Author: Irwin Collier

Harvard. Commercial Law and Industrial Relations Law for Economists. Wyman, 1905-1906

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-02-04

Assistant professor in the Harvard Law School, Bruce Wyman (b. 15 June 1875; d. 21 June 1926) provided aspiring future businessmen an overview of commercial and labor law. Students hoping to go on to study law were explicitly not encouraged to take this course. His exam questions rank among the longest I have encountered thus far in my archival fishing expeditions. He apparently expected as much in return (he wrote in his suggestions for the mid-year examination “Thirty-six pages would be a desirable maximum as to length.”)

In the 1905-06 economics course outline folder there is an incomplete collection of the homework paper assignments, 10 of (13?). Perhaps they were due every second week or so over the semester. The format of the questions matches that found in the exams. Everything found for this year was transcribed for this post.

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From earlier years

1901-02. Autobiographical note, enrollment, course description, syllabus, exams.

1902-03. Obituary, enrollment, course description, exams.

1903-04. Enrollment and exams.

1904-05. Enrollment, course description, exams.

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 21. Asst. Professor Wyman. — Principles of Law governing Industrial Relations and Commercial Law.

Total 150: 6 Graduates, 68 Seniors, 46 Juniors, 19 Sophomores, 11 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 73.

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ECONOMICS 21
Paper Assignments
[incomplete]

Paper No. 1

A is a workman employed in the works of B. B carries an indemnity policy covering accidents written by C. A gets his hand crushed in one of the machines, which is improperly guarded. C attempts to make a settlement with A at $500, which A refuses; thereupon C threatens to get A discharged by B, but A still refuses to compromise. Next, C goes to B and demands that A be discharged. B is at first unwilling, but when C threatens to take advantage of the clause in the policy permitting cancellation of the policy upon five days’ notice, B reluctantly undertakes to discharge A at the end of the week for which he is employed, protesting that A is a good workman and he had intended to give him regular employment. After A is thus discharged he brings suit against C for loss of employment. What decision? Give reasons with care.
A is a manufacturer of soap who is dealing with a jobber named B, among others. C, another manufacturer of soap, goes to B and first offers him a rebate of 10% if B will not handle the soap of A any longer, but will deal with C exclusively, and then threatens B that unless he will do this he will not sell him any soap at all. B then accedes with much protestation. A, thus cut off by B, brings suit against C for loss of business. What decision? Give reasons with care.

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Paper No. 2

A & Co., proprietors of a department store, advertise “the B Co. piano, regular price $500, our price $444.” A & Co. have one such piano in stock, but if they should have more orders they would try to get more if they could. The B Co. are much injured in their business by this; as they only allow their agents 10%, retailers cease handling their piano in the district where A & Co. sell. After A & Co. sell the piano they have had in stock they continue to run the advertisement, although the B Co. of course refuse to sell them any more pianos. Can the B Co. succeed in bringing any suits against A & Co.? Cite any cases you think in point. Give your reasons carefully.
X & Co. begin the manufacture of underwear, woven with an open mesh, which they advertise as “Cellular Underclothing.” A few months later Z & Co. begin the manufacture of a similar article which they advertise as “Cellular Underclothing, a better article than that of any other manufacturer.” Can X & Co. sue Z & Co. for anything? Cite any authorities that you think in point. Give your reasons carefully.

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Paper No. 3

(a) Give briefly the facts in Pontefact v. Isenberger. (b) Give shortly the rule of law in Reddaway v. Banham.
(a) A manufacturer of tomato catsup puts his product on the market in a bottle with a tapering neck wrapped in a cylindrical cardboard carton covered with manila paper upon which is printed in large black letters “X & Co. — Tomato Catsup,” with a picture of the bottle represented as full of red catsup. Z & Co. who begin the manufacture of tomato catsup some years later put their product upon the market in almost exactly the same way, — the bottle tapering, the carton cylindrical, the wrapper manila paper, the printing black, “Z & Co. — Tomato Catsup,” with a picture of the bottle filled with red catsup. Can X & Co. require Z & Co. to make some changes? Cite cases in point. (b) When the patent ran out on the “Singer Sewing Machine” which had been made by S & Co., J & Co. began the manufacture of a machine exactly similar which they put upon the market marked “Singer Sewing Machine.” Can S & Co. prevent J & Co. from doing this in this way? Cite cases in point.
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Paper No. 4

(a) Give briefly the facts in Dudley v. Briggs. (b) Tell shortly what was decided in Pitt v. Donovan.
(a) A & Co., manufacturers of farm implements, circulated the following advertisement in the country newspapers: “We believe that we have the fundamental patents upon harvesters; and, noticing that B & Co. are putting on the market a harvester which seems plainly an infringement of our patents, we hereby give notice that we shall begin legal proceedings against buyers who use this machine, as well as against B & Co.” B & Co. bring a bill for an injunction against A & Co., stating the above facts. What decision? Cite cases in point. (b) X & Co., manufacturers of artificial fertilizer, circulate a statement that their product has 25% more nitrates than that of Z & Co. Z & Co. bring suit, offering to prove that these figures are fabricated by X & Co. What result? Cite cases in point.

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Paper No. 6

Is the following a correct statement of the law: “What our law forbids is total suppression of competition, partial restriction of competition is unobjectionable; thus if there are three grocers in a town and one pays each of the others money to quit business the agreements are not valid, but if the first pays the second money to quit business the law does not object, since competition remains between the first and third.” In your answer cite various cases in the prescribed reading for the week in support of your opinion.
The following cases deal with the same problem: Jelliet v. Broade, Hayward v. Young, Harvey v. Cooke, and Nordenfelt v. Maxim-Nordenfelt Co. What is the principle of law involved in all of them? In your answer show familiarity with each case, both with the chief facts found and with the rule of law laid down.

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Paper No. 7

State the facts in the following cases: (a) Wickens v. Evans, (b) Milwaukee Mason & Builder’s Association v. Niezerowski. Say whether you agree with the decisions in these cases. In your answers support your reasoning with citation of other cases in the prescribed reading.
Here are the principal facts about two cases recently decided. (a) In one an agreement was proved between a manufacturer of skirt binding and the proprietor of a woman’s periodical by which the manufacturer agreed to take a page of advertising for a year at $1000, while the proprietor agreed to reject the advertisements of other manufacturers of skirt binding; the court held that the proprietor was liable for breaking this agreement by taking another advertisement of skirt binding. (b) In the second case three manufacturers of shoes agreed together not to send more than five travelling salesmen into any one state; this agreement the court held invalid. Do you think these cases to be rightly decided? In your answers as to each case cite the cases in the prescribed reading that you consider most in point.

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Paper No. 8

Compare (a) Scottish Coöperative Society v. Glasgow Flesher’s Association with (b) Plant v. Woods. In your discussion cite other cases by way of illustration.
If these two cases should be brought to Court how should they be decided: (a) A combination of oil refiners, A, B, C, D, and E, agree to lower prices 33 1/3% for a year in order to drive X, a dangerous competitor, out of business; their intention is to raise prices after X is disposed of. Can X sue B for the damages caused him by this campaign? (b) Employes of the A railroad refuse to handle freight cars forwarded from the B railroad where a strike is in progress; this policy is adopted because the employes of both railroads are affiliated with the same union, which has voted to instruct the employes of the B Co. to strike and those of the A Co. to support them as they are doing. What remedy has the A Co.? In your answer refer to some cases.

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Paper No. 11

(a) State the factors usually enumerated in the definition of a corporation. (b) Say how many of these are essential to the conception of a corporation.
(a) A acquires all of the capital stock in the X corporation. He then makes a mortgage of the property of the X corporation to the L bank to secure a loan of $5,000 to him. Later he gives B and C one share each in the corporation, and calls a stockholders’ meeting which votes to mortgage the property of the corporation to the M bank to secure a loan of $5,000 to the corporation; the vote authorizes A to execute the mortgage, which he does. The property proves worth about $8,000 when the X corporation fails. How shall it be divided between the L bank and the M bank, neither of which knew of the other’s mortgage? (b) Ships which have English owners only can be registered as English ships. A certain corporation organized in England is shown to have solely French stockholders; may ships owned by it be admitted to English registry?

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Paper No. 12

(a) Give in one sentence the point of law decided in Ellis v. Marshall. (b) Also give in one sentence the point of law decided in Trustees of Free Schools v. Flint.
(a) Give the facts in Broderip v. Salomon fully. (b). Give accurately the decision of the Divisional Court upon the case, written by Vaughan-Williams, J., together with his reasons. (c) Give accurately the decision of the Court of Appeal, written by Lindley, L. J., together with his reasons. (d) Give accurately the decision of the House of Lords, written by Lord Halsbury, together with his reasons.
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Paper No. 13

(a) What does Coit v. Gold Amalgamating Co. decide about the validity of payment of stock subscriptions with property instead of cash? (b) What does Bundy v. Ophir Iron Co. decide about the effect of mortgages upon corporate property which are executed by all of the shareholders in their own names?
(a) A partnership is composed of A, B, and C, but is known as “A & B.” Land is conveyed to “A & B,” paid for with partnership funds; goods are bought by C for the partnership which are delivered to it, but for which he advances the money himself. Later A, B, and C and “A & B” all become bankrupt A, B, and C each own a house and furniture. They individually each owe various people, and the firm owes various people. How shall these estates he wound up? (b) In a certain corporation A, B, and C each own one-third of the shares. It owns a grain elevator; this A wants the corporation to insure, but this B and C refuse to agree shall be done. Then A insures the elevator in his own name, paying the premiums himself. Later it burns; it was worth $21,000; how much will A recover?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1905-1906”.

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ECONOMICS 21
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

Please observe the following suggestions: Divide your time so as to reply to all questions. Make your answers definite; if you to treat the principal questions as units for discussing them, indicate plainly your decision upon each subdivision. Give your reasons for your answers in every case, but state them as briefly as possible, citing cases whenever you remember them. Thirty-six pages would be a desirable maximum as to length.

