Category: Transportation

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Exam Questions Finance Harvard Transportation

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

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

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

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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

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

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

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

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

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

Total 11: 2 Graduates, 9 Seniors.

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

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ECONOMICS 301
Mid-year Examination 1910-1

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

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

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

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Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Transportation economics. Enrollments and Final Exam. Ripley, 1910-1911

For as long as advanced electives in economics had been offered at Harvard there was a course on transportation economics, in the beginning exclusively on the economics of railroads. This post includes links to the exams from 1887-88 through 1909-10 as well as the most recent transcription of course material for the 1910-11 academic year.

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Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5,
Pol Econ 9
(Economics of Transportation/ Railroads)

1887-88 (James Laurence Laughlin)
1888-89 (John Henry Gray)
1889-90 [Omitted]
1890-91 (Frank William Taussig)
1891-92 (Frank William Taussig)
1892-93 (Frank William Taussig)
1893-94 (Frank William Taussig)
1894-95 (George Ole Virtue)
1895-96 (Frank William Taussig)
1896-97 (Frank William Taussig)
1897-98 (Hugo Richard Meyer)
1898-99 (Hugo Richard Meyer
1899-1900 (Hugo Richard Meyer)
1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1905-06 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1906-07 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett and Walter Wallace McLaren). Also with the Assignment of Reports.
1907-08 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1908-09 (Ripley with Edmund Thorton Miller)
1909-10 (Ripley with Eliot Jones)

….etc.

1906-07. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)
1907-08. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)

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Monographs/Books on Transportation by W. Z. Ripley

Transportation. Chapter from the Final report of the U.S. Industrial Commission (Vol. XIX) and privately issued by the author for the use of his students and others. Washington, D.C., 1902.

Railway Problems, edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1907).

Railroads: Rates and Regulation (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912).

Railroads: Finance & Organization (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915).

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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

APPLIED ECONOMICS
For Undergraduates and Graduates

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

A brief outline of the historical development of rail and water transportation in the United States will be followed by a description of the condition of transportation systems at the present time. The four main subdivisions of Rates and Rate-Making, Finance, Traffic Operation, and Legislation will be considered in turn. The first deals with the relation of the railroad to shippers, comprehending an analysis of the theory and practice of rate-making. An outline will be given of the nature of railroad securities, the principles of capitalization, and the interpretation of railroad accounts. Railroad Operation will deal with the practical problems of the traffic department, such as the collection and interpretation of statistics of operation, pro-rating, the apportionment of cost, depreciation and maintenance, etc. Under Legislation, the course of state regulation and control in the United States and Europe will be traced.

Course 5 is open to all students who have taken Economics 1.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VI,I No. 23 (June 21, 1910), p. 57.

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 5 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Ralph Cahoon] Whitnack.— Economics of Transportation.

Total 142: 4 Graduate, 48 Seniors, 65 Juniors, 18 Sophomores, 5 Freshmen, 2 Others.

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

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ECONOMICS 51
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11

  1. What is the principal feature of the law of 1910 respecting rate making power of the Interstate Commerce Commission? Explain the necessary procedure.
  2. How does the law of 1910 affect the long-and-short-haul clause? Show how the new law contrasts with the law before amendment. Does it affect water competition? If so, how?
  3. What was the gist of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Illinois Central car-distribution case? Show how it was related to pending legislation.
  4. Describe the plan adopted for eliminating railway competition in trunk line territory since 1901. Why were the coal roads so troublesome?
  5. Cite or invent a case of true commercial competition as it affects rate-making. Show wherein it differs from ordinary railroad competition.
  6. Describe how a branch line may be administered or its affairs dealt with in accounting as to conceal the real financial condition of the main company?
  7. What use did you make of the balance sheets of your railroad in connection with your thesis? (If it was an analysis of one or more railroads.) If your theses was of another sort, explain what is the significance, or lack of it, of the main items on a balance sheet.
  8. Describe the nature of the pending railroad rate increase cases before the Interstate Commerce Commission. Set forth the leading arguments on either side.
  9. Outline the plan involved in the Keene Southern Pacific pool of 1902-3.
  10. Define the following: —
    1. Immunity bath.
    2. Differential rates.
    3. Voting trust.
    4. Stock watering.
    5. Commodity rate.

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

Image Source: “The Highland Light.” Print. 1910. Digital Commonwealth, Massachusetts Collections on Line.

The Highland Light, a 4-4-0 or American type which William Mason built at Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1867 for the Cape Cod Railroad (now part of the New Haven system), was one of America’s most graceful iron horses. Mason created “melodies cast and wrought in metal,” according to Matthias N. Forney, himself a great locomotive designer. “He was a wonderfully ingenious man and embodied with his ingenuity a high order of the artistic sense, so that his work was always most exquisitely designed.” Mason declared that locomotives should
“look somewhat better than cookstoves on wheels.” A distinctive feature of the Highland Light was the pairs of decorative brackets that joined the hubs of her tender wheels. Mason’s ornamental monogram was placed proudly between her driving wheels.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Economics of Transportation. Description, Enrollment, Reports, and Exam. Ripley and Jones, 1909-1910

The teaching assistant to William Zebina Ripley in 1909-10 for his course on the economics of transportation (mostly or all about railroad economics) was Eliot Jones (Ph.D., 1913) who continued on to a distinguished career as a professor of economics at Stanford.

