Categories
Exam Questions Fields M.I.T.

M.I.T. General exam questions, fiscal economics, 1963

 

The following general exam in fiscal economics was found in Evsey Domar’s papers at Duke University’s Economists’ Papers Archive. Two students apparently took this examination and were graded by Domar:  Michael Repplier Dohan (MIT Ph.D., 1969) and Silva (unable to determine first name).

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September 23, 1963

GENERAL EXAMINATION IN FISCAL ECONOMICS
THREE HOURS

Please answer THREE QUESTIONS, ONE from each part. Use a separate examination book for each question.

Part I.

  1. Write an essay on the subject of “The Effect of Built-In Stabilizers on the Growth and Fluctuations of the American Economy.”
    Explain what they are and how they work.
  2. State the economic objectives which the American Federal Government, in your opinion, should pursue at the present time and explain how well (or badly) the details of the proposed tax reduction; indicate, however, what kind of reductions you have in mind).

 

Part II.

  1. Explain as fully as you can the economic effects of a, say, 50 per cent income tax imposed on (a) corporations, and (b) all businesses. Indicate the positions taken by the authorities in the field, your own position, and methods of testing them.
  2. Abba Lerner has suggested that the best tax would be a kind of a poll tax imposed on each individual not in relation to his actual income but to his potential income (what he could earn) as estimated by the tax authorities.
    Leaving the practical aspects of this proposal aside, explain the following:

    1. What objectives was Lerner trying to accomplish by means of this unusual tax?
    2. What does this proposal tell you about Lerner’s general economic philosophy?
    3. What defects in our existing (federal) tax structure was Lerner trying to eliminate by this proposal?
    4. How would you deal with the defects indicated in (c)? Be specific.

 

Part III.

  1. Explain as fully as you can the objectives to be pursued and the problems likely to be encountered by recurrent deficit financing (an excess of expenditures over receipts) if practiced by the following organizations:
    1. The American Federal Government
    2. The national government of India or of some other underdeveloped country
    3. An American state (or local) government
    4. American business as a whole
    5. An American business corporation.
  2. Amoz Morag, an Israeli economist, once said that our whole theory of public finance, having been developed mostly in England and in the United States, is based on certain economic philosophy natural to these countries but not to the underdeveloped ones. For the latter, a very different approach to public finance is required, frequently leading to conclusions and methods diametrically opposed to the usually accepted ones.
    Comment fully.

 

 

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Evsey Domar Papers, Box 16, Folder “Ph.D. examinations, Fiscal Economics”.

Image Source:  Evsey Domar from the MIT Museum website.

Categories
Economists M.I.T.

M.I.T. Economics Ph.D. Alumnus Michael R. Dohan, 1969

 

This meet-an-alumnus post is the result of exercising due-diligence for the 1963 general examination questions in fiscal economics at M.I.T. that I found in Evsey Domar’s papers. There was nothing on the copy of the exam that explicitly mentioned M.I.T. though Domar’s grading sheet was in the same folder with the names of two students, one of whom was “Dohan”. Since I do like to gather biographical information about earlier graduate students of economics–where they came from and what their subsequent careers were,  I think the combination of the obligatory biographical note from his M.I.T. Ph.D. dissertation and his LinkedIn profile provide a very nice set of bookends for the professional life of Michael R. Dohan.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE (1969)

            Michael Repplier Dohan, born on January 11, 1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, attended Haverford College during 1957-1961 and received a B. A. in June 1961. He entered the doctoral program of the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) in September 1961 and passed the general examinations two years later. He studied in the Soviet Union Program of Harvard University during 1963/64, and then returned to M.I.T., where he was a teaching assistant and instructor in economics. He was Lecturer on the Soviet economy at Tufts University in the spring of 1966. In September 1966 he was appointed instructor in economics at the California Institute of Technology and was promoted to assistant professor in August 1969.

He has received a 2nd year Woodrow Wilson Fellowship awarded by M.I.T. (1962-63), a Foreign Area Fellowship (1963-64), a NSF Summer Fellowship for Graduate Teaching Assistants (1965) and a Fulbright to Germany (1963-64, received but not accepted).

Other research on the USSR includes “Soviet Concessions to Foreign Capital 1918-1931, A History,” (Harvard University, 1965, unpublished), and “An Analytical Model of the Soviet Industrialization Debate and the Role of Foreign Trade in Soviet Growth 1920-1930,” (Harvard University, 1967, unpublished).

 

Source:  Michael Repplier Dohan. Soviet Foreign Trade in the NEP Economy and Soviet Industrialization Strategy. M.I.T. Ph.D. thesis, submitted September 1969.  Thesis Supervisor: Evsey D. Domar

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From Michael R. Dohan LinkedIn Profile

 

Employment

CitiDexLI, Inc.
Senior Editor and Publisher
Apr 1992–[?]

Design and publish online Citidex and CitiDexLI directory- guides for Long Island and New York, used by 500,000 visitors per year.Over 1000 advertisers support this Internet media.
Also published paper versions, called the Traveller’s Yellow Pages for Saint Petersburg, Russia and for Moscow, Russia as well as very popular maps of Saint Petersburg and of Moscow. until 2008.

Queens College
Associate Prof. Of Economics
Feb 1971Aug 2015

Teach or have taught Intro Micro, Intro Macro, Intermediate Micro, Comparative Economic Systems, Environmental Economics, Energy Economics, Research Methods for Honors. Past Academic Senator, Past Advisor to the Economics Honor Society, Departmental Treasurer, Senior Evaluator of Foreign Transfer Credits for Foreign Students, active adviser to about 40 students per semester.

California Institute of Technology
Instructor/Assistant Professor
Sep 1965 – Dec 1970

Taught Macro, Micro and developed the first Environmental Economics Course (1965) at Caltech.

 

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology,  Ph.D. in Economics
1961 – 1969

Specialties: International Trade, Economic Development, Comparative Economics. Russian Research Institute (see Harvard University). Worked under Evsey Domar, Charles Kindleberger and Richard Eckaus. TA for Paul Samuelson. Won the 2nd Year Ford Foundation Scholarship.
While working on my dissertation I attended the MA Program in Russian Studies at Harvard as ABD to teach at Caltech and to finish my dissertation (in 1969): Soviet Foreign Trade in the NEP Economy and Soviet Industrialization Strategy 1913-1938.

 

Haverford College, BA in Economics
1957-1961

Glee Club, Bryn-Mawr-Haverford Madrigal Ensemble, Bryn-Mawr-Haverford Recorder Ensemble, Fencing, German House, Young Friends (Quaker) Meeting.
Sports were skating, skiing and hiking. Lived in German House and French House. Fluent in German and French. Served as translator for one summer as a member of AISEC for a French moving company in Paris.

 

Image Source: Michael Dohan, Professor Emeritus from the Queens College Economics website   captured in the Internet Archive Wayback Machine 18 August 2016.

 

Categories
Chicago Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Graduate money reading list. Friedman, 1970

 

The following course outline with its readings is pretty much self-explanatory, though I cannot help but notice that there is quite a bit of Milton Friedman to read in Milton Friedman’s money course. It reminds me of the remark by Samuelson:

One must not make the mistake attributed to Edward Gibbon when he wrote his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Gibbon, it was said, sometimes confused himself and the Roman Empire.

_____________________

Milton Friedman

ECONOMICS 331—MONEY
Reading List—Winter Quarter, 1970

(Note: Readings marked with an asterisk (*) cover the essential substantive material.)

I. Introductory Material

*Milton Friedman, The Optimum Quantity of Money and Other Essays, (Aldine, 1968), Chap. 1.

*Milton Friedman, The Quantity Theory, International Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences (reprints on reserve).

David Hume, “Of Money,” “Of Interest,” in Essays and Treatises.

H. G. Johnson, “Monetary Theory and Keynesian Economics,” reprinted in W. Smith and R. Teiger (eds.) Readings in Money, National Income, and Stabilization Policy.

D. H. Robertson, Money.

II. The Quantity Equation

*Irving Fisher, The Purchasing Power of Money (Macmillan, 1913), chaps. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8.

*J. M. Keynes, Tract on Monetary Reform (1924), chap. 2; chap. iii, sec. 1.

*Wesley C. Mitchell, Business Cycles, The Problem and Its Setting (New York, 1927), pp. 128-39.

*A. C. Pigou, “The Value of Money” in Lutz, F. A., and Mints, L. W. (eds.) Readings in Monetary Theory.

Alfred Marshall, Official Papers, “Evidence before the Indian Currency Committee (1889),” questions 11758-62 (pp. 267-69); “Evidence before the Gold and Silver Commission (1887-88).” questions 9629-86 (pp. 34-53); testimony to Royal Commission on The Depression of Trade and Industry (1886), answers to question 8(i), pp. 7-15.

Henry Thornton, An Enquiry into the Nature and Effect of the Paper Credit of Great Britain (1802), Library of Economics edition (Allen and Irwin, 1939), chaps. iii and xi.

Jacob Viner, Studies in the Theory of International Trade (Harpers, 1937), pp. 119-289.

III. The Demand for Money

*Phillip Cagan, “The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation,” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money, esp. 11, 25-35 and 86-91.

*Milton Friedman, “The Quantity Theory of Money: A Restatement” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money, ed., M. Friedman.

*J. R. Hicks, “A Suggestion for Simplifying the Theory of Money,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

*H. G. Johnson, “Monetary Theory and Policy,” American Economic Review (June, 1962), Part II.

*J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, chaps. 13 and 15.

Maurice Allais, “A Restatement of the Quantity Theory of Money,” American Economic Review (December, 1966), pp. 1123-57.

W. J. Baumol, “The Transactions Demand for Cash: An Inventory Theoretic Approach,” Quarterly Journal of Economics (November, 1952).

Karl Brunner and Allan H. Meltzer, “Predicting Velocity: Implications for Theory and Policy,” Journal of Finance (May, 1963), pp. 319-54.

Karl Brunner and Allan H. Meltzer, “Some Further Investigations of Demand and Supply Functions for Money,” Journal of Finance (May, 1964).

Gregory C. Chow, “On the Long-run and Short-run Demand for Money,” Journal of Political Economy (April, 1966), pp. 111-31.

John V. Deaver, “The Chilean Inflation and the Demand for Money,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (The University of Chicago, Department of Economics, Winter, 1961).

Edgar Feige, The Demand for Liquid Assets: A Temporal Cross-Section Analysis (Prentice-Hall, 1964).

Milton Friedman, “The Demand for Money: Some Theoretical and Empirical Results,” Journal of Political Economy (August, 1959), pp. 327-51.

H. G. Johnson, “Recent Developments in Monetary Theory,” Essays in Monetary Economics.

David Laidler, “Some Evidence on the Demand for Money,” Journal of Political Economy (February, 1966), pp. 55-68.

H. A. Latane, “Cash Balances and the Interest Rate—A Pragmatic Approach,” Review of Economics and Statistics (November, 1954) and (November, 1960).

Allan H. Meltzer, “The Demand for Money: The Evidence from the Time Series,” Journal of Political Economy (June, 1963).

Merton H. Miller and Daniel Orr, “A Model of the Demand for Money by Firms,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXXX (August, 1966), 413-35.

George R. Morrison, Liquidity Preferences of Commercial Banks (University of Chicago Press, 1966).

Joan Robinson, “The Rate of Interest,” Econometrica, Vol. 19 (1951), reprinted as chap 1 of The Rate of Interest and Other Essays.

James Tobin, “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 19 (May, 1947), 130-31.

James Tobin, “Liquidity Preference as Behavior Toward Risk,” Review of Economic Studies (August, 1956), pp. 241-47.

James Tobin, “The Interest Elasticity of Transactions Demand for Cash,” Review of Economics and Statistics (August, 1956).

Clark Warburton, “Monetary Velocity and Monetary Policy,” and Tobin’s rejoinder, Review of Economic Statistics, XXX (November, 1948), 310-17.

IV. The Supply of Money (covered mostly in Econ. 330)

*Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz, “Appendix B: Proximate Determinants of the Nominal Stock of Money,” from A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960.

*H. G. Johnson, “Monetary Theory and Policy,” sec. 3.

Phillip Cagan, Determinants and Effects of Changes in the Stock of Money, 1875-1960 (New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1968).

Phillip Cagan, “The Demand for Currency Relative to the Total Money Supply,” Journal of Political Economy (August, 1958).

William Dewald, “Free Reserves, Total Reserves, and Monetary Control,” Journal of Political Economy (April, 1963).

Milton Friedman, A Program for Monetary Stability, chap. ii.

A. G. Hart, “The ‘Chicago’ Plan of Banking Reform,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

A. J. Meigs, Free Reserves and the Money Supply (University of Chicago Press, 1962).

Lloyd W. Mints, A History of Banking Theory, pp. 9-12, 29-35, 217-22, 247-57, 265-87.

George Tolley, “Providing for Growth of the Money Supply,” Journal of Political Economy (Dec., 1957), pp. 465-85.