Do the following go beyond fair competition:
1. X & Co. advertise that “The Natural brand of preserves made by us contains no artificial preservatives, whereas the Perfect brand, manufactured by A & Co., contains (as is shown by the analysis of that eminent chemist, Professor L., which is upon file at our office) 1% of Benzoate Soda.” A & Co. offer to prove that no such analysis was ever made. Can A & Co. sue X & Co.?
2. Suppose that in that same suit X & Co. offer to prove by three experts that A & Co’s preserves really do contain more than 1% of Benzoate Soda, should the evidence be admitted?
3. This advertisement was also published by X & Co.: “The L hotel tried the Perfect brand of preserved fruits for one week — then the manager gave orders to the steward never to buy any more, and to stop serving those that they had bought.” The statement was true; but the reason for the change was because the employees of the hotel, who belonged to a union, refused to serve the Perfect brand as A & Co. had locked out the union men employed at their factory. Can A & Co. sue X & Co.?
4. Another advertisement of X & Co. was: “Think what canned fruits were like before we entered the market — the Perfect (?) brand used to be considered the best! Today everyone realizes the superiority of the processes used in making our Natural brand over all the old fashioned methods used by others.” A & Co. sue X & Co., offering to prove that the reputation of their goods is better than that of X & Co. What result?
Are the following unfair competition:
1. X has worked for 10 years for A, the leading florist of Boston. He starts out in business for himself, three doors below, stating on the sign: “X, late with A,” with a card in the window stating: “Customers of A will receive prompt attention.” Can A get any injunction against X?
2. A has extensively advertised and sold the L brand whiskey, which is put up in a peculiar, cubical shaped bottle, with a very long neck, and is recognized by the shape of the bottle. X offers for sale a whiskey in exactly the same kind of bottle, but with a different label.
3. After the Singer patents, under which the Singer Mfg. Co. was manufacturing, had run out, the June Mfg. Co. began the manufacture of a machine according to the Singer designs, which they labelled in large letters; “Singer Machine.” Can the Singer Mfg. Co. get any injunction?
4. A man named Baker begins the manufacture of chocolate in Massachusetts in 1880, which he calls Baker’s chocolate. A man in California, in 1885, named Baker, begins the manufacture of chocolate which he calls Baker’s chocolate. Both begin selling in Illinois for the first time in 1890. Which can stop the other?
In a strike at a paper mill, called to get recognition of the union by getting the non-union men discharged, the union of the employees adopt the following tactics. How many of these will be stopped by an injunction asked for by the employers:
1. Posting two pickets at the mill gates with instructions to them to use no violence.
2. Refusing to patronize dealers who advertise in newspapers which buy their paper from this mill.
3. Posting upon bill boards an appeal to workingmen urging “all honest laborers not to apply for employment at the mill while the strike is in progress.”
4. Paying non-union men who have taken employment at this mill $25 each to quit work at the end of the week for which they are employed.
An association of refiners of kerosene oil adopt the following policies. How many of these will give a rival refiner who is injured an action for damages:
1. Refusing to sell any oil to retailers who deal at all with refiners outside the association.
2. Reducing prices 25% in districts where rival refiners are selling.
3. Giving 33 1/3% discount to those retailers who will agree to deal with members of the association exclusively.
4. Fining any member of the association who sells to any retailer who deals with any outside refiner.
Can A sue X in the following cases, or is the course of dealings described regarded as permissible:
1. A makes a contract with a retail stove dealer in which it is agreed that all stoves which the retailer shall need during the year shall be bought of X at certain specified prices. X then comes to this retailer and says: “I will cut every price you have from A in that contract 33 1/3% if you will buy of me instead of from A.” The retailer thereupon repudiates his contract with A and enters into one with X.
2. A manufacturer of saleratus enters into a contract one with jobbers, in he promises those jobbers a special discount who agree not to sell other cheaper grades. A, a manufacturer of a cheaper grade, finds himself almost forced out of the market of a cheaper grade finds himself almost forced out of the market by this.
3. L, a baker, sells his shop to A, agreeing with him not to engage, within five miles, for five years, in any branch of the provision business, in any capacity. X, a rival baker, takes a lease of the shop next door, and opens branch there, inducing L to act as manager of the shop.
4. X, a salesman of A, during his last trip, tells customers that he is going to set up for himself after Jan. 1, 1906, and that he will hope to have their patronage then.
Are the following agreements enforceable:
1. An agreement signed by various railroads not to give credit for freight to shippers who owe any of them for freight.
2. An agreement between shoe manufacturers not to employ more than three drummers in any one state.
3. An agreement between one automobile manufacturer and a magazine proprietor that $2,500 should be paid for one page of advertising in the April number, and that no other automobile advertisements should be taken for March, April, or May.
4. An agreement between three manufacturers of iron pipe that each would give to each of the others 5% of all orders received by them.
Can A sue the X corporation, which is organized to manufacture shoe machinery, in the following cases:
1. A has conveyed to the X Co. a tract of land upon which it is building a model town for its employees, but for which it has not paid X.
2. A has agreed to transfer to the X Co. a majority of the shares in the B Co., a rival shoe machinery company, for which block of shares the A Co. has agreed to pay $125 per share.
3. Suppose A is a shareholder in the X Co., and a dividend of 20%, payable June 1, was declared May 1 by the directors, but at a later meeting, on May 15, they had reconsidered that vote and voted to pay no dividend at all, although the corporation books showed 50% profit for the last five years.
4. Suppose that the board of directors of the X Co., who hold a majority of the shares of stock, buy of a syndicate of which they are the members a tract of land for an extension of the factory, the plot costing them $100,000, being sold to the X Co. for $250,000. What can A, a minority stockholder, do?
X and Y form a partnership to manufacture cotton cloth. Can A sue X and Y in the following cases:
1. A comes to X and Y offering them 5,000 bales of cotton at 12 cents per lb. X says to A: “We do not need that cotton,” but Y says to A: “Yes, we do; and we will take all of it from you at that price.” So Y and A enter into a written contract for the cotton, which Y signs in the firm name,” X all the time protesting.
2. Suppose A had found Y alone at the firm’s office and Y had entered into a similar contract for the 5,000 bales of cotton on behalf of X and Y, which X had protested against when he returned.
3. Suppose I had, without authority of X, signed a note in the name of the firm to pay his butcher’s bill, and the butcher had discounted the note with A, a banker.
4. Suppose Y, with consent of X, had signed a contract agreeing to subscribe $1,000 to a cotton manufacturer’s exposition.
In the insolvency of the A corporation, the following facts appearing, what will each claimant noted in the statement of facts get out of the winding up, taking every fact stated below into account: The B corporation, having no other assets than a plant worth then about $200,000, but subject to a bonded indebtedness of $100,000 upon its assets, the bonds being held by V, by a unanimous vote sells all its rights in the plant which are subject to the outstanding bond issue to the A Co. for $100,000, payment to the B Co. being made by $50,000 in cash and a $50,000 note of the A Co., which has not yet been paid. One W acquires later all the stock in the B Co. at 75 from the different shareholders who had originally paid 100 for their shares. It further was shown that X, who owned another plant worth about $105,000, sold it to the A Co. for $100,000, getting in return $5,000 cash and $100,000 of the bonds of the A Co., which bonds were part of an issue of $200,000 constituting a first lien upon all the assets of the A Co. of every sort, the other $100,000 of these bonds having been sold by the A Co. to Y at a discount of 15%. It also appeared that the capital stock of the A Co. was $200,000, the shares of which were issued to Z at 50% discount. When, in the insolvency proceedings the two plants are sold, the one bought from the B Co., having much depreciated, sells for $80,000, while the one bought from X, having appreciated, sells for $150,000. In addition to the claims noted above the A Co. is found to owe $50,000 to general creditors.
Give clearly, in figures, the amount that each claimant will get. It is unnecessary in this question to discuss the rules of law involved; simply relate the processes by which you reach the results, stating the rules.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 21
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

Give your answers plainly and definitely; and state your reasons carefully and briefly.

The X Beef Corporation was organized in New Jersey with a capital stock of $200,000,000. With these shares or their proceeds it bought the packing plants at L, M, N, O, and P, getting the sellers to agree not to engage in the beef packing business for twenty years within the United States; A was one of these sellers. The corporation has acquired and is endeavoring to continue a monopoly in restraint of trade. One method used by it in this respect is to refuse to sell its products to dealers who handle the goods of its rivals at the same price as it will sell to those dealers who will agree to deal with it exclusively; B was a dealer who refused to accede to these terms. The corporation sold beef to C on credit and bought cattle from D on credit.
Can the X corporation sue A or C for breaking their contracts; and can B or C sue the X corporation for damages?
In 1894 an individual and a corporation enter into a partnership agreement, stipulated to continue for five years. In 1897 large net profits have been realized and are in the hands of the corporation. It is reasonably certain that further profits will accrue if the partnership is continued to the end of the stipulated term. But the corporation, in 1897, refuses to continue in partnership, or to recognize the individual partner’s right to share in the profits then on hand.
What, if any, remedies has the individual against the corporation?
The X, Y, and Z corporations, engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods and all in a flourishing condition, wished to combine their businesses. The directors and a majority of the stockholders of each corporation voted to transfer all the assets of their respective corporations to the D corporation, recently organized, and to take the stock of the D corporation in payment. A, B, and C, stockholders in these companies, obtained a temporary injunction against such transfer. Thereupon all the stockholders of the X corporation (except A, B, and C) transferred their stock to L, as trustee, with power for five years to vote the stock and to make such transfers as he should think wise for the purpose of qualifying directors. All the stockholders of the Y and Z corporations (except A, B, and C) transferred their stock to M and N respectively on like trusts. L, M, and N entered into an agreement always to elect the same persons directors of all the corporations during the continuance of the voting trusts, and they thereafter voted for certain persons for directors in pursuance of this agreement. A, B, and C voted for different persons for directors, no person being voted for as a director in more than one corporation.
May the persons so voted for oust the directors voted for by L, M, and N? Should the injunction obtained by A, B, and C be made permanent?
A railroad company is constructed through a coal region. At first it receives coal from all shippers into the cars which it leaves upon its own sidings. Later the larger operators at considerable expense construct spurs to their mines and erect conveyors to load the cars; to such operators the railroad makes a reduction in rates over those who load at stations. Later still the railroad gives notice that it will no longer accept coal in bulk from any shipper who does not maintain his own spurs and conveyors.
Has the small operator who has no such equipment any complaint against the earlier discrimination or against the later refusal to serve?
An electric light company in the city of X is constructed by the issue of $1,000,000 of stock issued to a contractor in part payment for the construction of its plant and by the floating of $1,000,000 20 year 5% bonds at 90. The contractor made 10% net on the whole job. At present the company is paying 8% dividends in addition to meeting promptly the interest on its bonds. It makes a practice of charging to operating expenses all repairs and replacements, while outright new construction or extensions it provides for out of a surplus fund collected some years ago. In addition to these charges it sets aside out of current earnings 8 1/3% relying upon an expert’s opinion that practically the whole plant must be renewed in in twelve years, and by vote of its stockholders it pays enough into a sinking fund each year to retire its bond issue at maturity. A to a corporation commission, acting under the authority of enabling legislation, orders the price for electricity reduced to consumers to a figure which the electric company shows by its books will leave them only 2% dividends if their present financial policy is continued.
Should the courts set aside the orders of the commission on this showing?
A railroad company buys coal of various operators along its route which it transports to market and sells there. An independent operator shows that at times of press of business the railroad uses part of its cars in its own coal shipments; to which the railroad company replies that it gives him his proportion of cars. This operator also shows that the railroad will buy coal at $3.00 per ton, transport it to market and sell it at $3.75, while he shipping from the same station has to pay the published rate of $1.25 per ton; to which the railroad company replies by saying that they make themselves a trainload rate of 75 cents per ton which they are willing to give him.
Must he be content with these answers?
A railroad running east from A to C through B advertises a cheap round trip from B to C and return which it states is “only from station B, passengers from stations west of B may not take advantage of this excursion.” X who lives in A buys a ticket to B, intending to do some business with a merchant, Y, in that town. As he is getting off the train at B he is met by the office boy of Y who tells him that Y went to C by an earlier train. X thereupon decides to follow Y to C and get him to return back; he accordingly goes to the ticket office at B and asks for a cheap round trip so that he can go on by the same train which is still waiting in the station. The ticket agent refuses to sell him a ticket. He gets on board the train and offers to pay the conductor regular fare, but the conductor tells him that he cannot ride upon this excursion train without a special ticket, and thereupon ejects him, using necessary force.
What are X’s rights against the railroad?
The rate from A to B on the X railroad, an interstate carrier, was 10 cents per ton; from A to C, 20 miles beyond B, the rate Over the same road was 8 cents per ton. From A to B there were several competing lines of railroad, but they had successfully formed a traffic agreement to keep up rates. From A to C the competing lines were cutting rates, and the 8-cent rate was necessary if the X railroad was to obtain business. At D, a station beyond C, where there was also competition, the X railroad carted goods free for all shippers who would agree to ship all their goods by it.
Have shippers at B or at D any legal complaint?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), pp. 43-46.

