C. W. A. Veditz

The Forgotten Man in the
History of the American Sociological Society

Charles William Augustus Veditz played a pivotal role in the founding and development of the American Sociological Society. Despite this, today he has faded into history and is largely forgotten.

It was Veditz who wrote to sociologists around the United States initiating a discussion on the need for a sociological society. During the summer of 1905, Veditz, then a professor at what is now George Washington University, approached Lester Ward, a prominent figure in Washington and in the sociological world, to discuss the need for a sociological society. Ward traveled to Veditz’s home in Wiehle, Virginia for a weekend in July 1905; this topic was undoubtedly one of things they discussed. Ward concurred that “there is certainly need for a national sociological association, inasmuch as the sociologists of the country need to get together, and no existing association of a scientific character enables them to do this to the extent that is necessary.”

Based on the feedback from his correspondence in summer of 1905, a meeting was scheduled for December 1905 during the American Economics Association meetings in Baltimore. Notice of this meeting went out by mail in November and attracted more than 50 sociologists to the gathering in Baltimore in December. The American Sociological Society was formed, Ward was elected President, and Veditz was elected Secretary, a position he held from 1906 to 1909.

But who was Veditz?

C.W.A. Veditz was born November 18, 1872 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of William Veditz and Augusta (Tramm) Veditz. Veditz was educated at the best institutions available in that day. He earned a Ph.B. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1891. This was followed by postgraduate training at a number of European institutions, including Halle University (1891-3), Berlin University (1893-4), Leipzig (1894-5), and Paris (1896-9). He earned an A.M. and a Ph.D. from Halle University, and later an LL.B in Paris in 1899. In addition, he had studies at the Paris School of Anthropology (1896-8), the School of Political Science (1898-9), the Sorbonne (1897-8), Ecole des Hautes Etudes (1896-7), and College des sciences socials (1898-1900).

In 1897 Veditz published his first sociological paper, “Sociological Instruction at Paris”, in The American Journal of Sociology (Vol. 3, No. 2., Sep., 1897, pp. 206-215).

In 1901 in Paris he married Mildred Rita Onslow, the daughter of Albert George Onslow and Constance Marie Buhlmann. In the years that followed they were the parents of three children: Jean, Ivy, and William.

Upon the completion of his education and his return to the United States, Veditz secured a position as Professor of Economics at Bates College in Maine. He later moved to Washington, DC and became Professor of Economics at the George Washington University around 1905

In 1904 Veditz published a translation from the original French of Charles Gide’s Principles of Political Economy for the use of American students. He also published A History of North America: The Revolution, in 1904.

Science magazine reported in the February 5, 1909 issue (page 224): “Dr. C. W. A. Veditz, professor of economics at George Washington University, has been selected as a special expert agent for the United States Department of Labor and Commerce to investigate the child-labor problem and conditions in the principal industrial countries of Europe. He will leave this country on February 3 and will remain abroad for about eight months.”

Like others of his day, it is difficult to classify him as strictly a sociologist or an economist or a political scientist. Instead, his interest was in all of those fields. Professionally he held memberships in the American Economics Association, the American Political Science Association, and the American Sociological Society.

Veditz died on February 20, 1926. An obituary entitled “Charles W.A. Veditz, Sociologist, Dies Here; Was Educator and Federal Adviser in Varied Economic Subjects. Filled Important Posts” was published in The Washington Post on February 21, 1926 (page 15). His obituary indicated that he had been ill for several years, but a specific illness was not identified. He was buried in Philadelphia where he had been born 54 years earlier.