U.S. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve Systems Purposes and Function.

Knut Wicksell, “The Influence of the Rate of Interest on Prices,” Economic Journal, 171 (June, 1907), 213-20

V. Liquidity and Financial Intermediaries

*Phillip Cagan, “Why Do We Use Money in Open Market Operations,” Journal of Political Economy (February, 1958).

*Roland N. McKean, “Liquidity and a National Balance Sheet,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

J. G. Gurley, “Liquidity and Financial Institutions in the Postwar Period,” Study Paper No. 14, Joint Economic Committee, January, 1960.

J. G. Gurley and E. S. Shaw, Money in a Theory of Finance.

H. Makower and J. Marschak, “Assets, Prices and Monetary Theory,” Readings in Price Theory.

Alvin Marty, “Gurley and Shaw on Money in a Theory of Finance,” Journal of Political Economy (February, 1961).

Edward Simmons, “The Relative Liquidity of Money and Other Things,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

VI. The Monetary Standard and International Monetary Arrangements

*”Conditions of International Monetary Equilibrium,” Session at 1962 meeting of American Economic Association, with papers by H. G. Johnson, Richard E. Caves, and Peter B. Kenen, and Discussion by J. Marcus Fleming, Harry C. Eastman, and J. Herbert Furth, American Economic Review (May, 1963), pp. 112-46.

*Milton Friedman, “Commodity Reserve Currency” and “The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates,” Essays in Positive Economics.

*Lloyd Mints, Monetary Policy for a Competitive Society, chaps. 4 and 5.

Frank W. Fetter, Development of British Monetary Orthodoxy, 1797-1875 (Harvard University Press, 1965).

Milton Friedman and Robert V. Roosa, The Balance of Payments: Free versus Fixed Exchange Rates, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1967.

H. G. Johnson, International Trade and Economic Growth, chaps. 6, 7.

H. G. Johnson, “The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates, 1969,” Review of Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, (June, 1969).

J. M. Keynes, Tract on Monetary Reform, chap. iii, secs. 2, 3, 4; chaps. iv and v (*especially chap. iii, sec. 2; chap. iv, sec. 2).

Egon Sohmen, Flexible Exchange Rates (University of Chicago Press, 1961).

VII. The Process of Adjustment: Inflation, Business Cycles

*Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz, “Money and Business Cycles,” Supplement to Review of Economics and Statistics (February, 1963), containing proceedings of Conference on Monetary Economics. Also, comments by H. Minsky, A. Okun, and C. Warburton.

Phillip Cagan, “The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation,” Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money.

Milton Friedman, Dollars and Deficits (Prentice-Hall, 1968), chaps. 1, 4, and 5.

Milton Friedman, “The Inflationary Gap,” in Essays in Positive Economics.

Milton Friedman, “The Monetary Studies of the National Bureau,” in The National Bureau Enters Its Forty-fifth Year, 44th Annual Report, National Bureau of Economic Research, June, 1964, pp. 7-25.

Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960, esp. chapter 7.

Arnold C. Harberger, “The Dynamics of Inflation in Chile,” in C. Christ, et al., Measurement in Economics (Stanford University Press, 1964).

Eugene M. Lerner, “Inflation in the Confederacy, 1861-65,” Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money.

Clark Warburton, “The Misplaced Emphasis in Contemporary Business-Fluctuation Theory,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman. Box 55, Folder 7.

Image Source:  Milton Friedman (undated) from University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-06231, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Courses Harvard Principles

Harvard. Report on the Recitation Sections of Principles of Economics, 1913-14

 

 

A member of the Department of Economics Visiting Committee, John Wells Morss, took it upon himself to sit in and observe classroom performance in the recitation sections of the Harvard Principles of Economics course during the Fall term of 1913-14. From the first paragraph of his report it would appear that the department of economics had invited him to provide a report to serve as a complementary (friendly?) assessment to the survey being (or to be) conducted by the Harvard Division of Education on teaching in the economics department. That Division of Education report was later published: The Teaching of Economics in Harvard University—A Report Presented by the Division of Education at the Request of the Department of Economics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1917. 

Morss’ report was passed along to President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard by the chairman of the department of economics, Charles Bullock, for-the-(positive)-record. While the report seems rather long-winded by today’s standards, it does provide us some good information, e.g. about the importance of the weekly questions discussed in the recitation sections. For a sample of the questions we are fortunate to have the published record.

Edmund Ezra Day and Joseph Stancliffe Davis. Questions on the Principles of Economics. New York: 1915.
“A few of the questions here presented are frankly borrowed from previously published collections…More of the questions have been drawn from a stock accumulated through several years in the hands of the instructing staff of the introductory course in Economics at Harvard University.” (p. vii)

The questions were arranged by topics to follow Taussig’s own textbook Principles of Economics (Second, revised edition of 1915: Volume OneVolume Two).

Another interesting takeaway is that Morss noted that over the four weeks that he attended sections, the average amount of assigned reading for these recitations was 33 pages per week from the Taussig textbook. This certainly seems modest from the perspective of today’s nominal reading lists but perhaps actually corresponds to the actual reading completed by the average undergraduate in an introductory or intermediate economics course.

Note: Since the following items come from the last folder from a box that contains the papers of President Lowell of 1909-14 and the month of February is significantly closer to the start than the end of the year, it seems likely that the date, “1913”, found in the typed date on Charles Bullock’s cover letter was mistaken and that both items transcribed below are from February 1914.

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Course Announcement and Description, 1913-14

[Economics] A. (formerly 1). Principles of Economics. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11.

Professor Taussig and Asst. Professor Day, assisted by Messrs. Burbank, J. S. Davis, R. E. Heilman, and others.

            Course A gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject. It undertakes a consideration of the principles of production, distribution, exchange, money, banking, international trade, and taxation The relations of labor and capital, the present organization of industry, and the recent currency legislation of the United States will be treated in outline.

The course will be conducted partly by lectures, partly by oral discussion in sections. A course of reading will be laid down, and weekly written exercises will test the work of students in following systematically and continuously the lectures and the prescribed reading. course A may not be taken by Freshmen without the consent of the instructor.

 

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1913-14, published in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. X, No. 1, Part X (May 19, 1913) , p. 60.

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Course Enrollment, 1913-14

[Economics] A (formerly 1). Professor Taussig and Asst. Professor Day, assisted by Dr. J. S. Davis, and Messrs. P. G. Wright, Burbank, Eldred, and Vanderblue.—Principles of Economics.

Total, 494: 1 Graduate, 1 Business School, 13 Seniors, 129 Juniors, 280 Sophomores, 24 Freshmen. 46 Others.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1913-1914, p. 54.

 

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Examination Questions for Economics A, 1913-14

Mid-year and Year-end final exams for 1913-14 for Economics A have been transcribed and posted earlier. 

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Cover letter from Professor Bullock (Economics)
to President Lowell

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts
February 20, 1913 [sic].

Dear Mr. Lowell:

Mr. John Wells Morss of our Visiting Committee has recently completed a very thoro investigation of the work done in the sections of Economics A. I enclose herewith a copy of the Report, which I think, will be of great interest to you. Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of an hour’s conference with Mr. Morss, in which he told me somewhat more fully about this investigation; and I think it may be worth your while to confer with him upon the subject.

Sincerely yours,
[signed]
C. J. Bullock.

__________________

Harvard University

THE SECTION MEETINGS OF ECONOMICS A

Notes by John Wells Morss
February, 1914.

When an amateur attempts to pass upon the work of professionals, a knowledge of his point of view is essential to one who would consider his conclusions. It therefore seems fitting to state that I was invited by the Department of Economics to make an examination of some of its work not because I was expected to reach results comparable to those expected from the examination now being conducted by the Department of Education, but because, as my invitation expressed it, the Department of Economics believed it “important to secure the opinion of some one who represents a different point of view, and brings to the work of inspection the experience of a man of business rather than of a student of education”. I have limited my examination to the work of the section meetings of the Economics Department, and shall limit this report to the work of the section meetings of Economics A, as that course has a large majority of the section meetings of the Department, and to consider them only greatly simplifies what I have to say. I have not compared my results with those of the Department of Education, and I have sought but little to obtain the views of those who conduct the section meetings as to their problems and difficulties lest they overwhelm my own observation.

Economics A, the introductory course to the subject most popular in Harvard College, has an enrollment of students this year of about five hundred and twenty-five. On Saturdays a lecture is delivered to the students in a body in the New Lecture Hall. On two other days of the week each student attends a meeting of the section to which he is assigned. There are twenty-one sections, each with a membership of about twenty-five. They are conducted by five instructors and Assistant Professor Day, all of whom will be referred to as the instructors. Twenty minutes or more of the one hundred minutes given weekly to the section meetings are devoted to writing an answer to a question set by the instructor. As twenty-one section meetings cannot be held at once, the same question cannot be put to all the students of the course; but the six different questions, prepared at a conference of the instructors, are all designed to serve the same purpose of testing the students’ knowledge and comprehension of recent work. I have not attempted to judge either questions or answers, but their usefulness seems to me to be unquestionable. After the answer is written the rest of the two meetings is devoted to a quiz with explanations and discussions based on the required reading which is usually from twenty to fifty pages of Prof. Taussig’s “Principles of Economics”. It is to this part of the work that I have given the most of my attention.

The attendance has been excellent at all the meetings at which I have been present. The maximum number of absences in a section of twenty-five does not ordinarily exceed two. One section had but five absences in six successive meetings beginning in the second week of the fall term. This record may not be equaled at meetings close to holidays and other special occasions, but on the whole the attendance is surprisingly good.

The preparation of the students is stimulated and tested by the questions asked of them by the instructor. So generally did it appear that substantially all the students of a section were called upon in an hour that I ceased after a time to attend to the point, though it seems plain that care should be used not to miss sluggish students assigned to seats in the back of the room. How generally the required reading had been done it was difficult to judge. Perhaps on the average three or four at each meeting answered that they were not prepared. At one meeting near the end of the year in another course than Economics A the preparation had been widely neglected, but that was a single case in my experience, and on the whole it seems that success is attained in the attempt to cause the students to work throughout the year with reasonable regularity.

The attention of the students seemed also satisfactory. Nobody went to sleep and apparently very few were near it. I saw no carving of the desks, though many results of such handiwork are visible. A half dozen raised hands would often indicate a strong desire to answer a question or join in the discussion. A considerable number of questions were asked in the class, some showing thought above the realization of ignorance. At some meetings a few students asked questions after the class, though the total number of those so doing was rather disappointing, considering the theoretical and stimulating nature of the subject.

The quality of the thinking done by the students did not seem to equal their attention. That they should show a lack of practical knowledge and of well considered opinions was to be expected in an elementary course; but they showed a striking incapacity for the simplest mental arithmetic, and on one occasion but few, if any, of them had had the curiosity, when studying the different kinds of currency, to look at the bills in their own pockets. And there was frequently illustrated the difference in result between reading and hard study. Often their ideas seemed hazy and too often a whole class seemed unable to answer a question adequately explained in the text. In other words, one who seeks the thoroughness required of a man is disappointed as is also he who expects to find among these students the indifference of an idle boy. When however one remembers that the average student of an elementary course in college is neither boy nor man, but in progress of development from one to the other, one is reasonably satisfied with the attitude and work of the students, and with their response to what is done for them.

In one particular however it seems that special effort should be made to improve the work of the students. In all the section meetings I attended comparatively few notes were taken. A reason may be that it is difficult to take notes of a running discussion; but the results of the discussions are often summarized by the instructor, and nobody can really take notes who can only report a slowly delivered lecture. Moreover in one case apparently not a single member of a section copied from the blackboard figures excellently illustrating the working of a clearing house. I for one should be glad to see lectures delivered to all the students of the College explaining the importance of note taking, and suggesting various practical methods. Further I would have the instructors of this course informally supplement such lectures from time to time by encouraging good note taking.

When the work of the instructor of a section meeting is considered, it is necessary early to realize that one of the most serious limitations under which he works is that of time. The maximum time available weekly for discussion in the section meetings is a short eighty minutes. The average number of pages assigned to be read in four successive weeks was thirty-three, and an experiment showed that it takes three minutes to read aloud one of those pages very rapidly. In other words there are but eighty minutes to discuss a text which cannot be read rapidly in less than one hundred minutes, and which is usually condensed in statement, closely reasoned and in many points debatable. There has therefore arisen a demand for an additional section meeting. This does not appeal to me. Economics A is a course which should be taken by every student in the College, and it should not require an exceptional amount of time from its students lest the number of them taking it be thereby limited. Moreover an additional fifty minutes would not solve the problem; the cry for still another hour would inevitably follow.

