Category: Harvard

Categories
Columbia Courses Economists Gender Germany Harvard Social Work

Harvard, Boston University & Berlin. Career of alumnus Edward Everett Ayers

 

From the E.R.A. Seligman papers at Columbia I came across an unsolicited application for employment in economics and sociology submitted to the President of Columbia University by a man who received his A.M. from Harvard and a pair of doctorates from Boston University and the University of Berlin (I suspect the dissertation did double duty since both degrees were apparently awarded in 1901, but have not checked that out). Edward E. Ayers turns out to be a nice example of the mixture of economics, sociology and social reform that was found in economics departments around the turn of the 20th century. Before getting to the document-artifacts found in the Seligman papers, I have included information about Ayers’ life and career and a review of his German doctoral dissertation. The post ends with course descriptions for Ayres’ non-Biblical teaching at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. 

From his yearbook portrait for Greensboro College (The Echo) 1927 we see that Edward E. Ayers appears to have switched into Religious Education and entirely dropped economics/sociology/social reform at the end of his teaching career.

___________________

Rev Edward Everett Ayers

Bio by: David Ayers

BIRTH:           16 Jul 1865. Egypt, Belmont County, Ohio, USA

DEATH:         20 Apr 1939 (aged 73). Lynchburg, Lynchburg City, Virginia, USA

BURIAL:        Fort Hill Memorial Park, Lynchburg, Lynchburg City, Virginia, USA

 

Edward Everett Ayers was the 9th of 14 children of Philander and Nancy (Eagon) Ayers. He grew up on their farm in Kirkwood Twp, Belmont Cty, Ohio.

Despite these humble beginnings he obtained an amazing education – B.C.S. from Mount Union College in Ohio in 1891 and then a Ph.B. from the same institution a year later, a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Boston University in 1896, then an A.M. from Harvard University in 1898, then separate Ph.D.s from both the University of Berlin (Germany) and Boston University in 1901. He published a small book on worker’s insurance and care for the poor, in German, in 1901. He also studied at Andover Theological Seminary from 1901-1903.

In the midst of all that he served 4 churches in and around Boston, MA between 1894 and 1908 as a Methodist Episcopal clergyman.

He married Caroline Eleanor Elder in Boston in 1899.

He then obtained another degree — S.T.D. – from Mount Union College in 1908.

In 1908 he secured a faculty position at Randolph Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, and remained there until 1925. He was Professor of Sociology and Bible. The later-famous Pearl Buck graduated from there in 1914, and given her interests and the size of the college he almost certainly had her as a student. He then accepted a faculty position at Greensboro Women’s College in 1926, staying there until he retired in 1936. He kept his home in Lynchburg during this time and it appears that his wife Caroline, stayed there. His daughter Virginia was in Wellesley College when he made this shift to Greensboro (1924-28). He appears in yearbooks for Greensboro Women’s College and appears to have been very well liked by students. He was certainly amazingly well-educated. Given his subject area, while he was studying in Berlin he almost certainly would have attended lectures by the great Georg Simmel.

 

Source: Memorial page for Rev. Edward Everett Ayers at the Find a Grave website. Includes pictures.

___________________

Review of Ayres’ German dissertation

Arbeiterversicherung und Armenpflege. Von Edward E. Ayres, Ph.D. Berlin: E. Ebering, 1901.

Dr. Ayres belongs to an increasing number of young American clergymen who supplement their training in theology with a course in sociology. In selecting the above subject for his doctor’s thesis at Berlin he has appropriated one of the very choicest bits from the great social laboratory which the German states seem to have become. It appears that the German compulsory insurance — against sickness, accident, and old age — applies, in these different classes, to about 9,000,000, 16,500,000, and 12,000,000 of German working people, respectively. Dr. Willoughby, in his book on Workingmen’s Insurance, which appeared in 1898, explained the spirit and the letter of these experiments in paternalism, and now, after about twenty years of testing, it is time we were told something of the incidents, and it is to be  hoped that Dr. Ayres will turn his little book into English.

The chief thesis of the essay is that compulsory insurance has had a salutary influence upon conditions of dependency. This conclusion is reached after a study of the number of applicants for relief, for different periods, in a selected group of twenty-one towns, averaging in population about 40,000. The first discovery is that the number of cases of relief on account of sickness falling to women, who are less protected by the insurance, increased between 1880 and 1893 by about 20 per cent., while the population increased by nearly 50 per cent., and on account of sickness falling to men, who are more protected, there was an actual falling off in the number of cases. The showing is not quite so favorable in the class of relief on account of accident; but it is much more favorable in the class of relief on account of old age. The author’s conclusion is buttressed by a remarkable consensus of opinion, on the part of the administrators of the poor funds in the cities from which the figures are taken, that the burden of poor relief is greatly lightened as a result of measures of state insurance, and a number of them offer statistical reasons for their faith.

The general favorable view of the author is further strengthened by reports showing an increase of small savings-bank accounts, by different evidences of a higher standard of living, by the increased average annual income of insured persons from 641 marks in 1886 to 735 marks in 1898, and by a decline in emigration from 120,089 in 1891 to 20,837 m 1898.

The thesis certainly contains an interesting marshaling of pertinent coincidences, but in weighing the causal elements Germany’s phenomenal industrial awakening during the period studied should be considered, and this the author seems to neglect. Here he might shift his ground a trifle and say, “if insurance paternalism, as its enemies assert, leans in the direction of a slothful content (the future being cared for), it does not press sufficiently heavy to prevent the present era of industrial prosperity, and it has not proven to be as bad as some have prophesied.” But to say that “it was the cause of the industrial awakening” — not even Dr. Ayres would go that far. And that the industrial growth has been a factor in all the phenomena enumerated he would probably agree.

James H. Hamilton.
Syracuse University

 

Source: Review of Arbeiterversicherung und Armentpflege von Edward E. Ayres (Berlin, 1901) by James H. Hamilton in The American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 7, No. 2 (September 1901), pp. 281-282.

___________________

Cover letter to President Butler
and Ayers’ c.v.

College Park, Lynchburg, Va.
Feb. 1, 1915.

Pres. N.M. Butler, LL.D.
New York

Dear Sir:-

Please find enclosed some personal testimonials of my preparation and work in economics and sociology. I would be very much pleased if you would keep these on file and, in case of a vacancy in this department of your institution, communicate with me.

Yours very truly,
[signed] Edward E. Ayers

* * *

            With a desire to make larger provision for my family I wish to be considered for any vacancy in the department of Economics or Sociology in your institution.

The following is a brief account of my education and experience: I spent five years in Mt. Union College, having received my preparatory education in the public schools of Ohio. In the college I completed the business course, the teacher’s course, and the philosophical course, and received the degrees C.S.B. and Ph.B. in 1892. Entering immediately upon a course of study in Boston University, I remained four years and completed a theological course, receiving the degree S.T.B. During my stay there I also took all the philosophy taught by Professor Borden P. Bowne and all of the economics and sociology offered in the University. In 1896 I entered Harvard University to specialize in sociology and remained there two years, and received the degree A.M. in 1898. Much of my time while in Boston University and Harvard was spent in a study of the practical social problems of Boston and vicinity. In 1899 I entered Berlin University, Germany, and spent two years in special work on sociology and economics under Professors Schmoller, Wagner, Sering and Von Halle. In connection with my university work I made excursions over Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France to study social questions and economic conditions. I took all the courses offered in agricultural economics, and with the professors made excursions out to the farms to study actual conditions. My early life until entering college was spent on a farm in Ohio. In 1901 I received the degree Ph.D. from Berlin. In the same year I also received Ph.D, from Boston University.

From 1901 to 1908 I spent in directing church work in the following cities or their suburbs: Lawrence, Mass., Boston and Springfield, Mass., at the same time continuing my work and interest in economics and social subjects.

In 1908 I received a call to Randolph-Macon Woman’s College of Lynchburg, Va., as head professor of the department of Bible and Sociology. My work has been a pleasure from the beginning. I am now offering courses in economics, money and banking, pathology, labor movement and socialism.

In 1908 I received the honorary degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology from my Alma Mater, Mt. Union College.

Trusting that I may hear from you, I am

Yours very sincerely,
[signed] Edward E. Ayers

[Note: testimonials have not been included here because they are not particularly informative]

Source:   Columbia University Archives. E.R.A. Seligman Collection. Box 98B [now in Box 36], Folder “Columbia, 1913-1917 (unarranged and incomplete)”.

___________________

Faculty listing for E.E. Ayers at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College

Edward Everett Ayers, S.T.D.  Professor of Sociology and English Bible.

B.C.S., Mount Union College, 1891; Ph.B., 1892; S.T.B., Boston University, 1896; A.M., Harvard University, 1898; Ph.D., Boston University, 1901; Ph.D., University of Berlin, 1901; S.T.D., Mount Union College, 1908; Student, Andover Theological Seminary, 1901-03; Professor of Sociology and Bible, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, 1908—.

* * *

Economics/Sociology Courses taught by Ayers at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College

SOCIOLOGY
Professor Ayers.

            Course 1. Introduction to Economics.— This course deals with the rise of modern industry and its expansion in the United States; production, distribution and consumption; value, price and the monetary system of the United States; tariff, labor movement, natural and legal monopolies; American railroads and trusts; economic reform; government expenditures and revenues; taxation and economic progress.

The last half of this course deals with the development of economic thought. This will include a brief survey of economic thought in classical antiquity and its development in Europe, England, and America. Mill, Turgot, Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, and other writers will be considered.

The members of the class will be taken on tours of inspection through industrial institutions in and about Lynchburg.

Lectures, recitations, and discussions. Three hours a week throughout the year.

 

            Course 2. Introduction to Social Science.— This course deals with early social development, achievement, civilization, and the growth of modern social institutions; elimination of social evils; the social ideal; charities, compulsory insurance, and corrective legislation.

Particular problems of city and country life will be discussed. Students will be directed in personal investigation of social conditions in Lynchburg.

Prisons, almshouses, and other institutions will be studied. The aim of the course is to prepare students for social service.

One thesis is required of each student. Three hours a week throughout the year.

 

            Course 3. Socialism.— The purpose of this course is to acquaint the student with the various Utopian schemes of government in order to separate the transient from the permanent in political society. Some attention will be given to such writers as Plato, Fourier, Proudhon, Louis Blanc, Thomas More, and Edward Bellamy; but most of the time will be given to present socialistic theories and development. The nature, strength, and weakness of socialism will be considered; the golden mean of practical reform will be studied. Lectures, recitations, and discussions. One thesis will be required of each student. Three hours a week throughout the year.

 

            Course 4. The Labor Movement.— This course embraces a brief survey of the conditions of labor in the nations of antiquity and in mediaeval Europe. Most of the time will be given to modern labor movements in Europe, England, and America; the rise of labor organizations, strikes, boycotts, and injunctions, the sweating system, woman and child labor; wages, hours of labor, sanitary and safety devices. The labor of factories, farms, and stores will be studied to furnish concrete examples for the course. One thesis required of each student. Three hours a week throughout the year.

Any student taking two courses in sociology may be allowed to concentrate her work in writing one thesis instead of two.

 

Source: Randolph-Macon Woman’s College Catalogue 1913-1914 (Announcements 1914-1915), pp. 6, 61-2. Lynchburg, Virginia.

Image Source: Edward E. Ayres. Greensboro College. The Echo, 1927.

Categories
Curriculum Germany Harvard

Harvard. The German language in higher education, 1894

 

Several earlier posts have considered foreign language requirements from the perspective of mid-20th century (e.g. Harvard, Columbia, Chicago). This post takes us back to the early years of graduate instruction at the end of the 19th century. The report by the “German Committee” submitted to the Board of Overseers of Harvard College in 1894 was forty-six pages long. I have included only the statements by three professors of economics (Taussig, Dunbar, and Ashley) between the report’s lede and its conclusions, but I can recommend a quick glance at the statements submitted by members of other departments at Harvard.

__________________

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON GERMAN.
[October 4, 1894]

To The Board of Overseers : —

In order either to confirm or to correct the opinions held by the undersigned as to the position which instruction in the German language should occupy in the general scheme of the University, the following questions were addressed to teachers of every grade active in the various branches of the institution:

  1. Is any of your work, or of the work of any student in the University under you, determined, or limited, or in any way affected by knowledge or ignorance of the German language on the part of such student, and, if so, how?
  2. Is knowledge of German required of any student in the University for admission to, or for continuance in, any study under you, and, if so, how much knowledge, and how much is it used, and for what study or studies?
  3. What proportion of the published work of yourself, or of any student, or students, in your department, is published in the German language, and, if any, in what books or papers?
  4. What remedy or remedies can you suggest for any evil suffered by the University or any student or students thereof through ignorance of, or imperfect knowledge of German.

We beg leave to submit the answers received in the original; but, for the sake of convenience, we present also in this report, grouped according to the different branches of study, abstracts of opinions expressed, especially in response to question 1, to which we respectfully and urgently invite the attention of the Board of Overseers. It will be found that while a few of the professors, instructors or lecturers consider the knowledge of German as of little consequence to their students, an overwhelming majority of them, representing all conceivable varieties of study, agree, with singular concert of judgment, as to the desirability of that knowledge, differing only in the degree of their appreciation of it, some declaring the ability to read German merely helpful, while others pronounce it to be absolutely indispensable.

