Category: Harvard

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Exam Questions Finance Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Railroad and Corporate Finance. Description, enrollment, exam. Ripley, 1910-1911

Design for a Union Station (1907) by Luther Daniels Bradley

The course content is at the intersection of the economics department and the business school. 

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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

[Economics] 30 1hf. Problems in Railroad and Corporation Finance. Half-course (first half-year). Tu. and Th., hours to be arranged. Professor Ripley.

This course in research will afford opportunity for detailed examination of typical cases of financing, both American and European. The method will be by conference and special reports on chosen topics. Students should preferably have taken Economics 5 and 9b; but this condition is not imperative.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), p. 61.

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 301hf. Professor Ripley. — Problems in Railroad and Corporation Finance.

Total 11: 2 Graduates, 9 Seniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 50.

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ECONOMICS 301
Mid-year Examination 1910-1

  1. Trace the development of the principle that valuation of assets is a factor in fixing reasonableness of charges, in the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States.
  2. What was the first use made of collateral trust bonds by the old Union Pacific railroad in connection with its dealings with the United States?
  3. State four main reasons why convertible bonds have been so popular of late years.
  4. A stock is selling at $165 per share. One new share at par is offered to stockholders for each four shares held. What will the “rights” be normally worth; and what the market price of shares “ex-rights”?
  5. Explain, in detail, the method used in “Intercorporate Relations” for ascertaining the net capitalization of the railway system of the United States.
  6. Has the Union Pacific railway been mainly financed by means of stock or bond issues since 1900? What is its present status in a general way?
  7. State the main elements in the problem of reorganizing a bankrupt railway, numbering each distinct feature separately.
  8. What is the main argument adduced in favor of abolishing the par value of capital stock?
  9. Discuss the issuance of bonds below par as an expedient for raising funds. How does it appear in the accounts?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1910-11.

Image Source: Luther Daniels Bradley, “Design for a Union Station”. From 1906-07 the holdings and business practices of railroad administrator and financier Edward Henry Harriman, became the focus of an investigation by the Interstate Commerce Commission. The committee charged that Harriman’s use of Union Pacific resources (the company of which he was president since 1903) to invest in the stocks, bonds, and securities of competing railways, was an unlawful attempt to squelch competition and gain control of the market.
Published in: Chicago Daily News, October 18, 1907.
Image from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

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Agricultural Economics Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Economics of Agriculture. Description, enrollment, exam. Carver 1910-1911

America's Knight, the World's Challenger

In 1911 Harvard economics professor Thomas Nixon Carver published a textbook Principles of Rural Economics  that undoubtedly encompassed the content of his course on agricutural economics first taught in 1903-04. Somewhat unusually his book is prefaced with an eight page bibliography.

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Earlier material

ca. 1904 Problem set
1903-04 Final exam
1905-06 Final exam
1908-09 Description, enrollment, final exam

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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

[Economics] 23 2hf. Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American conditions. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 2.30. Professor Carver.

A study of the relation of agriculture to the whole industrial system, the relative importance of rural and urban economics, the conditions of rural life in different parts of the United States, the forms of land tenure and methods of rent payment, the comparative merits of large and small holdings, the status and wages of farm labor, the influence of farm machinery, farmers’ organizations, the marketing and distribution of farm products, agricultural credit, the policy of the government toward agriculture, and the probable future of American agriculture

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), p. 60.

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

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

Total 73: 5 Graduates, 21 Seniors, 24 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 5 Freshmen, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 50.

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ECONOMICS 23
Year-end Examination, 1910-11

  1. and 2. What do you understand by small scale, medium scale, and large scale farming, and what are the chief advantages and disadvantages of each.
  1. What are the chief reasons for the decline of the rural population relatively to the urban population?
  1. and 5. What were the principal changes in American agriculture between 1830 and 1865, between 1865 and 1887, and since 1887?
  1. What were the principal contributions of each of the following countries to American agriculture: France, Spain, Holland, and Great Britain?
  2. It is stated that the average yield of corn per acre is higher in Massachusetts than in Iowa. Does this indicate better agriculture in Massachusetts? Explain your answer.
  3. Give a brief description of the Raiffeisen system of agricultural credit.
  4. What are the advantages of non-competing as compared with competing crops?
  5. How does the productivity of the farm labor of the United States compare with that of European countries, and how is the difference to be accounted for?

Source: Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, …, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College. June 1911, p. 59 In Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, 1873-1915 (HUC 7000.25). Box 9. Examination Papers, 1910-11.

Image Source: Udo J. Keppler “America’s Knight, the World’s Challenger” Published in Puck, v. 70, no. 1801 (6 September 1911). Illustration from Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.
Summary: A large knight sits on a horse, holding a lance with a banner that states “American Crops”; he has thrown a gauntlet to the ground before him. In the background, Uncle Sam and Columbia sit beneath a canopy in front of a building that appears to be the U.S. Capitol.

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Barnard Biography Columbia Harvard

Columbia. Harvard AM becomes economics instructor. A.M. Day, 1899

This post provides a snapshot of Harvard graduate (A.B./A.M., 1892) Arthur Morgan Day who briefly held junior instructional ranks at Harvard, Columbia and Barnard Colleges. From his March 1942 obituary we learn that he left economics teaching to enter the world of finance in 1900.

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An earlier post with seven reports made by Arthur Morgan Day to his 1892 Harvard class.

