Category: Exam Questions

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Course enrollment, description, final exam. Public finance. Bullock, 1904-05

Gore Hall, the Harvard University library, 1838-1913

The systematic transcription of economics exam questions and course materials through the years can be tedious even for the curator of the artifacts collected here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror, so I’ll try to make such posts a bit livelier adding a dash or two of additional anecdotal material about the instructor or the course itself.

From the obituaries for Charles Jesse Bullock inserted immediately below we learn that in his pre-economics life Bullock taught Latin and Greek. This perhaps accounts for his interest in early, as in ancient Greek early, economic thought. Also interesting is to learn that after his retirement from Harvard that he served as the chief of the research division for the Republican National committee and provided advice to the 1936 Republican presidential nominee, Alf Landon.

Bullock’s pre-Harvard career is sketched in a note taken from the Williams College yearbook, The Gulielmensian (1900).

__________________________

A Pair of Obituaries

FORMER WILLIAMS TEACHER IS DEAD
Prof. Charles J. Bullock,Retired Harvard Economist,
on Faculty Here at Century’s Turn.

The North Adams Transcript (March 20, 1941)

Dr. Charles Jesse Bullock, professor emeritus of economics at Harvard university, a nationally known tax authority and a former member of the Williams college faculty, died Monday at his home in Hingham. He was 72 years old.

From 1899 until 1903 when he went to Harvard, Dr. Bullock taught at Williams, first as an assistant professor of economics and sociology and then as Orrin Sage professor of history and political science. He became a full professor at Harvard in 1908 and continued to teach there until 1935 when he took the title of professor emeritus.

Prof. Bullock was the author of many books and articles on economics. In the presidential campaign year of 1936, after his retirement, he served as chief of the research division of the Republican National committee and conferred with Alfred M. Landon, the Republican candidate, on many occasions.

A native of Boston, Dr. Bullock was graduated from Boston university in 1889. He taught Greek and Latin in New England schools and served as principal of the Middlebury, Vt. high school before entering the University of Wisconsin to study economics. He earned a doctorate there in 1895.

Prof. Bullock returned to Williamstown in 1921 to receive an honorary degree of doctor of laws from Williams.

Dr. Bullock married Helena M. Smith of Washington in 1895 and they had one daughter, Grace Helena Bullock.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Prof. Chas. J. Bullock

Middlebury Register and Addison County Journal (Mar 28, 1941)

Word has been received in Middlebury of the death at Hingham, Mass. on Mar. 17 of Prof. Charles Jesse Bullock of Harvard University, who was principal of Middlebury High School in 1891 and whose wife was the former Helena Smith of Middlebury. Funeral services were held Mar. 19. After he left Middlebury Prof. Bullock served on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin, Cornell, Williams, and Harvard. He became widely noted as an economist, specializing in taxation and monetary problems. In an editorial tribute to him the Boston Herald said: “He saw the necessity of elevating the standards of business and of giving some of the aspects and ideals of the professions. It was due largely to his quiet preliminary work over a considerable period that the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration was initiated and endowed liberally. . . It was not the least of his services that he made academic and nonacademic circles understand each other better, and work together in harmony and with mutual respect.”

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1904-05

Economics 7a 1hf. Asst. Professor Bullock. — Introduction to Public Finance.

Total 26: 5 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 74.

__________________________

Course Description
1904-05

[Economics] 7a 1hf. Introduction to Public Finance. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Asst. Professor Bullock.

This course is designed to cover the general field of Public Finance exclusive of Taxation. After a brief survey of the scope and history of Public Finance, the following subjects are studied: Public Expenditures, Public Revenues other than Taxes, Public Debts, Financial Administration, and Budgetary Legislation. Attention is given both to theory and to the practice of various countries.

A systematic course of reading will be prescribed, and most of the exercises conducted by the method of informal discussion. Graduate Students and candidates for Honors will be given the opportunity of writing theses.

The course is open to students who have taken Economics 1.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1904-05 (May 16, 1904), p. 41.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 7a1
Final Examination, 1904-05

PUBLIC FINANCE

  1. Discuss the history of federal expenditures in the United States since 1860.
  2. What can you say concerning the probable future of the following classes of public expenditures: outlay for external defence, out lay for police purposes, outlay for dependent and defective classes, outlay for the benefit of industry and commerce?
  3. What is your opinion of the arguments advanced in favor of municipalization of the lighting and street-transportation industries?
  4. Discuss the past and the present policy of the United States with respect to its public lands.
  5. Discuss in broad outline the history of the British national debt from 1630 to 1815 and that of the French national debt from 1815 to the present day.
  6. Should a national debt be repaid? State and criticise the theory of Pitt’s sinking fund of 1786.
  7. What is your opinion of the proposition to pay off a national debt by accumulating a fund which, invested and improved at interest, will be sufficient to meet the principal of the debt at maturity?
  8. Compare British and American methods of preparing and voting the national budget.
  9. What are the comparative merits of the British and the French methods of public accounting?
  10. Describe in outline the experience of the United States with the independent treasury from 1846 to the present day.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1904-05. Copy also available in Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1905), pp. 26-27.

Image Source: Interior of Gore Hall, the library at Harvard University from 1838 to 1913. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.  For a colorized mugshot of Charles Jesse Bullock.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Course enrollment, description and final exams. U.S. economic history. Sprague, 1904-1905

 

Judging from his faculty photos published in the Harvard Classbook Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague (1873-1953) was an assistant professor of economics with boyish good looks. His main field was banking and finance but he carried on Charles Dunbar’s interest in monetary and financial history in both his teaching and his research. He was sort of a Charles Kindleberger in his day, see his History of crises under the national banking system (Washington, Gov’t Print. Off., 1910, 1911).

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1904-05

Economics 6. Asst. Professor Sprague. — Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 79: 9 Graduates, 13 Seniors, 42 Juniors, 12 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 74.

__________________________

Course Description
1904-05

[Economics] 6. The Economic and Financial History of the United States. Tu., Th., Sat., at 9. Asst. Professor Sprague.

Course 6 gives a general survey of the economic history of the United States from the close of the eighteenth century to the present time, and aims to show on the one hand the mode in which economic principles are illustrated by American experience and, on the other, the extent to which economic conditions have influenced social and political development. 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; 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, emancipation and the present condition of the Negro, and the effects of immigration. Comparisons will be made from time to time with the contemporary economic history of Europe. Finally the more important features of our currency and financial history are reviewed.