We shall now let them speak for themselves :

[…]

Professor F. W. Taussig, Professor of Political Economy.

  1. In the work of all my advanced courses, and especially in the course on economic theory, I am hampered by the fact that the students, otherwise well equipped, cannot handle German.

Professor C. F. Dunbar, Professor of Political Economy and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

  1. In public finance and banking the work is so far affected that I feel it practically useless to require the reading of anything which cannot be paralleled in French or English; and although I make references to German sources, it is with the feeling that they will be used by only a part of the class. This often makes it necessary, in order to cover a German topic with certainty (as e. g. in Taxation), to give it a disproportionate amount of time in my lectures. I must add that the state of things appears to me to be improving.

Professor W. J. Ashley, Professor of Economic History.

  1. In all the higher University work with which I am concerned, in the study of economic and social history, it would be a great advantage to the men to have a fair acquaintance with German.
  2. In “The History of Economic Theory down to Adam Smith,” to read German is declared in the department pamphlet to be “desirable.” In a class last year of some eight seniors and graduate students, two, if I remember rightly, showed that they could use German with ease, and one of these did an excellent piece of work for me and the class which would have been impossible otherwise.

[…]

            While these reports are calculated to create a favorable impression as far as they go, it is to be gathered from many of the opinions expressed that, although a certain advance is to be noticed, a greater and more general proficiency in German among the students is very desirable. As to the question how the deficiencies that may exist might be remedied, the answers received in response to our interogatories differ. They may be divided into the following classes: —

  1. Those recommending that students be admonished by way of suggestion and advice, in the official reports and pamphlets as well as in personal conversation, to devote more attention to the study of the German language.
  2. Those recommending that the requirements as to German in the examinations for admission to the University be increased.
  3. Those recommending higher requirements as to German for admission to scientific schools, and for honors and degrees; and
  4. Those recommending special courses for scientific German to be connected with the different scientific departments.

These different recommendations do not necessarily exclude one another, as, indeed, they appear grouped together in one or two of the answers we have received to our interrogatories. The admonition by suggestion or advice, as well as the establishment of higher requirements in German for certain honors or degrees, might prove desirable incentives under any circumstances. But a careful consideration of the whole subject has led us to the conclusion that the recommendation of an increase of the initial requirements deserves the most serious attention. The more Harvard rises to the station and dignity of a University in the higher,—that is, the true sense—the less the institution should have to do with that kind of work which naturally belongs to the office of the preparatory school. The student entering Harvard should be required sufficiently to possess what may be called the mechanical equipment necessary for the pursuit of his studies. This, applied to the German language, would mean that the Harvard student should be beyond the struggle with its structural difficulties, that he should be able to read it understandingly, without the painful drudgery of conscious translation word for word, and that in using it his labor should be reduced to a mere occasional enlargement of the vocabulary.

We admit that it may be very difficult, if not impossible, to reach this objective point all at once. But it may ultimately reached by gradual approaches. We venture respectfully to suggest as the first step a public announcement that the requirements as to German in the examination for admission, will henceforth be increased by degrees, and that elementary instruction in German at the University will be discontinued.

We further suggest that the time for the examination in German be extended to two hours and that it include, in addition to the translation of German prose, not of the simplest kind, but of ordinary difficulty, the translation of a few sentences of simple English prose into German, or a simple composition in German, and some ordinary tests in German grammar. The examination should certainly be severe enough not to permit the attainment of a satisfactory result by cramming.

We believe also that the recommendation made by several of the officers of instruction concerning the establishment of special courses in “scientific German” in connection with the respective scientific schools, deserves to be seriously considered. If, as sources of information, German works are to be read, it is most important that they should be read understandingly. The meaning of writers who are studied as authorities should not be merely guessed at. This is one of the cases in which “a little knowledge” is more dangerous than none at all. The particular study of scientific terminologies appears especially necessary with regard to German writers because, as is well known, not a few of them—whether writing on science, or philosophy, or even history, — take great liberties with their language in constructing composite words and in various other ways, thus creating, to some extent, technical terms, or forms of expression which, when applied to certain things, are to convey a special meaning — more or less peculiar to themselves. The courses suggested would, therefore, serve a useful purpose.

We would also respectfully recommend that in courses in which recitations form part of the system of instruction, the classes be divided into sections conveniently small, to contain not above 30 students, and that the number of instructors be correspondingly increased.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

C. SCHURZ,
J. ELLIOT CABOT,
CHARLES E. GRINNELL,

Committee on German.

4th October, 1894.

 

Source: Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from February 6, 1890, to January 8, 1902 Inclusive. Cambridge, Massachusetts (1902), pp. 221, 241-242, 265-267.

Image Source:  Dunbar, Ashley and Taussig from The Harvard Portfolio (Class of 1895), Vol. VI.

 

 

 

Categories
Curriculum Harvard

Harvard. Report of Economics Visiting Committee, 1915

 

A few posts ago Economics in the Rear-view Mirror provided a transcription of a report written by a member of the Department of Economics Visiting Committee, John W. Morss, that shared his observations of teaching in the recitation sections of the principles of economics course (Economics A). Today we have the brief report submitted by the entire committee in 1915. Changes in the organization of the accounting and statistics courses as well as the surprising popularity of Thomas Nixon Carver’s course on agricultural economics are mentioned. The planned introduction of courses in European and U.S. economic history and expansion of the tutoring program are noted as well.

___________________

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO VISIT THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

To the Board of Overseers of Harvard College: —

The Committee to Visit the Department of Economics respectfully reports:

The most important change during the year has been in the conduct of Courses la and 1b, which are now introductory courses in accounting and statistics, designed to give these subjects vital and fundamental relation to the students’ later work in economics. Both courses are given by effective teachers with a large amount of what may be called laboratory practice or problem work, which seems to be extremely valuable. Next year the Department is to have at its disposal one of the drafting rooms at Pierce Hall, which will furnish an admirable laboratory.

The interest shown in Professor Carver’s course in the Economics of Agriculture is surprising. There are forty-four students in this course and as many more were refused admission either because of their inadequate preparation or of their lack of practical interest in the subject. Most of the students electing this course have either come from farms or are contemplating farming or some other form of rural work. The number in the class has been strictly limited because of the difficulty in providing satisfactory reading matter in sufficient quantity. Professor Carver now has in preparation a book of selections bearing on the general question of rural economics and agricultural policy which will be available for use next year and render it unnecessary to restrict the members in the course arbitrarily. [Selected Readings in Rural Economics compiled by Thomas Nixon Carver. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1916]

Professor Carver is in Cambridge this year but continues to direct the investigation which the Department of Agriculture is making into the subject of the marketing of farm products. As no member of the teaching force is away on leave, the work this year has been unusually free from interruption. The number of graduate students continues to increase. This year it was forty-eight, and the prospect is of further growth. The attendance in other courses has been normal, but the re-adjustments made in Courses la and 1b have brought about a considerable reduction in the number taking these courses, the result of which is a slight decrease in the number taking all courses in the Department. This is no more variation than is to be expected from year to year.

Plans are under consideration for introducing in Economics 2a, European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century, and 2b, Economic and Financial History of the United States, improved supervision of the work of the students in preparing and writing theses, in line with the effort now making to improve the quality of English written by students in Harvard College.

The Department has been obliged, during the year, to furnish the assistance of tutors to those of the present Sophomore class who were concentrating in economics, and thus to add three tutors to the staff. Three others will be appointed next year, and it appears possible that by combining these positions with those of instructors and assistants we shall be able to offer somewhat better compensation for the work and thereby secure a better type of instructor and assistant.

The Department of Education has continued this year its survey of the Department of Economics and has inspected the work of practically all the courses. The Department of Education expects to bring this work to completion next fall, and the report may be expected by November 1st. [The Teaching of Economics in Harvard University—A Report Presented by the Division of Education at the Request of the Department of Economics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1917.]

Respectfully submitted,
FRANCIS J. SWAYZE,
CHARLES W. ELIOT,
WILLIAM ENDICOTT,
EDGAR C. FELTON,
JOHN F. MOORS,
JOHN W. MORSS,
I. TUCKER BURR,
ROBERT TREAT PAINE,
CAMILLUS G. KIDDER,
WALLACE B. DONHAM.

May 10, 1915.

 

Source:    Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College for the Academic Year 1914-15, pp. 261-262.

Image Source: Pierce Hall (1901) from Harvard Class Album 1920.

 

 

Categories
Courses Harvard Principles

Harvard. Report on the Recitation Sections of Principles of Economics, 1913-14

 

 

A member of the Department of Economics Visiting Committee, John Wells Morss, took it upon himself to sit in and observe classroom performance in the recitation sections of the Harvard Principles of Economics course during the Fall term of 1913-14. From the first paragraph of his report it would appear that the department of economics had invited him to provide a report to serve as a complementary (friendly?) assessment to the survey being (or to be) conducted by the Harvard Division of Education on teaching in the economics department. That Division of Education report was later published: The Teaching of Economics in Harvard University—A Report Presented by the Division of Education at the Request of the Department of Economics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1917. 

Morss’ report was passed along to President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard by the chairman of the department of economics, Charles Bullock, for-the-(positive)-record. While the report seems rather long-winded by today’s standards, it does provide us some good information, e.g. about the importance of the weekly questions discussed in the recitation sections. For a sample of the questions we are fortunate to have the published record.

Edmund Ezra Day and Joseph Stancliffe Davis. Questions on the Principles of Economics. New York: 1915.
“A few of the questions here presented are frankly borrowed from previously published collections…More of the questions have been drawn from a stock accumulated through several years in the hands of the instructing staff of the introductory course in Economics at Harvard University.” (p. vii)
The questions were arranged by topics to follow Taussig’s own textbook Principles of Economics (Second, revised edition of 1915: Volume One; Volume Two).

Another interesting takeaway is that Morss noted that over the four weeks that he attended sections, the average amount of assigned reading for these recitations was 33 pages per week from the Taussig textbook. This certainly seems modest from the perspective of today’s nominal reading lists but perhaps actually corresponds to the actual reading completed by the average undergraduate in an introductory or intermediate economics course.

Note: Since the following items come from the last folder from a box that contains the papers of President Lowell of 1909-14 and the month of February is significantly closer to the start than the end of the year, it seems likely that the date, “1913”, found in the typed date on Charles Bullock’s cover letter was mistaken and that both items transcribed below are from February 1914.

 __________________

Course Announcement and Description, 1913-14

[Economics] A. (formerly 1). Principles of Economics. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11.

Professor Taussig and Asst. Professor Day, assisted by Messrs. Burbank, J. S. Davis, R. E. Heilman, and others.

            Course A 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, international trade, and taxation 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.

The course 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. course A may not be taken by Freshmen without the consent of the instructor.

 

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1913-14, published in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. X, No. 1, Part X (May 19, 1913) , p. 60.

__________________

Course Enrollment, 1913-14

[Economics] A (formerly 1). Professor Taussig and Asst. Professor Day, assisted by Dr. J. S. Davis, and Messrs. P. G. Wright, Burbank, Eldred, and Vanderblue.—Principles of Economics.

Total, 494: 1 Graduate, 1 Business School, 13 Seniors, 129 Juniors, 280 Sophomores, 24 Freshmen. 46 Others.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1913-1914, p. 54.

 

__________________

Examination Questions for Economics A, 1913-14

Mid-year and Year-end final exams for 1913-14 for Economics A have been transcribed and posted earlier. 

__________________

Cover letter from Professor Bullock (Economics)
to President Lowell

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts
February 20, 1913 [sic].

Dear Mr. Lowell:

Mr. John Wells Morss of our Visiting Committee has recently completed a very thoro investigation of the work done in the sections of Economics A. I enclose herewith a copy of the Report, which I think, will be of great interest to you. Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of an hour’s conference with Mr. Morss, in which he told me somewhat more fully about this investigation; and I think it may be worth your while to confer with him upon the subject.

Sincerely yours,
[signed]
C. J. Bullock.

__________________

Harvard University

THE SECTION MEETINGS OF ECONOMICS A

Notes by John Wells Morss
February, 1914.

When an amateur attempts to pass upon the work of professionals, a knowledge of his point of view is essential to one who would consider his conclusions. It therefore seems fitting to state that I was invited by the Department of Economics to make an examination of some of its work not because I was expected to reach results comparable to those expected from the examination now being conducted by the Department of Education, but because, as my invitation expressed it, the Department of Economics believed it “important to secure the opinion of some one who represents a different point of view, and brings to the work of inspection the experience of a man of business rather than of a student of education”. I have limited my examination to the work of the section meetings of the Economics Department, and shall limit this report to the work of the section meetings of Economics A, as that course has a large majority of the section meetings of the Department, and to consider them only greatly simplifies what I have to say. I have not compared my results with those of the Department of Education, and I have sought but little to obtain the views of those who conduct the section meetings as to their problems and difficulties lest they overwhelm my own observation.

