WEBVTT NOTE 8. The Story of Human Action 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:30.000 Chapter 8. The Story of Human Action. I should know Human Action very well. I typed 890 pages of it, and after the index was finished, I checked it. Lew was very strict boss, at least with me. Whenever he saw a typing error, he made me redo the whole page, exactly as I had to do at the Delahanty School of Business. Erasing was strictly prohibited there, and so it was with Lew. It is no news to most of my readers that Human Action 2 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:37.640 The English Revised Edition of Nationale Economie, published in Geneva in 1940. Nationale Economie 3 00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:43.240 was published in 1980 in a new edition by Philosophia Inc. Munich. 4 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:48.040 The war did great harm to the book. In spite of excellent reviews, it never reached German-speaking 5 00:00:48.040 --> 00:00:53.800 countries, and the Swiss publishing firm did not survive the war. In 1942, when we were 6 00:00:53.800 --> 00:00:58.500 only partly settled in our new apartment in New York, Lew started planning on a revised 7 00:00:58.500 --> 00:01:03.740 English Edition. It was not a translation, since the new book refers much more to American 8 00:01:03.740 --> 00:01:09.780 than to European conditions, and it was greatly enlarged. He worked for many years on it. 9 00:01:09.780 --> 00:01:13.900 Each day I could type only a certain number of pages, as my days were filled with many 10 00:01:13.900 --> 00:01:19.920 other tasks. That is how I came to live with Human Action as well as with Lew. It was part 11 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:23.980 of my life as well as his, and I shared all the joys and the disappointments that the 12 00:01:23.980 --> 00:01:38.980 Human Action meant more to Lew than all the work he did before or after, and therefore he suffered more by the maltreatment of his work by the Yale University Press when they published the second edition than he had ever suffered before. 13 00:01:38.980 --> 00:02:00.980 But I don't want to anticipate events. I shall describe them chronologically and thus make it easier for the reader to understand how the book was created, how many difficulties there were to overcome until it was finally printed, and the real suffering Lew had to go through when he saw Human Action, the most important contribution of his created life, mutilated in its second edition. 14 00:02:00.980 --> 00:02:07.700 Lew's first contact with Yale University Press involved his omnipotent government, and he 15 00:02:07.700 --> 00:02:12.380 was directed to Yale by Henry Hazlitt. When I look through the files, I see more clearly 16 00:02:12.380 --> 00:02:16.980 than ever how much Henry Hazlitt has done, and is still doing to spread my husband's 17 00:02:16.980 --> 00:02:22.980 ideas. In the first years of our stay in America, Harry, himself a busy and hardworking man, 18 00:02:22.980 --> 00:02:28.500 read all of Lew's manuscripts and corrected them, a huge task. Hazlitt shared my husband's 19 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:38.500 One day I remember, I was in bed with a sore throat. 20 00:02:38.500 --> 00:02:41.140 Lud came into my room with a manuscript under his arm. 21 00:02:41.140 --> 00:02:42.660 Read this, he said. 22 00:02:42.660 --> 00:02:44.340 I have just finished a book. 23 00:02:44.340 --> 00:02:46.540 It was Omnipotent Government. 24 00:02:46.540 --> 00:02:47.860 It was handwritten. 25 00:02:47.860 --> 00:02:51.820 I read it without a break from beginning to end, and I immediately knew it would be its 26 00:02:51.820 --> 00:02:52.820 success. 27 00:02:52.820 --> 00:02:57.740 If I could read a book of his, spellbound, without being able to stop, the public would 28 00:02:57.740 --> 00:03:01.740 In April 1943, Haslett wrote to Lew, 29 00:03:01.740 --> 00:03:05.740 The Yale University Press has expressed an interest in seeing your manuscript. 30 00:03:05.740 --> 00:03:10.740 I suggest that you send it to Mr. Eugene Davidson at the Yale University Press. 31 00:03:10.740 --> 00:03:16.740 Lew did as he was advised, and a friendly and congenial relationship between Lew and Davidson soon developed. 32 00:03:16.740 --> 00:03:20.740 Once a month they met, usually for lunch, to discuss their publishing plans. 33 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:25.740 Davidson wrote Haslett thanking him on December 16, 1943. 34 00:03:25.740 --> 00:03:44.740 Yesterday, Professor von Mises was here, in New Haven, settling the final details of his manuscript. Needless to say, we all feel the book will be a highly important and challenging contribution to present-day thought. We are immensely grateful to you for the share you have had in its completion. 35 00:03:44.740 --> 00:03:52.740 Norman V. Donaldson, director of the Yale University Press, shared Davidson's enthusiasm. Four days later, Donaldson wrote to Lou, 36 00:03:52.740 --> 00:04:01.740 It was fine that you could come up to New Haven and that we were able to accomplish so much. I do not need to tell you again that I have the highest hope for the book. 37 00:04:01.740 --> 00:04:05.740 On January 24, 1944, Davidson wrote, 38 00:04:05.740 --> 00:04:14.740 The more I've been thinking about your views about bureaucracy, the more it has seemed to me that we ought to discuss very seriously the possibility of your writing them up in book form. 39 00:04:14.740 --> 00:04:24.740 Again and again I find myself remembering your vivid description of the branch office of the Yale University Press as compared with that of the Internal Revenue Service. 