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Harvard. Principles of Economics. Description, Enrollment, Exam Questions. Andrew, Mixter, and Sprague. 1902-1903

Over 500 students enrolled in the introductory course “Outlines of Economics” offered at Harvard in 1902-03. Frank Taussig continued his sick-leave through the academic year 1902-03 which is why his name was listed in the (ex ante) course description from June 1902 but not included in the departmental staffing report to the president (ex post) for 1902-03. 

Artifacts for the same course offered during the academic year 1901-1902 have been posted earlier. It is worth noting that of the three required texts listed below, Hadley’s Economics replaced Walker’s Political Economy (Advanced Course) that had been assigned for the previous year.

Fun Fact: Gilbert Holland Montague, one of the teaching assistants, left economics to become an anti-trust lawyer who quite apparently had the means to collect over 15,000 books and 20,000 pamphlets during his lifetime. He even owned a 14th century copy of the Magna Carta.

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Course Description, 1902-03
Economics 1

Course 1 is introductory to the other courses. It is intended to give a general survey of the subject for those who take but one course in Economics, and also to prepare for the further study of the subject in advanced courses. It is usually taken with most profit by undergraduates in the second or third year of their college career. Students who plan to take it in their first year are strongly advised to consult the instructor in advance. History 1 or Government 1, or both of these courses, will usually be taken to advantage before Economies 1.

[…]

Primarily for Undergraduates

  1. Outlines of Economics. — Lectures on Social Questions and Monetary Legislation. , Th., Sat., at 11. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig, Drs. [Abram Piatt] Andrew, [Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] Sprague, and [Charles Whitney] Mixter, and Messrs. [Gilbert Holland] Montague and [Vanderveer] Custis.

Course 1 gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject. It undertakes a consideration of the principles of production, distribution, exchange, money, banking, and international trade. The relations of labor and capital, the present organization of industry, and the recent currency legislation of the United States, will be treated in outline.

Course 1 will be conducted partly by lectures, partly by oral discussion in sections. A course of reading will be laid down, and weekly written exercises will test the work of students in following systematically and continuously the lectures and the prescribed reading. Large parts of Mill’s Principles of Political Economy, of Hadley’s Economics, and of Dunbar’s Theory and History of Banking will be read; and these books must be procured by all members of the course.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.

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Course Enrollment, 1902-03
Economics 1

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

Economics 1. Drs. [Abram Piatt] Andrew, [Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] Sprague, and [Charles Whitney] Mixter, and Messrs. [Charles] Beardsley [Jr.], [Vanderveer] Custis, and [Gilbert Holland] Montague. — Outlines of Economics.

Total 514: 2 Gr., 25 Se., 108 Ju., 270 So., 39 Fr., 70 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 67.

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Mid-year Examination 1903
Economics 1

Omit one question

  1. The population of the United States has increased from 23 millions in 1850 to about 80 millions in 1902 (not including the population of the islands acquired from Spain), and yet the “standard of living” has not fallen. Can you reconcile this with the Malthusian theory?
  2. “Economic rent and net profits are like the producers’ and consumers’ surplus described at the beginning of the chapter in being differential gains. . . .”
    Explain these terms and discuss Hadley’s comparison of profits and rent.
  3. How in your opinion does the use of labor-saving machinery in agriculture affect the value of agricultural produce, and the rent of agricultural land?
  4. What would you suppose to be the effect of immigration upon the production of wealth, upon wages, and upon the value of land in the United States?
  5. A recent Secretary of the Navy, in defending large naval appropriations, wrote as follows: “It is a taking thing to say that $100,000,000 could be better spent for education or charity; and yet, on the other hand, $100,000,000 spent in the employment of labor is the very best use to which it can be put. There is no charity in the interest of the popular welfare or of education so valuable as the employment of labor.”
    Discuss the economic argument implied in this statement.
  6. Should a railroad be compelled to charge the same rate per ton-mile for all goods of equal bulk? Why? or why not?
  7. Suppose that one piano manufacturer buys out all of the other piano manufacturers in the country, can he now sell the former aggregate output of all the factories at an advanced price? Give reasons for your answer.
  8. Explain by the theory of the value of money why prices are high in times of speculation and low when a period of depression sets in.
  9. Could a paper currency depreciate in value, if a government pledged the public lands for its redemption? Give reasons.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).

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Year-end Examination 1903
Economics 1

Omit one question from each group.

I

  1. What is meant by

unearned increment,
marginal utility,
double standard,
rapidity of circulation?

  1. Explain the relation of the law of diminishing returns to rent.
  2. It wages are determined by the productivity of labor, how would you explain the circumstance that labor organizations which impose restrictions upon individual output, have been accompanied by a rise of wages?
  3. What considerations are likely to determine the prices of trust-made commodities?

II

  1. In what ways would the repeal of our tariff duties affect our export trade?
  2. Former Speaker Reed, in an article on Protection, said: “Any system which enables our people to do our own work is a system which can give the best results. . . . The whole nation gets the benefit of it?”
    Discuss this statement.
  3. Give the principal reasons for and against the adoption of the policy of the single tax.
  4. How is the community served by the produce exchanges? by the stock exchanges?

III

  1. (a) What kinds of money are susceptible of increase under existing legislation in the United States? In what way?
    (b) In what way do clearing house loan certificates add to the circulating medium?
    Under what circumstances may they be issued?
  2. Suppose the deposits of the national banks to increase one hundred million dollars, would the position of the banks be rendered stronger thereby?
  3. Are the national banks of the United States unfairly granted the privilege of earning a double profit in respect to their circulation?
  4. In his last annual report, the Secretary of the Treasury writes: “I think a far better course for the present at least would be to provide an elastic currency available in every banking community and sufficient for the needs of that locality. This, I think, can be accomplished . . . . by several methods.”
    Explain some of these methods.

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

Image Sources: Abram Piatt Andrew (1920) from Wikimedia Commons. O.M.W. Sprague from Harvard Class Album 1920, p. 25.

 

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USA. Joseph Schumpeter’s Roadshow. 1st Quarter, 1914

Joseph Schumpeter spent the 1913-14 academic year as Austria’s first exchange professor at Columbia University. But before heading home, he went on a whirlwind tour of American universities as documented in the following collection of news reports. Cornell, George Washington, Johns Hopkins, the Universities of Illinois, Wisconsin, and California, and apparently culminating with lectures in Taussig’s Ec 11 course at Harvard. All this between mid-January and mid-March 1914.

I have not seen the above portrait of Schumpeter before. He looks much less like Nosferatu’s twin and one could say has even leading-man material if only his ears were pinned back a notch.

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Dr. Schumpeter Near End of Course as Austrian Exchange Professor at Columbia University

Professor Joseph A. Schumpeter, who was sent to this country by the Austrian Government as an exchange professor, will soon complete his course of lectures on economic theory and on the problem of social classes, at Columbia University, where he has been since last October, and will visit a number of other leading universities in this country.

Professor Schumpeter was born in 1883, in Triesch in the Austrian Province of Moravia, and was educated at the “Theresianum” in Vienna. Then he entered the University of Vienna where he took his degree of Doctor in Law and Political Science in 1906, and gained locally some representation within the little circle of students of economic theory called the Austrian School. After spending some years in travel, he began lecturing on economies at the same university from which he was, at the age of 26, called to the chair of Political Economy in the University of Gernowitz. In 1911 he accepted a call to the University of Graz in Styria. When the Austrian Government, following the example given by the German Government, concluded an agreement with Columbia University for the exchange of professors, Schumpeter was selected to be the first visiting professor in this country.

Source: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. January 14, 1914, p. 12.

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Predicts More War in Balkan Frontier

“Conditions as they exist in the Balkans now cannot last, I am sorry to say that the sad story of crime and suffering that we have been witnessing we shall have to see over again before long,” said Prof. Joseph Schumpeter in his lecture last night on “Austria’s Balkan Policy.”

“The Balkan situation awakens in us a multitude of passions,” said Dr. Schumpeter. “We see burning and murdered villages, and conditions growing worse and worse. Austria is very little known.

“A lot of false notions have arisen concerning Austria. It is a country of 50,000,000 inhabitants composed of a combination of different races and therefore gives statesmanship tasks of a peculiar kind. It is impossible to appeal to national patriotism in Austria for it is composed of several races apathetic to each other. The majority of the people are Slavs, but there are a great many Germans, Romanians, Italians and Servians. It is very difficult to adjust their claims for national supremacy.

“To keep the Turkish frontier is still Austria’s main care.

“What Austria wanted, and wants still, is to have a group of states on national lines so arranged that they will last for some time and not be under the influence of Russia. The Albanians held their own against Turkey for some time and finally Austria made a treaty with Italy that, no matter what happened to Turkey, they should combine to save the Albanian state.”

Source: The Ithaca Journal. January 17, 1915, p. 5.

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Admires Quick Wit Found in America

Professor Joseph Schumpeter of the University of Graz, Austria, expresses himself as delighted with Cornell University and everything he has seen here. Professor Schumpeter, who gave the lecture on “The Balkan Policies of Austria,” is now Exchange Professor at Columbia University. He has gained the reputation of being one of the most promising economists of Europe.

“You have a wonderful University here, splendidly equipped,” he declared. “The situation is ideal. I have been very much interested in my work at Columbia and feel that we Europeans can learn a lot from you. My work at Columbia has been mostly with the graduate students and I have not been able to get into as close touch with the undergraduates as I would have liked to. I have been especially struck by the quick-wittedness and energy of the American undergraduates. They also have an aptitude for intelligent discussion which is lacking in Europe. The whole spirit of fellowship is so splendid.

“The social life in America is remarkably pleasant. In other countries you take much longer to make friends. In my short stay here I have already made scores of excellent friends. American audiences are also so pleasant to talk to. I feel less intellectual sympathy while talking before a German audience than I do here. Unlike Europe all classes of society seem equally interested, the workingmen as much so as the richest families.”

Source: The Ithaca Journal, Jan 19, 1914, p. 9.

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Talk on the Balkans by Prof. Schumpeter
University of Gratz Educator Entertains Audience at National Museum

Prof. Joseph Schumpeter delivered a lecture on the present and prospective situation in the Balkans at the New National Museum last night, to which the general public was invited, the audience including students of the eastern question and a number of diplomats. Dr. Schumpeter is exchange professor between the University of Gratz, where he is professor of political science and economics, and Columbia University, New York, where he has just completed his series of lectures.

Last night’s address was delivered under the auspices of George Washington University, and Dr. Schumpeter was introduced by Rear Admiral Charles Herbert Stockton, U. S.N., retired, president of George Washington.

Dr. Schumpeter gave an historical account of the development of the Ottoman empire from the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 up to the present time. He declared that outside of Greece, where the situation has been practically clarified, the Balkan troubles have not been set at rest, and that further trouble may be expected in the Balkan countries at any time.

Real Root of Troubles.

He pointed out that the real root of many of the troubles of those countries has been differences because of race, the clash between Mohammedan and Christian, which he said is likely to continue to the end of the world. He offered, for example, the experiences of Great Britain, in charge of the largest number of Mohammedans in the world, in India.

Dr. Schumpeter devoted considerable attention to the part that Austria-Hungary is playing in the Balkan situation. Since 1908 the Balkan provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been recognized as a part of Austria, and it is around the possession of these provinces that considerable interest lies. Austria-Hungary was permitted by the congress of Berlin in 1878 to occupy and administer these two Balkan provinces, but it was not until 1908 that they were formally annexed.

Source: Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), February 5, 1914, p. 9.

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Balkan War Policy of Austria Defended
Prof. Schumpeter Says Nation Must Control of Principalities Along the Danube.
Great Britain is Criticised.

John Bull was said to have in his charge the greatest Mohammedan power in the world by Prof. Joseph Schumpeter, professor of political science and economics at the University of Gratz, Austria, in an Interesting lecture last night at the National Museum.

“No less than 90,000,000 Mohammedans are under British rule, yet England has seen fit to attack the right of Austria to establish a mere legal pact by taking over Herzegovina and Boris and assuring to these two countries safety and security,” said Prof. Schumpeter.