Economics A, the introductory course to the subject most popular in Harvard College, has an enrollment of students this year of about five hundred and twenty-five. On Saturdays a lecture is delivered to the students in a body in the New Lecture Hall. On two other days of the week each student attends a meeting of the section to which he is assigned. There are twenty-one sections, each with a membership of about twenty-five. They are conducted by five instructors and Assistant Professor Day, all of whom will be referred to as the instructors. Twenty minutes or more of the one hundred minutes given weekly to the section meetings are devoted to writing an answer to a question set by the instructor. As twenty-one section meetings cannot be held at once, the same question cannot be put to all the students of the course; but the six different questions, prepared at a conference of the instructors, are all designed to serve the same purpose of testing the students’ knowledge and comprehension of recent work. I have not attempted to judge either questions or answers, but their usefulness seems to me to be unquestionable. After the answer is written the rest of the two meetings is devoted to a quiz with explanations and discussions based on the required reading which is usually from twenty to fifty pages of Prof. Taussig’s “Principles of Economics”. It is to this part of the work that I have given the most of my attention.

The attendance has been excellent at all the meetings at which I have been present. The maximum number of absences in a section of twenty-five does not ordinarily exceed two. One section had but five absences in six successive meetings beginning in the second week of the fall term. This record may not be equaled at meetings close to holidays and other special occasions, but on the whole the attendance is surprisingly good.

The preparation of the students is stimulated and tested by the questions asked of them by the instructor. So generally did it appear that substantially all the students of a section were called upon in an hour that I ceased after a time to attend to the point, though it seems plain that care should be used not to miss sluggish students assigned to seats in the back of the room. How generally the required reading had been done it was difficult to judge. Perhaps on the average three or four at each meeting answered that they were not prepared. At one meeting near the end of the year in another course than Economics A the preparation had been widely neglected, but that was a single case in my experience, and on the whole it seems that success is attained in the attempt to cause the students to work throughout the year with reasonable regularity.

The attention of the students seemed also satisfactory. Nobody went to sleep and apparently very few were near it. I saw no carving of the desks, though many results of such handiwork are visible. A half dozen raised hands would often indicate a strong desire to answer a question or join in the discussion. A considerable number of questions were asked in the class, some showing thought above the realization of ignorance. At some meetings a few students asked questions after the class, though the total number of those so doing was rather disappointing, considering the theoretical and stimulating nature of the subject.

The quality of the thinking done by the students did not seem to equal their attention. That they should show a lack of practical knowledge and of well considered opinions was to be expected in an elementary course; but they showed a striking incapacity for the simplest mental arithmetic, and on one occasion but few, if any, of them had had the curiosity, when studying the different kinds of currency, to look at the bills in their own pockets. And there was frequently illustrated the difference in result between reading and hard study. Often their ideas seemed hazy and too often a whole class seemed unable to answer a question adequately explained in the text. In other words, one who seeks the thoroughness required of a man is disappointed as is also he who expects to find among these students the indifference of an idle boy. When however one remembers that the average student of an elementary course in college is neither boy nor man, but in progress of development from one to the other, one is reasonably satisfied with the attitude and work of the students, and with their response to what is done for them.

In one particular however it seems that special effort should be made to improve the work of the students. In all the section meetings I attended comparatively few notes were taken. A reason may be that it is difficult to take notes of a running discussion; but the results of the discussions are often summarized by the instructor, and nobody can really take notes who can only report a slowly delivered lecture. Moreover in one case apparently not a single member of a section copied from the blackboard figures excellently illustrating the working of a clearing house. I for one should be glad to see lectures delivered to all the students of the College explaining the importance of note taking, and suggesting various practical methods. Further I would have the instructors of this course informally supplement such lectures from time to time by encouraging good note taking.

When the work of the instructor of a section meeting is considered, it is necessary early to realize that one of the most serious limitations under which he works is that of time. The maximum time available weekly for discussion in the section meetings is a short eighty minutes. The average number of pages assigned to be read in four successive weeks was thirty-three, and an experiment showed that it takes three minutes to read aloud one of those pages very rapidly. In other words there are but eighty minutes to discuss a text which cannot be read rapidly in less than one hundred minutes, and which is usually condensed in statement, closely reasoned and in many points debatable. There has therefore arisen a demand for an additional section meeting. This does not appeal to me. Economics A is a course which should be taken by every student in the College, and it should not require an exceptional amount of time from its students lest the number of them taking it be thereby limited. Moreover an additional fifty minutes would not solve the problem; the cry for still another hour would inevitably follow.

The work of the instructor is also rendered difficult by the exceptional nature of the course itself. Economics A is not only an introductory course, but is also the only course in Economics taken by a large proportion of its members. It embraces a great number of topics, each as a rule involving difficult questions of theory and based on a great variety of facts. The amount of ground to be covered is so great that of most topics only a cursory view can be had. It is impossible to pursue to any considerable extent the method of teaching by asking questions introduced into the Law School by Prof. Langdell. With that method, at least in the first year, but little ground can be covered, the facts must be few and certain, and the students either trained to reason closely or ambitious to become so trained. In Economics A the students are two or three years younger than in the Law School, and the facts and principles involved in a simple economic problem are generally of much greater complexity than those contained in the printed report of a law case. Moreover it is a rare person who does not believe that his general knowledge of economics questions is valuable. Therefore the attempt to teach elementary economics by questioning usually leads into a maze of disputed facts. Frequently therefore the instructor can ask questions only until the points are developed and then must make a statement relative to the matter under discussion. These statements are necessary and save much time, but one wonders occasionally if they are fully understood by the students, and whether a question or two after the statement would not furnish a useful test.

The variety, and to some extent the inconsistency, of the objects sought to be accomplished in the section meetings is another difficulty of the instructor. He seems called upon to see that his students do steady work; to check that work for deficiencies; to emphasize the more important, and explain the more difficult parts of a difficult subject; to stimulate intellectual interest and develop good mental habits; and, so far as time allows, to add to the contribution of others further facts and principles. In other words he must be a drill sergeant, an efficient and inspiring teacher, and an authority overflowing with his subject. An illustration of the problems caused by this diversity of objects presents itself when we consider whether it is better to ask single questions of one student after another, or to ask a considerable number of questions of one student before calling on another. If the latter course is followed, the subject can be more thoroughly and consistently developed, and the questioned student better tested and aroused. But then the poorer members of the class may fail to follow the line of questioning or may even regard the considerable time given to one man as an opportunity mentally to go to sleep. A rattling fire of single questions keeps the whole class wide awake.

An observer who has come to realize some of the difficulties of conducting a section meeting, and has seen different methods pursued by different instructors, is tempted to theorize and to select the methods which he thinks he would adopt if he were himself conducting a meeting. He would call upon his students in an order which they could not forsee, and would call on each one of them at least weekly to test his reading of the text. He would use the single question when the simplicity of the subject matter encouraged it, or the class seemed dull, and would seek the opportunity to develop with one student a more complicated problem by a series of questions. He would realize that the limitation of time made it necessary not to attempt to cover in the class all the ground covered by the text, but to plan carefully what topics should be touched upon and the amount of time to be given to each of them, even if his intention was not to hold rigidly to his plan, but to meet the needs of his class as it developed in the meeting. He would try to present in some measure of scale the most important points, although saving time on those which could not fail to be seized by the students because of their relative simplicity or general popular interest. In such an introductory course he would tend to emphasize reasons rather than conclusions, and theory rather than facts, although he would welcome an opportunity to explain and illustrate the actual working in detail of practical affairs. He would as a rule follow the opinions of the text and not complicate a problem by introducing too often his own opinions or those of other authorities; nor would he expect himself largely to contribute additional material to the discussion; yet he would avoid frequent references to the text by name, but endeavor to have a proposition rest not on the authority of the writer but on its own reasonableness. Realizing that a problem is half solved when the definitions of its terms are accurately determined, he would emphasize the importance of the exact meaning of words, and would not infrequently write on the blackboard a list of significant words and phrases as an outline for the work of the meeting.

But even if a method could be determined upon which would be better than any other, its creator would still be far from his goal. The very perfection of the method of one instructor may cause his class to bow to it and hardly ask a question, while the apparent deficiencies of another’s method seems to stimulate his class to ask questions until the ground is well covered. Again a method highly successful with one teacher cannot be effectively pursued by another; and the needs of the students, even of the students of the same section, vary greatly from time to time. Moreover almost every conclusion embodied in a method is a resultant of conflicting considerations and its application is a question of degree. One therefore is here led to an opinion often reached before in similar cases that good teaching is primarily a matter not of method, but of judgment, energy and skill in the teacher.

In studying the characteristics of the instructors of Economics A, one first notes that they are men of very diverse temperaments, experience and methods. So different are they that when I learned that they had a weekly meeting I thought that they might greatly help each other by consultation about their common work, especially as most of them obtain in in this course their first experience in teaching. I was distinctly disappointed when I learned that the object of their weekly meeting was mainly to prepare the questions for the written answer, rather than to consult about the next week’s teaching. Still much consultation, if attempted, might easily become formal or cramping, and it may be better that each should be left alone to work out his results, and that we should trust that freedom will continue to justify itself by its fruits. Whichever plan is followed, the probability that there will occasionally be employed an instructor of inferior quality is sufficiently great to raise the question whether it would not be desirable to have each section taught by different instructors in the first and second half years. This would guarantee to each section at least a half year’s good instruction, and in addition would give to the students the advantage of two methods and two points of view.

In conclusion I am happy to be able to report that in my opinion the instructors of the section meetings of Economics A, with all their differences, are men of an exceptionally high average of ability and earnestness, and that their instruction is notably good,–much better than I had expected to find. The expenditure in the past few years of additional money to better the grade of these instructors has been justified by results, and those responsible for it are entitled to congratulations.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. President Lowell’s Papers 1909-1914, Box 14, Folder 404.

Image Source:  Wikimedia Commons photograph by Bill McLaughlin : Lowell Hall, originally called “New Lecture Hall”, Harvard University.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Trade-unionism and allied problems. Exams, 1913-32

 

The course for undergraduates and graduates “Trade Unionism and Allied Problems” (Economics 6a) was a staple in the Harvard economics department offerings for the two decades that include the first world war, the roaring ‘twenties and the early years of the Great Depression. This post follows up on the previous post that provided lists of readings used in the courses on “trade unions” and “labor problems” from the second half of the 1920s.

I have provided early and late course descriptions to indicate the continuity of course content. These are followed by the annual enrollment data when available along with transcriptions of the final exams for all but three years not found in the collections of printed examinations in the Harvard archives or in the hathitrust.org digital archive. Biographical information about Professor William Z. Ripley who regularly taught Economics 6a was included in an earlier post for this course in 1914-15.

The Fall term 1947 Harvard course outline and reading list for John Dunlop’s course “Trade Unionism and Collective Bargaining” has been transcribed and posted earlier. 

________________________________

Early Course Description (1913-14)

[Economics] 6a 1hf. Trade Unionism and Allied Problems. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Professor RIPLEY, assisted by —.

This course will deal mainly with the economic and social relations of employer and employed. Among the topics included will be: the history of unionism; the policies of trade unions respecting wages, machinery, output, etc.; collective bargaining; strikes; employers’ liability and workmen’s compensation; efficiency management; unemployment, etc., in the relation to unionism, will be considered.

Each student will make at least one report upon a labor union or an important strike, from the original documents. Two lectures a week, with one recitation, will be the usual practice.

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1913-14. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. X, No. 1, Part X (May 19, 1913), p. 63.

 

Late Course Description (1932-33)

[Economics] 6a 1hf. Labor Problems.
Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Dr. Brown

This course will deal mainly with the economic and social relations of employer and employed. Among the topics included will be: the history of unionism; the policies of trade unions respecting wages, machinery, output, collective bargaining,  strikes, the legal status of unionism, closed shop, efficiency management, unemployment, and labor legislation.

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1913-14. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXIX, No. 32 (June 27, 1932), p. 73.

________________________________

1912-13

Enrollment, 1912-13

6a 1hf. (formerly 9a 1hf) Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Lloyd Morgan] Crosgrave. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 72: 3 Graduates, 44 Seniors, 19 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1912-13, p. 57.

 

ECONOMICS 6a
Final examination, 1912-13

Answer the first five briefly

  1. What is sabotage?
  2. What is the “extended” closed shop?
  3. What is the principal practical difficulty in the “general strike”?
  4. Is it met by the adoption of any positive policy in France by the “syndicates “?
  5. In the syndicalist programme what is to be the unit in the reorganized state?
  6. Contrast collective bargaining under sanction of the law with its adoption by private arrangement; (a) from the point of view of advantage to the employer; (b) from that of the workman.
  7. What are the four main features of the New Zealand legislation. (Each in a sentence.)
  8. What is the principal demonstrated weakness in the above legislation?
  9. What are three disabilities of the individual workmen in negotiating a wage contract?
  10. Wages for women in domestic service and in manufactures seem out of line with one another. What main difference helps to explain this?
  11. What is the present condition of affairs respecting the closed shop in the United States? Outline the course of events for two decades.
  12. How does the law of conspiracy enter into the decision by courts in labor disputes? How has Great Britain settled it?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1913), p. 45.

