Harris Suggests Bolstering of N.E. Textile Industry

A committee headed by Seymour E. Harris '20, professor of Economics, has recommended that an effort by made to revive New England's moribund textile industry. The committee's report swiftly encountered the opposition of a Yale professor who felt shaky New England firms shouldn't be sustained artificially.

Harris' group wrote that "The diseases of the textile industry in New England are urgent enough to require prompt diagnosis and remedial measures should be proposed at the earliest possible moment." The committee did not make any specific proposals for action other than investigation and fact-finding.

Soviet Economics Conference

At the same time it was learned that Harris had turned down an offer to attend a Soviet-sponsored economic conference in Moscow this April. Oscar Lang, first post-war Polish ambassador to this country and former University of Chicago professor, sent invitations to between 20 and 30 other prominent American economists and businessmen, almost all of whom refused. Another well known member of the faculty who turned down Lange's offer was Edward S. Mason, professor of Economics and Dean of the School of Public Administration. Mason, whose invitation to the conference was known about in October, said at the time a conference of government rather than private economists would be preferable.