The work of the instructor is also rendered difficult by the exceptional nature of the course itself. Economics A is not only an introductory course, but is also the only course in Economics taken by a large proportion of its members. It embraces a great number of topics, each as a rule involving difficult questions of theory and based on a great variety of facts. The amount of ground to be covered is so great that of most topics only a cursory view can be had. It is impossible to pursue to any considerable extent the method of teaching by asking questions introduced into the Law School by Prof. Langdell. With that method, at least in the first year, but little ground can be covered, the facts must be few and certain, and the students either trained to reason closely or ambitious to become so trained. In Economics A the students are two or three years younger than in the Law School, and the facts and principles involved in a simple economic problem are generally of much greater complexity than those contained in the printed report of a law case. Moreover it is a rare person who does not believe that his general knowledge of economics questions is valuable. Therefore the attempt to teach elementary economics by questioning usually leads into a maze of disputed facts. Frequently therefore the instructor can ask questions only until the points are developed and then must make a statement relative to the matter under discussion. These statements are necessary and save much time, but one wonders occasionally if they are fully understood by the students, and whether a question or two after the statement would not furnish a useful test.

The variety, and to some extent the inconsistency, of the objects sought to be accomplished in the section meetings is another difficulty of the instructor. He seems called upon to see that his students do steady work; to check that work for deficiencies; to emphasize the more important, and explain the more difficult parts of a difficult subject; to stimulate intellectual interest and develop good mental habits; and, so far as time allows, to add to the contribution of others further facts and principles. In other words he must be a drill sergeant, an efficient and inspiring teacher, and an authority overflowing with his subject. An illustration of the problems caused by this diversity of objects presents itself when we consider whether it is better to ask single questions of one student after another, or to ask a considerable number of questions of one student before calling on another. If the latter course is followed, the subject can be more thoroughly and consistently developed, and the questioned student better tested and aroused. But then the poorer members of the class may fail to follow the line of questioning or may even regard the considerable time given to one man as an opportunity mentally to go to sleep. A rattling fire of single questions keeps the whole class wide awake.

An observer who has come to realize some of the difficulties of conducting a section meeting, and has seen different methods pursued by different instructors, is tempted to theorize and to select the methods which he thinks he would adopt if he were himself conducting a meeting. He would call upon his students in an order which they could not forsee, and would call on each one of them at least weekly to test his reading of the text. He would use the single question when the simplicity of the subject matter encouraged it, or the class seemed dull, and would seek the opportunity to develop with one student a more complicated problem by a series of questions. He would realize that the limitation of time made it necessary not to attempt to cover in the class all the ground covered by the text, but to plan carefully what topics should be touched upon and the amount of time to be given to each of them, even if his intention was not to hold rigidly to his plan, but to meet the needs of his class as it developed in the meeting. He would try to present in some measure of scale the most important points, although saving time on those which could not fail to be seized by the students because of their relative simplicity or general popular interest. In such an introductory course he would tend to emphasize reasons rather than conclusions, and theory rather than facts, although he would welcome an opportunity to explain and illustrate the actual working in detail of practical affairs. He would as a rule follow the opinions of the text and not complicate a problem by introducing too often his own opinions or those of other authorities; nor would he expect himself largely to contribute additional material to the discussion; yet he would avoid frequent references to the text by name, but endeavor to have a proposition rest not on the authority of the writer but on its own reasonableness. Realizing that a problem is half solved when the definitions of its terms are accurately determined, he would emphasize the importance of the exact meaning of words, and would not infrequently write on the blackboard a list of significant words and phrases as an outline for the work of the meeting.

But even if a method could be determined upon which would be better than any other, its creator would still be far from his goal. The very perfection of the method of one instructor may cause his class to bow to it and hardly ask a question, while the apparent deficiencies of another’s method seems to stimulate his class to ask questions until the ground is well covered. Again a method highly successful with one teacher cannot be effectively pursued by another; and the needs of the students, even of the students of the same section, vary greatly from time to time. Moreover almost every conclusion embodied in a method is a resultant of conflicting considerations and its application is a question of degree. One therefore is here led to an opinion often reached before in similar cases that good teaching is primarily a matter not of method, but of judgment, energy and skill in the teacher.

In studying the characteristics of the instructors of Economics A, one first notes that they are men of very diverse temperaments, experience and methods. So different are they that when I learned that they had a weekly meeting I thought that they might greatly help each other by consultation about their common work, especially as most of them obtain in in this course their first experience in teaching. I was distinctly disappointed when I learned that the object of their weekly meeting was mainly to prepare the questions for the written answer, rather than to consult about the next week’s teaching. Still much consultation, if attempted, might easily become formal or cramping, and it may be better that each should be left alone to work out his results, and that we should trust that freedom will continue to justify itself by its fruits. Whichever plan is followed, the probability that there will occasionally be employed an instructor of inferior quality is sufficiently great to raise the question whether it would not be desirable to have each section taught by different instructors in the first and second half years. This would guarantee to each section at least a half year’s good instruction, and in addition would give to the students the advantage of two methods and two points of view.

In conclusion I am happy to be able to report that in my opinion the instructors of the section meetings of Economics A, with all their differences, are men of an exceptionally high average of ability and earnestness, and that their instruction is notably good,–much better than I had expected to find. The expenditure in the past few years of additional money to better the grade of these instructors has been justified by results, and those responsible for it are entitled to congratulations.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. President Lowell’s Papers 1909-1914, Box 14, Folder 404.

Image Source:  Wikimedia Commons photograph by Bill McLaughlin : Lowell Hall, originally called “New Lecture Hall”, Harvard University.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Trade-unionism and allied problems. Exams, 1913-32

 

The course for undergraduates and graduates “Trade Unionism and Allied Problems” (Economics 6a) was a staple in the Harvard economics department offerings for the two decades that include the first world war, the roaring ‘twenties and the early years of the Great Depression. This post follows up on the previous post that provided lists of readings used in the courses on “trade unions” and “labor problems” from the second half of the 1920s.

I have provided early and late course descriptions to indicate the continuity of course content. These are followed by the annual enrollment data when available along with transcriptions of the final exams for all but three years not found in the collections of printed examinations in the Harvard archives or in the hathitrust.org digital archive. Biographical information about Professor William Z. Ripley who regularly taught Economics 6a was included in an earlier post for this course in 1914-15.

The Fall term 1947 Harvard course outline and reading list for John Dunlop’s course “Trade Unionism and Collective Bargaining” has been transcribed and posted earlier. 

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Early Course Description (1913-14)

[Economics] 6a 1hf. Trade Unionism and Allied Problems. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Professor RIPLEY, assisted by —.

This course will deal mainly with the economic and social relations of employer and employed. Among the topics included will be: the history of unionism; the policies of trade unions respecting wages, machinery, output, etc.; collective bargaining; strikes; employers’ liability and workmen’s compensation; efficiency management; unemployment, etc., in the relation to unionism, will be considered.

Each student will make at least one report upon a labor union or an important strike, from the original documents. Two lectures a week, with one recitation, will be the usual practice.

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1913-14. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. X, No. 1, Part X (May 19, 1913), p. 63.

 

Late Course Description (1932-33)

[Economics] 6a 1hf. Labor Problems.
Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Dr. Brown

This course will deal mainly with the economic and social relations of employer and employed. Among the topics included will be: the history of unionism; the policies of trade unions respecting wages, machinery, output, collective bargaining,  strikes, the legal status of unionism, closed shop, efficiency management, unemployment, and labor legislation.

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1913-14. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXIX, No. 32 (June 27, 1932), p. 73.

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1912-13

Enrollment, 1912-13

6a 1hf. (formerly 9a 1hf) Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Lloyd Morgan] Crosgrave. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 72: 3 Graduates, 44 Seniors, 19 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1912-13, p. 57.

 

ECONOMICS 6a
Final examination, 1912-13

Answer the first five briefly

  1. What is sabotage?
  2. What is the “extended” closed shop?
  3. What is the principal practical difficulty in the “general strike”?
  4. Is it met by the adoption of any positive policy in France by the “syndicates “?
  5. In the syndicalist programme what is to be the unit in the reorganized state?
  6. Contrast collective bargaining under sanction of the law with its adoption by private arrangement; (a) from the point of view of advantage to the employer; (b) from that of the workman.
  7. What are the four main features of the New Zealand legislation. (Each in a sentence.)
  8. What is the principal demonstrated weakness in the above legislation?
  9. What are three disabilities of the individual workmen in negotiating a wage contract?
  10. Wages for women in domestic service and in manufactures seem out of line with one another. What main difference helps to explain this?
  11. What is the present condition of affairs respecting the closed shop in the United States? Outline the course of events for two decades.
  12. How does the law of conspiracy enter into the decision by courts in labor disputes? How has Great Britain settled it?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1913), p. 45.

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1913-14

Enrollment, 1913-14

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Louis August] Rufener. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 71: 4 Graduates, 31 Seniors, 25 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1913-14, p. 55

 

ECONOMICS 6a
Final examination, 1913-14

  1. Outline the principal phases of development of organized labor in the United States, with especial reference to conditions at the present time. In conclusion name five or six of the most significant events which define the present situation.
  2. What are the three most essential features of a collective bargain between workmen and employers?
  3. What is the feature in common of all minimum wage laws, as in Victoria and of compulsory arbitration statutes like those of New Zealand? Wherein does the policy differ most profoundly from ours?
  4. Name in a sentence in each of as many of the following cases as possible, the essential point at issue.

(a) The Danbury hatters.
(b) Allen v. Flood.
(c) New York Bakeshop law.
(d) Bucks Stove Co. case.
(e) Taff Vale Railway.
(f) Holden v. Hardy. (Utah.)

  1. How, other than by incorporation, is a greater measure of legal responsibility of trade unions to be attained?
  2. Discuss scientific management from the viewpoint of organized labor.
  3. What is the significant feature of the new type of state labor bureau, like the Wisconsin Industrial Commission?
  4. Compare the present legal status of the non-union man in England and the United States.

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1914), p. 44.

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1914-15 

Enrollment, 1914-15

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Louis August] Rufener. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 76: 45 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1914-15, pp. 59-60.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1914-15

Answer in order; but cover only as many as the time limit permits.

  1. Speaking of English conditions, the Webbs on p. 707 say:
    “Hence old-fashioned family concerns with sleepy management and obsolete plant, find the Trade Union regulations a positive protection against competition.” What do they mean? Show how it works out.
  2. Describe and discuss the recent decision of the U. S. Supreme Court in the Danbury Hatters case, especially in its bearing upon incorporation.
  3. Under any of the plans for eliminating labor contests which expressly prohibit striking, what offset is given to the employees for this limitation upon their freedom of action?
  4. The Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co. assures its operatives a fixed percentage of gross receipts as a wage fund. What is the object? Criticize the plan.
  5. What advantages may be expected to flow to a union from the adoption of a positive system of high dues and liberal benefits?
  6. The Eastern Engineer’s Arbitration Award of 1912 says:
    “Therefore, considering the uncertainty of many of the factors involved, the arbitrators feel that they should not deny an increase of compensation to the engineers merely on the ground that the roads are unable to pay. They feel that the engineers should be granted a fair compensation. … In making their award they therefore eliminate the claim of the railroads that they are unable to pay an increased compensation.” Discuss the principle advanced.
  7. Is the closed-shop policy essential to successful trade unionism? Illustrate your argument.
  8. Theoretically, the Standard Wage is merely the minimum wage for the trade. How does it work out in practise?
  9. How do the efficiency engineers deal with restriction of output? Give imaginary examples, if you can?
  10. Where has insurance against unemployment been tried; and with what success?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1915), pp. 49-50.

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1915-16

Enrollment, 1915-16

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Weisman. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 61: 24 Seniors, 29 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1915-16, pp. 60-61.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1915-16

  1. Illustrate by a sketch the interrelation between the constituent parts of the American Federation of Labor.
  2. Criticise the following premium wage plans for mounting “gem” electric lamp bulbs.
Wage per thousand
Output under 900 daily $1.03
Output 900-1000 daily $1.07
Output 1000-1100 daily $1.12
Output over 1100 daily $1.17
  1. Have you any impression whether Webb favors craft or industrial unionism? What instances does he cite?
  2. Define (a) Federal union; (b) Device of the Common Rule? (c) Jurisdiction dispute.
  3. Is there any real difference between an “irritation strike” of the I.W.W. and the British “strike in detail”?
  4. Contrast the British and American policies of trade union finance, showing causes and results.
  5. Describe the Hart, Schaffner and Marx plan of dealing with its employees.
  6. Is the Standard Wage merely the minimum for a given trade or not? Discuss the contention that it penalizes enterprise or ability.
  7. Is there any relation logically between the attitude of labor toward piece work and the relative utilization of machinery?
    What is the nature of the business transacted at the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1916), pp. 54-55.

