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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.

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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.

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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.

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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
Economists Fields Harvard

Harvard. 13 Ph.D. Candidates, General or Special Examinations by Field, 1912-13

 

For thirteen Harvard economics Ph.D. candidates this posting provides information about their respective academic backgrounds, the six subjects of their general examinations along with the names of the examiners, the subject of their special subject, thesis subject and advisor(s) (where available). This transcribed announcement is for the academic year 1912-13.

________________________________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF PH.D.
1912-13

Notice of hour and place will be sent out three days in advance of each examination.
The hour will ordinarily be 4 p.m.

Charles Edward Persons.

Special Examination in Economics, Wednesday, January 15, 1913.
General Examination passed February 25, 1909.
Academic History: Cornell College (Iowa), 1898-1903; Harvard Graduate School, 1904-05, 1906-09. A.B., Cornell, 1903; A.M., Harvard, 1905. Instructor in Economics, Wellesley, 1908-09; Preceptor in Economics, Princeton, 1909-10; Instructor in Economics, Northwestern, 1910-12; Assistant Director, St. Louis School of Social Economy, Washington University, 1913-.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History to 1750. 3. Economic History since 1750. 4. Sociology and Social Reform. 5. Transportation and Foreign Commerce. 6. History of American Institutions.
Special Subject: Transportation.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Bullock, Ripley and Rappard.
Thesis Subject: “The History of the Ten-Hour Law in Massachusetts.”
Committee on Thesis: Professors Taussig, Bullock, and Ripley.

Clyde Orval Ruggles.

Special Examination in Economics, Friday, January 17, 1913.
General Examination passed May 20, 1909.
Academic History: Hedrick Normal School, 1895-96; Iowa State Normal School and Teachers’ College of Iowa, 1901, 1903-06; State University of Iowa, 1906-07; Harvard Graduate School, 1907-09. A.B., Teachers’ College, 1906; A.M., State University, 1907. Professor of Economics, State Normal School, Winona, Minn., 1909-13.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Sociology and Social Reform. 3. Statistics. 4. Economic History to 1750, with especial reference to England. 5. Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises. 6. History of American Institutions.
Special Subject: Money and Banking.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Sprague, Turner, and Dr. Day.
Thesis Subject: “The Economic Basis of the Greenback Movement in Iowa and Wisconsin.”
Committee on Thesis: Professors Sprague, Turner, and Dr. Day.

Harold Hitchings Burbank.

General Examination in Economics, Monday, April 28, 1913.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Channing, Taussig, Gay, and Dr. Day.
Academic History: Dartmouth College, 1905-10; Harvard Graduate School, 1911-13. A.B., Dartmouth, 1909; A.M. ibid., 1910. Instructor in Economics, Dartmouth, 1910-11; Assistant in Economics, Harvard, 1911-12; Instructor in Economics, 1912-13.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Money, Banking, and Crises. 4. Public Finance and Financial History. 5. Tariff History and International Trade. 6. History of American Institutions.
Special Subject: Taxation.
Thesis Subject: “The History of the General Property Tax in Massachusetts since 1775.” (With Professor Bullock.)

John Alvin Bigham.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, April 30, 1913.
Committee: Professors Carver (chairman), Bullock, Cole, Fite, and Dr. Copeland.
Academic History: University of Kansas, 1904-08; Harvard Graduate School, 1908-10, 1911-12. A.B., Kansas, 1908; A.M., Harvard, 1909. Instructor in Economics, St. Augustine’s School, Raleigh, N.C., 1910-11.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Sociology and Social Reform. 4. Public Finance and Financial History. 5. Economics of Agriculture. 6. History of American Institutions.
Special Subject: Economics of Agriculture, with especial reference to American conditions.
Thesis Subject: (undecided).

John Ise.

General Examination in Economics, Friday, May 2, 1913.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Wyman, Carver, Sprague, and Dr. Copeland.
Academic History: University of Kansas, 1904-11; Harvard Graduate School, 1911-13. MUS.B, Kansas, 1908; A.B., ibid., 1910; LL.B., ibid., 1911; A.M., Harvard, 1912. Assistant in Economics, 1912-13.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Sociology and Social Reform. 4. Public Finance and Financial History. 5. Money, Banking, and Crises. 6. Jurisprudence.
Special Subject: Public Finance.
Thesis Subject: “The Government Land Policy since 1880.” (With Professor Bullock.)

Lloyd Morgan Crosgrave.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 7, 1913.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Ripley, Bullock, Fite, and Dr. Copeland.
Academic History: Indiana University, 1905-09; Harvard Graduate School, 1910-13. A.B., Indiana, 1909; A.M., Harvard, 1911. Teacher of History, Decatur High School, Ill., 1909-10; Instructor in Economics, Harvard, 1912-13.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Statistics. 4. Public Finance and Railroads. 5. Labor Problems, including Social Reforms. 6. History of American Institutions since 1789.
Special Subject: Labor Problems.
Thesis Subject: “The American Glass Industry.” (With Professor Taussig.)

Lucius Moody Bristol.

