Month: August 2025

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Brown Economists Exam Questions Finance Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Enrollment and Exam for Topics in U.S. Financial History. Henry Brayton Gardner, 1902-03

In the first few years following the death of Charles Franklin Dunbar in 1900, two of his fields, public finance and taxation, were covered by visiting professors. This post provides the biographical timeline for the founder of the Brown University economics department, Henry Brayton Gardner, who covered one semester course “Selected Topics in the Financial History of the United States” in 1902-03. The course description, enrollment, and final exam questions immediately follow.

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Previous Guest Professors/Lecturers
on Public Finance

1901-02. Economics 7a and 7b. Financial administration; taxation [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock of Williams College.

1902-03. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate] taught by Edward Dana Durand of the Federal Industrial Commission, formerly from Stanford.

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Henry Brayton Gardner
Timeline

1863. Born March 26 in Providence, RI.

1884. A.B., Brown University.

1888-90. Instructor in Political Economy, Brown University. Founder of the economics department. Sole teacher of economics at Brown until 1902.

1889. Statistics of Municipal Finance (Publications of American Statistical Association, New Series, Vol. 1, No. 6).

1890. Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University.

1896. Outlines of lectures in elementary economics, Brown University. Course I, Historical and Descriptive.

1890-98. Associate Professor of Political Economy, Brown University.

1898-1819 . Professor of Political Economy, Brown University.

1919. President of the American Economic Association

1819-1923. [First] Eastman Professor of Political Economy.

1928. Retired from Brown University.

1939. Died April 22 in Providence, RI.

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Course Description, 1902-03
Originally announced as omitted

[16 1hf. Selected Topics in the Financial History of the United States. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., at 2.30.]

Omitted in 1902-03.

The first object of this course will be to investigate the process through which a system of federal finance was developed in the United States. This will involve a study of the finances of the American colonies, a consideration of the experiences of the Confederation, and a detailed examination of the financial legislation of the first three decades following the adoption of the constitution. Incidentally, it will necessitate some study of colonial monetary affairs and of the theories of taxation prevalent in the eighteenth century. The second topic for investigation will be the development of the finances of the states from 1775 to 1850, with special reference to the growth of state debts and the history of the general property tax. The final topic will be the development of federal taxation since 1820, particular attention being given to the history of the internal revenue system during the last forty years.

Course 16 is open to students who have taken Economies 1, and who take or have taken History 13.

Source: Harvard University. The University Publications, New Series, No. 55 (June 14, 1902). Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1902-03, p. 50.

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Course Enrollment, 1902-03

Economics 16. 2hf. Professor Gardner (Brown University). — The Financial History of the United States.

Total 28: 1 Gr., 11 Se., 13 Ju., 2 So., 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.

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ECONOMICS 162
Year-end Examination

Answer any six questions.

  1. Contrast the achievements of Hamilton and Gallatin during their respective administrations of the treasury.
  2. During what periods has an internal revenue system been employed in the United States? Sketch the system employed during the Civil War. What portions of it were made permanent?
  3. Outline the history of the United States debt, showing periods of increase and decrease and describing briefly the refunding operations since the Civil War. On what ground was the refunding law of 1870 criticised?
  4. Describe briefly the main features of the financial management of the Civil War, and mention any points in which they seem to you open to criticism.
  5. Outline the course of events during the period 1866-1879 which finally resulted in the resumption of specie payments.
  6. Describe the course of public expenditures since the Civil War.
  7. Describe the course of events during the period 1890-1896. How far was the deficit in the revenue a factor in the troubles of the period?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: Faculty portrait of Henry Brayton Gardner in the Brown University Yearbook, Liber Brunensis, Vol. XLV (1903).

Categories
Bibliography Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. European and U.S. Economic History. Reading Lists and Exams. Gay and Gray, 1909-10

Edwin Francis Gay and Howard Levi Gray

 

Edwin Francis Gay teamed up a young history Ph.D., Howard L. Gray [see biographical material included below], to teach the European and U.S. economic history sequence, Economics 6a and 6b in 1909-10 at Harvard.

Materials, mainly course descriptions, enrollment and final exams for 1901/2-1908/9, that have been transcribed earlier are linked below.

Course bibliographies for 1909-10 are included in this post as well.

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Economic History Materials
Posted Earlier

Economic History of the United States

1901-02. Economics 6. Economic History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague and J.H. Patten]

1902-03. Economics 6. Economic History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague]

1903-04. Economics 6. Economic History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague]

1904-05. Economics 6. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague]

1905-06. Economics 6. Economic and Financial History of the United States [with Frank W. Taussig]

1906-07. Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [E.F. Gay]

1908-09. Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [E.F. Gay and M.T. Copeland]

European Economic History

1902-03. Economics 10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1904-05. Economics 10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay, only one student enrolled, no printed exam available]

1905-06. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1906-07. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1908-09. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1902-03. Economics 11. Economic History of Europe since 1500. [E.F. Gay]

1903-04. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1904-05. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1905-06. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

Other Economic History Material

1903-04. Economics 24. General Outlines of Agrarian History. [E.F. Gay]

E.F. Gay and A. P. Usher’s economic history exams from 1930 through 1949.

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A short bibliography for “serious students” of economic history assembled by Gay and published in 1910 that was posted earlier.

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Howard Levi Gray, History Ph.D. 1907

HOWARD LEVI GRAY, A.B. (Univ. of Rochester) 1897, A.B. (Harvard Univ.) 1898, A.M. (ibid.) 1900. Subject, History. Special Field, Economic History. Thesis, “A Contribution to the Study of Anglo-Saxon Settlement.” Continuing his studies at London, as Edward William Hooper Fellow.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-07, p. 135.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Howard Levi Gray (see A.B. 1898), Instr. in History 1909-1914; Instr. in Economics 1911-1912; Tutor 1914-1915; Asst. Prof, of History 1914-1915.

Source: Harvard University, Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates 1636-1930, p. 83.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Howard L. Gray, Historian, 71, Dies

Professor at Bryn Mawr for 25 Years Retired in 1940
—Had Taught at Harvard

Special to The New York Times

BRYN MAWR, Pa., Sept 15— Howard Levi Gray, professor emeritus of history at Bryn Mawr College, died in his sleep early yesterday at Canajoharie, N. Y., at the age of 71, according to word received at the college here.

Professor Gray was born in Starkesville, N. Y., near Fort Plain, where his family had lived for many generations. He received an A.B. degree from the University of Rochester in 1897; an A.B. from Harvard University in 1898, and an M.A. in 1900.

He was an instructor in history at Harvard from 1909 through 1913 and assistant professor of history from 1914 until 1915 when he came to Bryn Mawr College as Professor of History. At his retirement in 1940 he was the Marjorie Walter Goodhart Professor of History.

While in Government service in London in the department of supply for the year 1918-1919, Professor Gray gathered material for his book, “Wartime Control of Industry.” His other publications included “Influence of the Commons on Early Legislation,” “English Field Systems,” “The First Benevolence” and “Greek Visitors to England in 1455-1456.” At his death he was at work on a new book, a study of mid-Fifteenth Century finance and administration.

Source: The New York Times, 16 Sept 1945.

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Econ 6a.
European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century, 1909-10

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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

6a 1hf. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. Gray.