The course is taken advantageously with or after History 13. It is open to students who have taken Economics 1, and also to Seniors who are taking that course.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1904-05 (May 16, 1904), pp. 40-41.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 6
Mid-year Examination, 1904-05

  1. Mention at least five of the means by which, according to Hamilton, manufactures may be encouraged. Comment upon the one which he considers at greatest length, and as probably the most effective.
  2. Compare the views of Hamilton and Gallatin upon the effect which the trade policy of other countries should have upon that of the United States.
  3. What section of the country suffered most severely from the separation from England?
  4. (Take seven.) Whitney, Slater, Dallas, Cheeves, Biddle, McDuffie, Guthrie, Taney, Walker, Morrill.
  5. United States monetary legislation, 1830-1860.
  6. What lessons may be drawn from the financial experience of the Government during (a) the War of 1812; (b) the years following the Crises of 1837 and 1857?
  7. Mention by date and character (more or less protective) the chief tariff acts between 1810 and 1860.
  8. The relation of tariffs to crises to 1860.
  9. The policy adopted with reference to their debts by Ohio, Michigan, and Mississippi.

Source: Harvard University Archives. . Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1904-05.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 6
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

  1. (a) The negro and the cultivation of tobacco.
    (b) The negro death rate.
    (c) The negro in the North.
  2. Protection and the iron industry before and after the Civil War.
  3. The taxation policy of Congress in successive wars.
  4. Government deficits and the currency, 1893-96. Would the situation have been essentially different if the act of 1900 had been in operation during those years?
  5. The act of 1894 as a free trade measure.
  6. Treasury arrangements for the resumption of specie payments.
  7. The policy and the results of refunding under the acts of 1870 and 1900.
  8. Wages and prices, 1890-1903.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1905), p. 26.

Image Source:   Harvard University. Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates, 1636-1920. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1920. Front cover.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Course enrollment, description, and final exam. Economics of Transportation. Ripley and Daggett, 1904-1905

 

Professor William Zebina Ripley together with his student Stuart Daggett (Ph.D. 1906) offered “Economics of Transportation” during the first semester of 1904-05 at Harvard. Reading the exam questions it is pretty clear that the emphasis was on railroads, a subject that posed interesting and important policy questions in industrial organization, government regulation, and finance. Ripley published much on transportation problems in general and railway problems in particular. 

__________________________

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).

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1904-05

Economics 5 1hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley and Mr. [Stuart] Daggett. — Economics of Transportation.

Total 139: 5 Graduates, 54 Seniors, 47 Juniors, 25 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 74.

__________________________

Course Description
1904-05

[Economics] 5. 1hf. Economics of Transportation. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley.

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; with a view to familiarizing the student with the principal sources of information. The four main subdivisions of Rates and Rate-Making, Finance, Traffic Operation, and Legislation will be considered in turn. The first subdivision deals with the relation of the railroad to the shipper. It will comprehend an analysis of the theory and practice of rate-making, including, for example, freight classification, the nature of railroad competition, the long and short haul principle, pooling, etc. Under the second heading, having reference to the interests of owners and investors, an outline will be given of the nature of railroad securities, such as stocks, bonds, etc., the principles of capitalization, the interpretation of railroad accounts and annual reports, receiverships and reorganizations, etc. Railroad Operation, the third subdivision, 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. In the fourth subdivision, Legislation, the course of state regulation and control in the United States and Europe will be traced. Discussion will follow concerning the work of the Interstate Commerce Commission, judicial interpretation of the law, and the relation of the Commission to the Courts.

One special report from original sources on an assigned topic will be required of every student in the course. Two lectures will be given regularly per week, while the third hour will be devoted to recitation and written work. Course 5 is open to all students who have taken Economics 1.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1904-05 (May 16, 1904), p. 40.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 51
Final Examination, 1904-05

  1. What is a “voting trust,” and for what purposes may one be created?
  2. What seems to be the plan of organization of the anthracite coal roads to secure concerted action in marketing their product? Outline clearly what their policy is.
  3. What does the Operating Ratio show and what is its main defect as an index of efficiency?
  4. Outline the Massachusetts policy of railway regulation: (a) in respect of general service; and (b) in financial matters.
  5. What are the present powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission in respect of rate making? Carefully distinguish the different phases of this matter.
  6. How far have the Elkins’ Amendments remedied the abuses against which it was directed?
  7. Illustrate at least two possible uses of the power of injunction to remedy evils in railway service. Give concrete illustrations.
  8. Define exactly what is meant by the following:—

(a) Charging expenses to capital account.
(b) Cancelling a commodity rate.
(c) A pro-rating division of the rate.

Source: Harvard University Archives. . Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1904-05. Copy also available in Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1905), p. 25.

Image Source: Buster Keaton in “The General” (1926). If you want a mugshot of Professor William Z. Ripley go here.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Statistics

Harvard. Enrollment, course description, final examinations. Statistics. Ripley, 1904-1905

William Zebina Ripley

 

The sole course devoted to number-crunching in the Harvard economics program in the early 20th century required no more than a command of the four arithmetic operations, sharp pencils and graph paper. William Z. Ripley was there to introduce his students to the myriad sources of economic and social statistics available for his time. Interpretation was what did with one’s data when one was not collecting, aggregating, averaging and/or tabulating raw counts and accounting sums.

In a collection of short bibliographies published in 1910, prepared with students of social ethics in mind,William Z. Ripley assembled the following Short Bibliography on Social Statistics for “Serious-minded Students”.

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1904-05

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

Total 11: 7 Graduates, 1 Senior, 2 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 74.

__________________________

Course Description
1904-05

[Economics] 4. Statistics. — Theory, method, and practice. Tu., Th., at 10. Professor Ripley.

This course is intended to serve rather as an analysis of methods of research and sources of information than as a description of mere results. A brief history of statistics will be followed by an account of modes of collecting and tabulating census and other statistical material in the United States and abroad, the scientific use and interpretation of results by the mean, the average, seriation, the theory of probability, etc. 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. The principal methods of graphic representation will be comprehended, and 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. It is especially recommended, in connection with Economics 2, for all candidates for advanced degrees.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1904-05 (May 16, 1904), pp. 39-40.