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DAY, Arthur Morgan, 1867-
Born in Danbury, Conn., 1867; graduate of Harvard (both A.B. and A.M.) in 1892; Assistant in History, Harvard, 1893-94; Assistant in Economics, Columbia, 1894-99; Instructor in Economics Barnard College, since 1895; Instructor in Economics Columbia, 1899-.

ARTHUR MORGAN DAY, A.M., Instructor in Economics at Columbia, was born in Danbury, Connecticut, April 12, 1867, the son of Josiah Lyon and Ellen Louisa (Baldwin) Day. He graduated at Harvard in the Class of 1892, receiving at the same time the degree of Master of Arts, and in the following year entered the Corps of Instructors in that University as Assistant in History. In 1894 he took the position of Assistant in Economics at Columbia, advanced to Instructor in 1899, and in 1895 was made Instructor in the same branch at Barnard College.

Text and Image Source: Universities and their sons; history, influence and characteristics of American universities, with biographical sketches and  of alumni and recipients of honorary degrees, Vol. II (1899), p. 453.

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Arthur M. Day Dies
Known as Economist

Danbury, March 7. (AP) Arthur M. Day, 74, widely-known economist, financial analyst, and adviser to a number of large corporations, died today at his home here.

Born in Danbury, April 12, 1867. Day was graduated from Harvard in 1892, receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degree simultaneously. He had worked five years in the insurance business after graduating from the public high school here before entering college.

Day taught economics at Harvard for two years following his graduation, and later was a member of the faculty of Barnard College and Columbia University.

He left Columbia in 1900 to become associated with the Prudential Insurance Company.

Some years later he joined Wood, Struthers and Company, New York firm.

Seven years ago he became associated with the Studley Shupert Company, Boston financial consultants.

A bachelor, Day leaves a sister, Mrs. William F. Starr, of Danbury.

Source: Hartford Courant. 8 Mar 1942, p. 46.

Categories
Harvard History of Economics Syllabus

Harvard. Reading list for History of Economics through Ricardo. Probably Ashley, 1899-1900

The Harvard Archives has five folders of undated syllabi/reading lists from the economics department. Every so often as curator of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror I cannot resist the urge to attempt dating artifacts that have been unceremoniously dumped into folders labelled e.g. “Economics, Undated (5 of 5)”. 

The following prescribed reading list can be dated with extremely high probability to the course taught by William James Ashley from the turn of the 20th century (1899-90) for which exams have already been transcribed. I have used square brackets to designate additional bibliographic information.

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Evidence of
(i) Ashley’s course and (ii) 1899-1900

Note the close correspondence of the authors in the prescribed reading list to the course announcement below for the 1897-98 academic year (it was not offered 1898-99 when Ashley was on leave). The course description for 1899-1900 would have been helpful, but I have not located a copy yet.

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror posted a first term reading list in the Harvard Archives for Ashley’s course Economics 11: The Modern Economic History of Europe that has a stamp: “Harvard College Library, Cambridge, Mass. Jan 15, 1900” along with a handwritten note in pencil on the second term’s reading list “1899-1900”. Those semester reading lists bear distinct similarities to the reading list featured in this post, both begin with “Prescribed Reading” and we see that almost all authors of items in the reading list are only identified by last name.

The translation of Turgot’s Réflexions in Ashley’s own series Economic Classics was published in 1898. Also the use of many other texts from Ashley’s Economic Classics as well as his use relevant chapters of his own Economic History are strong evidence that we are dealing with Ashley’s course.

Ashley resigned from Harvard effect September 1, 1901. He did not offer Economics 15 in his final year.

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Course Enrollment

Primarily for Graduates:—

[Economics] 15. Professor Ashley. — The History and Literature of Economics to the close of the Eighteenth Century. Lectures (2 or 3 hours).

Total 11: 6 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Sophomore.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1899-1900, p. 69.

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Cf. Course Announcement
1897-98

[Economics] 15. The History and Literature of Economics to the Close of the Eighteenth Century. Mon., Wed., (and at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 12. Professor ASHLEY.

The course of economic speculation will here be followed, in its relation alike to the general movement of contemporary thought and to contemporary social conditions. The lectures will consider the economic theories of Plato and Aristotle; the economic ideas underlying Roman law; the mediaeval church and the canonist doctrine; mercantilism in its diverse forms; “political arithmetic;” the origin of the belief in natural rights and its influence on economic thought; the physiocratic doctrine; the work and influence of Adam Smith; the doctrine of population as presented by Malthus; Say and the French school; and the beginnings of academic instruction in economics.

The lectures will be interrupted from time to time for the examination of selected portions of particular authors; and careful study will be given to portions of Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Politics (in translation) to Mun’s England’s Treasure, Locke’s Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, certain Essays of Hume, Turgot’s Réflexions, and specified chapters of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and Malthus’ Essay . Students taking the course are expected to procure the texts of the chief authors considered, and to consult the following critical works:

Ingram, History of Political Economy; Cossa, Introduction to the Study of Political Economy; Cannan, History of the Theories of Production and Distribution; Bonar, Philosophy and Political Economy; Böhm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest; Taussig, Wages and Capital.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 33-34. 

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ECONOMICS 15.

PRESCRIBED READING.

Ingram, History of Political Economy. [Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, 1888.]

Taussig, Wages and Capital, pp. 124-215. [New York: D. Appleton and company, 1896.]