40 00:04:24.740 --> 00:04:30.740 And I'd be very much mistaken if a great many people wouldn't find that kind of statement clarifying their opinions. 41 00:04:30.740 --> 00:04:45.740 January 31st, Lew answered Davidson, I am seriously considering your suggestion to write a small book on the economic and social problems of bureaucracy. It is a subject very tempting to me, and I think of real interest to a large public. 42 00:04:45.740 --> 00:04:55.740 Very quickly, on February 2nd, 1944, came Davidson's answer, I am glad to know that you are giving serious consideration to the idea of writing a short book on bureaucracy. 43 00:04:55.740 --> 00:05:02.740 I'm glad to hear the proofs, Omnipotent Government. We're in such good shape, and we're much nearer to publication. 44 00:05:02.740 --> 00:05:10.740 The choice for a subtitle for Omnipotent Government created some difficulties. Davidson proposed to meet on February 16th for lunch. 45 00:05:10.740 --> 00:05:16.740 We can discuss the subtitle and the bureaucracy book, and I hope we can report progress in both instances. 46 00:05:16.740 --> 00:05:24.740 At this luncheon, Lew must have agreed to write bureaucracy, for on March 1st, 1944, Davidson wrote to Lew, 47 00:05:24.740 --> 00:05:30.200 Both George Day, George Parmley Day, Chairman of the Board, and Norman Donaldson were delighted 48 00:05:30.200 --> 00:05:35.300 to hear that you thought well of the idea of going ahead with the book on bureaucracy. 49 00:05:35.300 --> 00:05:39.260 And on March 3rd he wrote again, I'm delighted to be able to tell you that our committee 50 00:05:39.260 --> 00:05:43.780 has been glad to approve our commissioning the book on bureaucracy. We all look forward 51 00:05:43.780 --> 00:05:47.180 to the successful outcome of this new venture. 52 00:05:47.180 --> 00:05:53.380 On June 2nd, 1944, Davidson could acknowledge receipt of the manuscript and wrote, The manuscript 53 00:05:53.380 --> 00:06:02.380 This seems fine to me. In fact, I think we have quite a book here. I wanted to get this word of my own enthusiasm for the new child off to you as quickly as possible. 54 00:06:02.380 --> 00:06:10.380 Omnipotent Government and Bureaucracy were the first books Lew had written in English, and the public response and the reviews were excellent. 55 00:06:10.380 --> 00:06:15.380 But these two books were only the beginning of the immense output of his writing in the United States. 56 00:06:15.380 --> 00:06:22.380 From the beginning, he was determined to revise National Economy for an English-speaking public. 57 00:06:22.380 --> 00:06:28.380 In December 1944, he sent Davidson this following summary of Nationale Economie. 58 00:06:28.380 --> 00:06:38.380 My objective in writing the treaties, Nationale Economie, Theorie des Handlungs und Wirtschaftens, was to provide a comprehensive theory of economic behavior, 59 00:06:38.380 --> 00:06:43.380 which would include not only the economics of a market economy, free enterprise system, 60 00:06:43.380 --> 00:06:49.980 System, but no less the economics of any other thinkable system of social cooperation, be 61 00:06:49.980 --> 00:06:54.060 socialism, interventionism, corporatism, and so on. 62 00:06:54.060 --> 00:06:59.480 Furthermore, I deemed it necessary to deal with all of these objections, which from various 63 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:07.860 points of view, for instance, of ethics, psychology, history, anthropology, ethnography, biology, 64 00:07:07.860 --> 00:07:11.380 have been raised against the soundness of economic reasoning and the validity of the 65 00:07:11.380 --> 00:07:17.240 and the methods heretofore applied by the economists of all schools and lines of thought. 66 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:23.100 Only such an exhaustive treatment of all critical objections can satisfy the exacting reader 67 00:07:23.100 --> 00:07:27.560 and convince him that economics is a science both conveying knowledge and able to guide 68 00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:29.060 conduct. 69 00:07:29.060 --> 00:07:33.780 The book starts accordingly from a general theory of human action, of which the behavior 70 00:07:33.780 --> 00:07:38.060 commonly called economic is only a special case. 71 00:07:38.060 --> 00:07:46.060 analyzes the fundamental epistemological problems of the social sciences and determines the role assigned in their framework to economics. 72 00:07:46.060 --> 00:07:54.060 On the basis of these more general investigations, it then proceeds to a more thorough treatment of all problems of economics. 73 00:07:54.060 --> 00:08:01.060 The English language edition will not be a simple translation of the book published in German in Geneva in 1940. 74 00:08:01.060 --> 00:08:06.060 Besides the revision of the whole text, which will involve entirely rewriting some chapters, 75 00:08:06.060 --> 00:08:12.060 Other important changes seem to be necessary in order to adapt the book better to the intellectual climate of America. 76 00:08:12.060 --> 00:08:18.060 In fact, an American reader approaches the economic problems from a different angle than the German reader, 77 00:08:18.060 --> 00:08:26.060 who is more or less under the spell of Hegelianism, the Nazi philosophy and other isms, fortunately less popular in this country. 78 00:08:26.060 --> 00:08:34.060 It is, for instance, superfluous to America to refute the spurious doctrines of Werner Sombart and Ottmar Spann. 