Image Source: Harvard Law School ca. 1901 from the Detroit Publishing Company photograph collection (Library of Congress).

Tags Wyman

Business School Education Gender Race Undergraduate

Useful links. The Monographs on Education in the U.S. edited by Nicholas Murray Butler for the St. Louis World Fair. 1904

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-02-03

The institution of “World Expositions”, where newest developments in science and technology, industry and the arts are celebrated and showcased in specially built halls in fairgrounds that include activities for young and old, gardens, parks and fountains, etc., lacks salience in the public mind today. Looking at a list of world expos in Wikipedia, I confess that several decades have gone by without a single Expo having even caught my attention for a moment. In comparison the World Expositions used to be a huge deal at least up through the middle of the twentieth century.

No less a light than the President of Columbia University commissioned some twenty monographs for the national U.S. contribution to the Education department of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exhibition (a.k.a. the St. Louis World’s Fair). Economics in the Rear-view Mirror posts links to these twenty monographs on aspects of education in the United States as of 1904. About half of the titles provide interesting context for the artifacts gathered here dedicated to economics education. I have added the group assignments for the monographs from the attached outline of the education exhibits featured in the Palace of Education and Social Economy at the St. Louis exposition.

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis (1904) performed by Billy Murry.

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Monographs on Education in the United States
edited by
Nicholas Murray Butler

Department of Education, Universal Exposition
St. Louis, 1904.

Educational Organization and Administration. Andrew Sloan Draper, President of the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois. [Group 1] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc01butluoft
Kindergarten Education. Susan E. Blow, Cazenovia, New York. [Group 1] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc02butluoft
Elementary Education. William T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C. [Group 1] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc03butluoft
Secondary Education. Elmer Ellsworth Brown, Professor of Education in the University of California, Berkeley, California. [Group 2] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc04butluoft
The American College. Andrew Fleming West, Professor of Latin in Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey. [Group 3] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc05butluoft
The American University. Edward Delavan Perry, Jay Professor of Greek in Columbia University, New York. [Group 3] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc06butluoft
Education of Women. M. Carey Thomas, President of Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. [Group 3] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc07butluoft
Training of Teachers. B. A. Hinsdale, Professor of the Science and Art of Teaching in the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. [Group 1] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc08butluoft
School Architecture and Hygiene. Gilbert B. Morrison, Principal of the Manual Training High School, Kansas City, Missouri. [Group 1] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc09butluoft/mode/2up
Professional Education. James Russell Parsons, Director of the College and High School Departments, University of the State of New York, Albany, New York. [Group 3] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc10butluoft/mode/2up
Scientific, Technical and Engineering Education. T. Mendenhall, President of the Technological Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts. [Group 3] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc11butluoft
Agricultural Education. Charles W. Dabney, President of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee. [Group 5] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc12butluoft
Commercial Education. Edmund J. James, Professor of Public Administration in the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. [Group 6] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc13butluoft
Art and Industrial Education. Isaac Edwards Clarke, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. [Group 4] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc14butluoft
Education of Defectives. Edward Ellis Allen, Principal of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, Overbrook, Pennsylvania. [Group 7] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc15butluoft/mode/2up
Summer Schools and University Extension. George E. Vincent, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago; Principal of Chautauqua. [Group 8] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc16butluoft/mode/2up
Scientific Societies and Associations. James Mckeen Cattell, Professor of Psychology in Columbia University, New York. [Group 8] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc17butluoft
Education of the Negro. Booker T. Washington, Principal of the Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama. [Group 6] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc18butluoft
Education of the Indian. William N. Hailmann, Superintendent of Schools, Dayton, Ohio. [Group 6] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc19butluoft
Education Through the Agency of the Several Religious Organizations. Dr. W. H. Larrabee, Plainfield, N.J. [Group 8] https://archive.org/details/monographsoneduc20butluoft

_______________________________

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.
Classification of Exhibits.

GROUP I.
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

Class 1. Kindergarten.

Class 2. Elementary grades.

Class 3. Training and certification of teachers.

Class 4. Continuation schools, including evening schools, vacation schools and schools for special training.

Legislation, organization, general statistics.
School supervision and school management.
Buildings: plans, models; school hygiene.
Methods of instruction; results obtained.

GROUP 2.
SECONDARY EDUCATION

Class 5. High schools and academies; manual training high schools, commercial high schools.

Class 6. Training and certification of teachers.

Legislation, organization, statistics.
Buildings: plans and models.
Supervision, management, methods of instruction; results obtained.

GROUP 3.
HIGHER EDUCATION

Class 7. Colleges and universities.

Class 8. Scientific, technical and engineering schools and institutions.

Class 9. Professional schools.

Class 10. Libraries.

Class 11. Museums.

Legislation, organization, statistics.
Buildings: plans and models.
Curriculums, regulations, methods, administration, investigations, etc.

GROUP 4.
SPECIAL EDUCATION IN FINE ARTS

(Institutions for teaching drawing,
painting and music.)

Class 12. Art schools and institutes.

Class 13. Schools and departments of music; conservatories of music.

Methods of instruction; results obtained. Legislation, organization, general statistics.

GROUP 5.
SPECIAL EDUCATION IN AGRICULTURE

Class 14. Agricultural colleges and departments; experiment stations; instruction in forestry. (See Department H, Group 83.)

Curriculums; experiments and investigations; results. Methods of transportation and shipment. Legislation, organization, general statistics. Buildings: plans and models.

GROUP 6.
SPECIAL EDUCATION IN COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Class 15. Industrial and trade schools; evening industrial schools.

Class 16. (a) Business and commercial schools; (b) Higher instruction in commerce.

Class 17. Education of the Indian.

Class 18. Education of the Negro.

Legislation, organization, statistics. Buildings: plans and models. Methods of instruction; results.

GROUP 7.
EDUCATION OF DEFECTIVES

Class 19. Institutions for the blind; publications for the blind.

Class 20. Institutions for the deaf and dumb.

Class 21. Institutions for the feeble minded.

Management, methods, courses of study; results. Special appliances for instruction. Legislation, organization, statistics. Buildings: plans and models.

GROUP 8.
SPECIAL FORMS OF EDUCATION
— TEXT BOOKS—
SCHOOL FURNITURE AND SCHOOL APPLIANCES

Class 22. Summer schools.
Class 23. Extension courses; popular lectures and people’s institutes; correspondence schools.
Class 24. Scientific societies and associations; scientific expeditions and investigations.
Class 25. Educational publications, text books, etc.
Class 36. School furniture, school appliances.

Source: Official catalogue of exhibitors. Universal exposition. St. Louis, U.S.A. 1904, pp. 11-12.

Image Source: Palace of Education and Social Economy from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Snapshots. The State Historical Society of Missouri.

Tags JamesEJ

Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Exams for the advanced course in public finance. Bullock 1905-06

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-02-01

Say what you will, Bullock’s courses in public finance attempted to span centuries of fiscal history and had a strong international comparative scope.

Charles Jesse Bullock also provides us a nice illustration of the ephemeral nature of academic rank and distinction. In the long-run…

__________________________

Bullock’s earlier public finance exams
at Harvard

1901-02. Economics 7a and 7b. Financial administration; taxation [undergraduate]

1903-04. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States

1904-05. Economics 7a. Introduction to public finance [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States.

1905-06 Economics 7. Public finance [undergraduate]

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

From 1910: Short bibliography on public finance “for serious minded students” by Bullock

__________________________

Course Enrollment
Economics 16
1905-06

Economics 16. Asst. Professor Bullock. — Public Finance (advanced course).

Total 7: 5 Graduates, 2 Seniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 73.

__________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 16
PUBLIC FINANCE
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

What were the chief causes of the increase of public expenditure during the nineteenth century?
Can any prediction be made concerning the probable future of any classes of public expenditures?
What has been the history of revenues from domains in European states since the close of the Middle Ages?
What can you say concerning the revenue now derived from domains and industries in Prussia and in England?
How do Seligman and Adams classify public revenues? What are Bastable’s criticisms against Seligman’s classification?
What are the arguments commonly advanced for and against alienation of domains?
With what different definitions of taxes are you familiar? What do you consider a correct definition?
Discuss the comparative merits or demerits of proportional and progressive taxation.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 16
Year-end Examination, 1905-06
[Note: question 6 missing in printed exam]

What is your opinion of the causes and results of the increase of public expenditures in the nineteenth century?
What is your opinion of the merits of the arguments for and against municipal ownership of lighting and traction enterprises in the United States?
Compare the French system of national taxation with the British.
Write an account of the present financial system of the Kingdom of Prussia, considering particularly the following topics: expenditures, domain and industries, taxation, and indebtedness.
What is the present status of corporation taxes in the American commonwealths?
What, in your opinion, would constitute a satisfactory tax system for the State of Massachusetts?
Discuss the incidence of taxes falling upon: (a) wages, (b) rent, (c) interest.
Compare the British budgetary system with that of the United States.

Image Source: John Harvard statue, ca. 1904. U.S. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Tags Bullock

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exams for Principles of Accounting. W.M. Cole, 1905-06

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-01-31

The principles of accounting course taught by William Morse Cole in the department of economics at Harvard was expanded to two semesters in 1905-06.

__________________________

Earlier accounting exams

About William Morse Cole
1901-02
1902-03
1903-04
1904-05

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 18. Mr. W. M. Cole. — Principles of Accounting.

Total 44: 6 Graduates, 23 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 73.

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ECONOMICS 18
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

I

What is the function of nominal accounts in double-entry book-keeping?
The books which the following trial balance represents are correct and record only normal transactions. Is the trial balance satisfactory? If not, show how you would go to work to correct it.