Course 6a undertakes to present the general outlines of the economic history of western Europe since the Industrial Revolution. Such topics as the following will be discussed: the economic aspects of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic regime, the Stein-Hardenberg reforms, the Zoll-Verein, Cobden and free-trade in England, labor legislation and social reform, nationalism and the recrudescence of protectionism, railways and waterways, the effects of transoceanic competition, the rise of industrial Germany.

Since attention will be directed in this course to those phases of the subject which are related to the economic history of the United States, it may be taken usefully before Economics 6b. It is open to students who have taken or are taking Economics 1.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 55.

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 6a 1hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. Gray — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 96: 12 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 42 Juniors, 13 Sophomores, 5 Freshmen, 9 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

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ECONOMICS 6a (1909)

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

  1. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

*Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Vol. III, pp. 609-669.

*Hobson, Evolution of Modern Capitalism, pp. 10-82.

*Toynbee, Industrial Revolution, pp. 32-93.

Woollen Report of 1806; reprinted in Bullock, Selected Readings in Economics, pp. 114-124.

Walpole, The Great Inventions, in History of England, Vol. I, pp. 50-76; reprinted in Bullock, pp. 125-145, and Rand, Selections illustrating Economic History, chapter ii.

Chapman, The Lancashire Cotton Industry, pp. 1-112.

Webb, History of Trade Unionism, pp. 1-101.

Hutchins and Harrison, History of Factory Legislation, pp. 14-42.

Wallas, Life of Francis Place, pp. 197-240.

Mantoux, La Révolution Industrielle, pp. 179-502.

Cooke Taylor, The Modern Factory System, pp. 44-225.

  1. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT. – CONTINENT.

*Von Sybel, French Revolution, in Rand, Selections, pp. 55-85.

*Seeley, Life and Times of Stein, Vol. I, pp. 287-297. (Rand, pp. 86-98.)

*Morier, Agrarian Legislation of Prussia, in “Systems of Land Tenure,” pp. 267-275. (Rand, pp. 98-108.)

*Brentano, Agrarian Reform in Prussia, Econ. Jour., Vol. VII, pp. 1-20.

Flour de St. Genis, La Propriété Rurale, pp. 80-164.

De Foville, Le Morcellement, pp. 52-89.

Von Goltz, Agrarwesen und Agrarpolitik, pp. 40-50.

Colman, European Agriculture (2d ed.), Vol. II, pp. 371-394.

Schulze-Gävernitz, Volkswirtschaftliche Studien aus Russland, pp. 308-383.

  1. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT. – ENGLAND.

*Hasbach, History of the English Agricultural Labourer, pp. 71-116.

*Taylor, Decline of Land-Owning Farmers in England, pp. 1-61.

Prothero, Pioneers and Progress of English Farming, pp. 64-103.

Brodrick, English Land and English Landlords, pp. 65-240.

Caird, English Agriculture in 1850, pp. 473-528.

Garnier, English Landed Interest, Vol. II, pp. 360-512.

Colman, European Agriculture (2d ed.), Vol. I, pp. 10-109, 133-174.

Levy, Entstehung und Rückgang des landwirtschaftlichen Grossbetriebs in England.

  1. THE FREE TRADE MOVEMENT. – ENGLAND.

*Levi, History of British Commerce, pp. 218-227, 261-272, 292-303; in Rand, pp. 207-241.

*Morley, Life of Cobden, chapters vi, vii, xvi.

Ashworth, Recollections of Cobden and the League, pp. 32-64, 296-392.

Prentice, History of the Anti-Corn Law League, Vol. I, pp. 49-77.

Parker, Sir Robert Peel from his Private Letters, Vol. II, pp. 522-559; Vol. III, pp. 220-252.

Cunningham, Rise and Decline of the Free Trade Movement, pp. 27-99.

Tooke, History of Prices, Vol. V, pp. 391-457.

  1. THE TARIFF. – CONTINENT.

*Ashley, Modern Tariff History, pp. 3-62, 301-312, [267-300].

Worms, L’Allemagne Économique, pp. 57-393.

Amé, Les Tarifs de Douanes, Vol. I, pp. 21-34, 219-316.

Perigot, Histoire de Commerce Français, pp. 77-185.

Lang, Hundert Jahre Zollpolitik, pp. 168-230.

  1. FINANCE.

*Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Vol. III, pp. 689-703, 822-829, 833-840.

*Andréadès, History of the Bank of England, pp. 284-294, 331-369, 381-388.

Tugan-Baranowsky, Studien zur Theorie und Geschichte der Handelskrisen in England, pp. 38-54, 62-121.

Giffen, Growth of Capital, pp. 115-134.

Macleod, Theory and Practice of Banking (4th ed.), Vol. I, pp. 433-540; Vol. II, pp. 1-197.

Bastable, Public Finance, Bk. V, chaps. 3 and 4 (3d ed.), pp. 629-657.

  1. THE NEW GOLD.

*Cairnes, Essays, pp. 53-108; in Rand, pp. 242-284.

*Jevons, Investigations in Currency and Finance, pp. 34-92.

Leroy-Beaulieu, Traité d’Economie Politique, Vol. III, pp. 192-238.

Giffen, Economic Inquiries and Studies, Vol. I, pp. 75-97,k 121-228.

Hooper, Recent Gold Production of the World, Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1901, pp. 415-433.

  1. TRANSPORTATION. – PRIVATE OWNERSHIP.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 146-202.

*Preferential Treatment given by Railway Companies in Great Britain, Report of the Royal Commission of 1906, pp. 11-34.

McLean, English Railway and Canal Commission of 1888, in Q.J.E., 1905, Vol. XX, pp. 1-55, or in Ripley, Railway Problems, pp. 603-649.

Acworth, Railways of England, pp. 1-56.

Acworth, Elements of Railway Economics, pp. 50-159.

McDermott, Railways, pp. 1-149.

Porter, Progress of the Nation, pp. 287-339.

Edwards, Railways and the Trade of Great Britain, Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1908, pp. 102-131.

Pratt, Railways and their Rates, pp. 1-184.

Colson, Legislation des Chemins de Fer, pp. 3-20, 133-182.

Kaufmann, Die Eisenbahnpolitik Frankreichs, Vol. II, pp. 178-284.

Guillamot, L’Organisation des Chemins de Fer, pp. 82-120.

Forbes and Ashford, Our Waterways, pp. 107-137.

Léon, Fleuves, Canaux, Chemins de Fer, pp. 1-156.

  1. TRANSPORTATION. – STATE OWNERSHIP.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 236-258, [203-235].

*Meyer, Governmental Regulation of Railway Rates, pp. 92-188.

Acworth, Relation of Railways to the State, Econ. Jour., 1908, pp. 501-519.

Mayer, Geschichte und Geographie des Deutschen Eisenbahnen, pp. 3-14.

Lotz, Verkehrsentwicklung in Deutschland, pp. 2-47, 96-142.

Leuschau, Deutsche Wasserstrassen, pp. 9-56, 95-161.

Peschaud, Belgian State Railways, translated in Pratt, State Railways, pp. 57-107.

Tajani, The Railway Situation in Italy, Q.J.E., Vol. XXIII, pp. 618-653.

Pratt, Railways and their Rates, pp. 185-326.

Pratt, Railways and Nationalization, pp. 1-120, 253-293.

  1. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Bowley, England’s Foreign Trade in the Nineteenth Century (ed. 1905), pp. 55-107.

*Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 1-95.

Fry, History of North Atlantic Steam Navigation, pp. 55-106, 207-249.

Cornewall-Jones, British Merchant Service, pp. 252-260, 306-317.

Glover, Tonnage Statistics of the Decade 1891-1900. Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1902, pp. 1-41.

Ginsburg, British Shipping, in Ashley, British Industries, pp. 173-195.

LeRoux de Bretagne, Les Primes à la Marine Marchande, pp. 93-224.

Charles-Roux, L’Isthme et le Canal de Suez, Vol. II, pp. 287-339.

Von Halle, Volks- und Seewirtschaft, pp. 136-219.

  1. AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION.

*Report on Agricultural Depression, 1897, pp. 6-10, 21-40, 43-53, 85-87.

*Report on Small Holdings in Great Britain, Royal Commission of 1906.

Haggard, Rural England, Vol. II, pp. 536-576.

The Tariff Commission, Vol. III, Report of the Agricultural Committee, 1906.

Thompson, Rent of Agricultural Land in England and Wales during the Nineteenth Century. Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1907, pp. 587-611.

Hasbach, History of the English Agricultural Labourer, pp. 274-364.

Arch, Autobiography, pp. 65-144, 300-345.

Little, The Agricultural Labourer, Report to the Royal Commission on Labour, 1894, Vol. I, pp. 195-253.

Adams, Position of the Small Holding in the United Kingdom. Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1907, pp. 412-437.

Plunkett, Ireland in the New Century (ed. 1905), pp. 175-209.

Bastable, Some Features of the Economic Movement in Ireland, Econ. Jour., Vol. XI, pp. 31-42.

J. Méline, The Return to the Land, pp. 83-144, 185-240.

Imbart de la Tour, Le Crise Agricole, pp. 24-34, 127-223.

Simkhovitch, The Agrarian Movement in Russia, Yale Review, Vol. XVI, pp. 9-38.

King and Okey, Italy Today, pp. 156-192.

  1. RECENT TARIFF HISTORY.

*Smart, Return to Protection, pp. 7-44, 136-185, 284-259.

*Balfour, Economic Notes on Insular Free Trade. (Also in Fiscal Reform, pp. 71-95, [97-113, 266-280]).

*Chamberlain, Imperial Union and Tariff Reform, pp. 19-44.

Ashley, W.J., Tariff Problem, pp. 53-210.

Marshall, Fiscal Policy of International Trade, pp. 30-82.

Pigou, Protective and Preferential Import Duties, pp. 1-117. (See also his Riddle of the Tariff, pp. 1-107.)

Cunningham, Rise and Decline of the Free Trade Movement, pp. 100-168.

Ashley, P., Modern Tariff History, pp. 78-112, 313-358.

Zimmermann, Deutsche Handelspolitik, pp. 218-314.

Meredith, Protection in France, pp. 54-129.

  1. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

*Ashley, W.J., British Industries, pp. 2-38, 68-92.

*Howard, Recent Industrial Progress in Germany, pp. 51-109, [1-50]

Cox, British Industries under Free Trade, pp. 2-84, 142-175, 235-376.

Levasseur, Questions ouvrières et industrielles en France sous le troisième République, pp. 27-166.

La Belgique, 1830-1905, pp. 397-617.

Fischer, Italien und die Italiener (ed. 1901), pp. 240-267.

Machat, Le Developpment Èconomique de la Russie, pp. 157-229.

  1. INDUSTRIAL COMBINATION.

*Report of Industrial Commission, Vol. XVIII, pp. 7-13, 75-88, 101-122, 143-165, [14-38]

*Macrosty, The Trust Movement in Great Britain, in Ashley, British Industries, pp. 196-232.

Macrosty, Trust Movement in British Industry, pp. 24-56, 81-84, 117-154, 284-307, 329-345.

Walker, Monopolistic Combinations in Europe, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 13-41.

———, Combinations in German Coal Industry, pp. 38-111, 175-289, 322-327.

Liefmann, Kartelle und Trusts, pp. 22-32.

Baumgarten und Meszlény, Kartelle und Trusts, pp. 83-152.

  1. LABOR — COÖPERATIVE MOVEMENT.

*Bowley, Wages in the United Kingdom, pp. 22-57, 81-127.

*Shadwell, Industrial Efficiency, Vol. II, pp. 307-350.

Wood, Real Wages and the Standard of Comfort since 1860. Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1909, pp. 91-101.

Cost of Living of the Working Classes in the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Report to the Board of Trade, 1909.

Webb, Trade Unionism, pp. 344-478.

Howell, Labor Legislation, pp. 447-499.

Willoughby, Workingmen’s Insurance, pp. 29-87.

Beveridge, Unemployment.

Ashley, W.J., Progress of German Working Classes, pp. 1-65, 74-141.

Dawson, The German Workman, pp. 1-245.

Holyoake, History of Coöperation in England (ed. 1906), [pages missing?]

Gide, Productive Coöperation in France, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 30-66.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 394-397, 407-413.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1909-1910”.

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ECONOMICS 6a
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. State the topics you would discuss if you were to write on the agricultural history of England in the nineteenth century.
  2. In the light of your knowledge of the movement of wages and rent in England, comment on the following statement by Henry George: —

“Though neither wages nor interest anywhere increase as material progress goes on, yet the invariable accompaniment and mark of material progress is the increase of rent … Increased power of production has everywhere added to the value of land; nowhere has it added to the value of labor; everywhere wages, as a proportion of the produce, have decreased.”

  1. Courcelle-Seneuil wrote of Peel’s Bank Charter Act: “The Bill of 1844 was based on several errors of fact … and as soon as it was put to the test of experience the inadequacy and danger of its effects became evident.” Discuss this view, stating at the outset the chief provisions of the Act.
  2. Do you find in the facts of the recent economic history of England any justification for the revival of protectionism in that country? State the chief arguments for and against such a policy.
  3. (a) Give examples of the different classes of Kartells or trade associations.
    (b) Are Kartells, as Grunzel asserts, essentially different from trusts or amalgamations?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 41-42.

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Econ 6b.
Economic and Financial History of the United States,
1909-10

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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

6b 2hf. Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. Gray and Mr. Eliot Jones.

The following are among the subjects considered: aspects of the Revolution and commercial relations during the Confederation and the European wars; the history of the protective tariff policy and the growth of manufacturing industries; the settlement of the West and the history of transportation, including the early canal and turnpike enterprises of the states, the various phases of railway building and the establishment of public regulation of railways; banking and currency experiences; various aspects of agrarian history, such as the public land policy, the growth of foreign demand for American produce and the subsequent competition of other sources of supply; certain social topics, such as slavery and its economic basis, and the effects of immigration.

It is open to students who have taken or are taking Economics 1.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 56.

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 6b 2hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. Gray and Mr. Eliot Jones. — Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 170: 12 Graduates, 24 Seniors, 70 Juniors, 35 Sophomores, 14 Freshmen, 15 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

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ECONOMICS 6b (1909)

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

  1. COLONIAL PERIOD.

*Callender, Economic History of the United States, pp. 6-63, 85-121.

Ashley, Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 1-29; printed also in Ashley’s Surveys, pp. 309-335.

Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 36-51.

McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 1-102.

Eggleston, Transit of Civilization, pp. 273-307.