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1916-17

Enrollment, 1916-17

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Lewis. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 49: 3 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1916-17, pp. 56-57.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1916-17

  1. Discuss, with illustrations, the proposition to avoid judicial interference with labor legislation, by means of constitutional amendment.
  2. In how far do the Industrial Commissions of several states exemplify the ideals and necessities in the field of labor legislation?
  3. “The minimum scale does not reduce all workmen to a ‘deal level’ as it is so often asserted. It is true that it protects the average man when he is employed. But in dull seasons it will invariably be found that the less efficient men are out of work. A lower wage scale for the less efficient would not create more work and furnish them employment. It would, however, pull down the wages of the more efficient, who would still continue to do the work, but at a lower rate of pay.
    “If the unions did not set a minimum scale of wages, the minimum would be set by the necessity of the idle men in the street and standards of living would be lower.” Did the author apparently have piece or time wages in mind in the above quotation, or would the reasoning be applicable equally to either sort?
  4. How does the New Zealand program differ from our American practices as respects,
    1. Status of the non-union man?
    2. The standard wage?
    3. Strikes?
  5. With what feature of the labor problem does scientific management seek primarily to cope? What obstacles confront its introduction?
  6. Give as many reasons as you can for the apparently deep-seated distrust of the courts among the working classes in the United States?
  7. Discuss the proposition that equal wages should be paid for the same work regardless of sex.
  8. Two slogans are common among the working classes in America; “An injury to one is an injury to all” and “A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.” With what important organizations, respectively, would you naturally associate them and why?
  9. What are the three crucial features of a collective agreement as to wages and working conditions?
  10. As between England and the United States which, on the whole, is the more advanced in the matter of trade union policy and labor legislation? Cite examples.

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Examination Papers 1917 (HUC 7000.28, 59 of 284) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1917), pp. 56-57.

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1917-18

Enrollment, 1917-18

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 19: 1 Graduate, 10 Seniors, 8 Juniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1917-18, p. 54.

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1917-18

[not included in published volume of exams]

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1918-19

Enrollment, 1918-19

[Course not included in the annual report of President of Harvard College]

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1919-20

Enrollment, 1919-20

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Richard Stockton] Meriam. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 97: 30 Seniors, 37 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 25 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1919-20, p. 90.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1919-20

  1. Outline the recent coal strike, noting explicitly the novel points involved in the settlement.
  2. The National War Labor Board declared specifically that in the determination of wages for street railway employees it would not admit evidence concerning the financial necessities of the companies.. Was this presumably because they were public utilities or is the principle applicable to all classes of employers?
  3. What are the disabilities of the individual laborer in bargaining for wages, according to Webb?
  4. How is the closed shop issue treated in the Australian colonies?
  5. Discuss labor “as a commodity,” indicating how and why the question was raised?
  6. In the discussion of incorporation of trade unions in Commons, two entirely distinct lines of objection are brought out. Outline them.
  7. Where have the W.W. been most in evidence? Suggest reasons.
  8. Give as many reasons as you can for the wide difference in labor legislation between the several American commonwealths. Number each one and be brief.
  9. Discuss the proposition that the standardization of wages is beneficial to the community as well as to the individual worker.
  10. Draw up a brief industrial code to govern the relation between employers and workmen as to collective bargaining. State what principles you personally approve.

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Examination Papers 1920 (HUC 7000.28, 62 of 284) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1920), p. 51.

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1920-21

Enrollment, 1920-21

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Richard Stockton] Meriam. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 94: 2 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 34 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 16 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1920-21, p. 96.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1920-21

Answer the questions in order. Begin each question on a new page. Answer all questions.

  1. a. What are the elements of a collective bargain?
    b. Does collective bargaining adequately describe the aim of trade unionism? Why, or why not?
  2. “A living wage is a first charge on industry.” If you were an arbitrator, would you accept this as a basic principle and rule out other considerations as irrelevant? If not, what other facts would you demand, and what use would you make of them?
  3. “If the fundamental object of trade unionism…has any justification at all, the principle of the Standard Rate must be conceded, and if a Standard Rate is admitted, the subsidiary regulations which we have described follow as a matter of course.”—(Webb, p. 320.)
    Explain and discuss.
  4. Outline the history of British experience respecting rights of trade unionists in the conduct of strikes.
  5. Write briefly on five of the following topics:
    1. “Lowering the dyke.”
    2. Priestly v. Fowler.
    3. The Osborne Case.
    4. The Strike in Detail.
    5. The preamble of the I.W.W.
    6. Jurisdictional disputes.
  6. What is the legal status of the secondary boycott in the United States? Why is the matter taken so seriously by both parties?
  7. What principles as to wages and working conditions have been applied in the New Zealand Compulsory Arbitration Law?
  8. Cite instances by name of the two leading types of employers’ organizations, and outline their respective tactics.
  9. Describe some of the factors or industrial circumstances which favor or discourage union organization in industry. Illustrate by concrete examples.
  10. Why was 1903, or thereabouts, a critical period in the American labor movement?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Examination Papers 1921 (HUC 7000.28, 63 of 284) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Church History, …, Economics, …, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1921), pp. 60-61.

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1921-22

Enrollment, 1921-22

[Enrollments not in the annual report of President of Harvard College]

Note: according to Announcement of the Courses of Instruction for 1921-22 (3rd edition) course was listed to be taught by W. Z. Ripley.

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1921-22

  1. Show by a sketch the structure of the American Federation of Labor.
  2. If the A. F. of L. is a creation of its constituent members, what are the sources of its power over them?
  3. The so-called Cleveland plan of collective bargaining in the women’s clothing industry deals with restriction of output by two novel proposals. Describe one or both.
  4. Discuss the proposed bills to empower trade unions to sue and to be sued; setting forth their advantages and defects in principle.
  5. What is the greatest disadvantage of a minimum wage law under the particular industrial conditions now prevalent? What line of action is proposed for meeting it?
  6. What are the two main arguments for a national system of employment agencies in place of the existing practice?
  7. Lenin in his Address to the Proletariat (in Commons) announces certain new policies respecting production under the Soviet government. What are they?
  8. What is the usual method nowadays of dealing with strikes in the United States? Describe briefly and name alternative plans proposed or adopted.
  9. Rowntree’s so-called “price of peace” contains the following five items of an industrial program:
    1. A fair wage.
    2. Reasonable working hours.
    3. Protection against unemployment.
    4. The status of the worker must yield to leadership. We must cultivate in the factory worker the greatest possible maximum of cooperation, self-reliance self-government and enthusiasm, and the lowest practical minimum of discipline and overhead supervision. The democracy and freedom prevailing outside of the factory must not stand out in too great contrast with dictation within the factory. To this end machinery must be adopted for common counsel and mutual understanding relative to conditions under which the worker is employed.
    5. Profit-sharing.
      Criticise this program (a) from the standpoint of production; and (b) as affording satisfaction to the aspirations of the workers.

Final. 1922

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Examination Papers 1922 (HUC 7000.28, 64 of 284) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Church History, …, Economics, …, Social Ethics, Education in Harvard College (June, 1922).

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1922-23

Enrollment, 1922-23

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 89: 3 Graduates, 44 Seniors, 27 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1922-23, p. 92.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1922-23

  1. What are principal functions of the:
    (a) National Founders’ Association; (b) the National Manufacturers’ Association; (c) National Bottle Manufacturers’ Association; (d) San Francisco Building Trades Council?
  2. Who have been the leading proponents of incorporation of trades unions? What are the main objections of the opponents?
  3. What did the Clayton Act in its labor clauses seek to do, and with what success? Explain fully.
  4. What were the differences between the Coronado Coal Co. case, and that of the Danbury Hatters?
  5. What is the gist of the Canadian Industrial Disputes Act of 1907? How does it differ from the British Trades Disputes Act of 1906?
  6. What have been some of the results of the plan for settling disputes in the anthracite coal industry?
  7. Compare the various types of unemployment insurance.
  8. Concerning Workmen’s Compensation in the United States:
    1. What is the best proof of its success?
    2. What has been the attitude, respectively, of employers and workers?
    3. Who pays for it?
    4. What has been its principal indirect, as distinct from its direct effect?
    5. What are some outstanding defects?
  9. What renders the Hart, Schaffner and Marx labor policy so distinctive? What great industry stands most flatly opposed to its prime features?
  10. What has been the most significant survival in the field of labor relationships of the war period? Show wherein it differs from conditions prevalent commonly in the building trades.

Final. 1923.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1923 (HUC 7000.28, 65 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Social Ethics, Anthropology, June, 1923.

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1923-24

Enrollment, 1923-24

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 63: 6 Graduates, 25 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1923-24, pp. 106-07.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1923-24

Develop each question fully, regardless of whether you complete the paper or not.

  1. Define, each in a sentence, the following:
    1. preferential shop:
    2. time study;
    3. sabotage;
    4. “ca’canny”;
    5. the truck system;
    6. one big union;
    7. “open shop”;
    8. workmen’s compensation.
  2. What has been our experience with Federal child labor regulation?
  3. Describe in outline the structure of the American Federation of Labor, indicating, each in a sentence, the prime function of the several units. Show their relation one to another.
  4. Criticize the policy proposed by Bullard in the second assigned Atlantic Monthly article dealing with solutions for labor unrest.
  5. Trace in outline the development of British legislation dealing with trade unionism. Indicate wherein we have anything resembling it in the United States.
  6. How are strikes dealt with in Canada? What success has attended the experiment?
  7. Merely name the issue involved in the following Supreme Court decisions:
    1. Coronado Coal Co.
    2. Hitchman Coal Co.
    3. Duplex Printing Press Co.
  8. Name as many important events, as you can recall, since the Armistice, which have any bearing upon the matter of industrial relations, again showing in a word what was the significance of each.
  9. What do you, personally, think of minimum wage legislation? Not the opinion, whatever it be, but the reasons adduced therfor, are of importance.

Final. 1924.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1924 (HUC 7000.28, 66 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Psychology, Social Ethics, June, 1924.

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1924-25

Enrollment, 1924-25

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 66: 4 Graduates, 37 Seniors, 18 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1924-25, pp. 75-76.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1924-25

  1. Outline concisely the history of trade unionism in the United States, indicating the predominant type of each period and the factors responsible for its development.
  2. Hoxie devotes a good deal of attention to the “fixed group demand” or “lump of labor” doctrine as explaining certain phases of trade union policy. Describe it, and show how it manifests itself in practice; indicating also whether it deserves condemnation, wholly or only in part.
  3. In May 1910, Waddell made 31 trips over his division and hauled 38,000 tons. His compensation was $180. In May 1912, he made 26 trips and hauled 46,000 tons, and his pay was $181.
    State the pros and cons of the argument that because the instruments utilized were more productive, assuming that the actual individual effort remained the same, he was entitled to a substantial increase in wages.
  4. Is there any difference in principle between profit sharing and the bonus or premium system of wages employed in scientific management?
  5. What conditions, other things being equal, favor the use of piece wages; and under what conditions would day or time wages yield better results? [Note. This is purely a “Reasoning” question, not based upon any particular reading.]
  6. “The position given in England to trade unions and employers’ associations violates that concept, fundamental in law, that he who is responsible for a wrong must answer therefor.”
    Do you think the above statement is an accurate description of the situation in England at the present time? Could the same remark be applied to conditions as they now exist in the United States? In both cases, state your reasons as fully as possible.
  7. Attack or defend, as you please, one or more of the following propositions, stating the case as fully and concisely as possible, and anticipating, where it seems advisable, the arguments which might be urged in opposition to your stand:
    1. A system of compulsory investigation such as the one now in force in Canada should be adopted in the United States.
    2. Trade unions in the United States should be made legally responsible through some form of incorporations.
    3. The closed non-union shop is in the best interests of the consuming public.
    4. Compulsory arbitration, contrary to the workers’ belief, would be to their interests both as union members and as wage-earners.
    5. Restriction of immigration tends to improve the economic position of the American wage-earner.

Final. 1925.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1925 (HUC 7000.28, 67 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Anthropology, Military Science, June, 1925.

________________________________

1925-26

Enrollment, 1925-26

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 53: 1 Graduate, 22 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1925-26, pp. 77-78.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1925-26

  1. “The labor of a human being is not a commodity or an article of commerce.” In what law was this phrase employed? Why? Did it probably serve its purpose, as intended?
  2. President Wilson in his war message to Congress, April, 1917 said: “We shall fight…for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments.” In your opinion is the principle as applicable to industrial as to political affairs? What constitutes the difference, if any?
  3. Criticize the theory of the factory owner’s right to a “free flow of labor.” How is it applied under the Constitution?
  4. The United States Railroad Labor Board in the Shopmen’s case in 1920 said: “The Board has endeavored to fix such wages as will provide a decent living and will procure for the children of the wage-earners opportunity for education; and yet to remember,…” How do you think they went on with the decision? Complete one as you work it out in your mind.
  5. Hart, Schaffner & Marx once proposed to change the system of delivery of paper patterns to cutters, using boys instead of cutters to hunt them up in the files. So the firm petitions the neutral board for a compensatory increase in the number of cuts in a standard day’s performance, because of the relief afforded by employing pattern boys. The cutters object as pattern delivery is cutters’ work. To employ boys will decrease the jobs for the cutters. Company contended it was wasteful to have high-priced men doing boys’ work. As arbitrator how would you reason it out and render decision? Any validity in cutters’ contention?
  6. Relate briefly the history of the Clayton law, the “Magna Carta” of labor, exclusive of the point covered in question one.
  7. Why have the so-called “Co-union” types of employers’ associations flourished in particular trades in the United States? Analyze the situation in such trades.
  8. Sketch under distinct headings, some of the reasons for the antagonism of organized labor to stimulation, as applied in scientific management.
  9. What are some of the causes of the distrust and suspicion of organized labor towards the courts in America?

