Louis H. Bean Papers, 1896-1944 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

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Collection Overview

Title: Louis H. Bean Papers, 1896-1944

Primary Creator: Bean, Louis H. (1896-1994)

Extent: 17.6 Cubic Feet

Arrangement:

Alphabetically by subject

1. Subject File, 1923-1955

2. Office of the Secretary of Agriculture, 1932-1952

3. Board of Economic Warfare, 1942-1943

4. Economic Stabilization and Critical Areas Commodity Reports, 1949-1951

5. Reading File, 1942-1953

6. Speeches and Writings, 1927-1952, 1960

7. Newspaper and Magazine Clippings, 1927-1957.

Abstract

Louis H.Bean was a longtime economic advisor to New Deal architect and former VP Henry A. Wallace. For the unfamiliar, he is probably better understood (along with Mordecai Ezekiel) as one of the top statistical analysts behind the Agricultural Adjustment Administration when Wallace was Secretary of Agriculture. Having worked throughout the Great Depression in the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Bean’s experience was later adapted to the war effort in the Office of Economic Warfare and he continued to serve in related capacities throughout the Truman administration. One will quickly observe that a good deal of the collection documents Bean’s post-war career, ostensibly as his public profile increased.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, speeches, papers reviews, statistics, graphs, charts and indices relating to Bean’s work in various capacities with the Department of Agriculture, Board of Economic Warfare, Bureau of the Budget and Council of Economic Advisors. The material also reflects Bean’s personal interest in political trends and election forecasting. The greater part of this collection relates to agriculture and the interrelationship between agriculture and industry.

Collection Historical Note

Louis Hyman Bean was born in Russia (Courland), April 15, 1896. His father came to the United States in 1905 eventually settling in Laconia, New Hampshire, Mrs. Bean followed with Louis and their other children in 1906. After attending elementary and high schools in Laconia, Louis Bean entered the University of Rochester in 1915. He enlisted in the Army in 1918, received a commission as a lieutenant and served in the infantry without going overseas until his discharge in 1919. He received his A.B. from Rochester the same year. Bean's work as an Assistant Labor Manager induced him to enter the Harvard Business School from which he received his M.B.A. in 1922.

In 1923 Bean joined the research staff of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the U.S. Department of Agriculture where he worked on estimates of farm income, price indices, commodity price analysis, served as secretary of the committee preparing the department's monthly price reports and began his career long study of interrelationships between agriculture and industry. Charts prepared by Bean were first used in Congress while the McNary Haugen Act was under discussion. In 1933 Secretary Wallace, whom Bean had met during the course of his work in the 1920's, appointed Bean Economic Adviser to the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. Bean also became head of the Office of Agricultural and Industrial Relations in the Office of the Secretary in 1934. Bean has described himself as being a member of a group to whom Wallace could turn for objective information uninfluenced by politics. Bean's work for Wallace included supplying information needed for press conferences, public discussions, speeches, cabinet meetings and congressional hearings. Bean also worked on several of Wallace's books. He continued to furnish information to Wallace until Wallace's departure from government in 1946. In addition to his work for the Department of Agriculture where, he has said, he was all owed to work on anything that interested him. Bean was also connected with the National Resources Planning Board and testified at hearings on the NRA. Bean also began his work on election trends and forecasts during the 1930's. His first book on this subject, Ballot Behavior first appeared in 1936 and was revised in 1940. Bean was Counselor, Office of Agricultural Economics from 1939 to 1941.

In 1942 Bean became an Assistant Director of the short lived Board of Economic Warfare where he was involved with postwar planning and the BEW British Empire Division. In 1943 he became Chief Fiscal Analyst, Fiscal Division, Bureau of the Budget where he worked on postwar economic problems, including full employment, the absorptive capacity of Palestine and other matters. Bean's statistical study prepared for Senator James Murray's committee drew him into the controversy over steel capacity and its effect on t he economy. Bean began supplying information to the Council of Economic Advisers in 1946. In 1947 Bean rejoined the staff of the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture as Economic Adviser. With the advent of the Eisenhower administration Bean returned briefly to the Bureau of Agricultural Economics until his retirement from government, June 30, 1953.

Bean's books include Graphic Method of Curvilinear Correlation (1929), Ballot Behavior (1936, 1940), How to Predict Elections (1948), and The Art of Forecasting (1970).

Louis Bean died July 5, 1994.

Administrative Information

Repository: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

Acquisition Source: Louis H. Bean

Acquisition Method: The papers were presented to the Library by Louis Bean. Mr . Bean reserved his literary property rights through his death; following that they were donated to the United States Government.