__________________________

Economics 4
Mid-year Exam, 1904-05

  1. What were the main causes in 1890 for the “apparent loss of over 1,000,000 children under five years of age as compared with the proportion in 1880”? Were the same conditions revealed in 1900, and why?
  2. State separately at least four changes in vital statistics revealed in 1900 due to changes in immigration, explaining fully in each case the differences from the situation in 1900.
  3. What is the “chip system” in use in the Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics, comparing it with the Federal apparatus for tabulation?
  4. How is the birth rate for the United States calculated in the Federal Census Office?
  5. What is meant by “standardizing” a mortality rate? Has any proposal to do this internationally been made? Outline it in general.
  6. What are some of the theories seeking to explain the slight preponderance of boys over girls at birth?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1904-05.

__________________________

Economics 4
Year-end Exam, 1904-05

  1. Which system of price index numbers seems to you most reliable and why?
  2. What was Engel’s “quet” and wherefor was it devised?
  3. What are the best authorities on wage statistics; (a) for the United States; (b) for Great Britain?
  4. What are the principal difficulties in measuring the intensity of criminal phenomena in two countries over a term of years?
  5. What items in statistics of manufactures may be used with confidence, as being really indicative of conditions?
  6. Outline the nature of our American agricultural statistics, describing (1) the method of collection; (2) reliability; and (3) the problem of coöperation in effort.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1905), p. 25.

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 Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Course readings, final exams, and enrollment for Principles of Sociology. Carver and Field, 1904-1905

 

The post begins with excerpts from Thomas Nixon Carver’s autobiography dealing with his own training and teaching of sociology. He was an economist back when most sociology courses were taught within economics departments as was the case at Harvard up through the early 1930’s. Carver’s recollections are followed by the enrollment figures, the reading list, and the semester examinations for his Principles of Sociology course from the 1904-05 academic year.

Likely readings for this course can be found in Sociology and Social Progress, compiled by Thomas Nixon Carver (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1905).

__________________________

Carver’s background and institutional legacy in sociology
(From his autobiography)

Graduate Coursework at Cornell

[p. 105] The economics faculty consisted of Jeremiah W. Jenks, chairman, Walter F. Willcox, Charles H. Hull, and young  [Lucius S.] Merriam. The history department was very strong but I did not take any history courses, to my later regret. My fellowship was officially a teaching fellowship, but I was told that the holders had never been called upon to teach. It paid $550 which proved sufficient for my needs. I took courses under all three of the older men in the department of economics, but none under Merriam. Jenks conducted the seminar and gave a course on economic legislation, both of which I took. Hull gave a course on the history of economic thought, which I took, and another on industrial history. Willcox gave a course in statistics and another on sociology, both of which I took….

[p.111] … Johns Hopkins at that time was known principally because of its graduate school. Cornell had a growing graduate school but it was an appendage rather than the main part of the university. At Johns Hopkins, graduate students were segregated and had relatively few contacts with undergraduates. At Cornell, on the other hand, they were pretty well mixed.

Cornell had a larger faculty than Johns Hopkins and probably as many distinguished scholars, but the average was perhaps not so high, most of them being concerned with undergraduate teaching.

In the Department of Economics, Jenks was the oldest member and chairman of the department. He was more interested in the practical than in the theoretical side of economics. Merriam was a brilliant theorist and, had he lived, would have strengthened that side of their work. Jenks was a wide awake and interesting teacher, a man of the world who could meet on equal terms men prominent in government and business and might have done well in the diplomatic service.

Hull had an encyclopedic knowledge of American industrial history and should have written books on the subject, but he was so afraid that he might overlook something that he never got quite ready to write.

Probably the most brilliant of the three was Walter F. Willcox. Before the rise of the mathematical school of statisticians he was the leading statistician of the country. He also took us through Spencer’s Principles of Sociology and added a good many original ideas of his own. He was one of the few teachers of sociology whom I have known who were capable of taking a realistic and rational view of things.

Teaching at Oberlin

[pp. 122-123] Professor Hull had returned from his sojourn at Johns Hopkins. This relieved me of the classes in English and American history which I had carried the year before [1894-1895]. I added a course [in 1895-1896] in anthropology and one in sociology to my offering.

Teaching at Harvard
(Carver joined the faculty 1900-01)

[p. 132] There was no Department of Sociology at Harvard, but Edward Cummings had given a course on principles of sociology in the Department of Economics. Since I had been giving a course in that subject at Oberlin it was suggested that I continue it at Harvard. [1901-02; 1902-03 (taught by Ripley  and Carver); 1903-04] In addition I gave a course on economic theory and a half course on methods of economic investigation.

[p. 172] The course on the principles of sociology developed into a study of the Darwinian theory as applied to social groups. Variation among the forms of social organization and of moral systems, and the selection or survival of those systems and forms that make for group strength, were considered to constitute the method of social evolution.

The Harvard Illustrated, a student publication, at that time conducted a poll of the senior class, asking the students to name the best courses they had taken. For a number of

years Professor Palmer’s course in ethics ranked highest. My course on principles of sociology began to climb until it finally achieved first place. Then the poll was discontinued.

[pp. 210-212] I have mentioned several times the courses which I had developed at Harvard: principles of agricultural economics, principles of sociology, methods of social reform, and the distribution of wealth. I was, all those years, covering more ground than any other member of the department…
…Up to this time there had been no department of sociology at Harvard. There was a Department of Anthropology and a Department of Social Ethics, but the only course in sociological principles was the one which I gave in the Department of Economics. At one of the meetings of the American Sociological Society I heard Sorokin of the University of Minnesota read a paper. I was impressed by his prodigious learning and general sanity. I began to cultivate his acquaintance and finally was instrumental in bringing him to Harvard….The Department of Economics, on my motion, invited him to give a course of three lectures at Harvard. While he was in Cambridge, I introduced him to President Lowell. Later, on my motion, the department voted to recommend to the Corporation that Sorokin be offered a professorship in the Department of Economics to give courses in sociology at Harvard. The offer was made, he accepted, and a beginning was made toward starting a department of sociology.

Source: Thomas Nixon Carver. Recollections of an Unplanned Life. Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1949.

