Category: Economists

The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Vol. 1, October, 1892, pp. 116-117.

ECONOMICS.

Ten years ago, the Department of Political Economy had one professor and one instructor, neither giving all of his time to the subject. At present, the Department of Economics has three professors and two instructors. The change in name, from Political Economy to Economics, indicates of itself an enlargement of the range of subjects. The number of courses offered has grown from two to a dozen, with a corresponding development in the variety of topics treated. The increase in the number of students is indicated by the fact that the first course, introductory to the rest, which was taken ten years ago by perhaps fifty students, now has over three hundred. This striking development is significant of the rapid increase in the attention given to economic problems by the public and by our institutions of learning. The staff now consists of Professors Dunbar, Taussig, and Ashley, and Messrs. Cummings and Cole. Professor Ashley enters upon his duties for the first time this autumn, his chair being a newly created one of Economic History. Professor Dunbar continues to edit the Quarterly Journal of Economics, which was established by the University in 1886 with the aid of a fund contributed by John Eliot Thayer, ’85, and which has an established position among the important periodicals on economic subjects. The Department has recently done service to economic students by a reprint, under Professor Dunbar’s care, of Cantillon’s Essai sur le Commerce, a rare volume of importance in the history of economic theory; and it has now in press a volume of State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, meant to aid students of the tariff history of the United States. For its growth in the past the Department has depended wholly on the expenditure by the Corporation of unpledged resources. No doubt the increasing sense of the importance of economic study will in time change the situation in this regard, and will make this department as attractive for benefactors as those which are older and more familiar.

F. W. Taussig, 79.

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The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Vol. 1, July, 1893, p. 576.

[Birth of a semester system, emphasis added]

The elective pamphlet announcing the courses to be offered in 1893-94 by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences contains few striking changes. There is a tendency manifested in it to increase the number of half-courses beginning or ending in February, at the time of the mid-year examinations. Thus History 12 is split into two halves, the first half being on the recent history of Continental Europe, and the second half on the recent constitutional history of England; Economics 7 is cut in two, and Economics 12 is established as two half-courses, one on International Payments and the Flow of Precious Metals, and the other on Banking and the History of the Banking Systems. Other examples might be given to emphasize the drift towards something akin to a division of the year into two semesters, particularly for the convenience of graduate students. 

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The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Vol. 1, July, 1893, p. 590.

ECONOMICS.

In the department of Economics several new courses are offered for 1893-94. Professor Dunbar offers two half-courses, one on international payments and the flow of the precious metals from country to country, the other on banks and the leading banking systems. The two half-courses come at the same hours in the first and second half-years, and, when taken together, form a convenient full course running through the year. This new course will alternate with Course 7, on taxation and finance, which is to be omitted in 1893-94, and will be resumed in 1894-95. — Professor Ashley offers a course on Economic History, from the Middle Ages to modern times, which will take the place of the former Course 4, on the economic history of Europe and America since the middle of the eighteenth century. The new course covers a longer period than was covered in Course 4, and will supplement effectively the instruction in history as well as in economics. Professor Ashley also offers a new half-course, intended mainly for advanced and graduate students, on land tenure and agrarian conditions in Europe. — Professor Cummings offers a half-course, also intended for advanced students, on schemes for social reconstruction from Plato’s Republic to the present time, including the proposals of Bellamy and Hertzka. The course is meant to give opportunity for the discussion of social and political institutions and of socialist theories. — Economics 1, the introductory course in the department, will be remodeled in part in the coming year. A somewhat larger proportion of the exercises will take the form of lectures to all members of the course. Professor Taussig will lecture on distribution and on financial subjects, Professor Ashley on economic development, Professor Cummings on social questions.

F. W. Taussig, ’79.

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The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Vol. 3, March, 1895, pp. 383-384.

ECONOMICS.