Ripley covered a good chunk of the economics curricular waterfront (statistics, railroads, labor, and corporations) at Harvard. 

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Monographs/Books on Transportation by W. Z. Ripley

Transportation. Chapter from the Final report of the U.S. Industrial Commission (Vol. XIX) and privately issued by the author for the use of his students and others. Washington, D.C., 1902.

Railway Problems, edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1907).

Railroads: Rates and Regulation (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912).

Railroads: Finance & Organization (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915).

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Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5 (Economics of Transportation), etc.

1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer alone)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1905-06 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1906-07 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett and Walter Wallace McLaren). Also with the Assignment of Reports.
1907-08 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1908-09 (Ripley with Edmund Thorton Miller)

….etc.

1906-07. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)
1907-08. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)

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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

APPLIED ECONOMICS
For Undergraduates and Graduates

5 1hf. Economies of Transportation. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley and Mr. Eliot Jones.

A brief outline of the historical development of rail and water transportation in the United States will be followed by a description of the condition of transportation systems at the present time. The four main subdivisions of Rates and Rate-Making, Finance, Traffic Operation, and Legislation will be considered in turn. The first deals with the relation of the railroad to shippers, comprehending an analysis of the theory and practice of rate-making. An outline will be given of the nature of railroad securities, the principles of capitalization, and the interpretation of railroad accounts. Railroad Operation will deal with the practical problems of the traffic department, such as the collection and interpretation of statistics of operation, pro-rating, the apportionment of cost, depreciation and maintenance, etc. Under Legislation, the course of state regulation and control in the United States and Europe will be traced.

Course 5 is open to all students who have taken Economics 1.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 57.

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 5 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Eliot Jones. — Economics of Transportation.

Total 142: 6 Graduate, 48 Seniors, 57 Juniors, 17 Sophomores, 6 Freshmen, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

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

Eliot Jones (Ph.D. 1913)

ELIOT JONES, A.B. (Vanderbilt Univ.) 1906, A.M. (Harvard Univ.) 1908. Subject, Economics. Special Field, Railroad Transportation. Thesis, “The Anthracite Coal Combination in the United States, with some Account of the Early Development of the Anthracite Industry.” Instructor in Economics, University of Pennsylvania.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 90.

Obituary of Eliot Jones
[b. 12 Feb 1887; d. 17 Oct 1971]

Eliot Jones, retired professor of economics at Stanford University, died Sunday at the Los Gatos Community Hospital. He was 84.

Jones, a native of Grinnell, Iowa, was graduated in 1906 from Vanderbilt University, where he set a record for the half-mile run in the Southern Intercollegiate Association. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from Harvard in 1908 and 1913.

During World War I Jones was a member of the Federal Trade Commission and the War Industry Board. He was named associate professor at Stanford in 1917 and a full professor in
1920. He was chairman of the department of economics from 1920 to 1922. He retired in 1952.

Jones’s books include “The Anthracite Coal Combination in the U.S.,” “The Trust Problem in the U.S.,” “The Principles of Railway Transportation,” “Railroads,” and “Principles of Public Utilities.”

He is survived by his wife, Mabel Ross Jones of Los Gatos; a son, Eliot Jones of Carmel; a brother, Chapin Jones of Char-lottesville, Va.; and a sister, Mrs. Cyrus J. Fitton of Hamilton, Ohio…

Source: The Peninsula Times Tribune, Palo Alto, CA. October 19, 1971.

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ECONOMICS 5
ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS

⇒ Exact reference by title, volume, and page must be given in foot-notes for all facts cited. This condition is absolutely imperative. Failure to comply with it will vitiate the entire report.

Group A

Students will report upon the organization and present character of one railway company in the United States. This will be indicated by a number, placed against each student’s name on the enrolment slip, which number refers to the railroad similarly numbered on this sheet. See Directions on last page.

The information to be procured is as follows, and should be numbered in correspondence with this list. Note all changes during the year; and compare the results with those for the railway group in which the company lies, as given in U.S. Statistics of Railways.

(1) Miles of line. (2) Passengers transported. (3) Tons of freight carried: gross and per mile of line. (4) Tons carried one mile, with revenue per ton mile. (5) Revenue per train mile. (6) Gross earnings from operation. (7) Operating expenses: gross and per mile of line.

(8) Net income from operation. (9) Stock and bonds. (10) Stock and bonds per mile of line.

(11) Dividends paid. (12) Surplus. (13) Present prices and movements of prices of the various securities listed.

With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

Group B

Students will compare the volume of business (1) in gross and (2) by ton and (3) passenger mileage; and the (4) gross income, (5) operating expenses, (6) net income per mile of line, and (7) market prices of securities; for two different railways. These are indicated by numbers posted against the student’s name on the enrolment slip. The aim should be not only to discover differences, but, as far as possible, to explain them. Mere description of conditions is not desired; actual comparison is demanded. The use of parallel columns is suggested. See Directions on last page.