__________________________

Course Enrollment

Economics 3. Professor Carver and Mr. J. A. Field. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 47: 10 Graduates, 7 Seniors, 18 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 74.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 3
Prescribed Reading and Collateral References. 1904-05

TO BE READ IN FULL
  1. Herbert Spencer. Principles of Sociology.
  2. Walter Bagehot. Physics and Politics.
  3. Benjamin Kidd. Social Evolution.
  4. F. H. Giddings. Principles of Sociology.
COLLATERAL READING. STARRED REFERENCES ARE ESPECIALLY RECOMMENDED

I. SCOPE AND METHOD OF SOCIOLOGY

  1. Auguste Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Chs.2-4.
  2. Herbert Spencer. Classification of the Sciences, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. II.
  3. *Herbert Spencer. The Study of Sociology. Chs. 1-3.
  4. J. S. Mill. System of Logic. Book VI.
  5. W. S. Jevons. Principles of Science. Ch. 31. Sec. 11.
  6. Lester F. Ward. Outlines of Sociology. I.
  7. W. H. Stuckenberg. Introduction to the Study of Sociology. Chs. 2 and 3.
  8. Émile Durkheim. Les Regles de la Méthode Sociologique.
  9. Guillaume de Greef. Les Lois Sociologiques.
  10. Arthur Fairbanks. Introduction to Sociology. Introduction.

Il. THE FACTORS OF SOCIAL PROGRESS

A. Physical and Biological Factors

  1. Herbert Spencer. The Factors of Organic Evolution, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. I.
  2. Herbert Spencer. Progress, its Law and Cause, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. I.
  3. Auguste Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Ch. 6.
  4. Lester F. Ward. Dynamical Sociology. Ch. 7.
  5. Simon N. Patten. The Theory of Social Forces. Ch. 1.
  6. Geddes and Thompson. The Evolution of Sex. Chs. 1, 2, 19, 21.
  7. Robert Mackintosh. From Comte to Benjamin Kidd.
  8. *G. de LaPouge. Les Sélections Sociales. Chs. 1-6.
  9. August Weismann. The Germ Plasm: a Theory of Heredity.
  10. George Job Romanes. An Examination of Weismannism.
  11. Alfred Russell Wallace. Studies: Scientific and Social.
  12. *R. L. Dugdale. The Jukes.
  13. Oscar C. McCulloh. The Tribe of Ishmael.
  14. *Francis Galton. Hereditary Genius.
  15. Arthur Fairbanks. Introduction to Sociology. Pt. III.
  16. H. W. Conn. The Method of Evolution.

B. Psychic

  1. Auguste Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Ch. 5.
  2. *Jeremy Bentham. Principles of Morals and Legislation. Chs. 1 and 2.
  3. Lester F. Ward. The Psychic Factors of Civilization.
  4. Tarde. Social Laws.
  5. [G. Tarde]. The Laws of Imitation.
  6. [G. Tarde]. La Logique Sociale.
  7. Gustar Le Bon. The Crowd.
  8. The Psychology of Peoples.
  9. Mark Baldwin. Social and Ethical Interpretations.
  10. [J. Mark Baldwin]. Mental Development in the Child and the Race.
  11. John Fisk. The Destiny of Man.
  12. Henry Drummond. The Ascent of Man.
  13. Simon N. Patten. The Theory of Social Forces. Chs. 2-5.
  14. *E. A. Ross. Social Control.

C. Social and Economic

  1. Lester F. Ward. Outlines of Sociology. Pt. II.
  2. *[Lester F. Ward]. Dynamical Sociology. Ch. 10.
  3. Brooks Adams. The Law of Civilization and Decay.
  4. D. G. Ritchie. Darwinism and Politics.
  5. *A. G. Warner. American Charities. Pt. I. Ch. 5.
  6. *G. de LaPouge. Les Sélections Sociales. Chs. 7-15.
  7. T. R. Malthus. Principle of Population.
  8. H. Bosanquet. The Standard of Life.
  9. W. H. Mallock. Aristocracy and Evolution.
  10. T. V. Veblen. The Theory of the Leisure Class.
  11. W. S. Jevons. Methods of Social Reform.
  12. Jane Addams and Others. Philanthropy and Social Progress.
  13. Demolins. Anglo-Saxon Superiority.
  14. *Thomas H. Huxley. Evolution and Ethics.
  15. Georg Simmel. Ueber Sociale Differencierung.
  16. Émile Durkheim. De la Division du Travail social.
  17. J. H. W. Stuckenberg. Introduction to the Study of Sociology. Ch. 6.
  18. Achille Loria. The Economic Foundations of Society.
  19. [Achille Loria]. Problems Sociaux Contemporains. Ch. 6.
  20. William Z. Ripley. The Races of Europe.

D. Political and Legal

  1. Jeremy Bentham. Principles of Morals and Legislation. Chs. 12-17.
  2. F. M. Taylor. The Right of the State to Be.
  3. *W. W. Willoughby. Social Justice. Chs. 5-9.
  4. *D. G. Ritchie. Principles of State Interference.
  5. W. S. Jevons. The State in Relation to Labor.
  6. Henry C. Adams. The Relation of the State to Industrial Action, in Publications Am. Econ. Assoc. Vol. I. No. 6.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and readings in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1. Folder “Economics, 1904-1905.”

__________________________

ECONOMICS 3
Mid-year Examination, 1904-05

  1. What is meant by a rational sanction for conduct? How is it distinguished from the rationalization of religion and law?
  2. Has resentment, or the desire for vengeance, any place as a factor in producing social order? Explain your answer.
  3. Describe Spencer’s conception of the Industrial Type of Society and give your opinion of its validity.
    (a) as representing an actual stage in social progress;
    (b) as an ideal social type.
  4. What accounts for the force of the religious sanction for conduct among primitive peoples? What does Spencer believe will be the place of ethics in the religion of the future, and what are his reasons? Are the two explanations in harmony?
  5. Describe the principal forms of the family relation, and the type of society in which each form prevails.
  6. Comment briefly but specifically upon any five of the following topics:—
    (a) Exogamy.
    (b) The domestic relations of the Veddahs.
    (c) The domestic relations of the Thibetans.
    (d) The Ynca political system.
    (e) Political organization among the Eskimos.
    (f) The political system of the Dahomans.
    (g) The industrial attainments of the Fuegians.
  7. What is Spencer’s explanation of the origin of ceremonial in general; and how does he account for particular forms? According to this theory what does the formality of our social relations indicate concerning the original social or anti-social traits of mankind?
  8. By what stages has the medical profession been evolved, and how does it perform the general social function which according to Spencer characterizes the professions?
  9. “The salvation of every society, as of every species, depends on the maintenance of an absolute opposition between the regime of the family and the regime of the State.” Spencer, Vol. I, p. 719.
    What opposition is referred to? Does it appear more conspicuously in the militant or in the industrial type of society?
  10. “From war has been gained all that it has to give.” Spencer, Vol. II, p. 664.
    What has war done to develop society? Why is its work done? Why, if war is now intolerable, is it improper to check the conflicts of classes and individuals within the state?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1904-05.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

Omit one question.