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Plato, The Republic, 368-376, 414-424, 462-465, 473 [note: these are not page numbers but rather text section numbers printed in margins], in the translation either of Jowett or of Davies and Vaughan [London and New York: Macmillan, 1892]; with Jowett’s Introduction. pp. cli-clxxv, clxxxv-cxcii.  [Jowett’s third edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888]

Aristotle, The Politics, Bk. I and Bk. II, 1-7, in Jowett’s translation; with Jowett’s Introduction, pp. ix-xxxvii. [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1885]

The teaching of mediaeval Schoolmen and Canonists; as set forth in Ashley, Economic History, I, pp. 124-159, II, ch. vi.  [2nd edition. 1892-93.]

Mun, England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade. [See this title in Ashley’s “Economic Classics”. London: Macmillan, 1895.]

Locke, Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest. (in Ward, Lock & Co.’s edition of his Essays, pp. 559-614).

Hume, Essays, “Of Commerce” (23), “Of Money” (25), “Of Interest” (26), “Of the Balance of Trade” (27), “Of Taxes” (30). [David Hume. Essays, Literary, Moral, and Political. London: Ward, Lock & Bowden, Limited, printed sometime after Aug 1891 and 1897. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100193633].

Turgot, Réflexions sur la formation et la distribution des richesses (in [L.] Robineau’s Turgot [Administration et oeuvres Économiques] in “Petite Bibliothèque Economique” [Paris: Guillaumin et Cie (1889), pp. 46-148; or English translation in Ashley’s “Economic Classics”. London: Macmillan, 1898.]

Adam Smith, “Select Chapters and Passages from The Wealth of Nations [See this title in Ashley’s “Economic Classics”. New York and London: Macmillan, 1895.]

Malthus, “Parallel Chapters of the 1st and 2d editions of An Essay on the Principle of Population” [See this title in Ashley’s “Economic Classics”. New York and London: Macmillan, 1895.]

Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy, ch. I-VI. [See this title in Ashley’s “Economic Classics”: New York and London: Macmillan, 1895.]

J. S. Mill, Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy, II-V. [2nd ed. London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1874.]

Two theses are required: one, before the Christmas Recess, on Mercantilism (illustrated from Mun, or any other important mercantilist writer); the other, before the Spring Recess, on Physiocracy (with a discussion of Turgot’s relation thereto).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC(522.2.1) Box 10. Folder “Economics, Undated (5 of 5)”.

Image Source: “Ashley, William James, 1860–” in University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D. Vol II (1899), p. 595.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Law and Economics

Harvard. Law of industrial relations. Course description, enrollment, final exam. Wyman, 1910-1911

Besides principles of accounting the Harvard economics department also offered Professor Bruce Wyman’s course on the law of industrial relations for undergraduates contemplating careers in business. This post provides material for the 1910-11 academic year.

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Course material from earlier years

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

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

1903-04. Enrollment and exams.

1904-05. Enrollment, course description, exams.

1905-06. Enrollment, paper assignments, exams.

1906-07. Enrollment, paper topics, exams.

1908-09. Enrollment and exams.

1909-10. Enrollment and exam.

1910. About Wyman’s reputation as a soft-grader (a “snapper problem”) and the scandal that led to the resignation of his Harvard law professorship in 1913.

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Course Teaching Assistant 

Robert Mann Johnson. Harvard A.B. 1908, LL.B. 1911.

Source: Harvard University. Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates 1636-1930, pp. 1043.

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 Johnson graduated from Boston Latin School in 1905. He was working for American Telephone & Telegraph Co. New York City, N.Y. in 1918.

Source: Graduates of the Public Latin School in Boston, 1816-1917. Boston: 1918.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

World War I Selective Service Registration Card (May 1917)

Robert Mann Johnson, b. 28 Feb 1888 in North Weymouth Massachusetts

Home address: 808 Cranston St, Cranston, R.I.

Employed by American Tel. & Telegraph Co. 195 Broadway

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Married Margaret M. Callahan  30 Aug 1919 in NYC. Two daughters.

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World War II, Selective Service Registration Card (26 April 1942)

Robert Mann Johnson b. 28 Feb 1888 in Weymouth, Massachusetts

Home address: 350 East 25 St., Brooklyn, Kings, New York.

Employer’s Name and Address: Milbank, Tweed and Hope. 15 Broad St. NYC

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Robert Mann Johnson died 29 July 1948, NYC of a heart attack as he entered his law firm at 15 Broad St. He lived at 58 Linwood Road, Scarsdale. From his obits:  he practiced law in Massachusetts before going to New York and being admitted to the New York bar in 1921. First with the firm of Masten and Nichols from 1928-1931. Later with the firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hope and Hadley since 1931.

Source: Daily News (New York City), 30 July 1948, p. 49.  The Herald Statesman (Yonkers, NY) 30 July 1948, p. 2.

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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

[Economics] 21 2hf. Principles of Law governing Industrial Relations. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Mr. Joseph Warren [sic], assisted by Mr. R. M. Johnson.

Course 21 is not open to students before their last year of undergraduate work. The course considers certain rules of the law governing the course of modern trade and the organization of modern industry. The problems brought forward are actual and the rules of law discussed are specific, so that the instruction may prove of service in a business career. The course forms a natural introduction to the study of law, as it involves many of the elementary principles. And as the course deals with adjudication and legislation on questions of first importance in the economic development of modern times, it may also be of advantage to all those who wish to equip themselves for the intelligent discussion of issues having both legal and economic aspects. In 1910-11 four principal topics will be discussed: Competition; Combination; Association; Consolidation, — some very briefly, some with more detail. The conduct of the course will be by the reading and discussion of cases from the law reports which are contained in an edited series of case books.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), p. 62.

