Author: Irwin Collier

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Economist Market Exam Questions Harvard Methodology

Harvard. Final exam questions for economic methods course. Carver, 1903-04

Thomas Nixon Carver

This semester-long course on methods of economic investigation taught by Thomas Nixon Carver was listed as one being “primarily for graduates”. Only the introductory course of the department was considered “primarily for undergraduates” while the bulk of course offerings were deemed appropriate for both graduate and undergraduate students. Judging from the questions, this course appears to have been little more than a leisurely trot through John Neville Keynes, The Scope and Method of Economics (1897, 2nd ed.) along with Cairnes’ Logical Method of Political Economy (1875, 2nd ed.).

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Related previous posts

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Course Enrollment

Economics 13 1hf. Professor Carver. Methods of Economic Investigation.

Total 11: 5 Graduates, 3 Seniors, 3 Radcliffe

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1903-1904, p. 67.

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ECONOMICS 13
Mid-Year Examination. 1903-04

Discuss the following topics.

  1. The relation of economics and ethics.
  2. The departments of political economy.
  3. The fields for the observation of economic phenomena.
  4. The nature of an economic law.
  5. The use of hypotheses in economics.
  6. The relation of theoretical analysis to historical investigation.
  7. The place of diagrams and mathematical formulae in economics.
  8. The methods of investigating the causes of poverty.
  9. The methods of determining the effects of immigration on the population of the United States.
  10. The place of direct observation in economic study.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1903-04.

Image Source: Harvard Classbook 1906. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

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Exam Questions Harvard International Economics

Harvard. Enrollment and final exam for international trade and payments. Sprague, 1903-1904

Another of our exports: the American fortune by Samuel D. Ehrhart (1901)

Time (it’s always “time” I suppose) to get back to the feeding of the slowly growing databank of Harvard economics exams with that from the semester course on international trade and payments taught by O.M.W. Sprague during the 1903-04 academic year.

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Related Posts

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Course  Enrollment

Economics 12a 2hf. Dr. Sprague. — International Trade and International Payments.

Total 23: 5 Graduates, 6 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 2 Others. 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1903-1904, p. 67.

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ECONOMICS 12a
Year-End Examination. 1903-04

  1. Analyze the effects of increasing exports of commodities produced under conditions of diminishing returns upon (a) laborers and capitalists, (b) upon landlords.
  2. What significance do you attach to differences in the per capita amount of foreign trade of different countries?
  3. Sir Robert Griffin’s criticism of the young industries argument.
  4. Does the extension of our export trade to tropical countries, e.g. South America, give promise of as satisfactory results as an equal growth to other parts of the world?
  5. Indicate the more important factors which determine the localization of manufacturing industries. Have these factors the same relative importance that they had fifty years ago?
  6. Analyze the recent course of English exports, indicating the chief tendencies for the future on the assumption of an unchanged fiscal policy.
  7. Do tariff barriers exert a steadying influence upon prices?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College, p. 34.

Image Source: Samuel D. Ehrhart, “Another of our exports; the American fortune”, cover of Puck, Vol. 50, No. 1278 (1901 August 28). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

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Columbia Economics Programs Economists Germany

Columbia. Munroe Smith’s history of the faculty of political science as told by A.S. Johnson, 1952.

 

The following paragraphs come from Alvin S. Johnson’s 1952 autobiography that is filled with many such nuggets of fact and context that are relevant for the work of Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. The institutional histories from which departments of economics have emerged provide some of the initial conditions for the evolution of organized economics education. Like Johns Hopkins and unlike Harvard and Chicago, Columbia University economics was to a large part made in Germany.

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[p. 164] …Munroe Smith gave me detail after detail of the history of the faculty. Dean Burgess, as a cavalry officer in the Civil War, had had much time for reflection on the stupendous folly of a war in which citizens laid waste other citizens’ country and slaughtered each other without ill will. All the issues, Burgess believed, could have been compromised if the lawyers who controlled Congress and the state legislatures had been trained in history, political science, and public law. As soon as he was discharged from the army, after Appomattox, he set out for Germany to study the political sciences. He spent several years at different universities, forming friendships with the most famous professors and imbuing himself thoroughly with the spirit of German scholarship. On his return he accepted an appointment in history at Columbia College, then a pleasant young gentlemen’s finishing school. He was permitted to offer courses in public law. Although these could not be counted for credit toward the A.B., many of the ablest students were drawn to his lectures.

From among his students he picked out four and enlisted them in a project for transforming Columbia College into a university. The four were Nicholas Murray Butler, E. R. A. Seligman, Frank Goodnow, and Munroe Smith. They were to proceed to Germany to get their doctorates. Butler was to study philosophy and education; Seligman, economics; Goodnow, administration; Munroe Smith, Roman law. The young men executed Burgess’s command like good soldiers and in due time returned to offer non-credit courses at Columbia College.

Burgess’s next move was to turn his group into a graduate faculty. Such a faculty had been set up at Johns Hopkins, the first in America, and commanded nationwide interest among educators. Burgess argued with President Frederick Barnard on the need of a graduate school in the greatest city of the country. After some years the Board of Trustees authorized in 1886 the setting up of a graduate School of Political Science, manned by Burgess and his disciples, now advanced to professorial rank.

Butler early stepped aside to develop courses he later organized into Teachers College. Burgess and his three younger colleagues watched for opportunities to enlist additional abilities: William A. Dunning in political theory, Herbert L. Osgood in American history, John Bassett Moore in international law, John Bates Clark in [p. 165] economics Franklin Giddings in sociology. This process of expansion was going on energetically while I was on the faculty; Henry R. Seager and Henry L. Moore were enlisted for the economics department, Edward T. Devine and Samuel McCune Lindsay for sociology, James Harvey Robinson and later Charles A. Beard for history. In the meantime other graduate courses were springing up throughout the institution. The towering structure of Columbia University had risen up out of Burgess’s small bottle.

