Author: Irwin Collier

Categories
Brookings Economists

Brookings. Economics Ph.D. alumnus. Dexter Merriam Keezer, 1925

Dexter Merriam Keezer in the Amherst 1917 yearbook

 

Dexter Merriam Keezer
(Brookings Ph.D., 1925)

BACKSTORY TO THIS POST

Just over one hundred years ago, the wife of the newly inaugurated fourth president of Cornell University, Margaret Kate Farrand (pronounced “Fair-And”) née Carleton, along with a first year graduate student in architecture, Charles Morse Stotz, the psychology professor Harry Potter Weld, and other co-conspirators, was able to pull off an academic hoax at the Cornell Women’s Cosmopolitan Club on December 3, 1921. News of the hoax was said to have even reached the ears of Professor Sigmund Freud of Vienna for his comment. The faux lecture with its slides (!) “The Freudian Theory with Later Developments” held by Professor Herman Vosberg, as performed by Charles M. Stotz has been transcribed and posted earlier:

The subject of this post, Dexter Merriam Keezer, was there and wrote about the event in his autobiography:

I expected the Cornell student newspaper, the Cornell Sun, would have a field day with the story but it printed nothing. And neither did any other local paper. So I wrote a story of Vosberg’s (and Mrs. Farrand’s) triumph and sent it to the New York World, where it ran as a column on the first page and on into the inner pages of the paper. The story was also picked up by some newspapers overseas. No one ever asked me if I wrote it and I never had occasion to tell anybody. I simply enjoyed the experience.

Source: Along an Entertaining Way: The Autobiography of Dexter M. Keezer, 1895-1991 (Kindle edition). 2019.

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The purpose of this post is to share more information about this Brookings economics Ph.D. alumnus (1925). Keezer recounted his experience as a graduate student at Brookings with an anecdote illustrating the administration of a Ph.D. reading exam in German thrown in to illustrate graduate student life as it was lived. The extract from Keezer’s autobiography is followed by a timeline of his life and career.

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Keezer on the Brookings Graduate School and his German reading exam

I soon found that the Brookings Graduate School had many interesting and admirable attributes, not least of which was what I understood to have been the primary purpose of Robert S. Brookings, for whom the school was named, in making it possible.

As chairman of the national board in charge of regulating prices during World War I, Brookings had been appalled by the low quality of advice available to the board from practitioners in economics and the other social sciences. So he decided to devote much of the fortune he had made as an eminently successful industrialist in St. Louis to helping supply the federal government with more competent social scientists and social science research. By 1916 he established in Washington the Institute for Government Research, the pioneer in national public policy research. It was followed in 1922 by the establishment of the Institute of Economics to concentrate on economic problems. And in 1924 the Brookings Graduate School was launched to increase the supply of those possessed of an appetite for public service and equipped with first-rate education in economics and political science to exercise it. Started as a part of Washington University in St. Louis, the school was subsequently transferred to Washington, where it was expected most of its graduates would have their careers.

When I got to the school it was in what was to prove a death struggle against being merged with the other Brookings creations and having its granting of graduate degrees discontinued. I promptly became involved in this struggle and became an ardent advocate of the school in its fight for existence, a very robust struggle. Harold Moulton, the head of the Institute of Economics, the leader of those who favored closing the school, concluded that while I was intense in my opposition to him I was fair-minded about it. This conclusion was subsequently to be a decisive factor in a major turning point in my working life.

One reason for not continuing the graduate school, it was reported, was that Robert Brookings, its principal financial benefactor, was disappointed that most of those who had studied at the school did not hurry to take government jobs but found more satisfying employment outside of its orbit. The irony of this, if true, is that when the country fell apart economically in 1929 and the Great Depression descended, those who had studied at the Brookings Graduate School flocked into the government and often secured posts.

The conflict over continuing the graduate school was, as is generally true of conflicts in higher education, conducted in terms of high principle. But it could have been, as I have found generally to be the case in such conflicts, that a clash of personalities was close to the root of it. Harold Moulton, the head of the Institute of Economics, and Walton Hamilton, the head of the school, had been the closest of friends and colleagues, but they came to have an intense disregard for each other and the institute-graduate school conflict intensified accordingly. One reason for my partisanship for the graduate school was that Hamilton was a great teacher of economics, a fact to which I have made reference elsewhere. One entry in my little daybook reads, “Prof. Hamilton is about the best teacher I have ever known. He even made a seminar in ‘research technique’ quite exciting today.”

…To get back to what I found notable characteristics of the Brookings Graduate School, one was its physical setting. On Northwest I Street a few blocks from the White House, a fine old townhouse provided spacious and inviting parlors, an attractive dining room, enough class room for the student body of about 35 and living quarters for part of them. It was an establishment which eased the rigors of graduate study by permitting and indeed encouraging some gracious living, an encouragement also given by the generous financial provision made by their fellowships.

