Forty years ago Professor Joseph M. Goldstein received his first university diploma in Moscow. Tomorrow evening his Russian, Jewish and American friends will gather to celebrate the anniversary at the Russian restaurant “Around the Samovar” at 142 West Forty-ninth street.
Long before the World War, Professor Goldstein, one of the leading Russian economists, became known throughout Europe, with his slogan “Russia should not be an economic colony of Germany.” An author of more than a dozen works in several languages, he is considered as a foremost authority on trusts, syndicates, cartels, tariffs, foreign loans and a number of related subjects.
LIVES IN BROOKLYN
He has been in this country since 1918 and at present resides in the Standish Arms Hotel, Brooklyn. Since the turn of the century Professor Goldstein was called in to counsel the more liberal of Russian ministers. In addition to his scientific labors, he achieved a reputation as director of the Seminar of Political Economy of the University of Moscow, which was brought into existence to eliminate the need of sending young Russians who wanted to become professors of economics to Germany.
Despite being a non-converted Jew, his extraordinary scholarship and particularly his knowledge of Russian economics brought about his nomination to the Supreme War Economic Council presided over by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. That was without a precedent in pre-war Russia. Professor Goldstein was one of about a dozen persons who before the revolution were granted the degree of Doctor of Political Economy and Statistics by the University of Moscow, Russia’s most famous institution of learning.
Count Paul N. Ignatieff, Minister of Public Instruction in Russia from 1915 to 1917, wrote about Dr. Goldstein: “I could not name at the present time another man as prominent among the economic scholars of questions relating to Russia, not only in Russia itself, but also in Europe and America. Nobody else, I believe, is so well acquainted with economic factors of Russian life…”
Among American experts who have paid tribute to Professor Goldstein’s achievements is Edwin R. A. Seligman, McVickar Professor Emeritus in Political Economy, Columbia University: “He is a thorough scholar and is entirely competent to direct researches in any field in economics that he might select.”
A lengthy article in the Grand Soviet Encyclopedia reviews Professor Goldstein’s career, recording, among other facts, that he was born in 1868, received higher economic education at the University of Munich, lectured at the University of Zurich, and so on.
So, his many friends feel it is fitting to honor the distinguished savant tomorrow. Some of them are Professor Paul P. Haensel of Chicago, chairman of the jubilee dinner committee; Professor A. N. Sack, V. M. Eitingon, Miss Alexandra Tillo, Dr. Th. I. Blagov, Mrs. Sophie Engel, Joseph M. Engel, J. Cahn, Dr. M. N. Feitelberg, Col. Philip Fouke, Borris Komar, Mrs. E. D. Kuskowa – Prokopovitch, Harry Misroch, Mrs. Sonia Orans, Professor I. Pouzina, Mrs. A. Rosaler, Arcady I. Sack, Dr. Arthur Salvin and M. T. Zarotschenzeff.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