Still in my time the controlling nucleus of our faculty consisted of Burgess, Seligman, Goodnow, and Munroe Smith. They all knew American colonial history well and had followed the step-by-step evolution of Massachusetts Bay from a settlement governed by a chartered company in England to a free self-governing community, germ of American liberty. Step by step Burgess and his lieutenants built up the liberties of the School of Political Science. They got the Board of Trustees to accept the principle of the absolute freedom of the scholar to pursue the truth as he sees it, whatever the consequences; the principle of absolute equality of the faculty members; the principle that no scholar might be added to the faculty without the unanimous consent of the faculty. The principle was established that the president and trustees could intervene in the affairs of the faculty only through the power of the purse.

President Seth Low, regarding himself justly as a recognized authority on administration, sought admission to the meetings of the faculty. He was turned down. A university president could not conduct himself as an equal among equals. When Nicholas Murray Butler became president he thought it would be a good idea for him to sit in with the faculty. After all, he had been one of Burgess’s first panel. We voted the proposition down, unanimously.

Since my time the faculty has grown in numbers and its relations with other departments of the university have become closer. But the spirit of liberty and equality, established by Burgess and his lieutenants, still lives on at Columbia and has overflowed into the universities of America. From time to time a board of trustees steps outside its moral sphere and undertakes to purge and discipline the faculty. But established liberties stricken down are bound to rise again.

Source: Alvin Saunders Johnson. A Pioneer’s Progress. New York: Viking Press, 1952.

Image Source: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. “Columbia College, Madison Ave., New York, N.Y” [Architect: C. C. Haight] The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1886-09-04. Image of the Mid-town Campus from The American Architect and Building News, September 4, 1886. (cf. https://www.wikicu.com/Midtown_campus)

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Columbia Economists

Columbia. Alvin S. Johnson’s impressions of Edwin R.A. Seligman, 1898-1902

"He had a catholic mind and found some good in every author, no matter how crackbrained."

Alvin Saunders Johnson’s 1952 autobiography, A Pioneer’s Progress, provides us a treasure chest of granular detail regarding his academic and life experiences. This co-founder of the New School for Social Research in New York City went on to live another 19 years after publishing his autobiography to reach the age of 96.

Economics in the Rear-View Mirror will clip personal and departmental remembrances of Johnson’s own economics training and teaching days. This post shares a transcription of his impressions of Edwin R. A. Seligman.

Previously posted Johnson observations: John W. Burgess, Franklin H. Giddings.

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Other posts with
E.R.A. Seligman content

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Alvin Johnson reminisces
about Seligman

[p. 123] Edwin R. A. Seligman was head of the Department of Economics.

He was a strikingly handsome figure, with his thick dark beard, wavy in structure, with mahogany overtones. We called it an ambrosial beard; I doubt great Zeus had a handsomer.

No economist living had read so widely in the literature of the social sciences as Seligman. He had a catholic mind and found some good in every author, no matter how crackbrained. A man of large income, he was the foremost academic advocate of progressive income and inheritance taxes at a time when all regular economists abominated the idea of the income tax as a Populist attack on the wealthy and cultured classes. He was a staunch supporter of trade unionism and government regulation of railway rates. It was hard for me to distinguish between Seligman’s populism and mine.

As a lecturer he was systematic and eloquent. He never appeared before a class without thorough preparation, and in the seminar meetings at his house he was always primed with all the facts and ideas that might supplement the students’ papers. He was a great teacher, and most of the graduate students turned to him for direction…

*  *  *  *  *  *

[p. 137]…As the doctoral examinations approached in the spring of 1901, three of our group of students — Jesse Eliphalet Pope, Allan Willett, and I — spent much time together cramming. We were to be examined on the entire literature of our major economics — and on the courses in the minors for which we had registered, in my case sociology under Giddings. It goes without saying that we hadn’t a chance to load ourselves up for the particular questions we might be asked in a three-hour oral examination. Still we boned manfully.

Our Columbia professors were as a rule very humane. If a student seemed to be floored by a question the examiner made haste to substitute another and easier question. I felt I was getting on very satisfactorily under the questioning of Seligman and Clark. But then Giddings pounced on me with blood in his eye. He was having a feud with Seligman at the time and meant to take it out of my hide. He did, and I resented it, for he was my friend.

After the examination I waited in the corridor to hear the results of the examiners’ deliberations. Soon Seligman came out and announced that I had passed with flying colors….

We were all three candidates for teaching positions, and Seligman had a powerful reach out into the colleges of the country. Three openings came to his jurisdiction: an associate professorship at New York University, which he awarded to Pope, the faculty favorite; an instructorship at Brown University, which went to Willett; and a position as Reader at Bryn Maw College, which he reserved for me. I was [p. 138] so very young, he said — all through my undergraduate life I had felt reprehensibly old. At Bryn Maw I would give only one three-hour course and have nearly all my time for finishing my doctor’s thesis.

*  *  *  *  *  *

[p. 151] … [At] Columbia and Barnard, in the fall of 1902, instruction presented problems quite new to me. Sometimes the problems were perplexing, often annoying, but usually capable of some sort of solution. By the end of my four years at Columbia I had been whipped into the shape of a fairly good teacher, although I was quite incapable of rising to the quizmaster heights many heads of departments at that time regarded as ideal.

My principal function was to drill classes of juniors, at Columbia and Barnard, in Bullock’s Introduction to Economics. At Columbia, Professor Seligman would lecture one hour to the assembled classes.

At Barnard, Professor Henry L. Moore would likewise assemble all the students for a general lecture. Then I would take over the students in smaller, though still large, groups and try to polish them off by quizzing them. It was on the whole a bad method.

*  *  *  *  *  *

 

Source: Alvin Saunders Johnson. A Pioneer’s Progress. New York: Viking Press, 1952.

Image Source: E.R.A. Seligman in Universities and their Sons, Vol. 2 (1899), pp. 484-6. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

 

 

Categories
Columbia Sociology

Columbia. Alvin S. Johnson’s impressions of Franklin H. Giddings, 1898-1902

"...a large, genial man, with bluntly pointed red beard and a markedly dolichocephalic skull, of which he was very proud..."

 

Alvin Saunders Johnson’s 1952 autobiography, A Pioneer’s Progress, provides us a treasure chest of granular detail regarding his academic and life experiences. This co-founder of the New School for Social Research in New York City went on to live another 19 years after publishing his autobiography to reach the age of 96.