  1. “Can we then allege special connexions between the different types of family and the different social types classed as militant and industrial?” (Spencer, Principles of Sociology, I, p. 675.) Explain.
  2. In what particulars is society fundamentally unlike a biological organism?
  3. Can you define social progress in terms of human well-being and at the same time make it consistent with a general theory of evolution? Explain.
  4. What is meant by the storing of social energy and what are the agencies by which it is accomplished?
  5. What is meant by the power of idealization and how does it affect social progress?
  6. Under what conditions and on what grounds would you justify the interference of the state with the liberty of the individual?
  7. Give the titles and authors of such books as you have read of sociological topics, including those prescribed in the course, and write your impression of one which is not prescribed.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1905), p. 24.

Image Source: “Thomas Nixon Carver, 1865-1961” link at the History of Economic Thought Website. “Portrait of Carver (as a young man)“.
Detail in the Oberlin College Yearbook 1901 Hi-o-hi (no. 16)

Categories
Chicago Exam Questions

Chicago. Final exam for Price Theory (B). Friedman. Winter quarter 1964

The spirit of Chicago’s boot-camp training in price theory with Milton Friedman as canonical drill  instructor is captured in the examination transcribed below. 

Trivial observation: Questions 9 through 11 are based on a fictional monopoly Gimcrack Company that appears to be a homage to the old song “Jim Crack Corn” (a.k.a. “Blue tail Fly”). One can imagine the American graduate students hearing the voice of the folk singer Burl Ives rendering the tune as they attempted to answer the questions.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Some other exams for the second quarter of graduate price theory at Chicago from this period have been previously posted:

December 16, 1959 (Friedman); December 1960 (Friedman?); February 10/March 15, 1965 (Griliches); December 1965 (Telser)

___________________________

ECONOMICS 301
FINAL EXAM — Winter, 1964

M. Friedman
March 19, 1964

I. [25 Points] Indicate whether each of the following statements is true (T), false (F), or uncertain (U) and state briefly (on this paper) the reason for your answer.

  1. The elasticity of a straight line demand curve varies from point to point.
  2. In the long run, demand has no influence on the price of the product of a competitive industry that uses no specialized resources.
  3. Marginal revenue is always greater than average revenue when average revenue is rising as quantity increases.

[4. and 5.] Assume that the government is going to purchase a predetermined quantity of rice for foreign relief and that it is considering making its purchases (a) directly from the growers of rice, or (b) through the regular dealer on the grain exchange. Assume also that there are no other governmental actions affecting rise growing or marketing.

  1. The price to the domestic consumer of rice that remains will be higher in case (a) than in case (b).
  2. The price received by the farmer for the rice that remains will be higher in case (a) than in case (b).
  1. An “inferior” good is one such that a larger quantity is demanded at a high than at a low price.
  2. If the quantity of Y increases and the quantity of X decreases in such a way as to keep total utility constant, then the rate of substitution of Y for X is independent of the quantity of X.
  3. The income of the farmers raising corn increases when the price of corn rises. The rise in income is the “income effect of the rise in price.”

[9., 10., 11.] The Gimcrack Company is a monopoly, selling in two distinct markets. Transportation costs between the two markets can be neglected.

  1. The company will always charge the same price for gimcracks in the two markets.
  2. The company will sell such quantities in the two markets as will make the elasticities of demand the same in the two markets.
  3. The company will sell such quantities in the two markets as will make marginal revenue the same in the two markets.

II. [25 Points] Fill in the blanks in the following questions.

  1. Consider three demand curves for commodity X: A for given money income and other prices; B, for given apparent real income in Slutsky’s sense; C, for given real income in Hick’s sense. Let all three curves go through the point (po , xo)
    If X is a superior good, then for a price lower than p0, the quantity demanded will be larger for_____ than for _____. (Insert A, B, C, in correct spaces.)
    If X is an inferior good, then for a price lower than p0, the quantity demanded will be larger for _____ than for _____.
    Suppose p0 = $5, X0 = $20, the corresponding money income $1, 000, and the income elasticity of demand for X is 2. Suppose that at a price $4, the quantity demanded on curve A is 25. Then the income compensation required to pass from A to B is $_____ (be sure to indicate sign of change) and the quantity demanded on curve B is _____.
  2. Blank is indifferent whether he wagers $1 at even-money that a coin he regards as fair will come up heads. He is eager to wager $1 against $3 (i.e., he pays $1 if he loses, receives $3 if he wins) that heads will come up twice in two successive throws of this coin. (He regards the throws as independent and so the chances of two successive heads as one in four.) Let the utility of his income if he loses $1 be 100; if he wins $1, 101. Then the utility to him of his present income can be taken to be _____ (insert a number); the utility to his present income plus $3 _____ (insert the most accurate statement the evidence permits).

III. [25 Points.] Find the mistakes (there are at least six) in the accompanying diagram showing long run and short run marginal and average cost curves for an individual firm, and explain the general principle corresponding to each particular mistake.

[NOTE: The answer to question III has been transcribed and posted with the Friedman’s December 16, 1959 exam for Economics 301.]

IV. [25 Points] Consider two alternative taxes imposed on a commodity: (a) a specific tax of T dollars per unit sold: (b) an ad valorem tax of t per cent of the price of the product.
Assume that the commodity is produced and sold under strictly competitive conditions and that the price inclusive of tax when the tax of T is imposed is P0. (i) Prove graphically that an ad valorem tax of t – T/P0will result in the same equilibrium price. (ii) Suppose a tax rate slightly greater than t – T/P0 is imposed. Under what conditions, if any, is it certain that the revenue will increase? (iii) Decrease?
Assume alternatively that the commodity is produced and sold by a monopoly. Suppose that, when a specific tax of T is imposed, the monopolist chose to sell at a price (inclusive of tax) of P1. Suppose now, an ad valorem tax of t – T/P1 is imposed. (iv) Will the monopolist’s optimum price be P1? If not, will it be higher? or lower? Prove your answer.