Rear Admiral Stockton, president of Georgetown University, under the auspices of which institution the lecture was given, presided.

Prof. Schumpeter gave a comprehensive historical account of the development of the Ottoman empire since the conquest of Constantinople, in 1453, up to the present day.

In closing, Prof. Schumpeter asserted that in his opinion, outside of Greece, where he said the situation has been pretty well clarified, the Balkan troubles have not been definitely put at rest. He made it clear that he looked for further trouble.

Source: The Washington Herald, February 5, 1914, p. 3.

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Predicts Third Balkan War.
Prof. Schumpeter of Austria, Is Pessimistic in Lecture.

Under the auspices of George Washington University, Prof. Joseph Schumpeter, dean of political science and economics at the University of Gratz, Austria, and exchange professor between his university and Columbia, spoke Wednesday in the auditorium of the new National Museum on “The Balkan Situation from the Austrian Viewpoint.” Among those present were Konstantin von Masirevich, first secretary, and the Baron Freudenthal, attache of the Austrian embassy; Rear Admiral C. H. Stockton, president of George Washington, Prof. Richard Cobb, secretary of the university; Dean Charles E. Munroe, Dean Charles Noble Gregory and L. Cleveland McNemar, assistant professor of international law.

Prof. Schumpeter claimed that the Austrian annexation of Bosnia and Herzogovina in 1910 was warranted by circumstances. He said that Balkan peace is merely transitory; that another war is sure to come.

Source: The Washington Post, February 8, 1914, p. 2.

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Johns Hopkins University.

Two foreign educators lectured at the Johns Hopkins university last week. Dr. Joseph Schumpeter, of the University of Gratz, and first Austrian exchange professor at Columbia, delivered five lectures before the department of political economy….

Source: The Oregon Daily Journal. February 15, 1914, p. 48.

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Vienna Man at Madison.
Exchange Professor Studies Wisconsin Industrial Laws.

(Special to The Northwestern.) Madison, Wis., Feb. 10. — Dr. J. A. Schumpeter, exchange professor from Vienna to Columbia university, spent today here investigating the work of the state industrial commission. He will leave tonight for St. Paul, where he intends to make a similar investigation. Dr. Schumpeter is a recognized expert on labor legislation, and in addition to investigating the work of the commission held a conference with Prof. John R. Commons.

Source: The Oshkosh Northwestern, February 10, 1914, p. 9.

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Professor Schumpeter has very busy two days here.
Austrian makes four addresses and attends several affairs.

Four addresses were given by Prof. Josef Schumpeter during his stay here from last Saturday morning until Sunday night, when he left for the University of California via Chicago. All of his addresses were along the line of the social sciences in which he enjoys wide fame for his great ability.

Professor Schumpeter’s first talk was given Saturday noon to the University Club where he took lunch. There he gave a talk on smoke. His second, and most important address, was to the combined seminars of the social science departments. It was given in room 304 of Lincoln Hall to an audience which contained almost every faculty and student member of the two seminars. His discussion was upon the theory of economic development. The lecturer paid especial attention to the place of interest and economic crises in static and dynamic states. Although he is an Austrian. and from the University of Graz, his lecture was delivered in perfect English, and was of profound interest to those who were privileged to attend.

With some eighteen University people, Professor Schumpeter took dinner at the Beardsley Saturday evening. Here again he spoke, this time giving an address on “The Austrian Attitude to the Balkan Situation.” He was followed by Professors E. B. Greene, A. H. Lybyer, L. M. Larson and W. F. Dodd, each of whom spoke on some aspect of world politics.

A reception was given the Professor at the home of Dean Kinley on Sunday afternoon. Here he addressed those present on “The Aspects of Austrian Social and Political Life in University Government.” Sunday night, Professor Schumpeter took the train for Chicago.

Source: The Daily Illi (Urbana, Illinois). February 17, 1914. Page 4.

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Talks of Marx’ Economy

University of California, Feb. 25. — Dr. J. A. Schumpeter, eminent Austrian economist, addressed an audience at California hall yesterday on “The Economy of Karl Marx.” Among the points he made were that one could believe in Marx’ doctrines without being a Socialist; his theories of value and exploitation of the working class were receiving more and more general acceptance; he was a “flaming propagandist whose followers regarded him as little less than inspired.”

He addressed also during the day classes in economics on interest rates and classical and modern economic theories.

Source: Oakland Tribune. February 25, 1914, p. 4.

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Brings Austria’s Message to Both Columbia and Harvard

The first Austrian exchange professor at Columbia will deliver a series of lectures on economic theory at Harvard in March. His lectures will be in connection with some of the courses given by Professor Taussig on economic theory.

Professor Schumpeter was born in Triesch, Moravia, in 1883, and received his early education in Vienna, where he also attended the University. He was awarded the degree of doctor of law and political science in 1906 and after spending several years in travel, established himself as a docent at the University of Vienna in 1909. A few months later, he was appointed professor of political economy in the University of Czernowitz, and in 1911 he was appointed professor of political economy in the University of Graz.

Professor Schumpeter’s own system of economic theory is developed in two books, “Wesen und Hauptinhalt der Theoretischen Nationalökonomie” and “Theorie der Wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung.” In addition, he has published a number of important papers. He has also contributed a history of economic theory to Schönberg’s “Handbuch der Politischen Oekonomie,” which is to appear shortly, and has furthermore prepared a treatise on banking law for a manual of mercantile law to be published in the near future.

In recent years Professor Schumpeter’s interest has been largely in the field of sociology, but he has not yet published anything in this department. As an economist, Professor Schumpeter is a member of the Austrian school — the brilliant group of writers headed by Böhm-Bawerk and Wieser of the University of Vienna, who have rescued economic theory from the eclipse with which it was for a time threatened by the able but exaggerated criticisms of the leaders of the German historical school. Though agreeing with his Viennese colleagues in many of their theories, he has shown great independence and originality in his treatment of the phases of economics, such as the interest problem, to which he has given particular attention. Thus, in spite of his comparative youth, he has won a place in the very front rank of contemporary European economists. His fluent command of spoken English and his intimate knowledge of American economic literature make him a most attractive lecturer.

Source: Boston Evening Transcript. February 4, 1914.

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“The Theory of Crises”at 4.30
March 16, 1914

Professor Josef Schumpeter, an Austrian economist of the University of Vienna, will lecture upon “The Theory of Crises” before the Seminary of Economics in Upper Dane this afternoon at 4.30 o’clock. Professor Schumpeter has written two books upon Economic. Theory which are of high quality, and have attracted a great deal of attention.

Source: The Harvard Crimson. March 16, 1914.

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Noted Economist’s Last Lecture

All members of the University interested in economics are invited to hear Professor Josef Schumpeter, of the University of Vienna, lecture upon “Economic Theory” in Professor Taussig’s course, Economics 11, this afternoon at 2.30 o’clock. This will be the last of a series of lectures given by Professor Schumpeter, who is this year conducting courses at Columbia University. The lecture will take place in Emerson H.

Source: The Harvard Crimson. March 18, 1914.

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Prof. Schumpeter Sails.
Says That America Made a Deep Impression on Him.

Professor Joseph Schumpeter, the first Austrian exchange professor in America, who is returning to his home University of Graz, Austria, sailed on the Martha Washington yesterday. The professor has lectured on social problems, money systems, democracy and other branches of science, has been with Columbia University until the end of January, when he left for a tour through all of the leading universities of this country, the tour extending to San Francisco. Mr. Schumpeter said that he was sorry to leave America, which had made a deep impression upon him.

“The big American universities,” the professor stated, “are far better than the average Austrian and even European university. America has a bigger and better body of scientists at each university, and the student’s material is of a much higher type than that of European schools. The American student wants to learn. He has the earnest desire to go to the bottom of science. He wants to make headway in the world, whereas the Austrian student visits a university for reasons of tradition, social standing and title.”

Asked what he thought the greatest American achievement, the professor answered that the “one-man management” was most appealing to him. It was far better, he claimed to have one man run a business, a university, and even a political party, than to have the European system of sharing power and responsibilities.

Four pretty young sisters, all of whom are ardent suffragists, left on board the big Austrian liner for Italy, France and Germany. The fair travelers are Misses Catherine, Ella S., Grace and Margaret Switzer of Manhattan. Their purpose is to show their European sisters how superfluous man really is, for never during their trip will they tolerate or accept the services of any man nor will they speak to any man or stand for being addressed by a man.

Source: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. March 22, 1914, p.74

Image Source: Boston Evening Transcript. February 4, 1914. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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Harvard. Law and Economics. Syllabus and Exams. Wyman, 1901-1902

 

In addition to a course in accounting that was introduced into the undergraduate curriculum at Harvard for students expecting to go on into business, the following course taught by a young Law School lecturer, Bruce Wyman (b. 15 June 1875; d. 21 June 1926) was offered to provide future businessmen an overview of commercial and trade law. Students expecting to go to study law were explicitly not encouraged to take the course.

The post begins with the long personal report Wyman wrote about his life and career for the 25th anniversary of his Harvard Class of 1896. A long description, enrollment figures, syllabus, and final exam questions for his 1901-1902 course “Principles of Law in their Application to Industrial Problems” provide the sort of content that Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is proudest of.

We encountered Bruce Wyman in an earlier post. Harvard President Lowell complained about Wyman’s course in the economics department having too soft a grade distribution (making it a “snap” course). Also we discover the somewhat scandalous circumstances that led to Wyman’s forced resignation of his Harvard Law professorship in December 1913.

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Bruce Wyman
1921 report to Class of 1896

BORN at Boston, Mass., June 15, 1876. Son of Ferdinand A., Harriet A. (Bruce) Wyman.

PREPARED AT Chauncy Hall School, Boston, Mass.

YEARS IN COLLEGE: 1893-96. DEGREES: A.B.; A.M. 1897; LL.B. 1900.

MARRIED: Mary Ethel Andrews, June 30, 1902, Cambridge, Mass. CHILDREN: Andrews, Oct. 3, 1905; Rosemary, Dec. 8, 1908.

OCCUPATION: Counselor at Law and Professor of Law.

ADDRESS: (business) 617-619 Old South Bldg., Boston, Mass.; (home) 15 Winnetaska Road, Waban, Mass.

WHILE the blank for my Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report has been on my desk for months, in my file of matters requiring attention immediately, but always buried by other demands more pressing, I have from time to time asked other members of the class what they regarded as most characteristic of the Twenty-fifth year, and we all agreed that it was the busiest year. We were all of us still endeavoring to do everything to which we had become devoted successively during these years, notwithstanding all the accumulation of our interests; but we realized that in this year we were reaching the climax of what is possible in view of what some one has called the central tragedy of existence, that there are only three hundred and sixty-five days to the year. And hereafter, we appreciated that we must soon be withdrawing from one activity after another as we grew older; just at present, therefore, I seem to be driven by what I must do next, although I look forward to the time when I may begin to choose what I will prefer to do.

Among all the things of interest to me in the years that I was a student at Harvard, getting my A.B. (Summa Cum), A.M. (Final Honors) and LL. B. (Cum Laude), I had thought in that youthful pursuit of scholastic honors that it would be impossible for me to be busier ever again in my life. But when in 1900 upon final graduation I was admitted to the Massachusetts bar and was appointed a lecturer at the Harvard Law School, I found, as we were taught in psychology, that there are powers of man in reserve which may be drawn upon far beyond apparent capacity. Ever since that year I have been engaged both in the practice of law as an art and the teaching of it as a science, endeavoring at times to approximate the impossibility of devoting all of my time to both. The proportions in this have varied — in the first ten years being principally a professor and incidentally a consultant, and now actively a practitioner and incidentally a lecturer. But, fortunately, in either case I have found the vocation more interesting than the avocation.

In these twenty years of teaching, principally at the Harvard Law School and the Law School of University of Chicago, incidentally in the Department of Economics of Harvard College and the School of Engineering of Harvard University, and especially in the Blackstone Institute of Chicago and the Portia Law School of Boston, I have taught the subjects of private business corporation and public service companies, combinations in restraint of trade, administrative law of regulating commissions, contracts and sales, suretyship and mortgage, wills and deeds, conflict of laws and constitutional law. And in all of this I have had the incalculable advantage of discussing these subjects as they have developed in this country with thousands of students.