79 00:08:34.060 --> 00:08:46.060 The treatise is purely scientific and certainly not a popular book. However, as it does not use any technical terms, but those precisely defined and explained, it can be understood by every educated man. 80 00:08:46.060 --> 00:09:03.060 It is true that the public is at present not much interested in reading ponderous economic books, but the wide response which works discussing the most complicated questions of physics, biology, and the philosophy and epistemology of the natural scientists have found among our contemporaries, 81 00:09:03.060 --> 00:09:08.740 and Temporaries proves that this lack of interest is not due to an aversion to occupation with 82 00:09:08.740 --> 00:09:14.180 intricate studies. It is very likely that the great issue of post-war reconstruction 83 00:09:14.180 --> 00:09:19.220 will stimulate interest in a book which deals exhaustively with such problems as prices, 84 00:09:19.220 --> 00:09:24.980 monopoly, money and credit, the business cycle and unemployment, and discusses thoroughly 85 00:09:24.980 --> 00:09:29.060 all proposals for an economic and social reform. 86 00:09:29.060 --> 00:09:33.660 On December 28, Davidson thanked my husband and asked for the amount of advance he would 87 00:09:33.660 --> 00:09:35.500 need to do the book. 88 00:09:35.500 --> 00:09:39.980 And Davidson continued, I can then take up the whole matter with the members of our executive 89 00:09:39.980 --> 00:09:43.100 committee soon after the first of the year. 90 00:09:43.100 --> 00:09:50.020 On January 15, 1945, Davidson wrote to Hazlitt, Mr. von Mises may have told you that we have 91 00:09:50.020 --> 00:09:56.220 discussed the possibility of his translating and partly rewriting his book National Economy. 92 00:09:56.220 --> 00:10:00.300 It would be a very real help if you could give us a statement of the book's importance. 93 00:10:00.300 --> 00:10:04.600 In order for our committee to approve a project of this size, they will want to be convinced 94 00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:08.820 of the width and depth and fundamental character of the contribution. 95 00:10:08.820 --> 00:10:13.480 My reason, of course, for writing this letter to you is that we greatly value your judgment, 96 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:17.900 and are in your debt for having introduced von Mises to us in the first place. 97 00:10:17.900 --> 00:10:23.840 Haslett answered Davidson on January 18, 1945, referring him to men who knew Lew's work and 98 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:53.840 It might be worth writing to some economists who may know this particular book, or who knew Mises' general work. Among these I may mention Fritz Machlup of the University of Buffalo, Professor Gottfried von Haberler, now at Harvard University, Dr. B. H. Beckert of Columbia, once a student of Mises, Professor John B. Van Sickle of Vanderbilt University, who I believe was also once a pupil of Mises, 99 00:10:53.840 --> 00:11:01.840 Professor B. M. Anderson of the University of California at Los Angeles, who is familiar with Mises' work, especially on monetary theory, 100 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:07.840 Garrett Garrett National Industrial Conference Board, and if you think there is time to reach them, 101 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:13.840 Professors Lionel Robbins and F. A. von Hayek of the London School of Economics. 102 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:19.840 On January 19, 1945, Mr. Davidson received this letter from Benjamin Anderson. 103 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:36.840 In regard to your request about von Mises' Nationale Economie, my own belief that it is important that it be published here is based on my knowledge of all the work of von Mises that has been published or translated into English, as well as the knowledge I have gained from conversations with him. 104 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:41.600 I would like to say that, in my opinion, excellent as the two books are that Yale University 105 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:47.000 Press has already published, the works that hitherto have been translated out of the original 106 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:52.720 German are even better and more important. They are his works on socialism, an economic 107 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:58.480 and sociological analysis, and The Theory of Money and Credit. The first of these volumes 108 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:03.920 was the first Mises volume I had ever read. It struck me as by far the most profound and 109 00:12:03.920 --> 00:12:14.920 This is an important critique of the whole theory and implications of socialism that has ever been written, not excluding the classic work of Boehm-Bawerk, which was narrower in scope. 110 00:12:14.920 --> 00:12:26.920 Mises' Theory of Money and Credit, Professor Lionel Robbins of the London School of Economics wrote in his introduction, has long been regarded as the standard textbook on the subject in continental circles. 111 00:12:26.920 --> 00:12:32.560 Natunat economy is von Mises' book on general economic principles. It is the central trunk, 112 00:12:32.560 --> 00:12:37.920 so to speak, of which the subject discussed in his book on money and his book on socialism 113 00:12:37.920 --> 00:12:42.920 are merely the branches. It is the fundamental theory of which the conclusions in the books 114 00:12:42.920 --> 00:12:48.440 on socialism and money are the corollaries. It is many years since a first-rate comprehensive 115 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:53.720 book on basic economic principles has appeared in English. I think, therefore, that a book 116 00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:58.400 by von Mises, translated and brought up to date, would have a very important effect on 117 00:12:58.400 --> 00:13:01.160 economic thought in America. 