V. [20 Points] When someone offers a cigarette to pipe-puffing Surgeon General Luther Terry, he always grabs it. “Every one I accept I tear up,” he says. “That way there’s one less cigarette.” (Time, February 7, 1964).
Analyze the economics of the Surgeon General’s policy. In doing so, assume of course, that a substantial class of people with similar beliefs behave the same way, so the effect is at least potentially appreciable. Would it contribute to his objective of reducing smoking? If so, through what channels?

___________________________

PROBLEM
for
ECONOMICS 301
Winter Quarter, 1964

Analyze the business practice discussed in the accompanying excerpt from a Wall Street Journal story of December 4 1963.

Under what circumstances, if any would you expect such a practice to be in the self-interest of the participating companies? How would you suggest testing your explanation?

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers. Box 77. Folder: University of Chicago, Econ. 301.

Image Source: Detail from picture of Milton Friedman (November 1957) at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford. University of Chicago Photographic Archive, pf1-06234, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Principles

Harvard. Enrollment and exams for Outlines of Economics. Taussig et al., 1904-1905

Frank W. Taussig & A. Piatt Andrew

From the final exams for the two semester introductory economics course run by Frank Taussig and A. Piatt Andrew in 1904-05 we see (among other things) that John Stuart Mill provided the backbone of theory and that there was room for a compare and contrast question regarding a liberal market economy vs a socialist economy.

________________________

Course Enrollment

Economics 1. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig, Asst. Professor [Abram Piatt] Andrew, and Messrs. [Vanderveer] Custis, [James Alfred] Field, [Silas Wilder] Howland, [Selden Osgood] Martin, and [Chester Whitney] Wright. — Outlines of Economics.

Total 438: 10 Seniors, 84 Juniors, 232 Sophomores, 54 Freshmen, 58 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 74.

________________________

ECONOMICS 1
Mid-year Examination, 1904-05

One question in each group may be omitted.
Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions
Give your reasons in all cases.

I

  1. Which among the following would you consider (1) “productive laborers,” (2) otherwise useful to society: actors, manufacturers of gambling implements, stock-brokers, landlords receiving and spending the rents of land.
  2. It has been laid down that,—
    Capital is distinguished from non-capital by its nature, — it consists of machinery, materials, and other apparatus for production;
    Capital is distinguished from non-capital by the intention of the owner in dealing with his wealth;
    Capital, though the result of saving, is yet continually consumed.
    Can you reconcile these propositions? If not, which do you consider sound?
  3. “The laws and conditions of the production of wealth partake of the character of physical truths.” Is this true of the law stating the conditions under which the accumulation of capital takes place? of that stating the conditions under which production upon land takes place?
  4. Define briefly: value in use, value in exchange, utility, marginal utility, margin of cultivation, consumer’s rent.
  5. Can a person having a monopoly of a given commodity control its price at will? If so, how? If not, why not?
  6. “An individual speculator cannot gain by a rise in price of his own creating . . . when there is neither at the time nor afterwards any cause for a rise of prices except his own proceedings.”
    On what reasoning does this statement of Mill’s rest? Does the practice of dealings for future delivery (“futures”) affect the reasoning.

II

  1. What is the difference between a wages-fund and a wages-flow? Which seems to you the better mode of describing the influences that act on the general rate of wages?
  2. “The expectations of profit, therefore, in different employments, cannot long continue very different: they tend to a common average.”
    “It is true that, to persons with the same amount of original means, there is more chance of making a large fortune in some employments than in others.”
    “Gross profit varies greatly from individual to individual, and can scarcely be in any two cases the same.”
    Can these statements of Mill’s be reconciled?
  3. Is the return from capital sunk in the soil to be regarded as rent or interest? Is the return from urban real estate to be regarded as rent or interest? Is the return on corporate securities (stocks and bonds) to be regarded as rent or interest?
  4. How will a rise in the rate of interest affect the selling value of land? that of securities yielding a fixed income?
  5. “But it is impossible for anyone to study political economy, even as at present taught, or to think at all upon the production and distribution of wealth, without seeing that property in land differs essentially from property in things of human production, and that it has no warrant in abstract justice.” Henry George.
    Do you think this statement true in view of what you have learned in this course? Consider both your reading and the lectures.
  6. What would become of interest, rent, business profits, in a socialist state? what if there were an all-embracing régime of coöperative production?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1904-05.

________________________

ECONOMICS 1
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

Omit one question from each group.

I

  1. What is meant by the equilibrium of demand and supply? How is it secured?
  2. Suppose there were a general rise in wages: could capitalists, by charging higher prices for their goods, prevent profits from falling?
    Suppose a rise of wages in a particular trade: could the capitalists in that trade, by charging higher prices, keep their profits from falling?
  3. Under what head — wages, rent, interest, profits — would you class the remuneration of (1) an apothecary; (2) a city merchant who owns the building in which he carries on his business; (3) an author who receives copyright payments on books which he has written; (4) a stockholder in a company which owns a lucrative patent?
  4. Is land capital? Are buildings capital? Are the skill and capacity of a workman — such as a trained engineer or a great inventor — to be regarded as capital?

II

  1. What would be the effect on the price of beef if a high protective tariff were levied on the import of hides?
  2. Which of the economic advantages and disadvantages of combination, in the broad sense, result from (a) pooling, (b) merger in a single corporation, (c) monopoly?
  3. President Roosevelt in a recent message said that our tariff “duties must never be reduced below the point that will cover the difference between the labor cost here and abroad.” Discuss this statement.
  4. Suppose that a country which manufactures only enough to supply half the home market, and which has a large export trade in wheat, imposes a uniform import duty of 50% on all commodities. What will be the effect on the nominal and the real wages of agricultural laborers, absolutely, and as compared with wages in manufacturing industries?

III

  1. How do you explain the fact that there is less than 1/10 as much silver in a dime as in a silver dollar? Is there any reason why this should be so?
  2. Explain briefly:—

(a) Deposit.
(b) Suffolk Bank system.
(c) Clearing House certificate.
(d) Post-note.
(e) Discount.
(f) Reserve city.
(g) Central reserve city.
(h) Asset currency.