Economics in the Rear-View Mirror will clip personal and departmental remembrances of Johnson’s own economics training and teaching days. This post shares a transcription of his impression of the sociologist Franklin H. Giddings and his experience with him as one of his doctoral examiners. Economist readers are gently reminded that at the turn of the twentieth century sociology was still regarded by many economists (and sociologists) as a subfield of economics. 

Trigger warning: Giddings appears to have been both an academic bully and one who spoke fluent anti-semitic speech.

Previously posted Johnson observation: John W. Burgess.

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Other posts with
Franklin H. Giddings’ content

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Alvin Johnson reminisces
about Giddings

[p. 122] …Columbia men swore by Franklin H. Giddings as the greatest living sociologist. He was a large, genial man, with bluntly pointed red beard and a markedly dolichocephalic skull, of which he was very proud. In his view, all distinction in the world, all energy, all genius, were carried by the dolichocephalic blonds Aryans, we called them then. Other peoples might acquire merit by imitation.

“Look at the Jews,” he would say in the privacy of the Sunday evening meetings at his house. “They are middlemen in economic life and middlemen in the world of ideas.”

Down the corridor from Giddings’ office was the office of Franz [p. 123] Boas, anthropologist. Logically he belonged in the School of Political Science, and in scholarly attainment, originality, and intellectual leadership he ranked with the best of them. Years later, when I was a member of the faculty, I urged the annexation of Franz Boas, then recognized throughout the world as the foremost anthropologist. Giddings vetoed the idea with the vigor of a Gromyko. Anthropology was either a natural science, having no proper place in a School of Political Science, or an amateurish sociology we could not afford to recognize…

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

[p. 137] … the doctoral examinations approached in the spring of 1901 …. We were to be examined on the entire literature of our major economics — and on the courses in the minors for which we had registered, in my case sociology under Giddings. It goes without saying that we hadn’t a chance to load ourselves up for the particular questions we might be asked in a three-hour oral examination. Still we boned manfully.

Our Columbia professors were as a rule very humane. If a student seemed to be floored by a question the examiner made haste to substitute another and easier question. I felt I was getting on very satisfactorily under the questioning of Seligman and Clark. But then Giddings pounced on me with blood in his eye. He was having a feud with Seligman at the time and meant to take it out of my hide. He did, and I resented it, for he was my friend.

After the examination I waited in the corridor to hear the results of the examiners’ deliberations. Soon Seligman came out and announced that I had passed with flying colors. Giddings followed, jovially slapped me on the back, and said, “Well, Johnson, I made you sweat. I knew it wouldn’t hurt you. Seligman would have bulled you through if you had flunked every question. But say, you knew more of the answers than I’d have known if I hadn’t loaded up for you.

So it was just good, clean fun, like pushing an absent-minded companion off an embankment…

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

[pp. 163-164] … There was, to be sure, a certain amount of personal friction, particularly between Giddings and Seligman. It was aired in the offices, not at faculty meetings. Giddings would encounter Seligman in the Political Science Quarterly office, where I was working, and would roar out his discontent with some plan of Seligman’s. Seligman always remained imperturbably courteous.Once I asked Giddings what he really had against Seligman.

“What I’ve got against him? I can’t get under the skin of that infernal Christian. You know, Johnson, I sometimes think only Jews can really behave like Christians. The Jews created that religion, and it suits their temperament. It doesn’t suit the temperament of us Aryans.”…

Source: Alvin Saunders Johnson. A Pioneer’s Progress. New York: Viking Press, 1952.

Image Source: University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D. Vol. II, pp. 453-5. Portrait colorised by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

 

 

Categories
Columbia Economists

Columbia. Alvin S. Johnson’s impressions of Dean John W. Burgess, October 1898

Dean John W. Burgess

 

Alvin Saunders Johnson’s 1952 autobiography, A Pioneer’s Progress, provides us a treasure chest of granular detail regarding his academic and life experiences. This co-founder of the New School for Social Research in New York City went on to live another 19 years after publishing his autobiography to reach the age of 96. In his New York Times obituary that starts on page one of the June 9, 1972 edition one reads:

“When he retired from the New School, Dr. Johnson did not leave the academic world. He came to the school each morning, and served as its elder statesman.”

What a way to go!

Economics in the Rear-View Mirror will clip personal and departmental remembrances of Johnson’s own economics training and teaching days. This post  includes his  first encounter with the founder of the Columbia School of Political Sciences, John W. Burgess, together with a tiny capsule of Burgessian Weltanschauung.

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Earlier Posts dealing with
John W. Burgess

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From Alvin S. Johnson’s Autobiography

[p. 120] … So here was I [in October 1898], a provincial, bound to Columbia for life by the calm magnificence of the Seth Low Library.

Entering, I met a janitor who directed me to the dean’s office on the third floor. The dean, John W. Burgess, looked classic too, with the classicism of highbred British stock, or rather, of the cavalier stock that first settled in Virginia. Though he had enlisted in the Northern cavalry from Tennessee, he was Virginian in his melodiously fluent speech. He treated even the rawest student or a janitor’s assistant with high courtesy and consideration….

I exhibited my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees [from the University of Nebraska] — the latter won without examination by the patriotic action of the state legislature, which voted the appropriate degrees for all volunteers who were approaching the conclusion of their requirements. He glanced at the diplomas and asked me what I wanted to study.

International relations, I said, political science, economics.

Then, he said, it would be best for me to major in economics, the strongest department. I’d need to make sociology one of my minors, according to the rules of the faculty. I could later decide what other minor I might like to take. He’d advise me to browse around freely the first year. Everybody ought to have some philosophy, and there was a famous course given by Professor Nicholas Murray Butler. Also, a course in literature might be useful.

He gave me some blanks to fill out, accepted them, and sent me to the bursar, who collected my semester’s tuition and minor fees for privileges I didn’t need.
So I was a registered graduate student in the School of Political Science. No question had been raised as to my antecedent scholarly preparation. Of course, I thought, the faculty would discover soon enough my ignorance of the field. They never did. I must have hidden it well…

[p. 122] …The Columbia School of Political Science, under which I was to work for three years, was manned by professors too distinguished to be called anywhere, except to university presidencies or high administrative office. Naturally I could not work under all of them in my first year, but I could visit all their classes and judge for myself what men of top distinction were like.