118 00:13:01.160 --> 00:13:06.640 On February 1st, 1945, Lew had a letter from Professor Hayek, in which Hayek informed him 119 00:13:06.640 --> 00:13:12.080 that he would be lecturing in April at Columbia, Chicago, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and Stanford 120 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:18.880 Universities, and would see us the first days of April. Lew wrote to Hayek on February 23rd, 121 00:13:18.880 --> 00:13:25.720 The news of your impending lecture tour is very gratifying. It is almost a public sensation. 122 00:13:25.720 --> 00:13:30.840 You probably do not realize how great the success of your book is, The Road to Serfdom, 123 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:35.800 and how popular you are in this country. The Yale Press plans to publish a revised English 124 00:13:35.800 --> 00:13:41.860 edition of my Natuna economy. I have already started to write it. But as the book is rather 125 00:13:41.860 --> 00:13:46.800 voluminous and its publication involves a considerable investment, the Press's new board 126 00:13:46.800 --> 00:14:04.920 On July 1945, Lew sent Yale University Press's Donaldson another explanatory letter about 127 00:14:04.920 --> 00:14:11.160 about National Economy, telling him the German language edition of my National Economy published 128 00:14:11.160 --> 00:14:17.440 in 1940 in Switzerland has 756 pages. For the English edition I am trying to eliminate 129 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:23.000 all critical references to European doctrines unknown or long since discarded in the Anglo-Saxon 130 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:28.480 countries. But on the other hand, I must deal more thoroughly than I did in the original 131 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:34.240 edition with doctrines popular in America, especially with the Keynes-Hansen approach. 132 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:38.680 I think these changes will shorten the length of the manuscript as compared with the 1940 133 00:14:38.680 --> 00:14:43.880 text. I know very well that conciseness is one of the main virtues in a book, and I am 134 00:14:43.880 --> 00:14:48.520 eager to do my best, but a treatise dealing with the whole concept of economic problems 135 00:14:48.520 --> 00:14:54.720 must be more voluminous than a monograph. On May 7, 1948, the Yale University Press 136 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:59.080 acknowledged receipt of parts of the manuscript. Eugene Davidson wrote, 137 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:29.080 The new section is here and I am glad to see you are close to the goal now. Norman Donaldson has just reminded me of a serious oversight on our part, that we were to pay you as each section of the manuscript is received and approved. That clause in the contract completely slipped everyone's attention here, and please let me know how you would like the matter handled. That is, how you would prefer to have the installments reach you from here on. As a possibility, I would suggest that we make a lump payment for the months that have passed, and then continue according to schedule. 138 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:32.080 Lew answered on May 12, 1948, 139 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:34.080 Thanks for your letter of May 7. 140 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:36.080 I fully agree with your suggestion 141 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:39.080 and leave the determination of the amount of the lump sum payment 142 00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:41.080 for the months past to your discretion. 143 00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:45.080 Nothing can prove more clearly how much the work meant to Lew, 144 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:47.080 how little he cared for money, 145 00:15:47.080 --> 00:15:51.080 how completely he forgot about himself than these two letters. 146 00:15:51.080 --> 00:15:56.080 By the spring of 1949 the printing of Human Action was well on its way. 147 00:15:56.080 --> 00:16:00.880 Note that printing of Human Action was well on its way. Davidson supervised everything. 148 00:16:00.880 --> 00:16:05.560 Not the slightest detail was unimportant to him. He wanted a perfect book and a satisfied 149 00:16:05.560 --> 00:16:10.640 author. He even sent Lew a proof of the binding of the book for his approval. 150 00:16:10.640 --> 00:16:14.480 On May 31, 1949, Norman Donaldson wrote to Lew, 151 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:18.760 Advanced copies of your Human Action have now reached us, and we have sent one copy 152 00:16:18.760 --> 00:16:24.360 to you. Our probable publication date is September 14. I hope you are pleased with the way the 153 00:16:24.360 --> 00:16:39.360 May the book has turned out. It is a big, handsome volume and looks all of the $10 price that we are placing on it. May I take this occasion to extend to you my personal congratulations on your successful completion of this immensely important piece of work. 154 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:43.640 Lew immediately confirmed receipt of the advance copy and thanked Donaldson. 155 00:16:43.640 --> 00:16:46.800 On June 7, 1949 Donaldson answered, 156 00:16:46.800 --> 00:16:51.300 It is a great pleasure to have your note in response to your first copy of Human Action. 157 00:16:51.300 --> 00:16:55.560 We are delighted that you are so enthusiastic over the way the book looks. 158 00:16:55.560 --> 00:17:01.440 On September 14, 1949, Human Action was published, and the book created a tremendous impression 159 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:03.280 all over the country. 