Beer, Commercial Policy of England, pp. 5-158.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 3-91.

Lord, Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies of North America, pp. 56-86, 124-139.

1776-1860.
  1. COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, AND TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History of the United States, pp. 68-154.

*Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, in Taussig’s State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 1-79, 103-107, (79-103).

Callender, Economic History, pp. 432-563.

Bolles, Industrial History of the United States, Book II, pp. 403-426.

Bishop, History of American Manufactures, Vol. II, pp. 256-505.

Pitkin, Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States (ed. 1835), pp. 368-412.

Gallatin, Free Trade Memorial, in Taussig’s State Papers, pp. 108-213.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 146-183.

Hill, First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States, Amer. Econ. Assoc. Pub., Vol. VIII, pp. 107-132.

  1. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

*Callender, Economic History, pp. 271-275, 345-404.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. IV, Thos. C. Purdy’s Reports on History of Steam Navigation in the United States, pp. 1-62, and History of Operating Canals in the United States, pp. 1-32.

Chevalier, Society, Manners and Politics in the United States, pp. 80-87, 209-276.

Ringwalt, Development of Transportation Systems in the United States, pp. 41-54, 64-166.

Phillips, History of Transportation in the Eastern Cotton Belt, pp. 46-131.

Bishop, State Works of Pennsylvania, pp. 150-261.

Gallatin, Plan of Internal Improvements, Amer. State Papers, Misc., Vol. I, pp. 724-921 (see especially maps, pp. 744, 762, 764, 820, 830).

Pitkin, Statistical View (1835), pp. 531-581.

Chittenden, Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Vol. II, pp. 417-424.

  1. AGRICULTURE AND LAND POLICY. — WESTWARD MOVEMENT.

*Callender, Economic History, pp. 597-692.

Hart, Practical Essays on American Government, pp. 233-257 printed also in Q.J.E., Vol. I, pp. 169-183, 251-254.

Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 52-74.

Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History, in Report of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1893, pp. 199-227.

Donaldson, Public Domain, pp. 1-29, 196-239, 332-356.

Hibbard, History of Agriculture in Dane County, Wisconsin, pp. 86-90, 105-133.

Sanborn, Congressional Grants of Land in Aid of Railways, Bulletin of Univ. of Wisconsin Econ., Pol. Sci. and Hist. Series, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 269-354.

  1. THE SOUTH AND SLAVERY.

*Callender, Economic History, pp. 738-819.

Cairnes, The Slave Power (2d ed.), pp. 32-103, 140-178.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 34-119.

Russell, North America, its Agriculture and Climate, pp. 133-167.

De Tocqueville, Democracy in America (ed. 1838), pp. 336-361, or eds. 1841 and 1848, Vol. I, pp. 386-412.

Helper, Compendium of the Impending Crisis of the South, pp. 7-61.

Ballagh, Land System of the South, Publications of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1897, pp. 101-129.

  1. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Dewey, Financial History of the United States, pp. 34-59, 76-117, 224-246, 252-262.

*Catterall, The Second Bank of the United States, pp. 1-24, 68-119, 376 map, 402-403, 464-477.

Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the United States, pp. 60-93.

Hamilton, Reports on Public Credit, Amer. State Papers, Finance, Vol. I, pp. 15-37, 64-76.

Kinley, History of the Independent Treasury, pp. 16-39.

Sumner, Andrew Jackson (ed. 1886), pp. 224-249, 257-276, 291-342.

Ross, Sinking Funds, pp. 21-85.

Scott, Repudiation of State Debts, pp. 33-196.

Bourne, History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837, pp. 1-43, 125-135.

Conant, History of Modern Banks of Issue, pp. 310-347.

1860-1900.
  1. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Mitchell, History of the Greenbacks, pp. 3-43, 403-420.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 1-72, 234-254, (73-233).

Taussig, Silver Situation in the United States, pp. 1-157.

Dunbar, National Banking System, Q.J.E., Vol. XII, pp. 1-26; printed also in Dunbar’s Economic Essays, pp. 227-247.

Howe, Taxation and Taxes in the United States under the Internal Revenue System, pp. 136-262.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. VII; Bayley, History of the National Loans, pp. 369-392, 444-486.

  1. TRANSPORTATION.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 1-23, 125-145.

*Johnson, American Railway Transportation, pp. 24-68, 307-321, 367-385.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 466-481.

Adams, Chapters of Erie, pp. 1-99, 333-429.

Davis, The Union Pacific Railway, Annals of the Amer. Acad., Vol. VIII, pp. 259-303.

Villard, Memoirs, Vol. II, pp. 284-312.

Dixon, Interstate Commerce Act as Amended, Q.J.E., Vol. XXI, pp. 22-51.

  1. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 150-171.

Meeker, Shipping Subsidies, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 594-611.

Soley, Maritime Industries of the United States, in Shaler’s United States, Vol. I, pp. 518-618.

McVey, Shipping Subsidies, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. IX, pp. 24-46.

Wells, Our Merchant Marine, pp. 1-94.

Day, History of Commerce, pp. 553-575.

  1. AGRICULTURE AND OPENING OF THE WEST.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 43-123, 134-167.

*Noyes, Forty Years of American Finance, pp. 257-283.

Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. V, pp. xvi-xlii.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 120-226.

Quaintance, Influence of Farm Machinery, pp. 1-103.

Adams, The Granger Movement, North American Review, Vol. CXX, pp. 394-424.

Bemis, Discontent of the Farmer, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. I, pp. 193-213.

  1. INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION.

*Noyes, Forty Years of American Finance, pp. 114-152, 182-233.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 485-519, 544-569.

Twelfth Census, Vol. IX, pp. 1-16; Vol. X, pp. 725-748.

Wells, Recent Economic Changes, pp. 70-113.

Sparks, National Development, pp. 37-52.

  1. THE TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 155-229, 321-360.

*Taussig, Tariff Act of 1909, Q.J.E., Vol. XXIV, pp. 1-38.

Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, Vol. II, pp. 243-394.

Taussig, Iron Industry, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 143-170, 475-508.

Taussig, Wool and Woolens, Q.J.E., Vol. VIII, pp. 1-39.

Taussig, Sugar, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. CI, pp. 334-344.

Wright, Wool-growing and the Tariff since 1890, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 610-647.

Robinson, History of Two Reciprocity Treaties, pp. 9-17, 40-77, 141-156.

Laughlin and Willis, Reciprocity, pp. 311-487.

  1. INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION.

*Willoughby, Integration of Industry in the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XVI, pp. 94-115.

*Noyes, Forty Years of American Finance, pp. 284-354.

Twelfth Census, Vol. VII, pp. cxc-ccxiv.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII, pp. v-xviii.

Bullock, Trust Literature, Q.J.E., Vol. XV, pp. 167-217.

  1. THE LABOR PROBLEM.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 724-746, 793-833.

*Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 502-547.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, No. 18 (Sept., 1898), pp. 665-670; No. 30 (Sept., 1900), pp. 913-915; No. 53 (July, 1904), pp. 703-728.

Levasseur, American Workman, pp. 436-509.

Mitchell, Organized Labor, pp. 391-411.

Twelfth Census, Special Report on Employees and Wages, p. xcix.

National Civic Federation, Industrial Conciliation, pp. 40-48, 141-154, 238-243, 254-266.