During this time I have written much on the subjects of the law with which I have identified myself, largely concerning legal control of economic activity, particularly with regard to public utilities and business combinations. Altogether my writings cover some ten thousand pages, in preparation for which I have examined for citation over a hundred thousand decisions. Certain of my treatises of these subjects have come to be regarded as standard, being repeatedly cited by courts and commissions and in briefs and in arguments. The Railroad Rate Regulation in its second edition is used by traffic officials and regulating bodies throughout the country; and the Public Service Companies in its third edition is used in the class room in some twenty five law schools in the United States. Such authority as these books have attained I believe is due quite as much to my experience in practice as to my work in libraries.

My practice has been unusually interesting. I have been at times counsel for most of the New England railway lines and for many of the coastwise navigation companies in a great variety of cases involving important matters of policy; and I have occasionally acted for Western railways and terminals. Recently, I have been more actively engaged as counsel for other public utilities, particularly gas and electric companies in New England and the Central States, and especially concerned with hydro-electric constructions and fuel gas developments. I am at present associated with the management of certain of these and with banking houses that control groups of utilities. And general corporation practice is almost as varied as American affairs; so in the course of years I find myself for a time being in almost every kind of business. For instance, among the papers on my desk at this writing are organizations for a commercial finance company, a national trading syndicate, a chemical works, a textile plant, a chain of hotels and a pulp wood domain.

From the field in which I have specialized I have been called upon for civic services at various times. For a Governor of our Commonwealth, I drafted a Public Service Commission Bill for which I spoke throughout the State. For the National Civic Federation, I acted as counsel for a Committee on Public Utilities in getting together a volume including all of the Commission Laws under analytical headings. For the Directors of the Port of Boston, I have made a report on switching rights looking toward unified terminals. And I later drafted a plan upon which a conference of the Governors of New England upon railroad consolidation was based. I am a member of the Newton Republican City Committee, and I have attended conventions as a delegate.

The stethoscope kept me out of the war; but as a legal adviser to our Draft Board, I saw to it that every lad who belonged there went in. By the chances of practice I am often called upon by national associations and commercial bodies to represent the community in bringing about adjustments with utilities. And I can seldom resist an invitation, sufficiently urged, to speak before associations and conferences, clubs and unions, trade banquets and college commencements. I have taken my part in the drives of recent years, and I have served on boards of charities. For the thesis I am here defending, describing myself without modesty as exemplification, is that it is only by living strenuously that one may enjoy many lives within the span allotted to one.

There is not much left for me to add to all this unblushing autobiography, except those things more personal which round out a life as full as mine. My family becomes increasingly interesting to me, with my son at sixteen just completing his preparation for college and my daughter at twelve just beginning hers. It has been a matter of congratulation to me that I can still scan Virgil and extract cube root, so that I have not yet reached the age where I will be looked down upon by them. A few years ago, after much searching, we bought a long colonial farm house out in Waban on the river, which my wife and I, without architects or decorators, rebuilt and furnished consistently with its style (as you may see from the photographs of it in the files of House Beautiful), into a home to which we hope the children will ever return for the anniversaries of the years to come. The country clubs of the neighborhood provide us with all our outdoor and indoor sports.

My practice in organizing and reorganizing corporations and passing upon their bond issues and financial adjustments gives me the opportunity at times to travel about the United States and to foreign countries and keeps me in touch with lawyers in the large cities and the affairs of the world. With the five thousand Harvard men that I have known in the twenty years that I was at the university as undergraduate and graduate, instructor and professor, I hardly ever go upon a train or steamboat or stop at a hotel or club in these journeyings and conferences, where I do not happen upon some one I have known at college, so that I have come to realize as most of us do the acquaintance one makes in college is the best of all one gains thereby.

Source: Harvard College Class of 1896. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report (1921), pp. 658-662.

Publications of Bruce Wyman

Books:

Cases on public service companies, public carriers, public works and other public utilities.(With J. H. Beale.) Cambridge, Harv. Law Review Publ. Assoc., 1902: — 2d ed., Ibid ., 1909: — 3d ed. , Ibid ., 1920.

Cases on restraint of trade. Cambridge, Harv. Law Review Publ. Assoc., 1902-04 . 5 pt. [Part 1 (second edition); Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5]

The principles of the administrative law governing the relations of public officers. St. Paul, Keefe-Davidson, 1903.

A selection of cases on mortgages. Cambridge, Harv. Law Review Publ. Assoc., 1903: — 2d ed., Ibid ., 1903: – revised ed., 1906.

The law of railroad rate regulation. (With J. H. Beale.) Boston, W.J. Nagel, 1906: — 2d ed., New York, Bake , Voorhis, 1915.

Control of the market; a solution of the trust problem. New York, Moffat, Yard, 1911.

The special law governing public service corporations. New York, Baker, Voorhis, 1911. 2 vol. [Volume I; Volume II]

Cases on engineering contracts, a selection from Cases on the Law of Contracts, ed. by Samuel Williston. Boston, Little, Brown, 1904.

Articles:

Equity. Cyclopædia of Government and Law, 1913.

Unfair competition. Annals of American Academy, 1913.

Monopolies. Cyclopædia of Law and Procedure, 1914.

Public service companies. Modern American Law, 1915.

Together with some twenty-five magazine articles on law, economics, government and politics in the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, Green Bag, Railway Age Gazette and Boston Transcript, 1901-1921. 

Source: Harvard College Class of 1896. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report (1921), p. 714.

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Course Description
ECONOMICS 21
1901-1902

For Undergraduates and Graduates

Principles of Law in their Application to Industrial Problems. Three times a week. Mr. Wyman.

Course 21 considers certain rules of the law governing the conduct of modern trade and the organization of modern industry. The course is designed especially for students who mean to enter business life, and who wish to secure some contact with the law and some understanding of its methods, such as will be of service in a business career. As it deals with the course of adjudication and legislation on questions of special importance in the economic development of modern times, it will also be of advantage to those who wish to equip themselves for the intelligent discussion of questions having both legal and economic aspects.

In the one part of the course will be considered the law governing certain combinations of capital and of labor. It will be seen what contracts in restraint of trade are considered in violation of the common law, and what it has been attempted to prevent by statutes. It will also appear what action by such combinations is held to be a tort at common law, and what it has been proposed to make so by legislation. It will further be discussed what combinations to control the market are crimes by common law and by statute. The limits to be placed upon competition in trade and the demarcation to be drawn between fraudulent and permitted dealing will be the final subject in this part of the course. The object will be at once to give the students training in the methods of legal reasoning, and to inform them regarding the main principles involved.

In the other part of the course will be considered the general question raised by the association of men for the carrying on of business. This will require a study of the main principles involved in the various forms of the corporation. The stress will be laid upon the conception of the association as an entity, and the liabilities and capacities of the officers and stockholders. It will be considered how far the industrial organism may be affected by judicial decision and by legislation; what tendencies are manifested by the courts; and what policies appear on the part of the legislatures. The object will be to equip the student for better understanding of questions he will meet in a business career, and of the public problems presented by the growth of this form of organization.

The conduct of the course will be by the reading and discussion of selected cases from the law reports and of the text of typical statutes and bills.

Course 21 is open to Seniors and Graduates who have taken Economics 1. Those who propose to study law as a profession are not advised to take it.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science (June 21, 1901), University Publications, New Series, No. 16, pp. 47-48.

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Course Enrollment
1901-1902
ECONOMICS 21

Economics 21. Mr. Wyman. — Principles of Law in their Application to Industrial Problems.

Total 33: 24 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 78.

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Syllabus
ECONOMICS 21
CASES ON COMMERCIAL LAW

FIRST TOPIC. — COMPETITION

I. To What Extent Competition Is Allowed

(A) Free Competition

Schoolmasters Case, Y. B. 11 H. 4, 47. A.679
Pudsey Gas Co. v. Bradford, L. R. 15 Eq. 167.

(B) Unfree Competition

Hix v. Gardner, 2 Bulstrode, 115.
B. & L. R. R. v. S. & L. R. R., 2 Gray, 1.

II. By What Methods Competition Is Allowed

(A) Fair Competition

Snowden v. Noah, Hopkins Ch. 347.
Parson v. Gillipsee, 1898, A. C. 239.
Choynski v. Cohen, 39 Cal. 501.
Tallerman v. Dowsing Co., 1900, 1 Ch. 1.
Ayer v. Rushton, 7 Daly, 9.
Johnson v. Hitchcock, 15 Johns. 185. A. 634
White v. Mellen, 1895, A. C. 154.
Ajello v. Worsley, 1898, 1 Ch. 274.
Young v. Hickens, 6 Q. B. 606.
Walsh v. Dwight, 40 App. Div. 513.
Manufacturers Co. v. Longley, 20 R. 1. 87.

(B) Unfair Competition

  1. By inducing persons dealing with another to commit a breach of legal duty to him.

Hart v. Aldridge, Cowp. 54. A. 584.
Boston Glass Manuf. v. Binney, 4 Pick. 425.
Lumley v. Gye, 2 E. & B. 216. A. 600.
Bowen v. Hall, L. R. 6 Q. B. D. 333. A. 613.
Laly v. Cantwell, 30 Mo. App. 524.
Ashley v. Dixon, 48 N. Y. 430.
Chambers v. Baldwin, 91 Ky. 121.
Heaton Co. v. Dick, 55 Fed. 23.
N. C. & L. R. R. v. McConnell, 82 Fed. 65.

  1. By influencing persons dealing another who owe no legal duty to him.

a. By fraud.

Blofield v. Payne, 4 B. & A. 410. A. 635.
Coates v. Holbrook, 2 Sandf. Ch. 586.
Materne v. Horwitz, 18 Jones & Sp. 41.
Sawyer Co. v. Hubbard, 32 Fed. 388.
Morgan v. Wendover, 43 Fed. 420.
Wamsutta Mills v. Fox, 49 Fed. 141.
Cook v. Ross, 73 Fed. 203.
Van Camp v. Cruikshank, 90 Fed. 814.
Lawrence Co. v. Tenn Co., 138 U. S. 537.
Johnson v. Ewing, 7 A. C. 219.
Stone v. Carlan, 13 Law Reporter, 360. A. 630.
Boulnois v. Peake, 13 Ch. D. 513 N.
Birmingham Co. v. Powell, 1897, A. C. 710.
National Co. v. Baker, 95 Fed. 135.
Croft v. Day, 7 Beav. 84.
Baker Co. v. Saunders, 80 Fed. 889.
Singer Co. 2. June Co., 163 U. S. 88.
Brewery Co. v. Brewery Co., 1898, 1 Ch. 539.
Canal Co. v. Clark, 13 Wall. 11.
Wotherspoon v. Currie, L. R. 5 H. L. 508.
Waltham Co. v. U. S. Co., 173 Mass. 85.
Reddaway v. Banham, 1896, A. C. 199.
Ratcliffe v. Evans, 1892, 2 Q. B. 524. A. 642.
Rice v. Manley, 67 N. Y. 82. A. 663.
Hughes v. McDonough, 43 N. J. 459. A. 666.

b. By disparagement.

(1) Of person.

Harmon v. Delaney, 2 Str. 898.
Secor v. Harris, 18 Barb. 425. A. 406.
Davy v. Davy, 50 N. Y. S. 161.
Harmon v. Falle, L. R. 4 A. C. 247. A. 640.
Morassee v. Brochu, 151 Mass. 567. A. 652.
Australian Co. v. Bennett, 1894, A. C. 284.
Paris v. Levy, 9 C. B. (n.s.) 342.
Boynton v. Shaw Co., 146 Mass. 221.
Bradstreet Co. v. Gill, 72 Tex. 496.

(2) Of goods.