The resident faculty was supplemented by visiting members who stayed for extended periods and by leading academicians from institutions around the country who paid briefer visits. The eminent British economist John A. Hobson came over from England for a semester while I was at the school. And great authorities in their fields such as Thomas Read Powell of Columbia, in constitutional law, and William E. Dodd of the University of Chicago, in history, joined the faculty more briefly. In the Washington governmental establishment and in the parade of business and industrial leaders descending on the capitol, the school had ready access to experts in almost everything and used it freely to provide a remarkably well stocked body of teachers.

My zest for the intensive course I had set for myself as a social scientist, with emphasis on the scientist, flagged a bit occasionally. Once after hearing one of his lectures had prompted me to read William E. Dodd’s “The Cotton Kingdom” I remarked in my little day book that “it seemed almost too interesting to be sound history, so great has been the influence of ‘science’ on my mind.” And after reading Bernard Shaw’s “Saint Joan” I noted in the little book that it was a “delightful relief from the dull discussions of economic problems. One who could long remain an economist and not become a boor would scintillate in any other field. Such are my reactions to the Brookings School today.” That was an off day, however. Most of the time I found what I was doing as a graduate student and otherwise interesting and enjoyable. And I made enough academic headway so that about a year after I arrived I was awarded a Ph.D. degree.

Mine was one of relatively few degrees that were awarded. The school was absorbed by the Brookings Institution two years later and its teaching and degree-granting operations were discontinued. Among the reasons given for this course was that, although he had endowed it generally, Robert Brookings was afraid that not enough money could be provided to be sure of continuing to be able to pay the imposing bills of a top-flight graduate school in economics and government. In getting money to finance research in these fields the consolidated Brookings Institution has had brilliant success and has carried out a large and influential program. One is permitted the suspicion, however, that it might have been a more vibrant enterprise if it had been able to continue the school.

The school’s student body while I was there included an international group of about 35 young men and women who, as they pursued their studies, continued to embrace about as many brands of political and economic philosophy – liberal, hardcore conservative, socialist, fellow traveler – as their number. Having them not only work together in the class and study halls but live together around the clock produced an often-seething amalgam calculated to invigorate any institution engaged in social science research. The inviting armchairs in the Brookings School’s parlors, part of its notable equipment, were occasionally used for slumber. But more often they were occupied deep into the night as flaming argument raged about the true gospel in the social sciences, a guaranteed tonic for those dedicated to finding out what the true gospel really is.

On my way to the degree I was required to demonstrate competence in reading the German language. I had somehow managed to get by in demonstrating such a competence at Cornell and a repeat performance was not a joyful prospect. In succeeding in meeting it, however, I had the sort of good luck which somehow accumulated when things are going well. I decided to give myself a tough training course for my German reading ordeal. I was told that an Austrian economist named [Eugen von] Böhm-Bawerk wrote remarkably refractory German so I decided to make one of his books my training field. I had only one small section of the book more or less mastered when the time for my examination arrived. It was given by Edwin Nourse who was subsequently to become distinguished as the first chairman of the newly created federal Council of Economic Advisors. Poking around for a book in his library on which to test my mastery of German, Nourse hit not only on the book by [Eugen von] Böhm-Bawerk on which I had been practicing but on one of the very passages with which I had struggled. I sailed right through the passage to certification that I had the German language very well under control. I was left with the suspicion that Edwin Nourse may have had knowledge in advance which enabled him to give me an especially merciful examination – a suspicion that was nourished by the feeling that he was much too kindly a gentleman to set me with wrestling with [Eugen von] Böhm-Bawerk with no previous exposure to his cruelly convoluted German. But I never tested my good luck to the extent of checking on my suspicion.

Source: Along an Entertaining Way: The Autobiography of Dexter M. Keezer, 1895-1991 (Kindle edition), 2019.

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The Life of
Dexter Merriam Keezer

1895. Born August 24 in Acton, Massachusetts.

1917-19. Service in the U.S. Army in World War I.

1919. Attended lectures at the Sorbonne.

1920. A.B. Amherst.

1920-21. Reporter at The Denver Times.

1922-23. Instructor in economics at Cornell University.

1923. A.M. Cornell.

1923-24. Assistant professor of economics at the University of Colorado.

1925. Ph.D. Brookings Graduate School of Economics and Government.

1926-27. Associate professor of economics at the University of North Carolina.

1927. Married Anne Mellett, June 22.

1927-28. Reporter at the Washington Bureau of Scripps-Howard newspapers.

1928-29. Visiting lecturer in citizenship at Dartmouth College.

1929-33. Associate editor of The Baltimore Sun.

1933-34. Executive director of the Consumer Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration.

1934-42. President of Reed College.