160 00:17:03.280 --> 00:17:07.980 Almost a hundred review copies were sent out, which may seem a small number in comparison 161 00:17:07.980 --> 00:17:12.860 to the 200 copies or more that publishers are sending out these days. 162 00:17:12.860 --> 00:17:18.740 On October 10, 1949, Donaldson wrote Lew, orders are keeping up splendidly and we are 163 00:17:18.740 --> 00:17:24.440 today ordering a third printing. That was three and a half weeks after publication. 164 00:17:24.440 --> 00:17:29.260 For the first time, life looked more hopeful to Lew. For years he had worked hard, in spite 165 00:17:29.260 --> 00:17:34.420 of his career in Europe, his excellent reputation, his respected writings, he had not found the 166 00:17:34.420 --> 00:18:04.420 His financial position was, to say the least, modest and insecure, but Human Action was even more of a success than his two previous English books. Yale University Press did its utmost to answer all the inquiries about foreign translations. The book has now been published in Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Chinese editions. I was told that Lou's most ardent readers and admirers have always been in the Spanish-speaking countries. 167 00:18:04.420 --> 00:18:10.100 countries. Apparently, the more subjugated a country is, the deeper the longing for freedom. 168 00:18:10.100 --> 00:18:17.020 In the summer of 1983, the French translation by Professor Raoul Audouin was ready for publication 169 00:18:17.020 --> 00:18:23.020 and is now in the process of being printed. On January 9, 1950, Mr. Davidson informed 170 00:18:23.020 --> 00:18:27.300 Lou, the Book of the Month Club will list Human Action in the back part of its monthly 171 00:18:27.300 --> 00:18:33.020 bulletin. This is, technically, I believe, known as the alternate selection which may 172 00:18:33.020 --> 00:18:38.020 may be chosen by the Book of the Month Club subscribers in place of the Book of the Month. 173 00:18:38.020 --> 00:18:44.020 This was, of course, very good news. Gradually the reviews appeared in the newspapers and the magazines. 174 00:18:44.020 --> 00:18:51.020 Lew was never offended or hurt by an unfavorable review, if they were based on knowledge and understanding. 175 00:18:51.020 --> 00:18:56.020 The more they attack an author, he used to say, the more curious they make the public. 176 00:18:56.020 --> 00:18:59.020 The only deadly attack is silence. 177 00:18:59.020 --> 00:19:12.020 Following the publication of Human Action, Yale University Press published a new, enlarged edition of Socialism, which was first published in Germany in 1922 under the title Gehman-Werstaff. 178 00:19:12.020 --> 00:19:24.020 In 1953, Yale printed a new, enlarged edition of The Theory of Money and Credit, followed in 1957 by Lew's Theory and History, an interpretation of social and economic evolution. 179 00:19:24.020 --> 00:19:29.020 Next to Human Action, this book meant the most to Lew among his own writings. 180 00:19:29.020 --> 00:19:36.020 All these books were translated into foreign languages, which meant a good study income for the Yale Press. 181 00:19:36.020 --> 00:19:42.020 On May 15, 1959, there was a short notice in the New York Times reporting that Norman V. Donaldson, 182 00:19:42.020 --> 00:19:49.020 director of the Yale University Press since 1945, will become chairman of its governing board on July 1. 183 00:19:49.020 --> 00:19:53.020 George Parmley Day, the present chairman, will become chairman emeritus. 184 00:19:53.020 --> 00:20:00.020 Chester B. Kerr, secretary of the press since 1949, will succeed Mr. Donaldson as director. 185 00:20:00.020 --> 00:20:11.020 Eugene Davidson was not mentioned. He left Yale Press soon after to become its chief editor of Modern Age, an intellectually stimulating quarterly magazine. 186 00:20:11.020 --> 00:20:20.020 These changes completely altered Lew's relations with the press and brought the beginning of the greatest period of frustration he had ever suffered. 187 00:20:20.020 --> 00:20:27.020 I know of only two crises in Lew's life that so emotionally upset him that his physical well-being was affected. 188 00:20:27.020 --> 00:20:30.020 The first one came shortly after we were married. 189 00:20:30.020 --> 00:20:57.020 Lew received a letter in Geneva dated Vienna, July 29, 1938, which stated, based on paragraph 4, section 1 of the Code for Reorganization for the Austrian Civil Functionaries, dated May 31, 1938, page 607, You are dismissed. This dismissal goes into effect with the day of receipt of this letter. No appeal is allowed against this dismissal. 190 00:20:57.020 --> 00:21:02.460 This from his native country after 27 years of devoted service as legal advisor and financial 191 00:21:02.460 --> 00:21:08.060 expert of the Chamber of Commerce in Vienna. But it was not altogether unexpected. Lew 192 00:21:08.060 --> 00:21:12.700 had foreseen the actions of the Nazis. He was much younger then and could recover from 193 00:21:12.700 --> 00:21:18.260 it. The second crisis came when the second edition of Human Action was in preparation. 194 00:21:18.260 --> 00:21:22.460 Human Action had been recognized as one of the great books of all time. After many years 195 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:26.760 In the years of hard work, fighting against odds with tremendous courage, Lew felt firm 196 00:21:26.760 --> 00:21:32.140 ground under his feet, and he looked forward with great anticipation to the new edition. 197 00:21:32.140 --> 00:21:36.620 But complaints against the press were coming in from all sides. Human Action had disappeared 198 00:21:36.620 --> 00:21:42.080 from bookstores, the second revised edition was delayed from month to month, and inquiries 199 00:21:42.080 --> 00:21:47.480 from readers were not being answered by the press. Even Lew's letters were not answered. 