The matter that has of late most engaged the attention of the Department has been the welcome and yet embarrassing growth in the number of students taking the introductory course known as Economics 1. This has risen from 179 in 1889-90 to 201 in ’90-91, 288 in ’91-92, 322 in ’92-93, 340 in ’93-94, until in the present year it is 398. Such an increase necessarily raises grave questions both of educational method and of academic discipline. Those professors to whose labors in past years the success of the course has been due are still of opinion that the recitation method, in its best form, — the discussion day after day and chapter by chapter of some great treatise like the work of John Stuart Mill, — furnishes a mental training such as no other plan can provide. But for its successful practice it is necessary either that the class should be quite small, or that, if divided, the sections should be few and small. Accordingly it became evident that some modification of plan was necessary; and last year the arrangement was hit upon of retaining the section work for the greater part of the year, but diversifying it with three months of set lectures at different periods by Professors Taussig, Ashley, and Cummings. The experiment was so satisfactory that it has been repeated this year; and, in the absence of Professor Taussig, Professors Ashley and Cummings have each lectured for six weeks. If the numbers continue to grow, it may seem advisable in the future to take further steps in the same direction. But Upper Massachusetts, in spite of its historical associations, has abominable acoustic properties; the room in Boylston, which was suggested as an alternative, is redolent of Chemistry; and it may ultimately become necessary to invade the sacred precincts of Sanders Theatre. — In the absence of Professor Taussig upon his sabbatical, before referred to, his course on Economic Theory (Econ. 2) has been divided into two half-courses, and undertaken by Professor Ashley and Professor Macvane. Professor Macvane’s action will do something to break down that middle wall of partition between departments which is sometimes so curiously high and strong in this University of free electives. It need scarcely be added that to those who know how considerable have been Professor Macvane’s contributions to economic theory, and how great his reputation is with foreign economists, he seems altogether in place when he takes part in the economic instruction of Harvard University. — Professor Taussig’s course on Railway Transportation (Econ. 5) has been assigned for the present year to Mr. G. O. Virtue, ’92; his other courses have been suspended. — Mr. John Cummings, ’91, has returned, with a year’s experience as instructor and his doctorate, from the University of Chicago, and is now an Assistant in Econ. 1; he is also offering a new course on Comparative Poor Law and Administration. — The instructors in this, as in other Departments, find themselves increasingly hampered by the difficulty of providing the necessary books for the use of students. Oxford and Cambridge Universities, with hardly more students than Harvard, have libraries in every college, together with the Union libraries and the University libraries; here in Harvard, if an instructor in class mentions any but the best known of books, the chances are that there is only one copy in the place,— that in the University Library; and unless he has been provident enough to have that book “reserved,” some undergraduate promptly takes it out, and nobody else can see it. It is true that undergraduates ought to buy more books; but frequently there is not a copy to be had even in the Boston bookstores. It would certainly be a great relief if the societies could see their way to create, each for itself, a modest working library of a few hundred books. Meanwhile something may be done by strengthening the Departmental Library in University Hall. This, which owes its creation to the generosity of some of the members of the Class of 1879, is in urgent need of enlargement; and the professors in the Department will be glad to hear from any graduate whose eye this happens to catch. — Finally, it may be advisable to mention that, as the result of careful deliberation on the part of the members of the Division Committee, a detailed statement of requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science was drawn up last spring, and will now be found at the end of the Division pamphlet This Statement is noteworthy in that it defines for the first time the “general” examination, and the examination on “a special field;” and also for the stress it lays upon “a broad basis of general culture ” as the foundation of specialist work. “A command of good English, spoken and written, the ability to make free use of French and German books, and a fair acquaintance with general history ” are mentioned as “of special importance.”

W. J. Ashley.

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The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Vol. 4, December, 1895, pp. 242-243.

ECONOMICS.