Proprietor		45,000
Merchandise	17,200
Cash		9,000
Interest	500
Bills Payable		4,000
Real Estate	15,000
Bills Receivable	20,000
Accounts Receivable	14,000
Rentals		500
Expenses		8,200
	______	______
	66,700	66,700

If rent is earned on buildings owned, should the amount of rent be debited or credited? Is it objectionable to enter the amount to the Real Estate account? If so, why?
Construct a special-column journal to do all the work of journal, sales book, purchase book, and special-columncash book, combined. Illustrate briefly how posting would be done from it.
Name the four common groups of railroad operating-expense accounts and show the logic of the classification.

II

Show the balance-sheet for a business which meets the following conditions: Capital stock, 200,000; cash on hand, 7,000; surplus, 50,000; manufactured goods on hand, 10,000; notes outstanding, 25,000; sums owed for raw material, 25,000; sums owed for wags, 3,000; raw material on hand, 6,000; undivided profits, 4,000; notes of customers on hand, 17,000; depreciation fund, in bonds, 8,000; sums due from customers, 15,000; real estate, 100,000; machinery, etc., 144,000.

In the following year the business is as follows: Goods manufactured (on contract), 147,000 (contract price); goods delivered (on contract), 135,000; collected on goods, 129,000 in cash, 20,000 in notes; labor expense incurred and paid, 50,000; raw material bought, 75,000; raw material paid for, 90,000; raw material consumed, 70,000; new machinery bought and paid for, 20,000; interest paid, 1,000; interest accrued against the corporation, not yet due, 200; collected on notes, 28,000; general expenses paid, 9,000; borrowed on notes, 50,000; repairs of buildings paid from depreciation fund, 2,000; paid on notes, 20,000; losses from bad debts, 1,000; taxes, 1,000; dividends, 17,300.

Show the income sheet for the year.

Show the balance sheet for the new year.

[It is probable that time will be saved and confusion will be avoided if a rough journal and a rough ledger are used for assistance in working out the above problem. Only results are required, however.]

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 18
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

Follow the order of the paper, not only in arrangement but also in performance.

What is a trial balance? How far is it useful?
What is the relation between an income sheet and a balance sheet? Can an item appear upon both at the same time?
What ought books to show with regard to discounts (on merchandise) for prompt payments?
Arrange the following items of a railroad report in proper form, and fill in any important omissions by figures derived from the items given:—

[Figures represent millions of dollars]
Fixed charges	5.0	Accrued liabilities	3.0
Accounts payable	4.0	Claims audited	1.0
Bills receivable	0.5	Funded debt	85.0
Other income	4.0	Supplies	3.0
Investments	67.0	Accounts receivable	4.0
Accrued assets	1.5	Earnings from operation	17.7
Dividends	1.8	Cost of road	50.0
Cash	4.0	Net earnings	5.9
Capital stock	30.0	Miscellaneous assets	1.0
Betterments charged to income			1.0

A partnership is organized on January 1. On July 1 a partner dies. How far is a correct trial balance taken on the latter day a satisfactory basis for a settlement of the dissolved partnership? Assuming the ordinary commercial accounts to be kept, how should you go to work to determine the share of each partner?
Except for the items mentioned below, a corporation’s balance sheets for 1905 and 1906 show the same figures. How much do these items tell about the history of the corporation for the year 1905-1906?

1905
		Surplus	$70,000
1906
Depreciation Fund	$20,000	Reserve Fund	$60,000
		Depreciation Fund	$20,000
		Surplus	$10,000

How should you determine on an interest date the value of ten-year bonds bought (at the time of issue) at a premium and now having five years more to run? [Do not figure, but describe have process.] Should the books show that value? If so, how and where? If a portion of the bonds is now sold at less than the value so determined, how should the sale show on the books?
A factory is engaged in a dying industry. Five years is the estimated life of the machinery and of the good-will. The buildings are convertible to other uses. The corporation will be dissolved at the end of five years.
Describe a brief administrative policy that you would recommend to close the business and end the corporation, and then describe the accounting processes to record the closing transactions and to leave no balances on the books.

Image Source: Harvard Alumni Bulletin, Vol. XIX, No. 16 (January 18, 1917), p. 308. Portrait of William Morse Cole colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Tags ColeWM

Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Exam questions for Social Reform, Socialism, Communism. Carver, 1905-1906

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-01-30

Courses on utopias, schemes of social reform, shades of socialism and communism were offered by the Harvard economics department from its early years through the twentieth century. Thomas Nixon Carver taught such a course for several decades as an exercise of know-thy-enemies. His autobiographical Recollections of an Unplanned Life (1949) makes it clear that there was not a collectivist bone in his body.

__________________________

Previously posted

__________________________

Methods of Social Reform,
Socialism, Communism…
Economics 14b
1905-06

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

Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 14b ²hf. Professor Carver. — Methods of Social Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.

Total 29: 10 Graduates, 6 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 73.

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

ECONOMICS 14b
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

Describe one Eutopian scheme, covering the following points:
(a) supposed location, (b) time, (c) form of government, (d) organization of industry, (e) system of exchange, (f) family life, (g) distribution of the products of industry.
What periods in American history have been most prolific in non-religious communistic experiments? Describe a characteristic experiment of each period.
Do communistic experiments, so far as you have studied them, throw any light upon the question of the probable success or failure of communism or socialism on a national scale? Explain.
Characterize the social philosophy of one writer who is not an economist, covering the following points: (a) Is his philosophy religious or non-religious? (b) Does the writer discriminate between the obligation of the individual and that of the state? (c) Is his philosophy constructive or merely critical? (d) Has he a clearly defined principle of justice? If so, what is it?
Is there a clearly defined principle of justice embodied in the competitive system? Explain.
How does Marx account for the interest of capital?
Does every government enterprise necessarily narrow the field for private enterprise and diminish the amount of competition? Explain.
Would socialism entirely eliminate competition? If so, under what conditions?
What is meant by the proposition that a single tax on land values is paid for all times by the one who owns the land at the time the tax is first imposed?
Is an inheritance tax a socialistic measure? Explain.

Image Source: “The trouble, my friends, with socialism is that it would destroy initiative” by Udo J. Keppler. Centerfold in Puck, v. 66, no. 1715 (January 12, 1910). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Illustration shows a large gorilla-like monster with human head, clutching clusters of buildings labeled “Public Utilities, Competition, [and] Small Business” with his right arm and left leg, as he crushes a building labeled “Untainted Success, Initiative, Individualism, Independence, [and] Ambition” with his left hand, causing some citizens to flee while others plead for mercy. He casts a shadow over the U.S. Capitol, tilting in the background.

Tags Carver

Business Cycles Exam Questions Harvard Problem Sets

Harvard. Report guidelines and exam for commercial crises and trade cycles. Andrew, 1905-1906

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-01-29

While the exam questions for A. Piatt Andrew’s course on commercial crises and trade cycles for 1905-06 have been transcribed and posted earlier, this post adds his “Suggestions with regard to first report and accompanying chart.” This artifact provides a taste of an actual course assignment.

__________________________

Previously posted

All of Andrew’s exams from his commercial crises and trade cycles course at Harvard for the academic years 1902-03 through 1907-08.

__________________________

Commercial Crises
and Cycles of Trade
Economics 12b
1905-06

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

Course Enrollment
Commercial Crises
and Cycles of Trade
1905-06

[Economics] 12b ¹hf. Ass’t. Professor Andrew. Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade.

Total 55: 9 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 20 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-190 6, p. 72.

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

ECONOMICS 12b
SUGGESTIONS WITH REGARD TO FIRST REPORT AND ACCOMPANYING CHART

I. Concerning the Chart

Neatness is desirable; accuracy essential.
Before beginning the chart note the highest and the lowest figures, and devise a scale so that both may be included on the paper, but upon the largest possible plan.
When several sets of figures are to be included upon the same chart, if possible, draw the various lines upon the same scale. If, by so doing, however, variations in one of the lines will be too small to be easily discerned, increase the scale for this line.
Note the decimal division of the profile paper. Do not start with other than a decimal number as a basis. If you have a period covering 20 or 30 years a good plan is to let one of the large squares represent two years.
When two or more decades are included mark the decennial years clearly with a heavier line than the other years.
Bring the figures in every case as nearly to date as possible.
Note on bottom of chart in small letters the source of your statistics, volume and page.
Note also on chart whether the statistics are for the fiscal, calendar, or crop year, — or the year ending at what date.
Place title and your own name somewhere on the chart.

II. Concerning the Report

Give your figures in tabular form, naming all of the sources.
Discuss the sources of your statistics, their authority, and their comprehensiveness.
Trace the trade cycles as shown on your chart, showing the relation between the line movements and periods of prosperity or depression.
Explain the reasons for the larger movements, paying particular attention to the maximal and minimal years. Show to what extent they may be caused by, or may be the cause of industrial fluctuations.
When several countries are concerned note the resemblances and differences in their respective movements, explaining any important dissimilarities.
Name all references employed in the preparation of the report. The references given by the instructor are only preliminary suggestions, and not meant to be sufficient for the completion of the report.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1905-1906”.

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

ECONOMICS 12b
Mid-year Examination, 1904-05

Omit one question

Compare as regards recent cycles of trade,—
1. the number and liabilities of failed firms.
2. banking and commercial failures.
3. railway and commercial failures.
To what extent have changes in the clearings of the New York banks registered changes in general business?
Explain Juglar’s theory as to the movements of bank loans and reserves, and state how far it is confirmed by American experience.
Explain what was done by the Bank of England to relieve apprehension in 1825, 1847, 1857, 1866, 1890.
Explain and discuss Rodbertus’ theory of crises.
Upon what occasions within the past thirty-five years and by what means, have the American Secretaries of the Treasury helped to relieve a stringency in the financial centres?
In what ways is business affected by the condition of the crops? Within what limitations? In the case of which crops is the connection closest?
What part does “credit” play in the explanation of crises,—
1. according to Laughlin,
2. according to Chevalier,
3. in your own opinion?
In what ways and to what extent are trade conditions apt to be affected,—
1. by the increasing gold supply,
2. by the trust movement,
3. by increasing armies and navies,
4. by the present agricultural situation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06. Also a copy in Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 37.

Image Source: 1911 portrait of Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr. by Anders Born at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Wikimedia Commons.

Tags AndrewAP

Economics Programs Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Ten-Year Projects and Outlook for Department. 1968-1978

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-01-28

The following ten-year plan (1968-1978) proposal for the department of political economy of Johns Hopkins was most likely drafted by senior members of the department, though the precise author(s) is not clear from the document itself. The bottom line of this plan is a request to be allowed to expand the deparment’s faculty and graduate student body by by half and by two-thirds, respectively. Otherwise the department feared the loss of its national reputation due to having a reduced scope and scale.

The plan is at least as interesting for its obiter dicta regarding e.g., air-conditioning, computer terminals, secretarial staff, etc.

