was a professor of commerce and statistics at George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...

. He then became statistician of the foreign trade department of the National City Bank in New York City. He wrote about the commerce of nations and continents, comparisons of colonial systems, and national debts.

Sources

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