Special Examination in Economics (Social Ethics), Thursday, May 8, 1913.
General Examination passed May 4, 1911.
Academic History: University of North Carolina, 1894-95; Boston University School of Theology, 1896-99; Harvard Divinity School, 1909-10; Harvard Graduate School, 1910-11. A.B., North Carolina, 1895; S.T.B., Boston University, 1899; A.M., Harvard, 1910. Assistant in Economics, Harvard, 1911-13; Instructor in Sociology and Applied Christianity, Tufts, 1910-12; Assistant Professor of Applied Christianity, Tufts, 1912-13.
General Subjects: 1. Ethical Theory. 2. Economic Theory. 3. Labor Problems. 4. Social Reforms. 5. Sociology. 6. Statistics.
Special Subject: Sociology.
Committee: Professors Carver (chairman), Taussig, Bullock, and Dr. Brackett.
Thesis Subject: “The Development of the Doctrine of Adaptation as a Theory of Social Progress.” (With Professor Carver.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Carver, Sprague, and Dr. Brackett.

Yamato Ichihashi.

Special Examination in Economics, Friday, May 12, 1913.
General Examination passed May 1, 1912.
Academic History: Leland Stanford Junior University, 1904-08; Harvard Graduate School, 1910-12; A.B., Leland Stanford, 1907; A.M., ibid., 1908. Assistant in Economics, Leland Stanford, 1908-10.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Sociology and Social Reform. 4. Statistics. 5. Anthropology. 6. Labor Problems and Industrial Organization.
Special Subject: Labor Problems.
Committee: Professors Ripley (chairman), Taussig, Carver, and Dr. Day.
Thesis Subject: “Emigration from Japan, and Japanese Immigration into the State of California.” (With Professor Ripley.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Ripley, Turner, and Carver.

George Henry von Tungeln.

General Examination in Economics (Social Ethics), Wednesday, May 14, 1913.
Committee: Dr. Ford (chairman), Professors Taussig, Turner, R.B. Perry, Drs. Brackett and Foerster.
Academic History: Central Wesleyan College, 1904-06, 1907-09; Northwestern University, 1909-10; Harvard Graduate School, 1911-13. Ph.B., Central Wesleyan, 1909; A.M., Northwestern, 1910.
General Subjects: 1. Ethical Theory. 2. Economic Theory. 3. Poor Relief. 4. Social Reforms. 5. Sociology. 6. Criminology and Penology.
Special Subject: Criminology and Penology.
Thesis Subject: “Boston Juvenile Offenders in their Economic and Moral Relations.” (With Professor Peabody and Dr. Ford.)

Eliot Jones.

Special Examination in Economics, Thursday, May 15, 1913.
General Examination passed May 19, 1910.
Academic History: Vanderbilt University, 1900-07; Harvard Graduate School, 1907-10, 1911-12; A.B. Vanderbilt, 1906; A.M., Harvard, 1908. Austin Teaching Fellow, 1909-10, 1911-12; Instructor in Economics, 1912-13.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Statistics. 4. Money, Banking, and Industrial Organization. 5. Transportation and Foreign Commerce. 6. History of American Institutions.
Special Subject: Railroad Transportation.
Committee: Professors Ripley (chairman), Carver, Sprague, and Dr. Copeland.
Thesis Subject: “The History of the Anthracite Coal Industry, with especial reference to the Development of Combination.” (With Professor Ripley.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Ripley, Taussig, and Sprague.

Joseph Stancliffe Davis.

Special Examination in Economics. Friday, May 16, 1913.
General Examination passed May 17, 1909.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1904-08; Harvard Graduate School, 1908-12; A.B., 1908. Assistant in Economics, 1908-10, 1911-12; Instructor in Economics and Sociology, Bowdoin College, 1912-13.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Sociology and Social Progress. 4. Money, Banking, and Industrial Organization. 5. History of American Institutions, especially since 1783. 6. Anthropology, especially Ethnology.
Special Subject: Business Corporations, with especial Reference to the Development of Corporate Enterprise in the United States.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Ripley, Carver, and Schaub.
Thesis Subject: “Corporations in the American Colonies.” (With Professor Bullock.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Bullock, Channing, and Taussig.

Ralph Emerson Heilman.

Special Examination in Economics (Social Ethics), Monday, May 19, 1913.
General Examination passed May 11, 1911.
Academic History: Morningside College, 1903-06; Northwestern University, 1906-07; Harvard Graduate School, 1909-13; Ph.B., Morningside, 1906; A.M., Northwestern, 1907. Instructor in Economics, 1912-13.
General Subjects: 1. Ethical Theory. 2. Economic Theory and its History. 3. Poor Relief. 4. Social Reform. 5. Sociology. 6. Labor Problems.
Special Subject: The Control of Municipal Public Service Corporations.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Ripley, Sprague, and Dr. Copeland.
Thesis Subject: “Chicago Traction—A Study in the Efforts of the City to Secure Good Service.” (With Professor Taussig.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Taussig, Ripley, and Munro.

Rufus Stickney Tucker.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 28, 1913.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Turner, Ripley, Sprague, and Dr. Gray.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1907-11; Harvard Graduate School, 1911-13. A.B., 1911; A.M., 1912.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Statistics. 3. Money and Banking. 4. Economic History since 1750. 5. History of American Institutions. 6. Public Finance.
Special Subject: Public Finance.
Thesis Subject: “The Incidence of Real Estate Taxation.” (With Professor Bullock.)

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. (HUC 7000.70), Folder “Examinations for the Ph.D., 1912-13”.