With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

Group C

Students will compare the volume of business (1) in gross and (2) by ton and (3) passenger miles; together with the (4) gross income, (5) operating expenses, (6) net income per mile of line, and (7) prices of securities; for a given railway through a series of years, since 1890, if possible. Note carefully, however, all changes or additions to the line from year to year. The railway assigned is indicated by a number placed against the student’s name on the printed class lists. The analysis of annual reports in financial journals must be carefully followed year by year. Results may be plotted on cross section paper where possible. See Directions on last page.

With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

⇒ The letters preceding the assignment number against the student’s name refer to the group in which the report is to be made. Thus, for example: “26 A” on the enrolment slip indicates that the student is to report upon the New York Central R. R. as described under A on the preceding page; “16 & 37 B,” that a comparison of the Erie and the Wabash Railroads is expected, as described under B on the preceding page; etc.

RAILWAY COMPANIES IN THE UNITED STATES
    1. Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fé.
    2. Baltimore and Ohio.
    3. Canada Southern.
    4. Central of New Jersey.
    5. Chesapeake and Ohio.
    6. Chicago and Alton.
    7. Chicago Great Western.
    8. Chicago, Indiana, and Louisville.
    9. Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul.
    10. Chicago and Northwestern.
    11. Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific.
    12. Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago, and St. Louis. (Big Four.)
    13. Delaware and Hudson.
    14. Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western.
    15. Denver and Rio Grande.
    16. Erie.
    17. Great Northern. (See Northern Securities Co., since 1900.)
    18. Hocking Valley.
    19. Illinois Central.
    20. Iowa Central.
    21. Lake Erie and Western.
    22. Louisville and Nashville.
    23. Mexican Central.
    24. Missouri, Kansas and Texas.
    25. Missouri Pacific.
    26. New York Central.
    27. New York, Ontario, and Western.
    28. Norfolk and Western.
    29. Pennsylvania
    30. Philadelphia and Reading.
    31. St. Louis and San Francisco.
    32. St. Louis Southwestern.
    33. Southern Pacific.
    34. Southern Railway.
    35. Texas and Pacific.
    36. Union Pacific.
    37. Wabash.
    38. Wheeling and Lake Erie.
    39. Wisconsin Central.
    40. Ann Arbor.
    41. Atlantic Coast Line.
    42. Boston and Maine.
    43. Boston and Albany. (See New York Central.)
    44. Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh.
    45. Central Vermont.
    46. Central Railroad of New Jersey.
    47. Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton.
    48. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha. (See Chicago and Northwestern.)
    49. Chicago and Eastern Illinois.
    50. Pittsburgh, Evansville, and Terre Haute.
    51. Lehigh Valley.
    52. Long Island.
    53. New York, New Haven, and Hartford.
    54. New York, Chicago, and St. Louis.
    55. Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. (See New York Central.)
    56. Maine Central
    57. Pittsburgh, Bessemer, and Lake Erie.
    58. Western Maryland
    59. Rio Grande Western.
    60. St. Paul and Duluth.
    61. Northern Pacific. (See Northern Securities Co.)
    62. Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Northern.
    63. St. Joseph and Grand Island.
    64. Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Memphis.
    65. International and Great Northern.
    66. Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis.
    67. Mobile and Ohio.
    68. Yazoo and Mississippi Valley. (See Illinois Central.)
    69. Plant System.
    70. Georgia Railroad and Banking Company.
    71. Central of Georgia.
    72. Pere Marquette.
    73. Columbus, Sandusky, and Hocking.
    74. Cleveland, Lorain, and Wheeling.
    75. Mexican Central.
    76. Grand Trunk.
    77. Canadian Pacific.
    78. Chicago, Burlington, and Quiney. (See Northern Securities Co.)
    79. Choctaw, Oklahoma, and Gulf.
    80. Rutland.
    81. Seaboard Air Line.
    82. Northern Securities Co.
    83. Western Pacific Co.
    84. Colorado and Southern.
DIRECTIONS

First. — Secure if possible by correspondence, enclosing ten cents postage, the last or recent annual reports of the company. P. O. addresses are given in Poor’s Manual of Railways; the Official Guide of Railways in the United States; the Investors’ Supplement, N.Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle; or bankers’ and stock exchange Handbooks, Manuals of Statistics, etc.

Second. — Before compiling any returns for ton or passenger mileage, revenue per train mile, etc., read carefully Ripley, in Final Report U. S. Industrial Commission, pp. 274-280 and 293-295; [James Shirley] Eaton, Railway Operations, pp. 190-201; or Woodlock, Anatomy of a Railroad Report, pp. 101-111; and especially [T. L.] Greene, Corporation Finance, pp. 79-130.

