In the 1930s, Alfred Lawson’s ideas actually started to take hold. He presented the idea of Direct Credits which was kind of like money but not and could only be understood by those who understood physics. He blamed the banks for all the economic woes of the Great Depression. He said that the government should be the one to give loans to business and workers and not the banks. His lectures were attended by thousands and he turned his ideas into the Lawsonian religion. The rallies only stayed popular for a few years and when the crowds started to die down, Alfred Lawson once again moved on to a new venture.
By 1943, he had published over 50 different books on his theories and decided that it was time to spread his knowledge. He raised over $100,000 in order to buy an abandoned college campus in Des Moines. It was there that he founded the University of Lawsonomy which offered the degree of “Knowledgian.” The degree was quite extensive and took 30 years of study, but Alfred Lawson assured students that it would be worthwhile. He believed that the world would embrace all of his teachings by the year 2000.
The school attracted a following and remained for several years until it ran into trouble in 1952. Alfred Lawson was called before a Senate Committee to answer questions about why the university had purchased 62 machine tools from military surplus only to sell most of them at a substantial profit. Lawson claimed ignorance to the panel and tried unsuccessfully to explain Lawsonomy to the Committee. As a result of the investigation, the IRS revoked the non-profit status of the University which forced Lawson to sell the campus to a developer.
The University then relocated to a large barn where the most devout continued their studies. One of the tenets of the school was that there were never any books allowed that were not written by Lawson himself, so students were kept fully immersed in the teachings of Lawsonomy. In 1954, one of Alfred Lawson’s theories was disproven for good when he passed away at the age of 85. Apparently, he had not discovered how to live to the age of 200. Despite his passing, many of his followers continued their studies in order to graduate with the title of Knowledgian.
Even after his death there remain questions about Alfred Lawson and his university. Other than the selling of army surplus there is little known about his finances. He owned very little in his later years and moved around frequently in order to appear as a guest to those followers who lived too far away to attend his “prestigious” university. Today all that remains of the University is an old barn near Racine, Wisconsin and a few scattered churches in Kansas that may still preach some of the tenets of Lawsonomy.