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 21 1hf. Professor Wyman, assisted by Messr. R. M. Johnson. — Principles of Law governing Industrial Relations.

Total 164: 4 Graduates, 103 Seniors, 47 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 3 Freshmen, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 50.

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ECONOMICS 21
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11

Give reasons clearly

  1. Two railroads, the A railroad and the X railroad, run from L to M. The X railroad lets shippers from L to M know that if they will agree to ship all their freight by this road they will be given free cartage at M for the delivery of their goods. By this means several very profitable shippers are induced to stop shipping by the A road altogether. Can the A road have an injunction in its own right, or must it wait for the Attorney General to take action?
  2. In the construction of a certain building there are employed certain members of the roofers’ union, the plasterers’ union, etc., etc. These unions are all affiliated with a local trades’ council. The roofers strike for higher wages, and, not getting an immediate response to their demands, they appeal to the trades’ council which calls a general strike on the building. The strikers thereupon put advertisements in the local newspapers requesting that no laboring man shall take the place of any striker. They also station two pickets at the head of the street leading to the house to distribute copies of this advertisement to people coming down the street, the pickets having strict orders not even to engage anyone in conversation. What injunction can the contractors who are building a house get under these circumstances?
  3. A retail druggists’ association is formed in a certain city, its membership including practically all the druggists in that city except A, who is a notorious rate cutter. The association votes that none of its members shall buy any of the remedies made by any manufacturer who shall sell to A without making A agree not to cut the regular price, provided, however, that any member of the association may send a special order to any manufacturer in response to the request of a particular costume. A is now not able continue his price cutting sales, which have been a source of great profit to him. Can he sue X, a member of the association, against whom he has a particular grudge, for all the damages he has suffered?
  4. In a certain partnership there are two partners X and I. Their partnership articles state that their business is to buy and sell drygoods. A salesman comes to their office and begins to negotiate with X a sale of print goods at a distinctly high price and succeeds in inducing X to feel that an extraordinarily large purchase of these goods would be advisable. Y comes in just before the contract is made and protests against it: X nevertheless signs the contract on behalf of the firm. Any reasonable man in the trade would say that the purchase was a foolish one. X dies the next day. Can Y cancel the contract?
  5. A corporation which is the result of the merger of concerns manufacturing 60% of the wall paper in the United States adopts the policy of selling its products only to jobbers, billing it to them at a very high price, but giving them at settlement time a rebate of 33 1/3 % provided that the selling company is satisfied that the jobbers have not handled the wall paper of any other manufacturers during the period covered by the settlement. One jobber after having got and resold wall paper billed to him at $100,000, refuses to make any payment to the wall paper corporation when settlement day comes. How much can the wall paper corporation recover from him?
  6. A director in a railroad corporation makes a contract with it to sell it a steamboat, for which he has paid $500,000, for $500,000. Impartial appraisers would not consider the steamboat worth more than $450,000. The steamboat is delivered to the railroad corporation which has already sent it on one voyage to get freight to carry over its line, when it is sunk by an accident. The railroad has not as yet paid the director for the steamboat. How much can he get from the railroad?
  7. Four manufacturers of iron pipe form a pool agreeing among themselves not to sell below a certain price, to be fixed from time to time by a central committee. To secure the performance of this agreement by each member, each member deposits with a certain trust company $25,000, with the provision that any member breaking the agreement shall forfeit his deposit to the remaining members of the pool. One of the four members of the pool breaks from the pool, whereupon the other three decide to dissolve it. The trust company refuses to pay out any of the money. How much can one of the remaining three concerns recover by suing the trust company?
  8. The principal manufacturers of plumbers’ supplies agree among themselves at a meeting of their association that no member of the association shall sell on credit to any plumber whose indebtedness to any member has not been settled within three months after his bills were due, reserving to any member the right to sell for cash to any plumber, however much he may be in arrears to any member of the association. Is this such a combination as to come within the provisions of the Federal Anti-Trust law, so that a plumber whose business is injured by the enforcement of these policies may sue one of its members for treble damages?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1910-11.

Categories
Accounting Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Principles of Accounting. Course description, enrollment, final exams. William M. Cole, 1910-11

Over two hundred students took William M. Cole’s Principles of Accounting course at Harvard in 1910-11 giving it the second highest enrollment of all economics courses. First place, unsurprisingly went to Taussig’s Principles of Economics that had an enrollment of 531 students.

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Earlier Accounting Exams at Harvard

1900-01
1901-02
1902-03
1903-04
1904-05
1905-06
1906-07
1907-08
1908-09
1909-10

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William M. Cole
His Textbook

Accounts. Their Construction and Interpretation for Business Men and Students of Affairs. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1908.

“The first issue of this book was brought out at a time when no general, non-technical, non-professional treatise on accounting had been published . The author had then been giving for eight years a course of instruction to seniors in Harvard College on the principles of accounting, and believed that many business men and students of affairs would be interested to see briefly but comprehensively how accounts are constructed and interpreted.”
Revised and enlarged edition, 1915.

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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

[Economics] 18. Principles of Accounting. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 11. Asst. Professor Cole and an assistant.

This course is designed to show the processes by which the earnings and values of business properties are computed. It is not intended primarily to afford practice in book-keeping; but since intelligent construction and interpretation of accounts is impossible without a knowledge of certain main types of book-keeping, practice sufficient to give the student familiarity with elementary technique will form an important part of the work of the course. The chief work, however, will be a study of the principles that underlie the determination of profit, cost, and valuation. These will be considered as they appear in several types of business enterprise. Published accounts of corporations will be examined, and practice in interpretation will be afforded. The instruction will be chiefly by assigned readings, discussions, and written work.