 

Image Source: Harvard University, card catalogue in Widener Library (ca 1915). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final Examination Questions. Economics Courses, 1912-13

 

 

For the academic years 1912-13 through 1915-16 there are complete (or at least nearly complete) sets of examinations for many departments, including economics available at hathitrust.org. In this posting we have final examinations for all economics courses but three for the 1912-13 academic year. Since courses are only identified in these collections by number, I have provided the course titles, instructors’ names and course registration figures available in the annual Harvard Presidential Report for that academic year.

The three courses for which no final examination questions (perhaps the grade was not even determined by examination) were:

Economics 13. Statistics. Theory, method, and practice. Professor Ripley. (6 Graduates, 1 Senior, 3 Radcliffe: Total 10)

Economics 24. Topics in the Economic History of the Nineteenth Century. Professor Gay. (4 Graduates, 1 Senior: Total 5)

Economics 33 1hf. Tariff Problems in the United States. Professor Taussig. (5 Graduates, 3 Seniors: Total 8)

FINAL EXAMINATIONS
1912-13

Economics 1. Principles of Economics
Economics 2a lhf. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century
Economics 2b 2hf. Economic and Financial History of the United States
Economics 3. Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises
Economics 4a 1hf. Economics of Transportation
Economics 4b 2hf. Economics of Corporations
Economics 5. Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation
Economics 6a lhf. Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems
Economics 6b 2hf. The Labor Movement in Europe
Economics 7. Theories of Distribution and Distributive Justice
Economics 8. Principles of Sociology
Economics 9. Principles of Accounting.
Economics 11. Economic Theory
Economics 12 lhf. Scope and Methods of Economic Investigation
Economics 14. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848
Economics 16. The History of Modern Socialism
Economics 23. Economic History of Europe to the Middle of the Eighteenth Century
Economics 31. Public Finance
Economics 32 2hf. Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American conditions

 

________________________________________

Economics 1. Principles of Economics.

Professor Taussig and Dr. E. E. Day, assisted by Messrs. Heilman, Jones, Burbank, Crosgrave, and Eldred.
1 Graduate, 21 Seniors, 93 Juniors, 307 Sophomores, 21 Freshmen, 38 Other. Total 481.

 

[p. 38-39]

ECONOMICS 1

  1. To what extent and in what manner do the following contribute to the formation of capital: (a) a government loan; (b) the stock exchange; (c) commercial banks; (d) the corporate form of business organization?
  1. Explain “margin of cultivation.” Distinguish between the intensive margin of cultivation and the extensive margin of cultivation. What is the relation between (a) the margin of cultivation in agriculture and the price of a bushel of wheat; (b) the margin in gold mining and the value of an ounce of gold?
  1. Assume that a monopoly produces a commodity under conditions of constant cost. What determines the extent to which the monopoly price will be above the price which competition, if existent, would establish? Illustrate by diagram.
  1. The rentals from a New York office building amount to $50,000 a year. The building is worth $200,000. To provide for insurance, depreciation and such fixed items, $10,000 is expended annually. The current rate of interest upon investments of equal security is 5%. What is the value of the land?
  1. What is “dumping “? What induces it? To what extent is it dependent upon (a) monopoly conditions; (b) tariff barriers?
  1. Explain briefly why (a) the rates of wages are generally higher in the United States than in Germany; (b) higher for plumbers than for unskilled laborers; (c) for domestic servants than for women employed in shops and factories. Suppose a socialist community apportioning wages on the basis of equality of sacrifice: would these differences persist?
  1. How are the wages and the number employed within a particular industry affected, immediately and ultimately, by the invention of labor-saving devices in that industry?
  1. Explain: (a) railroad rebates; (b) over-capitalization; (c) public service industries; (d) “reasonable restraint of trade”; (e) stoppage at the source.

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 2a lhf. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.
Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. M. T. Copeland.
16 Graduates, 14 Seniors, 44 Juniors, 17 Sophomores, 3 Freshmen, 5 Other. Total 99.

 

[p. 39-40]

ECONOMICS 2a1

  1. “The effect of Peel’s measures of 1842-1845 was to demonstrate how much the trade and industry of the country might be encouraged by the readjustment of fiscal burdens.” Explain.
    Is a similar readjustment needed in England at the present time? Why or why not?
  1. (a) How was the capital for the construction of railroads prior to 1870 obtained in the different European countries? Why?
    (b) Why was the railroad policy of Prussia modified after 1870? With what results?
  1. Compare the organization of the wool manufacturing industries in England, Germany, and France at the present time, explaining to what the differences are due. How far are these differences typical?
  1. Compare the English and Belgian methods of relieving the recent agricultural depression.
  1. In which industries have Kartells been formed in Germany? Why? Compare with the movement for combination in England.
  1. Explain the statement in regard to English agriculture that “after the middle of the eighteenth century the two revolutions, the industrial and the agricultural, which are indeed only manifestations of the same scientific and commercial spirit, go hand in hand and supplement one another.” Does this statement apply also to Germany? Why or why not?
  1. Discuss briefly —

(a) English ” Friendly Societies.”
(b) Pitt’s Sinking Fund.
(c) Zollverein.
(d) French shipping subsidies.
(e) Charter and line traffic.

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 2b 2hf. Economic and Financial History of the United States.
Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. M. T. Copeland.
18 Graduates, 22 Seniors, 50 Juniors, 27 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 6 Other. Total 124.