  1. POPULATION, IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION.

*United States Census Bulletin, No. 4 (1903), pp. 5-38.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XV, pp. xix-lxiv.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 68-112.

Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, pp. 33-78.

Walker, Discussions in Economies and Statistics, Vol. II, pp. 417-451.

Hoffmann, Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, pp. 250-309.

Tillinghast, The Negro in Africa and America, pp. 102-228.

Twelfth Census Bulletin, No. 8.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, Nos. 14, 22, 32, 35, 37, 38, 48.

Washington, Future of the American Negro, pp. 3-244.

Stone, A Plantation Experiment, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 270-287.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1909-1910”.

________________________

ECONOMICS 6b
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. Compare in its more important features the economic history of the decade 1830-40 with that of the decade 1850-60.
  2. (a) Outline the tariff legislation of the United States from 1816 to 1860.
    (b) Compare Hamilton’s argument for Protection with the recent statement of the “true principle.”
  3. Comment on the following: —
    “It is the American farmer who sustains the foreign credit of the United States, and keeps the balance of trade favorable. During the fiscal year of 1907 the exports of farm products exceeded the imports by four hundred and forty-four millions of dollars. The farmer has succeeded in keeping the balance favorable for eighteen years, the aggregate in favor of the United States during that time being more than six billion dollars, while the non-agricultural products during the same period have shown an adverse balance of more than four hundred and fifty millions.”
  4. (a) In 1891 ex-Senator Peffer wrote: “Agriculture is behind, farming is profitless. farmers are not doing business on a cash basis. The railroad builder, the banker, miner, and manufacturer are growing richer, while the farmer and his co-worker are poorer as the years pass.”
    What remedies were then proposed, and what has in fact remedied the condition of the farmer?
  5. Summarize the merits and defects of the trade union policies as compared with those of the “Trust.”
  6. Discuss briefly:
    1. Specie Circular.
    2. Suffolk Banking System.
    3. The abuses of the public land policy.
    4. The “American Invasion.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 42-43.

Image Source: The portraits of Edwin Francis Gay and Howard Levi Gray in Radcliffe College, The Book of the Class of 1916.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Economics of Transportation. Description, Enrollment, Reports, and Exam. Ripley and Jones, 1909-1910

The teaching assistant to William Zebina Ripley in 1909-10 for his course on the economics of transportation (mostly or all about railroad economics) was Eliot Jones (Ph.D., 1913) who continued on to a distinguished career as a professor of economics at Stanford.

Ripley covered a good chunk of the economics curricular waterfront (statistics, railroads, labor, and corporations) at Harvard. 

__________________________

Monographs/Books on Transportation by W. Z. Ripley

Transportation. Chapter from the Final report of the U.S. Industrial Commission (Vol. XIX) and privately issued by the author for the use of his students and others. Washington, D.C., 1902.

Railway Problems, edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1907).

Railroads: Rates and Regulation (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912).

Railroads: Finance & Organization (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915).

__________________________

Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5 (Economics of Transportation), etc.

1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer alone)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1905-06 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1906-07 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett and Walter Wallace McLaren). Also with the Assignment of Reports.
1907-08 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1908-09 (Ripley with Edmund Thorton Miller)

….etc.

1906-07. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)
1907-08. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)

______________

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

APPLIED ECONOMICS
For Undergraduates and Graduates

5 1hf. Economies of Transportation. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley and Mr. Eliot Jones.

A brief outline of the historical development of rail and water transportation in the United States will be followed by a description of the condition of transportation systems at the present time. The four main subdivisions of Rates and Rate-Making, Finance, Traffic Operation, and Legislation will be considered in turn. The first deals with the relation of the railroad to shippers, comprehending an analysis of the theory and practice of rate-making. An outline will be given of the nature of railroad securities, the principles of capitalization, and the interpretation of railroad accounts. Railroad Operation will deal with the practical problems of the traffic department, such as the collection and interpretation of statistics of operation, pro-rating, the apportionment of cost, depreciation and maintenance, etc. Under Legislation, the course of state regulation and control in the United States and Europe will be traced.

Course 5 is open to all students who have taken Economics 1.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 57.

______________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 5 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Eliot Jones. — Economics of Transportation.

Total 142: 6 Graduate, 48 Seniors, 57 Juniors, 17 Sophomores, 6 Freshmen, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Eliot Jones (Ph.D. 1913)

ELIOT JONES, A.B. (Vanderbilt Univ.) 1906, A.M. (Harvard Univ.) 1908. Subject, Economics. Special Field, Railroad Transportation. Thesis, “The Anthracite Coal Combination in the United States, with some Account of the Early Development of the Anthracite Industry.” Instructor in Economics, University of Pennsylvania.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 90.

Obituary of Eliot Jones
[b. 12 Feb 1887; d. 17 Oct 1971]

Eliot Jones, retired professor of economics at Stanford University, died Sunday at the Los Gatos Community Hospital. He was 84.

Jones, a native of Grinnell, Iowa, was graduated in 1906 from Vanderbilt University, where he set a record for the half-mile run in the Southern Intercollegiate Association. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from Harvard in 1908 and 1913.

During World War I Jones was a member of the Federal Trade Commission and the War Industry Board. He was named associate professor at Stanford in 1917 and a full professor in
1920. He was chairman of the department of economics from 1920 to 1922. He retired in 1952.

Jones’s books include “The Anthracite Coal Combination in the U.S.,” “The Trust Problem in the U.S.,” “The Principles of Railway Transportation,” “Railroads,” and “Principles of Public Utilities.”

He is survived by his wife, Mabel Ross Jones of Los Gatos; a son, Eliot Jones of Carmel; a brother, Chapin Jones of Char-lottesville, Va.; and a sister, Mrs. Cyrus J. Fitton of Hamilton, Ohio…

Source: The Peninsula Times Tribune, Palo Alto, CA. October 19, 1971.

______________

ECONOMICS 5
ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS

⇒ Exact reference by title, volume, and page must be given in foot-notes for all facts cited. This condition is absolutely imperative. Failure to comply with it will vitiate the entire report.

Group A

Students will report upon the organization and present character of one railway company in the United States. This will be indicated by a number, placed against each student’s name on the enrolment slip, which number refers to the railroad similarly numbered on this sheet. See Directions on last page.

The information to be procured is as follows, and should be numbered in correspondence with this list. Note all changes during the year; and compare the results with those for the railway group in which the company lies, as given in U.S. Statistics of Railways.

(1) Miles of line. (2) Passengers transported. (3) Tons of freight carried: gross and per mile of line. (4) Tons carried one mile, with revenue per ton mile. (5) Revenue per train mile. (6) Gross earnings from operation. (7) Operating expenses: gross and per mile of line.

(8) Net income from operation. (9) Stock and bonds. (10) Stock and bonds per mile of line.

(11) Dividends paid. (12) Surplus. (13) Present prices and movements of prices of the various securities listed.

With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

Group B

Students will compare the volume of business (1) in gross and (2) by ton and (3) passenger mileage; and the (4) gross income, (5) operating expenses, (6) net income per mile of line, and (7) market prices of securities; for two different railways. These are indicated by numbers posted against the student’s name on the enrolment slip. The aim should be not only to discover differences, but, as far as possible, to explain them. Mere description of conditions is not desired; actual comparison is demanded. The use of parallel columns is suggested. See Directions on last page.