The Department of Economics began its work for the year under unfortunate circumstances. Professor Dunbar, its honored head, was compelled by ill-health to withdraw from academic work for the year, and was given leave of absence by the Corporation. His withdrawal rendered necessary changes in the courses of instruction. Of those announced to be given by Professor Dunbar, course 7, on Financial Administration and Public Debts, was undertaken by Dr. John Cummings, and course 12, on Banking and the History of the Leading Banking Systems, by Professor Taussig. The additional work thus assumed by Professor Taussig was made possible through the aid of Professor Macvane, who will conduct during the second half-year that part of Economics 2 which had been announced to be given by Professor Taussig. Course 8, on the History of Financial Legislation in the United States, has been shifted to the second half-year, and will then be given by Dr. Joseph A. Hill, A. B. ’86, Ph. D. ’92. By this rearrangement all the courses originally announced will be given, and no diminution in the Department’s offering results from Professor Dunbar’s absence. — Another change has taken place, affecting course 1. The numbers in this introductory course have grown steadily of late years, and it is now taken annually by about 400 men. It had been the policy of the Department to conduct it not by lectures, but mainly by face to face discussion, in rooms of moderate size, the men being divided into sections for this purpose. As the numbers grew, however, it became more and more difficult to keep the sections at a manageable size, to find convenient rooms for them, and to secure efficient instructors. The alternative of lecturing to the men in one large room had long presented itself, but the probable educational advantages of instruction in smaller rooms by sections caused this alternative to be avoided. For the present year, however, the withdrawal of Professor Dunbar rendered some economizing of the force of the Department necessary, and it has been accordingly determined to try the lecture plan for the current year. All the members of the course meet in Upper Massachusetts, — a room which, by the way, proves reasonably well adapted for this use, — and there are given lectures by the various instructors who take part in the course. By way of testing their reading and securing for the instructors some evidence as to their attainments, a system of weekly written papers has been introduced. On a given day of each week the students write answers to questions bearing upon the work of that week and of previous weeks. These answers are examined and corrected, and serve as a means of estimating the diligence and attainments of the students. Whether this radical change of plan will prove to be advantageous remains to be decided by the year’s experience; but it indicates a change in the methods of college work which is making its way in all directions, and which presents new and difficult problems to instructors. — The Seminary in Economics opens the year with sixteen advanced students of good quality, and promises well. Two are Seniors in Harvard College; the remainder are members of the Graduate School. Four are candidates for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the close of the current year. The growth of the Seminary in numbers and the better organization of its work are part of the general advance of the Graduate School, which is now reaping the fruits of the marked gains it has made in recent years.

F. W. Taussig, 79.

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The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Vol. 7, March, 1899, pp. 427-8.

ECONOMICS.

Like other departments, that of Economics finds itself confronted with the problem of the best mode of dealing with large numbers of students in the courses much sought for, and especially in the general introductory course. Economics 1 is now regularly chosen by from 450 to 500 students. Well-nigh every undergraduate takes it at some stage of his college career, and the question of its numbers seems to be simply a question of the number of students in the College and Scientific School. This great demand for general training in the subject has imposed on the Department an obligation to make its instruction as stimulating and efficient as may be, and yet has made this task more difficult than ever before. Inevitably, the old method of dividing the course into sections for all of the instruction has been abandoned. Its place has been taken by a mixed method of lectures and oral exercises. Twice a week, lectures are given to the whole course in one large room. Upper Massachusetts, remodeled, reheated, and reseated, serves for these lectures, — not well, but not unendurably ill; there is great need, for the use of the large courses, of a new and well-equipped building. The lectures are largely in the nature of comment on assigned reading. The third hour in the week is then given to meetings in sections of moderate size, in which the lectures and the reading are subject to test and discussion. The course is divided into some fifteen sections, each of which meets its instructor once a week. At these exercises, a question is first answered in writing by each student, twenty minutes being allowed for this test; the remainder of the hour is used in oral discussion. Some continuous oversight of the work of students is thus secured, and opportunity is given for questions to them and from them. A not inconsiderable staff of instructors is necessary for the conduct of the sections, and a not inconsiderable expenditure by the Corporation for salaries; but some such counter-weight on the lecture system pure and simple is felt to be necessary. The Department has been fortunate in securing trained and competent instructors for this part of the work; and the new method, if not definitively adopted, is at least in the stage of promising experiment. — During the second half year of 1898-99, the place of Professor Ashley, who is absent on leave, is taken by Dr. Wm. Cunningham, of Trinity College (Cambridge, England). Dr. Cunningham and Professor Ashley are easily the leaders among English-speaking scholars on their subject, economic history; and the Department has cordially welcomed the arrangement by which the scholar from the Cambridge of England fills the place, for the time being, of the scholar of the American Cambridge. Dr. Cunningham gives two courses in the current half year, — one on Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects, Mediaeval and Modern, the other on the Industrial Revolution in England.