1938. Bernard Moses Memorial Lecture held November 4 at the University of California, Berkeley. “The Problem of Controversial Issues in the Teaching of the Social Sciences.”

1938. LL.D. Amherst College.

1940. LL.D. Mills College.

1941. Chairman of a Commission set up by National Defense Mediation Board to study dispute between the Employers Negotiating Committee of Puget Sound lumber industry and the International Woodworkers of America.

Supplement to the Interdepartmental Report on the Douglas Fir Lumber Industry (November 1941).

1942-43. Deputy Administrator, Office of Price Administration.

Keezer, probably in his OPA office. From the Library of Congress, https://lccn.loc.gov/2017692864

1943. Economic advisor, U.S. Mission for Economic Affairs, London, England.

1944-45. Public member of the War Labor Board.

1945-1960. McGraw-Hill where he became director of the department of economics. His department developed annual surveys of capital spending and of research and development expenditures.
Vice-president, 1953-1960.

1955. L.H.D. Clarkson College of Technology.

1957. LL.D. Macalester College.

1959. LL.D. Elmira College. LL.D. Miami (Ohio) University.

1960-71. Economic adviser for McGraw-Hill.

1963-70. Trustee Elmira College.

1968-70. President of the Truro, Mass. Civic Association. In the mid-1970’s he campaigned against nude bathing at Brush Hollow Beach (Cape Cod).

1972-75. President of the Board of Directors of the Association for Improving Medical Resources of Outer Cape Cod

1991. Died of congestive heart failure on June 24 at the Orleans Nursing and Convalescent Center in Orleans, Massachusetts.

Selected Publications:

Problem Economics. With Addison Thayer Cutler and Frank Richardson Garfield. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1928.

The Public Control of Business. With Stacy May). Harper & Brothers, 1930.

The Light that Flickers: A View of College Education which Contrasts Promise and Performance and Suggests Improvements. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1947.

Making Capitalism Work. With members of the Department of Economics of the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1950.

Editor and wrote the Introductory chapter to Financing Higher Education, 1960-70. The McGraw-Hill Book Company 50th Anniversary Study of the Economics of Higher Education in the United States. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1959.

New Forces in American Business, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959.

Are We Slaves of Some Defunct Economist. Claremont Graduate School and University Center, 1963

Editor. The Performing Arts—Problems and Prospects, 1965.

A Unique Contribution to International Relations: The Story of Wilton Park, 1973.

Sources: 

Who’s Who in America. Chicago: A.N. Marquis, 1962, p. 1652. Who’s Who in America, Vol. XX, 1976, p. 1679.
Obituary in The New York Times, 25 June 1991, p. D24.

Image Source: Amherst College, The Olio 1917, p. 221..

Categories
History of Economics Princeton Suggested Reading

Princeton. Introductory lecture notes for history of economics. Baumol, 1979

With this post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror proudly adds the 1900th artifact to its collection of curated transcriptions of archival material.

I have chosen to post William J. Baumol’s lecture notes for his introductory lecture in his Princeton course on the history of economic thought because Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is, after all, in the same business of examining the evolution of economics. Baumol’s notes were typed using ALL UPPER-CASE letters which I have taken the liberty to tone down to a conventional mixture of upper- and lower-case letters for ease of reading. Also I have added boldface and italics, and paragraph formats have been tweaked for the same purpose. Links to the literature cited add a little jazz to the presentation of today’s artifact. Square brackets indicate material I have inserted.

Executive summary: Baumol began his course with warnings of five dangers to be avoided by prospective historians of economics.

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Previously posted course material
on the history of economics
taught by Wm. J. Baumol

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Revised February 1979

INTRODUCTION

      1. One Question Exam
      2. Choice of Papers
      3. When Due
      4. Will Concentrate on Smith, Ricardo, Marx

General References: J. Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, (Oxford, 1954); Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect (Irwin, Homewood, 2nd ed., 1968).

Dangers in Doctrinal History

Favoritism: Schumpeter: Walras Sí, Ricardo No!

Reading into predecessors’ minds:

Example — Isnard 1781 (vs. Canard, 1801)

[Achille Nicolas Isnard. Traité des richesses. Tome I; Tome II; Tome III. London and Lausanne:  François Grasset, 1781]

[Nicolas François Canard. Principes d’économie politique. Paris: F. Buisson, 1801]

“Canard’s performance… is sometimes listed among early contributions to mathematical economics (on the strength of a few algebraic formulae that mean nothing) but would otherwise partake of the blessings of deserved oblivion, had not a misfortune befallen it. This misfortune consisted in its being ‘crowned’ by the same French Academy that later failed to extend any recognition to Cournot and Walras. And those Olympians who felt their neglect the more bitterly on account of the honour done to Canard visited him with a scathing contempt that bestowed upon him an unenviable immortality…”

