BEARD, CHARLES AUSTIN (1874— ), American historian and professor of politics, was born in Knightstown, Ind., on Nov. 27, 1874. He graduated from De Pauw university in 1898, and after studying at Oxford, Cornell and Columbia universities received the degree of Ph.D. from the last named institution in 1904. His interest was at first in European, and particularly in English, history; and such works as The Office of Justice of the Peace in England (1904), and The Development of Modern Europe (19o7—o8), written in collaboration with J. H. Robinson, represent this phase. But the problems of American history soon gained his attention and it is in this field, and in American politics and government, that he accomplished his most significant work, at first as a member of the faculty of Columbia university (1907 15) and later in independent research. In 1917 he became director of the Training School for Public Service in New York city and gave much attention to municipal problems. He was invited to Japan to give advice for reconstruction after the earthquake and embodied some results of his investigations there in The Adminis tration and Politics of Tokyo (1923). In 1927 he was called to Yugoslavia on a similar mission. But throughout he continued his research into the formative elements of the American Constitu tion and political parties and set forth his conclusions in four notable works: The Supreme Court and the Constitution (1912) , The Economic Interpretation of the Constitution 0913), The Economic Origins of Je ff ersonian Democracy (1915) , and The Economic Basis of Politics (1922). These have exerted a pro found influence upon opinion concerning the origins of the Ameri can State, largely because of their contention that political thought is dictated by the economic self-interest of parties rather than by abstract theories, and that the American Constitution, specifically, was evolved by those whose holdings would increase in value by the creation of the form of government which it pre scribes. Later he wrote, in collaboration with his wife, Mary Ritter Beard, a more comprehensive study of the national life under the title, The Rise of American Civilization (19 2 7) ; like his other work, it is characterized by the analysis of cause and effect rather than by an array of outstanding phases in chronological order. Like his other work, too, it shows originality of views founded upon independent investigation of sources.
Among his other works are : American Government and Politics (1910), American City Government (1912), Contemporary American History (1914), History of. the American People (1918, in collaboration with W. C. Bagley), The Idea of National Inter est and The Open Door at Home (both in collaboration with G. H. E. Smith,