Final. 1926.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1926 (HUC 7000.28, 68 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Social Ethics, Military Science, June, 1926.

________________________________

1926-27

Enrollment, 1926-27

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 63: 1 Graduate, 23 Seniors, 30 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1926-27, p. 75.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1926-27

  1. Name some positive factors in industrial situations which have directly contributed to the development of unionism in particular trades, explaining why some are well organized and others not so at all.
  2. “The American labor movement is strongly in favor of the five day work week wherever it is possible…this policy has a sound economic basis. As their leisure time increases, men and women develop more numerous and more discriminating wants. They buy more of the world’s goods and therefore, purchasing demand is increased.”
    The above argument for the five day week was recently advanced by the President of the A. F. of L. Do you agree that the proposal in question is economically sound, especially with reference to all branches of industry?
  3. What is a major factor, purely political, which affects the course of labor legislation in some of the states. Cite a concrete case.
  4. Define sabotage. What are some of the other tactics used by the organization which is identified with it?
  5. Outline the course of developments affecting growth of the American Federation of Labor in the decade to 1910.
  6. Why have co-union agreements with employers’ organizations been so persistent in a certain industry in the United States? Explain fully how things are expected to work out.
  7. How would you decide the Statler Hotel case; and why?
  8. “Scientific management attempts to substitute in the relations between employers and workers the government of fact and law for the rule of force and opinion. It substitutes exact knowledge for guess work and seeks to establish a code of natural law equally binding upon employers and workmen.”
    From what you know of scientific management in practice, which of the above claims of Mr. Taylor would you call in question and why?
  9. Name, if possible, three distinct devices which have been adopted since the World War which have militated against unionism in the United States.

Final. 1927.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1927 (HUC 7000.28, 69 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Social Ethics, Military Science, June, 1927.

________________________________

1927-28

 Enrollment, 1927-28

6a 2hf. Professor Charles E. Persons (Boston University), assisted by Mr. Joslyn. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 31: 15 Seniors, 14 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1927-28, pp. 74-75.

 

ECONOMICS 6a2
Final examination, 1927-28

GROUP I

Answer one. Forty minutes to one hour

  1. When and under what circumstances were the first unions formed? Sketch the development of labor organizations before 1850. What special conditions did they meet in the United States?
  2. What, according to the Webbs, are the methods used by trade unions in actual operation? Discuss the Standard Rate and more briefly other trade union policies, stating your own conclusions.
  3. What are the special methods of scientific management in dealing with labor? How are wages determined? Are Trade Unionism and Scientific Management necessarily incompatible?
    State the general features of Profit-sharing plans as applied in the United States. Contrast this plan with that applied in Scientific Management plants.
  4. Contrast the methods of strike control applied by the United States Railroad Labor Board and The Canadian Industrial Disputes Investigation Act. Were these plans successful in operation? What features of either act do you think worthy of adoption in the United States?

GROUP II

Answer ALL questions; follow the order given

  1. Describe the organization of the present union groups in the United States.
  2. A western state enacts a law providing:
    1. Children under 18 years of age shall not work more than seven hours a day, nor forty hours a week. These hours must be included between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
    2. Females over 18 years of age shall not be employed more than eight hours a day and forty hours a week. These hours must be included between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
    3. Males over 18 years of age shall not be employed over eight hours a day nor forty-four hours a week.
      The act is attacked as unconstitutional. State the probable line of attack and defense. What do you think the present supreme court would decide on each of the three articles?
  3. To what extent can unemployment be prevented? Which of the methods proposed for the prevention of unemployment seem to you most practical and effective? Outline and justify a program for dealing with such unemployment as is not preventable.
  4. In 1923 the receiver of a certain railroad petitioned the Railroad Labor Board for authority to reduce wages below those paid by the railroads generally under rulings by the Board. It was shown that the railroad was not earning enough to cover operating expenses, that the stock and bond holders had received no return for several years, “That the necessity of a discontinuance of operations had been greatly threatened for some time,” and that “such shutdown of the carrier would be disastrous for the 31 counties of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas through which its lines ran.” The workers decline to accept any reduction in pay and show that their incomes do not suffice to cover the cost of a living wage on a health and comfort standard. As a member of the railroad labor board render decision on this issue.
  5. (a) Suppose all workers were persuaded to join unions giving us a complete system of closed shops. What would be the effect on wages, and social conditions generally?
    (b) Suppose the Open Shop drive should be completely successful and trade unionism reduced to local and partial organization. What results would follow?
  6. In what respects does a shop committee afford less adequate protection to the workers than does a trade union? What, if any, useful functions may a shop committee perform which are not now performed by trade unions?

Final. 1928.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1928 (HUC 7000.28, 70 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science, June, 1928.

________________________________

1928-29

Enrollment, 1928-29

6a 1hf. Dr. C. E. Persons. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 50: 1 Graduate, 22 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1928-29, p. 72.

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1928-29

Group I
Answer one. Forty minutes to one hour.

  1. Write brief essays on two of the following subjects:
    1. The origin of trade unionism in Great Britain.
    2. Trade Unionism under the Combination Laws.
    3. The “New Model” and its importance in trade union history.
  2. Write a summary history of the development of national trade unions in the United States. This should include the formation and development of the American Federation of Labor.
  3. Discuss the method of Collective Bargaining as practiced by the trade unions of Great Britain. Follow the exposition of the Webbs but do not fail to state your own conclusions.
    On what grounds have trade unions based their claims of a “right to a trade”? Discuss the attempts of the unions to settle demarcation disputes and the solution offered by the Webbs for dealing with this problem.
  4. (a) State definitely how scientific management proposes to handle questions which concern wage earners. Are these proposals necessarily incompatible with trade unions? What is to be said by way of critical comment of the following quotation: “(Scientific management) substitutes exact knowledge for guess work and seeks to establish a code of natural laws equally binding upon employer and workman.”
    (b) What are the essential features of profit sharing plans? What is, and what should be, the attitude of trade unions toward such proposals? How large is the promise of such plans regarded as aids in solving the labor problem?
  5. State, with some precision, the provisions of the Canadian Industrial Disputes Investigation Act. In what respect has the administration of the act departed from the intent of the authors? What is to be said of its success or failure? Its constitutionality? And its standing in the opinions of the wage earners, employers and the general public?
  6. State the important features of the law establishing the Railroad Labor Board, and of the act of 1926 which superseded it.
    Briefly summarize the work of the Railroad Labor Board, pointing out its successes and failure. What conclusions do you draw from this experience with governmental control of labor conditions.

Group II
Answer all questions: follow the order given

  1. Contrast the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor. Include in your answer a clear statement of: plans of organization; program for the attainment of results; governing philosophy; and effectiveness as agencies to advance the interest of wage earners.
  2. A strike was declared against the Mills restaurants in Arizona by the Amalgamated Cooks and Waiters Unions. The strikers maintained pickets who appealed to cooks and waiters not to accept employment or to leave it if employed, and to customers not to patronize the restaurants. The pickets allege that the proprietors are “unfair to organized labor,” that hours are excessive and wages below the living standard. They picket in groups of six and employ vigorous, but generally peaceful, persuasion. There are minor cases of coercion and intimidation. The state has enacted laws declaring picketing legitimate and denying to the state courts the power to issue writs of injunction in labor disputes. The employers enter suits for damages against the union and attack the constitutionality of the law in both state and federal courts.
    Discuss these issues from the standpoint of legality, governmental policy and the legitimate exercise of trade union functions.
  3. Discuss the use of writs of injunction in labor disputes. Why has the employment of such writs become increasingly common and why have the trade unions vigorously opposed their use? What issues were involved in the Buck’s Stove case? The Bedford Stone decision?
  4. Does the introduction of machinery, e.g., the linotype machine or the automatic glass bottle machine benefit or injure: the wage earner, the capitalist and the consuming public? Answer both as to the immediate and the “long run” effect, and analyze the long run process of adjustment.
  5. A certain national building trade’s union established the following rules:
    1. Apprenticeship shall not begin before the age of 16 years and shall be four years long. The ratio of apprentices shall be: “one to each shop irrespective of the number of journeymen employed, and one to every five members thereafter.”
    2. A generally understood standard for a day’s work is in effect, which union members are expected not to exceed. This is based upon the average output of the union members when working without restriction.
    3. The introduction of new machines and processes is not opposed. However, the union insists that its members be given preference on the new machines, and that full union wages be paid. The industry pays to journeymen a straight time wage of 85 cents per hour; runs open shop though the great majority of the workers are union men and has been largely reorganized because of the invention and introduction of labor saving machinery.
      * *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * * *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
      Discuss these union practices from the standpoint of industrial efficiency and social welfare. If in your opinion some of them are unsound or unreasonable, what steps would you recommend with a view of having them modified?
  6. Discuss the general subject of compulsory arbitration. Has it been successful in operation? Does it eliminate strikes? Strengthen or weaken trade unionism? Mean an increase or decrease in governmental control of industry? To what extent would you think it desirable that such a policy be adopted by our federal and state governments?
  7. What conclusion do you draw from your study of trade unionism? Is the movement worthy of support on its past record? Would you suggest modification of its plans or purposes? Do alternative plans such as company unionism seem to you of greater promise?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943 (HUC 7000.55). Box 11: Examination Papers Mid-Years 1929. Papers Printed for Mid-Year Examinations [in] History, New Testament, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science, January-February, 1929.

________________________________

1929-30

Enrollment, 1929-30

6a 2hf. Mr. Douglas Brown. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 25: 13 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1929-30, pp. 77-78.

 

ECONOMICS 6a2
Final examination, 1929-30

Answer the first question and any three of the others.

  1. (About one hour.) Write upon one of the following topics:
    1. Unemployment as a problem of industry;
    2. Causes of unemployment:
    3. Remedies for unemployment.
  2. “Viewing the situation from the point of view of the practical results, the conclusion is reached that the law to-day seriously restricts labor in its collective action, while it does not interfere with the parallel weapons of the employers.” Discuss.
  3. “An unmodified closed shop, with the conditions of membership in the control of the union, creates a distinct monopoly of labor, leaving the employer helpless in any wage dispute and enabling the union to enforce its every demand regardless of the competitive conditions of the labor-market for that class of services.” Discuss.
  4. “Arbitration in industrial disputes, whether by governments or by private agencies, is ineffectual in the absence of strong organizations on both sides; where such organizations exist, arbitration becomes either a hindrance or a dead letter.”
  5. Discuss briefly any two of the following:
    1. Parasitic trades;
    2. Minimum wage legislation;
    3. Knights of Labor;
    4. Jurisdictional disputes.

Final. 1930.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1930 (HUC 7000.28, 72 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, New Testament,…, Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science, June, 1930.

________________________________

1930-31

Enrollment, 1930-31

6a 1hf. Mr. D. V. Brown. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 41: 18 Seniors, 17 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 2 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1930-31, pp. 76-7.

 

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1930-31

  1. (Reading Period question. Allow about 45 minutes.)
    Discuss one of the following:”

    1. Influences affecting the development of the American Federation of Labor;
    2. Wage rates and unemployment;
    3. Insurance as a preventive of unemployment.
  2. “In so far as the machine displaces skill and reduces the craftsman to the level of the semi-skilled or unskilled, thereby lowering his bargaining power, the effect on wages is bound to be adverse.” Discuss.
  3. “Strikes do not benefit the laboring class.” Discuss.
  4. “The trade union is an outgrown form of labor organization. With the development of employee-representation plans and profit-sharing, labor finds that it can secure more through cooperation with the employer than through mere aggression.”
  5. To what extent would legislation with regard to hours of labor be held constitutional?

Final. 1931.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1931 (HUC 7000.28, 73 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science, January-June, 1931.