([Precursors in Mathematical Economics, eds. William J. Baumol and Stephen M. Goldfeld, 1968], 155, quoted from Schumpeter, p. 499 [also cf. Schumpeter, p. 217])

“..we cannot help feeling that Schumpeter and Theocharis are somewhat over-enthusiastic. Schumpeter describes the following passages as ‘the crowning achievement of the epoch in this line [supply-demand] of analysis… in his not otherwise remarkable book…’ (p. 307); and Theocharis calls it ‘… one of the most important contributions in the history of the development of mathematical economics…. [He] conceived the idea of a general equilibrium and its determination.’” ([Reghinos D. Theocharis, Early Developments in Mathematical Economics, 1961] pp. 66-68)

Excerpts from Traité des Richesses
by A.N. Isnard
First Section
On the relationship of commodities in general
[Original]

“Here we will consider the direct exchange of commodities in general against other commodities at the same location, in order to investigate their values in terms of one another in the absence of any intermediary monies….

It is easy to see what will transpire in an exchange between two isolated proprietors of two commodities, for which the desire for the exchangeable surplus (superflue) of the one is equivalent to the desire for the surplus of the other. If one supposes, for example, that the surplus of the first is a quantity, a, of some commodity measured in (value) units, M, and that that of the second is a quantity b of some other item measured in units M’, if these are the only available goods, they cannot be exchanged for one another unless the quantity a of units M is equivalent to the quantity b of units M’—  thus we have the equation aM = bM’, and, consequently, M:M’,::(1/a):(1/b). The value of each unit is thus in inverse ratio to the quantity of the item which is offered for exchange.

If, instead of two items, one assumes that three or more commodities are traded, the same situation holds for the general value of the commodities. Each unit of a particular item will be equal in value to the sum of the supplies of units [of the item being evaluated], or, what amounts to the same thing, the values of the commodities are in direct proportion to the sum of the quantities [of other items] supplied and in inverse proportion to the number of [their] units. But since the quantities supplied consist of many heterogeneous commodities, it is not possible to deduce the exchange ratio of any two particular items from the equation which has just been discussed. To obtain the exchange rates of commodities taken two by two, it is necessary to formulate as many equations as there are commodities.”

Blowing small passages out of proportion —  authors probably would not have understood today’s interpretation.

Robertson: periodic requests by Pigou to explain “Pigou effect”.

Inconsistencies in predecessors: which passage in an author’s text should one interpret as “his view”?

“Early writers — Ricardo is a notorious case — say things and their opposites. Thus Galileo wrote that a freely falling object has (A) a velocity proportional to its distance fallen, and (B) a squared velocity proportional to its distance fallen. (A) is a mistake, (B) is right. After many years, Galileo went from (A) to (B). You would be just to criticize me if I kept attributing to Galileo (A): you could properly write to me ‘surely…” If Ricardo’s procedure were like Galileo’s, I’d concede all. But it isn’t. He went back and forth saying ‘Swans are white,’ ‘Swans are black.’ There is no progression in his view on the relation of short-run wage to long-run subsistence. It is bootless for us to vie in matching Ricardo’s quotation on swans’ color, the winner to be the one with the most passages on his side. I refuse to play that game, and I doubt that you care for such procedures. Perhaps we can both agree (?) on Stigler’s summary (JPE, 1952, 60, around footnote 37): ‘…The indefinitely prolonged excess [noted by Ricardo] of the market over the natural [“subsistence”] wage…must simply be recorded as correct views which Ricardo did not know how to incorporate in his theoretical system.’”

(Letter to Baumol from Paul Samuelson, June 17, 1977).

Carelessness: failure to read what author said.

Example: Marx interpreted to mean value = price.

Example: utility of money (Patinkin, “Relative Prices, Say’s Law, and the Demand for Money,” Econometrica 16 [April 1948], p. 140). Surely Patinkin is not justified in citing Walras as one of those to whom money has no utility. His only reference (indeed his only “damning” reference to Walras) is to the statement, “Soit (U) la monnaie que nous considérerons d’abord comme un objet sans utilité propre...” (Éléments, p. 303) This is hardly conclusive and it may well be meant to indicate no more than the author’s intention at that point to deal only with monies like paper rather than, for example, gold. In any case, it includes the phrase “d’abord” (to begin with). Indeed it would be most strange for one who has been hailed as a mighty protagonist of the cash balance approach, to find Walras denying utility to cash. But we have better evidence that this. In his Théorie de la Monnaie he makes it abundantly clear that he is most pleased that the theory of money provides such a fine and important application of the theory of marginal utility and more than once he speaks of the rareté of money after having pointed out that this is the term he had appropriated from his father to designate marginal utility.