American Co. v. Gates, 85 Fed. 729.
Jenner v. A’beckett, L. R. 7 Q. B. D. 11.
Malachy v. Soper, 3 Bing. N. C. 371. A. 677.
Young v. Macrae, 3 B. & S. 634.
Western Co. v. Lawes Co., L. R. 9 Exch. 218. A. 623.
Hubbuck v. Wilkinson, 1899, 1 Q. B. 86.
Lubricating Co. v. Oil Co., 42 Hun. 153.
Hatchard v. Mege, L. R. 18 Q. B. D. 771. A. 625.
Lewin v. Welsbach Co., 81 Fed. 904.

c. By coercion.

(1) With force.

Garret v. Taylor, Cr. Jac. 567. A. 675.
Keeble v. Hickeringill, 11 East, 574 n. A. 678.
Tarleton v. McCauley, Peake, 205. A. 678.
Higgins v. O’Donnell, Ir. R. 4 C. L. 91.
Walker v. Cronin, 107 Mass. 555. A. 694.

(2) Without force.

Royalston Bank v. Suffolk Bank, 27 Vt. 505.
Fallon v. Schilling, 29 Kans. 292. A. 729.
Heywood v. Tillson, 75 Me. 225. A. 707.
Crawford v. Wick, 18 Oh. St. 190.
Graham v. St. R. R., 47 La. Ann. 214.
Robinson v. Texas Land Assoc., 40 S. W. 843.
Dels v. Winfree, 80 Tex. 400. A. 704.
Mogul S. S. Co. v. McGregor, L.R. 23 Q.B.D.598. A. 680.
Allen v. Flood, 1898, A. C. 1.

SECOND TOPIC. — CONTRACT IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE

I. Agreement in Total Restraint of Competition

(A) When unreasonable — principal contract

Claygate v. Batchelor, Owen 143.
Toby v. Major, 43 Sol. J. 778.
Oliver v. Gilmore, 52 Fed. 563.
Ice Co. v. Williams, 28 So. 669.
Perkins v. Lyman, 9 Mass. 521.
Presbury v. Bennet, 18 Mo. 50.
Oakes v. Water Co., 143 N. Y. 430.

(B) When reasonable — ancilliary contract

Mitchell v. Reynolds, 1 P. WMS. 181.
Whitney v. Slayton, 40 ME. 224.
Alger v. Thacher, 19 Pick. 51.
Herreschoff v. Boutineau, 17 R. I. 3.
Lufkin Co. v. Frengeli, 57 Oh. St. 596.
Diamond Co. v. Roeber, 106 N. Y. 473.
Baker v. Hedgecock, L. R. 39 Ch. D. 520.
Mills v. Dunham, 1891, 1 Ch. 301.
Mandeville v. Harmon, 42 N. J. Eq. 185.
Nordenfeldt v. Maxim Co., 1894, A. C. 535.
Rogers v. Drury, 57 L. J. Ch. 504.

II. Agreement in Partial Restraint of Competition

(A) When unreasonable — suppression of competition

King v. Maynard, Cro. Car. 231.
Raymond v. Leavitt, 46 Mich. 447.
Young v. Timmins, 1 Cromp. & Jer. 331.
Acheson v. Mallon, 43 N. Y. 147.
Jones v. North, L. R. 19 Eq. 426.
Ch. R. R. v. W. R. R., 61 Fed. 993.
Anderson v. Jett, 89 Ky. 375.
L. R. R. v. St. L. R. R., 63 Fed. 775.
Sandford v. R. R., 24 Pa. 378.
Cravens v. Rodgers, 101 Mo. 247.
State v. Portland Co., 153 Ind. 483.
Thompson 2. Harvey, 1 Show. 2.
Pacific Co. v. Adler, 90 Cal. 110.
Richards v. Desk Co., 87 Wis. 503.
Texas Co. v. Adoue, 83 Tex. 650.
Brigham v. Brands, 119 Mich. 255.

(B) When reasonable — regulation of competition

Freemantle v. Throwsters, 1 Lev. 229.
Stovell v. McCutcheon, 54 S. W. 969.
Crystal Co. v. Brewing Assn., 8 Tex. Civ. 1.
Jones v. Lees, 1 H. & N. 189.
Bowling v. Taylor, 40 Fed. 104.
Heaton Co. v. Specialty Co., 77 Fed. 298.
Wickens v. Evans, 3 Younge & Jerv. 318.
Fowle v. Parke, 131 U. S. 88.
National Co. v. Union Co. 45 Minn. 272.
Collins v. Locke, L. R. 4 A. C. 674.
Gloucester Co. v. Russia Co., 154 Mass. 92.
Clarke v. Frank, 17 Mo. App. 602.
Long v. Towle, 42 Mo. 545.
Walsh v. Dwight, 40 N. Y. App. D. 513.
Catt v. Towle, L. R. 4 Ch. App. 654.
Van Mater v. Babcock, 23 Barb. 633.
Altman v. Royal Acquarium, L. R. 3 Ch. D. 228.
Printing Co. v. Sampson, L. R. 19 Eq. 462.
N. Y. Co. v. Brown, 61 N. J. 536.
Keith v. Optical Co., 48 Ark. 138.
Hounk v. Wright, 77 Miss. 476.
Welch v. Windmill Co., 89 Tex. 653.

THIRD TOPIC. — COMBINATION

I. Combination of Labor

(A) To what extent combination is forbidden

1. When unreasonable restraint

R. v. Journeymen Tailors, 8 Mod. 10.
P. v. Fisher, 14 Wend. 9.
C. v. Carlisle, Brightly 36.
R. v. Bykerdyke, 1 M. & Rob. 179.
R. v. Hewitt, 5 Cox C. C. 162.
Curran v. Gallen, 152 N.Y. 33.
Knights of Labor v. Laborers’ Union, 60 N.Y. Sup. 388.
Lucke v. Assembly, 77 Md. 396.
Plant v. Woods, 176 Mass. 492.

2. When unfair competition

Gunmakers v. Fell, Willes, 384.
R. v. Hibbert, 13 Cox C. C. 82.
R. v. Parnell, 14 Cox C. C. 508.
Dominion S. S. Co. v. McKenna, 30 Fed. 48.
Sherry v. Perkins, 147 Mass. 212.
Crump v. C. 84 Va. 927.
Delz v. Winfree, 80 Tex. 400.
Temperton v. Russell, 1893, 1 Q. B. 715.
U. S. v. Elliot, 62 Fed. 801.
Elder v. Whitesides, 72 Fed. 724.
Murdock v. Walker, 152 Pa. 595.
Vegelahn v. Guntner, 167 Mass. 92.
Doremus v. Hennessey, 176 Ill. 608.
Glass Mfgrs. v. Bottle Blowers, 59 N. J. Eq. 49.
Quinn v. Leatham, 1901, A. C. 495.

(B) To what extent combination is permitted

1. When reasonable restraint

Freemantle v. Silk Throwsters, 1 Lev. 229.
C. v. Hunt, 4 Met. 111.
Snow v. Wheeler, 113 Mass. 179.
Righy v. Connol, L. R. 14 Ch. D. 482.
Meyer v. Stone Cutters, 47 N. J. Eq. 519.
Clemmit v. Watson, 14 Ind. App. 38.

2. When fair competition

Kirkham v. Shawcross, 6 T. R. 103.
R. v. Shepard, 11 Cox C. C. 375.
Rogers v. Evarts, 17 N.Y. Sup. 264.
Coons v. Chrystie, 53 N. Y. Sup. 668.
Vegelahn v. Gunter, 167 Mass. 92.
Lyons v. Wilkins, 67 L. J. Ch. 383.
Tube Co. v. Allied Mechanics, 7 Oh. N. P. 87.
Krebs v. Rosenstein, 66 N. Y. Sup. 42.
Allen v. Flood, 1898, A. C. 1.

II. Combination of Capital.

(A) To what extent combination is forbidden

1. When unreasonable restraint

Anon. 12 Mod. 248.
Cousins v. Smith, 13 Ves. 542.
Bagging Assn. v. Koch, 14 La Ann. 168.
Arnot v. Coal Co., 68 N. Y. 558.
Salt Co. v. Guthrie, 35 Oh. St. 666.
Moore v. Bennet, 140 Ill. 69.
Umston v. Whitelegg, 63 L. T. 455.
Hester v. Brewing Co. 161 Pa. 480.
U. S. v. Joint Traffic Assn., 171 U. S. 505.
Addystone Pipe Co. v. U. S., 175 U. S. 211.
The Wiswall, 86 Fed. 671.
U. S. v. Fuel Co., 105 Fed. 93.
Cummings v. Bluestone Assn., 164 N. Y. 401.

2. When unfair competition

Davenant v. Hurdis, Moore, 576.
Hilton v. Eckersly, 6 E. & B. 47.
Craft v. McConoughy, 79 Ill. 346.
Mattison v. Railway, 3 Oh. Dec. 526.
Olive v. Van Patten, 7 Tex. Civ. App. 630.
Dueber Co. v. Noyes, 21 N. Y. Sup. 341.
P. V. Duke, 44 N. Y. Sup. 336.
Hartnett v. Plumbers’ Assn., 169 Mass. 229.
Bailey v. Plumbers’ Assn., 103 Tenn. 99.
U. S. v. Coal Dealer’s Assn., 85 Fed. 252.
Ertz v. Produce Exchange, 79 Minn. 149.

(B) To what extent combination is permitted

1. When reasonable restraint

R. v. Harrison, 3 Burr, 1322.
Jones v. Fell, 5 Fla. 510.
Ontario Co. v. Merchants Co., 18 Grant Ch. 540.
Skranka v. Scharringhaussen, 8 Mo. App. 522.
Collins v. Locke, L. R. 7 A. C. 674.
Livestock Assn. v. Levy, 54 N. Y. Supr. Ct. 32.
Mogul S. S. Co. v. McGregor, L. R. 23 Q. B. D. 598.
Good v. Daland, 121 N. Y. 1.
U. S. v. Nelson, 52 Fed. 646.
Herriman v. Menzies. 115 Cal. 16.

2. When fair competition

Kirkham v. Shawcross, 6 T. R. 103.
Orr v. Insurance Co. 12 La Ann. 255.
Bowen v. Matheson, 14 Allen, 499.
Ladd v. Cotton Press, 53 Tex. 172.
Mogul S. S. Co. v. McGregor, L. R. 23 Q. B. D. 598.
McCauley v. Tierney, 19 R. I. 255.
Brewster v. Miller. 101 Ky. 368.
Boots Co. v. Grundy. 82 L. T. 769.

FOURTH TOPIC. — THE CORPORATION

I. The Nature of the Corporation

(A) The idea of the corporation

1. Definition of the corporation

Liverpool Ins. Co. v. Mass., 10 Wall, 566. S. 1.
Thomas v. Dakin, 22 Wend. 9. S. 4.
Gifford v. Livingstone, 2 Denio, 395. S. 20.
Carr v. Inglehart, 30 Oh. 457. S. 875.
Trustees v. Flint, 13 Metc. 539. S. 876.
Moyer v. Slate Co., 71 Pa. 293. S. 883.

2. Distinction between corporation and shareholders

Waring v. Cataba Co., 2 Bay, 109. S. 39.
Foster v. Commissioners, 1894, 1 Q. B. 516. S. 40.
Williamson v. Smoot, 7 Martin, 31. S. 24.
Burton v. Hoffman, 61 Wis. 20. S. 33.
Moore etc. Co. v. Towers etc. Co., 87 Ala. 206. S. 45.
Salomon v. Salomon Co., 1897, A. C. 22. S. 1143.
Montgomery v. Forbes, 148 Mass. 249. S. 94.
P. v. England, 27 Hun. 139. S. 593.
Sandford v. McArthur, 13 B. Mon. 413. S. 600.

(B) The body corporate

1. Organization of the corporation

Franklin Bridge Co. v. Wood, 14 Ga. 80. S. 65.
State v. Dawson, 16 Ind. 40. S. 69.
Newcomb v. Reed, 12 Allen, 362. S. 77.
Finnegan v. Noerenberg, 52 Minn. 239. S. 87.
Rutherford v. Hill, 22 Ore. 218. S. 109.
Slocum v. Warren, 10 R. I. 116. S. 134.
Bank v. Silk Co., 3 Metc. 287. S. 138.

