SUMNER, William Graham, political economist, born in Paterson, New Jersey, 30 October, 1840. He was graduated at Yale in 1863, and studied at Gottingen, Germany, and Oxford, England. He was tutor at Yale in 1866-'9, took orders in the Protestant Episcopal church in 1867, and was for some time assistant at Calvary church, New York city. In 1872 he was appointed professor of political and social science at Yale. Professor Sumner is an earnest advocate of the so-called laissez faire principle in political economy. He favors the gold standard m currency and free-trade. He has done much to promote liberal methods of instruction in his department, and, among other innovations, has established a loan library of political economy for the use of his classes. He is a member of the American social science association, to whose "Transactions" he has contributed papers, including one on "American Finance" (1874). Besides articles in periodicals, he has published a translation of Lange's "Commentary on the Second Book of Kings" (New York, 1872); "History of American Currency" (1874) ; "Lectures on the History of Protection in the United States" (1875); "Life of Andrew Jackson," in the "American Statesmen" series (Boston, 1882);" What Social Classes Owe to Each Other" (New York, 1883); "Economic Problems" (1884) ; "Essays in Political and Social Science" (1885); and "Protectionism" (1885).