A whopping total of 775 students have signed up for Economics 1, the Department of Economics reported yesterday. Although the Department had only preliminary enrollment figures, the final total is expected to be well over 700.

Richard T. Gill, assistant professor of Economics and head of Ec 1 said yesterday that the figure of 775 was "probably the biggest" in the history of the course. "It's the biggest I can remember," he said.

Last year 640 students enrolled in Ec. 1, making it the largest course in the University. Enrollment was about 600 in 1960-61, and 530 the year before that, Gill said.

The Department is happy to have attracted so many students, but not so happy about having to provide sections for all of them. When asked whether the Department had succeeded in staffing Ec. 1 adequately, Gill admitted, "We're still working on it."

"Catch-All Section

"There's one sort of catch-all section with 85 people in it," he reported, but said the Department hoped to iron out this and other such anomalies in the next two weeks.

The Department has already put together 24 sections, 15 of which meet M-W-F at 12.

Gill pointed to the general organization of the course and its "erratic" lecture-section ratio as main reasons for its new popularity. He also praised the section men in the course.

"We've made quite an effort to get good men for the course," he said.

Gill said there was no real connection between the number of students in Ec 1 and the number of Economics concentrators. The great majority of students enrolled in the course are there because they feel they should learn something about Economics, not because they intend to major in the department, he explained.