F. W. Taussig, ‘79.

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The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Vol. 8, December, 1899, p. 223.

ECONOMICS.

The Department finds, as usual, large numbers of students to deal with during the current year. In the introductory course, Economics 1, nearly 500 students are enrolled, and once again it appears that the University has no good lecture room adequate for the accommodation of such numbers. The system of instruction which has been in use in this course for several years is continued. For part of the time, lectures are given to all members of the course; for the remainder of the time, it is split into small sections for question and discussion. So long as lectures are given at all, there is little gain from splitting the course into two or more parallel courses, as has sometimes been proposed; but the absence of a good lecture room for the whole number makes the present situation trying. In its advanced courses, the Department has again the services of Prof. Ashley, who returns after a year’s leave of absence, and finds large numbers enrolled in his course on modern economic history. His advanced course, on the history and literature of economics to the close of the 18th century, also attracts a satisfactory number of mature students. Prof. Cummings omits for the year his course on the labor question; but compensation for this is found in Philosophy 5, a course having a similar range of subjects, which is again given by Prof. Peabody, who has returned from his year’s leave of absence. Professors Dunbar and Taussig give, without material change, the courses usually assigned to them. — The Department assumes some additional burden through a change in its plans for the publication of the Quarterly Journal of Economics. That journal, whose 14th volume begins with the opening issue of this year, is hereafter to appear in more ambitious form. Its size will be somewhat increased, the departments varied, and the elaborate bibliography of current publication will be strengthened. At the same time the price goes up from $2 to $3 a year, — a change which, it is hoped, can be carried out without a loss of subscribers.

F. W. Taussig, 79.

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The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Vol. 10, December, 1901, pp. 261-2.

ECONOMICS.

An unusual number of changes have to be noted in this Department. Prof. Taussig’s leave of absence, and Prof. Ashley’s recent resignation, have made it necessary to call in several men from the outside to give instruction during the present year. Prof. Taussig’s work is provided for in part by Prof. C. J. Bullock, of Williams College, who is giving the courses on finance and taxation, — and in part by a redistribution of the work among the members of the regular teaching staff. Dr. Andrew has charge of Economics 1, and Dr. Sprague of Economics 6, on the Economic History of the United States. Prof. Ashley’s courses, as announced for the year, have been provided for as follows: Prof. Wm. Z. Ripley, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is giving course 5 on Statistics, and is to give the latter half of course 17 on the Economic Organization and Resources of European Countries, Mr. Meyer having charge of it during the first half year. Dr. C. W. Mixter is giving course 15 on the History and Literature of Economics to the opening of the 19th century. In addition, Prof. Ripley is giving course 5a on Railway Economics. In the second half year, Mr. W. F. Willoughby is to give courses 9 and 9a on Problems of Labor. — The courses preparing for a business career have been extended somewhat. Mr. W. M. Cole continues his course on the Principles of Accounting, and Prof. Wambaugh his course on Insurance. In addition to these, Mr. Bruce Wyman is conducting a new course on the Principles of Law in their Application to Industrial Problems, using the case method as it has been developed in the Law School. The popularity of these courses, in spite of the unusual severity of the examinations, is some indication of their success, and suggests, at least, the practicability of still further extensions. While there is a tendency in some quarters to carry the idea of commercial education to extremes, it is to be noted that these courses neither pretend to take the place of business experience, nor to teach those things which can be learned better in a business office than in any institution of learning. Moreover the work is confined to a mastery of principles and not to the gaining of general information. — The number of students in the Department continues large, there being upward of 480 in course 1, and about 1100 in the Department as a whole, not excluding those counted more than once. The housing of Economics 1 continues to be a problem, as Upper Massachusetts is uncomfortably packed at each meeting. More difficult, however, is the problem of finding small rooms for the 11 sections into which this class is divided for discussion and consultation once each week. — The Board of Overseers have confirmed the appointment of Dr. A. P. Andrew, Dr. O. M. W. Sprague, and Mr. H. R. Meyer as instructors without limit of time. — The change from two dollars to three dollars per year in the subscription price of the Quarterly Journal of Economics has been followed by no diminution in the number of subscribers, and the hope of the editors that the Journal might be conducted on a somewhat more ambitious scale is being realized.