Related Materials: Columbia University Oral History Project and Papers of Mordecai Ezekiel

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Subject Files, 1923-1953],
[Series 2: Office of Secretary of Agriculture, 1932-1954],
[Series 3: Board of Economic Warfare, 1942-1942],
[Series 4: Economic Stabilization and Critical Areas Commodity Reports, 1949-1951],
[Series 5: Reading File, 1942-1953],
[Series 6: Speeches and Writings, 1927-1952, 1960],
[Series 7: Newspaper and Magazine Clippings, 1927-1957],
[All]

Series 6: Speeches and Writings, 1927-1952, 1960

Containers 37 to 44 reveal Bean’s public side which he cultivated more assiduously during the Truman years. The contents indicate Bean was a frequent speaker on economics and provided expert opinion to newspapers and journals. Box 37 consists primarily of copies of Bean’s outgoing correspondence with a very limited amount of incoming correspondence. Related incoming correspondence and other related material will sometimes be found in Series I.

Next are several boxes of speeches and writings. The contents are largely public relations materials including articles,reviews, speech notes and press releases from his career in government along with related correspondence by Bean. In addition there are some print publications. Some are GPO( Department of Agriculture Congress), some are popular and professional periodicals. There also exists a File List of Publications by L. H. Bean, including pre-1927 titles the texts of which are not present in this collection.

Box 38

List of Publications by L. H. Bean
Articles (Published)
Articles, Statements, Notes, etc.
Advertising Statement, October 1935
Advertising Statement, May 1937
Advertising Statement, October 5, 1949
Agricultural Adjustment Administration, October 28, 1933
Agricultural Income and Well Being, October 1, 1936
Agricultural Income, Research in, January 1928
The Agricultural Outlook and Business Activity 1927-1928, April 16, 1927
Agricultural Policies TNEC Hearings, February 21, 1941
Agricultural Policy and Defense, April 4, 1941
Agricultural Prices Cycles and Business Cycles, June 1927
Agricultural Prices (Book Review)
The Agricultural Program, U.S., September-November 1934
The Agricultural Situation and Its Effect on Business in 1931, March 1931
Agriculture and the Nation's Business, July 1927
Agriculture's Share in Export Trade, June 1938
Agriculture's Share of the National Income, October 1935
Alcoholism and the Business Cycle
America's Capacity to Produce (Book Review), 1935
The Anatomy of Domestic Demand, September 1939
The Anatomy of Domestic Demand, December 1939

Box 39

The Apple Situation, November 1928
Application of A Simplified Method of Correlation to Problems in Acreage and Yield Variations, December 1930
Applications of A Simplified Method of Graphic Curvilinear Correlation, April 1929
Are Farmers Getting Too Much?, 1952
The Arithmetic of Full Recovery, June 1939
The Arithmetic of Rural and Urban Recovery, July 1939
The Base Period for Parity Prices, February 1939
Business Activity and Commodity Prices, 1914-1931, 1858-1877, 1878-1897
The Business Boom in 1964 and What it Will Mean for the Food and Beverage Industries, 1960
The Business Situation and the Domestic Demand for Farm Products, May 1930
Changing Aspects of Agricultural Adjustment, July 2, 1934
Characteristics of Agricultural Supply and Demand Curves, June 22, 1932
Characteristics of Agricultural Supply Curves and Industrial Stability (Cowles Commission Statements), 1937
The Cost of Living, August, September 1934
Cotton Report, August 1935
Cotton: Changing Trend in Cotton Production and Consumption (Address), April 29, 1938
Changing Trends in Cotton Production and Consumption (Southern Economic Journal), April 1939
Cotton: Permanent Trend Upward in World Production (Cotton Trade Journal), 1937
Cotton: The Trend of Foreign Cotton Production (Cotton Trade Journal), November 20, 1936
Criticism of Dr. A. B. Cox's Paper on "The AAA, the Cotton Growers and the Agricultural Problem"
Curve of Living Costs Now Leveling Off, March 10, 1935
Cycles, the Science of Prediction (Book Review), June 1948
The Deficiency in National and Farm Income, November 1938
The Dependence of the Railroads on Increases Industrial Production and Increased Purchasing Power of Farm Products, January 18, 1938
Domestic Demand in 1930 and Prospects for 1931
Do Smaller Crops Sell for More than Larger Crops? (Typed), October 25, 1927
Drought Not Serious Enough to Retard Gains in Farm Income, August 15, 1936
The Drought and Its Effects on Corn Prices, December 1936
Earnings of Employed Railroad Workers Above Food Price Level, December 26, 1935
Earnings of Factory Workers Keep Pace with Food Price, October 14, 1935
Earnings of Employed Workers Improve in Terms of Food and Other Living Costs, October 29, 1936