________________________________

1913-14

Enrollment, 1913-14

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Louis August] Rufener. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 71: 4 Graduates, 31 Seniors, 25 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1913-14, p. 55

 

ECONOMICS 6a
Final examination, 1913-14

  1. Outline the principal phases of development of organized labor in the United States, with especial reference to conditions at the present time. In conclusion name five or six of the most significant events which define the present situation.
  2. What are the three most essential features of a collective bargain between workmen and employers?
  3. What is the feature in common of all minimum wage laws, as in Victoria and of compulsory arbitration statutes like those of New Zealand? Wherein does the policy differ most profoundly from ours?
  4. Name in a sentence in each of as many of the following cases as possible, the essential point at issue.

(a) The Danbury hatters.
(b) Allen v. Flood.
(c) New York Bakeshop law.
(d) Bucks Stove Co. case.
(e) Taff Vale Railway.
(f) Holden v. Hardy. (Utah.)

  1. How, other than by incorporation, is a greater measure of legal responsibility of trade unions to be attained?
  2. Discuss scientific management from the viewpoint of organized labor.
  3. What is the significant feature of the new type of state labor bureau, like the Wisconsin Industrial Commission?
  4. Compare the present legal status of the non-union man in England and the United States.

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1914), p. 44.

________________________________

1914-15 

Enrollment, 1914-15

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Louis August] Rufener. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 76: 45 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1914-15, pp. 59-60.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1914-15

Answer in order; but cover only as many as the time limit permits.

  1. Speaking of English conditions, the Webbs on p. 707 say:
    “Hence old-fashioned family concerns with sleepy management and obsolete plant, find the Trade Union regulations a positive protection against competition.” What do they mean? Show how it works out.
  2. Describe and discuss the recent decision of the U. S. Supreme Court in the Danbury Hatters case, especially in its bearing upon incorporation.
  3. Under any of the plans for eliminating labor contests which expressly prohibit striking, what offset is given to the employees for this limitation upon their freedom of action?
  4. The Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co. assures its operatives a fixed percentage of gross receipts as a wage fund. What is the object? Criticize the plan.
  5. What advantages may be expected to flow to a union from the adoption of a positive system of high dues and liberal benefits?
  6. The Eastern Engineer’s Arbitration Award of 1912 says:
    “Therefore, considering the uncertainty of many of the factors involved, the arbitrators feel that they should not deny an increase of compensation to the engineers merely on the ground that the roads are unable to pay. They feel that the engineers should be granted a fair compensation. … In making their award they therefore eliminate the claim of the railroads that they are unable to pay an increased compensation.” Discuss the principle advanced.
  7. Is the closed-shop policy essential to successful trade unionism? Illustrate your argument.
  8. Theoretically, the Standard Wage is merely the minimum wage for the trade. How does it work out in practise?
  9. How do the efficiency engineers deal with restriction of output? Give imaginary examples, if you can?
  10. Where has insurance against unemployment been tried; and with what success?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1915), pp. 49-50.

________________________________

1915-16

Enrollment, 1915-16

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Weisman. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 61: 24 Seniors, 29 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1915-16, pp. 60-61.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1915-16

  1. Illustrate by a sketch the interrelation between the constituent parts of the American Federation of Labor.
  2. Criticise the following premium wage plans for mounting “gem” electric lamp bulbs.
Wage per thousand
Output under 900 daily $1.03
Output 900-1000 daily $1.07
Output 1000-1100 daily $1.12
Output over 1100 daily $1.17
  1. Have you any impression whether Webb favors craft or industrial unionism? What instances does he cite?
  2. Define (a) Federal union; (b) Device of the Common Rule? (c) Jurisdiction dispute.
  3. Is there any real difference between an “irritation strike” of the I.W.W. and the British “strike in detail”?
  4. Contrast the British and American policies of trade union finance, showing causes and results.
  5. Describe the Hart, Schaffner and Marx plan of dealing with its employees.
  6. Is the Standard Wage merely the minimum for a given trade or not? Discuss the contention that it penalizes enterprise or ability.
  7. Is there any relation logically between the attitude of labor toward piece work and the relative utilization of machinery?
    What is the nature of the business transacted at the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1916), pp. 54-55.

________________________________

1916-17

Enrollment, 1916-17

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Lewis. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 49: 3 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1916-17, pp. 56-57.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1916-17

  1. Discuss, with illustrations, the proposition to avoid judicial interference with labor legislation, by means of constitutional amendment.
  2. In how far do the Industrial Commissions of several states exemplify the ideals and necessities in the field of labor legislation?
  3. “The minimum scale does not reduce all workmen to a ‘deal level’ as it is so often asserted. It is true that it protects the average man when he is employed. But in dull seasons it will invariably be found that the less efficient men are out of work. A lower wage scale for the less efficient would not create more work and furnish them employment. It would, however, pull down the wages of the more efficient, who would still continue to do the work, but at a lower rate of pay.
    “If the unions did not set a minimum scale of wages, the minimum would be set by the necessity of the idle men in the street and standards of living would be lower.” Did the author apparently have piece or time wages in mind in the above quotation, or would the reasoning be applicable equally to either sort?
  4. How does the New Zealand program differ from our American practices as respects,
    1. Status of the non-union man?
    2. The standard wage?
    3. Strikes?
  5. With what feature of the labor problem does scientific management seek primarily to cope? What obstacles confront its introduction?
  6. Give as many reasons as you can for the apparently deep-seated distrust of the courts among the working classes in the United States?
  7. Discuss the proposition that equal wages should be paid for the same work regardless of sex.
  8. Two slogans are common among the working classes in America; “An injury to one is an injury to all” and “A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.” With what important organizations, respectively, would you naturally associate them and why?
  9. What are the three crucial features of a collective agreement as to wages and working conditions?
  10. As between England and the United States which, on the whole, is the more advanced in the matter of trade union policy and labor legislation? Cite examples.

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Examination Papers 1917 (HUC 7000.28, 59 of 284) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1917), pp. 56-57.

________________________________

1917-18

Enrollment, 1917-18

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley. — Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 19: 1 Graduate, 10 Seniors, 8 Juniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1917-18, p. 54.

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1917-18

[not included in published volume of exams]

________________________________

1918-19

Enrollment, 1918-19

[Course not included in the annual report of President of Harvard College]

________________________________

1919-20

Enrollment, 1919-20

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Richard Stockton] Meriam. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 97: 30 Seniors, 37 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 25 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1919-20, p. 90.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1919-20

  1. Outline the recent coal strike, noting explicitly the novel points involved in the settlement.
  2. The National War Labor Board declared specifically that in the determination of wages for street railway employees it would not admit evidence concerning the financial necessities of the companies.. Was this presumably because they were public utilities or is the principle applicable to all classes of employers?
  3. What are the disabilities of the individual laborer in bargaining for wages, according to Webb?
  4. How is the closed shop issue treated in the Australian colonies?
  5. Discuss labor “as a commodity,” indicating how and why the question was raised?
  6. In the discussion of incorporation of trade unions in Commons, two entirely distinct lines of objection are brought out. Outline them.
  7. Where have the W.W. been most in evidence? Suggest reasons.
  8. Give as many reasons as you can for the wide difference in labor legislation between the several American commonwealths. Number each one and be brief.
  9. Discuss the proposition that the standardization of wages is beneficial to the community as well as to the individual worker.
  10. Draw up a brief industrial code to govern the relation between employers and workmen as to collective bargaining. State what principles you personally approve.

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Examination Papers 1920 (HUC 7000.28, 62 of 284) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1920), p. 51.

________________________________

1920-21

Enrollment, 1920-21

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Richard Stockton] Meriam. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 94: 2 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 34 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 16 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1920-21, p. 96.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1920-21

Answer the questions in order. Begin each question on a new page. Answer all questions.

  1. a. What are the elements of a collective bargain?
    b. Does collective bargaining adequately describe the aim of trade unionism? Why, or why not?
  2. “A living wage is a first charge on industry.” If you were an arbitrator, would you accept this as a basic principle and rule out other considerations as irrelevant? If not, what other facts would you demand, and what use would you make of them?
  3. “If the fundamental object of trade unionism…has any justification at all, the principle of the Standard Rate must be conceded, and if a Standard Rate is admitted, the subsidiary regulations which we have described follow as a matter of course.”—(Webb, p. 320.)
    Explain and discuss.
  4. Outline the history of British experience respecting rights of trade unionists in the conduct of strikes.
  5. Write briefly on five of the following topics:
    1. “Lowering the dyke.”
    2. Priestly v. Fowler.
    3. The Osborne Case.
    4. The Strike in Detail.
    5. The preamble of the I.W.W.
    6. Jurisdictional disputes.
  6. What is the legal status of the secondary boycott in the United States? Why is the matter taken so seriously by both parties?
  7. What principles as to wages and working conditions have been applied in the New Zealand Compulsory Arbitration Law?
  8. Cite instances by name of the two leading types of employers’ organizations, and outline their respective tactics.
  9. Describe some of the factors or industrial circumstances which favor or discourage union organization in industry. Illustrate by concrete examples.
  10. Why was 1903, or thereabouts, a critical period in the American labor movement?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Examination Papers 1921 (HUC 7000.28, 63 of 284) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Church History, …, Economics, …, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1921), pp. 60-61.

________________________________

1921-22

Enrollment, 1921-22

[Enrollments not in the annual report of President of Harvard College]

Note: according to Announcement of the Courses of Instruction for 1921-22 (3rd edition) course was listed to be taught by W. Z. Ripley.

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1921-22

  1. Show by a sketch the structure of the American Federation of Labor.
  2. If the A. F. of L. is a creation of its constituent members, what are the sources of its power over them?
  3. The so-called Cleveland plan of collective bargaining in the women’s clothing industry deals with restriction of output by two novel proposals. Describe one or both.
  4. Discuss the proposed bills to empower trade unions to sue and to be sued; setting forth their advantages and defects in principle.
  5. What is the greatest disadvantage of a minimum wage law under the particular industrial conditions now prevalent? What line of action is proposed for meeting it?
  6. What are the two main arguments for a national system of employment agencies in place of the existing practice?
  7. Lenin in his Address to the Proletariat (in Commons) announces certain new policies respecting production under the Soviet government. What are they?
  8. What is the usual method nowadays of dealing with strikes in the United States? Describe briefly and name alternative plans proposed or adopted.
  9. Rowntree’s so-called “price of peace” contains the following five items of an industrial program:
    1. A fair wage.
    2. Reasonable working hours.
    3. Protection against unemployment.
    4. The status of the worker must yield to leadership. We must cultivate in the factory worker the greatest possible maximum of cooperation, self-reliance self-government and enthusiasm, and the lowest practical minimum of discipline and overhead supervision. The democracy and freedom prevailing outside of the factory must not stand out in too great contrast with dictation within the factory. To this end machinery must be adopted for common counsel and mutual understanding relative to conditions under which the worker is employed.
    5. Profit-sharing.
      Criticise this program (a) from the standpoint of production; and (b) as affording satisfaction to the aspirations of the workers.

Final. 1922

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Examination Papers 1922 (HUC 7000.28, 64 of 284) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Church History, …, Economics, …, Social Ethics, Education in Harvard College (June, 1922).

________________________________

1922-23

Enrollment, 1922-23

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 89: 3 Graduates, 44 Seniors, 27 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1922-23, p. 92.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1922-23

  1. What are principal functions of the:
    (a) National Founders’ Association; (b) the National Manufacturers’ Association; (c) National Bottle Manufacturers’ Association; (d) San Francisco Building Trades Council?
  2. Who have been the leading proponents of incorporation of trades unions? What are the main objections of the opponents?
  3. What did the Clayton Act in its labor clauses seek to do, and with what success? Explain fully.
  4. What were the differences between the Coronado Coal Co. case, and that of the Danbury Hatters?
  5. What is the gist of the Canadian Industrial Disputes Act of 1907? How does it differ from the British Trades Disputes Act of 1906?
  6. What have been some of the results of the plan for settling disputes in the anthracite coal industry?
  7. Compare the various types of unemployment insurance.
  8. Concerning Workmen’s Compensation in the United States:
    1. What is the best proof of its success?
    2. What has been the attitude, respectively, of employers and workers?
    3. Who pays for it?
    4. What has been its principal indirect, as distinct from its direct effect?
    5. What are some outstanding defects?
  9. What renders the Hart, Schaffner and Marx labor policy so distinctive? What great industry stands most flatly opposed to its prime features?
  10. What has been the most significant survival in the field of labor relationships of the war period? Show wherein it differs from conditions prevalent commonly in the building trades.

Final. 1923.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1923 (HUC 7000.28, 65 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Social Ethics, Anthropology, June, 1923.

________________________________

1923-24

Enrollment, 1923-24

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 63: 6 Graduates, 25 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1923-24, pp. 106-07.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1923-24

Develop each question fully, regardless of whether you complete the paper or not.