Foremost stood the dean, John W. Burgess, gentleman and scholar, reputed first authority on American constitutional history and constitutional law. He was an imperialist. At the time the problems of war and peace occupied my mind, and I classified men’s positions accordingly. Burgess had a grandiose idea of a permanent coalition among the three vital nations, America, England, and Germany, to rule the world. The decadent Latin nations were to be thrust into the role of charming museum pieces; the colored peoples and the half-Tartar Slavs were to be ruled with the firmness and justice of British rule in India…

Source: Alvin Saunders Johnson. A Pioneer’s Progress. New York: Viking Press, 1952.

Image Source: John W. Burgess in Universities and their Sons, Vol. 2. Boston: R. Herndon Company, 1899,  p. 481. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exams for the Modern Economic History of Europe. Gay, 1903-1904

Edwin F. Gay was hired as instructor to cover the economic history field left vacant by the departure of William Ashley for the University of Birmingham in 1901. By the end of his first semester (December 1902) he was promoted to an assistant professorship. Medieval economic history proved not to be a magnet for student enrollment (I am shocked to report) so he began to give greater emphasis to “modern” European economic history.

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Getting to 1903-1904

The outstanding feature of Gay’s years of study abroad is their number. He went to Europe expecting to return within two years, but stayed twelve and a half. Instead of getting his Ph.D. after working for three or four semesters on medieval history, he spent nine in universities–three in Leipzig, five in Berlin, and one in Zurich; then for seven years he studied privately; and finally, after being registered for three more semesters in Berlin but attending no classes, he wrote a dissertation on a theme in economic history, took his examinations, and was granted his degree in the summer of 1902….[p.30]

*  *  *

…[Gay] arrived in Harvard somewhat nervous about the reception he was likely to receive. Apart from the President, the only men who knew him — Gross and Haskins — were in the history department. His position, junior and temporary, was in the economics department, yet the economists had played no part in choosing him. When he visited Cambridge for his interview, he met neither the veteran F.W. Taussig nor the recently appointed younger men, Carver and Ripley. Apart from a very brief encounter with Carver in Berlin in the summer of 1902, he was a complete stranger to all his associates….[p. 63]

*  *  *

…By Christmas, 1902, [Gay] felt confident that he was holding the attention and interest of his students. By that time he also had learned, through T. N. Carver, chairman of the department, what the students thought of his work: they said it was so stiff and heavy in its demands that “whenever you see any of us going around with circles under our eyes, you can know we are taking Gay’s course.” There were very few of them at first; the medieval story [10 students] and the German economists [4 students] did not attract much attention… [p. 61]

*  *  *

…by Christmas 1902, [Gay] was informed the department wanted him to stay and before his first year ended he was raised to the rank of assistant professor of economics with a tenure of five years. In recommending the promotion Carver wrote to [President] Eliot: “His scholarship is of the very highest type and his success as a classroom lectureer is unqualified, as shown by his work this year.” [p. 64]

Source: Herbert Heaton, A Scholar in Action: Edwin F. Gay. Cambridge (Massachusetts), Harvard University Press, 1952.

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Related posts

A brief course description for Economics 11 plus the exams from the the 1902-03 academic year have been posted earlier .

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

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ECONOMICS 11
Course Enrollment
1903-04

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

Total 18: 10 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 4 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1903-1904, p. 66.

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ECONOMICS 11
Mid-Year Examination, 1903-04

  1. Explain briefly:—

(a) convertible husbandry.
(b) bodgers.
(c) book of rates.
(d) Gutsherrschaft.
(e) lettre de maîtrise.
(f) Fondaco dei Tedeschi.

  1. Describe briefly, with indication of the bearing on wider questions:—

(a) The divergent views as to the security of copyhold tenure in the sixteenth century.
(b) The organization of the Florentine woollen industry.
(c) The rise of the Merchant Adventurers.

  1. Comment on the following passage:—

“Everie day some of us encloseth a plote of his ground to pasture; and weare it not that oure grounde lieth in the common feildes, intermingled one with a nother, I thincke also oure feildes had bene enclosed, of a common agreement of all the townshippe, longe ere this time.”

  1. Give an account of the gild system of industry in England, emphasizing the analogies and contrasts with the continent.
  2. It is estimated that the following series of figures represents the change in the average purchasing power of wages in England:

1451-1500

 100

1501-1520

 88

1521-1550

 70

1551-1570

57
1571-1602

47
1603-1652

40
1653-1702

47

(a) How would you construct such a series and what is its value?
(b) What caused the change thus indicated and what were its effects?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1903-04.

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ECONOMICS 11
Year-End Examination, 1903-04

I. Explain briefly:—

(1) contractus trinius.
(2) two forms of capitation.
(3) Gesellenverbände.
(4) Gulden and Thaler.
(5) the vend.
(6) Exchequer Bills
(7) the Molasses Act.
(8) roundsmen.

II. Describe briefly:—

(1) the influence of the Civil War on English economic history.
(2) the distinction between the economic views of Whigs and Tories.

III.

(1) State the chief provisions and significance of

(a) the Statute of Artificers (1563),
(b) the Navigation Act (1660), and
(c) the Corn Law of 1688.

(2) When in England was the policy embodied in each of the above statutes changed, and under what circumstances?
(3) Indicate the analogies and contrasts of this English policy in relation to industry, commerce, and agriculture with the policies of France and Holland in the seventeenth century.

IV.

When and why did indirect taxation become prominent in Western Europe?

V. Comment on the following statement:

“the domestic system existed [in England] from the earliest times till it was superseded by capitalism; … craft gilds were a form of industrial organization which was appropriate to the domestic, rather than to the capitalist system.”

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College, pp. 33-34.

Image Source: Edwin F. Gay, seated in office, 1908. From Wikipedia. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Industrial Organization Problem Sets

Harvard. Economics of Corporations. Case assignment and final exam. Ripley, 1903-1904

William Zebina Ripley

 

The course “Economics of Corporations” at Harvard taught by William Zebina Ripley would have been better described as “The Economics of Trusts“. The course number “9” was split between the first semester dedicated to the labor market institution of trade unions and the second semester dedicated to corporations and combinations of firms into trusts. What both courses had in common was the theme of market power, important exceptions to the case of perfect competition in factor and product markets.