 

 

[p. 40-1]

ECONOMICS 2b

  1. “The most important feature of life in a newly settled community is its commercial connection with the rest of the world.” Why? How is this illustrated (a) by the history of the American colonies and (b) by the history of the West?
  1. What were the causes for the decline of the American merchant marine? What attempts have been made to assist its recovery? With what results?
  1. Compare in its main features the economic history of the decade 1830-40 with that of the decade 1880-90.
  1. Compare the conditions which stimulated industrial combinations in the ’90’s with those which resulted in railroad combinations in the ’70’s.
  1. Within the last twelve months the New England Cotton Yarn Company, the U. S. Finishing Company, and the International Cotton Mills Corporation have each undergone reorganization. What was the earlier history of these companies and how far did that history foreshadow the necessity for such reorganizations?
  1. If you were to establish a mill for manufacturing silk goods at the present time, how would the conditions which you would meet in that industry differ from those which confronted a silk manufacturer forty or forty-five years ago? Why have these changes taken place? How far are they typical of the general industrial development of the United States during this period?
  1. (a) Comment on the following statement, which was made in a speech in Congress in 1846. “It is a protective tariff which gives to American industry the only effectual guaranty that it will not be brought down to a level with the degraded labor of Europe. It furnishes the only security that our standard of wages is not to be measured by the cost of production in those countries where the life of the laborer is but an incessant struggle for bread.”
    (b) Judging from the history of the years 1893-1900, as well as from present conditions, is the present year more or less opportune than 1909 for a downward revision of the tariff? Why?

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 3. Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises.
Dr. E. E. Day, assisted by Messrs. Ise and F. E. Richter.
3 Graduates, 31 Seniors, 67 Juniors, 16 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 1 Other. Total 119.

 

[p. 41-42]

ECONOMICS 3

  1. What factors favored the monetary rehabilitation of silver in the United States during the 70’s? Which of these factors are still operative? Explain the disappearance of the others.
  1. What banking abuses were most common in the United States early in the nineteenth century? When and how, if at all, have these since been eliminated?
  1. What is the relation between the Bank of England rate and the London market rate of discount when (a) funds are abundant; (b) funds are relatively scarce? In what ways does varying the Bank rate accomplish the protection of the English banking reserves?
  1. What is meant by a free gold market? Are the following such: London; Paris; Berlin; New York? In each case, why or why not?
  1. How will the rate of sterling exchange in New York be affected by: (a) a crop failure in the United States; (b) hoarding of specie in Europe; (c) a slump on the New York Stock Exchange; (d) a banking panic in this country?
  1. “The call-loan market . . . furnishes to the banks of the country under the present organization of banking, their only means of mobilizing their reserves, of liquifying their assets, and of securing flexibility in their lending power.” Explain and criticize. How, if at all, should this feature of our system be changed?
  1. In the equation of exchange given by Professor Fisher, what is the relation of M, M’, V, and T (a) during a period of rising prices; (b) during a period of settled prices?
  1. Describe the crisis of 1873 with reference to: (a) its general antecedents; (b) its more important causes in the United States; (c) its final outbreak in this country; (d) the territorial extent of the reaction; (e) the severity and duration of the subsequent depression.

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 4a 1hf. Economics of Transportation.
Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Crosgrave.
6 Graduates, 2 G.B., 36 Seniors, 85 Juniors, 24 Sophomores, 3 Other. Total 156.

 

[p. 42-3]

ECONOMICS 4a

  1. Compare the lease with stock ownership as a means of combination, stating the advantages and disadvantages of each.
  1. Show how recent interpretation of the Federal law may conceivably affect the status of railway traffic agreements.
  1. State very briefly the point raised in the following cases: —

(a) Portland Gateway.
(b) Illinois Central car supply.
(c) Alabama Midland (Troy).
(d) Orange Routing.

  1. Have any of the above points been since corrected by legislation; if so in what manner?
  1. Give reasons for the following differences in net capitalization per mile of line:

Union Pacific $65,000         Reading $170,000
Pennsylvania    86,000        Erie            170,000

  1. What particular circumstance materially affects the success of Government ownership and operation:

(a) In Germany?
(b) In Italy?
(c) In Switzerland?

  1. What is the present attitude of the Federal courts toward the proper basis to be used in the determination of reasonable rates?
  1. How effective practically has been the ” Commodity Clause” of the law of 1906?
  1. To whom properly belongs the surplus earnings of a railroad over and above a rate of return requisite to provide an adequate supply of new capital for future development? State your own view, but set forth your reasons fully.

 

________________________________________

 

 

Economics 4b 2hf. Economics of Corporations.
Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Crosgrave.
6 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 86 Juniors, 15 Sophomores, 3 Other. Total 130.