  1. Define, each in a sentence, the following:
    1. preferential shop:
    2. time study;
    3. sabotage;
    4. “ca’canny”;
    5. the truck system;
    6. one big union;
    7. “open shop”;
    8. workmen’s compensation.
  2. What has been our experience with Federal child labor regulation?
  3. Describe in outline the structure of the American Federation of Labor, indicating, each in a sentence, the prime function of the several units. Show their relation one to another.
  4. Criticize the policy proposed by Bullard in the second assigned Atlantic Monthly article dealing with solutions for labor unrest.
  5. Trace in outline the development of British legislation dealing with trade unionism. Indicate wherein we have anything resembling it in the United States.
  6. How are strikes dealt with in Canada? What success has attended the experiment?
  7. Merely name the issue involved in the following Supreme Court decisions:
    1. Coronado Coal Co.
    2. Hitchman Coal Co.
    3. Duplex Printing Press Co.
  8. Name as many important events, as you can recall, since the Armistice, which have any bearing upon the matter of industrial relations, again showing in a word what was the significance of each.
  9. What do you, personally, think of minimum wage legislation? Not the opinion, whatever it be, but the reasons adduced therfor, are of importance.

Final. 1924.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1924 (HUC 7000.28, 66 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Psychology, Social Ethics, June, 1924.

________________________________

1924-25

Enrollment, 1924-25

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 66: 4 Graduates, 37 Seniors, 18 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1924-25, pp. 75-76.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1924-25

  1. Outline concisely the history of trade unionism in the United States, indicating the predominant type of each period and the factors responsible for its development.
  2. Hoxie devotes a good deal of attention to the “fixed group demand” or “lump of labor” doctrine as explaining certain phases of trade union policy. Describe it, and show how it manifests itself in practice; indicating also whether it deserves condemnation, wholly or only in part.
  3. In May 1910, Waddell made 31 trips over his division and hauled 38,000 tons. His compensation was $180. In May 1912, he made 26 trips and hauled 46,000 tons, and his pay was $181.
    State the pros and cons of the argument that because the instruments utilized were more productive, assuming that the actual individual effort remained the same, he was entitled to a substantial increase in wages.
  4. Is there any difference in principle between profit sharing and the bonus or premium system of wages employed in scientific management?
  5. What conditions, other things being equal, favor the use of piece wages; and under what conditions would day or time wages yield better results? [Note. This is purely a “Reasoning” question, not based upon any particular reading.]
  6. “The position given in England to trade unions and employers’ associations violates that concept, fundamental in law, that he who is responsible for a wrong must answer therefor.”
    Do you think the above statement is an accurate description of the situation in England at the present time? Could the same remark be applied to conditions as they now exist in the United States? In both cases, state your reasons as fully as possible.
  7. Attack or defend, as you please, one or more of the following propositions, stating the case as fully and concisely as possible, and anticipating, where it seems advisable, the arguments which might be urged in opposition to your stand:
    1. A system of compulsory investigation such as the one now in force in Canada should be adopted in the United States.
    2. Trade unions in the United States should be made legally responsible through some form of incorporations.
    3. The closed non-union shop is in the best interests of the consuming public.
    4. Compulsory arbitration, contrary to the workers’ belief, would be to their interests both as union members and as wage-earners.
    5. Restriction of immigration tends to improve the economic position of the American wage-earner.

Final. 1925.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1925 (HUC 7000.28, 67 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Anthropology, Military Science, June, 1925.

________________________________

1925-26

Enrollment, 1925-26

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 53: 1 Graduate, 22 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1925-26, pp. 77-78.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1925-26

  1. “The labor of a human being is not a commodity or an article of commerce.” In what law was this phrase employed? Why? Did it probably serve its purpose, as intended?
  2. President Wilson in his war message to Congress, April, 1917 said: “We shall fight…for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments.” In your opinion is the principle as applicable to industrial as to political affairs? What constitutes the difference, if any?
  3. Criticize the theory of the factory owner’s right to a “free flow of labor.” How is it applied under the Constitution?
  4. The United States Railroad Labor Board in the Shopmen’s case in 1920 said: “The Board has endeavored to fix such wages as will provide a decent living and will procure for the children of the wage-earners opportunity for education; and yet to remember,…” How do you think they went on with the decision? Complete one as you work it out in your mind.
  5. Hart, Schaffner & Marx once proposed to change the system of delivery of paper patterns to cutters, using boys instead of cutters to hunt them up in the files. So the firm petitions the neutral board for a compensatory increase in the number of cuts in a standard day’s performance, because of the relief afforded by employing pattern boys. The cutters object as pattern delivery is cutters’ work. To employ boys will decrease the jobs for the cutters. Company contended it was wasteful to have high-priced men doing boys’ work. As arbitrator how would you reason it out and render decision? Any validity in cutters’ contention?
  6. Relate briefly the history of the Clayton law, the “Magna Carta” of labor, exclusive of the point covered in question one.
  7. Why have the so-called “Co-union” types of employers’ associations flourished in particular trades in the United States? Analyze the situation in such trades.
  8. Sketch under distinct headings, some of the reasons for the antagonism of organized labor to stimulation, as applied in scientific management.
  9. What are some of the causes of the distrust and suspicion of organized labor towards the courts in America?

Final. 1926.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1926 (HUC 7000.28, 68 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Social Ethics, Military Science, June, 1926.

________________________________

1926-27

Enrollment, 1926-27

6a 1hf. Professor Ripley. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 63: 1 Graduate, 23 Seniors, 30 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1926-27, p. 75.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1926-27

  1. Name some positive factors in industrial situations which have directly contributed to the development of unionism in particular trades, explaining why some are well organized and others not so at all.
  2. “The American labor movement is strongly in favor of the five day work week wherever it is possible…this policy has a sound economic basis. As their leisure time increases, men and women develop more numerous and more discriminating wants. They buy more of the world’s goods and therefore, purchasing demand is increased.”
    The above argument for the five day week was recently advanced by the President of the A. F. of L. Do you agree that the proposal in question is economically sound, especially with reference to all branches of industry?
  3. What is a major factor, purely political, which affects the course of labor legislation in some of the states. Cite a concrete case.
  4. Define sabotage. What are some of the other tactics used by the organization which is identified with it?
  5. Outline the course of developments affecting growth of the American Federation of Labor in the decade to 1910.
  6. Why have co-union agreements with employers’ organizations been so persistent in a certain industry in the United States? Explain fully how things are expected to work out.
  7. How would you decide the Statler Hotel case; and why?
  8. “Scientific management attempts to substitute in the relations between employers and workers the government of fact and law for the rule of force and opinion. It substitutes exact knowledge for guess work and seeks to establish a code of natural law equally binding upon employers and workmen.”
    From what you know of scientific management in practice, which of the above claims of Mr. Taylor would you call in question and why?
  9. Name, if possible, three distinct devices which have been adopted since the World War which have militated against unionism in the United States.

Final. 1927.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1927 (HUC 7000.28, 69 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Social Ethics, Military Science, June, 1927.

________________________________

1927-28

 Enrollment, 1927-28

6a 2hf. Professor Charles E. Persons (Boston University), assisted by Mr. Joslyn. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 31: 15 Seniors, 14 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1927-28, pp. 74-75.

 

ECONOMICS 6a2
Final examination, 1927-28

GROUP I

Answer one. Forty minutes to one hour

  1. When and under what circumstances were the first unions formed? Sketch the development of labor organizations before 1850. What special conditions did they meet in the United States?
  2. What, according to the Webbs, are the methods used by trade unions in actual operation? Discuss the Standard Rate and more briefly other trade union policies, stating your own conclusions.
  3. What are the special methods of scientific management in dealing with labor? How are wages determined? Are Trade Unionism and Scientific Management necessarily incompatible?
    State the general features of Profit-sharing plans as applied in the United States. Contrast this plan with that applied in Scientific Management plants.
  4. Contrast the methods of strike control applied by the United States Railroad Labor Board and The Canadian Industrial Disputes Investigation Act. Were these plans successful in operation? What features of either act do you think worthy of adoption in the United States?

GROUP II

Answer ALL questions; follow the order given

  1. Describe the organization of the present union groups in the United States.
  2. A western state enacts a law providing:
    1. Children under 18 years of age shall not work more than seven hours a day, nor forty hours a week. These hours must be included between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
    2. Females over 18 years of age shall not be employed more than eight hours a day and forty hours a week. These hours must be included between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
    3. Males over 18 years of age shall not be employed over eight hours a day nor forty-four hours a week.
      The act is attacked as unconstitutional. State the probable line of attack and defense. What do you think the present supreme court would decide on each of the three articles?
  3. To what extent can unemployment be prevented? Which of the methods proposed for the prevention of unemployment seem to you most practical and effective? Outline and justify a program for dealing with such unemployment as is not preventable.
  4. In 1923 the receiver of a certain railroad petitioned the Railroad Labor Board for authority to reduce wages below those paid by the railroads generally under rulings by the Board. It was shown that the railroad was not earning enough to cover operating expenses, that the stock and bond holders had received no return for several years, “That the necessity of a discontinuance of operations had been greatly threatened for some time,” and that “such shutdown of the carrier would be disastrous for the 31 counties of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas through which its lines ran.” The workers decline to accept any reduction in pay and show that their incomes do not suffice to cover the cost of a living wage on a health and comfort standard. As a member of the railroad labor board render decision on this issue.
  5. (a) Suppose all workers were persuaded to join unions giving us a complete system of closed shops. What would be the effect on wages, and social conditions generally?
    (b) Suppose the Open Shop drive should be completely successful and trade unionism reduced to local and partial organization. What results would follow?
  6. In what respects does a shop committee afford less adequate protection to the workers than does a trade union? What, if any, useful functions may a shop committee perform which are not now performed by trade unions?

Final. 1928.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1928 (HUC 7000.28, 70 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science, June, 1928.

________________________________

1928-29

Enrollment, 1928-29

6a 1hf. Dr. C. E. Persons. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 50: 1 Graduate, 22 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1928-29, p. 72.

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1928-29

Group I
Answer one. Forty minutes to one hour.

  1. Write brief essays on two of the following subjects:
    1. The origin of trade unionism in Great Britain.
    2. Trade Unionism under the Combination Laws.
    3. The “New Model” and its importance in trade union history.
  2. Write a summary history of the development of national trade unions in the United States. This should include the formation and development of the American Federation of Labor.
  3. Discuss the method of Collective Bargaining as practiced by the trade unions of Great Britain. Follow the exposition of the Webbs but do not fail to state your own conclusions.
    On what grounds have trade unions based their claims of a “right to a trade”? Discuss the attempts of the unions to settle demarcation disputes and the solution offered by the Webbs for dealing with this problem.
  4. (a) State definitely how scientific management proposes to handle questions which concern wage earners. Are these proposals necessarily incompatible with trade unions? What is to be said by way of critical comment of the following quotation: “(Scientific management) substitutes exact knowledge for guess work and seeks to establish a code of natural laws equally binding upon employer and workman.”
    (b) What are the essential features of profit sharing plans? What is, and what should be, the attitude of trade unions toward such proposals? How large is the promise of such plans regarded as aids in solving the labor problem?
  5. State, with some precision, the provisions of the Canadian Industrial Disputes Investigation Act. In what respect has the administration of the act departed from the intent of the authors? What is to be said of its success or failure? Its constitutionality? And its standing in the opinions of the wage earners, employers and the general public?
  6. State the important features of the law establishing the Railroad Labor Board, and of the act of 1926 which superseded it.
    Briefly summarize the work of the Railroad Labor Board, pointing out its successes and failure. What conclusions do you draw from this experience with governmental control of labor conditions.

Group II
Answer all questions: follow the order given

  1. Contrast the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor. Include in your answer a clear statement of: plans of organization; program for the attainment of results; governing philosophy; and effectiveness as agencies to advance the interest of wage earners.
  2. A strike was declared against the Mills restaurants in Arizona by the Amalgamated Cooks and Waiters Unions. The strikers maintained pickets who appealed to cooks and waiters not to accept employment or to leave it if employed, and to customers not to patronize the restaurants. The pickets allege that the proprietors are “unfair to organized labor,” that hours are excessive and wages below the living standard. They picket in groups of six and employ vigorous, but generally peaceful, persuasion. There are minor cases of coercion and intimidation. The state has enacted laws declaring picketing legitimate and denying to the state courts the power to issue writs of injunction in labor disputes. The employers enter suits for damages against the union and attack the constitutionality of the law in both state and federal courts.
    Discuss these issues from the standpoint of legality, governmental policy and the legitimate exercise of trade union functions.
  3. Discuss the use of writs of injunction in labor disputes. Why has the employment of such writs become increasingly common and why have the trade unions vigorously opposed their use? What issues were involved in the Buck’s Stove case? The Bedford Stone decision?
  4. Does the introduction of machinery, e.g., the linotype machine or the automatic glass bottle machine benefit or injure: the wage earner, the capitalist and the consuming public? Answer both as to the immediate and the “long run” effect, and analyze the long run process of adjustment.
  5. A certain national building trade’s union established the following rules:
    1. Apprenticeship shall not begin before the age of 16 years and shall be four years long. The ratio of apprentices shall be: “one to each shop irrespective of the number of journeymen employed, and one to every five members thereafter.”
    2. A generally understood standard for a day’s work is in effect, which union members are expected not to exceed. This is based upon the average output of the union members when working without restriction.
    3. The introduction of new machines and processes is not opposed. However, the union insists that its members be given preference on the new machines, and that full union wages be paid. The industry pays to journeymen a straight time wage of 85 cents per hour; runs open shop though the great majority of the workers are union men and has been largely reorganized because of the invention and introduction of labor saving machinery.
      * *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * * *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
      Discuss these union practices from the standpoint of industrial efficiency and social welfare. If in your opinion some of them are unsound or unreasonable, what steps would you recommend with a view of having them modified?
  6. Discuss the general subject of compulsory arbitration. Has it been successful in operation? Does it eliminate strikes? Strengthen or weaken trade unionism? Mean an increase or decrease in governmental control of industry? To what extent would you think it desirable that such a policy be adopted by our federal and state governments?
  7. What conclusion do you draw from your study of trade unionism? Is the movement worthy of support on its past record? Would you suggest modification of its plans or purposes? Do alternative plans such as company unionism seem to you of greater promise?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943 (HUC 7000.55). Box 11: Examination Papers Mid-Years 1929. Papers Printed for Mid-Year Examinations [in] History, New Testament, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science, January-February, 1929.