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Course Enrollment
1903-1904

Economics 9b 2hf. Professor Ripley. — Economics of Corporations.

Total 170: 10 Graduates, 49 Seniors, 74 Juniors, 24 Sophomores, 13 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1903-1904, p. 66.

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ECONOMICS 92
1903
[sic, the second semester began in 1904]

ECONOMICS 92
ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS

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

GROUP A

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

GROUP B

Students will compare the character and extent of industrial control in two different industries in the United States. These are indicated by numbers given below, which are posted against the student’s name on the enrolment slip. The aim should be to point out and explain any discoverable differences in the nature or extent of the industrial monopoly attained in the two industries concerned. Mere description of conditions in either case will not suffice; actual comparison is demanded. The parallel column method is suggested. See Directions on last page.

GROUP C

Students will compare industrial combinations in different countries of Europe with one another, or with corresponding ones in the United States. The assignment of industries will be made by numbers, referring to the list below, these numbers being posted against the student’s name on the enrolment slip. Mere description will not be accepted; the student will be judged by the degree of critical comparison offered. Parallel columns may be used to advantage. See Directions on last page.

→ The letters preceding the assignment number against the student’s name refer to the group in which the report is to be made. Thus, for example: “31 A” on the enrolment slip indicates that the student is to report upon the American Cotton Oil Co.; “2 & 64 B,” that a comparison of the American Bridge Co. and the United States Leather Co. in the United States is expected; while “59 & 138 C” calls for an international comparison of industrial organizations in thread manufacture as described under Group C.

INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

A star indicates that data will be found in Industrial Commission Reports, Volume I [Hearings on Trusts and Industrial Combinations] or Volume XIII [Trusts and Industrial Combinations].

  1. American Axe and Tool Co., 1889.
  2. American Bridge Co., 1900. (See No. 123.)
  3. American Iron and Steel Mfg. Co., 1899.
  4. American Steel Foundries Co., 1902.
  5. *American Radiator Co., 1899.
  6. *American Sheet Steel Co., 1900. (See No. 123.)
  7. *American Steel and Wire Co. of New Jersey, 1899. (See No. 123.)
  8. American Steel Casting Co., 1894.
  9. *American Steel Hoop Co., 1899. (See No. 123.)
  10. *American Tin Plate Co., 1898. (See No. 123.)
  11. *Federal Steel Co., 1898. (See No. 123.)
  12. International Steam Pump Co., 1899.
  13. *National Shear Co., 1898.
  14. *National Steel Co., 1899. (See No. 123.)
  15. National Tube Co., 1899. (See No. 123.)
  16. *Otis Elevator Co., 1898.
  17. Republic Iron and Steel Co., 1899.
  18. United Shoe Machinery Co., 1899.
  19. United States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Co., 1899.
  20. American Beet Sugar Co., 1899.
  21. *American Chicle Co., 1899.
  22. Corn Products Co., 1902.
  23. *American Sugar Refining Co., 1891.
  24. *Glucose Sugar Refining Co., 1897.
  25. *National Biscuit Co., 1898.
  26. National Sugar Refining Co., 1900.
  27. *Royal Baking Powder Co., 1899.
  28. United States Flour Milling Co., 1899.
  29. *American Fisheries Co., 1899.
  30. American Agricultural Chemical Co., 1899.
  31. *American Cotton Oil Co., 1889.
  32. American Linseed Co., 1898.
  33. *Fisheries Co., The, 1900.
  34. *General Chemical Co., 1899.
  35. *National Salt Co., 1899.
  36. *National Starch Manufacturing Co., 1890.
  37. *Standard Oil Co., 1882.
  38. Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co., 1895.
  39. American Shot and Lead Co., 1890.
  40. American Smelting and Refining Co., 1899.
  41. American Type Founders Co., 1892.
  42. *International Silver Co., 1898.
  43. National Lea Co., 1891.
  44. American Malting Co., 1897.
  45. American Spirits Manufacturing Co., 1895.
  46. Kentucky Distilleries and Warehouse Co., 1899.
  47. Pittsburg Brewing Co., 1899.
  48. St. Louis Brewing Association, 1889.
  49. Standard Distilling and Distributing Co., 1898.
  50. *American Bicycle Co., 1899.
  51. American Car and Foundry Co., 1899.
  52. *Pressed Steel Car Co., 1899.
  53. Pullman Co., The, 1899.
  54. American Snuff Co., 1900.
  55. *American Tobacco Co., 1890.
  56. *Continental Tobacco Co., 1898.
  57. * National Cordage Co., 1887. (See No. 62.)
  58. American Felt Co., 1899.
  59. *American Thread Co., 1898.
  60. American Woolen Co., 1899.
  61. New England Cotton Yarn Co., 1899.
  62. *Standard Rope and Twine Co., 1895. (See No. 57.)
  63. American Hide and Leather Co., 1899.
  64. * United States Leather Co., 1893.
  65. American Straw Board Co., 1889.
  66. American Writing Paper Co., 1899.
  67. * International Paper Co., 1898.
  68. * National Wall Paper Co., 1892.
  69. Union Bag and Paper Co., 1899.
  70. United States Envelope Co., 1898.
  71. American Clay Manufacturing Co., 1900.
  72. American Window Glass Co., 1899.
  73. International Pulp Co., 1893.
  74. National Fire Proofing Co., 1899.
  75. *National Glass Co., 1899.
  76. *Pittsburg Plate Glass Co. 1895.
  77. United States Glass Co., 1891.
  78. American School Furniture Co., 1899.
  79. Diamond Match Co., 1889.
  80. National Casket Co., 1890.
  81. United States Bobbin and Shuttle Co., 1899.
  82. American Glue Co., 1894.
  83. American Ice Co., 1899.
  84. American Shipbuilding Co., 1899.
  85. American Soda Fountain Co. 1891.
  86. *General Aristo Co. (Photography), 1899.
  87. Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co., 1899.
  88. United States Rubber Co., 1892.
  89. Allis-Chalmers Co., 1901.
  90. American Cigar Co., 1901.
  91. American Grass Twine Co., 1899.
  92. American Light and Traction Co., 1901.
  93. American Locomotive Co., 1901.
  94. American Machine and Ordnance Co., 1902.
  95. American Packing Co., 1902.
  96. American Plow Co., 1901.
  97. American Sewer Pipe Co., 1900.
  98. American Steel Foundries Co., 1902.
  99. Associated Merchants Co., 1901.
  100. Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co., 1902.
  101. Consolidated Railway Lighting and Refrig. Co., 1901.
  102. Consolidated Tobacco Co., 1901.
  103. Corn Products Co., 1902.
  104. Crucible Steel Co. of America, 1900.
  105. Eastman Kodak Co., 1901.
  106. International Harvester Co., 1902.
  107. International Salt Co., 1901.
  108. Jones & Laughlin Steel Co., 1902.
  109. * National Asphalt Co., 1900.
  110. New England Consolidated Ice Co., 1902.
  111. New York Dock Co., 1901.
  112. Pacific Hardware and Steel Co., 1902.
  113. Pennsylvania Steel Co. 1901.
  114. Railway Steel Spring Co., 1902.
  115. International Mercantile Marine Co., 1902.
  116. Northern Securities Co., 1901. (See Library Catalogue.)
  117. United Box, Board and Paper Co., 1902.
  118. United Copper Co., 1902.
  119. United States Cotton Duck Corporation, 1901.
  120. United States Realty and Construction Co., 1902
  121. United States Reduction and Refining Co., 1901
  122. United States Shipbuilding Co., 1902
  123. *U.S. Steel Corporation, 1901. (See Wilgus, in Library.)

INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS IN EUROPE

[Consult: Industrial Commission, Vol. XVIII [Industrial Combinations in Europe]; U.S. Special Consular Reports, Vol. XXI, Part III; and London Economist on England since 1895.]

  1. Canadian Iron Founders’ Association. (See Canadian Commission on Trusts, 1888.)
  2. *Bleachers’ Association, England.
  3. *Iron Combination, France.
  4. *Iron Combination, Germany.
  5. *Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate.
  6. *Spirits Combination, Germany.
  7. *United Pencil Factories Company, Germany.
  8. *Portland Cement Manufacturers’ Association, England.
  9. *Bradford Dyers’ Association, England.
  10. *Brass Bedstead Association, England.
  11. *British Cotton and Wool Dyers’ Association.
  12. *British Oil and Cake Mills.
  13. *Calico Printers’ Association, England.
  14. *Wall Paper Manufacturers’ Association, England.
  15. *English Sewing Cotton Co.
  16. *Petroleum Combination, Germany.
  17. *Petroleum Combination, France.
  18. *Sugar Combination, Germany.
  19. *Sugar Combination, Austria.

DIRECTIONS

All books here referred to are reserved in Gore Hall.

First. —Secure if possible by correspondence, enclosing ten cents postage, the last or recent annual reports of the company. Unless they are “listed” on the stock exchanges, no reports will be furnished. P.O. addresses for American corporations will be found in the latest Moody’s Manual of Corporation Securities [1903; 1904]; in 12th U. S. Census, 1900, Manufactures, Part I, p. lxxxvi; in the latest Investors’ Supplement, N. Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle [e.g., Supplement from July 28, 1900]; or in the Manual of Statistics.

Second. —In all cases where possible (starred on list) consult Vols. I, XIII, or XVIII. U.S. Industrial Commission Reports. Read appropriate testimony in full, consulting lists of witnesses, Vol. I, p. 1263, and Vol. XIII, p. 979; and also using the index and digests freely. Always follow up all cross references in foot-notes in the digests. Duplicate sets of these Reports are in Gore and Harvard Halls.

Third. —For companies organized prior to 1900 look through the bibliography and index in Halle or Jenks for references; and also in Griffin’s Library of Congress List [Relating to Trusts].

Fourth. —Work back carefully through the file of the Investors’ Supplement, N. Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle [e.g., Supplement from July 28, 1900]. These Supplements, prior to 1902, are bound in with the regular issues of the Chronicle, one number in each volume. Since 1901 they are separately bound for each year. The Investors’ Supplement will be recognized by its gray paper cover, and must be carefully distinguished from other supplements of the Chronicle. Market prices of securities are given in a distinct Bank and Quotation Supplement [e.g. for 1903], also bound up with the Chronicle. Having found the company in the Investors’ Supplement, follow up all references to articles in the Commercial and Financial Chronicle as given by volume and page. Also use the general index of the latter, separately, for each year since the company was organized [e.g., Index for Jan-June 1903 and for July-December 1903].

The files of Bradstreet’s should also be used, noting carefully that the index in each volume is in three separate divisions, “Editorials” being the most important. The course of prices is summarized at the end of each year in January Bradstreet’s, and also in Bulletin U.S. Dept. of Labor, No. 29.

Fifth. —The files of trade publications may also be profitably used. Among these are Bulletin of the National Wool Manufacturers’ Association, The Iron Age, Dry Goods Economist, etc.

The course of prices of securities in detail for many companies is given in Industrial Commission Reports, Vol. XIII, p. 918, et seq.

As for the form of the reports all pertinent matter may be introduced, proper references to authorities being given. Particular attention is directed to the extent of control, nature and value of physical plant, mode of selling products and fixing prices, amount and character of capitalization, with the purpose for which it was issued, relative market prices of different securities as well as of dividends paid through a series of years, degree of publicity in reports, etc. Mere history is of minor importance, unless it be used to explain some features of the existing situation.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder: “Economics 1903-04”.

_________________________

ECONOMICS 9b
Year-End Examination. 1903-04

Questions should be arranged in regular order as numbered.

  1. In what three ways may legislation attempt to minimize the speculative management of corporations?
  2. Outline the nature, purpose, and results of the U. S. Steel Bond Conversion operation.
  3. What is the attitude of “Trusts” toward labor? What experiments in financial participation have been tried?
  4. What was the gist of the testimony of Messrs. Schwab or Gates [according as you read one or the other] before the U.S. Industrial Commission on the subject of “Trusts”?
  5. Are the decisions under English common law in harmony or not with the statutory enactments of most of our American states on the subject of monopoly?
  6. Outline the nature of the recent changes in Massachusetts Corporation Law, especially with reference to stock watering.
  7. What are three main characteristics of the so-called “Smith Combination Movement” in England?
  8. What is the main issue involved in recent attempts to amend English Company law? Illustrate fully.
  9. What remedy (if any) do you consider most effective for future control of monopoly in the United States? Discuss it with reference to its financial, constitutional, and moral aspects.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College, p. 33.

