Richard T. Ely

Richard Theodore Ely (April 13, 1854 – October 4, 1943) was an American economist, author, and leader of the Progressive movement who called for more government intervention to reform what it saw as the injustices of capitalism, especially regarding factory conditions, compulsory education, child labor, and labor unions.

Ely is best remembered as a founder and the first Secretary of the American Economic Association, as a founder and secretary of the Christian Social Union, and as the author of a series of widely read books on the organized labor movement, socialism, and other social issues. He also promoted views on eugenics, redlining, and race suicide.

Early years

Ely was born in 1854 in Ripley, New York, the oldest child of Ezra Sterling and Harriet Gardner (Mason) Ely. He grew up on his family's 90-acre farm near Fredonia, New York, carrying wood, milking cows, churning butter, and picking rock in the fields. He later recalled that life on the farm taught him much. Richard's father was a self-taught engineer, and young Richard helped him lay out a railroad in Pennsylvania. But Richard's father was not a successful farmer, relying too much on questionable ideas from popular farm magazines rather than local experience. Fluctuating prices further complicated farming.

Richard's father was a devout Presbyterian who avoided tobacco, allowed no work or play on Sunday, and refused to grow hops because they would have been used to make beer. Yet he read poetry and studied Latin. Ely's mother painted and taught art in the local teachers' college. Ely transferred his affiliation to the Episcopal Church in college, and through his life remained devout and active.