Pareto is another of the five “classics” (Walras, Pareto, Wicksell, Cassel and Divisia) whose work is specifically cited by Patinkin as an example of the mishandling of monetary theory. As with Walras, Patinkin provides us with only one specific reference to prove that in the Paretian system money has no utility. But the choice of passage is here even more strange. The only reference to money on the page cited is the following: “la monnaie étant une marchandise doit avoir pour quelques individus une ophélimité propre; mais elle peut ne pas en avoir pout d’autres”. (Manuel, p. 593) Surely this is the contradictory of Patinkin’s allegation! Indeed, Pareto goes further — in effect reprimanding those others (?) who maintain that money has no utility: “La monnaie remplit deux rôles principaux: 1° elle facilite l’échange des marchandises; 2° elle garantit cet échange…C’est parce qu’on n’a pris parfois en considération que son premier rôle qu’n n’a vu dans la monnaie qu’un simple signe sans valeur intrinsèque.” (Manuel, p. 451)

Overall comments

  • Many but not all of predecessors wise men.
  • Understood surprisingly much of what we understand today.
  • But also missed a great deal.
  • Would be sad indeed if it were all contained in earlier work!
  • Do we have much to learn from them? — That you will have to judge for yourselves.
Author Year of Birth First Important Work
on the Theory of Value		 Year of Publication Age
Smith 1723 Wealth of Nations [Vol. I; Vol. II] 1776 53
Malthus 1766 Essay on the Principle of Population 1798 32
Ricardo 1772 Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation 1817 45
Cournot 1801 Recherches sur les Principes mathématiques de la Théorie des Richesses 1838 37
Dupuit 1804 De la mesure de l’utilité des travaux publics 1844 40
Mill, J. S. 1806 Principles of Political Economy [Vol. I; Vol. II] 1848 42
Von Thünen 1783 Der Isolierte Staat, Vol. II 1850 67
Gossen 1810 Entwickelung der Gesetze des menschlichen Verkehrs 1854 44
Marx 1818 Das Kapital 1867 49
Jevons 1835 Theory of Political Economy 1871 36
Menger 1840 Grundsätze der Volkswirthschaftslehre 1871 31
Walras 1834 Éleménts d’Économie Politique Pure 1874 40
Böhm-Bawerk 1851 Grundzüge der Theorie des Wirtschaftlichen Güterverkehrs [Part I; Part II] 1886 35
Von Wieser 1851 Der Natürliche Wert 1889 38
Marshall 1842 Principles of Economics 1890 48
Fisher 1867 Mathematical Investigations in the Theory of Value and Prices 1892 25
Wicksell 1851 Über Wert, Kapital und Rente 1893 42
Wicksteed 1844 The Co-ordination of the Laws of Distribution 1894 50
Pareto 1848 Cours d’Économie Politique, [Volume I; Volume II] 1896/97 58
Barone 1859 Studi Sulla Distribuzione
[Part I; Part II]		 1896 37
Clark 1847 The Distribution of Wealth 1899 52
Keynes 1883 General Theory 1936 53

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. William J. Baumol Papers, Box 20, Folder “History of Economic Thought (1979-1988) One of Two”.

Image Source:  Cropped from portrait of William J. Baumol in 1981 published in his obituary published in The New York Times, May 10, 2017.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Theory

Harvard. Graduate Economic Theory Exam. November 1961

Harvard Square in 1961

Edward Chamberlin was a member of the graduate examination committee of the Harvard economics department in the early 1960s and in his files I have found copies of theory exams from 1961, 1962, and 1963 along with a few memos that  circulated among members of the committee that together provide a description of the procedures used for grading.

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Harvard Written Exams
in Economic Theory
Posted Earlier

April 14, 1960
November 3, 1960
April 11, 1961
April 10, 1962
November 13, 1962
April 8, 1963

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Written Examination in Economic Theory
November 7, 1961

Answer six questions; all questions have equal weight.

  1. Describe and discuss Ricardo’s theory of economic growth; and discuss its relevance if any to problems now confronting ‘underdeveloped’ countries or economies.
  2. What are the chief differences in the conclusions reached by analyzing an area of the economy (say, an “industry”) under the assumptions of (a) pure competition, on the one hand, and (b) monopolistic competition on the other. Elaborate the explanation of one of the differences mentioned.
  3. To what extent may the concept of economic rent be generalized beyond its original application to land? Discuss fully, making clear what you mean by “rent” in each case.
  4. Identify and illustrate the main kinds of uncertainty that arise in economic decisions. Can problems of choice involving uncertainty be analyzed in terms of ordinal utility?
  5. Give an economic appraisal of the effects of “indivisibility” on the results of competitive resource allocation.
  6. Set up an example of a simple static general equilibrium system with three goods and two factors of production, for example, land and labor.
  7. How can technological change cause unemployment? What market forces tend to eliminate the unemployment? What factors may impede the operation of these forces?
  8. What is the theoretical justification of the “competitive ideal”? How is the validity of the argument that competition produces ideal results affected by recognition of the phenomenon of product differentiation?
  9. Describe the von Neumann Model of an expanding economy, and the principal results yielded by the model. Discuss the relevance of these results to real economic systems.
  10. Outline and criticize the theory of economic growth, of one of the following authors: Solow, Joan Robinson, Kaldor, Tobin.