2. Funds of the corporation

Russell v. Temple, 3 Dane Abr. 108. S. 23.
White v. Salisbury, 33 Mo. 150. S. 1069.
C. v. Crompton, 137 Pa. 138. S. 1073.
Music v. Corey, 129 Mass. 435. S. 1120.
Bank v. Paper Co., 19 R. I. 139. S. 221.
Curries Case, 3 De G., J. & S. 367. S. 817.
Coit v. Gold Amalgamating Co., 119 U. S. 343. S. 839.
Malting Co. v. Brewing Co., Minn. S. 831.
Handley v. Stutz. 139 U. S. 417. S. 844.
Harger v. McCullogh, 2 Denio, 119. S. 839.
Taft v. H. P. & F. R. Co., 8 R. I. 310. S. 347.
C. v. Smith, 10 Allen, 449. S. 190.
Parsons v. Hayes, 11 Abb. N. C. 419. S. 314.

II. The Powers of the Corporation

(A) The capacity of the corporation

1. Rights of the corporation

Downing v. Mt. Washington Rd., 40 N. H. 230. S. 148.
Stockton Bank v. Staples, 98 Cal. 189. S. 179.
Aurora Society v. Paddock, 80 Ill. 264. S. 189.
Bradbury v. Canoe Club, 153 Mass. 77. S. 196.
Norris v. Staps, Hobart 211. S. 209.
Bank v. Paterson, 7 Cranch, 299. S. 213.
Greenwood v. Freight Co., 105 U. S. 13. S. 720.
Sinking Fund Case, 99 U. S. 100. S. 777.
Eagle Co. v. Ohio, 153 U. S. 446. S. 704.

2. Rights of the majority

Dudley v. High School, 9 Bush, 576. S. 224.
Ashton v. Burbank, 2 Dill, 435. S. 229.
H. & H. H. R. R. v. Croswell, 5 Hill, 383. S. 230.
Treadwell v. Salesbury Co., 7 Gray, 293. S. 243.
Taylor v. Earle, 8 Hun. 1. S. 246.
Peabody v. Flint, 6 Allen, 52. S. 263.
Menier v. Telegraph Works, L. R. 9 Ch. App. 350. S. 287.
Foss v. Harbottle, 2 Hare, 401. S. 267.

(B) The incapacity of the corporation

1. Ultra vires

Monument Bank v. Globe Works, 101 Mass. 57. S. 451.
Long v. Georgia Co., 91 Ala. 519. S. 457.
St. L. R. R. v. T. H. R. R., 145 U. S. 393. S. 503.
Marble Co. v. Harvey, 92 Tenn. 116. S. 511.
Washburn Co. v. Bartlett, 3 N. Dak. 138. S. 515.
Davis v. O. C. R. R., 431 Mass. 258. S. 564.
Bates v. Beach Co., 109 Cal. 160. S. 941.

2. Effect of ultra vires

S. v. Oberlin Assn., 35 Oh. St. 258. S. 375.
Wheeler v. Pullman Co., 143 Ill. 379.
Morville v. Tract Society, 123 Mass. 129. S. 588.
Packet Co. v. Shaw, 37 Wis. 655. S. 590.
McCutcheon v. Capsule Co., 37 U. S. App. 586. S. 422.

FIFTH TOPIC. — THE CONSOLIDATION

I. Without Incorporation

(A) Trust agreement

Shepaug Voting Trust Cases, 60 Conn. 553. S. 1032.
Mobile etc. R. R. v. Nicholas, 98 Ala. 92. S. 1043.
Gould v. Head, 38 Fed. 886.
P. v. Sugar Refining Co., 121 N. Y. 582. S. 943.
State v. Distilling Co., 29 Neb. 700.
State v. Standard Oil Co., 49 Oh. St. 137.
Distilling Co. v. Importing Co., 86 Wis. 352.

(B) Partnership agreement

Whittenton Mills v. Upton, 10 Gray 582. S. 935.
Tram Co. v. Bancroft, 16 Tex. C. App. 170.
Mallory v. Oil Works, 86 Tenn. 598.
Lowry v. Tile Assn., 98 Fed. 817.
Addystone Pipe Co. v. U. S., 175 U. S. 211.
Stockton v. Central R. R., 50 N. J. Eq. 53.
U.S. v. Joint Traffic Assn., 171 U. S. 505.

II. With Incorporation

(A) Holding corporation

Pauley v. Coronado Beach Co., 56 Fed. 428.
Milbank v. N. Y. etc. R. R., 64 How. Pr. 20. S. 963.
De La Vigne Co. v. German Institution, 175 U.S. 40.
P. v. Gas Trust, 130 Ill. 268. S. 952.
National Harrow Co. v. Hench, 76 Fed. 667.

(B) Operating corporation

Shade Roller Co. v. Cushman, 143 Mass. 353.
Oakdale Co. v. Garst, 18 R. I. 484.
Richardson v. Buhl, 77 Mich. 632.
McCutcheon v. Capsule Co., 37 U. S. App. 586.
Trenton Potteries v. Oliphant, 58 N. J. Eq. 507.
Distilling Co. v. P., 156 Ill. 448.
Louisville & Nashville R. R. v. Kentucky, 161 U. S. 677.
Keokuk etc. R. R. Co. v. Missouri, 152 U. S. 301.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics 1895-2003, Box 1, Folder “Economics 1901-1902”.

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Mid-year Examination
ECONOMICS 21
1901-1902

Answer seven questions.

  1. The A Railroad Company had by express provision of its charter the exclusive right of transporting persons and property from X to Z by railroad. Later the B Street Railway Company built a line from X to Y; the C Street Railway Company built a line from Y to Z; and the B and C Companies under an agreement began to run through street cars from X to Z. Can the A Company have an injunction against the B and C Companies for this competition?
  2. A and B were rival manufacturers of infant foods. B inserted this advertisement: The A food is less nutritious and less healthful than the B food; therefore, all persons are advised not to buy the A food, but to insist on getting the B food. A thereupon sued B, alleging that an expert examination would prove the A food better than the B food; and that by means of the circulation of these misstatements by B his trade had been ruined. Should A recover damages against B?
  3. A sold button fastening machines to shoe manufacturers. Each manufacturer agreed with A that all staples to be used in the machines should be bought of A. B began the sale of staples to these manufacturers although he knew of the contract between these manufacturers and A. Can A have an injunction against B for such competition?
  4. B, a large manufacturer of saleratus, made a contract with certain jobbers that they should not sell the saleratus of A below a certain price and not more than a certain amount of the saleratus of A in any event. Can A sue B for the damage to his business as consequence to this agreement?
  5. Certain steamship companies formed themselves into the B Steamship Conference. It was agreed amongst the members of the conference that if any rival line entered into competition with them they would cut the rates one-half, also they would raise the rates to double for any shippers who shipped by the new line. Later A entered into competition with a new line against the B Conference; the B Conference put the proposed rates in force; and A was thereby ruined. Can A sue the B Conference?
  6. A and B and C were all that were engaged in the ice business in X. B sold A his ice-houses, teams, etc., and B agreed with A that he would not engage in the ice business in X for five years. C also sold A his ice-houses, teams, etc., and made the same agreement with A. Are these agreements valid?
  7. A, a manufacturer of pianos, enters into a contract with a jobber, B, that B shall have exclusive right to sell the pianos at wholesale in Massachusetts. B enters into a contract with a retailer C, that C shall sell the pianos in Boston at not less than a certain price. Are these contracts valid?
  8. The B Union struck on the A Railroad because the A Railroad took cars from another railroad where the men had gone out for higher wages. The B Union posted men at the yards to persuade new men not to take their places. Can the A Railroad have an injunction?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-Year Examination Papers, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume, Mid-year Examination Papers, 1901-02. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (January 1902).

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Year-end Examination
ECONOMICS 21
1901-1902

Answer seven questions.

  1. By a contract between a fuel company and an 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?
  2. A retail lumber association agrees not to buy lumber of any wholesale lumber dealer who sells direct to customers. A certain wholesale dealer began to sell to customers direct in car load lots only. Thereupon the executive committee of the lumber association sent notices to all members, warning them not to buy any lumber of this wholesale dealer upon penalty of a fine to be paid in accordance with the by-laws. May the wholesale dealer sue the members of the association for damages caused thereby to his business?
  3. An act of legislature provided: “That X, Y, and Z, 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.” X and Y, after giving Z 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 against Z to collect the assessment. What decision?
  4. A merchant conveys all the property of his business to a corporation organized by himself and his two brothers, with one share subscribed by each of the three. By vote of them as directors, the merchant takes in payment for the property the debenture bonds of the company at proper valuation. Later the whole capital stock of the corporation is subscribed by outside parties at par. Still later the corporation incurs large debts to bankers. After all this the corporation goes into bankruptcy, with small assets. What is the right to these assets of the merchant? of the bankers? of the stockholders?
  5. In a certain banking corporation with various branches the conduct of the business was as follows: The manager of each branch made to the general manager of the corporation a weekly statement; from these statements the general manager made up a monthly summary for the Board of Directors to examine. The general manager left the weekly statements on the file in the directors’ room. Later the bank failed; it appeared that the general manager had been a rascal from first to last; and that his summaries had been false all the time. Now, the receiver of the banking corporation sues the directors for losses due to their neglect in office. What decision?
  6. The A railroad was chartered to run from X to Y; the stock was all subscribed and the road was built. Later a consolidation was proposed with the B railroad which ran from Y to Z. An act was passed by the Legislature of the State in which both railroads A and B lie, which allowed a new corporation, the C railroad, to be formed to take over both the A and B railroad, and which directed the exchange of the capital stock of each of the railroads A and B share for share for the stock of the new corporation C. The act provided that it should take effect when accepted by a majority of each corporation. A majority is found in each corporation for the scheme; but a minority object in each. Can the scheme be carried out?
  7. On account of a sudden great demand for coal, the A railroad company, running through a coal-mining region, was unable to supply enough cars to carry all the coal offered by the mine owners. A bought and opened a new coal-mine, and presented to the company coal for shipment; the company declined to receive the coal until its old customers were supplied with cars. Can A legally object?
  8. A corporation is formed in California to construct a large storage basin, and conduct the water therefrom by means of a canal to the valley for the purpose of irrigation. The company has given to it the right of eminent domain. When its works are constructed the company publishes the following schedule: “Any consumer must pay to the company $10 per acre in advance every ten years and $1.50 in advance per acre each year. Twenty-five per cent. deduction will be allowed to consumers having 100 acres or over. [”] It is proved that if all consumers, paid $2.50 per acre each year the company would make about 9% on its capital stock. Q, a farmer, applies for water. His farm is, 50 acres in extent. What objections may he bring forward against this schedule?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1902-03. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (June 1902).

Image Source:  Harvard Seal detail from the Harvard Law School Yearbook 1949 cover.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Principles of Accounting. Exam questions. W. M. Cole, 1901-1902

Harvard. Life of accounting professor William Morse Cole, A.M. 1896

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Course Description
ECONOMICS 181
1901-1902

For upperclass undergraduates and graduates to prepare for a business career

The Principles of Accounting. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 3.30. Mr. W. M. Cole.

This course is designed primarily for students who expect to enter a business career, and wish to understand the processes by which the earnings and values of industrial properties are computed. It is not intended to afford practice in book-keeping, but to give students a grasp of principles which shall enable them to comprehend the significance of accounts.

In order that students may become familiar with book-keeping terms and methods, a few exercises will be devoted to a brief study of the common systems of recording simple mercantile transactions. The chief work of the course, however, will be a study of the methods of determining profit, loss, and valuation. This will include an analysis of receipts, disbursements, assets, and liabilities, in various kinds of industry, and a consideration of cost of manufacture; cost of service, depreciation and appreciation of stock and of equipment, interest, sinking funds, dividends, and the like. Published accounts of corporations will be studied, and practice in interpretation will be afforded. Attention will also be given to the functions and methods of auditors.