Third. — Work back carefully through the file of the Investors’ Supplement, N.Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle. [e.g., for  January 31, 1903] These Supplements, prior to 1902, are bound in with the regular issues of the Chronicle, one number in each volume. Since 1901 they are separately bound for each year. The Investors’ Supplement will be recognized by its gray paper cover, and must be carefully distinguished from the other supplements of the Chronicle. Market prices of securities are given in a distinct Bank and Quotation Supplement, also bound up with the Chronicle. Having found the company in the Investors’ Supplement, follow up all references to articles in the Commercial and Financial Chronicle as given by volume and page. Also use the general index of the latter, separately, for each year since the company was organized.

Fourth. — Look up the summaries and criticisms of each year’s annual report in The Railway Age, and since 1908 in The Railway Age Gazette.

The files of Bradstreets should also be used, noting carefully that the index in each volume is in three separate divisions, “Editorials” being the most important. The course of prices is summarized at the end of each year in January Bradstreets, and also in the Reports of the U. S. Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII.

The files of the Wall Street Journal are also valuable.

Fifth. — Analyze carefully by means of its indexes the returns in the official Statistics of Railways in the United States, published by the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Note the statistical division into groups, shown on the map at the head of each volume.

Note also that for each railway lying in two or more groups, a Summary for the road as a whole is given as a Supplement to each table.

The Annual Statistical Abstract of the United States contains convenient general tables for certain purposes.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1909-1910”.

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ECONOMICS 5
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. What were the most significant events in our railroad history in the decade 1870-80?
  2. Describe at least three main reasons for the roundabout routing of freight. Are there any remedies for it?
  3. What are the three modes of emission of new capital stock by railroads under the Massachusetts laws? Why was the last change made?
  4. Name the principal contrasts between British and American railway conditions?
  5. Outline the procedure by which rates are supervised by the government in France.
  6. “While continuing to insist in words that rate control is an exercise of the police power, the (Supreme) Court has in fact treated it as if it were a phase of the power of eminent domain.” What does this mean as applied to the judicial review of railway rates? What objections to this contention may be offered?
  7. —
    1. Explain just how the issue of valuation of railways has arisen in the United States.
    2. Show the distinction between the two kinds of valuation.
  8. State in separate paragraphs at least five of the proposals for new legislation concerning railroads of the present Federal Administration.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), p. 41.

Image Source: “The Right of Way” by Beaumont Fairbank, published in Puck, 25 May 1910. A locomotive labeled “Private Monopoly Special” racing down tracks labeled “Opportunity” while two trains labeled “Plain People Local” and “Legitimate Business” have been side-tracked, giving the monopoly the “right of way”.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Enrollment and exam for Economics of Transportation. Ripley, 1908-1909

Transportation was an applied field located within the intersection of industrial organization, government regulation, and corporate finance. William Zebina Ripley’s teaching portfolio at Harvard also included labor and industrial relations. 

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Monographs/Books on Transportation by W. Z. Ripley

Transportation. Chapter from the Final report of the U.S. Industrial Commission (Vol. XIX) and privately issued by the author for the use of his students and others. Washington, D.C., 1902.

Railway Problems, edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1907).

Railroads: Rates and Regulation (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912).

Railroads: Finance & Organization (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915).

__________________________

Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5 (Economics of Transportation), etc.

1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer alone)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1905-06 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1906-07 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett and Walter Wallace McLaren)
1907-08 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)

….etc.

1906-07. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)
1907-08. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)

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Course Enrollment
1908-09

Economics 5 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [probably, Edmund Thorton] Miller. — Economics of Transportation.

Total 135: 1 Graduate, 34 Seniors, 57 Juniors, 32 Sophomores, 5 Freshmen, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1908-1909, p. 68.

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ECONOMICS 51
Mid-year Examination, 1908-09

  1. (Counts for three questions.)
    The subjoined diagram shows the location and mileage of various places in Ohio and Michigan.

Traffic may move from A to D by several routes: viz.,
over A B D (two routes between B and D, as shown on map), over A B C D, and over A B C E D. Traffic may move from A to E likewise by several routes: viz., A B C E and A B C D E. As shown by the map, there is no direct route from B to E.
Shippers of ice at A on the diagram complain that rates from A to E by all routes are $1 per hundredweight, while the rate from A to D is only eighty cents. Formerly the rates from A to both E and D were the same: viz., $1.25.

    1. Was the former equality of rates from A to D and E any fairer than the present situation? If so, explain why.
    2. Is Springfield injured by the lower rate to D? Explain fully. Does this condition of affairs constitute a violation of the Long and Short Haul clause, as finally construed?
    3. Is there any remedy to suggest?
  2. What is the present status of the Gould system of railroads by comparison with other properties?
  3. What are the objections to issues of short-term notes by railroads? Describe recent conditions.
  4. What additions to the present Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, have been suggested? State both sides of the argument in each case.
  5. How do matters stand at present with respect to the powers of the Federal Commissions in securing testimony? Compare with condition in 1900, as described in the Report of the United States Industrial Commission.
  6. Describe the various sources of information utilized in the preparation of your report; stating what you could and could not find in each of the authorities consulted. For instance, what data are given the Statistics of Railways published by the Interstate Commerce Commission?
  7. What feature of the Annual Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission which you read seemed to you most noteworthy?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1909), pp. 35-36.