________________________________

1929-30

Enrollment, 1929-30

6a 2hf. Mr. Douglas Brown. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 25: 13 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1929-30, pp. 77-78.

 

ECONOMICS 6a2
Final examination, 1929-30

Answer the first question and any three of the others.

  1. (About one hour.) Write upon one of the following topics:
    1. Unemployment as a problem of industry;
    2. Causes of unemployment:
    3. Remedies for unemployment.
  2. “Viewing the situation from the point of view of the practical results, the conclusion is reached that the law to-day seriously restricts labor in its collective action, while it does not interfere with the parallel weapons of the employers.” Discuss.
  3. “An unmodified closed shop, with the conditions of membership in the control of the union, creates a distinct monopoly of labor, leaving the employer helpless in any wage dispute and enabling the union to enforce its every demand regardless of the competitive conditions of the labor-market for that class of services.” Discuss.
  4. “Arbitration in industrial disputes, whether by governments or by private agencies, is ineffectual in the absence of strong organizations on both sides; where such organizations exist, arbitration becomes either a hindrance or a dead letter.”
  5. Discuss briefly any two of the following:
    1. Parasitic trades;
    2. Minimum wage legislation;
    3. Knights of Labor;
    4. Jurisdictional disputes.

Final. 1930.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1930 (HUC 7000.28, 72 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, New Testament,…, Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science, June, 1930.

________________________________

1930-31

Enrollment, 1930-31

6a 1hf. Mr. D. V. Brown. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 41: 18 Seniors, 17 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 2 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1930-31, pp. 76-7.

 

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1930-31

  1. (Reading Period question. Allow about 45 minutes.)
    Discuss one of the following:”

    1. Influences affecting the development of the American Federation of Labor;
    2. Wage rates and unemployment;
    3. Insurance as a preventive of unemployment.
  2. “In so far as the machine displaces skill and reduces the craftsman to the level of the semi-skilled or unskilled, thereby lowering his bargaining power, the effect on wages is bound to be adverse.” Discuss.
  3. “Strikes do not benefit the laboring class.” Discuss.
  4. “The trade union is an outgrown form of labor organization. With the development of employee-representation plans and profit-sharing, labor finds that it can secure more through cooperation with the employer than through mere aggression.”
  5. To what extent would legislation with regard to hours of labor be held constitutional?

Final. 1931.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1931 (HUC 7000.28, 73 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science, January-June, 1931.

________________________________

1931-32

Enrollment, 1931-32

6a 1hf. Mr. D. V. Brown. — Trade Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 61: 34 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1931-32, pp. 71-72.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1
Final examination, 1931-32

Answer the first question and four of the others

  1. (Reading period question. Allow about one hour.)
    Discuss one of the following:

    1. The application of the anti-trust laws to labor, and the validity of this application.
    2. “Technological change” and unemployment.
    3. Difficulties of unemployment insurance, with particular reference to British experience.
    4. The economic significance of “fatigue and unrest.”
  2. “Several solutions for jurisdictional disputes among trade unions have been attempted.” Discuss.
  3. “That the establishment of a minimum wage can increase the rate of pay per unit of work done is clear.” Discuss.
  4. “When we consider the American labor movement, we naturally think of craft unionism as dominant. We are too apt to neglect other programs of working-class advance which have been prominent in the past and still offer a challenge.” Discuss these “other programs.”
  5. “Employers sometimes detach workers from their unions by organizing their own company unions, which are strictly amenable to their wishes and constitute a supposed substitute for independent labor organizations.” Discuss.
  6. Discuss either (a) or (b).
    1. The measurement of unemployment.
    2. The advantages of workmen’s compensation.

Final. 1932.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Finals 1932 (HUC 7000.28, 74 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science, January-June, 1932.

Image Source: Cigar box label from the collections of the Museum of the City of New York.

Categories
Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Course readings for undergrad and graduate labor economics, mid-1920s

 

This is one of those postings that I sort of wish I had never started. I began, feeling pretty sure that I knew who the instructor (William Z. Ripley) was and which course was being taught at Harvard some time during the second-half of the 1920s (Economics 6a, Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems). At the Hoover Institution Archives I had found eleven hand-written notecards  of Vervon Orvall Watts (Harvard Ph.D., 1932. Thesis: The Development of the Technological Concept of Production in Anglo-American Thought) that were filed together under the keyword “wages”.

Upon closer inspection it became clear that the artifacts were not from a single course and perhaps not even for a single instructor. The problem of identifying unambiguously the instructor for the undergraduate course might have been solved if there had been a clear date on any of the notecards. 

The graduate course was always taught by William Z. Ripley over this period. The course outline and reading list for the 1931 graduate course Problems of Labor taught by William Z. Ripley has been transcribed and posted earlier. That post also includes some biographical information. 

Since I was dealing with handwritten references, I went to the trouble of tracking down almost all the items. When I did, I added links to the lists, adding both to the accuracy and research value of the transcriptions. Square brackets indicate my additions.

The following post provides nearly complete enrollment data and final exams for the “Trade-unionism and Allied Problems” course for 1913-32.

_________________

On Vervon Orvall Watts:

V. Orval Watts’ obituary in the Los Angeles Times (April 1, 1993).

Watts’ 1952 Book Away from Freedom: The Revolt of the College Economists was republished by the Ludwig von Mises Institute (Auburn, Alabama) in 2008. “This book had a powerful impact on a generation — a kind of primer on Keynesian fallacies that still pervade the profession if not by that name.“

_________________

Course Descriptions

6a 1hf. Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley.

This course will deal mainly with the economic and social relations of employer and employed. Among the topics included will be: the history of unionism; the policies of trade unions respecting wages, machinery, output, etc.; collective bargaining; strikes; the legal status of unionism, closed shop, etc.; efficiency management; unemployment, etc., in the relation to unionism, will be considered.
Each student will make at least one report upon a labor union or a special topic, from the original documents. Two lectures a week, with one recitation, will be the usual practice.

34. Problems of Labor. Full-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 2. Professor Ripley.

This course deals more intensively with the same topics which are comprehended in Economics 6a, as given for undergraduates. Especial attention is given to methods of investigation and original sources. Specific aspects of trade union policy and the legal status of unionism are given priority over the broader issues of labor legislation and kindred subjects.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXI, No. 22 (April 30, 1924): Division of History, Government, and Economics 1924-25, pp. 68-69, 73.

_________________________

Card 1

Ec. 6a. Feb. 2[second digit illegible]. Topics.

Wages.

Justice in Distribution—(Lowell[?] & Dempsey[?])
Wages & Supply of Labor.—Supply falls with rise in wages.
Laissez-faire, Competition (Railroads, vs coal mines, sweat shops.)
Tendency increasing [illegible 2 letters] various kinds of regulation in all sorts of trades.
Competition: over-development of industries & depression of wages.
Trace effects of increase in efficiency of individual, of trade, of group of trades. Effects on other individuals, own wages, wages of other groups.
Increase of efficiency of all trades—benefits landlord largely. Workers get only part of increase. Capitalists benefit.
Increased efficiency of exploitation of land.
Sweated trades—benefits of a strong union. (causes of sweatshops—competition with machinery.)
Effects of rise in wages for union methods (monopoly) upon other classes of wage-earners.
Union answer: universal organization.

_________________________

Card 2

[Probably Econ 6a]

Orth, S. P. The Armies of Labor [1919].
Brissenden. The I. W. W. [1920 Columbia University dissertation].
Selekman. Sharing Management with the Workers. [1924]
Paul Gemmill. The Actors’ Equity. [cf. Paul F. Gemmill. Equity: The Actors’ Trade Union, QJE (1926)  ]
J. R. Commons. Industrial Goodwill [1919].
S. Perlman. History of Labor in the U.S. [Vol. I, 1918; Vol. II, 1918]
Gompers, S. Labor & the Common Welfare. [1919]
Cole, G.D.H. Labor in the Coal-Mining Industry (1914-1921) [1923].
Tawney, R. H. The British Labor Movement [ca. 1925].

Papers:

What kind of workers make a good trade union?
The A. F. of L. vs. the I. W. W.
Employee Representation: What has it to offer?
The Ford industries & unionism.
The Efficacy of Company Unions.
The Economic Basis of Effective Unionism
The Objection of Unions to the Use of the Injunction in Labor Disputes
The Case for a Labor Party in the U.S.

East. Mankind at the Crossroads. [1923]
Marshall. Industry & Trade. [3rd edition, 1920]
Budish & Soule. The New Unionism in the Clothing Industry.
Selekman & Van Kleeck Employe’s Representation in Coal Mines. [1924] [cf. Miners and Management; a study of the collective agreement between the United Mine Workers of America and the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company, 1934]

______________________

Card 3

[Probably Econ 6a]
(Assignments to a Junior by William Thomas Ham)

Hammond, J. L. B. The Rise of Modern Industry. [1925]
H. Ford. My Life and Work. [1922]
Lewisohn, S. The New Leadership in Industry. [1926]
Lewisohn, Sam A. et al. Can Business Prevent Unemployment? [1925]
Carver. The Present Economic Revolution in the United States. [1926]
Groat. Labor and the Courts. [“Unionism and the Courts,” Yale Review (August, 1910) ]
Gompers. S. Editorials.
Commons and Andrews. Labor Legislation. [1916]
Blum, S. Labor Economics. [1925]
11th Special Report of U.S. Commissioner of Labor. Regulation and Restriction of Output. [1904]
Allen, H. J. The Party of the Third Part. [1921]
Pound, R. The Spirit of the Common Law. [1921]  Freedom of Contract (in Harvard Law Review, sic) [Perhaps “Liberty of Contract” in the Yale Law Journal (1909) is meant here]
Commons, J.R. Trade Unionism and Labor Problems, selections. [1921]
Webb. Industrial Democracy (Selections). [1920]
Robertson, D.H. The Control of Industry. [1923]
Feis. The Principles of Wage Settlement. [1924]  The Settlement of Wage Disputes. [1921]
P. Douglas. The Family Wage (sic). [cf. Wages and the Family (1925)]
Barnett, G. A. Machinery and Labor. [1926]
Taussig. Inventors and Money-Makers [1915].  The Minimum Wage. [cf. Minimum Wages for Women in QJE (1916) pp. 411-442 ]

Papers:

The right to strike and the doctrine of conspiracy.
What should be the painters’ policy re the [two illegible words] machine?
The Use of the Injunction in Labor Disputes.
Wage Principles in Arbitration cases.

______________________

Card 4

Appears not to properly belong to either course (penciled addition)

Sorokin. Social Mobility. [1927]
Popenoe and Johnson. Applied Eugenics. [1922]
Sumner and Keller. The Science of Society, Soc. 543.16.20 [1927, 4 volumes]  [Vol. II; Vol III; Vol. IV]
C. S. Day. This Simian World. [1920]

______________________

Card 5

Ec. 6a—Topics

Does the competition of women and children tend to lower wages of men? Does prohibition of it benefit men workers?
Standard of Living.   make assumption of family of 5.
cf P. Douglas, The Family Wage  (sic). [cf. Wages and the Family (1925)]
Extent to Wk. Budgets/Minimum of Subsistence should be considered by arbitration boards in adjusting/fixing wages (rising/falling/stable prices).
Could it be maintained if given? I.e. do poor make their standards, or do the low wages make the standards?
Do the poor make the slums, or the slums produce the poor?
(Note Tugwell’s [?] estimate that American real wages rose 400%–1820 to 1922.)

______________________

Card 6

[Probably Ec 34]
Labor Problems—Sources.

Monthly Labor Review, and Bulletin of U.S. Business of Labor Statistics. can be obtained cheaply from Washington as they appear by writing for them.

