Robert Hamilton Coats, 1874-1960Author(s): Herbert MarshallSource: The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science / Revue canadienned'Economique et de Science politique, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Aug., 1960), pp. 482-483Published by: Wiley on behalf of Canadian Economics AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/138793 .

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ROBERT HAMILTON COATS, 1874-1960

ROBERT HAMILTON COATS was born in Clinton, Ontario, on July 25, 1874. He received his higher education at the University of Toronto where he took his B.A. degree in 1896. His first vocation was journalism; he was employed by the Toronto World and later the Toronto Globe until 1902. He then went to Ottawa as Assistant Editor, later to become Editor, of the Labour Gazette. Journalism however, was not the career in which he was to achieve his

greatest distinction. With his appointment as Chief Statistician in the Depart- ment of Labour in 1905, he entered the field to which he devoted the rest of his working life and in which he rose to eminence in Canada and won a world-wide reputation.

At that time statistical organization in Canada was chaotic and under criticism from many sources. Dr. Coats's appointment as a member of the

Departmental Commission on Official Statistics set up in 1912 gave him the

opportunity to present his ideas for correcting the situation. The Commission's

Report, emphasizing the need for an over-all plan for an integrated and co- ordinated system of statistics adequate to meet the needs of Canada and its

parts, eventually led to his appointment as Dominion Statistician in 1915, the creation of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics in 1918, and the passing of the Statistics Act with its mandate for centralization.

A further influence in this development was Dr. Coats's work with the

Royal Commission on the Cost of Living; he was largely responsible for its voluminous Report which delved into many statistical aspects of the Canadian

economy with implications for changes in cost of living levels. When Dr. Coats retired in 1942 the Dominion Bureau of Statistics had won

general recognition in Canada as a highly efficient institution turning out facts on practically every aspect of the nation's economic and social life-facts which were an indispensable aid to understanding and policy-making in many fields. The Bureau had also become recognized by other nations as being in the very forefront of statistical organization.

For his outstanding achievements Dr. Coats received many honours. From 1931 to 1939 he was a member of the Advisory Committee on Statistics of the

League of Nations. He was given the degree of LL.D. by McGill University in 1934, and by the universities of Toronto and Dalhousie in 1938. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, made an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Statistical Society of London in 1924, member of the Conference of British Empire Statisticians in 1920 and Chairman in 1935, President of the American Statistical Association in 1938 and of the Canadian Political Science Association in 1935-6, and a charter member of the Inter-American Statistical Association (of which, from 1942 to 1947, he was the Treasurer).

After his retirement Dr. Coats was for four years Visiting Professor of Statistics in the Department of Political Economy in the University of Toronto. In 1947-8 he was statistical consultant with the Food and Agriculture Organization.

His writings include many articles on statistical subjects. He was also the author of "The Labour Movement of Canada" in Canada and Its Provinces,

Vol. XXVI, no. 3, Aug., 1960

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Notes and Memoranda 483

Sir James Douglas (jointly) in the Makers of Canada series, and The American Born in Canada (jointly) in the Canadian-American Relations series sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment.

Dr. Coats's interests were not by any means confined to statistics. Few aspects of life escaped his observation. His mental grasp was such that he had

easy communication with distinguished minds in many fields. With his strong sense of humour he was a noted raconteur. Some of his public addresses were unique. They sparkled and scintillated with his wit.

His friends will remember him for his keen, pleasing, and stimulating per- sonality. His monument is one of the world's outstanding statistical organiza- tions-the Dominion Bureau of Statistics.

HERBERT MARSHALL

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