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

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Railroad economics. Daggett, 1907-1908

Stuart Daggett (1881-1954) wrote his Harvard economics dissertation under William Z. Ripley and went on to become Professor of Transportation on the Flood Foundation at Berkeley.

While at Harvard Daggett co-taught the survey course on the economics of corporations with Ripley a couple of times and the economics of transportation with him several times. Daggett taught the course on railroad practice by himself which was offered for the first time 1906-07.

__________________________

Ph.D. Thesis

Stuart Daggett. A.B. [Harvard] 1903, A.M. [Harvard] 1904. Instructor in Economics. Ph.D. in Economics 1906. Thesis: Railroad Reorganization.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1905-1906, p. 147.

Railroad Reorganization by Stuart Daggett, Ph.D. Instructor in Economics in Harvard University. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1908.

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From the 1927 Berkeley Yearbook

A personal interest in the affairs and problems of the students enrolled in the College of Commerce has characterized the administration of Stuart Daggett, who was appointed Dean of that College in 1918.

Not only have individuals received assistance and encouragement from him, but many of the college organizations have benefited by his interest and suggestions. The Commercia, the monthly publication of the Commerce students, first moved from a needed storeroom in Budd Hall to a single desk in the Commerce office, and finally found a permanent home through the efforts of Dean Daggett. When the Physics Department was moved to its present quarters, leaving South Hall to be occupied by the Department of Economics and College of Commerce, the present Commerce Club Rooms building was being used as the physics machine shop. This Dean Daggett succeeded in procuring as an office for the Commercia, and as club rooms for the Commerce Association, the foremost social organization of the college. By some effort, the club house has been kept sacred to the students of the College of Commerce. During the campaign for Amendment 10, when the University was looking for some central location from which to conduct the drive, the Commerce Association offered the use of their rooms to President Campbell, thus furnishing a convenient location.

Dr. Daggett attended Harvard University, from which institution he received the degrees of A.B in 1903, and M.A. the next year, and a Ph.D. in 1906. He instructed in economics at the same university for two years after receiving the last degree. In 1909, he became an assistant professor on the University of California faculty; in 1913 was made associate professor; and finally, in 1917, became professor of railway economics on the Flood Foundation. The next year he succeeded Henry R. Hatfield as Dean of the College of Commerce.

Source: University of California, Berkeley. Blue and Gold 1927, p. 25.

__________________________

Railroad Practice
1907-08 

Course Enrollment
1907-08 

Economics 17 2hf. Dr. [Stuart] Daggett. — Railroad Practice.

Total 34: 2 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 16 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1907-1908, p. 67.

ECONOMICS 17
Year-end Examination, 1907-08

  1. The following items appear on the balance sheet of a Boston & Maine agent located at one of that road’s junction points:—
    1. Advanced charges on freight forwarded.
    2. Prepaid charges on freight forwarded.
    3. Prepaid beyond on freight forwarded.
    4. Prepaid beyond on freight received.
    5. Cash remitted treasurer.
    6. Collect charges on freight received.
    7. Drafts on treasurer for advances.

Arrange the above to show the debits and credits to the agent. How would the charges on a collect shipment sent to an interior junction point, such as Nashua, be handled in the station accounts of that junction point?

  1. The following waybills from Providence, R.I., may have been reported to the Boston & Maine by the New Haven as representing freight turned over to the former at Boston for delivery to Boston & Maine stations:—
Destination Articles Weight Rate Freight Advance Prepaid
Portsmouth, N.H. Blackboards, boxed 30,000 16 $48.00 $4.00 $52.00
Portland, Me. Hods 20,000 19 38.00 2.00
North Adams, Mass. Lamps 5,000 30 15.00 3.00 8.00

Assume that the New Haven is entitled to one-half the through rate on (1), to one-third of the through rate on (2), and to one-quarter of the through rate on (3), and that settlements between the two roads have been made on this basis. It subsequently is discovered that the shipments reported never reached the Boston & Maine. What money must be refunded in each case, and to which road is the refund due?

  1. Suppose the shipments referred to in (2) had come to the Boston & Maine from the Maine Central or from the New York Central. Could the same mistake have occurred? If from the Maine Central, how would the balances between the handling roads have been ascertained and settled? Explain fully.
  2. How would a car record have been kept if the shipment had been between two points on the Great Northern Railway? How if the shipment had been of manifest fast freight on the Illinois Central Railroad?
  3. At what speed, according to some recent estimates, could this freight most economically have been handled? Explain the way the estimates were arrived at, and discuss the principal elements of cost due to high speed.
  4. How might the shipment have been handled after its arrival
    1. at the terminal yards at point of destination;
    2. at the terminal station?

Draw a diagram of an infreight and of an outfreight house, and explain the reasons for any difference in construction.