________________________________

1931-32

Enrollment, 1931-32

6a 1hf. Mr. D. V. Brown. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 61: 34 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1931-32, pp. 71-72.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1931-32

Answer the first question and four of the others

  1. (Reading period question. Allow about one hour.)
    Discuss one of the following:

    1. The application of the anti-trust laws to labor, and the validity of this application.
    2. “Technological change” and unemployment.
    3. Difficulties of unemployment insurance, with particular reference to British experience.
    4. The economic significance of “fatigue and unrest.”
  2. “Several solutions for jurisdictional disputes among trade unions have been attempted.” Discuss.
  3. “That the establishment of a minimum wage can increase the rate of pay per unit of work done is clear.” Discuss.
  4. “When we consider the American labor movement, we naturally think of craft unionism as dominant. We are too apt to neglect other programs of working-class advance which have been prominent in the past and still offer a challenge.” Discuss these “other programs.”
  5. “Employers sometimes detach workers from their unions by organizing their own company unions, which are strictly amenable to their wishes and constitute a supposed substitute for independent labor organizations.” Discuss.
  6. Discuss either (a) or (b).
    1. The measurement of unemployment.
    2. The advantages of workmen’s compensation.

Final. 1932.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1932 (HUC 7000.28, 74 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science, January-June, 1932.

Image Source: Cigar box label from the collections of the Museum of the City of New York.

Categories
Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Course readings for undergrad and graduate labor economics, mid-1920s

 

This is one of those postings that I sort of wish I had never started. I began, feeling pretty sure that I knew who the instructor (William Z. Ripley) was and which course was being taught at Harvard some time during the second-half of the 1920s (Economics 6a, Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems). At the Hoover Institution Archives I had found eleven hand-written notecards  of Vervon Orvall Watts (Harvard Ph.D., 1932. Thesis: The Development of the Technological Concept of Production in Anglo-American Thought) that were filed together under the keyword “wages”.

Upon closer inspection it became clear that the artifacts were not from a single course and perhaps not even for a single instructor. The problem of identifying unambiguously the instructor for the undergraduate course might have been solved if there had been a clear date on any of the notecards. 

The graduate course was always taught by William Z. Ripley over this period. The course outline and reading list for the 1931 graduate course Problems of Labor taught by William Z. Ripley has been transcribed and posted earlier. That post also includes some biographical information. 

Since I was dealing with handwritten references, I went to the trouble of tracking down almost all the items. When I did, I added links to the lists, adding both to the accuracy and research value of the transcriptions. Square brackets indicate my additions.

The following post provides nearly complete enrollment data and final exams for the “Trade-unionism and Allied Problems” course for 1913-32.

_________________

On Vervon Orvall Watts:

V. Orval Watts’ obituary in the Los Angeles Times (April 1, 1993).

Watts’ 1952 Book Away from Freedom: The Revolt of the College Economists was republished by the Ludwig von Mises Institute (Auburn, Alabama) in 2008. “This book had a powerful impact on a generation — a kind of primer on Keynesian fallacies that still pervade the profession if not by that name.“

_________________

Course Descriptions

6a 1hf. Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley.

This course will deal mainly with the economic and social relations of employer and employed. Among the topics included will be: the history of unionism; the policies of trade unions respecting wages, machinery, output, etc.; collective bargaining; strikes; the legal status of unionism, closed shop, etc.; efficiency management; unemployment, etc., in the relation to unionism, will be considered.
Each student will make at least one report upon a labor union or a special topic, from the original documents. Two lectures a week, with one recitation, will be the usual practice.

34. Problems of Labor. Full-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 2. Professor Ripley.

This course deals more intensively with the same topics which are comprehended in Economics 6a, as given for undergraduates. Especial attention is given to methods of investigation and original sources. Specific aspects of trade union policy and the legal status of unionism are given priority over the broader issues of labor legislation and kindred subjects.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXI, No. 22 (April 30, 1924): Division of History, Government, and Economics 1924-25, pp. 68-69, 73.

_________________________

Card 1

Ec. 6a. Feb. 2[second digit illegible]. Topics.

Wages.

Justice in Distribution—(Lowell[?] & Dempsey[?])
Wages & Supply of Labor.—Supply falls with rise in wages.
Laissez-faire, Competition (Railroads, vs coal mines, sweat shops.)
Tendency increasing [illegible 2 letters] various kinds of regulation in all sorts of trades.
Competition: over-development of industries & depression of wages.
Trace effects of increase in efficiency of individual, of trade, of group of trades. Effects on other individuals, own wages, wages of other groups.
Increase of efficiency of all trades—benefits landlord largely. Workers get only part of increase. Capitalists benefit.
Increased efficiency of exploitation of land.
Sweated trades—benefits of a strong union. (causes of sweatshops—competition with machinery.)
Effects of rise in wages for union methods (monopoly) upon other classes of wage-earners.
Union answer: universal organization.

_________________________

Card 2

[Probably Econ 6a]

Orth, S. P. The Armies of Labor [1919].
Brissenden. The I. W. W. [1920 Columbia University dissertation].
Selekman. Sharing Management with the Workers. [1924]
Paul Gemmill. The Actors’ Equity. [cf. Paul F. Gemmill. Equity: The Actors’ Trade Union, QJE (1926)  ]
J. R. Commons. Industrial Goodwill [1919].
S. Perlman. History of Labor in the U.S. [Vol. I, 1918; Vol. II, 1918]
Gompers, S. Labor & the Common Welfare. [1919]
Cole, G.D.H. Labor in the Coal-Mining Industry (1914-1921) [1923].
Tawney, R. H. The British Labor Movement [ca. 1925].

Papers:

What kind of workers make a good trade union?
The A. F. of L. vs. the I. W. W.
Employee Representation: What has it to offer?
The Ford industries & unionism.
The Efficacy of Company Unions.
The Economic Basis of Effective Unionism
The Objection of Unions to the Use of the Injunction in Labor Disputes
The Case for a Labor Party in the U.S.

East. Mankind at the Crossroads. [1923]
Marshall. Industry & Trade. [3rd edition, 1920]
Budish & Soule. The New Unionism in the Clothing Industry.
Selekman & Van Kleeck Employe’s Representation in Coal Mines. [1924] [cf. Miners and Management; a study of the collective agreement between the United Mine Workers of America and the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company, 1934]

______________________

Card 3

[Probably Econ 6a]
(Assignments to a Junior by William Thomas Ham)

Hammond, J. L. B. The Rise of Modern Industry. [1925]
H. Ford. My Life and Work. [1922]
Lewisohn, S. The New Leadership in Industry. [1926]
Lewisohn, Sam A. et al. Can Business Prevent Unemployment? [1925]
Carver. The Present Economic Revolution in the United States. [1926]
Groat. Labor and the Courts. [“Unionism and the Courts,” Yale Review (August, 1910) ]
Gompers. S. Editorials.
Commons and Andrews. Labor Legislation. [1916]
Blum, S. Labor Economics. [1925]
11th Special Report of U.S. Commissioner of Labor. Regulation and Restriction of Output. [1904]
Allen, H. J. The Party of the Third Part. [1921]
Pound, R. The Spirit of the Common Law. [1921]  Freedom of Contract (in Harvard Law Review, sic) [Perhaps “Liberty of Contract” in the Yale Law Journal (1909) is meant here]
Commons, J.R. Trade Unionism and Labor Problems, selections. [1921]
Webb. Industrial Democracy (Selections). [1920]
Robertson, D.H. The Control of Industry. [1923]
Feis. The Principles of Wage Settlement. [1924]  The Settlement of Wage Disputes. [1921]
P. Douglas. The Family Wage (sic). [cf. Wages and the Family (1925)]
Barnett, G. A. Machinery and Labor. [1926]
Taussig. Inventors and Money-Makers [1915].  The Minimum Wage. [cf. Minimum Wages for Women in QJE (1916) pp. 411-442 ]

Papers:

The right to strike and the doctrine of conspiracy.
What should be the painters’ policy re the [two illegible words] machine?
The Use of the Injunction in Labor Disputes.
Wage Principles in Arbitration cases.

______________________

Card 4

Appears not to properly belong to either course (penciled addition)

Sorokin. Social Mobility. [1927]
Popenoe and Johnson. Applied Eugenics. [1922]
Sumner and Keller. The Science of Society, Soc. 543.16.20 [1927, 4 volumes]  [Vol. IIVol IIIVol. IV]
C. S. Day. This Simian World. [1920]

______________________

Card 5

Ec. 6aTopics

Does the competition of women and children tend to lower wages of men? Does prohibition of it benefit men workers?
Standard of Living.   make assumption of family of 5.
cf P. Douglas, The Family Wage  (sic). [cf. Wages and the Family (1925)]
Extent to Wk. Budgets/Minimum of Subsistence should be considered by arbitration boards in adjusting/fixing wages (rising/falling/stable prices).
Could it be maintained if given? I.e. do poor make their standards, or do the low wages make the standards?
Do the poor make the slums, or the slums produce the poor?
(Note Tugwell’s [?] estimate that American real wages rose 400%–1820 to 1922.)

______________________

Card 6

[Probably Ec 34]
Labor Problems
Sources.

Monthly Labor Review, and Bulletin of U.S. Business of Labor Statistics. can be obtained cheaply from Washington as they appear by writing for them.

Law and Labor. Published by the League for Industrial Rights

(cf. Sayer: The Law and Labor: a Collection of Cases)
(Ellingwood and Coombs: The Government and Labor)

Report of the British Royal Commission on Labor, 1894 (19 Vol.).

[T. G. Spyers, The Labor Question. An Epitome of the Evidence and the Report of the Royal Commission on Labour. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1894]  ]

Report of the U.S. Industrial Commission 1899

Hearings before the Industrial Commission on relations and conditions of capital and labor employed in manufacturing and general business (1899).

Report of the New York State Factory InvestigationVol. 1-3;  Vol. 4-5.

Report of the U.S. Coal Commission, 1923.

(Q. J. E. for 1924, Resumé of the Report).

Part I. Principal Findings and Recommendations [1923]
Part II. Antracite—Detailed Studies
Part III. [could not find a link]
Part IV. Bituminous Coal—Detailed Studies of Cost of Production, Investment and Profits. [1923]
Part V. [could not find a link]

______________________

Card 7

[Probably Econ 34] Labor.

Catlin, W. B. The Labor Problem. [1926]

Ripley says is best general text. Cfs. Eng. and U.S. A long section (40 pp) on restriction of output. Interesting style. Gives sources. Is weak on legislative side.

Blum: Labor Economics. [1925]

Good on Wages. Knows economic theory. Investment is rather abstract.

Hoxie: Trade Unionism in the U.S. 1917 (13-33). 

Furniss: Labor Problems (1-17). 1925.

S. and B. Webb. Industrial Democracy. [1920]
——————. History of Trade Unionism. [1920]

Old, confined to England. Over-sympathetic with labor. Contrast Hoxie and Webb on the Labor Leader.

Commons and Andrews. Principles of Labor Legislation.

Best on legal aspects. [1920]

(Watkins, Groat, Carlton–dsg[?]. Over-sympathetic with labor. Cf Adams and Sumner, Ely.)

Hoopingarner [Dwight Lowell Hoopingarner, Labor Relations in Industry (1925)] from employers standpoint.

Lauck: Political and Social Democracy. [1926]

Intimate contact with labor in U.S. Knows subject. Interesting. Not good text book.

______________________

Card 8

[Probably Econ 34] Topics. Labor Problems.

Life of Robert Owen (G. D. H. Cole). [1920]

Origin and Causes of Trade Unionism

Are they, as Persons and Perlman say, a defensive reaction against excessive cut-throat competition among producers, a competition which is due to the Industrial Revolution and instead of machine-methods of production.
–Due to a desire to reduce costs and widen markets.

Trade Unionism in U.S.

Note influence of free lands in the West, and (increasing) new opportunities in Young and expanding country. Is there likely in future to be this same vertical mobility of labor which has hindered growth of Unionism in U.S. So union inevitable accompaniment of capitalism.

Laissez-faire and Labor Legislation

Laissez-faire and Trades Unions.

______________________

Card 9

[Probably Econ 34] Labor

D. Houser: What the Employer Thinks. (Econ 7409.27.5) [1927]
W. B. Catlin: The Labor Problem. [1926]
E. S. Furniss, and L. R. Guild. Labor Problems. [1925]
R. W. Cooke Taylor: The Modern Factory System (IE, 20.26) [1891]
J. A. Fitch: The Causes of Industrial Unrest (inefficiency of present order) [1924]
W. L. M. King: Industry and Humanity [1918]

Ch. 12—plea for making worker understand bigger economic tendencies and results for him. e.g. machinery, large-scale industry, etc.

Brooks, J. G.: The Social Unrest (S.E.) [1903]
Penty, A. J.: Post-Industrialism [1922]
Feis, Herbert: Principles of Wage Settlement [1924].

______________________

Card 10

References. Ec. 34.

Unemployment

Beveridge. Unemployment in Industry. [Unemployment—A Problem of Industry (3rd ed, 1912)]

J. L. Cohen. Unemployment Insurance. [Insurance Against Unemployment. London, 1921.]

Feldman. Regularization of Employment [1925] [also published as a Columbia University, Ph.D. thesis)]

[Berridge et al.] Business Cycles and Unemployment.[NBER publication for a Committee of the President’s Conference on Unemployment, and a Special Staff of the Naitonal Bureau (1923)]  (collection of papers)

Berridge. Business Cycles and Unemployment. (re indexes for unemployment—how to construct) [William A. Berridge. Cycles of Unemployment in the United States, 1903-1922. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1923.]