Box 40

Economic Bases for the Agricultural Adjustment Act, December 1933
The Economics of Demobilization (Book Review)
Economic Trends Affecting Agriculture, July 1933
The Effect of Changes in Volume on Value of Farm Production (Typed), August 3, 1927
Effect of Prices on Annual Marketings, November 1936
Effects of Production and the 1930 Business Depression on Farm Income, October 1931
Eighty Billion Dollars--When?, May 1939
The Ever Normal Granary and Processors, June 1937
Export Prospects for Southern Farm Products, October 28, 1938; July 1939
Factors Affecting the Yearly Average Price of Cranberries, August 1928
Factors Bearing on the Price of Apples, November 1929
Facts Concerning Imports of Canadian Cattle, May 20, 1936
Facts on Demand Conditions and the Need for Continued Agricultural Adjustment, MARCH 1, 1935
Facts Relating to the Agricultural Situation in 1932
Facts Relating to the Agricultural Situation in 1933
Facts Relating to the Agricultural Situation in 1934
Facts Relating to the Agricultural Situation in 1938
Farm and Labor Income in Better Balance, November 1936
The Farmer and Public Interest in Large Crops, March 1941
The Farmers' Response to Price, July 1929
Farmers Specially Hard Hit Because Costs Have Not Fallen with Prices (Yearbook of Agriculture), 1933
The Farmer's Stake in Greater Industrial Production, 1940
Farm Income Business Activity and Population Movement, May 1929
Farm Income in 1936
Farm Prices Rise Toward Parity, 1935
Farm Surplus Problem is Revived by Drought, August 8, 1934

Box 41

Five Views of the Consumption Function, November 1946
Food for Thought, January 9, 1934
Food Prices and Factory Wages, August 1941
Food Prices and Recovery, April 1937
Food Prices, Earnings of Employed Industrial Workers and Recovery, March 1937
Food Prices in a Program of Balanced Production for Adequate Consumption, May 20, 1935
Four Types of Index Numbers of Farm Prices, March 1924
Freight Rates and the Farmer, February 1938
Full Employment (Book Review), 1941
Full Employment--How and When?, May 1941
Future Agriculture Adjustment a Necessity, October 10, 1935
Gallup Poll, January 1945
The Gap Between Farm and Nonfarm Income, April 13, 1950
Gross Farm Income and Indices of Farm Production and Prices in the United States, 1869-1937, December 1940
How High Should Prices Be?, September 5, 1935
How Long Should Agricultural Prices Go or Is The Parity Base Too High?, February 1936
Improving and Protecting the Farm Income, September 20, 1935
Income from Agricultural Production, January 1925
Income of Urban Consumers, 1919-1933, December 1935
Income Parity for Agriculture, March 1936
Increasing the Farmers' Share of the National Income, February 1935
The Industrial Outlook for Agriculture, November 16, 1939
Industrial Recovery: There Was No Industrial Recovery in the Last Half of 1932 Outside the Textile Industry, January 22, 1936
Industrial Unemployment and the Farmer, January 1939
Inflation and the Price of Land, February 1938
Instability of Agricultural Production, Prices and Income, 1939
Independence of the Lowest Third in Agriculture and Industry, January 24, 1941
International Industrialization and Per Capita Income, April, May 1944; 1946
International Industrialization, Living Standards and National Budgets, April 21, 1945
"It Ain't Necessarily So:" the Coming Recession, November 26, 1946
The Lag in Farm Wages, October 1937
Losses in Population, Production and Income Due to Immigration Restrictions, October 27, 1952
Lost: Ten Million Votes, November 7, 1950
Major and Minor Hog-Price Cycles, July 1928
Many Factors Affect Farm Wages, December 1937
The Margin of Economic Security for Farm Families, March 1938
Material Requirements for Full Employment, March 3, 1947
The Meaning of Statistical Demand Curves (Book Review)
Measures of Agricultural Purchasing Power, December 30, 1925; July 1926
Measures of Domestic Demand, December 9, 1935
Measuring the Effect of Supplies on Prices of Farm Products, April 1933
Monetary Policy in Relation to Land Values, February 1939
Money Income of Farmers and Industrial Workers and Selected Retail Expenditures, February 1933
Monthly Indexed on Nonagricultural Income, August 1937
More Evidence that Business Has Turned the Corner, June 20, 1931
National Income and Domestic Demand, August 1937
National Income and Domestic Demand for Farm Products, April 1936
The National Income and Low Income Families, November 3, 1938
Nationalities and 1944