  1. Would the shipment between Providence and Portland have come under the jurisdiction of any railroad traffic association? Describe the organization and scope of
    1. The American Railway Association;
    2. The Southeastern Freight Association;
    3. The Western Classification Committee?
  2. How far do the arguments for demurrage charges justify the imposition of reciprocal demurrage charges? Describe
    1. The method by which demurrage charges are kept watch of and collected.
    2. The present situation in the matter of reciprocal demur-rage.
  1. Analyze the statistics of accidents on railways in the United States. What measures have been taken to reduce accidents, and with what results?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 41-43.

Image Source: University of California, Berkeley. Blue and Gold 1927, p. 25. Colorized at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Enrollment and final exam for economics of transportation. Ripley and Daggett, 1907-1908

Judging from the final examination questions, it would appear that this “the economics of transportation” was dedicated to “railway economics”. But what’s in a name?

__________________________

Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5

1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer alone)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1905-06 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1906-07 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett and Walter Wallace McLaren)

___________________________

Course Enrollment
1907-08

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

Total 126: 15 Graduates, 21 Seniors, 67 Juniors, 18 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1907-1908, p. 66.

___________________________

ECONOMICS 5
Mid-year Examination, 1907-08

  1. Define: Financial Reorganization; Floating Debt; Collateral Trust Bond; Debenture; Commodity Rate.
  2. On two roads, the figures for certain operating statistics were:
    3,855,000 ton miles per mile, and 428,000 ton miles per mile respectively. What is this called? What is its full financial significance?
  3. In comparing the operating results of two roads, in what way, if any, may the balance sheets be used? How did you analyze them in your report?
  4. What has been the course of developments concerning the attitude of the United States Supreme Court toward the legislative branches of the government in respect of rate regulation?
  5. What states have attempted specific valuations of railway property: and what has been the leading motive in each case?
  6. Name three peculiar features of German States railway practice, as contrasted with American conditions.
  7. How far has actual railroad consolidation progressed in the Southern States, and why?
  8. Discuss the proposition that railroad capitalization and the rates for service charged are entirely independent of one another.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1907-08.

Image Source: Built in 1907, the Union Pacific 618 at Heber Valley Historic Railroad. Photo by Evan Jennings, Oct, 2004. Wikimedia Commons.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Enrollment and final exam for railroad practice. Daggett, 1906-1907

Railroad Train by Edward Hopper (1908)

 

Stuart Daggett was born March 2, 1881 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and graduated from Roxbury Latin School (Boston, Massachusetts) in 1899. He received all three of his degrees, the A.B. in 1903, the A.M. in 1904, and the Ph.D in 1906, from Harvard University. The title of his thesis was “Railroad Reorganization”, published as vol. 4 of  Harvard Economic Studies (Houghton Mifflin, 1908). During 1906 to 1909 he was Instructor at Harvard, and in 1909 he accepted appointment to the University of California as Assistant Professor of Railway Economics. He was appointed full professor in 1917 and from 1920-1927 he was dean of the College of Commerce, retiring in 1951 as Flood Foundation professor emeritus of transportation. Stuart Daggett died December 22 1954 in Oakland, California.

__________________________

Railroad Practice
1906-07

Course Enrollment

Economics 17 2hf. Dr. Daggett. — Railroad Practice.

Total 37: 4 Graduates, 14 Seniors, 12 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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

ECONOMICS 17
Year-end Examination, 1906-07

Answer 1, 2, 3, and five other questions.

  1. Distinguish between
    1. departmental railroad organization, and
    2. divisional railroad organization.
      Show the lines of responsibility under each system.
  2. Suppose a shipment of boots and shoes, weighing 10,000 pounds, from Boston to Minneapolis. The route to be via the Vanderbilt lines to Chicago, thence via the Chicago & Northwestern to Minneapolis. Rate, $1.35 per 100 pounds. The shipment to be sent “collect,” and the Chicago & Northwestern to get one-third of the total rate.
    Make out in full the waybill which will accompany these goods between Chicago and Minneapolis

    1. supposing auditor’s office settlements,
    2. supposing junction settlements.
  3. Describe carefully the system of through-billing with auditor’s office settlements of a shipment as in (2). Show what reports are made, and how the balances are determined and settled.
  4. Name the principal freight traffic associations and state as precisely as possible the territory which each covers. What are the main differences between such associations and the previously existing pools?
  5. Draw a workable diagram of a terminal cluster. What is a pole yard; a hump yard; a gravity yard; and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
  6. Discuss the advantages of the steel freight car over the wooden one; of the large freight car over the small one. How do the sizes of freight cars in Europe and the United States compare, and why?
  7. Why is it more expensive to haul passengers than to haul freight?
  8. What is a “block signal” system? Describe clearly the working of
    1. the staff system;
    2. the automatic electric system.
      Illustrate (b) with a diagram showing the necessary circuits.
  9. Compare the experience of France with state railroad operation with that of Germany. What, in each case were the causes which led to state operation, the extent of the lines operated, the results from state operation, and the reasons for those results?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), p. 40.