Course 18 is not open to students before their last year of undergraduate work. For men completing their work at the end of the first half-year, it will be counted as a half-course. It is regularly open only to Seniors and to Graduates who have had Economics 1. Students intending to enter the Graduate School of Business Administration are expected to take this course in preparation for the advanced courses in accounting.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), pp. 61-62.

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 18. Asst. Professor W. M. Cole, assisted by Messrs. R. M. Johnson, and H. B. Platt. — Principles of Accounting. [For biographical information about the teaching assistants, see the post for the 1908-09 course Economics 18]

Total 223: 3 Graduates, 118 Seniors, 59 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 5 Freshmen, 36 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 50.

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ECONOMICS 18
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11

If possible, give your answers in tabular form.

  1. The bookkeeper has decided to enter the following transactions as belonging to the accounts named in parenthesis in each case. Should the account so named be debited or credited?
    1. Allowing depreciation on buildings (Real Estate).
    2. Collecting interest on an overdue bill (Interest).
    3. Allowing a claim for damages on goods improperly packed (Mdse.).
    4. Setting aside net income as a reserve for possible, but not probable, depreciation (Profit and Loss).
    5. Declaring dividends (Dividends).
  2. If in any cases in Question 1, above, any other account must also be debited or credited, name the account and tell whether the entry should give a debit or a credit to that account.
  3. Under what circumstances would a complete entry (that is, with both sides showing the same amount
    1. debit a customer and credit Commission?
    2. debit Expense and credit a customer?
    3. debit Cash and credit Insurance?
    4. debit Bills Receivable and credit Bills Payable?
    5. debit Neglected Discounts and credit Merchandise?
  4. Show the profit on Merchandise for each of the three following sets of figures:

(a)

Mdse. Dr. on ledger $125,000
Mdse. Cr. on ledger $137,500
Mdse. inventory $15,000
Mdse. Discounts, Dr. $5,500
Mdse. Discounts, Cr. $6,000

(b)

Inventory a year ago $25,000
Purchases, Dr. $100,000
Sales, Cr. $137,500
Discounts given, average 4%
Discounts taken, average $6%
Inventory to-day $15,000

(c)

Merchandise, Dr, balance $27,000
Inventory $42,000
Collected Discounts $2,000
  1. The following is a trial balance, for January 1, 1911, of a business which is about to discontinue operations, and has disposed of all its merchandise, exhausted its supplies, paid all its outstanding obligations except those shown on the trial balance, and collected all sums due it except those shown. Both the notes which it holds and those outstanding against it bear interest. Interest has been paid to date on all notes and bonds Show the balance sheet and the income sheet. If you need any information not given here, assume it, state what you have assumed, and use it.
Proprietor $60,000
Bonds (bought at par) $60,000
Bills Receivable $15,000
Bills Payable $10,000
Expense $5,000
Interest $300
Commission $250
Insurance $150
Taxes $100
Rent $2,500
Merchandise $13,000
Cash $300
$83,300 $83,300
  1. A manufacturing company purchases new machines as shown below. Should you in each case charge Machinery or Maintenance? Give your reasons clearly and concisely.
    The new machines are bought to take the place of old ones worn out. The new may cost initially more or less than the old, may do more or less work than the old, may cost more or less for labor and power in operation than the old. Four conditions are shown in the table below. Answer for each of them.

NEW MACHINES IN COMPARISON WITH THE OLD

(a) Same Same Less
(b) Same More Same
(c) More More Same
(d) More Same Same
  1. Believing money to be worth 4½%, you lend $2748.96 and receive three promissory notes, each for $1000, the first payable in one year, the second in two years, and the third in three years, all without interest. You find the various present-worths of these notes to be as follows: $956.94, $915.73, $876.29. You at once dispose of these notes in part payment of some 5% bonds due in three years (with interest payable annually), which you deem as well secured as the notes, and you find that the notes just pay the premium. What will be the amortisation on the bonds during the first year that you hold them? How do you know?
    How many bonds do you buy?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1910-11.

________________________

ECONOMICS 18
Year-end Examination, 1910-11

Distribute your time so as to answer
at least eight questions.

  1. Show the trial balance that will result from the following transactions: —
    A invests $50,000 cash and real estate at $30,000.
    He (as proprietor of the business) buys real estate for $20,000 in cash.
    He borrows $30,000 on his note.
    He buys merchandise for $40,000 cash.
    He buys fixtures for $5,000 on credit from B.
    He spends $500 for wages and $100 for advertising.
  2. Certain accounts on a trial balance are as follows: —
Interest $500
Commission $1,300
Wages $13,500
Insurance $300
Rent $600
Stationery $400
Taxes $200
Sales $140,000
Purchases $100,000
Depreciation $6,000
Advertising $1,000

The inventory of merchandise at the beginning of the year was $20,000 (not included in the purchases above), and it is now $25,000. When the books were last closed the proprietors had a credit of $50,000, and nothing has been invested or withdrawn by them since that time. If the books were now to be closed, assuming that the correct figures for all nominal accounts have been given above, what would be the proprietors’ credit?
Show all you can of the balance sheet.