 

 

[p. 43-4]

ECONOMICS 4b

  1. Why was the dissolution of the “Tobacco Trust” more difficult than that of the Standard Oil Company? Explain fully.
  1. Indicate certain differences in the eye of the law between monopolization and restraint of trade.
  1. Herewith are two balance sheets of companies A and B respectively. Comment upon them, contrasting one with the other. Which apparently denotes the greater financial stability?
Co. A
Assets Liabilities
Plant $3,500,000 Preferred Stock $5,000,000
Merchandise 1,800,000 Common Stock 15,000,000
Bills Receivable 700,000 Accounts Payable 600,000
Cash 1,400,000
Good-will and Patents 13,200,000
$20,600,000 $20,600,000
 

Co. B

Assets Liabilities
Factories $15,000,000 Capital Stock $65,000,000
Securities owned 18,000,000 Debentures 15,000,000
Merchandise 20,000,000 Surplus 3,000,001
Accounts Receivable 30,000,000
Franchises and Good-will 1
$83,000,001 $83,000,001

 

  1. Name, with briefest possible description in each case, and in order of seriousness, at least five distinct forms of unfair competition in trade.
  1. Do all the foregoing forms of unfair competition affect thgeneral public as well as direct competitors? Does this factor apparently influence the attitude of the courts?
  1. What was the essence of the U. S. Steel Bond Conversion plan? What became of it?
  1. Contrast administrative and judicial forms of controlling monopoly, pointing out the merits of each.
  1. Outline the plan of reorganization of the National Cordage Company. Was it typical of industrial reorganizations in general?
  1. What are the three leading objections to the so-called “holding company “?
  1. Outline what most appeals to you as a feasible plan for dealing with the existing trust problem. State concisely in definite propositions covering all points at issue.

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 5. Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation.
Professor Bullock.
6 Seniors, 14 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 1 Other. Total 25.

 

[p. 44]

ECONOMICS 5

  1. Explain and discuss critically the methods employed in the taxation of land in Germany, France, Great Britain, Australia, and the United States.
  1. Compare the general property tax with the general income tax, considering both the theory and the practical operation of these taxes.
  1. Compare the French, Prussian, and British systems of direct taxation.
  1. Compare the British system of indirect taxation with those of France and the United States.
  1. Discuss the taxation of mortgages in the United States.
  1. What changes in the taxation of personal property have recently occurred in the United States?
  1. Compare the British, Prussian, and Italian income taxes. .
  1. Outline what you consider a satisfactory theory of the just apportionment of public charges.

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 6a lhf. Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.
Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Crosgrave.
3 Graduates, 44 Seniors, 19 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 2 Other. Total 72.

 

[p. 45]

ECONOMICS 6a

Answer the first five briefly

  1. What is sabotage?
  1. What is the ” extended ” closed shop?
  1. What is the principal practical difficulty in the “general strike”?
  1. Is it met by the adoption of any positive policy in France by the “syndicates”?
  1. In the syndicalist programme what is to be the unit in the reorganized state?
  1. 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.
  1. What are the four main features of the New Zealand legislation. (Each in a sentence.)
  1. What is the principal demonstrated weakness in the above legislation?
  1. What are three disabilities of the individual workmen in negotiating a wage contract?
  1. Wages for women in domestic service and in manufactures seem out of line with one another. What main difference helps to explain this?
  1. What is the present condition of affairs respecting the closed shop in the United States? Outline the course of events for two decades.
  1. How does the law of conspiracy enter into the decision by courts in labor disputes? How has Great Britain settled it?

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 6b 2hf. The Labor Movement in Europe.
Asst. Professor Rappard.
5 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 3 Other. Total 30.

 

[p. 45-6]

ECONOMICS 6b

Arrange answers in order of questions. Students who wrote theses will omit the first three questions.

  1. Enumerate five of the effects which Engels says the Industrial Revolution had on the manufacturing population of England. What were Engel’s chief sources of information?
  1. How does Sombart distinguish between (a) Rational Socialism (Utopian Socialism and Anarchism) and (b) Historical Socialism?
  1. What effect, according to Marx, does machinery have

(a) Upon real wages?
(b) Upon nominal wages?
(c) Upon “relative surplus-value”?
(d) Upon “absolute surplus-value”?

  1. Why is it customary to mention the English enclosure movement in dealing with the history of labor in Europe in the 19th century?
  1. What were the historical relations between the doctrines of Godwin, Malthus and Darwin?
  1. What was Chartism? Saint-Simonism? Which was more radical? More socialistic? Give reasons.
  1. Write a biography of Marx (300 to 500 words).
  1. Compare the views of Marx and Vaudervelde on ” Capitalist Concentration.”
  1. Give chapter headings of a thesis on “The Socialist Movement in Germany, 1860-1890” in six or more chapters.
  1. Distinguish between (a) Socialism (b) Anarchism (c) Syndicalism.
  1. “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs … To every laborer the entire product of his labor … At first sight, these two formulas are absolutely contradictory. We believe, however, that it is possible and necessary to reconcile them and to complete each by the other.” — Vaudewelde.
    How does the author do this? What practical suggestions does he make for arranging distribution in the socialist state?
  1. What difficulties does Skelton think a socialist state would encounter

(a) In administering the government?
(b) In determining what commodities should be produced?
(c) In distributing wealth?

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 7. Theories of Distribution and Distributive Justice.
Professor Carver.
3 Graduates, 7 Seniors, 13 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Other. Total 25.

 

[p. 47]

ECONOMICS 7

  1. Explain and illustrate the principle of marginal utility and its relation to the value of consumers’ goods.
  1. Explain and illustrate the law of variable proportions and its relation to the value of the factors of production.
  1. Discuss the various criteria of justice in the distribution of wealth.
  1. Explain and illustrate exactly what you understand by self-interest.
  1. How would the single tax probably affect the demand for labor? Would its effect probably be stronger on unskilled than on skilled labor? On skilled labor than on business talent?
  1. How do mechanical inventions affect the demand for capital and for different grades of labor?
  1. Describe one communistic society, giving some account of its origin, the causes of its success if it succeeded and of its failure if it failed.
  1. Outline a program for raising the wages of all the lower grades of labor.

