Brief von Gerhard E.O. Meyer an Ernest Manheim in Kansas City, Mo. Chicago, Ill., am 24. August 1942
Transliteration and comment byReinhard Müller [1]
The University of Chicago
Department of Economics
August 24, 1942
please accept my sincere thanks for having suggested my name to the President of U[niversity] of K[ansas] C[ity] [2] for a position in the Department of Economics. At any other time, I would have considered very seriously any offer (formal or informal) to join an economic department after having spent five years in general social science courses. How[e]ver, at the present time, I feel I have to stay here in Chicago. Our course on "freedom and control" seems to [Edward Albert] Shils [3] and me a pretty important one and we feel that we have made good progress in the last years. Since Shils is probably staying on in Washington for at least part of the coming year, it is rather imperative that at least I should stay here. Furthermore, I have received this summer both an increase in salary and a promotion and it would be difficult to leave just when one has got a lot of recognition. Finally, I expect to be drafted somewhen next year and then it would be much better for Julia [Meyer] [4] to be here in Chicago where she has been graduate student in physiology, than anywhere else. Thus, I hope you will not mind my answering you quickly in the negative instead of exploring the possibilities here at greater length before answering you. (I would have answered you immediately, if I hadn't been out of town over the weekend.)
Perhaps, I can help you by suggesting another candidate. Dr. Emile Gruenberg, [5] at present living at 5479 University Avenue, Chicago. G[ruenberg] is a son of Carl Gruenberg, [6] formerly Vienna and Frankfurt on Main. He is an authority on the economics (and sociology) of the older middle classes, artisans, small-scale industry etc. Perhaps, you remember his book on Mittelstand. [7] He has overcome his somewhat narrow Marxian bias, is a very able empirical research worker and has improved his theoretical knowledge very considerably by studying here under [Frank Hyneman] Knight, [Jacob] Viner, [Oskar] Lange, [Paul Howard] Douglas and [John Ulric] Nef. [8] From 1933 to 1940, he was in Geneva as interpreter around the International Labor Office etc. He speaks French and English very fluently. (His wife has a master's degree in French from Geneva.) Age about 33-35. He has done some teaching, though not very much. I think he would be quite successful as a teacher. His nationality is Austrian; correspondingly he is very polite. Inspite [!] of difficult financial conditions here, he has with great perseverance kept on to prepare himself for a teaching and / or research job here in America. But you know the difficulties to find something - especially during the last two years. At least, he was able to publish a good article about 70 pages in The Journal of Business of the University of Chicago (Oct[ober] 1941 and Jan[uary] 1942) on "The Mobilization of Capacity and Resources of Small-scale Enterprises in Germany". The article received much favorable comment here. (I understand that G[ruenberg] has also worked on similar problems for other countries, including the United States.) - Perhaps, this will be enough to interest you a bit in G[ruenberg]. He is certainly not as brilliant as Abba Lerner, [9] but he has also his advantages and would probably fit better into the Department than L[erner]. I shall try to get hold of G[ruenberg] today and tell him to send you a curriculum vitae, references and a copy of his last paper. At any rate, that couldn't to any harm to anybody.
With my, or rather our, best regards to you and your family, I am yours
Gerhard Meyer
[1] 
Das Original dieses Briefes befindet sich im Archiv für die Geschichte der Soziologie in Österreich, Graz, Nachlass Ernest Manheim, Signatur 31/1.
Gerhard Emil Otto Meyer (*Altenbruch bei Cuxhaven 1903, †Chicago, Ill. 1973), amerikanischer Wirtschaftswissenschaftler deutscher Herkunft; emigrierte 1933 nach Frankreich, 1935 nach Großbritannien und 1937 in die USA; 1937-1942 Instructor of Economics, 1942-1946 Assistant Professor, 1946-1965 Associate Professor und seit 1965 Professor of Economics an der University of Chicago in Chicago, Ill. Anm. R.M.
[2]
I.e. Clarence Raymond Decker (*Sioux City, Iowa 1904, †New York City, N.Y. 1969), amerikanischer Literaturwissenschaftler; 1934-1938 Chairman des English Department und 1938-1953 President der Kansas City University in Kansas City, Mo. Anm. R.M.
[3]
Edward Albert Shils (*1910, †Chicago, Ill. 1995), amerikanischer Soziologe und Übersetzer; Professor of Sociology an der University of Chicago in Chicago, Ill. Anm. R.M.
[4]
Julia Meyer, geborene Feinberg (*Bern 1908), seit 1933 Ehefrau von Gerhard E.O. Meyer; emigrierte mit ihm 1933 nach Frankreich, 1935 nach Großbritannien und 1937 in die USA, wo sie als Research Professor tätig war. Anm. R.M.
[5]
Emile Gruenberg (später Emile Grunberg; d.i. Emil Grünberg; *Vienna 1905, †Akron, Ohio 1988), amerikanischer Wirtschaftswissenschaftler österreichischer Herkunft; emigrierte 193? in die USA; 1942-1943 Instructor an der University of Kansas in Kansas City, Mo., 1943-1946 Research Associate an der New School for Social Research in New York, N.Y., 1946-1948 Assistant Professor, 1948-1956 Associate Professor und 1956-1970 Professor of Economics an der University of Akron, Ohio. Anm. R.M.
[6]
Carl Grünberg (d.i. Saul Karl Grünberg; *Focsani 1861, †Frankfurt am Main 1940), österreichisch-deutscher Wirtschaftshistoriker und Soziologe rumänischer Herkunft. Anm. R.M.
[7]
Cf. Emil Grünberg: Der Mittelstand in der kapitalistischen Gesellschaft. Eine ökonomische und soziologische Untersuchung. Leipzig: C.L. Hirschfeld 1932. Anm. R.M.
[8]
Cf. die Wirtschaftswissenschaftler an der University of Chicago in Chicago, Ill.: Frank Hyneman Knight (*White Oak Township, Ill. 1885, †Chicago, Ill. 1972), 1927-1946 Professor of Economics; Jacob Viner (*Montreal, Canada 1892, †Princeton, N.J. 1970), 1919-1922 Assistant, 1923-1925 Associate und 1925-1946 Professor of Economics; Oskar Richard Lange (*Tomaszów, Poland 1904, †New York City, N.Y. 1965), 1934-1936 Rockefeller Fellow an der London School of Economics, seit 1937 in den USA, 1939 Assistant, 1939-1943 Associate und seit 1943 Professor of Economics (1945-1946 polnischer Botschafter in den USA); Paul Howard Douglas (*Salem, Mass. 1892, †Washington, D.C. 1976), amerikanischer Wirtschaftswissenschaftler; John Ulric Nef (*Chicago 1899, †Washington, D.C. 1988), 1929-1931 Assistant und 1931-1935 Associate Professor of Economics, 1935-1936 Associate und 1936-1950 Professor of Economic History. Annot. R.M.
[9]
Abba Ptachya Lerner (*Bessarabia 1903, †Tallahassee, Fla. 1982), amerikanischer Wirtschaftswissenschaftler russischer Herkunft; Studium an der London School of Economics (Ph.D. 1932); 1940-1942 Assistant Professor an der University of Kansas City in Kansas City, Mo.; 1942-1947 Professor of Economics an der New School for Social Research in New York, N.Y. Anm. R.M.
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