200 00:21:47.480 --> 00:21:53.200 He did not get the proofs in time to make the index, nor was he given the date of publication. 201 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:57.620 They did not even send him a complimentary author's copy. In short, they treated the 202 00:21:57.620 --> 00:22:02.180 author and his work as they might have treated a young high school boy who timidly had sent 203 00:22:02.180 --> 00:22:08.820 him his first literary output. Finally, the long-awaited new edition of Human Action appeared. 204 00:22:08.820 --> 00:22:14.240 It was a shock to everyone. Henry Hazlitt, in Managing a Masterpiece, an article in the 205 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:24.240 The Press does not honor Professor Mises in this new edition, and it does not honor itself. 206 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:31.240 The new edition is a typographical disgrace. The 1949 edition was originally priced at $10. 207 00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:37.240 The revised edition is offered at $15, yet qualitatively it is cheaper in every respect. 208 00:22:37.240 --> 00:23:00.240 respect. It is full of misprints. On page 322, four lines are omitted. Page 468 is missing altogether. Page 469 is printed twice. On page 563, two paragraphs are transposed. On page 615, eight lines are wrong. The running heads that appeared at the top of each page of the 1949 edition are all gone. 209 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:11.240 In belated reparation, the Yale University Press has printed errata pages, although they are not bound in, but these make wholly inadequate amends for an inexcusable printing job. 210 00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:22.240 On page after page, one finds some paragraphs printed in a comparatively light type, and others offered in a blacker, thicker type that can only be described as at least quasi-bold-faced. 211 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:27.200 The reader will inevitably assume that this marked contrast is intentional, and that the 212 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:32.240 author meant to give special emphasis to the passages printed in accidental bold. 213 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:37.360 I started to note merely the pages on which the contrast in type between various paragraphs 214 00:23:37.360 --> 00:23:41.160 was particularly glaring, and got a list of seventy. 215 00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:45.760 I leave it to the Yale Press to explain the technical reasons for the type contrasts. 216 00:23:45.760 --> 00:23:50.640 I have said nothing about the uncountable instances in which whole pages of causey boldface 217 00:23:50.640 --> 00:24:17.640 are found on opposite pages of lighter type. This must irritate any reader sensitive to typographical tidiness, but it is at least less likely to mislead him into supposing that changes in emphasis are intentional. What possible human explanation can there be for this typographical botch, which would disgrace a third-rate commercial publisher? Who read galley proofs? Who saw page proofs? Who let this mess pass? 218 00:24:17.640 --> 00:24:25.640 I asked Professor Mises what light he could throw on the matter. He was able to supply very little because the publishers had been extraordinarily reticent. 219 00:24:25.640 --> 00:24:34.640 It appears that, in order to do as cheap a job as possible, the press has resorted to some mixture of photo offset and reset never tried before. 220 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:39.640 When Dr. Mises asked for page proofs, they were denied for mechanical reasons. 221 00:24:39.640 --> 00:24:46.640 When he protested, Chester Kerr, director of the press, replied on January 22, 1963, 222 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:53.640 We are entirely willing to take responsibility for seeing that the new edition of Human Action is printed without error. 223 00:24:53.640 --> 00:24:58.640 I am confident that you will have no cause to regret not having seen page proofs. 224 00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:03.640 When the first copies were sent out to the distributors, the author did not receive one. 225 00:25:03.640 --> 00:25:11.640 The press has conceded in a letter of September 30th that the general quality of the work is undeniably below our customary standard. 226 00:25:11.640 --> 00:25:16.640 But it apparently does not intend to do anything but go on selling the new edition at $15. 227 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:21.640 The least reparation that could be made to the author and to the readers of Human Action 228 00:25:21.640 --> 00:25:25.640 would be to order the press to start on a new edition immediately, 229 00:25:25.640 --> 00:25:29.640 instead of waiting till the botched present edition is exhausted, 230 00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:33.640 and meanwhile to sell copies of the present edition at a cut price 231 00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:36.640 in candid recognition of their defectiveness. 232 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:44.640 And the final question. Why, in a press that has shown itself capable of producing first-rate work, did this particular book go wrong? 233 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:50.640 Do the present editors of the Yale University Press, who are not those who originally accepted the book, 234 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:56.640 know that this is the most important work on general economic theory that has appeared in our generation? 