Source: Duke University. Economists’ Papers Archive. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Edward H. Chamberlin Papers, Box 17, Folder “Economics Department 1960-62”.

Image Source: Harvard Square, 1961. From the Cambridge Historical Commission, image in the Photo Morgue Collection. Online: Digital Commonwealth.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard M.I.T. Money and Banking

Harvard. Course description, enrollment, final exam for Money course. Davis Rich Dewey, 1909-10

Davis Rich Dewey was a visiting lecturer in economics at Harvard in 1909-10 from M.I.T. who taught the Money course. His assistant was a recent Harvard graduate who continued on to become a lawyer who practiced law, among other things, in Maine.

Description, enrollment and final examination for Dewey’s money course are posted below.

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Teaching Assistant
George Randolph Grua

1883. Born 6 November 1883 in Green Valley, South Dakota.
1909. A.B. Harvard.
1912. LL.B. Harvard.
1913-76. Among his activities in Livermore Falls, Maine: lawyer; insurance salesman; operated an apple orchard and apiary.
1939, 1941, 1943. Representative to the Maine Legislature.
1953. Appointed Judge at the Livermore Falls Municipal Court.
1976. Died 22 July in Livermore Falls, Maine.

Source: Obituary in The Lewiston Daily Sun, July 23, 1976. Also “Who’s Who: George R. Grua, Attorney” in The Lewiston Daily Sun, June 25, 1953.

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Previous course materials for
Money and Banking 

1900-01(Meyer and Sprague)
1901-02 (Andrew, Sprague, Meyer)
1902-03 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)
1903-04 (Andrew and Sprague)
1904-05 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)
1905-06 (Andrew’s money and banking exams)
1906-07 (Andrew’s money and banking exams)
1907-08 (Andrew’s money and banking exams)
1908-09 (Wesley Clair Mitchell’s money and banking exams)

________________________

Course Description
1909-10

8a 1hf. Money. — A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor [Davis Rich] Dewey (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), assisted by Mr. [George Randolph] Grua.

The course begins with a brief history of the precious metals, which is connected, in so far as possible, with the history of prices and the development of monetary theory. The evolution of currency legislation in England and Europe and the United States is traced, involving a consideration of various aspects of the bimetallic controversy, and a study of the experiences of several countries with paper money. Attention is also given to the non-monetary means of payment and the questions of monetary theory arising from their use. Among other subjects treated are the several methods of measuring exchange value, the explanation of price movements, the relations between prices and the rate of interest, the effects of appreciation and depreciation, the criteria of an ideal standard, and the reasons for divergences in the value of money as between different countries.

Course 8a is open to those only who have taken Course 1.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, pp. 57-58.

________________________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 8a 1hf. Professor [Davis Rich] Dewey (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) assisted by Mr. [George Randolph] Grua. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times.

Total 56: 4 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 29 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 3 Others.

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

  ________________________

ECONOMICS 8a
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. State the various functions of money. Mention the different kinds of money in the monetary system of the United States, and describe the special functions performed by each kind.
  2. Describe the characteristics of inconvertible paper money. How are prices affected by its issue? Is such money ever worth its face value?
  3. Summarize the history of the debasement of the coinage in England, noting in particular:—
    1. The ways in which it was debased.
    2. Reasons for debasement.
    3. Recoinage of William III.
  4. Does an increased production of gold have any effect upon the rate of interest? Discuss.
  5. Explain the statement: The quantity theory is simply an application of the general principle that value is determined by demand and supply.
  6. Discuss the changes in prices due to causes connected with
    1. Commodities.
    2. Money.
  7. What influences affected the value of greenbacks during the Civil War period?
  8. Contrast the motives for the issue of government notes and of bank notes.
  9. Sketch the history of bimetallism in the United States.
  10. What was the Latin Union? State the results of its operation.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), p. 44.

Image Source: Portrait of Professor of Economics and Statistics Davis R. Dewey in M.I.T. Technique 1910, published April 1909, p. 14.

Categories
Economists Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Public Finance. Course description, enrollment, final exam. Huse, 1909-1910

The recent Harvard economics Ph.D. alumnus (1907), Charles Phillips Huse, substituted for his thesis advisor, Charles Jesse Bullock, to teach the course on public finance in 1909-10 that was focussed on the theory and methods of taxation. We begin with Huse’s major life and career dates and follow that timeline with links to material from nearly a decade of courses on public finance taught at Harvard at the start of the 20th century. 