T. N. Carver.

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The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Vol. 11, December, 1902, pp. 247-248.

ECONOMICS.

Prof. Taussig’s continued absence has occasioned some readjustment of work within the Department during the present year. Dr. A. P. Andrew has full charge of Course I, Dr. O. M. W. Sprague of Course 6, and Prof. T. N. Carver of Course 2, while Prof. Taussig’s course on Adam Smith and Ricardo has been combined with Dr. C. W. Mixter’s course on Selected Topics in the History of Economic Thought since Adam Smith. Prof. W. Z. Ripley, formerly of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has accepted a professorship in our Department, and is giving Course 9 on Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization, the first half of Course 3, on the Principles of Sociology, the second half of Course 17, on the Economic Organization and Resources of European Countries, and Course 4, on the Theory and Method of Statistics. Dr. E. F. Gay, who has spent several years in Europe investigating in the field of economic history, has accepted an instructorship here, and is giving Courses 10 and 11, on the Economic History of Mediaeval and Modern Europe.

The interest in the work of the Department continues to grow. Economics I has 542 students, as compared with about 480 at this time last year. Mr. Wyman’s course (21), on The Principles of Law in their Application to Economic Problems, now contains over 60 students, as compared with 38 last year. Other courses show no great variation one way or the other, except Prof. Ripley’s course in Statistics. The interest which is being revived in this too much neglected field promises well for the future of economic studies in Harvard.

The change in the hour of Economics I from Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at 9, to Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, at 11, was necessary in order to find a suitable room. This makes it possible for a larger number of Freshmen to elect the course, since it no longer conflicts with History I. Whether this is going to prove advantageous or not remains to be seen. At present the policy is to discourage Freshmen from electing this course. If there should be a considerable increase in the number of men who complete the college course in three years, it may be advisable to allow some of the more mature members of the Freshman Class to take Economics I. In that case it will be necessary to increase the number of courses which are somewhat general in their scope. Thus the course on Economic Theory (2) might be made somewhat less special than it now is, and a new course covering the general field of Practical Economics might be started. In this way the evils of too early specialization might be avoided. However, no definite policy has as yet been decided upon.

The Department has secured the use of Room 24, University Hall, as headquarters. In this room the mail of the Department and of the Quarterly Journal of Economics will be received, and the exchanges will be available for immediate inspection. This room has also been fitted up with drawing tables and other apparatus necessary for practical work in statistics. It is the purpose to make it a statistical laboratory.

The accounts of the Quarterly Journal of Economics are satisfactory, and the subscription list is making slow but substantial gains.

T. N. Carver.

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The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Vol. 11, June, 1903, pp. 560-562.

ECONOMICS.

An interesting comparison between the allied departments of History and Economics is shown below on the basis of the number of students electing such courses. Some of the novel problems entailed by the rapid growth of the very large courses are now being considered by both departments. This rapid growth in large courses, coupled with the increase in the number of highly specialized courses, is bound to make necessary a constant increase in the instructing staff, if full justice to the work is to be done. Among the new courses offered for next year are the following: Economics of Agriculture, by Prof. Carver; Corporation Finance, by Prof. Ripley; Outlines of Agrarian History, by Prof. Gay; and American Competition in Europe since 1873 and The Indirect Activities of the State in Australasia and in Europe, by Mr. Meyer. A general revision of the methods of the Seminary is also under consideration, although plans in that direction are not as yet completed,

1902-3. STUDENTS IN ECONOMICS.

A prompt response to suggestions made to the committee on instruction in economics of the Board of Overseers, as to the needs of the Department, has been made by Mr. Arthur T. Lyman in the shape of a gift of $500, to be expended in the preparation of charts, maps, and other illustrative material. The courses in general descriptive economics, it was felt, can be very greatly improved by the use of such material. Chart cases had already been installed in the new department headquarters, but this will enable the services of an expert draftsman for commencing the preparation of a suitable collection.

