Walter Weyl
Encyclopedia
Walter Weyl was an intellectual leader of the Progressive movement in the United States
. his most influential book, The New Democracy (1912) was a classic statement of democratic meliorism, revealing his path to a future of progress and modernization based on middle class values, aspirations and brain work. It articulated the general mood:
Weyl wrote widely on issues of economics, labor, public policy, and international affairs in numerous books, articles, and editorials; he was a coeditor of The New Republic
, 1914-1916.
Weyl graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
, studying under economist Simon Patten
. He studied economics in Germany at the University of Halle and in Berlin and Paris, and took his PhD in 1897 at the University of Pennsylvania
, with a dissertation later published as The Passenger Traffic of Railways (1901).
In 1902 he aided the coal miners in the great anthracite coal strike
, where he worked closely with John Mitchell
, leader of the United Mine Workers
. In 1903 Weyl ghostwrote Mitchell's Organized Labor: Its Problems, Purposes, and Ideals.
His The New Democracy celebrated the democratic impulse in the Progressive movement, theorizing that a "social surplus," (that is, comfortable material prosperity) gave America the opportunity to achieve greater social justice. he decried the excessive individualism of the age, calling for more effective collective action led by experts and the state and national governments. He thought the U.S. Constitution was too confining and that the selfishness of the rich was a obstacle to future reform. you believe that progress called for more direct democracy, more regulation of trusts big business by the federal government greater efficiency in business and in the public sector and an increased role for organized labor unions. he ridiculed the privileged and powerful but rejected socialism.
In World War I, he helped to organize the quartermaster general's office in the War Department
and later joined The Inquiry
project to redesign Europe, led by Colonel Edward House for President Woodrow Wilson
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. his most influential book, The New Democracy (1912) was a classic statement of democratic meliorism, revealing his path to a future of progress and modernization based on middle class values, aspirations and brain work. It articulated the general mood:
Weyl wrote widely on issues of economics, labor, public policy, and international affairs in numerous books, articles, and editorials; he was a coeditor of The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, 1914-1916.
Weyl graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wharton was the world’s first collegiate business school and the first business school in the United States...
, studying under economist Simon Patten
Simon Patten
Simon Nelson Patten was an influential economist and the chair of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania...
. He studied economics in Germany at the University of Halle and in Berlin and Paris, and took his PhD in 1897 at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, with a dissertation later published as The Passenger Traffic of Railways (1901).
In 1902 he aided the coal miners in the great anthracite coal strike
Coal Strike of 1902
The Coal Strike of 1902 was a strike by the United Mine Workers of America in the anthracite coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania. Miners were on strike asking for higher wages, shorter workdays, and the recognition of their union...
, where he worked closely with John Mitchell
John Mitchell (United Mine Workers)
John Mitchell was a United States labor leader and president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1898 to 1908....
, leader of the United Mine Workers
United Mine Workers
The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners and coal technicians. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada...
. In 1903 Weyl ghostwrote Mitchell's Organized Labor: Its Problems, Purposes, and Ideals.
His The New Democracy celebrated the democratic impulse in the Progressive movement, theorizing that a "social surplus," (that is, comfortable material prosperity) gave America the opportunity to achieve greater social justice. he decried the excessive individualism of the age, calling for more effective collective action led by experts and the state and national governments. He thought the U.S. Constitution was too confining and that the selfishness of the rich was a obstacle to future reform. you believe that progress called for more direct democracy, more regulation of trusts big business by the federal government greater efficiency in business and in the public sector and an increased role for organized labor unions. he ridiculed the privileged and powerful but rejected socialism.
In World War I, he helped to organize the quartermaster general's office in the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
and later joined The Inquiry
The Inquiry
The Inquiry was a study group established in September 1917 by Woodrow Wilson to prepare materials for the peace negotiations following World War I. The group, composed of around 150 academics, was directed by presidential adviser Edward House and supervised directly by philosopher Sidney Mezes...
project to redesign Europe, led by Colonel Edward House for President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
.
Further reading
- Bourke, Paul F. "The Social Critics and the End of American Innocence: 1907-1921," Journal of American Studies, April 1969, Vol. 3 Issue 1, pp 57-7
- Forcey, Charles. The Crossroads of Liberalism: Croly, Weyl, Lippmann, and the Progressive Era, 1900-1925 (1961), the standard scholarly study
- David W. Levy. "Weyl, Walter Edward" in American National Biography Online (2000)
- Stears, Mark. Progressives, Pluralists, and the Problems of the State: Ideologies of Reform in the United States and Britain, 1909-1926 (2005) online edition
Primary sources
- Weyl, Walter. The New Democracy: An Essay on Certain Political and Economic Tendencies in the United States (1912)
- Weyl, Walter. "The Democratization of Party Finances," American Political Science Review, Vol. 7, No. 1, Supplement: Proceedings of the American Political Science Association at Its Ninth Annual Meeting (Feb., 1913), pp. 178-182 in JSTOR