The Older, Shorter Term
Walter Willcox, especially in his research into the history of statistics and statisticians, preferred the older, shorter term “statist” to the modern term “statistician.” In the 1947 article “Lemuel Shattuck, Statist,” published in The American Statistician, Willcox wrote, “The most influential English and American workers in our field, William Farr and Lemuel Shattuck, together with perhaps the most influential American writer of prose and verse, Shattuck’s fellow townsman and friend Waldo Emerson, chose the older and shorter word, statist, and eschewed the modern tongue-twisting statistician. Should not a lesser laborer in the same vineyard then revive their practice? Because I think we should, my title [of this article] is ‘Lemuel Shattuck, Statist.’”

The intricacies of this problem are somewhat elusive. They led, during the 1920s and later, to a prolonged discussion and public debate between Willcox, who espoused the method of major fractions, and E.V. Huntington, professor of mathematics at Harvard who supported the method of equal proportions. The test of the latter method was described by Huntington as follows: “A transfer of a seat from one state to another should be made if, and only if, the percentage difference between the congressional districts in the two states would be reduced by the transfer.” The test of major fractions provides that no state with a major fraction (one that reaches 0.500) shall go unrewarded and none with a minor fraction shall be rewarded. The computations are carried out by a system of sliding divisors until a point is reached where the terms of the test are met. But as Willcox himself said, “The results are simple, but the method itself is somewhat difficult to explain.”

As more and more scholars were drawn into the discussion, the proponents of the two methods became known as the “Cornell school” and the “Harvard school.” The range of discussion included mathematical aspects, the question of which method favored small states at the expense of large (or vice versa), political and constitutional interpretations, and which method was easier for the general public and some members of Congress to understand.

Willcox’s interests and activities were eclectic. He examined the possibility of constructing statistical tests of economic and social progress and somewhat concluded that “the statistical method is unable to tell whether the population of the United States is nearer to the economic optimum than it was a generation ago.” This is a subject with which he expressed concern. In his broadcast on the “This I Believe” program, he said “I believe that human freedom to experiment and initiate is the most potent of all the forces working for the progress of mankind.”

This I Believe …
Walter Willcox wrote an essay for the radio program “This I Believe,” which was recorded in New York and broadcast during the 1950s. The program was hosted by Edward R. Murrow, and some of the more famous essays include those by Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, and Helen Keller.

Willcox served as president of the ASA in 1912 and was elected a Fellow in 1917. In 1892, the year he became a member of the ASA, he also joined the American Economic Association and served as secretary from 1896–1899 and as president in 1915. He was a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and an honorary member of statistical societies in several countries.