The new transcribed content of this post includes a course description, enrollment figures and the final examination questions.

P.S. Two impressions that he left on his students and included in the Boston University yearbooks of 1924 and 1927 have been appended to the timeline. Note the hint given to future cohorts of students: “…[Huse’s] unchanging method nets a return of old quiz questions yearly rejuvenated on each anniversary of their first propounding” 

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Charles Phillips Huse
Timeline

1883. Born March 3 in Worcester, MA. Attended Springfield High School. Springfield, MA.

1904. A.B. Harvard.

1905. A.M. Harvard.

1907. Ph.D. Harvard. Thesis: The Financial History of Boston from 1822 to 1859.

1908-09. Instructor in Economics, Dartmouth College.

1909-11. Instructor in Economics at Harvard.

1911-14. Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Missouri.

1914-20. Assistant Professor of Economics, Boston University.

1920-53. Professor of Economics, Boston University.

1958. Died July 13 in Belmont, MA.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Professor Huse economizes on our nerves as he never did on ice cream or time. His peculiar humor relieves a mental struggle with Gresham’s Law, and his unchanging method nets a return of old quiz questions yearly rejuvenated on each anniversary of their first propounding. This holds true in the long run. That will be all for this time.

Source: Boston University Yearbook, The Hub 1924, p. 32.

One of the greatest and most worth while experiences in Dr. Huse’s life came in 1910 when he went to Washington to aid the National Monetary Commission. His task was to read the volumes written by the Commission and, as each volume was published, to prepare press statements for the newspapers. Partly as a result of the work of this Commission, the Federal Reserve Act was passed. While he was in Washington he had the opportunity of seeing the public buildings and of taking trips into the surrounding country to places of interest.

Source: Boston University Yearbook, The Hub 1927, p. 18.

________________________

Some earlier public finance exams
at Harvard

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

1902-03. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate] taught by Edward Dana Durand.

1902-03. Economics 16. Financial History of the United States taught by Prof Henry Brayton Gardner of Brown University.

1903-04. Economics 16.  Financial history of the United States taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1904-05. Economics 7a. Introduction to public finance [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1904-05. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1904-05. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1905-06. Economics 7.  Public finance [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1905-06. Economics 16. Public finance [advanced] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1906-07. Economics 16. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1907-08. Economics 16. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1908-09. Economics 7. Public finance [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1908-09. Economics 16. Public finance [advanced course] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

________________________

Readings in public finance
used at Harvard

From 1906: Selected Readings in Public Finance edited by Charles Jesse Bullock (Boston: Inn & Company).

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

________________________

Course Description
1909-10

7 2hf. Public Finance, considered with special reference to the Theory and Methods of Taxation. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Dr. Huse and an assistant.

This course is for undergraduates exclusively, and cannot be elected by graduates. As stated in the title, much attention is given to the subject of taxation, which will occupy about one half of the time of the course and will be studied with special reference to federal, state, and local taxation in the United States. The remainder of the time will be given to such topics as governmental expenditures, governmental industries (including some study of the relation of the state to railways and other public-service industries), public debts, and financial administration.

The course may, with the consent of the instructor, be elected by students who are taking Economies 1 in the same year.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 52.

________________________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 7 2hf. Dr. Huse. — Public Finance considered with special reference to the Theory and Methods of Taxation.

Total 124: 1 Graduate, 28 Seniors, 37 Juniors, 33 Sophomores, 9 Freshmen, 16 Others.

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

________________________

ECONOMICS 7
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. What has been the public land policy of the United States? Do you favor the retention of any part of the public lands? Give your reasons.
  2. Explain the two distinct grounds on which progression has been advocated, giving your opinion of each.
  3. Discuss the incidence of a tax on the net profits of a monopoly; on a good produced under competitive conditions; on real estate.
  4. Compare the British and Prussian income taxes, as to the method of assessment and the rate.
  5. What has been the experience of the United States with income taxes? Are you in favor of a federal income tax? If so, why? If not, why not?
  6. You are a resident of Boston. Your property consists of real estate worth $50,000, which is mortgaged for $10,000, and personal property amounting to $900,000, made up of the following items: shares in New Jersey corporations, $500,000; shares in Massachusetts corporations, $200,000; bonds of Massachusetts corporations, $200,000.
    1. Send the assessors a true declaration of your taxable property.
    2. Forget to send it. Tell what items are likely to be assessed and at what figures, giving your reasons in every case.
  7. —
Capital

$100,000

 Real Estate

$50,000
Debt

$100,000

 Machinery

$50,000
Merchandise

$100,000

$200,000

$200,000

You are a partner in this Massachusetts company. How is it taxed as a partnership? How would it be taxed as a Massachusetts corporation, assuming the market value of its stock to be $125,000? Would you advise incorporation?