  1. Should the following be charged to capital or to revenue? Give your reason in each case.
    The payment of paid-up premium on a five-year fire-insurance policy.
    The purchase of accrued interest on a bond between interest dates.
    The cost of painted bill-board advertising.
    The cost ($5,000) of store fixtures to replace old fixtures that originally cost less ($2,000) and, though not worn out, are old-fashioned.
    The cost of a new boat landing for a summer hotel when an increase in the draught of lake steamers renders the old landing useless for its original purpose and the new landing costs the same as the old.
  2. In a certain establishment the expense accounts are classified according to the buildings in which the cost is incurred. The buildings and their uses are as follows: —

Building —— Used for…

A. ———— storage of supplies, varnishing shop, and show room.

B. ———— mill, assembling room, and accounting department.

C. ———— sales department, and drafting department.

For each building an account is kept for wages, for supplies, and for overhead expense, and the annual statement shows these nine costs (three kinds of cost for each of three buildings). Without entering into details, or attempting to substitute another plan of accounting, comment on the plan above outlined.

  1. The stock-market quotation for bonds of a certain industrial corporation shows a decline. The reports of earnings by the corporation show a practically steady net income, and 20% increase of business. Does the following comparative balance sheet warrant the decline?

BALANCE SHEET
(Figures are for millions)

1909 1910 1909 1910
Real Estate $25.0 $20.0 Capital Stock $100.0 $100.0
Machinery, etc. 90.0 85.0 Bonds $75.0 $75.0
Stores $2.0 $1.5 Bills Payable $0.5 $0.5
Goods in Process $6.0 $5.5 Accounts Payable $3.0 $2.0
Finished Goods $9.0 $8.0 Accrued Items $0.7 $0.6
Accounts Receivable $30.0 $35.0 Depreciation $10.0 …
Stocks and Bonds $20.0 $20.0 Allowance for Bad Debts … $1.0
Cash $16.7 $13.5 Reserve 10.0 10.0
Prepaid items $0.5 $0.6
$199.2 $189.1 $199.2 $189.1
  1. Does the distinction on a bank balance sheet between the two items in each of the following pairs serve an accounting purpose, or is it merely traditional? If it is serviceable, explain why.
    1. Par value of government bonds held to secure circulation, and premium on such bonds.
    2. National bank notes held, and treasury notes held.
    3. Sums due to banks, and sums due to other depositors.
    4. Surplus, and undivided profits.
  2. Has a life insurance company any accounting liability for expected death claims in connection with persons still living? If so, on what principle is the amount determined? If not, state what disposition is made, in the accounts, of the face of policies written?
  3. A manufacturing corporation issues bonds, payable in twenty years, at a premium. The interest is paid semi-annually.
    What entry should be made on the corporation’s books at the time the bonds are issued?
    What entry should be made on the corporation’s books at the time the first interest is paid?
    What entry should be made on the books of a holder of the bonds when he collects his half-yearly interest?
    Supposing the difference between the market rate and the bond rate to be for the bonds held by one man $25 for a half year, how should you go to work to learn the amortisation for any particular half-year — the first or the last, for instance? Can you find it for the last half-year if you know the market rate to be 4½%?
  4. What have you to say of a method of distributing overhead charges, or expense burden, to the various articles of product in a factory
    1. in the ratio of labor time on each article?
    2. in the ratio of wages in the cost of each article?
    3. in the ratio of machine hours multiplied by the cost of the machines used?

What should enter into a scientific machine-rate for a factory employing all its equipment full time?

Source: Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, …, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College. June 1911, pp. 54-56. In Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, 1873-1915 (HUC 7000.25). Box 9. Examination Papers, 1910-11.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Municipal Finance. Course description, enrollments, final exam. Huse, 1910-1911

Meet Charles Phillips Huse

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

1904. A.B. Harvard.

1905. A.M. Harvard.

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

1908-09. Instructor in Economics, Dartmouth College.

1909-11. Instructor in Economics at Harvard.

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

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

1920-53. Professor of Economics, Boston University.

1958. Died July 13 in Belmont, MA.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

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

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

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

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

________________________

Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 17 2hf. Dr. Huse. — Municipal Finance.

Total 21: 3 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 50.

________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

[Economics] 17 2hf.  Municipal Finance. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 10. Dr. Huse.

In this course the expenditures, revenues, and debts of American municipalities will be considered. A comparative study of the financial policies of various cities will be made and consideration given to the views of writers on public finance for the purpose of ascertaining, as far as possible, the principles which should govern municipal administration. Every member of the course will be expected to make a study, under the guidance of the instructor, of the finances of his own city, and will give to the class the results of his work.

This course is open only to those students who have had Economics 7 or 16.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), p. 60.

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ECONOMICS 17
Year-End Examination, 1910-11

Questions 3 and 4 each count one-third. 
  1. Would the acquirement of the right to tax the property of Harvard University be for the best interests of Cambridge?
  2. What are the provisions limiting the tax rate and the amount of indebtedness in Massachusetts cities and towns? What has been their effect? What can be said for and against their retention?
  3. Write upon two of the following topics: —
    1. The effect of Boston’s incorporation upon its finances.
    2. The state’s control of Boston’s finances.
    3. The finances of the Metropolitan Water District.
    4. The Tweed ring.
    5. The reasons for the proposed union of Tonawanda and North Tonawanda, New York.
  4. The following figures relating to the finances of Gloucester, Mass. are taken from the 1907 report on the Statistics of Municipal Finances (Mass.).