U.S. Bureau of Labor (No. 310)-1922- Bulletin on Unemployment in U.S., No. 310. [Ernest S. Bradford, Industrial Unemployment—A Statistical Study of Its Extent and Causes, BLS Bulletin 310 (August 1922)]

Secretary of Labor, Report on Unemployment in U.S., 1928. (head of Bur. of Labor Statistics) (Shrinkage in competition, 1925-7, in a few industries)

The Ministry of Labor Gazette—figures for England and Britain, monthly, operat[?] of unemployment doles.

Feb. 1928, Q. J. E.—German Unemployment Insurance. [Frieda Wunderlich. The German Unemployment Insurance Act of 1927. Quarterly Journal of Economics (Feb. 1928)]

______________________

Card 11

Readings. Ec. 34. Feb 28.

W. B. Catlin. [The Labor Problem, 1926] 259-315.
Brissenden. The I. W. W. 83-110, 155-178, (297-309)
Hoxie. [Trade Unionism in the U.S., 1917] 103-139
Furniss. [Labor Problems, 1925] 267-325

[…]

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. V. Orval Watts Papers. Box 21, Blue-tab-Notecard File, Tab W (Wages).

Image Source: William Zebina Ripley in the Harvard Class Album, 1928.

Categories
Costs of education Harvard

Harvard. Four graduate student budgets, early 20th century

 

Today we have an excerpt from an official Harvard publication from 1908 that was printed to provide information for prospective and entering students regarding the financial side of attending Harvard. The 85 page pamphlet is primarily dedicated to undergraduate college costs, but this post has been limited to four budgets for graduate students. 

A back-of-envelope splicing of cost-of-living indexes generates a factor of about 25 for converting the dollar figures from the early twentieth century into present dollars*. So for quick comparison:

Harvard tuition then of $150/year translates into about $3,750/year today–we have a poster-child for Baumol’s cost disease.
Room (and we are literally talking only a room) then a rent of $10/month corresponds to $250/month today.
Boarding costs of $8/month converts to $80/month today, and that is before the introduction of ramen noodles into the graduate student diet.

 

*Source: Indexes from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis data at the FRED website.

According to a cost-of-living index for Massachusetts (1910-1943) from the NBER, the cost-of-living rose from 96.1 (Jan 1910) to 164.7 (Dec 1943), a  171% increase.
The Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers, Dec 1943 17.4 to Feb. 2018 248.991, a 1431% increase.

______________________

My dear Sir : —

When I came to Harvard last year — in the fall of 1906 — I was able to count on receiving $25 a month from my father. I anticipated an expense for the year of about $500, so borrowed $250 to bring my assets up to this figure. I believed that the work during the first year in the Graduate School would be sufficiently exacting to make it worth while to borrow the money rather than to try, by outside work, to earn my living expenses. I found that my estimate of $500 was not far astray. My account-book shows the following items for the year 1906-07:—

Tuition $150
Room (furnished, in private house) 80
Board 150
Books 65
Laundry 20
Incidentals 60
$525

I lived economically, but was never forced to cut down my board allowance, and finished the year in good shape physically.

During the current year, I have lived in a College dormitory, occupying half a room, which rents for $150. My expenses will be about the same this year as last. I am able to show a balance on the other side of the book at present, however. A University Scholarship balances the tuition; and a position teaching about eight hours a week in Boston pays $400, so at present I am just about “keeping even with the game” without having to borrow money or to draw on my father.

Very truly yours.

______________________

Dear Sir : —

Your letter with reference to the expenses of a Graduate Student was duly received. I hope I am not too late in making the following reply: —

I am one of the married students of the Graduate School, and my wife (we have no children) lived with me in Cambridge. I received no income from the College, and did no tutoring or teaching, but devoted my entire time to the several courses in which I was registered. I kept no detailed account of expenses, but from the records of my cheque-book I can give a fairly accurate estimate of the expenditures for the year 1903-04.

Rent (two rooms) $140.00 Medical treatment $5.00
Board for two (forty weeks) 400.00 Typewriter (Blickensderfer) 50.00
Tuition and laboratory fees 160.00 Concerts and theatre 5.50
Graduation fee (A.M.) 20.00 Miscellaneous expenses 100.00
Books 15.00 $895.50

This year we are keeping house. The rent of rooms is greater ($200 instead of $140). This we understand is an average rate for married students who are keeping house, usually in two rooms. The cost of food for us both thus far averages about $3 to $3.25 per week (we are keeping careful accounts this year). Laundry for us both averages about eighty cents per week; clothes are partly rough dry. Fuel (for cooking only) and light amount to forty-seven cents per week. At the present rate our expenses for this year promise to be considerably less than those of last year.

Very truly yours,

______________________

Dear Sir : —

I was not able to finish my answer to your request before now owing to various reasons. I sincerely hope it is not altogether too late.

It would be of little service for me to tabulate my income, for it would need very copious notes to explain it adequately. I give below a table of expenses, and a few hints that I should like to make to any one entering upon his first year in the Graduate School.

 

October to July
Approximate Expenses

1902-03

1903-04

1904-05

Tuition $150.00 $150.00 $150.00
Room 100.00 100.00 100.00
Room incidentals (coal, gas, etc.)* 10.00
Board 75.00 80.00 80.00
Railroad fare 30.00 30.00 30.00
Clothing** 75.00 75.00 60.00
Tobacco
Books 50.00 50.00 50.00
Clubs, Harvard Union, etc. 5.00 15.00 15.00
Incidentals 65.00 60.00 62.50
$550.00 $560.00 $500.00

*Included in room-rent for 1902-03 and 1903-04, but charged separately at my present quarters.
**Exclusive of underclothing, but including caps, hats, and shoes.

It is not wise for you to pay too much heed to the reports of very high or very low rates of living in Cambridge. I have made a rough estimate of my expenses each year during the three College years that I have spent or will spend here, and it will be very easy for you to add or subtract items thereto until you can arrive at some idea of what you can expect to have to meet yourself. The tuition charge is fixed. Your room-rent rests entirely with what you are willing to pay, although I should not advise you to take any single room that rents for less than sixty dollars, or a double one for less than one hundred. Your board bill will be higher than mine, for you live further away from Cambridge than Providence, and consequently you may miss going home as often as I do. You will also probably spend more upon your meals for a similar reason, since not having the “home food” to vary your diet you will have to seek variety from the Randall Hall or Memorial Hall menu, and such variety costs more. The first year I was here I averaged about forty-two cents a day at Randall Hall, and the second year about sixty-five. You can get along very well indeed at fifty cents a day, three dollars and a half a week, boarding either at Randall or Memorial. I know of men who averaged less than two dollars weekly. It is possible, but I doubt the wisdom of it.

You do not use tobacco, so you will save in that direction, as I do. Your clothing need not be any more costly than mine, save possibly that you might add the price of an overcoat or some other article, the need for which might arise this next year rather than later. I cannot tell what my underclothing has cost me. Fifty dollars is a very liberal estimate for books. You ought to do much better if you patronize the second-hand stalls at the book stores and watch for bargains. You should belong to the Graduate Club ($3) at any rate, and the Harvard Union ($10), if you can possibly arrange it. Under incidentals I have estimated street-car fares, theatres and amusements, drinks, candy, pictures and ornaments, and the host of small expenses which make so large a total if they are not watched.

I can tell you little in regard to earning money here during the year. Tutoring, reporting for newspapers, canvassing, and other things of the kind, you can get something out of — more later than in the first year here. I have not tried to do much save during the summer months, when, as you know, I was assayer for gold and silver, teamster, messenger, canvasser, census enumerator, gas-meter surveyor, and other things. They all paid, especially the first, which was a very good position. You can take your choice of the others. With my scholarship and with some private income I have worked along. I shouldn’t advise you to count very much on making money in Cambridge, at least not in the first year. Any further information I can give I shall be glad to furnish.

Sincerely yours,

______________________

[…budget of an undergraduate skipped…]

______________________

Dear Sir : —

The enclosed table of figures indicates the exact expense to me during the year of 1903-04 spent in graduate work at Harvard University. When entering the University in the fall of 1903 no income other than the $150 in scholarship was in sight. I succeeded in borrowing small amounts from two friends which I used until the payment of the scholarship was due. At the beginning of the second half-year I found it possible to accept assistantships in two courses, and with such aid I completed the year. Although opportunities for tutoring came, I preferred to work in other ways, so that my tutoring work was very small.

As from my experience at College I should advise the high school graduate to overcome the apparent obstacle of the lack of money and start out for college, so from my experience in the graduate work in the University I should advise the man who can make a start but hesitates because he does not see the full way clear, to begin, and he must surely find ways opening up whereby he will be enabled to continue his work.

Very truly yours.

Academic Year 1903-04

Expenses

Sources of Income

Tuition $150 Scholarship $150.00
Room 100.00 Teaching in the University 160.00
Board at Randall Hall 76.38 Loan from friend 125.00
Travelling expenses 52.00 Loan from friend 60.00
Clothing 35.00 $495.00
Books and science material 20.00
Degree of A.M. 20.00
Laundry 10.00
Laboratory fees 15.00
$478.38

 

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Students’ Expenses and College Aids with a Collection of Letters from Undergraduate and Graduate Students Describing in Detail Their Necessary Expenses at Harvard. Cambridge, Mass. (1908), pp. 75-77, 79.

Image Source: Harvard University Archives. A student’s room at 35 Randolph Hall, 45-47 Bow Street, Cambridge. Harvard, ca, 1898.

Categories
Gender Harvard

Harvard. Martha P. Robinson, secretary of tutorial office, ca. 1935-

 

From time to time I come across something that provides a glimpse into the administrative infrastructure that supports the educational mission of an economics department. When I think of the Yale economics department in the early 1970s where I worked as a bursary boy for the chairman, Merton J. Peck, I remember three women who were essential to the smooth running of the economics department:  Mrs. Virgina Casey (secretary to the chairman), Mrs. Mary Doody (Finances and bookkeeping), and Mrs. Eleanor Van Buren (secretary to the director of graduate studies, Professor William Parker). At M.I.T. Del Tapley long-served as the right-hand-woman of the chairman of the department. This of course doesn’t even mention the secretaries who served in the trenches. With only two exceptions (and these are first in the 1980s) I recall only women in all such staff positions.  For this reason, this post has a “gender” tag.

Today we have an excerpt from a longer article published in the Harvard Crimson in 1954 that provides a few testimonials to the work done by one, Martha P. Robinson, who ran the tutorial office for the division of History, Government, and Economics. About Mrs. Robinson I have only been able to generate the following leads: according to the 1944 Cambridge City Directory Mr. Seth B. Robinson Jr. and Martha P. Robinson lived at 25 Grozier Road and that in 1953-54 a Martha Robinson lived at Bancroft Court apartments, #33, at 12 Ware Street according to Manning’s Cambridge Directory. Perhaps some genealogical sleuth can come up with more.

Recently in the history of economics community on Twitter there has been some back-and-forth about the women statistical research assistants for major economics research projects. We might want to keep an eye on the evolution of administrative infrastructure of departments too.

_____________________

The Secretaries: Keepers of the Wheels
Coterie of Influential Women Make Harvard a Matriarchy

By STEPHEN R. BARNETT
Harvard Crimson, June 17, 1954

Harvard has been the object of much name-calling during its 318 years of existence, dubbed with epithets ranging from “hotbed of Puritanism” to “haven for Communists.” But perhaps the most objective appraisal of the University, and one that emphasizes a quite unheralded aspect of its daily functioning, is the one-word description suggested by an unknown Social Relations man. He simply said, “Harvard is a matriarchy.”

Technically-as the Soc. Rel. man himself well knew-a matriarchy is “a state or stage in social evolution in which descent is traced in the mother’s line,” or, more generally, “a society in which women exercise the main political power.” In applying the term to Harvard, however, he was merely pointing out that the University is essentially run by its female employees.

Nicholas F. Wessell, associate director of Personnel, readily agrees that women play a major role in Harvard’s daily operation. Of 4,360 non-Corporation employees now on the University payroll, Wessell reports, 2,557, or more than half, are women. In addition, 153 of these woman employees have been with the University for more than 25 years, while only 141 men have comparable records of service.

And it is these 2,557 women-whether they be maids, file clerks, dining hall checkers, laboratory assistants, or Secretary to the President-who do the work that keeps all departments of the University functioning. “Male employees tend to get involved in policy decisions,” Wessell explains, “and thus the women must see that the work gets done.”

The credit for this accomplishment belongs, of course, to every woman on the Harvard payroll. But a few of these unheralded employees are particularly conspicuous for their invaluable service in “seeing that the work gets done.”