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 8. Principles of Sociology.
Professor Carver.
10 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 74 Juniors, 18 Sophomores, 4 Other. Total 147.

 

[p. 47-8]

ECONOMICS 8

  1. What, in your opinion, is the ultimate test of progress? Give your reasons.
  1. Compare the views of Buckle and Peschel as to the influence of geographical surroundings on religion.
  1. What is the relation between the institution of the family and the institution of property?
  1. What place has the genius in social progress? Give your own opinion and state the views on this question of authors whom you have read.
  1. Outline the leading forms of waste labor and of waste land, giving briefly the reasons why each form of waste exists at the present time.
  1. Compare the views of Mill and Ross as to the limits of social control.
  1. What, according to Ross, is the relation of resentment to social order?
  1. What are the reasons for the existence of the ballot? How far would these reasons justify the extension of the ballot?

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 9. Principles of Accounting.
Asst. Professor Cole, assisted by Mr. Eliot Jones.
7 Graduates, 8 Graduates of Applied Sciences, 62 Graduates of Business School, 147 Seniors, 50 Juniors, 2 Sophomores. Total 276.

 

[p. 48-50]

ECONOMICS 9

Save one hour for the last question. It will count as one-third of the paper.

  1. Show by journal entries what should be debited and what credited for the following transactions:

(a) Granting a discount to a customer, for early payment of a bill, so that, though the amount of the bill was $100, he pays but $95.
(b) Paying a lawyer $50 for trying to collect a bill that proves uncollectible, and writing off the debt ($250) as bad.
(c) Collecting $75 as full payment, including interest to the amount of $17, for a debt previously written off as bad.
(d) Giving a friend whose credit at banks is not very good, because he is a new-comer in town, and for whom, therefore, you do not wish to endorse notes, your own note for $1000, with the understanding that he will discount it at a bank, and taking in exchange your friend’s note (for the same amount and time) which you intend to keep until maturity.
(e) Discounting at a bank your friend’s note mentioned in (d), because you find his credit has improved in the public mind and you need the money. [Discount $7.]
(f) Returning to the manufacturers, as unsatisfactory, goods billed at $500 and bought to be sold at $650.
(g) Delivering goods from the store as part payment of clerks’ wages, and allowing 5% discount to clerks. [Retail price $50, clerks’ price $47.50.]
(h) Issuing a stock dividend of $50,000.
(i) Selling a new $2,000,000 issue of stock for $2,100,000. [Corporation’s books.]

  1. A bond table gives the value of $10,000 of bonds for January 1 as $10,366.27, and for July 1 as $10,323.60. On the latter day you collect $250 interest. What entry shall you make for the interest?
    Assuming that the valuation of the bonds was determined on a 4% basis, how could you prove the correctness of the July 1 valuation if you knew that the valuation for January 1 was correct?
  1. Define and discuss the purpose of the following: —

(a) a machine rate,
(b) a life-insurance reserve,
(c) a national-bank redemption fund,
(d) a stores ledger,
(e) a machine ledger,
(f) a controlling account.

  1. Would expense burden enter into a plan of cost accounting for (a) a department store, (b) a hospital, (c) a college, (d) a gas company? Explain briefly how, or why not, in each case.

Remember in solving problems that time and confusion are often saved by the use of journal entries as guides in determining which accounts are affected.

  1. The balance sheet a year ago was as follows: —
Plant $125,000 Capital Stock $140,000
Accounts Receivable 33,000 Bills Payable 10,000
Merchandise 19,000 Accounts Payable 24,000
Cash 5,000 Surplus 8,000
$182,000 $182,000

An abbreviated tentative income sheet for the year just closing gave the following figures: —

Wages $85,000 Other Expenses $71,000
Materials 54,000 Gross Income 240,000

No items relating to the care of property were included in the “other expenses,” and they are now to be provided for. Such items are found on the debit side of the trial balance as follows:—

Depreciation $5,000 Replacement $4,000
Repairs 8,000 Additions 12,000

Supposing the only changes in the balance sheet are those caused by the items shown above (profit or loss and care of property) and that cash absorbs the net effect of changes not otherwise indicated, show the income sheet and the balance sheet for the new year.

  1. Prepare such a tabular statement or statements as an accountant should give to his employers or clients for a business yielding the following figures on three trial balances (of ledger balances) taken at the times indicated.
Trial balance at the opening of business, Jan. 1, 1912 Trial balance, Dec. 31, 1912, before the books are closed Trial balance at the opening of business, Jan. 1, 1913
Dr. Cr. Dr. Cr. Dr. Cr.
Capital Stock $200,000 $200,000 $200,000
Bills Payable 30,000 40,000 40,000
Accounts Payable 35,000 37,500 37,500
Surplus 7,000 7,000 9,000
Dividends declared 10,000 10,000
Real Estate and Plant $135,000 $137,500 $137,000
Accounts Receivable 88,200 80,200 80,200
Goods in process 17,000 17,000 20,000
Finished Goods 25,000 25,000 23,000
Raw Materials Inventory 15,000 15,000 35,000
Raw Materials 57,000
Wages 7,000 52,000 2,000
Taxes 200 2,300 200
Insurance 1,000 2,200 1,000
General Expenses 7,500
Sales 113,200
Cash 8,000 2,000 2,000
$289,200 $289,200 $397,700 $397,700 $298,700 $298,700

If you give more than one statement, prepare one at a time, and leave the reconciliation between statements until all are complete.

