Adam Shortt: A Bibliographical Comment

whether the protection of their interests should be left to the normal operation of democratic institutions. We cannot predict how the native peoples will participate in political institutions or how long the councils of government will be dominated by whites. But we conclude, in balance , that the privileges of participation should end with the principle of "one man, one vote". What the citizen does with his vote is something that he must determine for himself. As in the case of establishing the government of the Territories within the Territories, we do not expect that the extension of the franchise and the enlargement of the legislah1re will provide quick solutions to fundamental problems. InAdam Shortt: A bibliographical comment R. F. NEILL, c.s.b. I. ADAM SHoRrr AND CANADIAN EcoNo1trrcs I think most of us appreciate the work which you have done for Canadian economics and I have thought at some time in the near future of writing an appraisal of your position as the founde1· of the sub;ect. Have you by any chance ever collected a bibliography of your own works? A list of this so1t would simplify the task of writing an article of this kind very much. The problem is more complex in estimating the character of the intangible work in connection with the Industrial Disputes Act, The Commission of Conservation etc. etc., but it should be done so that we may gain a more satisfactory knowledge of our general position in Canadian economics. H. A. INNIS TO ADAM SHORTT December 20, 1927. Adam Shortt was born in Kilworth, Ontario in 1859. He studied at Queen's University in Journal of Canadian Studies deed, it is not inconceivable that self-government could aggravate grievances and encourage covert grievances to become overt. Further, there will be real problems in communication; campaigning for election, particularly in the east, may be difficult; the role of radio will increase in importance; the public press may feel pressure to print, in part at least, in several languages ; and in the legislature itself there may well develop a need for translation services. But these are part of the price of self-government , and it is not within the power of anyone to relieve the people of the north from the burden without attenuating the role of self-government. Kingston and the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. In 1885 he began lecturing in philosophy at Queen's. In 1889 his lectures in political science began and from 1892 until 1908 he was Professor of Political Science at Queen's. When Shortt left Queen's in 1908 to enter the federal civil service, he had been appointed Chairman of the Civil Service Commission. In 1917 he became Chairman of the Board of Historical Publications . He held the latter position until his death in 1931. Innis has certainly overstated the case in naming Shortt the founder of Canadian economics. Robert Gourlay was first in time1 and John Rae has to be considered the founder in so far as his approach is the touchstone of orthodoxy in that most unorthodox stream of economic thought.2 Adam Shortt was the first native Canadian, academic economist in English speaking Canada. Perhaps more can be accorded him than this. He was the first economist to come to the fore after the formation of anything like a Canadian identity . After him the stream of economic thought is continuous and in some measure self sustaining .3 At the same time he was the first to take an historical approach to the Canadian economy and can be thought of as beginning that wave 53 of development that has been called the staples economics of the Nineteen Thirties. His work has some root relation to the work of H. A. Innis and W. A. Mackintosh.4 But just how Canadian Shortt was can best be seen in a comparison of his position with that of John Rae. Rae's work was an attack on the doctrine of Adam Smith.5 It represented the position of the frontier of empire against the sort of economics suitable to the well established center of development . Prices reflect established values, institutions and techniques. Thus the center favoured price...