If All Economists Were Laid

George Bernard Shaw? Farmer Brown? Isaac Marcosson? Stephen Leacock? Bearding?

Dear Quote Investigator: The advice offered by economists is often equivocal and hedged. The famous playwright and witty social critic George Bernard Shaw reportedly crafted the following lament:

If all the economists were laid end to terminate, they would non accomplish a determination.

I have been unable to find a solid commendation. Would yous please examine this topic?

Quote Investigator: "The Saturday Review of Literature" credited George Bernard Shaw with the expression above in May 1933, but the saying had entered circulation by July 1932 without an attribution. In add-on, intriguing precursors appeared past the 1920s. Hence, the ascription to Shaw is currently uncertain.

Below are selected citations in chronological order.

This parodic remark was based on a popular class of expressions that were designed to aid readers envision big quantities of items by placing them end to finish and describing the resultant length. For example, in 1885 a newspaper article stated that the Vanderbilt family had acquired a vast fortune of 2 hundred 1000000 dollars. The article calculated the number of barrels of flour purchasable with that money and so imagined placing the barrels in a very long line. Emphasis added by QI: ^[1] 1885 December nineteen, St. Louis Postal service-Dispatch, Vanderbilt'south Wealth: Some Speculations on How Much Information technology Will Buy (From the Boston World), Quote Page 11, Column vi, St. Louis, Missouri. (ProQuest)

Enough to purchase forty,000,000 barrels of flour at $5 each. If these barrels were placed end to finish they would reach around the earth on the parallel of Boston, or they would fence in every Land in the Union.

In 1925 a columnist named Tom Sims published the following comical argument which employed the aforementioned template as the maxim under investigation: ^[2] 1925 July xviii, Brownwood Bulletin, Tom Sims Says, Quote Folio 4, Cavalcade 3, Brownwood, Texas. (NewspaperArchive)

If all the arguments in the world were placed terminate to end, they would not reach whatsoever determination.

The higher up statement was a paraprosdokian with the reader primed to expect a distance or a physical location following the word "reach". In 1927 the verbal same quip appeared in newspapers in a Quanah, Texas ^[three] 1927 June 17, Quanah Tribune Chief, (Filler item), Quote Page eight, Cavalcade iv, Quanah, Texas. (NewspaperArchive) and Waunakee, Wisconsin without attribution. ^[4] 1927 August xviii, The Waunakee Tribune, Turning on the Spotlight, Quote Page six, Column iv, Waunakee, Wisconsin. (NewspaperArchive)

In 1929 the joke continued to evolve within the template. The term "statesmen" replaced "arguments", and "agreement" replaced "conclusion". Cosmetically, the phrasing changed from "placed" to "laid". ^[5] 1929 May 8, The Daily Republican, (Filler detail), Quote Folio four, Column 3, Monongahela, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com)

If all the statesmen in the world were laid cease to end they would not reach—an agreement.

Both "statesmen" and "economists" are groups of people; hence, semantically, the above precursor displayed an important shift.

In July 1932 "The Oakland Tribune" of Oakland, California printed an instance closely matching the mod expression, but an anonymous attribution was specified: ^[6] 1932 July nine, The Oakland Tribune, The Other Fellow by Ad Schuster, Quote Page twenty, Column 3, Oakland, California. (Newspapers_com)

And here is one that is going the rounds: "If all the economists in this country were laid end to end, they would never accomplish a conclusion."

In Feb 1933 a paper in Ogden, Utah reported on a speech by "C.S. (Farmer Brownish) field representative of the American Farm Bureau federation". He prepared the audience for the joke by initially using a conventional version of the "end to cease" remark. He likewise replaced "never" (used in 1932) with "non even": ^[7] 1933 Feb 26, The Ogden Standard-Examiner, Weber Farmers Hear Serious and Lighter Views of Difficulties, Quote Page 7, Column 2, Ogden, Utah. (NewspaperArchive)

If the eggs of Nebraska were placed end to end they would achieve across the state and back half manner. If the economists were placed cease to end they would non even reach a determination."

The May 20, 1933 issue of "The Saturday Review of Literature" contained an commodity past George Soule reviewing a book on economics. Soule ascribed the quip to George Bernard Shaw, and this was the first linkage to Shaw establish by QI: ^[eight] 1933 May xx, The Saturday Review of Literature, Book ix, Number 44, Bridges to the Unknown by George Soule, (Volume Review of "The Industrial Discipline and the Governmental Arts" by … Go on reading

The argument attributed to Bernard Shaw, however, that "If all the economists were laid terminate to end, they would not achieve a conclusion," comes the nearest to beingness just. There is near no unanimity among them, and little substantial understanding.

On the same day, May 20, 1933, the widely-syndicated columnist O. O. McIntyre credited the remark to the author Isaac Marcosson: ^[9] 1933 May twenty, Bryan Daily Eagle, New York 24-hour interval by Solar day by O. O. McIntyre (McNaught Syndicate), Quote Page 4, Column 3, Bryan, Texas. (NewspaperArchive)

The best answer to economics is Isaac Marcosson'due south: "lf all the economists in the world were placed end to end they would not reach a conclusion."

In 1939 the Canadian humorist and economist Stephen Leacock published an commodity in the "The New York Times", and he mentioned a variant of the joke that was delivered a few years before at a club in Boston, Massachusetts: ^[10] 1939 Baronial 20, New York Times, Lost in the Jungle of Economic science by Stephen Leacock (Professor Emeritus, McGill University; Quondam Head of Department of Economics) Quote Page SM1, Cavalcade ane, New York. … Go along reading

Indeed, information technology has been calculated that if all the economists were laid out in a line, end to end, starting at the Mexican border, they would reach—–" The orator paused impressively and added: "nowhere."

In 1949 the indefatigable quotation compiler Evan Esar credited Shaw in "The Dictionary of Humorous Quotations": ^[eleven] 1949, The Lexicon of Humorous Quotations, Edited by Evan Esar, Section: George Bernard Shaw, Quote Page 180, Doubleday, Garden City, New York. (Verified on paper in 1989 reprint edition from … Go on reading

SHAW, George Bernard, born 1856, British dramatist, critic, novelist, social reformer, and wit.

If all economists were laid cease to end, they would non achieve a decision.

In 1963 President John F. Kennedy used the saying in a speech while crediting Shaw: ^[12] 1963 March 14, The Washington Post, Partial Text of Kennedy Oral communication: Familiar Questions, Quote Page A4, Column ii, Washington, D.C. (ProQuest)

Today every problem has several alternative solutions, and every answer raises several questions. I am more than ever convinced of the words one time uttered by George Bernard Shaw: "If all economists were laid end to end, they yet would not achieve a conclusion."

In conclusion, this saying evolved over a period of years from precursors with similar syntax and overlapping semantics. The primeval strong match appeared in July 1932 with an anonymous attribution. The expression was ascribed to George Bernard Shaw, Isaac Marcosson, and an American Farm Agency representative in 1933. Based on current data, the proverb should be considered anonymous. Yet, this analysis represents only a snapshot of research, and futurity developments may yield a solid attribution.

Image Notes: Decision junction by Peggy_Marco at Pixabay. George Bernard Shaw writing in notebook circa 1914 from the LIFE Photo Archive via Wikimedia Eatables.

(Cracking thanks to Allen Peabody and Victor Schafer whose inquiries led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Special thanks to Barry Popik who identified the instance in the May 1933 cavalcade by O. O. McIntyre. Popik'south research was shared here.)