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 11. Economic Theory.
Professor Taussig.
20 Graduates, 1 Graduate at Business School, 4 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 1 Other. Total 31.

 

[p. 50-3]

ECONOMICS 11

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions]

  1. Explain the connection between

(a) the rent of mines;
(b) Carey’s doctrine that the total rent received by land-owners is less than interest on the total investment for improving land;
(c) the earnings of barristers or opera-singers;
(d) the earnings of ” successful ” business men.

  1. “Men are not equal. . . . Those capable of organizing and leading industrial enterprise are in a minority, and are indeed few; hence they can put a price on their services which would be impossible if there were many. Their services are not worth more on this account, but they can get more for them. Because the community needs their services, and cannot perhaps get along without them, they can, if they like, put ” famine prices ” on the commodity (organizing and directing talent) which they have to sell; while, on the other hand, those who have only labor or physical skill, though they are just as necessary, are many, and hence can about as readily be taken advantage of as the others can take advantage.” What have you to say? Can the ” famine prices ” be justified?
  1. (a) “There are, in fact, few no-rent men in actual employment; and the reason for this is clear, since work involves a sacrifice, and it does not pay to incur the sacrifice unless the earnings be a positive quantity. In those times and places in which child labor has been employed, with little regard for the welfare of the victims, labor that was not at the no-rent point, but very near it, has been pressed into service. But, where the sacrifice entailed by labor is, in some way, neutralized by a benefit that work confers, labor which creates literally nothing may sometimes be employed. Lunatics or prisoners may be kept at work, in order that they may secure fresh air and exercise, even though the amount of capital that they use, if it were withdrawn from their hands and turned into marginal capital, would produce as much as it does when it is used by them. In such a case the product imputable to their labor is nil.
    The existence of any no-rent labor enables us to make the rent formula general and to apply it to every concrete agent of production.”
    (b) “The productivity of any capital, whether human or external, will differ with the capital. Men differ in quality, i. e., in productive power, as truly as lands or other instruments differ. Some men have a high degree of earning power and some have not.
    Some men can work twice as fast as others. Some men can do higher grades of work than others. The result is that we find men classified as common manual laborers, skilled manual laborers, common mental workers, superintending workers, and enterprisers.
    Just as we can measure the rent of any land by the difference in productivity between that and the low-rent, or no-rent, land, in exactly the same way we can measure the difference in productivity between men. There is no grade of workmen called the “no-wages men,” but there would be such a grade if it were customary for their employer to pay for their cost of support (as the employer of land pays for its cost), so that only the excess above this cost were to be called wages.”

Compare the two trains of reasoning; give your opinion; and state by what authors the passages were written.

  1. “If the proprietor of superior land were to say, ‘I will take no rent for it,’ this would not make wheat cheaper. The supply would not be changed; for the same quantity would be raised, the marginal amount raised on the no-rent land would be needed and would be bought at the former price, and all other parts of the supply would command the same rate. … It is a striking fact — but one hitherto much neglected — that similar conclusions apply to the product of every other agent ” [capital and labor]. Do similar conclusions apply? Who do you think is the author of this passage?
  1. What three grounds explain, according to Böhm-Bawerk, the preference for present goods over future? Which of them does he conclude to be the most important? State Fisher’s criticism; and give your own opinion on the controverted question.
  1. “In the present condition of industry, most sales are made by men who are producers and merchants by profession. . . .For them, the subjective use value of their own wares is, for the most part, very nearly nil. … In sales by them the limiting effect which, according to our theoretical formula, would be exerted by the valuation of the last seller, practically does not come into play.” — Böhm-Bawerk.
    What is the ” theoretical formula “? and what is the importance of the qualification here stated?
  1. In what sense are the terms “demand” and “increase of demand ” used in the following passages:

(a) “The democratization of society and the aping of the ways of the well-to-do by the lower classes have greatly increased the demand for silk fabrics.”
(b) “The lower price of sugar after 1890, when sugar was admitted free of duty, at once caused an increase of demand.”
(c) “The cheapening of a commodity may mean an increase of demand such that the total sum spent on it will be as great as before, even greater than before.”

  1. Explain the essentials of Veblen’s theory of crises, and state wherein you think it most tenable, wherein least so.

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 12 lhf. Scope and Methods of Economic Investigation.
Professor Carver.
2 Graduates, 1 Radcliffe. Total 3.

 

[p. 53]

ECONOMICS 12

  1. Explain verbally, and show by means of an outline, the relation between private and public economics and the main subdivisions of each.
  2. Into what main departments would you subdivide the subject of economics if you were going to write a general text book for college classes. Give your reasons.
  1. What are the characteristic methods of reasoning, methods of collecting information, and methods of exposition in economics? Mention examples, or give illustrations of each. What are the special advantages of each? To what class of problems is each especially adapted?
  1. Comment upon the following: —

“The economist may thus be considered at the outset of his researches as already in possession of those ultimate principles governing the phenomena which form the subject of his study, the discovery of which in the case of physical investigation constitutes for the inquirer his most arduous task; but, on the other hand, he is excluded from the use of experiment.” (Cairnes, pp. 89-90.)