RECEIPTS
Revenue

$515,018.71
General

$388,286.05
(Taxes, property and poll

333,368.41)
Commercial

126,732.66
(Water

90,176.38)
Non-Revenue

512,755.54
Offsets to outlays

3,197.42
Municipal indebtedness

444,350.39
Loans, general purposes

$71,000.00
Loans, public service enterprises

40,000.00
Temporary loans, including tax loans

320,000.00
Premiums

1,002.50
Unpaid warrants or orders, current year

12,347.89
Agency and Trust

65,207.73

Total receipts

$1,027,774.25

Balance on hand,
beginning of year

44,081.43

Grand Total

$1,071,855.68

PAYMENTS
Maintenance

$435,983.66
Departmental

$394,447.38
Public service enterprises

40,787.48
(Water

40,767.48)
Cemeteries

748.80
Interest

81,915.13
Loans, general purposes

40,705.96
Loans, public service enterprises

41,209.17
Outlays

61,829.86
Departmental

50,805.79
Public service enterprises (water)

11,024.07
Municipal indebtedness

413,997.72
From revenue

110,428.89
Temporary loans, including tax loans

295,000.00
Warrants or orders, previous years

8,568.83
Agency and Trust

64,437.88

Total payments

$1,058,164.25

Balance on hand,
end of year

13,691.43

Grand Total

$1,071,855.68
Outstanding indebtedness classified by character of obligation,
Loans for general purposes

$642,225.00
Loans for public service enterprises

1,137,000.00
Temporary tax loans

200,000.00
Warrants or orders

12,347.89

$1,991,572.89

Valuation $22,083,852, Population 26,011.

Make a critical study of the finances of Gloucester as revealed by these figures.

Source: Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, …, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College. June 1911, pp. 52-54. In Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, 1873-1915 (HUC 7000.25). Box 9. Examination Papers, 1910-11.

Image Source: Boston University yearbook, 1927.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Public Finance. Course description, enrollment, semester exams. Bullock, 1910-1911

It is not only inquisitorial; but public morality forbids that the taxpayer should be forced to do any more hard swearing than he already does.

The field of public finance, especially with regard to issues of taxation, was covered at Harvard in the early decades of the 20th century by Professor Charles Jesse Bullock. 

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

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

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Earlier versions of the course
by year and instructor

1906-07

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-public-finance-and-taxation-enrollments-and-final-exams-bullock-1906-1907/

1907-08

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-public-finance-and-taxation-exams-bullock-1907-1908/

1908-09

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-examinations-in-public-finance-especially-taxation-bullock-1908-1909/

1909-10 (half-course, American Taxation)

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-american-taxation-course-description-enrollment-and-final-exam-bullock-and-huse-1909-1910/

________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

[Economics] 16 Public Finance (advanced course). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Bullock.

This course is designed for graduate students and for undergraduates who are especially interested in public finance. It cannot be elected by students who have taken Economics 7 [Public Finance course exclusively offered to undergraduates], except by express consent of the instructor.

The course is devoted to the examination of the financial institutions of the principal modern countries, in the light of both theory and history. One or more reports calling for independent investigation will ordinarily be required. Special emphasis will be placed upon questions of American finance.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), pp. 60.

________________________

Course Enrollment
1910-11

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

Total 7: 5 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 49.

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ECONOMICS 16
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11

  1. Discuss briefly the classifications of public revenues offered by Smith, Cohn, Bastable, and Seligman.
  2. Discuss the course of development of three classes of public expenditures in the nineteenth century.
  3. Analyze the effects of non-commercial expenditures, with a view to supplying the data necessary for judging of the legitimacy of such expenditures.
  4. What policy should a modern state pursue with respect to public ownership of arable land, forests, and mines?
  5. What fiscal policy would you favor for the following public industries: the post office, railroads, water works, gas works?
  6. What has been the position of commercial revenues in national and local budgets since 1850?
  7. In what departments of public service and to what extent should fees be used by a modern state?
  8. Discuss the relation of taxation to benefits.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1910-11.

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ECONOMICS 16
Year-End Examination, 1910-11

  1. Discuss double taxation in the United States.
  2. Discus the taxation of incomes in Switzerland and the United States.
  3. Discuss the past and present status of the property tax in Europe.
  4. Discuss the past and present status of the property tax in the United States.
  5. Discuss briefly the history of excise taxation in Europe during the nineteenth century.
  6. Discuss the present custom revenues of Great Britain, France, and Germany.
  7. Discuss the incidence of taxes on mortgages in the American states.
  8. Discuss state supervision of the assessment of property in the American states.

Source: Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, …, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College. June 1911, p. 52. In Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, 1873-1915 (HUC 7000.25). Box 9. Examination Papers, 1910-11, p. 52.

Image Source:  No Income Tax! by Charles Jay Taylor illustrator on the cover of Puck (24 January 1894).   “Print shows a scene at the ‘Income Tax Office’ with a crowd clamoring at the door where a notice states ‘One at a Time’; inside, a wealthy man is standing by a desk, on the floor at his feet, in his hat, are papers labeled ‘Personal Property Tax Sworn Off’, ‘Tax on Capital Sworn Off’, and ‘Tax on Investments’, he kisses the Bible while a government official sits at the desk with his right hand raised.” Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Exams for the history of economics up to 1848. Bullock, 1910-1911

Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot

Six Harvard graduate students were led through economic thought from the Ancient Greeks through the Scottish Enlightenment by Professor Charles Jesse Bullock in 1910-11. That material could have been covered in the General Examination in economic theory that at that time included the history of economic ideas.