Image Source: Railroad Train by Edward Hopper (1908). Wikiart, Visual Art Encyclopedia.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Problem Sets Transportation

Harvard. Report assignment and final exam for transportation economics. Ripley, Daggett and McLaren, 1906-1907

American Railroad Scene

With the railroad industry posing so many interesting questions in the organization and regulation of industry, corporate finance, and economic geography it comes as no wonder that William Zebina Ripley taught one of the more popular advanced courses offered by the Harvard economics department early in the 20th century.

Worth noting is that the instructions for course reports transcribed below was only very slightly changed from an earlier version (1903-04).

__________________________

Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5

1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer alone)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1905-06 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 5 1hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Stuart] Daggett and Mr. W. W. [Walter Wallace] McLaren. — Economics of Transportation.

Total 205: 7 Graduates, 59 Seniors, 100 Juniors, 31 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

__________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 5
ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS

⇒ Exact references by title, volume, and page must be given in footnotes for all facts cited. This condition is absolutely imperative. Failure to comply with it will vitiate the entire report.

GROUP A

            Students will report upon the organization and present condition of one railway company in the United States. This will be indicated by a number, placed against each student’s name on the enrolment slip, which number refers to the railroad similarly numbered on this sheet. See Directions on last page.

            The information to be procured is as follows, and should be numbered in correspondence with this list. Note all changes during the year; and compare the results with those for the railway group in which the company lies, as given in U. S. Statistics of Railways. (1) Miles of line. (2) Passengers transported. (3) Tons of freight carried: gross and per mile of line. (4) Tons carried one mile, with revenue per ton mile. (5) Revenue per train mile. (6) Average train load and changes therein. (7) Classification of freight and changes therein. (8) Gross earnings from operation. (9) Operating expenses: gross and per mile of line. (10) Net income from operation. (11) Stock and bonds. (12) Stock and bonds per mile of line. (13) Dividends paid. (14) Surplus. (15) Present prices and movements of prices of the various securities listed.

            With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

GROUP B

            Students will compare the volume of business (1) in gross and (2) by ton and (3) passenger mileage; and the (4) gross income, (5) operating expenses. (6) net income per mile of line, and (7) market prices of securities; for two different railways. These are indicated by numbers posted against the student’s name on the enrolment slip. The aim should be not only to discover differences, but, as far as possible, to explain them. Mere description of conditions is not desired; actual comparison is demanded. The use of parallel columns is suggested. See Directions on last page

            With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

GROUP C

            Students will compare the volume of business (1) in gross and (2) by ton and (3) passenger miles; together with the (4) gross income, (5) operating expenses, (6) net income per mile of line, and (7) prices of securities; for a given railway through a series of years, since 1890, if possible. Note carefully, however, all changes or additions to the line from year to year. The railway assigned is indicated by a number placed against the student’s name on the printed class lists. The analysis of annual reports in financial journals must be carefully followed year by year. Results may be plotted on cross section paper where possible. See Directions on last page.

            With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

⇒The letters preceding the assignment number against the student’s name refer to the group in which the report is to be made. Thus, for example: “26 A” on the enrolment slip indicates that the student is to report upon the New York Central R.R.; “16 & 37 B,” that a comparison of the Erie and the Wabash Railroads is expected, etc.

RAILWAY COMPANIES IN THE UNITED STATES
  1. Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fé.
  2. Baltimore and Ohio.
  3. Canada Southern.
  4. Central of New Jersey.
  5. Chesapeake and Ohio.
  6. Chicago and Alton.
  7. Chicago Great Western.
  8. Chicago, Indiana, and Louisville.
  9. Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul.
  10. Chicago and Northwestern.
  11. Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific.
  12. Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago, and St. Louis. (Big Four.)
  13. Delaware and Hudson.
  14. Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western.
  15. Denver and Rio Grande.
  16. Erie.
  17. Great Northern.
  18. Hocking Valley.
  19. Illinois Central.
  20. Iowa Central.
  21. Lake Erie and Western.
  22. Louisville and Nashville.
  23. Mexican Central.
  24. Missouri, Kansas, and Texas.
  25. Missouri Pacific.
  26. New York Central.
  27. New York, Ontario, and Western.
  28. Norfolk and Western.
  29. Pennsylvania.
  30. Philadelphia and Reading.
  31. St. Louis and San Francisco.
  32. St. Louis Southwestern.
  33. Southern Pacific.
  34. Southern Railway.
  35. Texas and Pacific.
  36. Union Pacific.
  37. Wabash.
  38. Wheeling and Lake Erie.
  39. Wisconsin Central.
  40. Ann Arbor.
  41. Atlantic Coast Line.
  42. Boston and Maine.
  43. Boston and Albany. (See New York Central.)
  44. Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh.
  45. Central Vermont.
  46. Central Railroad of New Jersey.
  47. Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton.
  48. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha. (See Chicago and Northwestern.)
  49. Chicago and Eastern Illinois.
  50. Pittsburgh, Evansville, and Terre Haute.
  51. Lehigh Valley.
  52. Long Island.
  53. New York, New Haven, and Hartford.
  54. New York, Chicago, and St. Louis.
  55. Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. (See New York Central.)
  56. Maine Central.
  57. Pittsburgh, Bessemer, and Lake Erie.
  58. Western Maryland.
  59. Rio Grande Western.
  60. St. Paul and Duluth.
  61. Northern Pacific. (See Northern Securities Co.)
  62. Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Northern.
  63. St. Joseph and Grand Island.
  64. Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Memphis.
  65. International and Great Northern.
  66. Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis.
  67. Mobile and Ohio.
  68. Yazoo and Mississippi Valley. (See Illinois Central.)
  69. Plant System.
  70. Georgia Railroad and Banking Company.
  71. Central of Georgia.
  72. Pere Marquette.
  73. Columbus, Sandusky, and Hocking.
  74. Cleveland, Lorain, and Wheeling.
  75. Mexican Central.
  76. Grand Trunk.
  77. Canadian Pacific.
  78. Chicago, Burlington, and Quiney. (See Northern Securities Co.)
  79. Choctaw, Oklahoma, and Gulf.
  80. Rutland.
  81. Seaboard Air Line.
  82. Northern Securities Co.
  83. The Rock Island Co.
DIRECTIONS