With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

Group C

Students will compare the volume of business (1) in gross and (2) by ton and (3) passenger miles; together with the (4) gross income, (5) operating expenses, (6) net income per mile of line, and (7) prices of securities; for a given railway through a series of years, since 1890, if possible. Note carefully, however, all changes or additions to the line from year to year. The railway assigned is indicated by a number placed against the student’s name on the printed class lists. The analysis of annual reports in financial journals must be carefully followed year by year. Results may be plotted on cross section paper where possible. See Directions on last page.

With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

⇒ The letters preceding the assignment number against the student’s name refer to the group in which the report is to be made. Thus, for example: “26 A” on the enrolment slip indicates that the student is to report upon the New York Central R. R. as described under A on the preceding page; “16 & 37 B,” that a comparison of the Erie and the Wabash Railroads is expected, as described under B on the preceding page; etc.

RAILWAY COMPANIES IN THE UNITED STATES
    1. Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fé.
    2. Baltimore and Ohio.
    3. Canada Southern.
    4. Central of New Jersey.
    5. Chesapeake and Ohio.
    6. Chicago and Alton.
    7. Chicago Great Western.
    8. Chicago, Indiana, and Louisville.
    9. Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul.
    10. Chicago and Northwestern.
    11. Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific.
    12. Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago, and St. Louis. (Big Four.)
    13. Delaware and Hudson.
    14. Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western.
    15. Denver and Rio Grande.
    16. Erie.
    17. Great Northern. (See Northern Securities Co., since 1900.)
    18. Hocking Valley.
    19. Illinois Central.
    20. Iowa Central.
    21. Lake Erie and Western.
    22. Louisville and Nashville.
    23. Mexican Central.
    24. Missouri, Kansas and Texas.
    25. Missouri Pacific.
    26. New York Central.
    27. New York, Ontario, and Western.
    28. Norfolk and Western.
    29. Pennsylvania
    30. Philadelphia and Reading.
    31. St. Louis and San Francisco.
    32. St. Louis Southwestern.
    33. Southern Pacific.
    34. Southern Railway.
    35. Texas and Pacific.
    36. Union Pacific.
    37. Wabash.
    38. Wheeling and Lake Erie.
    39. Wisconsin Central.
    40. Ann Arbor.
    41. Atlantic Coast Line.
    42. Boston and Maine.
    43. Boston and Albany. (See New York Central.)
    44. Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh.
    45. Central Vermont.
    46. Central Railroad of New Jersey.
    47. Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton.
    48. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha. (See Chicago and Northwestern.)
    49. Chicago and Eastern Illinois.
    50. Pittsburgh, Evansville, and Terre Haute.
    51. Lehigh Valley.
    52. Long Island.
    53. New York, New Haven, and Hartford.
    54. New York, Chicago, and St. Louis.
    55. Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. (See New York Central.)
    56. Maine Central
    57. Pittsburgh, Bessemer, and Lake Erie.
    58. Western Maryland
    59. Rio Grande Western.
    60. St. Paul and Duluth.
    61. Northern Pacific. (See Northern Securities Co.)
    62. Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Northern.
    63. St. Joseph and Grand Island.
    64. Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Memphis.
    65. International and Great Northern.
    66. Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis.
    67. Mobile and Ohio.
    68. Yazoo and Mississippi Valley. (See Illinois Central.)
    69. Plant System.
    70. Georgia Railroad and Banking Company.
    71. Central of Georgia.
    72. Pere Marquette.
    73. Columbus, Sandusky, and Hocking.
    74. Cleveland, Lorain, and Wheeling.
    75. Mexican Central.
    76. Grand Trunk.
    77. Canadian Pacific.
    78. Chicago, Burlington, and Quiney. (See Northern Securities Co.)
    79. Choctaw, Oklahoma, and Gulf.
    80. Rutland.
    81. Seaboard Air Line.
    82. Northern Securities Co.
    83. Western Pacific Co.
    84. Colorado and Southern.
DIRECTIONS

First. — Secure if possible by correspondence, enclosing ten cents postage, the last or recent annual reports of the company. P. O. addresses are given in Poor’s Manual of Railways; the Official Guide of Railways in the United States; the Investors’ Supplement, N.Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle; or bankers’ and stock exchange Handbooks, Manuals of Statistics, etc.

Second. — Before compiling any returns for ton or passenger mileage, revenue per train mile, etc., read carefully Ripley, in Final Report U. S. Industrial Commission, pp. 274-280 and 293-295; [James Shirley] Eaton, Railway Operations, pp. 190-201; or Woodlock, Anatomy of a Railroad Report, pp. 101-111; and especially [T. L.] Greene, Corporation Finance, pp. 79-130.

Third. — Work back carefully through the file of the Investors’ Supplement, N.Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle. [e.g., for  January 31, 1903] These Supplements, prior to 1902, are bound in with the regular issues of the Chronicle, one number in each volume. Since 1901 they are separately bound for each year. The Investors’ Supplement will be recognized by its gray paper cover, and must be carefully distinguished from the other supplements of the Chronicle. Market prices of securities are given in a distinct Bank and Quotation Supplement, also bound up with the Chronicle. Having found the company in the Investors’ Supplement, follow up all references to articles in the Commercial and Financial Chronicle as given by volume and page. Also use the general index of the latter, separately, for each year since the company was organized.

Fourth. — Look up the summaries and criticisms of each year’s annual report in The Railway Age, and since 1908 in The Railway Age Gazette.

The files of Bradstreets should also be used, noting carefully that the index in each volume is in three separate divisions, “Editorials” being the most important. The course of prices is summarized at the end of each year in January Bradstreets, and also in the Reports of the U. S. Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII.

The files of the Wall Street Journal are also valuable.

Fifth. — Analyze carefully by means of its indexes the returns in the official Statistics of Railways in the United States, published by the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Note the statistical division into groups, shown on the map at the head of each volume.

Note also that for each railway lying in two or more groups, a Summary for the road as a whole is given as a Supplement to each table.

The Annual Statistical Abstract of the United States contains convenient general tables for certain purposes.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1909-1910”.

______________

ECONOMICS 5
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. What were the most significant events in our railroad history in the decade 1870-80?
  2. Describe at least three main reasons for the roundabout routing of freight. Are there any remedies for it?
  3. What are the three modes of emission of new capital stock by railroads under the Massachusetts laws? Why was the last change made?
  4. Name the principal contrasts between British and American railway conditions?
  5. Outline the procedure by which rates are supervised by the government in France.
  6. “While continuing to insist in words that rate control is an exercise of the police power, the (Supreme) Court has in fact treated it as if it were a phase of the power of eminent domain.” What does this mean as applied to the judicial review of railway rates? What objections to this contention may be offered?
  7. —
    1. Explain just how the issue of valuation of railways has arisen in the United States.
    2. Show the distinction between the two kinds of valuation.
  8. State in separate paragraphs at least five of the proposals for new legislation concerning railroads of the present Federal Administration.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), p. 41.