The instruction will be given by lectures, discussions, reading, and written work.

Course 18 is open to Seniors and Graduates who have taken Economics 1.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science (June 21, 1901), University Publications, New Series, No. 16, pp. 46-47.

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Course Enrollment
ECONOMICS 181
1901-02

Economics 181hf. Mr. W. M. Cole. — The Principles of Accounting.

Total 36: 1 Graduate, 24 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 78.

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Semester Final Examination
ECONOMICS 18
First Half-year 1901-1902

  1. What is the profit and loss account?
    Are charges or credits made direct to this account? If so, under what circumstances?
    How is this account closed?
  2. Formulate journal entries to express each of the following transactions :—
    1. a sale of goods for a note bearing interest;
    2. discounting the above note at a bank;
    3. annulling a personal account as uncollectible;
    4. interest charged, but not paid, on a long-standing account.
  3. What is indicated by each of the following ledger accounts when
    1. the account shows a debit balance, and
    2. the account shows a credit balance: loss and gain, merchandise, rent, commission, purchase ledger, stores?
  4. Illustrate roughly a columnar cash book and a columnar journal. Comment on the columnar system.
  5. Which of the following should be charged to capital account and which to revenue account: The purchase of a patent right; legal fees for organizing a corporation; the purchase of a lease; repairs of machinery; replacement of machinery; the purchase of additional machinery; the loss by fire of uninsured property?
    Explain in each case why you decide as you do.
  6. You contemplate purchasing an interest in a business that has run five years, and agree to pay one third the valuation of its net assets. The following statement is given you by the partners:—

Dr.
Buildings, machinery, etc., at cost $50,000
Expended for repairs and renewals $8,000
Patent rights purchased $14,000
Balance of sales ledger $26,000
Inventory, as per stores and stock books $19,000
$117,000

Cr.
Bills payable $48,000
Balance of purchase ledger $47,000
Partners’ capital $22,000
$117,000
    1. Assuming that this statement gives all that you need to know, how much must you pay for your interest in the business?
    2. Does this statement give all necessary information about the assets? If not, what is lacking?

7.  The chief items on the balance sheet of a firm may be summarized as follows :—

Assets.
Cash, stock, and accts. receivable $48,000
Buildings and machinery $37,000
$85,000
Liabilities.
Notes and accts. payable $33,000
Capital of the partners $62,000
$95,000

Is the firm solvent or insolvent? Why do you think so?

  1. The books of a firm have been kept by the ordinary methods and all transactions prior to the close of business on December 31 have been carried through the books. You are asked to determine profit or loss for the year just closed. Describe carefully the steps that you would take.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-Year Examination Papers, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume, Mid-year Examination Papers, 1901-02. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (January 1902). Also included in Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1902-03. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (June 1902).

Image Source: Harvard Alumni Bulletin, Vol. XIX, No. 16, p. 308. Portrait of William Morse Cole colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam questions for European countries’ resources and economies. Ripley and Meyer, 1901-02

This post adds to the expanding collection of Harvard economics examinations. European economic geography was the subject of a year-long course co-taught in 1901-1902 by William Zebina Ripley and Hugo Richard Meyer.

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Last minute staff replacements for 1901-1902

It will be recalled that the Harvard economics department was faced with enormous staffing problems for the 1901-1902 academic year. Frank Taussig was on sick-leave and Edward Cummings and William Ashley had left the department for other pastures.

In an earlier post we saw that Charles W. Mixter substituted for William Ashley in a history of economic thought course.

Thomas Nixon Carver had to fill-in for Frank Taussig for the advanced theory course.  He also took over Taussig’s methods course.

Thomas Nixon Carver and Frederick Bush were needed to cover the “Socialism and Communism” course previously taught by Edward Cummings.

In this post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror adds the transcriptions of exams for a course on European resources and organization that had been previously taught by William Ashley but was taught by William Z. Ripley and Hugo R. Meyer in 1901-1902.

Examinations for Professor William J. Ashley’s course in 1900-01  posted earlier.

Biographical information for Professor William Z. Ripley also posted earlier.

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has also posted some life and career information for Hugo Richard Meyer.

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ECONOMICS 17
Course Description
1901-1902

For Undergraduates and Graduates

[Economics] 17. The Economic Organization and Resources of European Countries. Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor Ashley.

This course will begin with a survey of the physical geography and of the distribution of population and wealth in Europe as a whole, in order to explain (1) the relative position at present of agriculture in its various forms on the one side and mining and manufacture on the other, and (2) the presence in their several localities of the chief industries. The great countries — Great Britain and Ireland, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Italy — will then be taken in order; and a statement will be made (1) of their natural resources, and (2) of the manner in which these are utilized. Under the latter head will be considered such topics as the following: the investment of capital, the forms of business organization, the means of transportation, the relations between private enterprise and governmental stimulus and control, and the character and supply of labor. Returning, then, to Europe as a whole, attention will be directed to the points at which the interests of the several countries appear to conflict, and to the attempts to remove or mitigate the antagonism by international agreements — as, for instance, in the matters of customs tariffs, bounties, and labor legislation. Finally, a survey will be made of the main lines of transportation for commodities between one country and another and between Europe and the rest of the world, and of the economic effects of recent changes in this regard.

Course 17 is open to those who have passed satisfactorily either in History 1 or in Economics 1.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science (June 21, 1901), University Publications, New Series, No. 16, p. 39.

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Enrollment
1901-02
ECONOMICS 17

Economics 17. Professor Ripley and Mr. Meyer. — The Economic Organization and Resources of European Countries.

Total 24: 2 Graduates, 13 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.

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ECONOMICS 17
Mid-year Examination
1901-1902

  1. English farming and German farming from 1879 to 1900: a study of the respective effects of the policy of free-trade in grains and meats and the policy of protection to agriculture.
    Alternative:—
    The arguments for and against the small farm and the peasant farm. Take your facts from the history of England; Belgium or France; and Germany.
  2. The German customs duties on grains and meats, and Germany’s position in the “struggle for the export markets.”
    Alternative:—
    Give an account, descriptive and critical, of the beet-sugar policy of the countries of continental Europe from 1870 to 1900
  3. What facts and what kinds of statistics were used in the discussion of the failure of the Prussian (German) State Railways to contribute materially to the industrial development effected in Germany in the years 1880 to 1900?
  4. What kinds of statistics were used in discussing the mineral resources of England, Germany, France, and the United States?
  5. The birth-rate in France in the last twenty-five years.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-Year Examination Papers, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume, Mid-year Examination Papers, 1901-02. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (January 1902).

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ECONOMICS 17
Year-end Examination
1901-1902

  1. State four economic reasons for the imperial federation movement in Great Britain.
  2. Analyze the principal characteristics of British foreign trade, comparing it with Germany.
  3. When and why did Germany change from a free trade to a protectionist country, and what had Prince Bismarck to do with the movement?
  4. How do the Agrarian demands in the present tariff discussion in Germany compare with those of a generation ago?
  5. Outline the present status of France, in respect of population, industry, and foreign trade.
  6. What are some of the international industrial combinations?
  7. What are the main features of the E. J. Smith type of industrial combinations in Great Britain?
  8. Compare Germany and Austro-Hungary in respect of the industrial combination movement.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1902-03. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (June 1902).

Image Source: Political Map of Europe, ca. 1890 in Wikimedia Commons.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Final exams for history of economics up through Ricardo. Mixter, 1901-1902

 

With Edward Cummings and William J. Ashley gone and Frank W. Taussig on a medical leave-of-absence, the Harvard economics department had to scramble to cover its course offerings in 1901-02. The course on the history of economics up through the early nineteenth century was then taught by Harvard economics Ph.D. alumnus, Charles W. Mixter. His semester final examinations questions have been transcribed below.

In an earlier post we find the exams from 1900-01 when William J. Ashley last taught the course at Harvard.

The immediately preceding post provides us with a student’s POV of University of Vermont Professor Charles W. Mixter in the classroom. 

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

Charles Whitney Mixter
(b. Sept. 23, 1869 in Chelsea, MA;
d. Oct. 21, 1936 in Washington, D.C.)

A.B. Johns Hopkins University (Md.), 1892; A.M. Harvard University, 1893; 1897 Harvard Ph.D.

Thesis title: Overproduction and overaccumulation: a study in the history of economic theory.

Edited Work

John Rae. The Sociological Theory of Capital, being a complete reprint of the New Principles of Political Economy, 1834. Edited with biographical sketch and notes by Charles Whitney Mixter, Ph.D., Professor of Political Economy in the University of Vermont. New York: Macmillan, 1905.

OBITUARY
The Burlington Free Press (Oct. 22, 1936), p. 14

Charles Whitney Mixter, for nine years a member of the University of Vermont faculty, died at a hospital in Washington, D. C., on Tuesday evening. [October 20]

Dr. Mixter was born in Chelsea, Mass., in 1867. He received his early education at Thayer Academy and Williston Seminary, and received his A.B. degree from John Hopkins University in 1892.

This was followed by graduate studies at Berlin, Goettingen and Harvard, from which he received his doctorate in 1897. Then followed a series of teaching positions: Assistant in economics at Harvard, 1897-98; Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., 1899-1900; instructor in economics, Harvard, 1901-1903; professor of economics, University of Vermont, 1903-1912.

Then Dr. Mixter served as efficiency expert for Towne and Yale at New Haven, Conn., and later for several manufacturing concerns in New Hampshire. For a year he was professor of economics at Clark University, and for a brief period he was an investigator in the service of the United States Chamber of Commerce.

For the last 13 years he had been connected with the tariff commission in Washington.

Professor Mixter had an unusually fertile mind, was an accomplished scholar in his special field, and widely read in related subjects. he became an enthusiastic student of scientific management introduced by the late Frederick W. Taylor and an active exponent of the system. He was a member of the leading economic organizations and a frequent contributor to economic journals.

He was a strong advocate of free trade. Interment was made in Plymouth, Mass.

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Charles W. Mixter’s Tragic End of Life

 Report of Death, Memorial Service and Interment

MIXTER, DR. CHARLES W. — On Wednesday, October 21, 1936, at the Washington Sanitarium, Takoma Park, Md., DR. CHARLES W. MIXTER.
Services will be held at Joseph Gawler Son’s chapel, 1756 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest, on Thursday, October 22, 1936, at 10 a.m.
Interment Plymouth, Mass.

Source: The Washington Herald, 22 October 1936 p. 29.

Dr. Charles Mixter Commits Suicide
Former Johns Hopkins Physician [sic]
Drowns Self After Escaping From Nurse

Breaking away from his male nurse, Dr. Charles Mixter, 68, former Johns Hopkins Hospital physician, locked himself in a bath room and drowned himself early today in a tub at Washington Sanatorium, where he had been confined for a year and a half. A certificate of suicide was issued by Dr. O.S. Parrott, Takoma Park, Md., coroner.

Orville Zeismer, the nurse, was unable to break into the bath room after Dr. Mixter got away from him. He finally gained entrance by jumping from a balcony to the bath room window ledge and cutting his way through the screen with a knife.

He found Dr. Mixter unconscious, his head under the water in the tub. The physician was pronounced dead an hour and a half later, after doctors and rescue squad men failed to revivie him.

Dr. Mixter lived at 1830 R street. Hospital attaches said he had no close relatives.

Source: Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 21 October 1936, p. 8.

Note: The false report of Mixter being a physician, formerly from Johns Hopkins Hospital, might have been due to a misunderstanding regarding the fact that Mixter had received his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins in 1892; or perhaps Mixter had earlier been a patient at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. In any event, the reported address is for that of Dr. Charles W. Mixter according to published D.C. city directories. Also he was buried in Plymouth with his wife Harriet French Mixter who died on 22 November 1934 at the residence, “1830 R st. n.w.” (reported p. 9 in Evening Star of 22 November 1934). Harriet C. French and Charles W. Mixter married in South Braintree, MA on December 27, 1890.

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ECONOMICS 15
Course Description
1901-02

Primarily for Graduates

[Economics] 15. The History and Literature of Economics, to the opening of the Nineteenth 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 medieval 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 beginnings of academic instruction in economics; the work and influence of Adam Smith; the doctrine of population as presented by Malthus; and the Ricardian doctrine of distribution.