One of these women is Mrs. Martha P. Robinson, who has served nearly 20 years in the tutorial office of Government, History and Economics, and whom Carrol F. Miles, teaching fellow in Government describes as the secretary “who sort of came with Holyoke 8.”

Assigns Sophomores

As her main function, Mrs. Robinson keeps the tutorial records for all students who concentrate in any of these three fields-a group which last year numbered approximately 1,500, or nearly 40 percent of the whole Harvard-Radcliffe undergraduate body. Each spring she assigns all sophomores in these fields to appropriate tutors; she prepares the records of more than 200 honors candidates in the departments each year, to determine whether they will graduate summa, magna, cum, or sine; she makes sure that somebody reads and marks all the bluebooks that are turned in from general examinations in the fields; and she constantly answers such questions as “Who is my tutor?”, “Do I have to take this course next year?”, “Who is teaching Gov. 155 next year?”, and “What did I get on the Economics general?”.

In the words of Professor Charles H. Taylor, former chairman of the division of History, Government, and Economics, Mrs. Robinson is simply “indispensable to the work of the three largest departments in the College.”

But she does not confine herself to keeping records for the 1,500-odd students to whom she refers as “my concentrators” or “my boys.” In addition, she is the administrative secretary for both Government 1 and Economics 1, preparing the section lists for these courses, recording the grades, mimeographing reading lists, making sure the books are available, and telling countless anxious students that no, she does not have the results of their mid-year exams.

There is even more to Mrs. Robinson’s job; technically, she is also the personal secretary to Professor Taylor. This has now become the least time-consuming of her many functions, however, for as Taylor explains-with obvious awe of his secretary’s importance-“I try to bother her as little as possible.”

But the really unique thing about Mrs. Robinson is not her industriousness or importance; it is the fact that her job exists at all. For the Division of History, Government, and Economics, of which she is still secretary, became essentially non-existent several years ago when it was broken up into separate fields. Since that time, the three departments have dropped their common tutorial function, have developed different formulas for determining honors, and have stopped giving correlation examinations to honors candidates. Also, since Taylor’s period of service there has been no joint chairman for History, Government, and Economics.

Although the three departments had officially separated, however, they still felt it would be convenient to work together in various ways and to keep their tutorial records in the same office. Thus Mrs. Robinson’s job has been to know the members of the three fields within the Division, to reconcile differences between the respective head tutors, to keep the departmental chairmen informed, and-in Taylor’s words-“to keep the departments from forgetting they were part of a whole.” And somehow she has managed to maintain some semblance of unity between the three fields-an accomplishment which, according to Taylor, “could not possibly have been done by anyone without her years of experience, energy, tact, and intelligence.”

Mark-Seeking Students

Thus Mrs. Robinson is single-handedly responsible for the unique inter-departmental unity that still exists in the filing cabinets in Holyoke 8.

What she most likes about her job, however, is not the records and statistics, but the students themselves. Describing her year’s work, she cites the spring as the busiest time; “there is a steady crescendo of activity from mid-years on,” she says. And yet it is this period that Mrs. Robinson likes best, when theses are due and pile up in her office, when honors records must be prepared, and when mark-seeking students either line up far out into the Holyoke House hallway or just swarm wildly into Room 8. For it is then, she says, that “I can finally see some results coming out of my work.”

[…]

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final exam for Economic Aspects of War, Harris et al., 1940

 

I just noticed that I have a copy of the final examination for the course “Economic Aspects of War” that I can now pair with the course outline and reading assignments that have been transcribed and posted earlier.   Seymour Harris organized the course that featured lectures of many other members of the Harvard economics faculty. 

_________________

1939-1940
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 18b2

Answer Question 1 and four others.

  1. (One hour) Discuss war economics in its (1) real aspects on the one hand and (2) in its monetary and financial aspects on the other; and make clear the inter-relationships of (1) and (2). Illustrate briefly from World War I or II.
  2. On what principles does the State fix prices in war times? Be sure to state the objectives; and comment on experiences in World War I.
  3. Why have wars regularly produced price inflations? What monetary changes usually accompany such price movements? What monetary measures could be implemented to prevent price inflation under war conditions and what are their limitations?
  4. Exchange depreciation and exchange control with a view to maintaining exchanges above the “free” level are alternative policies in war times. Great Britain seems to have had recourse to the latter in World War I and to both depreciation and control in World War II. Explain the choice of policies. Criticise them.
  5. Taking account of the broad facts about the principal sources from which income is derived at various levels (consider not more than 3 or 4 levels) and the size distribution of income, indicate some of the probable effects of war upon the size distribution.
  6. Discuss what you consider a significant problem in the post-war economy, and attempt to show the relation of this problem to post-war economic conditions in general. It would be well to illustrate by reference to one of the following: Napoleonic War, World War I or (in anticipation) World War II.

Final. 1940.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC7000.28), Box 5, Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…,Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1940.

Image Source: Seymour E. Harris from Harvard Class Album 1942.

Categories
Economists Germany Yale

Yale. John Christopher Schwab. Taught Political Economy 1890-1905

 

In tracking down faculty who taught economics at U.S. universities in the past we sometimes have to rummage in the dimmer corners of pretty obscure history of economics. From the following items we see that John Christopher Schwab was among the first German-trained cohort of economists. He worked his way up to a professorship in political economy at Yale and then went on to become the Yale University librarian. It could turn out that his greatest legacy to economics is to be found in his student notebooks.

RESEARCH TIP:  “The papers of John C. Schwab include his student notebooks both in the United States and in Germany, with half of one notebook (1887-1888) devoted to the lectures of the historian Heinrich von Treitschke.”

___________________________

SCHWAB, John Christopher, 1865-

Born in Fordham Heights, N. Y., 1865; graduated at Yale, 1886; studied political science in the Graduate Department the succeeding year; at the University of Berlin, 1887-88; at Göttingen, 1888-89; and history in New York, 1890; Lecturer at Yale, 1890-91; Instructor, 1891-93; Assistant Professor of Political Economy to 1893; advanced to full Professorship the latter year.

JOHN CHRISTOPHER SCHWAB, Ph.D., Professor of Political Economy at Yale, was born in Fordham Heights, Westchester county. New York, April 1, 1865, son of Gustav and Catherine Elizabeth (Von Post) Schwab. He was named for his paternal great-grandfather, a Privy Counsellor of Stuttgart, Germany, of which city his grandfather Gustav Schwab, the poet, and his father were also natives. His maternal grandfather was Laurence Henry von Post, a native of Bremen, and a merchant of New York. He is a great-grandson on the maternal side of Caspar Meier, also a native of Bremen and a New York merchant, who married a daughter of John Christopher Kunze, D.D., of New York, and the latter’s wife was a daughter of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, of Pennsylvania. Having pursued his preliminary studies under private tutors, and in Messrs. Gibbens and Beach’s School, New York, he entered Yale, Class of 1886, and after taking his Bachelor’s degree he took a year’s course in political science under Professors Sumner and Hadley in the Graduate Department. The succeeding two years were devoted to the same line of study at the Universities of Berlin and Gottingen, from which latter he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1889, having been awarded that of Master of Arts by Yale the previous year, and his professional preparations were concluded with a year’s historical research in the libraries of New York City. Returning to Yale as Lecturer on Political Science in 1S90, he acted as Instructor in Political Economy from 1891 to 1893, when he took the Assistant Professorship, and in 1898 was advanced to the Chair of that subject. Professor Schwab has been one of the Editors of the Yale Review, since 1892, and is the author of historical articles on the Confederate States; Revolutionary History of Fort Number Eight; and an article on Finance, contributed to Johnson’s Encyclopaedia. He is a member of the Century Association and the Reform Club, of New York, and of the Graduates’ Club of New Haven. On October 5, 1893, he married Edith Aurelia Fisher of the last named city.

Source: General Joshua L. Chamberlain (editor-in-chief), Universities and Their Sons, Vol. II. Boston: R. Herndon (1899), p. 545.

___________________________

Who’s Who in New England

SCHWAB, John Christopher, librarian; b. New York, Apr. 1, 1865; s. Gustav and Eliza Catharine (von Post) Schwab; brother of Gustav Henry Schwab; A.B., Yale, 1886, A.M., 1888; U. of Berlin, 1887-8; A.M., Ph.D., Göttingen, 1889; m. Edith A. Fisher, of Cincinnati, O., Oct. 5, 1893; 2 children, Katherine F., Norman von P. Instr. Polit. economy, 1890-3, asst. prof., 1893-8, prof., 1898-1905, librarian, 1905—, Yale U. Editor Yale Review, 1892—. Mem. Am. Econ. Assn., British Econ. Assn., Mass. Hist. Soc. (corr.), A.L.A., etc. Mem. Co. F, 2d Regt., Conn. N.G., 1891-4. Episcopalian. Clubs: Century (New York), Graduates’ (New Haven). Author: History of New York Property Tax, 1880; The Confederate States of America, 1901. Contbr. to hist. revs. and mags. Recreations: traveling. Address: 310 Prospect St., New Haven, Conn.

 

Source:   Who’s Who in New England, (2nd ed.). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company (1916), p. 950.

___________________________

Yale Obituary Record

JOHN CHRISTOPHER SCHWAB, 1865-1916; B.A. 1886

Born April 1,1865, in New York City
Died January 12, 1916, in New Haven, Conn.

John Christopher Schwab, son of Gustav Schwab, of the firm of Oelrichs & Company, was born April 1, 1865, in New York City, being named for his great-grandfather, a privy counsellor of Stuttgart, Germany. His paternal grandparents were Gustav Schwab, a German poet of note, and Sophie (Gmelin) Schwab. His mother was Catherine Elizabeth, daughter of Laurence Henry and Henrietta Margaretta (Meier) Von Post. Through her, he was descended from Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg, the chief founder of the Lutheran Church in America.

He was fitted for Yale under private tutors and at Gibbons’ and Beach’s School in New York City. He received several prizes in English and Latin composition, High Oration appointments, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa in college. As a Sophomore, he sang on his Class Glee Club, and the next year he was a member of the Second Glee Club. He was an editor of the Courant in his Senior year.

He remained at Yale for a year of post-graduate study in political economy after taking the degree of BA, in 1886, and during this period was also an instructor in German at the Hopkins Grammar School. In July, 1887, he went to Europe, and after spending the summer in travel, entered the University of Berlin. His studies for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy were completed at the University of Göttingen in 1889, and he then returned to the United States and spent some time in historical research in the libraries of New York City. He had received an M.A. in course at Yale in 1888. In the fall of 1890, he took up his work as lecturer in political economy at the University, being made an instructor in that department in the following year. He was promoted to an assistant professorship in 1893, and to a full professorship five years afterwards.

In 1905, after seven years of service in that capacity, Professor Schwab was chosen University librarian, and the remainder of his life was devoted to the upbuilding of the Library. A member of the University Council since his appointment as librarian, he had served for some years on the Council’s Committee on Publications, in connection with the work of the University Press. In 1901, he supervised the arrangements for the Yale Bicentennial as chairman of the committee in charge of the celebration. He was a frequent contributor to historical journals and magazines, and at one time was editor of the Yale Review. “The Finances of the Confederate States of America,” published by Professor Schwab in 1901, is considered a valuable addition in the field of economic history. He was elected Secretary of the Yale Class of 1886 in 1905, and held that office until his death. To the work of civic betterment in New Haven, professor Schwab gave much of his attention, and at the time of his death he was serving as secretary and treasurer of the social settlement known as Lowell House. He was also president of the Model Housing Association of New Haven. He was on the board of trustees of the New Haven Public Library and a member of St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church, of whose Sunday school he was at one time superintendent, and for several years served in Company F, Second Regiment, Connecticut National Guard. He was a trustee of Mount Holyoke College, and in 1913 was on the committee which arranged the pageant held in celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of its founding. He was a member of the American and British Economic associations, the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Library Association, and of the Century Club of New York. In 1911, he received from Mühlenberg College the honorary degree of LL.D.

Professor Schwab’s death occurred unexpectedly at his home in New Haven, January 12, 1916, after a brief illness from pneumonia. He was buried in Grove Street Cemetery in that city.

On October 5, 1893, he was married in New Haven to Edith Aurelia, daughter of Samuel Sparks Fisher, upon whom Yale conferred an honorary degree in 1851, and Aurelia Safford (Crossette) Fisher. She survives him with their two children: Katharine Fisher, a student at Vassar, and Norman Von Post. He leaves also two brothers and three sisters, one of the latter being the widow of Henry Charles White (B.A 1881, LL.B. 1883, M.L. 1884). Another brother, Laurence Henry, graduated from the College in 1878. Gustav Schwab (B.A. 1902) and Laurence Von Post Schwab (B.A. 1913) are nephews.

Source:  Yale University Archives. Guide to the John Christopher Schwab Family Papers.

 

Image Source: John Christopher Schwab. General Joshua L. Chamberlain (editor-in-chief), Universities and Their Sons, Vol. II. Boston: R. Herndon (1899), p. 545.