_______________________

TEN-YEAR PROJECTS AND OUTLOOK FOR
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
[Draft, 1967]

I. Introduction and Summary

The Department of Political Economy, like the rest of the University, has concentrated on small numbers and high quality in its research and instructional programs. It is our intention to continue that tradition.
During the early postwar period, this Department produced as large a group of outstanding young economists as almost any university in the country. Its small faculty included several of the country’s most eminent economists. Between 1958 and 1961 the Department was plagued with resignations of senior faculty. At the same time resources available at other universities were growing rapidly. As a result the Department lost its former status as a major producer of research and scholars. Since 1961, the Department has steadily been rebuilt and is again able to attract its share of outstanding faculty and graduate students. But the Department still suffers to some extent from the factors responsible for its earlier troubles: its small size and limited resource base.
The Department now consists of 11 faculty and 45 resident Ph.D. candidates.
The program outlined in subsequent sections is designed to strengthen the Department by increasing Its size and financial base, while still permitting it to reap the advantages of its relatively small size.
During the next decade, the Department should grow to about 18 faculty members, or about 50%. Its Ph.D. candidates should grow to about 75, or by about two-thirds. Such growth is essential to add stability to the research and instructional programs, and to permit us to cover the growing number of specialties in the subject.
Growth will be expensive. Faculty salaries and graduate fellowships will continue to rise. And no university can retain excellence, let alone improve its position, without substantial budgetary increases. Within a decade, the Department’s budget for salaries and fellowships should almost triple.

II. Immediate Needs and Plans

A. In 1967-68, the Department has ten full-time faculty members, one joint appointment with Operations Research, and one faculty member whose major appointment is in the School of Public Health. (A second joint appointment with Public Health was made in Spring 1967, but the appointee will be in Pakistan for two years.) We have two vacancies. One is a professorship, and results from the Department’s having been permitted to replace Professor Evans prior to his retirement. We have appointed a visiting Professor to this post for 1968-69. The other vacant post is an Assistant Professorship, created in the spring of 1967.
The Department’s full-time faculty ought to expand to about 18 during the next decade. Three purposes would be served by such an expansion. First, it would provide the Department with more depth in the central specialties of economic theory and quantitative methods, so that a resignation or leave of absence would not disrupt the instructional program. Second, it would permit us to make appointments in important specialties not adequately covered by existing faculty. The inevitable increase in specialization through time makes gradual expansion necessary. Third, it would enable us to discharge our obligations to the instructional programs in international relations more adequately.
The Department is now actively seeking funds for the establishment of a Center for International Economic Studies within the Department. This Center would provide a focus for graduate instruction and research in the areas of international trade and economic development. The Center would provide a major substantive focus for the Department in addition to its present focus on economic theory and quantitative methods. In addition, it would help to fill a pressing social need, since the development of poor countries is perhaps the most pressing social problem of our time. Finally, it would permit us to exploit the unique advantages of the University’s proximity to Washington.
Although we are now strong in international economics, we are weak in economic development. Hence, a specialist in economic development is our most pressing need in terms of our proposed Center, our own graduate program, and our participation in the international relations programs. Our next highest priority is in the area of industrial organization, in which we now offer only one course in alternate years. Other fields in which we need additional strength are economic growth, public finance, private finance, econometrics, managerial economics, and Soviet-type economics.
Our needs are not equally urgent in all these areas. And not every specialty requires a separate appointment. Individual scholars often have interests in two or more specialties. Finally, the importance of particular specialties, and the interests of individual faculty members change gradually through time.

B. The most important research facilities for the Economics Department are the library and computational facilities. In both cases, the special needs of the Department will make it increasingly important in the coming decade to supplement the facilities available to the University as a whole.
For many years the Department has felt the need for a workroom where copies of major journals and reference books could be kept. In an important sense, the technical journals and data sources play the role in economics that the laboratory plays in an experimental. science. The movement of the library from Gilman Hall has imposed a major burden on faculty in the Department. In addition, faculty and graduate students in economics are now sufficiently numerous that duplicate copies of major journals are essential. We have made a small beginning toward meeting our library needs by establishing a workroom in our new quarters. A very limited number of journals is being purchased from research funds. In the coming years it will be important to expand the number of journals in our workroom, and to add major reference and data volumes. If a new social science building is constructed, or if the Department is able to expand its quarters as a result of the construction of a humanities building, a departmental library should be a major planning item.
The Department now has 6 desk calculators for use by faculty and students. Most are old and should be replaced with more modern machines within a few years. In the next decade we should at least double the number of calculators available. Some of our faculty now make frequent use of one or more of the real time-saving consoles located around the University. Within a short time, it will be important for the Department to have one or more such consoles in or near the Department area.
The Department now has two full-time and one half-time secretary. The half-time secretary is financed from research funds. Within a year or two she will need to be full time. Within a decade we will probably need five full-time secretaries. We need one additional electric typewriter this fall, and at least three modern tape recorders. During the coming years wo will need several additional typewriters and recorders, and other minor items of office equipment.

C. In the spring of 1967, we substantially revised both our undergraduate and graduate curricula. At the undergraduate level, the major change was to permit most courses to be taken after only two semesters economic theory rather than three as was previously required. This opened up, several courses in the Department to international relations majors and others outside the economics major. At the graduate level, the major change was to provide a more concentrated and integrated program in economic theory for first-year Ph.D. candidates.
During the last few years, the number of undergraduate registrations in economics courses has grown much more rapidly than the undergraduate student body. This is shown in the following table of selected registrations.

	1963-64	1964-65	1965-66	1966-67
18.1	241	339	351	358
18.2	50	85	121	107
18.3	50	79	94	108
18.301-302	51	56	52	74
Total	392	559	618	647

This has necessitated our giving some courses each semester which were previously given in alternate semesters. Presumably, future growth in undergraduate registrations will more nearly approximate the growth in the student body. During the next few years our major need at the undergraduate level is to add a few specialized courses that will be available to students with a limited background in economics. Planned economics and urban economics are examples of such courses.
Our Ph.D. program is now too small. We do not have enough students to justify graduate courses in specialties which should be covered in a high quality graduate program, and we do not have enough faculty to offer the courses. We thus need to expand the graduate enrollment and the faculty simultaneously in order to be able to fill gaps in our graduate program in areas such as economic development, fiscal policy and industrial organization.

D. This Department is far smaller than any other major graduate department in economics. The next smallest, Princeton, is approximately the size that our projections indicate we will be in 10 years. Others are much larger.
We do not aspire to match the size and growth of most of the departments with which we compete for faculty and graduate students. We are firmly convinced of the advantages of smallness. But until very recently our size was almost below that required for viability. And we see clear advantages in some further growth, which would still retain the benefits of our relatively small size.

III. In this section I will discuss the undergraduate and graduate instructional programs, and faculty research activities in that order.

Undergraduates can either concentrate or major in economics. Although there is some tendency for better students to major rather than concentrate, some very able students choose the less intensive program. A stronger tendency is for those whose goal is a Ph.D. program in economics to major, and for others to concentrate.
An average senior class contains about 15 concentrators in economics. Some of these graduates take jobs, but many go to graduate school in business, law and economics.
An average senior class contains about 10 majors in economics. Although a few majors take jobs upon graduation, most attend graduate school in economics or business. And the program is designed with this group in mind. In recent years, our majors have undertaken successful graduate study at Chicago, Stanford, M.I.T., Johns Hopkins and other leading institutions. The Department’s requirements of a major include four semesters of economic theory, economic history, a year of statistics, a year of mathematics, a senior essay, and work on one or more advanced fields. We feel that our majors are as well prepared for graduate study as those at any university in the country.
For many years, the goal of our Ph.D. program has been to provide thorough training in economic theory, quantitative methods, and a small number of substantive fields to a small group of high quality students, most of whom intend to enter teaching and research posts. In the years 1950-1966, 63 people received the Ph.D. for work in this Department. This comes to 3.7 per year, but there is a slight upward trend, and we have given about five per year in recent years. Among them are some of the leading academic economists of the postwar generation. Our graduates hold posts at Yale, Chicago, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin and other leading United States universities. They also hold major academic posts in the U.K., Israel, Japan and Australia.
In the early postwar period, Johns Hopkins had among its Ph.D. candidates more than its share of the best students who studied economics. This resulted from the high quality of the faculty, the small and personal nature of the Ph.D. program, and the ability of the Department to offer fellowships that were larger than those offered by competing institutions. In the late 1950’s, this situation changed, partly because of the loss of most of the Department’s senior faculty. Since 1981, the Department has been substantially rebuilt; and is again among the leading economics departments in this country. We have greatly improved the quality of the student body, and are now getting about our share of the best graduate students, but we have not regained our former edge. To do so is the goal of the plans outlined in other sections of this report.
In the Political Economy Department, as elsewhere in the University, most faculty research is basic rather than applied. Within that framework, however, a wide spectrum of subjects and techniques is encompassed. Some of the research is purely theoretical, employing mathematical and logical tools to improve our understanding of economic phenomenon. Most of the research, however, is quantitative, employing not only economic theory but also statistical methods and data.

IV. Relationship to the Hopkins community

A. At the undergraduate level, the enrollment in economics courses has grown rapidly in recent years. Nearly every undergraduate now takes at least one economics course. And for several years we have had more than a hundred students per year in each of our second and third courses in economic theory. About 50 students per year enroll in our course in current economic problems. In 1967-68, the Department will offer 11 semester courses at the 0-99 level, and 13 semester courses at the 300-level, all of them open to undergraduates who are not economics majors.
At the graduate level our Ph.D. candidates frequently take courses in the Departments of Mathematics, Statistics, and Operations Research. Less frequently they take courses in the Departments of Political Science, History, Geography, and Social Relations. Frequently, 300- and 600-level courses in economics are taken by Ph.D. candidates in Operations Research, Environmental Sciences, Statistics, and Geography. Less frequently, they are taken by students in History, Social Relations and Political Science. Sometimes, students from SAIS take our courses in international economics and economic development.
In recent years, there has been a considerable increase in the exchange of graduate students between this Department and others for course work. We expect this trend to continue and feel that it should be encouraged.

B. The Center for International Studies will be established within the Department of Political Economy. However, many problems within the Center’s purview require interdisciplinary study, and we hope to use the Center as a vehicle for joint teaching and research programs. SAIS is the most natural partner for such ventures, but we hope to explore possibilities with Homewood departments also.

C. The Department takes an active part in the A.B.-M.A. and Ph.D. programs in international relations. We give year courses in international economics and economic development mainly for students in these programs. In our curriculum revision last spring, we reduced the prerequisites for these courses to make them more accessible to international relations specialists. We are generally pleased with our success in staffing the economics part of the international relations program. However, we feel a need for a major appointment in economic development before we can be fully satisfied with our contribution.
The Political Economy Department has one joint appointment with the Operations Research Department. In addition, wo have two faculty members in the Department whose major appointments are in the School of Public Health. The Department has no fixed policy regarding joint appointments. Those that wo have are successful because of special circumstances in which such an arrangement is in the interests of all parties. We expect that such circumstances will arise again. But we think it unwise to plan for certain numbers or kinds of joint appointments.