  1. Secretary Shaw has said “Without claiming that the national banking act is perfect or that our currency system is free from objection I think that the world joins us in the verdict that it is the best system known to man.”
    Discuss this statement, comparing the American system as regards security and elasticity with those of England and Germany.
  2. If a national bank examiner should discover the following to be the account of a bank in Boston to what would he object:
Capital 200,000 Loans 733,000
Surplus 24,000 U.S. Bonds 75,000
Undivided profits 43,000 Other assets 42,000
Notes 78,000 Deposits in U.S. Treas. 3,500
Deposits 745,000 Deposits in other banks 150,000
Clearing House certificate 14,000
Coin & legal tender notes 72,500
1,090,000 1,090,000

Would his objections differ at all if the bank were located in Cambridge?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1905), pp. 21-23.

Image Sources:  Frank W. Taussig (Original black and white image from of Frank William Taussig from a cabinet card photograph, 1895, at the Harvard University Archives HUP); Abram Piatt Andrews (Picture from ca. 1909 used in a magazine article about Andrew’s appointment to the directorship of the U. S. Mint. Hoover Institution Archives. A. Piatt Andrew Papers, Box 51). Images colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Enrollment and exam questions for agrarian history. Gay, 1903-04

Edwin Francis Gay

Edwin F. Gay only taught the graduate economics course “General Outlines of Agrarian History” once. As we see from the course enrollment for this course offered at Harvard during the first term of 1903-04, only four students attended. Who among us has not been personally confronted with the reality that our supply does not necessarily generate its own demand? 

___________________________

Course Enrollment

Economics 24 1hf. Asst. Professor Gay. — General Outlines of Agrarian History.

Total 4: 3 Seniors, 1 Junior.

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

___________________________

ECONOMICS 24
Mid-Year Examination. 1903-04

  1. Explain briefly:

(1) emphyteusis.
(2) massa and fundus.
(3) mainmorte.
(4) gavelkind and Borough English.
(5) common recovery.
(6) copyhold.
(7) majorat and seniorat.
(8) Norfolk husbandry.

  1. Describe briefly:

(1) the provisions of the Capitulare de villis; its date and significance.
(2) the system of estate settlement by “Familienfideikommisse.”
(3) the place in agrarian history of Colbert, Orlando Bridgman, Arthur Young and Albrecht Thaer.

  1. “It seems to be almost certain that the ‘hams’ and ‘tuns’ [of England] were, generally speaking, and for the most part from the first, practically manors with communities in serfdom upon them.” Whose view is this? State succinctly the chief arguments for and against.
  2. What were the chief factors in the emancipation of the medieval serf and how far had the movement of emancipation progressed by 1500 in England, France and Northern Italy?
  3. What were the causes of the Peasant War of 1525? How did the condition of the peasant of South Germany differ from that of the peasant in the North-east and North-west?
  4. Summarize (with dates of the more important statutes) the changes of policy in the English Corn-laws.

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

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1914.

Categories
Agricultural Economics Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Enrollment and final exam for economics of agriculture. Carver, 1903-1904

 

In the second term of the 1903-04 academic year at Harvard, Professor Thomas Nixon Carver added a course in agricultural economics to his teaching portfolio. He was raised on a farm so this applied field must have been close to his heart. Details of his rural upbringing can be found in his autobiography, Recollections of an Unplanned Life (Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1949).

A problem set for this course has been transcribed and posted previously.

___________________________

Course Enrollment

Economics 23 2hf. Professor Carver. — The Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American conditions.

Total 99: 5 Graduates, 32 Seniors, 28 Juniors, 17 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 15 Others.

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

___________________________

ECONOMICS 23
Year-End Examination. 1903-04

  1. How does the agricultural group of industries in the United States compare in importance with the manufacturing group?
  2. Describe the principal classes of soils found in the United States, and state, in a general way, in what regions each class pre-dominates.
  3. What are the chief advantages of the rotation and diversification of crops?
  4. What, according to the evidence collected by the United States Industrial Commission, are the chief obstacles to successful agriculture?
  5. What are the chief factors which tend to build up the cities more rapidly than the rural districts?
  6. Why does wheat growing tend to move more rapidly than corn growing toward newer countries?
  7. What are the chief factors affecting international competition in corn, wheat, and cotton?
  8. How do the price of land and the cost of labor affect the intensity of cultivation in any community? Explain fully.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College, p. 41.

Image Source: Figure 15, “A pioneer mode of breaking the land.” from T.N. Carver’s “Historical Sketch of American Agriculture,” in the Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, Vol. IV, edited by Liberty Hyde Bailey. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1909, pp. 39-70.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Law and Economics

Harvard. Enrollment and semester exams in law and economics. Wyman, 1903-1904

Harvard Law School, ca. 1901

To the archive of old economics exams this post adds the mid-year and final exams for the course “Principles of Law governing Industrial Relations” taught at Harvard in 1903-04 by assistant professor Bruce Wyman.

Since most undergraduate economics majors then as now do not pursue further graduate studies in economics, the Harvard economics department offered introductory courses in accounting and business law as a vocational sop in its early 20th century course offerings.

Two earlier sets of exams for this course have been transcribed and posted:  1901-02 (includes his 1921 report to the Class of 1896).; 1902-03 (includes an obituary for Bruce Wyman).

Fun fact: Wyman was alleged to offer “snapper” (i.e., easy) courses for Harvard undergraduates. Included in that post is a New York Times report of a scandal that led to his resignation from the Harvard Law School faculty.

___________________________

Course Enrollment

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

Total 148: 11 Graduates, 89 Seniors, 30 Juniors, 8 Sophomores, 10 Others.

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

___________________________

ECONOMICS 21
Mid-Year Examination. 1903-04

Answer eight questions. Give reasons with care.

