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The article presents information on an unpremeditated symposium on the economic theory of Clarence E. Ayres. The article argues that Ayres and the Tower on the campus of the University of Texas are two of the dominant features of the academic landscape in the Southwest. Both have been centers of controversy, ranging in intensity from mild to boiling. It seems that few who have considered either have escaped partisan reaction for, or against. The article informs that this issue of the "Southwestern Social Science Quarterly" deals with four examinations of Ayresian economic theory, which range from bitter attack to capable defense, with a note of mildness in between. Together, they should give the reader a fairly complete view of this scholar's ideas. These papers were not solicited, and there was no idea of a symposium on Ayresian theory, when the first of the four, that by Jack Robertson was received. This paper was soon followed by that of Manuel Gottlieb. Both were highly recommended for publication by economists respected for their competence in the field.

The article informs about several conferences held to discuss a number of subjects at various places. The third annual conference on the teaching of the social sciences, sponsored by Northwestern University, was held in Evanston, Illinois, on March 25 and 26, 1982. The conference was attended by 87 teachers of the social sciences. The Academy of World Economics in the City of Washington was in corporated under the laws of the District of Columbia on January 12, 1982, by a group of economists from the universities and other Institutions of higher learning in Washington. The second annual conference on economic policy for American agriculture was held at the University of Chicago in the latter part of June. The twenty-seventh annual conference of the National Child Labor Committee was held in Philadelphia, May 17. Among the subjects discussed were: "Child Labor and the Schools in a Depression Period." A National Land-Use Planning Committee and a National Advisory and Legislative Committee on Land Use have been appointed on recommendation of the National Land Utilization Conference held at Chicago, November, 1981. The Planning Committee is charged with the duty of gathering and evaluating the available facts on the phases of land utilization and formulating feasible regional and national land policies. Some projects to be taken into consideration and some conferences concerned with different subjects, proposed to be held have also been discussed in the article.

The next annual meeting of the American Economic Association will be held in Washington, during December 28-30, 1931. Hotel Washington has been selected as headquarters. Some names have been added to the membership of the association since May 1. The index to volume II of Social Science Abstracts has recently been published. This index constitutes the largest single reference work on the world's periodical literature in the social sciences for 1930. There are over 36,000 topical entries in the subject index and the names of over 12,000 contemporary writers in the authors' index. Reference was made in the March issue of the Review to a series of studies under the auspices of the Social Science Research Council relating to agriculture. The National Association of Real Estate Boards has sent out a memorandum which has been placed before U.S. President Herbert C. Hoover relating to the possibility of creating a discount system which would serve existing financial institutions making loans on urban residences in much the same way as the federal reserve system serves commercial banks.