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

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Labor Problem Sets

Harvard. Problems of Labor. Assignment of Reports and Final Exam. Ripley, 1903-1904

Young William Zebina Ripley

The course “Problems of Labor” at Harvard taught by William Zebina Ripley would have been better described as “Problems of Organized Labor”. The course number “9” was split between the first semester dedicated to the labor market institution of trade unions and the second semester dedicated to corporations and combinations of firms into trusts.

_____________________

Course Enrollment
First Semester, 1903-04

Economics 9a 1hf. Professor Ripley. — Problems of Labor.

Total 97: 8 Graduates, 33 Seniors, 34 Juniors, 14 Sophomores, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1903-1904, p. 66.

_____________________

ECONOMICS 9
ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS

GROUP A

Students will report upon the comparative conditions respecting Trade Union organization, functions, and efficiency in corresponding industries in the United States and Great Britain. The particular, industry assigned to each man is indicated by a number on the enrolment slip, which refers to the Trade Union number on the appended list of National Labor Organizations.

GROUP B

Students will report upon the comparative efficiency of Trade Union organization in two distinct lines of industry in the United States. Numbers against the names on the enrolment slip refer to the numbered Trade Union list, appended hereto.

GROUP C

Students will report upon the nature of Trade Union organization in two distinct lines of industry in Great Britain. Names on the enrolment slip as numbered refer to the industries concerned in the appended list of Trade Unions.

→ The letters preceding the assignment number against the student’s name refer to the group in which the report is to be made. Thus, for example: “8A” on the enrolment slip indicates that the student is to report upon the Cotton Spinners’ Unions in the United States and Great Britain; “1 & 8B,” that a comparison of the Spinners’ and of the Boot and Shoe Workers’ Organizations in the United States is expected: while “1 & 8C” calls for the same comparison for the two industries in Great Britain.

NATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

A star indicates that the Trade Union journal is in the Library. [Loeb Fund.]

*The Knights of Labor
*The American Federation of Labor

  1. Boot and Shoe Workers’ Union.
  2. The United Hatters of North America.
  3. The United Garment Workers of America.
  4. *The Journeymen Tailors’ Union of America.
  5. Custom Clothing Makers’ Union of America.
  6. International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.
  7. The Shirt, Waist and Laundry Workers’ International Union.
  8. National Spinners’ Association of America.
  9. The Elastic Goring Weavers’ Amalgamated Association of the United States of America.
  10. International Union of Textile Workers.
  11. Trunk and Bag Workers’ International Union of America.
  12. *International Typographical Union of North America.
  13. German-American Typographia.
  14. International Printing Pressmen and Assistants’ Union of North America.
  15. International Brotherhood of Bookbinders.
  16. Lithographers’ International Protective and Beneficial Association.
  17. International Steel and Copperplate Printers’ Union of the United States of America.
  18. Bricklayers and Masons’ International Union of America.
  19. *United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
  20. Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners.
  21. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
  22. *Granite Cutters’ National Union of the United States of America.
  23. Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators, and Paper Hangers of America.
  24. Operative Plasterers’ International Association.
  25. United Association of Journeymen Plumbers, Gas Fitters, Steam Fitters, and Steam Fitters’ Helpers.
  26. National Association of Steam and Hot-Water Fitters and Helpers.
  27. Journeymen Stone Cutters’ Association of North America.
  28. Mosaic and Encaustic Tile Layers and Helpers’ International Union.
  29. Glass Bottle Blowers’ Association.
  30. American Flint Glassworkers’ Union.
  31. *Amalgamated Glassworkers’ International Association.
  32. National Brotherhood of Operative Potters.
  33. *United Mine Workers of America.
  34. Northern Mineral Mine Workers’ Progressive Union.
  35. Amalgamated Woodworkers’ International Union.
  36. United Order of Box Makers and Sawyers.
  37. *Piano and Organ Workers’ International Union.
  38. International Wood Carvers’ Association.
  39. Coopers’ International Union.
  40. Carriage and Wagon Workers’ International Union.
  41. National Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers.
  42. *International Association of Machinists.
  43. Amalgamated Society of Engineers.
  44. *Brotherhood of Boiler Makers and Iron Ship Builders.
  45. International Association of Allied Metal Mechanics.
  46. Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers, and Brass Workers’ International Union.
  47. Amalgamated Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association.
  48. *Iron Molders’ Union.
  49. Pattern Makers’ League.
  50. Core Makers’ International Union.
  51. Grand Union of the International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths.
  52. Chain Makers’ National Union.
  53. Stove Mounters and Steel Range Workers’ International Union.
  54. Tin Plate Workers’ International Protective Association.
  55. American Wire Weavers’ Protective Association.
  56. Metal Trades’ Federation of North America.
  57. *International Seamen’s Union.
  58. National Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association.
  59. International Longshoremen’s Association.
  60. Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees.
  61. Switchmen’s Union.
  62. Journeymen Bakers’ and Confectioners’ International Union.
  63. Journeymen Barbers’ International Union.
  64. National Union of the United Brewery Workmen.
  65. *National Brickmaker’s Alliance.
  66. International Broom Makers’ Union.
  67. *Cigar Makers’ International Union.
  68. Retail Clerks’ International Protective Association.
  69. Team Drivers’ International Union.
  70. International Union of Steam Engineers.
  71. National Brotherhood of Coal Hoisting Engineers.
  72. Watch Case Engravers’ International Association.
  73. International Brotherhood of Stationary Firemen.
  74. International Union of Journeymen Horseshoers.
  75. Hotel and Restaurant Employees’ International Alliance and Bartenders’ International League.
  76. International Jewelry Workers.
  77. The United Brotherhood of Leather Workers on Horse Goods.
  78. National Association of Letter Carriers.
  79. *Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen.
  80. American Federation of Musicians.
  81. International Brotherhood of Oil and Gas Well Workers.
  82. United Brotherhood of Paper Makers.
  83. National Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.
  84. National Stogie Makers’ League.
  85. *Tobacco Workers’ International League.
  86. Upholsterers’ International Union.
  87. *Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
  88. *Order of Railway Conductors of America.
  89. *Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen.
  90. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen.
  91. *Order of Railroad Telegraphers.
  92. Brotherhood of Railway Truckmen.
  93. Switchmen’s Union of North America.