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 Consideration 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, Malthus’ Essay, and Ricardo’s Principles. 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.

Course 15 is open to those who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1. It is taken to advantage after Course 2, or contemporaneously with that Course.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science (June 21, 1901), University Publications, New Series, No. 16, p. 45.

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ECONOMICS 15
Enrollment
1901-02

Economics 15. Dr. Mixter. — The History and Literature of Economics to the opening of the Nineteenth Century.

Total 5: 3 Graduates, 2 Seniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 78.

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ECONOMICS 15
Mid-year Examination
1901-02

  1. Give an account of Aristotle on “the art of money-making”(χρηματιστική) as contrasted with “household management” (οἰκονομική); on the institution of private property.
  2. Why was economics little cultivated in classical times: in Ingram’s opinion; in your opinion?
  3. Where, in economic literature, do the following expressions occur, and what was meant by them: “City of pigs”; “Private Vices, Public Benefits”; “led by an invisible hand”?
  4. The chief distinction between man and the inferior animals consists in this: They are moved only by the immediate impressions of sense, and, as its impulses prompt, seek to gratify them from the objects before them, scarce regarding the future, or endeavoring from the experience of the past to provide against what is to come. Man, as he is endowed with reason,…” Who first expressed this thought? What use was made of it by a later writer?
  5. What passage in the Wealth of Nations has frequently been quoted as giving a concise statement of the author’s theory of the law of profits? What is the usual criticism of this passage? What your own criticism?
  6. Many writers have held that the increase of capital lessens at the same time the demand for the products of capital, since savings are made by curtailing one’s consumption. Show the fallacy of this contention?
  7. State the doctrine of wages in the Wealth of Nations, bringing out the contrast with the pre-Smithian doctrine.
  8. What are Adam Smith’s four “maxims” or canons of taxation, and what his position on “Taxes upon Profit, or upon the Revenue arising from Stock”?
  9. Comment on the leading arguments of the chapter, “Of Restraints upon the Importation from foreign Countries of such Goods as can be produced at Home.”
  10. What are the “Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon the real Price of Manufactures”? What is the significance of this doctrine in the history of economic opinion?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-Year Examination Papers, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume, Mid-year Examination Papers, 1901-02. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (January 1902).

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ECONOMICS 15
Year-end Examination
1901-02

  1. Who were they and what do they stand for: Nicholas Oresme, Acquinas, Thomas Mun, Boisguillebert, Turgot, Gournay?
  2. What was the general advance in economic thought during the century preceding the publication of the Wealth of Nations?
  3. Comment upon Jones’ „Primitive Political Economy in England” and Schmoller’s Mercantile System.
  4. Give a critical account of the history of opinion on the subjet of lending money at interest.
  5. Sketch in outline the history of the theory of “natural law” and indicate the way in which it came in contact with economics.
  6. What part of the teaching of the Physiocrats do you consider to have helped forward economic science, and what part to have been of little or no use?
  7. What was “Political Arithmetic”?
  8. Give a brief account of :–
    1. Speculation on the subject of population before Malthus.
    2. The Malthusian doctrine, its purpose, its content, the argument put forward in its support.
    3. The bearing of Rae’s principle of “the effective desire of offspring” upon the Malthusian doctrine.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1902-03. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (June 1902).

Image Source: Harvard University Archives. Hollis Images. College Yard, ca. 1900.

Categories
Economists Funny Business Harvard Undergraduate

Vermont. Yearbook account of economics lecture by Harvard PhD Charles W. Mixter, 1904

While trolling the yearbook of the University of Vermont in search of a portrait of Professor Charles W. Mixter (Harvard Ph.D. 1897), I came across the following student account of what one presumes is a not an untypical classroom performance by Professor Mixter. He appears to have been pretty proud of his Harvard connection, in particular with Professor O.M.W. Sprague.

Incidentally, I have yet to discover a photograph of Charles W. Mixter anywhere on the internet, and I have tried…

…and what pray are “Persian Alexis overshoes” anyhow?

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Pol. Econ. à la Mixter

A room in the Old Mill. The bell strikes and during the next ten minutes the class straggles in. The second bell strikes; some minutes elapse during which Burrows ’o4 amuses himself — and the class — by crayon sketches from life ( ?). Macrae, to whom art of so high an order does not appeal, looks at his watch and announces that the five minutes are up. A discussion follows as to the advisability of cutting. Finally better instincts prevail and the class decides to stay. At the end of another five minutes, Pomeroy, from his lookout at the window, descries the Professor in the distance. Informed of the fact the class rushes up just in time to see His Portlyship, in Persian Alexis overshoes, and English Ulster [Note: apparently the sort of overcoat worn by Sherlock Holmes], rounding the statue of Lafayette and puffing like a tug under full steam.

 

The Professor’s tread is soon heard on the stair and the class take their seats just as he enters the room. In answer to the chorus of good-mornings, he nods a general recognition, divests himself of ulster, overshoes and Alexis and takes his seat. These preliminaries over, he fumbles for some time in the recesses of an inner pocket and at length pulls forth a slip of paper upon which is the frame-work of a lecture. After vainly trying to read his own writing, the Professor gives up in despair, puts back the notes, and launches out on another tack.

 

His eye lighting on Macrae nodding on the back seat, he explodes this poser at the offending member:

 

My friend Sprague — the great economist — of course you’ve all heard of him — edited Dunbar blur—r—r um and all that sort of thing — well he’s just returned from Oklahoma — he says the banks are holding the largest deposit in the Territory’s history. What does that indicate for general prosperity, Mr. Macrae?

 

Macrae, to whom reciting is a bore, pulls himself together with a supreme effort and begins a learned disquisition on the inter-relation of loans to deposits and the utter uselessness as an index to prosperity of bank statements in general and of this report in particular.

 

Whenever a glint of truth appears in Macrae’s remarks — which is far from often — the Professor nods approvingly, assumes his Rooseveltian grin and rumples his hair encouragingly.

 

Macrae finally comes to the end of his rope and the Professor, suddenly recollecting an anecdote that “my friend Sprague” told him at Harvard, springs it on the guileless members of Economics II. When the laughter incident on this effort has subsided, the Professor has some interesting things to say on railroad stocks.

 

Prof. (clearing his throat and groping for his handkerchief in a hip pocket) Um — yum yum yum yum yum — I own some stock myself — huh — oh yes — huh (grimace à la Roosevelt). Hasn’t paid me any dividend for seventeen years, though. Speaking of railroads puts me in mind of a man I met up in the Berkshire Hills once. Oh yes — um I — I was up in the Berkshires and I met a man who had lost his fortune during the war — well he — huh — huh huh. The Professor, anticipating the ludicrous end of his tale, cannot resist the temptation to laugh, and the rest of his speech is lost in a gurgle of merriment, in which the class feels itself called upon to join.

 

Turning from the Berkshire Hermit the Professor travels to Tennessee, where he tells how he proffered a check in payment and how that check was actually received! Next he leads the class a pretty pace through Threadneedle Street, where they enter the Bank of England and help the Professor cash a ten pun’ note, after which they awake to find themselves reposing quietly in their seats none the worse for wear but a little dazed in spirit.

 

The remainder of the Professor’s talk is a brilliant counterpane, with which he covers his subject, resplendent with purple patches of travel, finance, the stock exchange, international trade, panics, industrial organization, underwriting, indigestible securities, and bank history from Daniel to Dunbar, freely interspersed with the dicta of Ami Sprague. The Professor is in the midst of an interesting Harvard reminiscence when the bell strikes and he makes a hasty end, regretting  — as always — that he hasn’t covered as much ground as he had hoped to. The class escapes furtively while the Professor worms himself into his ulster, sticks on the Alexis and descends the stair ruminating on the value of anecdote as a means of inculcating the fundamental principles of that most abstruse science of political economy.

Source: The University of Vermont Libraries, Digital Collections.Yearbook, The Ariel 1905, Vol. XVIII, pp. 277-278.

Image Source: University of Vermont (between 1900 and 1906) from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Final exam questions for Socialism and Communism. Carver and Bushée, 1901-1902

Thomas Nixon Carver was originally hired to beef up the economic theory side of the Harvard curriculum but soon found himself holding an instructional portfolio that included sociology, schemes of social reform (i.e. socialism and communism), and agricultural economics. The fields of sociology and socialism were briefly left fallow when Edward Cummings resigned to become the minister at Boston’s South Congregational Church before Carver joined the faculty in 1900.

Artifacts included below are a thick course description, enrollment figures, and the final exam questions for the half-year course “Socialism and Communism” that was co-taught by assistant professor Thomas Nixon Carver and Frederick Bushée during the Fall term of 1901-02.

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Material from earlier years: Exams and enrollment figures for economics of socialism and communism taught by Edward Cummings, 1893-1900.

Material from later years: Thomas Nixon Carver (1920), Edward S. Mason (1929), Paul Sweezy (1940), Wassily Leontief  (1942-43), Joseph Schumpeter (1943-44), and Overton Hume Taylor (1955).

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Socialism and Communism
1901-02

ECONOMICS 141
For Undergraduates and Graduates

Socialism and Communism. Half course (first half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Asst. Professor Carver.

Course 14 begins with an historical study of socialistic and communistic writing and agitation. This is followed by a critical examination of socialistic theories as presented in the works of representative socialists. The purpose is to get a clear understanding of the economic reasoning that lies at the base of socialistic contentions and of the economic and social conditions which make such reasoning acceptable to socialists. Attention will be given largely to the reading of Marx’s Capital, but parts of the writings of other expounders of socialism will also be read.

Course 14 is open to those who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1; but it is to the advantage of students to take or to have taken either Course 2 or Course 3.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science (June 21, 1901), University Publications, New Series, No. 16, p. 37.

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Economics 14
(Carver and Bushée)
1901-1902 Syllabus

Previously posted: https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-socialism-communism-carver-bushee-1901/

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Enrollment 1901-02
Economics 141

Economics 141 hf. Asst. Professor Carver and Mr. Bushée. — Socialism and Communism.

Total 27: 5 Graduates, 14 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 3 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.

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Semester Final Examination
1901-02

ECONOMICS 14

Write on the following topics.

  1. The definition of Socialism and its relation to competition
  2. Fourier’s plan of social organization.
  3. Lassalle’s place in the socialistic movement.
  4. Marx’s theory of the evolution of society.
  5. Marx’s theory of value.
  6. Marx’s theory of interest.
  7. How does Bernstein’s theory differ from that of Marx?
  8. The problem which George set out to solve and his solution of it.
  9. George’s theory of interest.
  10. The origin and early development of the German Social Democratic Labor Party.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-Year Examination Papers, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume, Mid-year Examination Papers, 1901-02. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (January 1902). Also included in Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1902-03. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (June 1902).

Image Sources:

Thomas Nixon Carver (left). The World’s Work. Vol. XXVI (May-October 1913) p. 127.

Frederick Alexander Bushée (right). Detail from portrait in the University of Colorado Archives. Charles Snow photograph of Professor Bushee (March 30 1921). Detail reproduced in the 1924 University of Colorado Yearbook.

Both portraits colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final exam for graduate economics course on methods. Carver, 1902

 

This post resumes the systematic transcribing of Harvard economics exam questions year-by-year and course-by-course. Today we visit young Thomas Nixon Carver‘s graduate methods course (incidentally attended by zero graduate students during the second semester of the 1901-02 academic year). The recently hired assistant professor found Frank Taussig’s methods course dropped into his lap when the latter went on a two year leave for personal health reasons (Schumpeter called it recovery from a “nervous breakdown”, i.e., Taussig almost certainly suffered from clinical depression).

Carver’s exam questions from 1900-01 for the course have been previously posted.

Fun fact with supporting image: While a graduate student at Cornell, Thomas Nixon Carver rowed on the varsity crew. He is seen sitting on the far left in the yearbook image posted above.

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Methods of Economic Investigation
[2nd half-year, 1901-1902]

Primarily for Graduates

[Economics] 13. Methods of Economic Investigation. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Asst. Professor Carver.