235 00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:03.640 They know it is commercially profitable. They know it sold six printings and brought in revenues from translation and quotation. 236 00:26:03.640 --> 00:26:19.640 But if they had any idea of its true greatness, if they even had any real respect for its author and its readers, if they had any respect for their press's own reputation, would they have permitted such a slovenly addition to go out under its imprint? 237 00:26:19.640 --> 00:26:28.640 I was with Lew during all those days of upset. No one else will know what he went through at that time, for he was not a man to show his feelings in public. 238 00:26:28.640 --> 00:26:58.640 Outsiders may have considered the misprinting of Human Action an episode in the life of a great man, accepted and forgotten. But it was not so. It was the only time in his life that he had sleeping problems, though he steadfastly refused to take any pills. He was angry. It was an ice-cold, quiet anger directed against what he felt was an unknown enemy at Yale University Press, menacing his great book, his creative strength, his very existence. 239 00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:18.640 and his composure after he signed a new contract with Regnari and saw the active interest that Henry Regnari took in bringing out a new edition of Human Action, and when I noticed that Lew's sleep was sound and regular, as in former years, I knew he got back his philosophical inner balance, but he never forgot this traumatic experience, nor have I. 240 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:24.640 The depth of Lew's feeling is revealed in this letter he sent to a friend in December 1963. 241 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:30.020 You are perfectly right. The typographical makeup of the new revised edition of my book, Human Action, 242 00:27:30.020 --> 00:27:33.960 as published by the Yale University Press, is a shocking scandal. 243 00:27:33.960 --> 00:27:38.840 Never before has any decent publisher dared to bring out such a defective product. 244 00:27:38.840 --> 00:27:43.860 There is, first of all, the strikingly perceptible difference in the heaviness of the impression 245 00:27:43.860 --> 00:27:47.120 between the passages that have been retained unchanged 246 00:27:47.120 --> 00:27:50.900 from the first edition and those that have been altered or added. 247 00:27:50.900 --> 00:27:55.700 With the former the print is darker, with the latter it is lighter. This must necessarily 248 00:27:55.700 --> 00:28:00.260 give the reader the erroneous idea that this difference means something, that the author 249 00:28:00.260 --> 00:28:04.800 wanted to make some distinction between the content of the lighter and that of the darker 250 00:28:04.800 --> 00:28:11.260 paragraphs or lines. The book is full of misprints. One page was entirely omitted, another was 251 00:28:11.260 --> 00:28:16.300 printed twice, paragraphs were transposed, others were left out. The text is marred by 252 00:28:16.300 --> 00:28:21.700 by Blurs and other marks that impair its readability, especially as many of them look like periods, 253 00:28:21.700 --> 00:28:26.620 accents, or other signs of punctuation. There are no running heads, and there are many other 254 00:28:26.620 --> 00:28:31.620 minor defects that disfigure the book. There are two ways open for the explanation of this 255 00:28:31.620 --> 00:28:38.160 disgraceful case of botry. It was either unintentional or intentional. If we were to assume that 256 00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:42.300 it was unintentional, we would imply that all the people who cooperated in the production 257 00:28:42.300 --> 00:28:47.300 are clumsy, inept, inefficient and negligent in the highest degree. 258 00:28:47.300 --> 00:28:53.300 Against such an assumption stands the fact that the press published and still publishes books of normal quality. 259 00:28:53.300 --> 00:28:57.300 To a professor who complained to the press about the poor appearance of the book 260 00:28:57.300 --> 00:29:02.300 and told them that their reputation will suffer, the press answered, September 12th, 261 00:29:02.300 --> 00:29:06.300 that its reputation does not depend on this one instance, 262 00:29:06.300 --> 00:29:11.300 but on the accumulative flow of high-quality work which comes from us steadily. 263 00:29:11.300 --> 00:29:16.100 Thus the press itself comes near to admitting that its failure to produce the new edition 264 00:29:16.100 --> 00:29:21.800 of Human Action as a book of normal American shape was the result of a purposeful design 265 00:29:21.800 --> 00:29:26.500 to prejudice both the circulation of the book and the reputation and material interests 266 00:29:26.500 --> 00:29:27.900 of the author. 267 00:29:27.900 --> 00:29:32.300 The present management of the press regrets, for political reasons, the fact that their 268 00:29:32.300 --> 00:29:34.140 predecessors published my books. 269 00:29:34.140 --> 00:29:38.700 They are especially angry about the great success of Human Action. 270 00:29:38.700 --> 00:29:42.820 If they had any sense of propriety at all, they would openly tell the author that they 271 00:29:42.820 --> 00:29:48.820 do not want any longer to publish his books, and that he is free to look for another publisher. 