________________________

Earlier versions of the course
by year and instructor

1899-1900. The History and Literature of Economics to the close of the Eighteenth Century. [William James Ashley]

1901-02. History and Literature of Economics, to the opening of the Nineteenth Century. [Charles Whitney Mixter]

1903-04. History and Literature of Economics to the opening of the Nineteenth Century [Charles Jesse Bullock]

1904-05. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. [Charles Jesse Bullock]

1905-06. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. [Charles Jesse Bullock]

1906-07. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848 [Charles Jesse Bullock]

1907-08. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848 [Charles Jesse Bullock]

1908-09. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848 [Charles Jesse Bullock]

1909-10. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848 [Charles Jesse Bullock]

________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

[Economics] 15. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 11. Professor Bullock.

            The purpose of this course is to trace the development of economic thought from classical antiquity to the middle of the nineteenth century. Emphasis is placed upon the relation of economics to philosophical and political theories, as well as to political and industrial conditions.

            A considerable amount of reading of prominent writers will be assigned, and opportunity given for the preparation of theses. Much of the instruction is necessarily given by means of lectures.

            No undergraduates will be admitted to the course who are not candidates for honors in economics.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), p. 54.

________________________

Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 15. Professor Bullock. — History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848.

Total 6: 6 Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 49.

________________________

ECONOMICS 15
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11

  1. How did Aristotle classify the various branches of the art of acquisition?
  2. What ideas concerning value are found in the works of the leading Greek and Roman writers?
  3. Discuss Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s communism.
  4. Discuss the economic opinions of Xenophon.
  5. What views concerning commerce were held by Aristotle, Xenophon, and Thomas Aquinas?
  6. What traces of the influence of Aristotle do you find in the theories of the Schoolmen concerning just price and usury?
  7. Discuss Ashley’s views of the Scholastic doctrine of usury.
  8. Discuss the change that occurred in the doctrine of usury between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1910-11.

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ECONOMICS 15
Year-End Examination, 1910-11 

  1. Discuss briefly the development of theories of interest from Aquinas to Turgot.
  2. Discuss the economic opinions of John Hales.
  3. Discuss the relation of mercantilism to the economic thought of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
  4. Discuss the economic opinions of Mun and Davenant.
  5. Discuss the theories of Boisguilbert and Cantillon.
  6. Compare English mercantilism with French and Italian.
  7. Discuss critically Ingram’s treatment of mercantilism.
  8. Discuss Adam Smith’s relation to earlier ethical and political thought; his relation to mercantilist writers; his indebtedness to the physiocrats. How far can his work claim originality?

Source: Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, …, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College. June 1911, p. 44. In Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, 1873-1915 (HUC 7000.25). Box 9. Examination Papers, 1910-11, p. 51.

Image Source: Chateau de Versailles. Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, intendant et ministre des Finances (1727-1781).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Methods of Social Reform. Course description, enrollment, final exam. Carver, 1910-1911

Seeds of Socialism

In this post you find the final exam, course description, and enrollment figures for the eighth iteration of Thomas Nixon Carver’s course that dealt with schemes of social reform, socialism/communism/single-tax. The economics of socialism was offered in some form or other throughout the first half of the twentieth century. 1910-11 was still a long-way from the great debates about the desirability/feasibility of central planning. 

Links to earlier and selected later versions of the course.

Brief bibliography by Carver for serious students on the economics of socialism (1910)

_______________________

Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

14b 2hf. Methods of Social Reform. — Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Carver.

A study of those plans of social amelioration which involve either a reorganization of society, or a considerable extension of the functions of the state. The course begins with a critical examination of the theories of the leading socialistic writers, with a view to getting a clear understanding of the reasoning which lies back of socialistic movements, and of the economic conditions which tend to make this reasoning acceptable. A similar study will be made of the Single Tax Movement, of State Socialism and the public ownership of monopolistic enterprises, and of Christian Socialism, so called.

This course is open only to those who have passed satisfactorily in Course 14a.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), pp. 53-54.

_______________________

Course Enrollment
1910-11

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

Total 73: 6 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 32 Juniors, 7 Sophomore, 1 Freshman, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 49.

 _______________________

ECONOMICS 14b
Year-End Examination, 1910-11

Give as full and complete answers
as possible in the time allowed.
Allow about thirty minutes to each question.
  1. In what respects are socialism and anarchism alike and in what respects are they unlike?
  2. Comment briefly upon the leading points in the creed of “orthodox socialism.”
  3. Compare the views of the socialist and the economist as to the source of interest.
  4. Compare economic competition with political competition as a means of selecting men to manage the productive resources of a country.
  5. Discuss the question: Is it better that the income derived from the rent of land should go to private individuals to be expended by them, or that it should go into the public treasury to be expended by public officials?
  6. Discuss the question: Would the single tax eliminate poverty?

Source: Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, …, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College. June 1911, p. 44. In Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, 1873-1915 (HUC 7000.25). Box 9. Examination Papers, 1910-11, p. 51.

__________________________

Earlier Course Materials

Pre-Carver
Carver’s courses
Post-Carver:

 

Image Source:  Udo J. Keppler, “The Seeds of Socialism” from Puck (12 February 1908). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

A gigantic boar wearing a crown with “$” and a shawl labeled “Plutocratic Greed” and holding the U.S. Capitol dome labeled “Special Privilege”, inverted to form a bucket from which it is sowing seeds labeled “Abuse of Power, Arrogance, [and] Contempt of Law”onto a field sprouting “Socialist votes”. It is stepping on an American flag and a Liberty cap.