Box 42

The Need for a Flexible Industrial Price Policy, January 1935
The Need for an Industrial Production Program as a Basis for Sound Price and Employment Policies, January 1935
Need for Industrial Production Program as a Basis for Sound Price Policies, July-August 1935
New Index Numbers of Farm Prices, August 1924
New Jersey's Share in the Revival of 1934, January 23, 1934
The Next Decade: Fertilizer in an Expanding Economy, September 1951
Nonagricultural Income as a Measure of Domestic Demand, June 1937
Opportunities in Public Administration, February 1935
The Other Half of the Farm Problem, January 28, 1938
Our Changed Foreign Trade
Parity: A Proposal for New Base Period, 1935-1939, Parity Prices, July 1941
Parity: New Basis Is Laid for Farm "Parity", March 15, 1936
Parity Income from Farm Production, May 1937
Per Capita Earnings and Buying Power of Employed Nonagricultural Workers, October 1937
Planning Our 1935 Farm Program, November 1934
Plans of the A.A.A., July 1934
Plan We Must (Review), December 15, 1936
Postwar Changes in Farm Income and in Demand, December 1932
Postwar Interrelations between Agricultural and Business in the United States, August 1930
Postwar Output in the United States at Full Employment, November 1945
Potato Prices and Acreage Stability, December 1930
Potato Report-Florida, Factors Related to Acreage, Production and Prices of Potatoes in Florida, November 1931
Potato Report-Idaho, Relation between Production, Prices and Acreage of Potatoes in Idaho, February 1931
Potato Report-Maine, Factors Related to Production, Prices and Acreage of Potatoes in Maine, February 5, 1931
Potato Report-Maryland, The Relation between Production, Prices and Acreage of Potatoes on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, October-November 1929
Potato Report-North Carolina, Factors Related to Production, Prices and Acreage of Potatoes in North Carolina
The Pre-Election Polls of 1948 (Book Review), September 1950
The Prospective Business Revival, June 25, 1931
Quality as a Determinant of Vegetable Prices (Book Review), April 1931
Quantitive Analysis of Political Behavior, May 9, 1947
Recent Trends in Real Farm Income, March 1929
Recovery and Imports of Farm Products, July 1936
The Relation of Depressed Farm Prices to Farm Taxes, Interest and Other Costs, 1933
Relation of Industrial to Agricultural Recovery, January 29, 1935
Relation of Industry to Agriculture with Special Reference to Defense and the Lower Third, December 6, 1940
Remedies for High Food Prices, September 9, 1935
Research in Agricultural Income, January 1928
Revived Rural Buying Contributes 40 Percent of Business, December 20, 1935
Rural Buying Brings Recovery, January 1936

Box 43

A Simplified Method of Graphic Curvilean Correlation, December 1929
Some Effects of the 1930 Business Depression on Agriculture, July 1930
Some Interrelationships between the Supply, Price and Consumption of Cotton, April 20, 1928
Some Limitations to the Control of Agricultural Production in the United States, 1932
Some Short Time Interrelationships between Agriculture and Business, December 1, 1927
Steel Hearings-TNEC, Comments on U.S. Steel Corporation Statements, January 25, 1940
Steel Requirements for Full Employment, April 25, 1947
The Dependence of Industrial-Agricultural Prosperity on Steel Requirements for Full Employment, June 19., 1947
Steel and Employment, November 28, 1947
The Farmers' Stake in Steel, March 19, 1948
The Dependence of Industrial-Agricultural Prosperity on Steel Requirements for Full Employment, June 25, 1948
Steel Capacity, January 6, 1949
What About Steel?, January 7, 1949
Everybody's Stake in Steel, February 16, 1949
The High Cost of Steel and Other Shortages, March 1949
Enough Steel Capacity, March 19, 1949
Steel-The Industrial Bottleneck, April 12, 1949
Agriculture, Industry and Steel, April 25, 1950
Comments on Bradford B. Smith's Response to Cellar, May 18, 1950
Steel and the Public Interest, May 22, 1950
Tides and Patterns in American Politics, August 1942
To Promote Industrial Revival, late 1920's or early 1930's
Trends in Domestic Demand Following Major Depressions, July 1, 1931
Trends in Farm Wages, Farm and Nonfarm Income, Industrial Production and Unemployment, May 16, 1940
Trends in Gross Farm Income and Expenditures, 1909-1931, July 1932
The 20-Year Rise in Crop Yields, September 15, 1952
Use of Correlation in Price Analysis, January 25, 1947
Uses of National Income Estimates in Agricultural Research and Policy, May 1941
The Use of the Short-Cut Graphic Method of Multiple Correlation, February 1940
The Use of Statistical Analysis in Wage-Price Policy by Labor, January 1946
The Use of "Trends in Residuals" in Constructing Demand Curves, March 1932
Weather and Crop Forecasting Progress Report, May 1936
When Will the Farm Price Disparity End?, Mach 1927
Comments on Chicago Tribune Editorial, "Why Are Farmers More Prosperous?", January 22, 1936
The World Needs a Sixth as well as a Fifth Place
Workers' Earnings Keep Pace with Food Prices, September 1936