Five Line Note, Concerning Political Economy
Brookline, Mass. June 9, 1891. Onion skin sheet backed with paper 4.25 x 8.25 inches. Few pinholes, repaired tear, ink browned. This manuscript note, signed and dated by Edward Atkinson, gives a definition of political economy, and reads in full: "Political economy is the title given to that department of Social Science which deals with the production, distribution and consumption of the materials which are necessary to sustain human life." Item #69793
Economist and activist, Edward Atkinson (1827-1905), was a founder of the Anti-Imperialist League. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, Atkinson was successful as an executive of some of the leading cotton mills of New England and, later, headed the Boston Insurance Company. Atkinson fought against slavery by supporting the Free-Soil Party and a Boston committee to aid escaped slaves. Growing weary of compromise, he soon began raising money to pay for rifles and ammunition to support the insurgent guerrilla force of John Brown. Atkinson became a leading publicist for free trade and spoke out against the inflationist ideas of William Jennings Bryan. Atkinson was appalled by the colonialist and imperialist policies of the McKinley and Roosevelt administrations in the wake of the Spanish-American War. He reacted by becoming a full-time activist in the American Anti-Imperialist League and, as a vice president of that organization, wrote to the United States Department of War for a list of soldiers serving in the Philippines so that he might send them his privately published pamphlets.
Price: $125.00