The constitutions of most of the Trades Unions for the United States will be found in Vol. XVII, Reports, U. S. Industrial Commission. Similar data for Great Britain is in the Appendix to “Foreign Reports, Vols. 1-2,”Royal Commission on Labour, pp. 15-324. [Volume I, United States; Volume II, Colonies and Indian Empire] [Both reserved in Gore Hall.] Additional evidence as to labor conditions in each industry will be found in Vols. VII, VIII, XII, XIV, and XVII, U. S. Industrial Commission (consult Digest and Index in each volume); and in the Reports of the British Royal Commission. The student should also consult Charles Booth’s Life and Labor of the People;

[(Original) Volume I, East London; (Original) Volume II, London; (Original) Appendix to Volume II; Note: the previous three original volumes were re-printed as four volumes that then were followed by Volume V, Population Classified by Trades; Volume VI, Population Classified by Trades (cont.); Volume VII, Population Classified by Trades; Volume VIII, Population Classified by Trades (cont.); Volume IX, Comparisons, Survey and Conclusions];

Webbs, Industrial Democracy; and other books reserved in Gore Hall.

Data respecting the various unions among railroad employees in the United States will be found in a separate section on Railway Labor, in Vol. XVII, U. S. Industrial Commission: as also in Vols. IV and IX. (See Digests and Indexes.)

In cases where the American Trade Union journal is not in the library, the student will be expected to procure at least one copy from the Secretary of the Union. [See list of post office addresses posted with the enrolment slip.] These are to be filed with the report.

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

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1903-1904”.

_____________________

ECONOMICS 9a
Mid-Year Examination. 1903-04

  1. What is the most successful instance of Collective Bargaining in England? What is the status of the same industry in the United States, and why?
  2. What is the difference between an Employers’ Liability Act and a Workman’s Compensation Act? On what grounds may the latter be advocated?
  3. What is the English Device of the Common Rule? What are some of its economic effects?
  4. State two important peculiarities of American trades unions as contrasted with Great Britain.
  5. Outline the main features of the industrial arbitration legislation of Australasian colonies.
  6. What is the economic defence for restriction of the number of apprentices in a trade? Is it valid?
  7. What were the three most important strikes in the United States since 1850, and why?
  8. Criticise the recent recommendations of the Massachusetts Commission on Relation of Employer and Employed.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College, p. 32.

Image Source: MIT Museum website. William Zebina Ripley. Image colorized by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

Categories
Faculty Regulations Harvard

Harvard. Statute establishing the award of the Ph.D. degree, 1872

In the beginning there was no Ph.D. degree, and then the Harvard Corporation and Board of Overseers said, “Let there be Doctors of Philosophy and Science” in the spring of 1872.

_________________________________

Statute concerning the Academic Council
[Adopted by the Corporation and Board of Overseers
in the Spring of 1872]

[Note: The Academic Council was originally established with the institution of the University Lectures in 1863]

The Academic Council consists of the President, Professors, Assistant Professors, and Adjunct Professors of the University. The Council is empowered to recommend to the President and Fellows candidates for the degrees of Master of Arts, Doctor of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy.

Standing Votes concerning the Degrees of Master of Arts,
Doctor of Philosophy, and Doctor of Science. 

Voted, That the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Science be established in Harvard University.

Voted, That the degree of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy be open to Bachelors of Arts of Harvard College, and to Bachelors of Arts of other colleges who shall have satisfied the College Faculty by examination that the course of study for which they received the Bachelor’s degree is equivalent to that for which the Bachelor’s degree is given in Harvard College, or shall have passed such additional examination as that Faculty may prescribe.

Voted, That the degree of Doctor of Science be open to Bachelors of Science of Harvard University, and to Bachelors of Science and Bachelors of Philosophy of other institutions who shall have satisfied the Faculty of the Lawrence Scientific School by examination that the course of study for which they received the Bachelor’s degree is equivalent to that for which the degree is given in Harvard University, or shall have passed such additional examinations as that Faculty may prescribe.

Voted, That the Academic Council be authorized to recommend for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy candidates, otherwise properly qualified, who, after taking the Bachelor’s degree, shall have pursued at Harvard University, for two years, a course of liberal study approved by the Academic Council in any one of the following departments, – Philology, Philosophy, History, Political Science, Mathematics, Physics, or Natural History, shall have passed a thorough examination on that course, and shall have presented a satisfactory thesis.

Voted, That the Academic Council be authorized to recommend for the degree of Doctor of Science candidates, otherwise properly qualified, who, after taking their Bachelor’s degree, shall have resided at least two years at the University, and have pursued during three years a course of scientific study, embracing at least two subjects, and approved by the Academic Council, and shall have passed a thorough examination upon that course, showing in one of the subjects special attainments, and shall have also made some contribution to science or some special scientific investigation: provided, however, that a course of study of two years only shall be required of candidates who are both Bachelors of Arts and Bachelors of Science of Harvard University.

Voted, That the Academic Council be authorized to recommend for the degree of Master of Arts candidates, otherwise properly qualified, who, after taking the Bachelor’s degree, shall have pursued for at least one year at the University a course of liberal study approved by the Academic Council, and shall have passed a thorough examination on that course.

Voted, That the Academic Council be authorized to recommend for the degree of Master of Arts candidates, otherwise properly qualified, who shall pursue at the University, for at least one year after taking the degree of Bachelor of Laws or Bachelor of Divinity in Harvard University, a course of study in Law or Theology approved by the Academic Council, and shall pass a thorough examination on that course.

Voted, That the Academic Council be authorized, in examining the qualifications of candidates for degrees, to procure the assistance of officers of instruction and government who are not members of the Council.

Voted, To open the elective courses of instruction in Harvard College to Bachelors of Arts.

Voted, That for Bachelors of Arts of Harvard College, and Bachelors of Science, Law, and Divinity of Harvard University, residence or study at the University may be partly or wholly dispensed with at the discretion of the Academic Council, as a condition for receiving a higher degree.

Source: Forty-Seventh Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1871-72, pp. 75-76.