272 00:29:48.820 --> 00:29:53.180 When in the course of seeing the book through the various phases of publication, I noticed 273 00:29:53.180 --> 00:29:57.940 how the press insidiously delayed from month to month the publication of the new edition 274 00:29:57.940 --> 00:30:03.940 of Human Action, and how it muddled the printing presses, I suggested this solution to them. 275 00:30:03.940 --> 00:30:08.460 But the press does not want to lose the very lucrative rights to Human Action, while the 276 00:30:08.460 --> 00:30:13.620 This, as it told the representative of a distributor who ordered copies of the books, loses money 277 00:30:13.620 --> 00:30:19.780 on about 90% of its publications, Human Action sold six printings and brought in revenues 278 00:30:19.780 --> 00:30:25.740 from translation and quotation. It was a very profitable job for the press. The press wants 279 00:30:25.740 --> 00:30:30.900 to make money on my books and at the same time to punish the author as well as the readers 280 00:30:30.900 --> 00:30:35.740 by giving them the most wretched service. Without informing me, the press chose for 281 00:30:35.740 --> 00:30:43.740 for the publication of the new edition of Human Action, a process devised by an incompetent bungler, and never tried before. 282 00:30:43.740 --> 00:30:53.740 The inadequacy of this procedure delayed the production for many months, and finally gave the press pretext to deny me, for mechanical reasons, the right to see the page proofs. 283 00:30:53.740 --> 00:30:59.740 When I protested, Mr. Chester Kerr, the director of the press, replied on January 22nd, 284 00:30:59.740 --> 00:31:06.740 Second, we are entirely willing to take responsibility for seeing that the new edition of Human Action is printed without error. 285 00:31:06.740 --> 00:31:11.740 I am confident that you will have no cause to regret not having seen page proofs. 286 00:31:11.740 --> 00:31:17.740 It is obvious that the press withheld for me the page proofs because it wanted to bring out a defective book. 287 00:31:17.740 --> 00:31:21.740 And when the book was finally ready and the first copies were sent out to the distributors, 288 00:31:21.740 --> 00:31:27.740 the press tried to keep the fact secret from me and did not even send me, the author, a copy. 289 00:31:27.740 --> 00:31:42.740 The press cannot help admitting, in a letter to my attorney on September 30th, that the general quality of the work is undeniably below our customary standard, but it stubbornly refuses to substitute a new normal quality book for this scandalous botchery. 290 00:31:42.740 --> 00:31:47.740 In writing this letter I am not concerned with the reaction of the Yale University Press. 291 00:31:47.740 --> 00:31:52.740 What I do want to do is thank all those who, in reading the new revised edition of Human Action, 292 00:31:52.740 --> 00:31:56.740 take no notice of the glaring deficiencies of its printing, 293 00:31:56.740 --> 00:32:01.740 and thus thwart the heinous machinations of the simpletons who think that they can refute an author 294 00:32:01.740 --> 00:32:05.740 by mangling the outward appearance of his book. 295 00:32:05.740 --> 00:32:09.740 The villain in a Perry Mason story is easy to detect. 296 00:32:09.740 --> 00:32:15.740 Who is always the one whom you suspect least and whom the author treats with a certain indulgent negligence? 297 00:32:15.740 --> 00:32:21.740 But who was the guilty party causing the unbelievably bad printing job at Yale University Press? 298 00:32:21.740 --> 00:32:25.740 Whom prepared the second edition of Human Action? 299 00:32:25.740 --> 00:32:32.740 Who wanted to harm my husband by preventing, with this unbelievably bad printing, the book from being read? 300 00:32:32.740 --> 00:32:37.740 Was Eugene Davidson the only person whose support had brought Human Action to life? 301 00:32:37.740 --> 00:32:42.620 I don't know any other time in my husband's life when he had to consult a lawyer, except 302 00:32:42.620 --> 00:32:48.660 in 1938 when he needed legal help to obtain my documents from Vienna. It was claimed that 303 00:32:48.660 --> 00:32:55.260 no lawyer ever would win a case against the Yale University Press. If this was the case, 304 00:32:55.260 --> 00:33:00.660 why was the press so eager, after all the bad publicity it had, to hush-hush the affair 305 00:33:00.660 --> 00:33:06.420 and settle with my husband's lawyers out of court, giving in to almost all his demands? 306 00:33:06.420 --> 00:33:11.420 These demands never involved any money, as is clearly seen from the foregoing letter. 307 00:33:11.420 --> 00:33:15.780 And why, since the case was so strong and the right so clearly on my husband's side, 308 00:33:15.780 --> 00:33:19.980 did the lawyers give in without trying their case before a jury? 309 00:33:19.980 --> 00:33:22.420 The mystery is unsolved to this day. 310 00:33:22.420 --> 00:33:26.900 The Yale University Press answered all charges with deadly silence. 311 00:33:26.900 --> 00:33:28.060 That was their defense. 312 00:33:28.060 --> 00:33:34.220 Yale University Press is a faithless organization that is so huge, so powerful, that if attacked, 313 00:33:34.220 --> 00:33:40.300 The responsible party can hide unrecognized behind the impenetrable walls of the institution, 314 00:33:40.300 --> 00:33:44.680 as in the past warriors might have hidden behind the ramparts of a fortress. 315 00:33:44.680 --> 00:33:50.620 But one thing is sure, the ideological differences that may have existed between Ludwig von Mises 316 00:33:50.620 --> 00:33:55.980 and the Yale University Press did not hinder the press from taking its cut. 317 00:33:55.980 --> 00:34:00.860 All through the years the press insisted on its contract and its percentage. 318 00:34:00.860 --> 00:34:06.540 Every year, when the Yale Statement arrived, Lew read it then gave it to me without a word. 319 00:34:06.540 --> 00:34:11.100 But the shrug of his shoulders and his slight gesture of contempt revealed his feelings 320 00:34:11.100 --> 00:34:13.500 more clearly than words ever could.