Gustave Schmoller

The Mercantile System and Its Historical Significance Gustave Schmoller

Gustav Schmoller was born at Heilbronn in Würtemberg on June 24, 1838. After studying at the University of Tübingen, he became in 1864 extraordinary, and in 1865 ordinary, Professor of the Political Sciences (Staatswissenschaften) at the University of Halle. In 1872 he was appointed Professor at the reorganised University of Strassburg, and in 1882 was summoned to succeed Adolf Held at the University of Berlin. In 1887 he was elected a Member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, and also appointed Historiographer for Brandenburg. Professor Schmoller was one of the leading promoters of the Eisenach Congress "for the discussion of the Social Question" (Zur Besprechung der sozialen Frage), and delivered the opening address at its first meeting on Oct. 6, 1872: he took part in the foundation on that occasion of the Association for Social Politics (Verein für Sozialpolitik), and has exercised great influence over its subsequent action. Since 1878 he has edited a substantial series of Investigations in Political and Social Science (Staats- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschungen), largely the work of his pupils; and from 1881 onward he has conducted the Jahrbuch für Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirthschaft im deutschen Reiche.