  1. The general manager of the New York Magazine resigned his position to set up a rival magazine which he called the Empire Magazine. Before and after his resignation he solicited business for his new magazine from advertisers in the old. When he left he took a copy of the list of subscribers, intending to write them just before their subscriptions expired, urging them not to renew, but to subscribe to his new magazine, as all the good features of the New York would be found in the Empire in improved form. May the owner of the New York have any injunction against the former manager?
  2. Taddy & Co., manufacturers, sold large quantities of Myrtle Grove tobacco to Nelten & Co., jobbers, upon certain conditions in the invoices headed “minimum retail prices,” and below “acceptance of the goods will be deemed a contract between the purchaser and Taddy & Co.” Stenous & Co., retailers, bought a large amount of this Myrtle Grove tobacco from Nelten & Co., which they later offered to their customers at less than the minimum retail price. Can Taddy & Co. have an injunction against Stenous & Co.?
  3. A travelling agent of the Globe Stove Works goes through the Southwest getting small dealers to sign contracts for stoves. The travelling agent of the World Stove Works crosses his track often. In several instances the agent of the World Company, acting under orders from headquarters, makes a special price to dealers that have bought from the Globe Works, and induces them to cancel their orders for Globe stoves and buy the World stoves. Has the Globe Company any remedy against the World Company?
  4. The National Harrow Company sent broadcast the following circular: “We believe that we have the patents, and we have determined henceforth to sue any dealer handling these infringing harrows wherever they are found.” The infringing harrows referred to were those of the Davison Company. During the year following these circulars the business of the Davison Company fell off 50 per cent. In the year after that the Supreme Court decided in one of the suits which the National Company had prosecuted in good faith that their principal patents were invalid. The Davison Company now sue the National Company for damages done their business by the circulars quoted above. What decision?
  5. Most of the employees in certain breweries belong to a union, most of the brewers are in an association. By an agreement between the union and the association, any brewer must discharge any employee not belonging to the union, if the employee refuses for one week to join the union after being requested to do so. An engineer is taken on at one of the breweries; he refuses to join the union at request; one week later the secretary of the union gave notice to the brewer to discharge the engineer, which was accordingly done. Has the engineer any suit for damages against the secretary of the union?
  6. By a contract between the United States Fuel Company and the Ohio Operators Association, composed of ten concerns engaged in producing coal and coke in a certain district, the company was to handle for a term of years the entire output of the mines of the association intended for the western market. The amount to be furnished by each member of the association was to be fixed by its executive committee; the fuel company was to fix a uniform price from time to time at which it should sell the products turned over. The net profits of the fuel company less its commission were to be turned back to the members of the association pro rata. Is this agreement enforceable?
  7. There are two ice manufacturing companies in Tuscalosa, Ala. The second makes a lease of all its plant to the first for ten years for a high rental; then the first leases this same plant to third parties to be used only as a store house; thereupon the first ice company increases its rate 50 per cent. according to the previous understanding with the second company. This situation lasts for a year, when a new third company constructs a new plant with modern machinery and puts its rates at 50 per cent. below the first company. The first company reduces its rates, and thereupon refuses to pay the full rental to the second company according to the terms of the lease. What rights has the second company against the first company?
  8. An act of legislature provided: “That all the proprietors of the Charles River Marshes, are hereby constituted a corporation under the name of the Marsh Company, with authority to assess and collect from each member ten per cent. upon the valuation of his land, to be expended in making and maintaining a street across the same.” Nine of the ten proprietors after giving the tenth notice of the proposed meeting, meet, organize the corporation, and vote an assessment upon all the members for the amount specified in the charter. Suit by the company against the tenth man to collect the assessment. What decision?
  9. A company was formed by A. Solomon and his two sons, each subscribing one share, the statute for incorporations requiring “three associates each subscribing at least one share.” The capital stock was fixed at $100,300 of which $300 was paid in cash for the three original shares. A. Solomon then conveyed the real estate, machinery, stock in trade and good-will of his shoe business to this corporation for $100,000, which it was all worth at a conservative valuation. He took in payment debenture bonds to the amount of $50,000, a note for $25,000 and paid up shares to the face of $25,000. The remaining 50,000 shares later were sold at 50 each by the company, a discount of 50 per cent. being allowed. A year later a financial crisis comes, and the company is put in a receiver’s hands. He finds besides what has been related that the company has incurred new floating indebtedness to the amount of $25,000, while the property left may be sold for $65,000. How should the receiver wind up this corporation?

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

___________________________

ECONOMICS 21
Year-End Examination. 1903-04

Answer any six questions. Give reasons.

  1. A soap company buys the majority of the stock in a competing soap company. At the next meeting of this corporation it elects a board of directors. This new board of directors of the second company vote to enter into a five years’ contract with the first company to sell to it the whole product of the factory at a price which will barely cover the cost of production. Have the minority stockholders in the second company any relief at law?
  2. Three competing steel corporations agree to manufacture and sell rails at joint profit, accounting to each for a pro rata share upon each sale, settlements to be made semi-annually. One of these companies manufactures as much as possible, then sells all at the high prices prevailing since the arrangement, and then withdraws from the pool refusing to account to the others. Have the other two any remedy against it?
  3. An oil corporation is organized with an authorized capitalization of $500,000,000. It issues all its stocks for a variety of properties (distilleries, pipe lines, etc., etc.) which its directors value at $500,000,000, as these properties before consolidation are earning for their owners $50,000,000 per annum. As a result of this monopolization the new corporation earns $100,000,000 per annum. Is there any relief against this situation at law?
  4. A natural gas company is engaged in the supply of gas to a certain city. After about two thirds of the inhabitants have been taken on, it was discovered that by sinking more wells no more gas is gotten. The present supply is no more than enough to keep up a sufficient pressure to give the present takers proper service. In this condition of things a householder who lives upon the pipe lines of the company, in the centre of the city, applies to the company for gas. The company refuses him. Should a mandamus be granted?
  5. A telephone company in New York operates as a separate branch of its business a service of messengers on call. A messenger company applies to the telephone company for a telephone. The telephone company refuses upon the ground that the messenger company wish the telephone connection in order that people all over the city may summon messengers from it, which would be competition with the business of the telephone company. What decision?
  6. A traveller took a train on a railroad and presented to the conductor an excursion ticket which was in two parts. The conductor accidentally punched the wrong coupon; he then wrote on the back “cancelled by mistake” and signed the statement. The rules of the company also required a conductor under such circumstances to draw a circle about the hole accidentally punched. This circle not having been drawn, the conductor on the return trip refused to accept the punched ticket, and ejected the passenger upon his refusal to pay fare. Has the passenger any cause of action? If so, for what?
  7. A State passes a statute forbidding the sale of oleomargarine colored any shade of yellow. Is this constitutional?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College, pp. 40-41.

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