Law and Labor. Published by the League for Industrial Rights

(cf. Sayer: The Law and Labor: a Collection of Cases)
(Ellingwood and Coombs: The Government and Labor)

Report of the British Royal Commission on Labor, 1894 (19 Vol.).

[T. G. Spyers, The Labor Question. An Epitome of the Evidence and the Report of the Royal Commission on Labour. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1894]  ]

Report of the U.S. Industrial Commission 1899

Hearings before the Industrial Commission on relations and conditions of capital and labor employed in manufacturing and general business (1899).

Report of the New York State Factory Investigation. Vol. 1-3;  Vol. 4-5.

Report of the U.S. Coal Commission, 1923.

(Q. J. E. for 1924, Resumé of the Report).

Part I. Principal Findings and Recommendations [1923]
Part II. Antracite—Detailed Studies
Part III. [could not find a link]
Part IV. Bituminous Coal—Detailed Studies of Cost of Production, Investment and Profits. [1923]
Part V. [could not find a link]

______________________

Card 7

[Probably Econ 34] Labor.

Catlin, W. B. The Labor Problem. [1926]

Ripley says is best general text. Cfs. Eng. and U.S. A long section (40 pp) on restriction of output. Interesting style. Gives sources. Is weak on legislative side.

Blum: Labor Economics. [1925]

Good on Wages. Knows economic theory. Investment is rather abstract.

Hoxie: Trade Unionism in the U.S. 1917 (13-33). 

Furniss: Labor Problems (1-17). 1925.

S. and B. Webb. Industrial Democracy. [1920]
——————. History of Trade Unionism. [1920]

Old, confined to England. Over-sympathetic with labor. Contrast Hoxie and Webb on the Labor Leader.

Commons and Andrews. Principles of Labor Legislation.

Best on legal aspects. [1920]

(Watkins, Groat, Carlton–dsg[?]. Over-sympathetic with labor. Cf Adams and Sumner, Ely.)

Hoopingarner [Dwight Lowell Hoopingarner, Labor Relations in Industry (1925)] from employers standpoint.

Lauck: Political and Social Democracy. [1926]

Intimate contact with labor in U.S. Knows subject. Interesting. Not good text book.

______________________

Card 8

[Probably Econ 34] Topics. Labor Problems.

Life of Robert Owen (G. D. H. Cole). [1920]

Origin and Causes of Trade Unionism

Are they, as Persons and Perlman say, a defensive reaction against excessive cut-throat competition among producers, a competition which is due to the Industrial Revolution and instead of machine-methods of production.
–Due to a desire to reduce costs and widen markets.

Trade Unionism in U.S.

Note influence of free lands in the West, and (increasing) new opportunities in Young and expanding country. Is there likely in future to be this same vertical mobility of labor which has hindered growth of Unionism in U.S. So union inevitable accompaniment of capitalism.

Laissez-faire and Labor Legislation

Laissez-faire and Trades Unions.

______________________

Card 9

[Probably Econ 34] Labor

D. Houser: What the Employer Thinks. (Econ 7409.27.5) [1927]
W. B. Catlin: The Labor Problem. [1926]
E. S. Furniss, and L. R. Guild. Labor Problems. [1925]
R. W. Cooke Taylor: The Modern Factory System (IE, 20.26) [1891]
J. A. Fitch: The Causes of Industrial Unrest (inefficiency of present order) [1924]
W. L. M. King: Industry and Humanity [1918]

Ch. 12—plea for making worker understand bigger economic tendencies and results for him. e.g. machinery, large-scale industry, etc.

Brooks, J. G.: The Social Unrest (S.E.) [1903]
Penty, A. J.: Post-Industrialism [1922]
Feis, Herbert: Principles of Wage Settlement [1924].

______________________

Card 10

References. Ec. 34.

Unemployment

Beveridge. Unemployment in Industry. [Unemployment—A Problem of Industry (3rd ed, 1912)]

J. L. Cohen. Unemployment Insurance. [Insurance Against Unemployment. London, 1921.]

Feldman. Regularization of Employment [1925] [also published as a Columbia University, Ph.D. thesis)]

[Berridge et al.] Business Cycles and Unemployment.[NBER publication for a Committee of the President’s Conference on Unemployment, and a Special Staff of the Naitonal Bureau (1923)]  (collection of papers)

Berridge. Business Cycles and Unemployment. (re indexes for unemployment—how to construct) [William A. Berridge. Cycles of Unemployment in the United States, 1903-1922. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1923.]

U.S. Bureau of Labor (No. 310)-1922- Bulletin on Unemployment in U.S., No. 310. [Ernest S. Bradford, Industrial Unemployment—A Statistical Study of Its Extent and Causes, BLS Bulletin 310 (August 1922)]

Secretary of Labor, Report on Unemployment in U.S., 1928. (head of Bur. of Labor Statistics) (Shrinkage in competition, 1925-7, in a few industries)

The Ministry of Labor Gazette—figures for England and Britain, monthly, operat[?] of unemployment doles.

Feb. 1928, Q. J. E.—German Unemployment Insurance. [Frieda Wunderlich. The German Unemployment Insurance Act of 1927. Quarterly Journal of Economics (Feb. 1928)]

______________________

Card 11

Readings. Ec. 34. Feb 28.

W. B. Catlin. [The Labor Problem, 1926] 259-315.
Brissenden. The I. W. W. 83-110, 155-178, (297-309)
Hoxie. [Trade Unionism in the U.S., 1917] 103-139
Furniss. [Labor Problems, 1925] 267-325

[…]

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. V. Orval Watts Papers. Box 21, Blue-tab-Notecard File, Tab W (Wages).

Image Source: William Zebina Ripley in the Harvard Class Album, 1928.

Categories
Costs of education Harvard

Harvard. Four graduate student budgets, early 20th century

 

Today we have an excerpt from an official Harvard publication from 1908 that was printed to provide information for prospective and entering students regarding the financial side of attending Harvard. The 85 page pamphlet is primarily dedicated to undergraduate college costs, but this post has been limited to four budgets for graduate students. 

A back-of-envelope splicing of cost-of-living indexes generates a factor of about 25 for converting the dollar figures from the early twentieth century into present dollars*. So for quick comparison:

Harvard tuition then of $150/year translates into about $3,750/year today–we have a poster-child for Baumol’s cost disease.
Room (and we are literally talking only a room) then a rent of $10/month corresponds to $250/month today.
Boarding costs of $8/month converts to $80/month today, and that is before the introduction of ramen noodles into the graduate student diet.

 

*Source: Indexes from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis data at the FRED website.

According to a cost-of-living index for Massachusetts (1910-1943) from the NBER, the cost-of-living rose from 96.1 (Jan 1910) to 164.7 (Dec 1943), a  171% increase.
The Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers, Dec 1943 17.4 to Feb. 2018 248.991, a 1431% increase.

______________________

My dear Sir : —

When I came to Harvard last year — in the fall of 1906 — I was able to count on receiving $25 a month from my father. I anticipated an expense for the year of about $500, so borrowed $250 to bring my assets up to this figure. I believed that the work during the first year in the Graduate School would be sufficiently exacting to make it worth while to borrow the money rather than to try, by outside work, to earn my living expenses. I found that my estimate of $500 was not far astray. My account-book shows the following items for the year 1906-07:—

Tuition $150
Room (furnished, in private house) 80
Board 150
Books 65
Laundry 20
Incidentals 60
$525

I lived economically, but was never forced to cut down my board allowance, and finished the year in good shape physically.

During the current year, I have lived in a College dormitory, occupying half a room, which rents for $150. My expenses will be about the same this year as last. I am able to show a balance on the other side of the book at present, however. A University Scholarship balances the tuition; and a position teaching about eight hours a week in Boston pays $400, so at present I am just about “keeping even with the game” without having to borrow money or to draw on my father.

Very truly yours.

______________________

Dear Sir : —

Your letter with reference to the expenses of a Graduate Student was duly received. I hope I am not too late in making the following reply: —

I am one of the married students of the Graduate School, and my wife (we have no children) lived with me in Cambridge. I received no income from the College, and did no tutoring or teaching, but devoted my entire time to the several courses in which I was registered. I kept no detailed account of expenses, but from the records of my cheque-book I can give a fairly accurate estimate of the expenditures for the year 1903-04.

Rent (two rooms) $140.00 Medical treatment $5.00
Board for two (forty weeks) 400.00 Typewriter (Blickensderfer) 50.00
Tuition and laboratory fees 160.00 Concerts and theatre 5.50
Graduation fee (A.M.) 20.00 Miscellaneous expenses 100.00
Books 15.00 $895.50

This year we are keeping house. The rent of rooms is greater ($200 instead of $140). This we understand is an average rate for married students who are keeping house, usually in two rooms. The cost of food for us both thus far averages about $3 to $3.25 per week (we are keeping careful accounts this year). Laundry for us both averages about eighty cents per week; clothes are partly rough dry. Fuel (for cooking only) and light amount to forty-seven cents per week. At the present rate our expenses for this year promise to be considerably less than those of last year.

Very truly yours,

______________________

Dear Sir : —

I was not able to finish my answer to your request before now owing to various reasons. I sincerely hope it is not altogether too late.

It would be of little service for me to tabulate my income, for it would need very copious notes to explain it adequately. I give below a table of expenses, and a few hints that I should like to make to any one entering upon his first year in the Graduate School.

 

October to July
Approximate Expenses

1902-03

 1903-04

1904-05
Tuition $150.00 $150.00 $150.00
Room 100.00 100.00 100.00
Room incidentals (coal, gas, etc.)* … … 10.00
Board 75.00 80.00 80.00
Railroad fare 30.00 30.00 30.00
Clothing** 75.00 75.00 60.00
Tobacco … … …
Books 50.00 50.00 50.00
Clubs, Harvard Union, etc. 5.00 15.00 15.00
Incidentals 65.00 60.00 62.50
$550.00 $560.00 $500.00

*Included in room-rent for 1902-03 and 1903-04, but charged separately at my present quarters.
**Exclusive of underclothing, but including caps, hats, and shoes.

It is not wise for you to pay too much heed to the reports of very high or very low rates of living in Cambridge. I have made a rough estimate of my expenses each year during the three College years that I have spent or will spend here, and it will be very easy for you to add or subtract items thereto until you can arrive at some idea of what you can expect to have to meet yourself. The tuition charge is fixed. Your room-rent rests entirely with what you are willing to pay, although I should not advise you to take any single room that rents for less than sixty dollars, or a double one for less than one hundred. Your board bill will be higher than mine, for you live further away from Cambridge than Providence, and consequently you may miss going home as often as I do. You will also probably spend more upon your meals for a similar reason, since not having the “home food” to vary your diet you will have to seek variety from the Randall Hall or Memorial Hall menu, and such variety costs more. The first year I was here I averaged about forty-two cents a day at Randall Hall, and the second year about sixty-five. You can get along very well indeed at fifty cents a day, three dollars and a half a week, boarding either at Randall or Memorial. I know of men who averaged less than two dollars weekly. It is possible, but I doubt the wisdom of it.

You do not use tobacco, so you will save in that direction, as I do. Your clothing need not be any more costly than mine, save possibly that you might add the price of an overcoat or some other article, the need for which might arise this next year rather than later. I cannot tell what my underclothing has cost me. Fifty dollars is a very liberal estimate for books. You ought to do much better if you patronize the second-hand stalls at the book stores and watch for bargains. You should belong to the Graduate Club ($3) at any rate, and the Harvard Union ($10), if you can possibly arrange it. Under incidentals I have estimated street-car fares, theatres and amusements, drinks, candy, pictures and ornaments, and the host of small expenses which make so large a total if they are not watched.

I can tell you little in regard to earning money here during the year. Tutoring, reporting for newspapers, canvassing, and other things of the kind, you can get something out of — more later than in the first year here. I have not tried to do much save during the summer months, when, as you know, I was assayer for gold and silver, teamster, messenger, canvasser, census enumerator, gas-meter surveyor, and other things. They all paid, especially the first, which was a very good position. You can take your choice of the others. With my scholarship and with some private income I have worked along. I shouldn’t advise you to count very much on making money in Cambridge, at least not in the first year. Any further information I can give I shall be glad to furnish.

Sincerely yours,

______________________

[…budget of an undergraduate skipped…]

______________________

Dear Sir : —

The enclosed table of figures indicates the exact expense to me during the year of 1903-04 spent in graduate work at Harvard University. When entering the University in the fall of 1903 no income other than the $150 in scholarship was in sight. I succeeded in borrowing small amounts from two friends which I used until the payment of the scholarship was due. At the beginning of the second half-year I found it possible to accept assistantships in two courses, and with such aid I completed the year. Although opportunities for tutoring came, I preferred to work in other ways, so that my tutoring work was very small.

As from my experience at College I should advise the high school graduate to overcome the apparent obstacle of the lack of money and start out for college, so from my experience in the graduate work in the University I should advise the man who can make a start but hesitates because he does not see the full way clear, to begin, and he must surely find ways opening up whereby he will be enabled to continue his work.

Very truly yours.

