Hoxie

using a genetic account to explain a contempo-
rary situation ("Historical Method versus His-
torical Narrative/' Journal of Political Econ-
omy, November 1906, p. 568). His suspicion of
large and comfortable truths, the fascination of
the world of affairs about him, and a concern
with the human incidence of industry led him,
almost without conscious choice, to a study of
labor. He discovered that there is no unionism,
there are only varying types of unions; of these
he elaborated a theory in terms of structure and
function, his most important contribution; and
he planned, but did not complete, a comprehen-
sive work on the labor movement.

In a quarter century (1891-1916) of creative
effort, Hoxie produced little finished work. A
few articles, a book on Scientific Management
and Labor (1915), which he did not want to
print, and a collection of essays on Trade Union-
ism in the United States (1917), published after
his death, attest the quality of his workmanship.
An inveterate scribbler, he wrote primarily to
clarify his own thought; he found it almost im-
possible to meet his own standards. He cared
little for public reputation or academic recog-
nition. His students were his public; to him in-
quiry and teaching were inseparable; he was
forever following the quest wherever it led, in
utter disregard of academic frontiers, with a
pack of cubs at his heels. His distinctive work
was in raising questions, in blazing trails, in
sending youngsters adventuring.

[Jour, of Political Econ., Nov. 1916, contains several
articles about Hoxie and his work and a bibliography
of his published writings. See also Who's Who in
America, 1916-17; A. S. Johnson, «T>^-* *--M-

Hoxie/* New Republic, July 8, 1916; E. H. Downey's
introduction to Hoxie's Trade Unionism in the U. S.
(1917); Univ. of Chicago Mag., July 1916; Cornell
Alumni News, July 1916; Chicago Daily Tribune, June
23, 1916.] W.H.H.

HOXIE, VINNIE REAM (Sept. 25, 1847-
Nov. 20,1914), sculptor, daughter of Robert Lee
and Lavinia (McDonald) Ream, was born in
Madison, Wis., then a frontier town. Part of
her childhood was spent in Washington, D. C.,
where her father had found employment, but the
family later returned to the West, and she at-
tended Christian College, Columbia, Mo. Here
she wrote songs which were set to music and
published. Moving again to Washington with
her parents during the Civil War, she obtained
a minor clerkship in the Post Office department
at the age of fifteen. A friend having taken her
to the studio of Clark Mills, she laughingly at-
tempted to model a likeness of Mills; the result
delighted her and others. Keeping her gov-
ernment position, she thenceforth gave all her
free time to the study of sculpture, chiefly under

Hoxie

Mills. She was small, slender, bright-eyed, with
a wealth of long curls. Her personality was so
winning, and the art of sculpture was at that time
so little understood in the United States, that
within a year, at senatorial solicitation, Presi-
dent Lincoln allowed her to come to the White
House, giving her daily half-hour sittings, dur-
ing five months. She was reverent, impression-
able, industrious, gifted, but of course without
sufficient training for the commission which,
nevertheless, was awarded to her by Congress
after a competition, to make a full-length marble
statue of Lincoln for the Rotunda of the Capitol
A contract was signed Aug. 30, 1866: $5,000 to
be paid on acceptance of the full-size plaster
model, and $5,000 on completion of the marble.
Vinnie Ream was the first of her sex to execute
sculpture for the United States government; she
had impressive indorsement, both political and
military. Armed with Secretary Seward's letter
of recommendation to the American diplomatic
and consular representatives in Europe, the
young sculptor, accompanied by her parents,
went to Rome to put the statue into marble.

In her own country, she had already made
from life portrait-busts of Thaddeus Stevens and
others. Abroad, in more sophisticated circles, her
frontier spirit of independence, coupled with her
artlessly ingratiating demeanor, proved attrac-
tive. In Paris, she made portraits of Gustave
Dore and Pere Hyacinthe. According to the
Reminiscences of Georg Brandes, the Danish
critic (who pays tribute to her forceful, upright
character, even while he smiles at her girlish
vanity), she told him that in order to obtain a
much-desired commission for a bust of the for-
midable Cardinal Antonelli, she had merely put
on her most beautiful white gown, and obtaining
an audience, had proffered her request, which
was at once granted (1870). The cardinal gave
her a medallion of Christ, inscribing it to his
"little friend, Miss Vinnie Ream,'* Other in-
cidents attest her popularity. Her marble 'Tin-
coin,^ duly admired abroad, was unveiled with
imposing ceremonies in the Rotunda in 1871.
Although neither vigorous nor inspiring, the
statue is imbued with sincere feeling and holds
its own among its Capitoline companions as a
remarkable production from a hand so inexperi-
enced. Later she was awarded another govern-
ment commission after competition: on Jan. 28,
1875, she signed a twenty-thousand-dollar con-
tract for the heroic bronze statue of Admiral Far-
ragut now standing in Farragut Square, Wash-
ington, D. C., a work fairly representative of the
average of its day.

In 1878, before the completion of the "Far-

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