V. Instructional Program

A. The following table summarizes the Department’s instructional program in 1967-68:

Course Number	No. of Courses	Hours Per Week	Credit Hours	No. of Courses	Hours Per Week	Credit Hours	No. of Courses	Hours Per Week	Credit Hours
0 – 99	5	14	14	6	17	17	11	31	31
300-399	7	15	22 ½	6	13	19 ½	13	23	42
600-699	11	23	—	12	24	—	23	47	—
Total	23	52	—	24	54	—	47	106	—

Each full-time faculty member except the chairman teaches two courses per semester. The chairman teaches three courses per year. All faculty attend the weekly Department seminar. Most faculty members will attend our dissertation seminar several times a year.
All courses numbered 0-99 are open to all qualified undergraduates, whether they are economics majors or not. All 300-399 numbered courses are open to qualified undergraduates and to graduate students from other departments. A few are not normally taken by Ph.D. candidates in economics. 600-699 numbered courses are open to graduate students in this and other departments.
It is difficult to predict future growth of undergraduate enrollment since, as stated above, we expect it to grow about as fast as the undergraduate student body, which we do not control. However, even in the absence of substantial growth in enrollments, there are several courses that should be added either at the 0-99 or the 300-399 level. These include comparative economic systems, corporation finance, public finance, and economic growth. Some other courses, now given only in alternate years, should be given every year. These include industrial organization, economics of education, and urban economics. Substantial growth in enrollments would require that we offer additional sections of some courses and that we offer some courses every semester rather than once a year.
At the graduate level, our intake of students has been between 10 and 15 for several years, resulting in a body of about 35 students in residence. We have now embarked on a conscious program of increasing the size of our graduate program; in 1967-68, 18 students entered and our student body is 45. Our intake should increase gradually over the coming decade to about 25, with a resulting student body of about 75. Seventy-five is the present graduate enrollment of the next smallest of major graduate programs in economics in other universities. Others are considerably larger. We feel that this growth is necessary to enable us to offer the range of courses now required for proper coverage of our subject matter.
Unless a major expansion of the international relations program is undertaken, we should not have to devote more faculty resources to it, once we have made the appointment we are now seeking in economic development.
Expansion of the faculty from 11 to 18 would permit the addition of 28 semester courses in the Department. The exact nature and level of the courses to added will depend on the interests of faculty members recruited, the interests of undergraduate and graduate students, and developments in the subject matter. However, we expect to continue the policy of devoting roughly half the Department’s teaching resources to courses numbered 0-99 and 300-399, and the other half to 600-level courses.

B. The Department completely reorganized both its undergraduate and graduate curricula in the spring of 1967. This reorganization permitted us to identify clearly the gaps in our program referred to in Section II. We feel that our only pressing curriculum need is now to fill these gaps. Major curriculum reform becomes necessary periodically in a developing discipline, but we have no plans for further reform.

VI. Resources Outside the University

The Department has no formal relationship with organizations outside the University. The Department does, however, benefit from proximity to Washington in several ways. First, proximity to Washington is an attraction to some actual and prospective faculty members. They may obtain data, attend meetings and seminars, and occasionally undertake paid consulting at U.S. Government agencies, international organizations, or private research Institutions. Second, Washington is an attractive source of summer jobs for our graduate students, and a few of our graduates take permanent posts there.

VII. Space requirements

In the spring of 1967 the Department moved into new quarters on the fourth floor of Gilman Hall. These quarters are an important improvement over those previously available to the Department. The new quarters consist of 12 faculty offices, a departmental office, a calculator room, 11 small cubicles for graduate students, a seminar room, and a workroom where recent technical journals are kept.
In terms of space needs, however, the now quarters are already inadequate. We now have 13 faculty posts in the Department, but only 12 offices. In fall 1968 we expect to have all 13 posts filled, and we will have the Hinkley Professor in the Department. We will thus be two offices short. In addition, we recently hired a part-time secretary. The Department office is adequate for only the two secretaries now occupying it and we have to house the new secretary in the calculator room. Within the next year the part-time post will have to be made full time, and the housing problem will be acute.
The ten-year projection for the Department will require major additions to the Department’s space facilities. Faculty offices will have to expand from 12 to 18. The secretarial force will have to expand to at least five, and that will require at least two rooms entirely devoted to secretarial use. The Department now has one seminar room. Virtually all our 300- and 600-level courses are held there and it is in use more than 35 hours per week within a short time it will be necessary to have an additional seminar room. Within ten years it will be important to have a third room that can be used for seminars, conferences and other meetings. Within the next few years we will need a larger calculator room. We already need additional calculators, and this need will grow as the faculty and graduate student body grows. In addition, we will shortly need one or more real time sharing consoles in the Department area.
It is clear that a building to house either the social or behavioral sciences is already overdue at Johns Hopkins. Despite all the building on the campus in the last decade, the social sciences and humanities – as well as statistics and various ancillary facilities are still all housed In Gilman Hall. It is virtually the only building on the campus that is not fully air conditioned. And the removal of the main library has worsened the situation.
The nature of this Department’s space needs would make it difficult, but not impossible, to satisfy them by regrouping the Gilman facilities if some other departments were to be housed in other buildings. A social or behavioral science building – which would include economics ought to be a major part of the 10-year fund raising program.

VIII. Tables and Graphs

A. The following table shows the undergraduate concentrators and majors in Political Economy for 1967-68:

	Concentrators	Majors
Juniors	5	10
Seniors	16	9

This table does not include the BIM students.
In 1967-68 the Department has 18 entering and 27 returning graduate students. We have no post-doctoral students.

B. Faculty

Edwin S. Mills – Professor and Chairman

Age: 39
econometrics, statistics, microeconomics
Research projects: [blank]

Bela Balassa – Professor

Age: 39
International trade, economic theory, comparative systems, economic development
Research projects: [blank]

Carl F. Christ – Professor

Age: 44
econometrics, macroeconomics, money
Research projects: [blank]

G. Heberton Evans, Jr. – Professor

Age: 67
economic history, history of economic thought, private finance
Research projects: [blank]

Herbert E. Klarman – Professor

Age: 51
economics of health, public finance
Research projects: [blank]

Peter Newman – Professor

Age: 39
economic theory, mathematical economics, economic development
Research projects: [blank]

Jürg Niehans – Professor

Age: 48
economic theory, money
Research Projects: [blank]

Frederick T. Sparrow – Associate Professor

Age: [blank]
operations research, microeconomic theory, managerial economics
Research projects: [blank]

William Oakland – Assistant Professor

Age: 28
public finance, money, economic theory
Research projects: [blank]

John Owen – Assistant Professor

Age: 35
labor, economic theory, education
Research Projects: [blank]

William Poole – Assistant Professor

Age: 30
money, macroeconomics, international trade
Research projects: [blank]

H. Louis Stettler, III – Assistant Professor

Age: 29
economic history, economic theory, statistics
Research projects: [blank]

C. As was stated above, the Department should grow from its present size of 12 faculty members to 18 during the next decade. We feel that the current division by rank — about half the faculty are professors — is about right. The following table shows a feasible growth pattern to meet the projected goal:

	1967-68	1968-69	1969-70	1970-71	1971-72	1972-73	1973-74	1974-75	1975-76	1976-77	1977-78
Prof.	6	7	7	7	7	7	8	8	8	8	9
Assoc. Prof.	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Asst. Prof.	4	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	7	7	7
Total	11	13	14	14	15	15	16	16	17	17	18

Our priorities among specialties were indicated in Section II. Beyond that, it is not possible to indicate which appointments should be made in which years and at which levels. Much depends on the availability of particular faculty in whom we are interested and on combinations of zfields in which prospective faculty are interested.

D. The Department is not persuaded that there is an important place for postdoctoral studies in economics during the next decade. Promising graduate students now obtain well-paid posts at universities with graduate programs and with relatively light teaching loads. Our impression is that it would be difficult to entice them to post-doctoral fellowships, and that there is little merit in doing so. Nor are we persuaded that there is a substantial group of young economists at small colleges who could produce significant books and papers if given a year off from heavy teaching duties. The only promising possibility seems to be to find a small number of young foreign scholars who have the Ph.D. or its equivalent, and who could spend a year here with mutual benefit to themselves and to us. The Department is not prepared to urge such a program at this time.

E. The accompanying table shows a projected ton-year budget for the Department of Political Economy. The personnel item includes base salaries and fringe benefits of faculty, secretaries and junior instructors. It assumes that faculty salaries will rise by 7% per year over the next decade. It also takes account of the faculty expansion projected in Section E.
The fellowship budget includes graduate fellowships, tuition and stipends, from whatever source. At present, some is University money, some is U.S. Government money funneled through the University (NDEA, NSF), some is fellowship money obtained by students with Department recommendations, and some is money obtained by students (mostly foreigners) entirely on their own (from foreign sources, U.S. State Department, foundations). This budget assumes that fellowships per student will rise by about 5% per year during the next decade. The table also assumes that the number of entering students will rise from 18 to 25, and the total graduate student body from 45 to 75, over the next decade.
The third line projects a growth of the Department’s incidental and telephone accounts by about 5% per year over the decade.
Excluded from the table are research funds for supplemental faculty salary, research assistants, or computing. No attempt has been made to project funds available from sponsored research or from University sources such as the faculty research grants fund.

	1967-68	1968-69	1969-70	1970-71	1971-72	1972-73
Personnel	233,640	250,000	306,400	340,700	356,500	395,500
Fellowships	159,500	186,000	207,100	229,700	254,100	280,400
Telephones, Supplies	4,000	4,200	4,400	4,600	4,900	5,100
	397,140	440,200	517,900	575,000	615,500	681,000

	1973-74	1974-75	1975-76	1976-77	1977-78
Personnel	453,200	484,900	535,800	573,800	653,400
Fellowships	308,600	339,000	371,600	401,200	432,800
Telephones, Supplies	5,400	5,600	5,900	6,200	6,500
	767,200	829,500	913,300	981,200	1,092,700

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy [Records], Box 5, Folder “Planning Documents: 1938, 1965, 1967”.

Tags Balassa, Christ, EvansGH, KlarmanHE, MillsES, Newman, Niehans, OaklandW, OwenJ, Poole, Sparrow, Stettler

Distribution Exam Questions Harvard Theory

Harvard. Final exam for distribution theory. Carver, 1905-1906

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-01-27

Thomas Nixon Carver was hired by Harvard based on his work in economic theory. As it turned out theory would only constitute a minor share of his portfolio of courses at Harvard. Here we have the exam for a theoretical course offered in 1905-06 dedicated to the functional distribution of income. This is the second time Thomas Nixon Carver taught this one-semester course at Harvard. (Exam from its initial run in 1904-05).

The course content is undoubtedly captured in Carver’s 1904 book The Distribution of Wealth which was reprinted several times during his lifetime.

__________________________

Course Enrollment
Distribution of Wealth
1905-06

Economics 14a ¹hf. Professor Carver. — The Distribution of Wealth.