Academic Year 1903-04

Expenses

Sources of Income
Tuition $150 Scholarship $150.00
Room 100.00 Teaching in the University 160.00
Board at Randall Hall 76.38 Loan from friend 125.00
Travelling expenses 52.00 Loan from friend 60.00
Clothing 35.00 $495.00
Books and science material 20.00
Degree of A.M. 20.00
Laundry 10.00
Laboratory fees 15.00
$478.38

 

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Students’ Expenses and College Aids with a Collection of Letters from Undergraduate and Graduate Students Describing in Detail Their Necessary Expenses at Harvard. Cambridge, Mass. (1908), pp. 75-77, 79.

Image Source: Harvard University Archives. A student’s room at 35 Randolph Hall, 45-47 Bow Street, Cambridge. Harvard, ca, 1898.

Categories
Gender Harvard

Harvard. Martha P. Robinson, secretary of tutorial office, ca. 1935-

 

From time to time I come across something that provides a glimpse into the administrative infrastructure that supports the educational mission of an economics department. When I think of the Yale economics department in the early 1970s where I worked as a bursary boy for the chairman, Merton J. Peck, I remember three women who were essential to the smooth running of the economics department:  Mrs. Virgina Casey (secretary to the chairman), Mrs. Mary Doody (Finances and bookkeeping), and Mrs. Eleanor Van Buren (secretary to the director of graduate studies, Professor William Parker). At M.I.T. Del Tapley long-served as the right-hand-woman of the chairman of the department. This of course doesn’t even mention the secretaries who served in the trenches. With only two exceptions (and these are first in the 1980s) I recall only women in all such staff positions.  For this reason, this post has a “gender” tag.

Today we have an excerpt from a longer article published in the Harvard Crimson in 1954 that provides a few testimonials to the work done by one, Martha P. Robinson, who ran the tutorial office for the division of History, Government, and Economics. About Mrs. Robinson I have only been able to generate the following leads: according to the 1944 Cambridge City Directory Mr. Seth B. Robinson Jr. and Martha P. Robinson lived at 25 Grozier Road and that in 1953-54 a Martha Robinson lived at Bancroft Court apartments, #33, at 12 Ware Street according to Manning’s Cambridge Directory. Perhaps some genealogical sleuth can come up with more.

Recently in the history of economics community on Twitter there has been some back-and-forth about the women statistical research assistants for major economics research projects. We might want to keep an eye on the evolution of administrative infrastructure of departments too.

_____________________

The Secretaries: Keepers of the Wheels
Coterie of Influential Women Make Harvard a Matriarchy

By STEPHEN R. BARNETT
Harvard Crimson, June 17, 1954

Harvard has been the object of much name-calling during its 318 years of existence, dubbed with epithets ranging from “hotbed of Puritanism” to “haven for Communists.” But perhaps the most objective appraisal of the University, and one that emphasizes a quite unheralded aspect of its daily functioning, is the one-word description suggested by an unknown Social Relations man. He simply said, “Harvard is a matriarchy.”

Technically-as the Soc. Rel. man himself well knew-a matriarchy is “a state or stage in social evolution in which descent is traced in the mother’s line,” or, more generally, “a society in which women exercise the main political power.” In applying the term to Harvard, however, he was merely pointing out that the University is essentially run by its female employees.

Nicholas F. Wessell, associate director of Personnel, readily agrees that women play a major role in Harvard’s daily operation. Of 4,360 non-Corporation employees now on the University payroll, Wessell reports, 2,557, or more than half, are women. In addition, 153 of these woman employees have been with the University for more than 25 years, while only 141 men have comparable records of service.

And it is these 2,557 women-whether they be maids, file clerks, dining hall checkers, laboratory assistants, or Secretary to the President-who do the work that keeps all departments of the University functioning. “Male employees tend to get involved in policy decisions,” Wessell explains, “and thus the women must see that the work gets done.”

The credit for this accomplishment belongs, of course, to every woman on the Harvard payroll. But a few of these unheralded employees are particularly conspicuous for their invaluable service in “seeing that the work gets done.”

One of these women is Mrs. Martha P. Robinson, who has served nearly 20 years in the tutorial office of Government, History and Economics, and whom Carrol F. Miles, teaching fellow in Government describes as the secretary “who sort of came with Holyoke 8.”

Assigns Sophomores

As her main function, Mrs. Robinson keeps the tutorial records for all students who concentrate in any of these three fields-a group which last year numbered approximately 1,500, or nearly 40 percent of the whole Harvard-Radcliffe undergraduate body. Each spring she assigns all sophomores in these fields to appropriate tutors; she prepares the records of more than 200 honors candidates in the departments each year, to determine whether they will graduate summa, magna, cum, or sine; she makes sure that somebody reads and marks all the bluebooks that are turned in from general examinations in the fields; and she constantly answers such questions as “Who is my tutor?”, “Do I have to take this course next year?”, “Who is teaching Gov. 155 next year?”, and “What did I get on the Economics general?”.

In the words of Professor Charles H. Taylor, former chairman of the division of History, Government, and Economics, Mrs. Robinson is simply “indispensable to the work of the three largest departments in the College.”

But she does not confine herself to keeping records for the 1,500-odd students to whom she refers as “my concentrators” or “my boys.” In addition, she is the administrative secretary for both Government 1 and Economics 1, preparing the section lists for these courses, recording the grades, mimeographing reading lists, making sure the books are available, and telling countless anxious students that no, she does not have the results of their mid-year exams.

There is even more to Mrs. Robinson’s job; technically, she is also the personal secretary to Professor Taylor. This has now become the least time-consuming of her many functions, however, for as Taylor explains-with obvious awe of his secretary’s importance-“I try to bother her as little as possible.”

But the really unique thing about Mrs. Robinson is not her industriousness or importance; it is the fact that her job exists at all. For the Division of History, Government, and Economics, of which she is still secretary, became essentially non-existent several years ago when it was broken up into separate fields. Since that time, the three departments have dropped their common tutorial function, have developed different formulas for determining honors, and have stopped giving correlation examinations to honors candidates. Also, since Taylor’s period of service there has been no joint chairman for History, Government, and Economics.

Although the three departments had officially separated, however, they still felt it would be convenient to work together in various ways and to keep their tutorial records in the same office. Thus Mrs. Robinson’s job has been to know the members of the three fields within the Division, to reconcile differences between the respective head tutors, to keep the departmental chairmen informed, and-in Taylor’s words-“to keep the departments from forgetting they were part of a whole.” And somehow she has managed to maintain some semblance of unity between the three fields-an accomplishment which, according to Taylor, “could not possibly have been done by anyone without her years of experience, energy, tact, and intelligence.”

Mark-Seeking Students

Thus Mrs. Robinson is single-handedly responsible for the unique inter-departmental unity that still exists in the filing cabinets in Holyoke 8.

What she most likes about her job, however, is not the records and statistics, but the students themselves. Describing her year’s work, she cites the spring as the busiest time; “there is a steady crescendo of activity from mid-years on,” she says. And yet it is this period that Mrs. Robinson likes best, when theses are due and pile up in her office, when honors records must be prepared, and when mark-seeking students either line up far out into the Holyoke House hallway or just swarm wildly into Room 8. For it is then, she says, that “I can finally see some results coming out of my work.”

[…]

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final exam for Economic Aspects of War, Harris et al., 1940

 

I just noticed that I have a copy of the final examination for the course “Economic Aspects of War” that I can now pair with the course outline and reading assignments that have been transcribed and posted earlier.   Seymour Harris organized the course that featured lectures of many other members of the Harvard economics faculty. 

_________________

1939-1940
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 18b2

Answer Question 1 and four others.

  1. (One hour) Discuss war economics in its (1) real aspects on the one hand and (2) in its monetary and financial aspects on the other; and make clear the inter-relationships of (1) and (2). Illustrate briefly from World War I or II.
  2. On what principles does the State fix prices in war times? Be sure to state the objectives; and comment on experiences in World War I.
  3. Why have wars regularly produced price inflations? What monetary changes usually accompany such price movements? What monetary measures could be implemented to prevent price inflation under war conditions and what are their limitations?
  4. Exchange depreciation and exchange control with a view to maintaining exchanges above the “free” level are alternative policies in war times. Great Britain seems to have had recourse to the latter in World War I and to both depreciation and control in World War II. Explain the choice of policies. Criticise them.
  5. Taking account of the broad facts about the principal sources from which income is derived at various levels (consider not more than 3 or 4 levels) and the size distribution of income, indicate some of the probable effects of war upon the size distribution.
  6. Discuss what you consider a significant problem in the post-war economy, and attempt to show the relation of this problem to post-war economic conditions in general. It would be well to illustrate by reference to one of the following: Napoleonic War, World War I or (in anticipation) World War II.

Final. 1940.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC7000.28), Box 5, Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…,Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1940.

Image Source: Seymour E. Harris from Harvard Class Album 1942.

Categories
Exam Questions Gender Harvard Radcliffe Socialism Suggested Reading

Harvard. Exams and reading period assignment for Programs of Social Reconstruction (Socialism). Mason, 1933.

 

In the collection of final examinations in the Harvard archives, I came across both the Radcliffe and Harvard final examinations for the identical course with the title “Programs of Social Reconstruction” taught by Edward S. Mason. This course was one of the undergraduate staples offered earlier by Thomas Nixon Carver that was handed off to Mason starting 1926/27. 

A few things I find interesting from the materials I was able to find for this year (Note: a course reading list for 1928 needs some work, will be posted later):

  • The final examination questions only cover Marxian socialist theory and movements except for the question  on the reading period assignment that is dedicated to contemporary U.S./U.K. reform. It is possible that earlier utopian socialist literature, Henry George, and anarchism were tested in a mid-term examination, or of course the course description had not been changed. The exact same course description was used by Mason for the 1928-29 academic year.
  • From the Harvard President’s report and the final exam (note the superscript “1” which means first term), it would appear that Mason taught the course in the first term of 1932-33 and not during the second term as announced earlier in the Harvard Register. So it does appear that he taught the course one semester to Harvard men and the following semester to Radcliffe women, so having different final examinations makes sense.
  • The Harvard exam as printed can be compared to the Radcliffe exam to see that there is an obvious type:  the first question only be allocated one hour and the remaining four questions would fill the rest of the examination time.

____________________

Radcliffe College Course Announcement

Economics 7c 2hf. Programs of Social Reconstruction

Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Asst. Professor E. S. Mason.

 

Source: Radcliffe College. Courses of Instruction, 1932-33. Page 87.

____________________

Harvard Course Announcement with Course Description

Economics 7c 2hf. Programmes of Social Reconstruction

Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 10. Associate Professor Mason.

A comparison of the various radical programmes, such as socialism, communism, anarchism and the single tax, the theories upon which they are based, and the grounds of their attack upon the present industrial system. An examination of the various criteria of distributive justice, and of the social utility of the institution of property. A comparison of the merits of liberalism and authoritarianism, of radicalism and conservatism. An analysis also of the present tendencies toward equality under liberalism in this country.

 

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1932-33 in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXIX, No. 32 (June 27, 1932), p. 74.

____________________

Course Enrollment (Harvard)

[Economics] 7c 1hf. Associate Professor Mason.—Programs of Social Reconstruction.

Total 42: 26 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 4 Others.

 

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1932-33, p. 65.

____________________

Reading Period Assignment

Economics 7c

Read one:

1. Norman Thomas, America’s Way Out.
2. Stuart Chase, A New Deal.
3. George Soule, A Planned Society.
4. Sidney and Beatrice Webb, A Constitution for the Socialist Commonwealth of Great Britain.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1932-1933”.

____________________

1932-33
RADCLIFFE COLLEGE

ECONOMICS 7c
Final Examination

I

Allow about one hour.

  1. Write a critical review of the book you read for the reading period.

II

Answer four of the following questions.

  1. What position does technological change occupy in Marx’s theory of the decline of capitalism?
  2. What importance has economic imperialism for the tactics of a socialist party according to Marxian theorists?
  3. How do you explain the collapse of the Second International in 1914.
  4. Discuss the validity of the labor-hour as a unit of cost in a socialist planned economy.
  5. Can Marx’s theory of value be reconciled with his explanation of the tendency toward an equal rate of profit in all industries? Discuss.

Final. 1933

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, Finals 1933 (HUC 700028, No. 75). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…Economics,…Military Science, Naval Science. January—June, 1933.

____________________

1932-33
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 7c1
Final Examination

Allow about one hour.

  1. Write a review of the book you read for the reading period assignment.
  2. “The essence of the Marxian contribution to socialism was and is the discovery of the proletarian path to power.” Discuss.
  3. What does Lenin mean by economic imperialism?
  4. Consider the position in the history of socialist thought of one of the socialist leaders before Marx.
  5. “With his ‘socially necessary labor time’ Marx anticipated the Technocrats by three quarters of a century and proposed a technological measure of cost and value whose use would immediately put an end to all the stupid absurdities of the price system.” Discuss.

Final. 1933.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, Finals 1933 (HUC 700028, No. 75). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…Economics,…Military Science, Naval Science. January—June, 1933.

Image Source:  Edward S. Mason in Harvard Album 1934.