Course 13 will examine the methods by which the important writers of modern times have approached economic questions, and the range which they have given their inquiries; and will consider the advantage of different methods, and the expediency of a wider or narrower scope of investigation. These inquiries will necessarily include a consideration of the logic of the social sciences. Cairnes’ Logical Method of Political Economy and Keynes’ Scope and Method of Political Economy will be carefully examined. At the same time selected passages from the writings of Mill, Jevons, Marshall, and the Austrian writers will be studied, with a view to analyzing the nature and scope of the reasoning.

Course 13 is designed mainly for students who take or have taken Course 2 or Course 15; but it is open to mature students having a general acquaintance with economic theory.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science (June 21, 1901), University Publications, New Series, No. 16, pp. 45-46.

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Enrollment 1901-02

ECONOMICS 132

Economics 132 hf. Asst. Professor Carver. — Methods of Economic Investigation.

Total 5: 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 1 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 78.

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Semester Final Examination

ECONOMICS 13

Discuss the following topics.

  1. The relation of economics to history, to ethics, and to sociology.
  2. The division of economics into departments.
  3. Methods of reasoning, methods of investigation, and methods of exposition as distinguished from one another.
  4. The nature of an economic law.
  5. The methods of investigating the causes of poverty.
  6. The use of hypotheses in economic investigation.
  7. The application of mathematics to economics.
  8. The meaning of an economic quantity.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1902-03. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (June 1902).

Image Source: The Cornell varsity crew of 1894. Thomas Nixon Carver standing on the far left. The Cornellian 1895, p. 197.

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Harvard Regulations Teaching

Harvard. On the organization of the Division of History, Government, and Economics. Burbank, 1934

 

Professor Harold H. Burbank (Burbie to his friends) was a decades-long administrative multitasker during the first half of the 20th century. His realms covered both the tutorial system in the Division of History, Government, and Economics as well as the chairmanship of the economics department.The document transcribed for this post appears to have served as Burbank’s background briefing on the organization of the Division of History, Government, and Economics for the committee, chaired by the President of Princeton, Harold W. Dodds, tasked with establishing a school of public administration at Harvard.

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Who’s Who

James Bryant Conant (1893-1978) was a chemist, educator and public servant. The wide variety of his interests and occupations are reflected in the title of his memoirs, My Several Lives. Conant’s “several lives” included periods as a chemistry instructor, University president, national director of defense research, ambassador to Germany and as an author of critical works examining secondary education in the United States. Conant’s pursuits carried him from his boyhood home in Boston to Harvard University and eventually around the globe.

Conant graduated from Harvard College in 1914, completing a three-year program as an undergraduate concentrator in chemistry. He remained at the University, studying with Elmer Kohler, and received his degree two years later. An academic career followed, during which time Conant worked at Harvard as an instructor (1917), assistant professor (1919) and eventually as a tenured professor (1927) of organic chemistry. In 1921 he married Grace Thayer Richards, daughter of chemistry professor Theodore William Richards, whom Conant had met at a dinner for graduate students at Professor Richards’ house.

In 1933, despite the fact that his only previous administrative experience was a term as chair of the Chemistry Department, Conant was appointed to succeed A. Lawrence Lowell as President of Harvard University. President Conant worked to enhance Harvard’s position as a national institution with an international reputation for academic achievement. He established the National Scholarships which allowed young men of intellectual promise to attend Harvard College regardless of their financial circumstances or proximity to Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also broadened the intellectual scope of the undergraduate student body through the General Education Program. This program required each undergraduate, regardless of his concentration, to take courses in three broad disciplines: the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. President Conant further promoted intellectual exchange through the establishment of the prestigious University Professorships, which gave leading scholars tenured appointments at the University, unencumbered by ties to specific faculties or departments.

Conant’s achievements also included expansion in the teaching of education and of journalism. In the fall of 1935 the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Education voted to recommend his plan for the establishment of a new degree, the Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.). The M.A.T. required prospective teachers to demonstrate a command of educational theory as well as familiarity with specific subjects by undergoing examination by members from both the teaching faculty and their specific subject faculty. Three years later, Conant helped to establish the Nieman Fellowships. These fellowships fund a year of study at Harvard for professional journalists.

During wartime, Conant balanced his service to the University with a commitment to national affairs. In 1917 he briefly left Harvard to join the Chemical Warfare Service and by the end of the First World War he was promoted to the rank of major. Conant, an outspoken critic of Nazi Germany, played a more prominent role during the Second World War. As a member and chairman of the National Defense Research Committee, he and his colleagues were responsible for the technical direction of military scientific research, including atomic research. At the end of the war he declined to become the first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, although he continued to serve as Chairman of the National Science Board.

Conant retired from Harvard in 1953. He immediately began another of his “lives,” serving as U.S. High Commissioner to Germany and Ambassador to Germany. In 1957 he resigned his diplomatic post and once again turned his attention to American education. In 1957, Conant, along with the Educational Testing Service, administered a large scale study of American high schools. Following this, he studied and reported on teacher education in American Universities. In 1964, he returned to Berlin for eighteen months as an educational advisor under the auspices of the Ford Foundation.

Conant spent his final years as a resident of New York City, Summering in Hanover, New Hampshire. He took ill in Hanover during the spring of 1977 and remained there until his death on February 11, 1978. He was survived by his wife who died in 1985 and his sons James Richards and Theodore Richards.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Collection overview: Papers of James Bryant Conant, 1862-1987.

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Vernon Munroe, Jr., Harvard Class of 1931. One of three members of a special committee of the Student Council who wrote a report “The Tutorial System in Harvard College” (published as a supplement to the Harvard Alumni Bulletin, October 9, 1931).

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College 1930-31, p. 96.

MUNROE RESIGNS AS SECRETARY TO PRESIDENT CONANT

The Harvard Crimson, May 7, 1934

Announcement was made at University Hall yesterday of the resignation of Vernon Munroe, Jr. ’31, as secretary to President Conant.

Munroe has held the position since September 1, 1933 when he was appointed by the Corporation to a new post as assistant to the President of the University.

Graduating from Harvard in 1931 he spent the next year at the Law School, leaving there to assume his post as aide to the President. He plans to continue next year with his work in the Law School.

At college Munroe was President of the Student Council, Captain of the University track team, Chairman of the Dunster House Committee, and Third Marshal of his class. As President of the Student Council he was active in preparing a special undergraduate report on the Tutorial System at Harvard.

Although no one yet has been chosen to succeed Munroe, it is believed that the appointment of his successor will be made in the near future.

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Princeton University President (1933-57) Harold W. Dodds  was appointed by President Conant as head of a commission to consider the establishment of a new school of public administration (today’s John F. Kennedy School of Government).

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College 1934-35, p. 23.

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Harold Hitchings Burbank. Chairman of the department of economics 1927-38 and 1942-46 and Chairman of the Board of Tutorials in the Division 1916-46.

From the active list, Harold Hitchings Burbank, David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy, died on February 6, 1951, in his sixty-fourth year. He began his career in the field of Economics at Dartmouth where he taught for one year, 191o-11. He came to the University in 1911 as an Assistant in Economics, becoming an Instructor in 1912. In 1914 he was appointed a Tutor in that Department, and from 1916 to 1946 he served as Chairman of the Board of Tutors in the Division of History, Government and Economics. He was Assistant Professor of Economics from 1919 to 1923, Associate Professor from 1923 to 1926, and Professor of Economics from 1926 to 1932. From 1932 until his death he held the David A. Wells Professorship of Political Economy. He was also Chairman of the Department of Economics from 1927 to 1938, and again from 1942 to 1949; he acted as Chairman of the Division of History, Government and Economics from 1942 to 1946. Few Harvard teachers ever worked with as many students individually or gave so lavishly of their time and energy.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1950-51, p. 29.

Cf. Burbank’s earlier report, transcribed and archived at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror:  Report on the Tutorial System in History, Government and Economics. Burbank, 1922.

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Background information on the Division of History, Government, and Economics written by the Chairman of Economics Department, 1934

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

H. H. BURBANK

41 HOLYOKE HOUSE
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

May 21, 1934

Dear Mr. Munroe,

The organization of the Division of History, Government, and Economics is complicated. I am listing below some comments on the questions raised by President Dodd. [sic, almost certainly should be “Dodds”] I can give you complete details should you require them.

  1. The Division has developed through the separation from History of the Departments of Economics and Government. The Division is composed of the members of these three departments.
  2. The Division unit was maintained before 1914 primarily for the administration of graduate degrees. Emphasis was placed upon the formulation and administration of the degree requirements rather than on the development and coordination of the curriculum. I believe that some attention was given also to candidates for Honors for the Bachelors‘
  3. As I recall it, there was a small independent budget to provide for secretarial assistance to the Chairman of the Division and to provide for the printing of the Division pamphlet and the schedule of graduate degree examinations.
  4. The administration of graduate degrees has continued since 1914, but latterly, the programs of the three departments have become characterized by their differences rather than by their unity of conception and action.
    1. The independent Division budget for the purposes summarized above has been continued. It is prepared and administered by the Chairman of the Division.
  5. In 1914 on the recommendation of the Division, Comprehensive Examinations and a system of Tutorial Instruction were initiated. To a small degree the curriculum within the Division was coordinated. Correlation among the subjects taught in the several departments was required. To meet the new objectives, an Examining Committee, appointed by the President, was created, and the general development and supervision of the Tutorial Instruction was placed in the hands of a new Division officer — the Chairman of the Board of Tutors in the Division of History, Government, and Economics.
    1. All tutors, whether in History, Government, or Economics, were, in theory, recommended by the Division. The appointment was, and is, in the Division rather than in a particular department.
    2. Until about 1925, a Division Committee on Appointments — the Chairman of the Board of Tutors, the Chairman of the Division, and the Chairmen of the three Departments — passed upon all recommendations for appointments in the Division as tutors. Since 1925, this Committee has not been active. All appointments as tutor therefore are now on the basis of Departmental recommendation. The Chairman of the Board of Tutors is usually consulted.
    3. With the appointment of Divisional Examiners and Tutors, a budget was called for, which included the expenditures for Tutorial Instruction, for the Examiners, and for Administration.
    4. Until 1931, this budget, prepared by the Chairman of the Board of Tutors was altogether distinct from Departmental budgets, although it was always prepared in consultation with the Division Chairman.
    5. During the last five years there has developed a tendency toward complete Departmental control of Tutorial Instruction. With the development of Departmental control and responsibility, the Division budget has become less important, until for the forthcoming year it will practically disappear except for the maintenance of a small sum for administration and examining.
  6. It may be stated that from 1914 to 1928, or 1929, there was thorough Division control in the development of Tutorial Instruction. After the functions and methods of instruction had been established on a satisfactory plane, Division control was slowly withdrawn and instruction decentralized. The Division still operates unqualifiedly as a unit in the administration of examinations.
  7. With the rapid increase in the membership in the Division since 1914, the group became ineffective as an administrative unit. For some years, the affairs of the Division have been administered by a Committee of Seven— the Chairman of the Division, the Chairmen of the three Departments, and delegates from each Department — which meets when necessary. Although the principal work of the Committee is confined to the administration of graduate degrees, the Committee frequently concerns itself with Tutorial Instruction and with questions of the curriculum which have common interest. The Division meets as a group for the recommendation of degrees — A.B., A.M., and Ph.D.
  8. Until 1930, instruction in Sociology was offered by the Department of Economics. Also, some subjects ordinarily regarded as belonging to the subject of Sociology were offered by the Department of Social Ethics which was affiliated with the Department of Philosophy. Independent instruction in Sociology has been established and the Department of Sociology stands as a Division without direct affiliation with other Departments.

Sincerely yours,
[signed]
H. H. Burbank

Mr. Vernon Munroe, Jr.
VS

Source: Harvard University Archives. Records of President James B. Conant, Box 9, Folder “History, Government & Economics, 1933-1934.”

Image Source: Portrait of Professor Harold H. Burbank in the Harvard Classbook 1934. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.