  1. What, according to Warner, are the characteristic methods of determining the causes of poverty? What are the merits and defects of each method? Give illustrations.
  1. Comment upon the statement that “political economy depends more upon reasoning than on observation.” Is this the same as saying that the greatest present need is for sound reasoners rather than for close observers? Would either statement apply to all possible conditions and to all classes of problems?
  1. Discuss Clark’s reasons for describing capital as a sum of money.

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 14. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848.
Professor Bullock.
7 Graduates. Total 7.

 

[p. 54]

ECONOMICS 14

  1. What significant analyses of economic structure and functions were made by the mercantilists?
  1. Discuss the development of economic opinions as reflected in the writings of Hales, Bodin, Montchrétien, Mun, Petty, Boisguilbert, Cantillon, Vanderlint, and Hume.
  1. Explain the structure and purpose of the “Wealth of Nations,” and give a brief analysis of the doctrines of the first two books.
  1. Discuss the treatment of the subject of population by Aristotle, the Schoolmen, Cantillon, Smith, and Malthus.
  1. At what points did the economic theories of Ricardo differ from those of Adam Smith?

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 16. The History of Modern Socialism.
Asst. Professor Rappard.
4 Graduates Total 4.

 

[p. 54-5]

ECONOMICS 16

  1. Fill out the blanks in the following table according to the Marxian phraseology and theory.
Con-stant capital Vari-able capital Rate of surplus value Capital con-sumed Indi-vidual rate of profit Value of commo-dities pro-duced Cost price of commodities prod-uced Average rate of profit Price of com-modities Deviation of price from value
90 10 50% 20
80 20 50% 10
70 30 50%
  1. “The theory of value which Marx presents is a variation of the familiar labor-value doctrine.” Discuss.
  1. State the Marxian theory of rent.
  1. What is meant by the Bernstein-Kautsky controversy? State three of the principal points involved, with the arguments advanced on both sides.
  1. What, according to Skelton, are the distinctive features of Utopianism? How does Shelton classify the Utopian doctrines?
    What, according to Skelton, are the two “quite distinct interpretations” of which the Marxian materialist conception of history is susceptible?
  1. “In spite of himself, Marx was the last of the classical economists.” How does Shelton justify this assertion?
  1. “Had the third volume of ‘Capital’ appeared at the same time as the first, little would have been heard about ‘exploitation’ from socialist platforms.” Why not, according to Skelton?

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 23. Economic History of Europe to the Middle of the Eighteenth Century.
Dr. Gray.
4 Graduates, 1 Radcliffe. Total 5.

 

[p. 55]

ECONOMICS 23

  1. Discuss the origin and early expansion of capital in Italy, the Low Countries, Germany and England. (One hour.)
  1. Compare the development of copyhold in England with that of Meierrecht in Germany. In what way were agrarian conditions in southwestern Germany different from conditions in the north-west at the beginning of the sixteenth century.
  1. Trace the growth of the mercantile system in England. Has Cunningham’s treatment any bias? Explain.
  1. Describe fully four of the following documents: —

Notularium Johannis Scribae.
An English Pipe Roll.
Royal licenses to export English wool in 1273.
De institutis Lundonie.
Chrysobullium Alexii I.

 

________________________________________

 

Economics 31. Public Finance.
Professor Bullock.
6 Graduates, 1 Junior. Total 7.

 

[p. 55-6]

ECONOMICS 31

  1. How far does the present British system of taxation conform to the maxims of Adam Smith?
  1. How far does the present French system of taxation conform to Smith’s maxims?
  1. How far does the present Prussian system of taxation conform to Smith’s maxims?
  1. How far would the single tax on land values conform to Smith’s maxims?
  1. Compare the general property tax in Switzerland with the same tax in the United States.
  1. What changes in the general property tax have occurred in the United States in recent years?
  1. Discuss fully the opinions of Leroy-Beaulieu or Eheberg concerning the income tax.
  1. Discuss fully the opinions of Leroy-Beaulieu or Eheberg concerning the inheritance tax.

 

________________________________________

Economics 32 2hf. Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American conditions.
Professor Carver.
8 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 1 Junior. Total 11.

 

[p. 56]

ECONOMICS 32

  1. What are some of the larger characteristics which distinguish rural from urban life?
  1. Where would you draw the line between large scale and medium scale, and between medium scale and small scale farming, and what are the principal advantages and disadvantages of each?
  1. Exactly what is the distinction between intensive and extensive farming, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
  1. To what system of culture does the horse as a draft animal belong, and what are some of the characteristics of that system?
  1. Where do we find the larger percentage of tenancy in this country, where land is highly productive or where its productivity is low? How would you explain the situation?
  1. Give your ideas as to the function of the middle-man, and to what extent and how that function may be performed by the farmers themselves.
  1. What are the advantages of diversified farming as compared with specialized farming?
  1. Give your ideas as to how country life may be made more attractive to men and women of education and culture.

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Sources:

Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College. June, 1913. Cambridge, MA.

Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1912-13, pp. 57-58.