Image Source: “The Right of Way” by Beaumont Fairbank, published in Puck, 25 May 1910. A locomotive labeled “Private Monopoly Special” racing down tracks labeled “Opportunity” while two trains labeled “Plain People Local” and “Legitimate Business” have been side-tracked, giving the monopoly the “right of way”.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Statistics

Harvard. Exams for Statistics. Ripley, 1909-1910

William Zebina Ripley

William Zebina Ripley’s teaching portfolio at Harvard included the methods of (descriptive statistics) which was still not yet a mandatory part of the training of graduate students of economics in 1910. Also worth noting is that there was not a deep bench at Harvard to cover the field of statistics in the first decade of the twentieth century—the course was not offered by anyone in 1905-06.

Ripley lists ten treatises on statistics in his chapter on social statistics in A guide to reading in social ethics and allied subjects (1910), by Francis G. Peabody et al. There is certainly overlap with his course readings there.

________________________

Statistics (Econ 4) Exams
from previous years

1901-02.
1902-03.
1903-04.
1904-05.
1905-06 [not offered]
1906-07. [offered but no printed exam found]
1907-08. [only mid-year exam found]
1908-09.

________________________

Course Description
1909-10

[Economics] 4. Statistics. — Theory, method, and practice. Tu., Th., at 11. First half-year: Professor Ripley. Second half-year: Mr. —.

This course is intended rather as an analysis of methods of research and sources of information than as embodying mere results. A brief history of statistics will be followed by an account of census and other statistical methods in the United States and abroad, with the scientific use and interpretation of results. The main divisions of vital statistics, relating to birth, marriage, morbidity, and mortality, life tables, etc.; the statistics of trade and commerce, such as price indexes, etc.; industrial statistics relating to labor, wages, and employment; statistics of agriculture, manufactures, and transportation, will be then considered in order. Laboratory work, amounting to not less than two hours per week, in the preparation of charts, maps, and diagrams from original material, will be required.

Course 4 is open to students who have taken Economics 1; and it is also open to Juniors and Seniors who are taking Economics 1.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29
(23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 53.

________________________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 4. Professor Ripley. — Statistics. Theory, method, and practice.

Total 26: 8 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 4 Freshmen, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 4
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. Suppose that an investigation as to unemployment in 1909 among 5,000,000 men, showed the following result:—
45 per cent. were idle 1 month,
20 per cent. were idle 4 months,
15 per cent. were idle 7 months,
10 per cent. were idle 9 months,
5 per cent. were idle 11 months.

What would be the average unemployment? Could you state the result in any better way?

  1. Fisher estimates a possible average prolongation of life of 15 years; and cites three factors which may still further extend it beyond this limit. What are these?
  2. The median age of the population of the United States in 1900 was 22.85; in 1880 it was 20.86. The average age in 1900 was 26.2; in 1880 it was 24.6. (a) Why is the average age so much higher than the median age? (b) Explain how each is obtained. (c) Which is the better mode of expressing the statistical facts?
  3. The population of Marseilles in 1828 was 133,000, of which 33,000 were vaccinated. There were 3,330 cases of smallpox of which 2,289 were of persons not vaccinated. Of these latter 420 died; while among 1,041 vaccinated persons stricken, only 17 died. Was vaccination a success or not? Is there a showing unfavorable to vaccination deducible from these figures? Prove in each case by ratios.
  4. —
Standard Birth rate. Correction Factor. Crude Birth rate. Corrected Birth rate.
Boston 39.04 0.8942 29.15 _____
Providence, R. I. 43.86 0.7959 26.46 _____
Native born 30.88 1.1305 15.09 _____
Foreign born 55.67 0.6271 49.37 _____

Explain (a) how this table was constructed in principle; (b) complete it by filling in the blank spaces; and (c) explain exactly what it means.

  1. From the age of 10 forward, the probability of death increases progressively. Will a mortality table show more or fewer deaths in consequence between the ages of 60-65 or of 10-15 years?
  2. Is registration of births or of deaths making the more rapid progress in the United States? How widely extended is each?
  3. How is the birth rate for the United States computed from the census data? What is the principal element of uncertainty in such an estimate?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1909-10.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 4
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. What is usually conceded to be the best statistical measure of the well-being of a community or a family? Name some authorities who have worked in this field.
  2. About how much unemployment is there normally in civilized countries? Criticise the evidence available.
  3. Where would you find statistical data as to —
    1. Membership in trade unions?
    2. The amount of gold and silver in circulation in the United States?
    3. Traffic on rivers and canals in the United States?
    4. The prevalence of crime in the different states of the Union?
  4. What does the following table show?

Cost of a product valued at $100.

Materials Wages Misc. Exp. Total
U.S. all industries, 1890 $55.08 $24.36 $6.73 $86.17
  1. What is shown by the following table?

Labor cost in three industries.

United States, 1900 Per cent of wages
and value of product		 Average wages
Iron and steel 15.0 $543
Cotton goods 25.6 $286
Flour and grist mills 3.2 $478
  1. Could any change in conditions between 1890 and 1900 be proved by such data?
  2. Describe the statistical system as to price movements of Soetbeer in detail.
  3. Criticise the Aldrich Committee Report on the movement of wages since 1890.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), p. 40.

Image Source: Harvard University Archives.  William Zebina Ripley [photographic portrait, ca. 1910], J. E. Purdy & Co., J. E. P. & C. (1910). Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Enrollment and exams for Principles of Sociology. Carver, 1909-1910

Thomas Nixon Carver taught or co-taught sociology in the Harvard economics department eight times in the first decade of the twentieth century. Carver lists sixteen items in his chapter on sociology in A guide to reading in social ethics and allied subjects (1910), by Francis G. Peabody et al.

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Carver’s teaching assistant was J. S. Davis [Ph.D., 1913] whose obituary, “Joseph Stancliffe Davis, (1885-1975)” , was written by Joseph H. Willits. It was published in The American Statistician 30, no. 4 (1976), p. 199.

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Sociology exams from earlier years

1901-02 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1902-03 (taught by T. N. Carver and W. Z. Ripley)

1903-04 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1904-05 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. A. Field) Includes the reading list for the course and additional biographical information.

1905-06 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1906-07 (taught by J. A. Field)

1907-08 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1908-09 (taught by T. N. Carver and C. W. Thompson)

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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

  1. Principles of Sociology. — Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Professor Carver, and an assistant.

The purpose of this course will be to make an analytical study of social life in order to discover the elementary factors and forces which hold society together and give it an orderly development. The development of social institutions, such as the family, the state, religion, property, and contract, will also be studied with a view to finding out their true relation to social well-being and progress.

Reading in connection with the lectures will be assigned in such works as Spencer’s Principles of Sociology, Bagehot’s Physics and Politics, Kidd’s Social Evolution, and in Carver’s Sociology and Social Progress. Students are expected to take part in the discussion of the books read and of the lectures delivered.

Course 3 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1909-10. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VI, No. 29 (July 23, 1909).

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 3. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr. [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis [Ph.D., 1913]. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 70: 12 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 26 Juniors, 9 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 9 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 45.

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ECONOMICS 3
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

Do not try to write too much. Think out your answers and express yourself clearly.

  1. How would you define Sociology, and into what departments would you divide it?
  2. How does the problem of the transmissibility of acquired characters affect the problem of race improvement?
  3. Do geographical conditions exercise as powerful an influence upon mental and social life in advanced stages of civilization as in the lower stages? Explain your position.
  4. How is the form of social organization affected when the social group is compelled to wage its chief struggle against other social groups? How is it affected when the group must wage its chief struggle against the forces of nature?
  5. Compare the views of Buckle and Kidd as to the relative importance of intellectual and moral development.
  6. What is meant by the standard of living, how is it maintained, and how does its maintenance affect the general problem of adaptation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1909-10.