Among the other needs of the Department expressed at this meeting was that of an adding and computing machine for use in connection with the courses in Finance and Statistics. It was felt that the so-called “Burroughs Adder,” so generally in use in banking houses and statistical offices, could be utilized to great advantage in the prosecution of original work. The cost of such a machine is approximately $350. It is also to be hoped in the course of time that a collection of illustrative material other than maps may be commenced. This would include, for example, samples of the leading raw materials whose classification enters into tariff discussions and debates, photographs of social and industrial establishments, and other material of this sort. Such a collection, within moderate limits, along the lines of the Philadelphia Commercial Museums, has already been begun at Dartmouth, Ann Arbor, and other places. It should be kept in mind as a possible department at Cambridge.

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The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Vol. 12, December, 1903, p. 246.

ECONOMICS.

Prof. Taussig has returned after an absence of two years, entirely restored in health. His resumption of work completes the working corps in the department, enabling it to offer its full list of announced courses. The number of graduate students is considerably increased over the preceding years, and there is every prospect of a successful resumption of the regular work in all lines.

The November number of The World’s Work contains the first of a noteworthy series of articles by Prof. Carver upon agricultural conditions in the West. Prof. Carver made a tour of some hundreds of miles on horseback during the summer, principally in the corn belt. It is his intention to supplement this tour by similar observations in other parts of the country in the coming years. This issue of The World’s Work forms distinctively a Harvard number, containing also an article on The Progress of Labor Organizations, by Prof. Ripley.

Among the new courses announced for this year are several by Prof. Bullock, one upon “The History and Literature of Economics,” with an additional research course entitled “Studies in American Finance.” Prof. Gay’s course upon ” The German Economists” last year met with so cordial a response that it has been expanded to a full course, covering the French as well as the German authorities. Mr. H. R. Meyer, having re- signed as an instructor, will continue as a lecturer, giving two courses upon “American Competition in Europe since 1873” and “The Industrial Activities of the State in Australasia and in Europe.”

W. Z. Ripley.

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The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Vol. 13, December, 1904, p. 278.

ECONOMICS.

Economics 1 opens with an enrolment of 491 students, and is again the largest elective course in College. Government 1 is a close second, with 481 students; History 1 has 436. The numbers in Economics 1 are distinctly less than last year, which doubtless reflects the decline in attendance in the College at large. More than half of the total are Sophomores (255) ; the Juniors number 102, and the Freshmen 73. The resort to these three courses shows how strong is the trend to ward instruction in subjects connected with political life, and how great is the need for careful teaching and careful organization. Economics 1 continues to be conducted on the system which has been in use for some years past, and has been followed also in Government 1 and History 1. Two hours of lectures are given each week; for the third hour the course is divided into sections, in which there is a weekly examination, coupled with oral discussion of the subjects taken up during the week. Five assistant instructors conduct these sections, and the system seems to solve the problem of large courses satisfactorily.

In line with the policy adopted last year in the Department of paralleling the various undergraduate courses with advanced courses for graduate students, involving more or less research in each special field, Prof. Andrew is this year giving an advanced course upon the theories of crises, as a continuation of his larger course upon crises and cycles of trade.

An experiment intended to deal with the increasing difficulty of giving required reading to constantly enlarging classes will be tried in Economics 9b, through the publication of a casebook in economics similar to those in use in the Law School. The plan is to reprint official documents and detailed descriptions of particular phases of corporate economics, leaving to the lectures the task of supplying the connecting links and of tracing the development of the subject as an organic whole.

A valuable collection of charts of railway mortgages has recently been acquired through the generosity of graduates. These charts, prepared for the different railway systems, illustrate the exact character and situs of the securities. The collection of other charts and diagrams, made possible through the generosity of Mr. Arthur T. Lyman, is also making progress.

Source:  See the listings for the Harvard Graduates’ Magazine at Hathitrust. These are some of the items found using the index for the first twenty volumes.