Total 46: 7 Graduates, 25 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 73.

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

ECONOMICS 14a
Distribution of Wealth
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

Why does the value of a consumable commodity fall when its supply increases, — other things remaining the same?
Ditto of a productive factor?
What limits or checks the supply of labor?
Ditto of land?
Ditto of capital?
Fill out the blank columns in the [following] table.

Total Crop, Marginal Product of Labor, Total Wages, and Rent (All in Bushels) from Four Farms of Different Productivity when cultivated by Varying Numbers of Laborers, Capital being left out of account.

Farm A
	Total crop			Marginal product					Total wages			Total rent		Rent per acre
1	500
2	900
3	1200
4	1400
5	1500
Farm B
		Total crop				Marginal product		Total wages			Total rent		Rent per acre
1		400
2		700
3		900
4		1000
5
Farm C
			Total crop		Marginal product		Total wages			Total rent			Rent per acre
1			300
2			500
3			600
4
5
Farm D
			Total crop		Marginal product		Total wages			Total rent			Rent per acre
1			200
2			300
3
4
5

In what proportion could six laborers be most advantageously distributed among these farms? Ten laborers? Fourteen laborers?
When there are six laborers employed, how much, in bushels, would the product of the whole group of farms and laborers be reduced by the removal of one laborer, assuming the laborers all to be of the same efficiency? Ditto when there are ten laborers?
When there are fourteen laborers employed on these farms, how much, in bushels, would the product of the whole group be increased by the opening up of a new farm of the same grade as farm A, and the transfer to it of four of the laborers?
Compare Clark’s theory of business profits with Walker’s.
State Hollander’s position on the question. Does rent enter into price?
Compare Clark’s definition of capital with Taussig’s.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

Image Source: Portrait of Thomas Nixon Carver from the Harvard Class Album 1913. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Tags Carver

Economists Harvard Transcript

Harvard. Application for PhD candidacy. Arthur Eli Monroe, 1915

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-01-26

The graduate school records of Arthur Eli Monroe (A.B., 1908; A.M., 1914; Ph.D., 1918) are reasonably complete, allowing us to follow the course of his graduate studies and learn some details regarding his satisfaction of the Ph.D. requirements at Harvard. He did stay at his alma mater for his entire career, with his academic high-water mark attained at the rank of assistant professor of economics from 1922-28. He was able to occupy an instructional niche as lecturer-tutor, which is pretty good considering he entered graduate school in economics after doing what he could to avoid the subject during his college years.

Tutor, 1915-1923
Instructor in Economics, 1916-22
Assistant Professor of Economics, 1922-28
Lecturer on and tutor (Kirkland House) in economics beginning in 1928 through his retirement sometime in the 1950’s.

For historians of economics Monroe’s 1924 edited volume Early Economic Thought: Selections from Economic Literature Prior to Adam Smith is a useful collection of bite-sized chunks of original texts, though current students of economics might possibly choke on Monroe’s servings.

_______________________

From Reports of the Harvard College Class of 1908

ARTHUR ELI MONROE
[1914]

After spending half a year in looking for a job, and four years and a half in working at it, I withdrew from the teaching profession, which had occupied me continuously, and strenuously at Kent School, Kent, Conn., to enter the Harvard Graduate School. Since leaving college, I had become interested in Economics. This has been the subject of my work this year, and I hope to continue it at Harvard next year. Member: Phi Beta Kappa.

Source: Harvard College, Class of 1908. Secretary’s Second Report, Sexennial Celebration, June 1914, p. 233.

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

ARTHUR ELI MONROE
[1918]

Born: West Brookfield, Mass., Aug. 2, 1885.
Parents: Eli Monroe, Louise Octavia Arsino.
School: High School, Brookfield, Mass.
Degrees: A.B., 1908; A.M., 1914; Ph.D., 1918.
Occupation: Teacher.
Address: 56 Thayer Hall, Cambridge, Mass.

After graduation I taught Latin and German in a boys boarding school (Kent School, Kent, Conn.), until June, 1913, when I returned to Harvard for graduate work in economics, a subject I had carefully avoided in college. The next year I was appointed assistant in economics in Harvard College, to which was later added a tutorship. In January, 1916, I went to Williams College, to substitute for Professor McLaren, remaining until the end of the college year. I have been at Harvard since then, as instructor and tutor.

Source: Harvard College, Class of 1908. Secretary’s Third Report, Decennial Report, April 1920, p. 334.

_______________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Application for Candidacy for the Degree of Ph.D.

[Note: Boldface used to indicate printed text of the application; italics used to indicate the handwritten entries]

I. Full Name, with date and place of birth.

Arthur Eli Monroe. West Brookfield, Mass. Aug. 2, 1885.

II. Academic Career: (Mention, with dates inclusive, colleges or other higher institutions of learning attended; and teaching positions held.)

Harvard College, Sept. 1904 – June 1908
Harvard Graduate School. Arts & Sciences, Sept. 1913 –
Teacher, Latin and German, Kent School. 1909 – 1913

III. Degrees already attained. (Mention institutions and dates.)

A.B. [magna cum laude] (Harvard) 1908
A.M. (Harvard) 1914

IV. General Preparation. (Indicate briefly the range and character of your undergraduate studies in History, Economics, Government, and in such other fields as Ancient and Modern Languages, Philosophy, etc.)

French 2c, 6, 9
German A, 1a, 4, 6, H, 32b, 9
Latin B, 1, E
Greek B, E

V. Department of Study. (Do you propose to offer yourself for the Ph.D., “History,” in “Economics,” or in “Political Science”?)

Economics

VI. Choice of Subjects for the General Examination. (State briefly the nature of your preparation in each subject, as by Harvard courses, courses taken elsewhere, private reading, teaching the subject, etc., etc.)

Economic Theory & Its History.
Economics 11, 7, 14, Reading
Assistant in Economics A
Economic History since 1750.
Economics 2a, 2b, Reading
Public Finance.
Economics 31
Statistical Method & its Application.
Economics 13
History of Political Theory.
Private Reading
Special field to be a suitable portion of the field of the History of Economic Thought

VII. Special Subject for the special examination.

Some topic in the History of American Economic Thought

VIII. Thesis Subject. (State the subject and mention the instructor who knows most about your work upon it.)

Professor Bullock

IX. Examinations. (Indicate any preferences as to the time of the general and special examinations.)

General Examination, Autumn, 1915

X. Remarks

[Left blank]

Signature of a member of the Division certifying approval of the above outline of subjects.

[signed] Charles J. Bullock

* * * [Last page of application] * * *

[Not to be filled out by the applicant]

Name: A. E. Monroe

Approved: May 28, 1915

Ability to use French certified by F. W. Taussig

Ability to use German certified by F. W. Taussig

Date of general examination 13 October 1915. Passed [per W.C.W.]

Thesis received [Left blank]

Read by [Left blank]

Approved [Left blank]

Date of special examination 20 May 1918. Passed

Recommended for the Doctorate[left blank]

Degree conferred [left blank]

Remarks. [left blank]

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

Record of ARTHUR ELI MONROE in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University

1913-14

Economics 2a¹ [half course] [European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century, Prof. Gay]	B
Economics 2b² [half course] [Economic and Financial History of the United States, Prof. Gay]	B minus
Economics 7 [Theories of Distribution and Distributive Justice, Asst. Prof. Anderson]	A
Economics 11 [Economic Theory, Prof. Taussig]	A
Economics 31 [Public Finance, Prof. Bullock]	A

1914-15

Economics 13 [Statistics: Theory, Method, and Practice, Asst. Prof. Day]	A
Economics 14 [History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848, Prof. Bullock]	A

1915-16

Economics 20e (2 co. [courses?])
[Economic Research (American Taxation and Finance; History of Economic Thought, Prof. Bullock]

1916-17

Economics 20e (2 co.) [courses?])
[Economic Research (American Taxation and Finance; History of Economic Thought, Prof. Bullock]

1917-18

Economics 20
[Economic Research (for Ph.D. candidates)]

Note: A transcript can also be found in Harvard University Archives, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Record Cards of Students, 1895-1930, Marks—Neville (UAV 161.2722.5). File I, Box 10, Record Card of Arthur Eli Monroe.

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

Certification of reading knowledge of French and German

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague
E. E. Day
B. M. Anderson, Jr.
H. L. Gray

Cambridge, Massachusetts
April 28, 1915.

Dear Haskins:

I hereby certify that A. E. Monroe has reading knowledge of French and German such as is required for the Ph.D. degree.

Sincerely yours,
[signed] F. W. Taussig

Dean C. H. Haskins

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

Approval of Ph.D. Plan of Study
[Carbon copy]

4 June 1915

Dear Mr. Monroe:

At a meeting on May 28 the Division of History, Government, and Economics voted to approve your plan of study for your degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Very truly yours,
[unsigned]

Mr. A. E. Monroe

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

Committee named for the General Exam
[Carbon copy]

[Note: identical copies were sent to Professors Gay, Taussig, Day, Holcombe]

4 October 1915.

Dear Professor Bullock:

Will you kindly serve as one of the committee for the General Examination in Economics of Arthur E. Munroe, Wednesday, October 13, at 4 P. M.? The committee consists of Professors Bullock (Chairman), Taussig, Gay, Day, and Holcombe.

Mr. Muroe’s subjects are: Economic Theory and Its History, Economic History since 1750, Public Finance, Statistical Method and its Application, History of Political Theory, and a special field to be a suitable portion of the field of the History of Economic Thought.

Mr. Munroe has decided upon Public Finance and Statistics. Will you kindly see that the papers are set and the written examination held a reasonable time in advance of the oral?

Very sincerely yours,
[unsigned]

Professor C. J. Bullock.

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

Time and Place of General Exam
[Carbon copy]

9 October 1915

My dear Mr. Monroe:

Your examination, Wednesday, October 13, will be held in Widener U at 4 P.M.

Yours very truly,
[initials of Dean Haskins added]
C. H. H.

Mr. A. E. Monroe

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

Passed General Exam

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague
E. E. Day
B. M. Anderson, Jr.

Cambridge, Massachusetts
October 14, 1915.

My dear Haskins:

Mr. A. E. Monroe passed his general examination for the doctor’s degree in Economics on October 18th. He passed creditably in all subjects except History of Political Theory, in which his examination was not satisfactory; but the instructor thought should not stand in his way if the other subjects were good.
His written examinations in Public Finance and Statistics were of A quality, and his oral examination in the other economic subjects was thoroly satisfactory.

Sincerely yours,
[signed] Charles J. Bullock

Dean C. H. Haskins.

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

Special Exam Field
[carbon copy]

25 January 1917

Dear Mr. Monroe:
At its meeting last Tuesday the Division of History, Government, and Economics voted to approve, as your special field, the History of Economic Thought to 1776, with special reference to the period subsequent to 1500.