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. What, according to Spencer, are the original external and the original internal factors of sociology?
  2. What professions have developed from the priesthood, and how has the development taken place?
  3. What are the points of resemblance between the mediaeval prince and the modern political boss?
  4. What is Spencer’s opinion as to the development of European society in the near future?
  5. How, according to Buckle, is civilization affected by the “aspects of nature”?
  6. What is meant by the “zone of the founders of religion”?
  7. What is meant by “The Productive Life”?
  8. What is the relation of morality to adaptation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 39-40.

Image Source: Portraits of Thomas Nixon Carver and Joseph Stancliffe Davis from the Harvard Class Album 1916.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Principles

Harvard. Enrollment and semester examinations for principles of economics. Carver and Bullock, 1909-1910

After a long break to finish the draft of a paper and a couple of weeks of vacation, your Economics in the Rear-view Mirror’s curator is back in action. We resume with the transcription of the 1909-10 Harvard economics course examinations. Economics 1, Principles of Economics is the subject of this post. Professors Carver and Bullock covered the course for Frank Taussig in 1909-10 due to a last-minute leave of absence taken by Taussig (undoubtedly related to the ill-health of his wife [Tuberculosis?]).

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Exams for principles (a.k.a. outlines)
of economics at Harvard
1870/71-1908/09

1871-75

 1880-81 1890-91 1900-01
1881-82 1891-92

1901-02

1882-83 1892-93 1902-03
1883-84 1893-94

1903-04

1884-85 1894-95 1904-05
1885-86 1895-96

1905-06

1876-77

 1886-87 1896-97 1906-07
1877-78 1887-88 1897-98

1907-08

1878-79

 1888-89 1898-99 1908-09
1879-80 1889-90 1899-00

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Frank Taussig on Leave, 1909-1910

Owing to the absence of Professor Taussig, the following changes in the courses in Economics will be made:

Economics 1 will be conducted by Professors Bullock and Carver; Economics 2 will not be given; Economics 14a and 14b will be given as hitherto, but will be starred,–that is, may not be taken without the consent of the instructor; Economics 23 will not be given; Economics 4, which was announced to be given as a half-course only, in the first half-year, will be given as a full course, by Professor Ripley; Economics 9b, which was announced to be omitted, will be given; Economics 20d will not be given.

Source: The Harvard Crimson (29 September 1909).

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

“The work that gave final form to the Principles was done in an atmosphere of sorrow. Mrs. Taussig’s health had given cause for anxiety for some time. In 1909-1910 he took a year’s leave of absence, which they spent in Saranac [Lake], N.Y., and there she died on April 15, 1910.”

Source: J. A. Schumpeter, A. H. Cole, and E. S. Mason, “Frank William Taussig”, Quarterly Journal of Economics (May, 1941), p. 352.

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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

  1. Principles of Economies. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Taussig, assisted by Dr. Huse and Messrs. M. T. Copeland, Holcombe, Sharfman, and Usher.

Course 1 is introductory to the other courses. It is intended to give a general survey of the subject for those who take but one course in Economics, and also to prepare for the further study of the subject in advanced courses. It is usually taken with most profit by undergraduates in the second year of their college career. Students who plan to take it in their first year are strongly advised to consult the instructor in advance. History 1 or Government 1, or both of these courses, will usually be taken to advantage before Economics 1.

Course 1 gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject. It undertakes a consideration of the principles of production, distribution, exchange, money, banking, international trade, and taxation. The relations of labor and capital, the present organization of industry, and the recent currency legislation of the United States will be treated in outline.

The course will be conducted partly by lectures, partly by oral discussion in sections. A course of reading will be laid down, and weekly written exercises will test the work of students in following systematically and continuously the lectures and the prescribed reading.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1909-10. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VI, No. 29 (July 23, 1909).

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 1. Professors [Thomas Nixon] Carver and [Charles Jesse] Bullock, assisted by Drs. [Charles Phillips] Huse [Ph.D., 1907] and [Arthur Norman] Holcombe [Ph.D., 1909], Messrs. [Melvin Thomas] Copeland [Ph.D., 1910], [Isaiah Leo] Sharfman [LL.B., 1910], and [Abbott Payson] Usher [Ph.D., 1910] . — Principles of Economics.

Total 423: 15 Seniors, 83 Juniors, 193 Sophomores, 80 Freshmen, 52 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 43.

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ECONOMICS 1
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. Distinguish between free goods and economic goods; between productive labor and unproductive labor; between wealth and capital.
  2. State the law of diminishing returns from land and explain its relation to the intensive and extensive margins of cultivation.
  3. If you were to find that all the land of a country had been brought under cultivation, what should you say would be the conditions which would permit a further increase of population?
  4. What are the chief advantages of a division of labor and what determines the extent to which the division of labor can be carried out?
  5. Name the great mechanical inventions since 1750 which have brought about a change in the form of industrial organization. What has been the character of this change?
  6. Can the value of a commodity depend both on demand and supply and on cost of production? If so, how? Can it ever depend on demand and supply and not on cost of production? Can it ever depend on cost of production and not on demand and supply? Explain?
  7. What will be the probable effect of the present meat boycott on the price of meat, other food products, cattle, hides, assuming the boycott to be permanent?
  8. Outline briefly the principal acts of congress relating to the coinage of money in the United States, explaining particularly those acts which produced effects illustrating Gresham’s Law.
  9. Compare the Bank of England, the Bank of Germany and the national banks of the United States as to (1) security of note issue; (2) elasticity of note issue.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1909-10.

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ECONOMICS 1
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. —
    1. Distinguish between elastic and inelastic demand; between total and marginal utility.
    2. Can the value of any commodity depend both on marginal utility and on cost of production today it ever depend on one and not on the other? Explain carefully.
  2. What are the methods by which a bank may sell its credit? What provisions in the national banking law of the United States serve as a safeguard against the over-extension of credit?
  3. A has a piece of land which produces 100 bushels of wheat at an average cost of 60 cents a bushel. The cost of producing a bushel of wheat on the extensive margin of cultivation is 90 cents. What elements does this marginal cost of production include? Calculate the selling price of A’s land, the current rate of interest being 5%.
  4. Suppose that every person engaged in agriculture owned the land which he cultivated, and that all advantages of superior fertility were exactly offset by greater costs of transportation, would rent arise under any conditions? If so, how would it be determined? If not, would the land have any exchange value? Give reasons.
  5. —
    1. Suppose that every person made and used his own tools, would interest exist? Give reasons.
    2. Is the payment of interest at the current rate to a multi-millionaire for the use of his capital justifiable? Give reasons.
  6. What are net profits? To what are they due? Are they a factor in determining price? Give reasons.
  7. What effect upon wages would you expect as a result of:—
    1. the extension of industrial education;
    2. immigration;
    3. the limitation of the output by labor unions;
    4. an increase in the supply of capital;
    5. the introduction of socialism?
  8. Discuss briefly:—
    1. overcapitalization.
    2. Rochdale Pioneers.
    3. Knights of Labor.
    4. Single Tax.
    5. “Gold points.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 38-39.

Image Source: Charles Jesse Bullock and Thomas Nixon Carver portraits in the Harvard Class Album 1915.