Paul Howard Douglas

Paul Howard Douglas 1892-1976, U.S. Senator (1949-67), b. Salem, Mass. An economist, he joined the faculty of the Univ. of Chicago in 1920; was active as a government adviser, especially on problems of wages and social security; and served (1939-42) as alderman on the Chicago city council. In 1942 he enlisted in the U.S. marine corps. A Democrat, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1948 and reelected in 1954 and 1960. As Senator, he was a leader of liberal Democrats and was prominent in support of labor and social security legislation. He was defeated for reelection in 1966 by Charles Percy, a Republican. His books include Real Wages in the United States, 1890-1926 (1930), The Theory of Wages (1934), Social Security in the United States (1936; 2d ed. 1939), and Ethics in Government (1952).

Bibliography: See his memoirs (1972).

Howards End, a novel by E. M. Forster, published 1910, deals with personal relationships and conflicting values.

The Schlegel sisters, Margaret and Helen, and their brother Tibby, care about civilized living, music, literature, and conversation. The Wilcoxes, Henry and his children Charles, Paul, and Evie, are concerned with the business side of life and distrust emotions and imagination. Helen Schlegel is drawn to the Wilcox family, falls briefly in and out of love with Paul Wilcox, and thereafter reacts away from them. Margaret is stimulated by the very differences of their way of life. She marries Henry Wilcox, to the consternation of both families. Her marriage cracks but does not break. In the end, torn between her sister and her husband, she succeeds in bridging the mistrust that divides them. Howards End, where the story begins and ends, is the house that belonged to Henry Wilcox's first wife, and is a symbol of human dignity and endurance.

Howard, John (1726–90). Prison reformer. Howard was born in London and owned a small property at Cardington (Beds.), where he spent the last 30 years of his life. He was an independent in religion, worshipping at the chapel Bunyan had served, a teetotaller, vegetarian, and a man of austere habits. In 1773 he was appointed sheriff of Bedfordshire and discovered that prisoners who had been acquitted were unable to leave gaol unless they could pay the gaoler's fee. His colleagues on the bench rejected his suggestion that the gaoler should be paid a salary, leading Howard to embark upon an extraordinary life of prison visits throughout the British Isles and ultimately most of Europe. His State of the Prisons in England and Wales (1777) exposed the squalor and brutality of many gaols. He died of typhus while on a visit to Russia and was buried there, though a statue was erected to him in St Paul's. Almost single-handedly, Howard placed the question of prison reform on the agenda.

J. A. Cannon