  1. A war of long duration will begin in 1915. You are called upon now to reconstruct the federal tax system in preparation for the war and to finance it when it comes. Justify the policy you adopt.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 43-44.

Image Source: Boston University yearbook, 1927.

Categories
Brown Economists Exam Questions Finance Harvard Public Finance

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

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

______________________

Previous Guest Professors/Lecturers
on Public Finance

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

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

______________________

Henry Brayton Gardner
Timeline

1863. Born March 26 in Providence, RI.

1884. A.B., Brown University.

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

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

1890. Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University.

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

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

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

1919. President of the American Economic Association

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

1928. Retired from Brown University.

1939. Died April 22 in Providence, RI.

______________________

Course Description, 1902-03
Originally announced as omitted

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

Omitted in 1902-03.

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

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

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

______________________

Course Enrollment, 1902-03

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

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

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

______________________

ECONOMICS 162
Year-end Examination

Answer any six questions.

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

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

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

Categories
Bibliography Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

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

Edwin Francis Gay and Howard Levi Gray

 

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

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

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

__________________________

Economic History Materials
Posted Earlier

Economic History of the United States

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

European Economic History

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other Economic History Material

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

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

__________________________

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

______________

Howard Levi Gray, History Ph.D. 1907

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

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

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

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

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

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Howard L. Gray, Historian, 71, Dies

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

Special to The New York Times

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

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

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

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

Source: The New York Times, 16 Sept 1945.

________________________
________________________

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

________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

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

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

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

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

______________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

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

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

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

________________________

ECONOMICS 6a (1909)

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

  1. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT. – CONTINENT.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT. – ENGLAND.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Levy, Entstehung und Rückgang des landwirtschaftlichen Grossbetriebs in England.

  1. THE FREE TRADE MOVEMENT. – ENGLAND.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. THE TARIFF. – CONTINENT.

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

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

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

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

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

  1. FINANCE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. THE NEW GOLD.

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

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

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

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

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

  1. TRANSPORTATION. – PRIVATE OWNERSHIP.

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

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

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

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

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

McDermott, Railways, pp. 1-149.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. TRANSPORTATION. – STATE OWNERSHIP.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. RECENT TARIFF HISTORY.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zimmermann, Deutsche Handelspolitik, pp. 218-314.

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

  1. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. INDUSTRIAL COMBINATION.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. LABOR — COÖPERATIVE MOVEMENT.

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

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

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

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

Webb, Trade Unionism, pp. 344-478.

Howell, Labor Legislation, pp. 447-499.

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

Beveridge, Unemployment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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ECONOMICS 6a
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

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

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

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

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

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________________________

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

________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

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

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

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

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

________________________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

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

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

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

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ECONOMICS 6b (1909)

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

  1. COLONIAL PERIOD.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Callender, Economic History, pp. 432-563.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. AGRICULTURE AND LAND POLICY. — WESTWARD MOVEMENT.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. THE SOUTH AND SLAVERY.

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

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

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 34-119.

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

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

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

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

  1. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ross, Sinking Funds, pp. 21-85.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. TRANSPORTATION.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. AGRICULTURE AND OPENING OF THE WEST.

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

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

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

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 120-226.

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

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

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

  1. INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION.

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

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

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

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

Sparks, National Development, pp. 37-52.

  1. THE TARIFF.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION.

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

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

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

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

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

  1. THE LABOR PROBLEM.

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

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

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

Levasseur, American Workman, pp. 436-509.

Mitchell, Organized Labor, pp. 391-411.

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

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

  1. POPULATION, IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Twelfth Census Bulletin, No. 8.

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

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

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

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

________________________

ECONOMICS 6b
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

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

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

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

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

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

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

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

__________________________

Monographs/Books on Transportation by W. Z. Ripley

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

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

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

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

__________________________

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

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

….etc.

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

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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

APPLIED ECONOMICS
For Undergraduates and Graduates

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

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

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

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

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

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

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

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

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

Eliot Jones (Ph.D. 1913)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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ECONOMICS 5
ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS

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

Group A

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

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

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

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

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

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

Group B

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

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

Group C

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The files of the Wall Street Journal are also valuable.

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

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

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

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

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

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ECONOMICS 5
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

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

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

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

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Statistics

Harvard. Exams for Statistics. Ripley, 1909-1910

William Zebina Ripley

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

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

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Statistics (Econ 4) Exams
from previous years

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

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Course Description
1909-10

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

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

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

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

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cost of a product valued at $100.

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

Labor cost in three industries.

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

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

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

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

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

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

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

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Sociology exams from earlier years

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

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

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

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

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

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

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

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

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

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

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ECONOMICS 3
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

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

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

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

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

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

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

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