Sincerely yours,
[unsigned copy]

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

Passed Special Exam

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague
E. E. Day
B. M. Anderson, Jr.
J. S. Davis
H. H. Burbank

Cambridge, Massachusetts
May 21, 1918.

My dear Haskins:

I wish to report that yesterday Mr. A. E. Monroe passed his special examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Mr. Monroe passed an unusually good examination which was from every point of view thoroly satisfactory.

Sincerely yours,
[signed] Charles J. Bullock

Dean C. H. Haskins

Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government, and Economics. Ph.D. exams and records of candidates, study plans, lists, etc. pre-1911-1942. Box 3. Folder “Ph.D. Applications.”

_______________________

Ph.D. Dissertation

Arthur Eli Monroe’s 1918 Ph.D. thesis “The Theory of Money before 1776” was revised and published as Monetary theory before Adam Smith as number 25 of the Harvard Economic Studies (1923).

Image Source: At least as early as 1923, this portrait of Arthur Eli Monroe is found in the Harvard Class Albums. This portrait clipped from the 1925 Class Album and colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Tags Monroe

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam questions for Medieval and Modern Economic History of Europe. Gay, 1905-1906

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-01-25

For most of the twentieth century you didn’t have a full and complete economics department without significant course offerings in economic history. Needless to say, Harvard has had a full and complete economics department.

This post contributes an incremental addition to the collection of economics exams with those from Edwin Francis Gay’s European economic history courses at Harvard in 1905-06.

___________________________

A brief course description for Economics 11 plus the exams from 1902-03.

Exams for 1903-04.

Exams for 1904-05.

A short bibliography for “serious students” of economic history assembled by Gay and published in 1910 has also been posted.

Gay and Usher’s economic history exams from 1930 through 1949.

__________________________

Mediaeval Economic History of Europe.

Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 10 ¹hf. Asst. Professor Gay. — Mediaeval Economic History of Europe.

Total 8: 6 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-190 6, p. 72.

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

ECONOMICS 10¹
Final Examination
Mid-year 1905-06

Explain briefly:—
1. gwely.
2. liti.
3. molmen.
4. formariage.
5. lettre de foire.
6. mercator.
7. commenda.
8. contractus trinius.
9. droit d’amortissement, droit de régale.
10. tunnage and poundage.
Outline the estate organization prescribed by the Capitulare de Villis.
“It seems to be almost certain that the ‘hams’ and ‘tuns’ (of England) were, generally speaking, and for the most part from the first, practically manors with communities in serfdom upon them.” Whose view is this? State succinctly the chief arguments for and against.
Enumerate the chief franchises and privileges of a fair. What was the jus fori?

Take one of the following questions:

What were the provisions of the Law Merchant in regard to sales and contracts?
What is the significance of the following passages:—
1. “ne alienigene opus suum operatum ad forum non deferant, nisi cum omnium eorum voluntate qui juri illo quod inninge appellatur participes existunt.” (Privilege to Magdeburg shoemakers, end of the twelfth century.)
2. “quod nullus textor potest vel debet in aliqua civitate nullo etiam tempore, ubi non habet consortium mercatorum quod vulgariter ignige appellatur, pannos incidere.” (Halberstadt, 1291.)
3. “Si aliquis alienus vult societatem pistorum, quod Innunge dicitur, ille dabit duas marcas et due partes spectabunt ad civitatem, una pars ad pistores.” (Neumarkt, 1235.)

________________________

Modern Economic History of Europe

Course Enrollment
Economics 11
1905-06

Economics 11. Asst. Professor Gay. — Modern Economic History of Europe.

Total 10: 8 Graduates, 2 Seniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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

ECONOMICS 11
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

Explain briefly:—
1. purveyance.
2. staple.
3. copyhold.
4. Leibzins.
5. mainmorte.
6. mesta.
What were the chief factors in the emancipation of the serf? Compare the history of the movement in England with that in Germany.
The craft gild:
1. What in general was its object and policy?
2. What, during the sixteenth century, was the attitude of the national government to the craft gilds in England and in France?
3. What was the Statute of Artificers?
Outline the history of the trade relations between England and northern Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, stating the chief facts connected with the decline of the Hanseatic position in England and the rise of the Merchant Adventurers.
Describe succinctly the price movement of the sixteenth century, its extent, character, causes, and results.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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

ECONOMICS 11
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

State briefly the place in English economic history of Gresham, Burleigh, Cromwell, Paterson, Walpole, Bakewell, Arkwright, the younger Pitt.
[Wages]
1. Describe, stating causes, the growth of the wage-earning class in England.
2. Summarize the history and results of wage regulation by public authority.
3. The average daily wage of an English artisan at the close of the sixteenth century was about one shilling. How would you determine the modern equivalent in purchasing power? What other factors should be considered in a comparison of conditions?
Compare the commerce of England with that of France in the eighteenth century. Can the comparative magnitude be statistically measured? If so, with what result? If not, why not?
Why did the Industrial Revolution take place in England in the latter part of the eighteenth century? What facts of English agricultural history bear upon this question?
Describe the transitions in industrial organization leading up to the domestic system, to the factory system.

Image Source: Image of a page from the Statute of Artificers in Vimala C. Pasupathi, Shall Strangers Rule the Roast? Migration and Displacement in Sir Thomas More (1600).

Tags Gay

From earlier years

Course Enrollment 1905-06

ECONOMICS 21 Paper Assignments [incomplete]

Paper No. 1

Paper No. 2

Paper No. 3

Paper No. 4

Paper No. 6

Paper No. 7

Paper No. 8

Paper No. 11

Paper No. 12

Paper No. 13

ECONOMICS 21 Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

ECONOMICS 21 Year-end Examination, 1904-05

Monographs on Education in the United States edited by Nicholas Murray Butler

Department of Education, Universal Exposition St. Louis, 1904.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. Classification of Exhibits.

GROUP I. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

GROUP 2. SECONDARY EDUCATION

GROUP 3. HIGHER EDUCATION

GROUP 4. SPECIAL EDUCATION IN FINE ARTS

(Institutions for teaching drawing, painting and music.)

GROUP 5. SPECIAL EDUCATION IN AGRICULTURE

GROUP 6. SPECIAL EDUCATION IN COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

GROUP 7. EDUCATION OF DEFECTIVES

GROUP 8. SPECIAL FORMS OF EDUCATION — TEXT BOOKS— SCHOOL FURNITURE AND SCHOOL APPLIANCES

Bullock’s earlier public finance exams at Harvard

Course Enrollment Economics 16 1905-06

HARVARD UNIVERSITY ECONOMICS 16 PUBLIC FINANCE Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

ECONOMICS 16 Year-end Examination, 1905-06 [Note: question 6 missing in printed exam]

Earlier accounting exams

Course Enrollment 1905-06

ECONOMICS 18 Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

I

II

ECONOMICS 18 Year-end Examination, 1905-06

Previously posted

Pre-Carver:

Carver’s courses

Post-Carver:

Methods of Social Reform, Socialism, Communism… Economics 14b 1905-06

Course Enrollment 1905-06

ECONOMICS 14b Year-end Examination, 1905-06

Previously posted

Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade Economics 12b 1905-06

Course Enrollment Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade 1905-06

ECONOMICS 12b SUGGESTIONS WITH REGARD TO FIRST REPORT AND ACCOMPANYING CHART

ECONOMICS 12b Mid-year Examination, 1904-05

Omit one question

TEN-YEAR PROJECTS AND OUTLOOK FOR DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY [Draft, 1967]

Course Enrollment Distribution of Wealth 1905-06

ECONOMICS 14a Distribution of Wealth Year-end Examination, 1904-05

From Reports of the Harvard College Class of 1908

ARTHUR ELI MONROE [1914]

ARTHUR ELI MONROE [1918]

HARVARD UNIVERSITY DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Application for Candidacy for the Degree of Ph.D.

Record of ARTHUR ELI MONROE in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University

1913-14

1914-15

1915-16

1916-17

1917-18

Certification of reading knowledge of French and German

HARVARD UNIVERSITY Department of Economics

Approval of Ph.D. Plan of Study [Carbon copy]

Committee named for the General Exam [Carbon copy]

Time and Place of General Exam [Carbon copy]

Passed General Exam

HARVARD UNIVERSITY Department of Economics

Special Exam Field [carbon copy]

Passed Special Exam

HARVARD UNIVERSITY Department of Economics

Ph.D. Dissertation

Related posts

Mediaeval Economic History of Europe.

Course Enrollment 1905-06

ECONOMICS 101 Final Examination Mid-year 1905-06

Modern Economic History of Europe

Course Enrollment
1905-06

ECONOMICS 21
Paper Assignments
[incomplete]

ECONOMICS 21
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

ECONOMICS 21
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

Monographs on Education in the United States
edited by
Nicholas Murray Butler

Department of Education, Universal Exposition
St. Louis, 1904.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.
Classification of Exhibits.

GROUP I.
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

GROUP 2.
SECONDARY EDUCATION

GROUP 3.
HIGHER EDUCATION

GROUP 4.
SPECIAL EDUCATION IN FINE ARTS

(Institutions for teaching drawing,
painting and music.)

GROUP 5.
SPECIAL EDUCATION IN AGRICULTURE

GROUP 6.
SPECIAL EDUCATION IN COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

GROUP 7.
EDUCATION OF DEFECTIVES

GROUP 8.
SPECIAL FORMS OF EDUCATION
— TEXT BOOKS—
SCHOOL FURNITURE AND SCHOOL APPLIANCES

Bullock’s earlier public finance exams
at Harvard

Course Enrollment
Economics 16
1905-06

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 16
PUBLIC FINANCE
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

ECONOMICS 16
Year-end Examination, 1905-06
[Note: question 6 missing in printed exam]

Course Enrollment
1905-06

ECONOMICS 18
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

ECONOMICS 18
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

Methods of Social Reform,
Socialism, Communism…
Economics 14b
1905-06

Course Enrollment
1905-06

ECONOMICS 14b
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

Commercial Crises
and Cycles of Trade
Economics 12b
1905-06

Course Enrollment
Commercial Crises
and Cycles of Trade
1905-06

ECONOMICS 12b
SUGGESTIONS WITH REGARD TO FIRST REPORT AND ACCOMPANYING CHART

ECONOMICS 12b
Mid-year Examination, 1904-05

TEN-YEAR PROJECTS AND OUTLOOK FOR
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
[Draft, 1967]

Course Enrollment
Distribution of Wealth
1905-06

ECONOMICS 14a
Distribution of Wealth
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

ARTHUR ELI MONROE
[1914]

ARTHUR ELI MONROE
[1918]

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Approval of Ph.D. Plan of Study
[Carbon copy]

Committee named for the General Exam
[Carbon copy]

Time and Place of General Exam
[Carbon copy]

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Special Exam Field
[carbon copy]

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Course Enrollment
1905-06

ECONOMICS 10¹
Final Examination
Mid-year 1905-06

Course Enrollment
Economics 11
1905-06

ECONOMICS 11
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

ECONOMICS 11
Year-end Examination, 1905-06