First — Read over the latest annual reports of the company. These are usually republished in Bradstreets; the N.Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle [Gore Hall]; or the N. Y. Journal of Commerce and Wall Street Journal. [Daily files of last two in 24 University Hall.] Statistical abstracts of these are also in Poor’s Manual of Railroads; the Investors’ Supplement, N. Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle; or bankers’ Handbooks, Manuals of Statistics, etc.

Second. — Before compiling any returns for ton or passenger mileage, revenue per train mile, etc., read carefully T. L. Greene, Corporation Finance, pp. 79-130 [better buy it, for use in Economics 9b]; Ripley, Transportation (in Vol. XIX, U. S. Industrial Commission Report, 1900), pp. 274-280 and 293-95; [James Shirley] Eaton, Railway Operations, pp. 190-201; or Woodlock, Anatomy of a Railroad Report, pp. 101-111. (Copies in Harvard Hall.)

Third. — Work back carefully through the file of the Investors’ Supplement, N. Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle. These Supplements, prior to 1902, are bound in with the regular issues of the Chronicle, one number in each volume. Since 1901 they are separately bound for each year. The Investors’ Supplement will be recognized by its gray paper cover, and must be carefully distinguished from the other supplements of the Chronicle. Market prices of securities are given in a distinct Bank and Quotation Supplement, also bound up with the Chronicle. Having found the company in the Investors’ Supplement, follow up all references to articles in the Commercial and Financial Chronicle as given by volume and page. Also use the general index of the latter, separately, for each year since the company was organized.

The files of Bradstreets should also be used, noting carefully that the index in each volume is in three separate divisions, “Editorials” being the most important. The course of prices is summarized at the end of each year in January Bradstreets, and also in the Reports of the U.S. Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII.

The files of Poor’s Manual, the Railway Age, the Railway World, the Wall Street Journal, and other technical papers may of course also be consulted.

Fourth. — Analyze carefully by means of its indexes the returns in the official Statistics of Railways in the United States, published by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Note the statistical division into groups shown on the map at the head of each volume. Note also that for each railway lying in two or more groups, a Summary for the road as a whole is given as a Supplement to each table.

The Annual Statistical Abstract of the United States contains convenient general tables for certain purposes.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder: “Economics 1906-07”.

ECONOMICS 5
Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

  1. State and explain three leading reasons for the issue of preferred stock by a railroad.
  2. What peculiarities of the anthracite coal industry have led to overproduction and irregularity of prices, in absence of monopolistic agreements?
  3. The following statistics are drawn from the 1906 reports of two leading railroads. Complete the tables approximately, and state the main conclusions deducible from the statement of facts :—
Road A. Road B
Mileage operated 2062. 4423.
Tons rev. freight 20,259,000 25,641,000
Passenger mileage 1,255,625,000 511,391,000
Ton mileage 1,888,605,000 6,230,593,000
Average haul one ton (miles) 93 243
Loaded car mileage, one direction 86,381,000 353,282,000
Loaded car mileage, other direction 59,362,000
Average tons freight per train 236 410
Gross revenue from freight $27,247,000 $34,637,000
Freight train mileage 7,778,000 17,209,000
Earnings from operation $52,984,000 $51,636,000
Operating expenses $35,222,000 $34,302,000
Freight traffic density (compute it.) (compute it.)
Revenue per ton mile (compute it.) (compute it.)
Freight earnings per train mile (compute it.) (compute it.)
Operating ratio (compute it.) (compute it.)
  1. What is the method of valuation of franchises in Wisconsin? Criticise it.
  2. What, in your judgment, are the three most important provisions of the Hepburn Act of 1906?
  3. What is the Doctrine of Judicial Review? Criticise it.
  4. Is railroad rate regulation in England more or less strict than in the United States? Describe the situation as regards the rate. making power.
  5. What are the various economic considerations involved in the making of a freight classification? Illustrate by taking a few typical commodities.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 28-29.

Image Source: American Railroad Scene: Lightning Express Trains Leaving the Junction. Currier & Ives (1874). Published in: Viewpoints; a selection from the pictorial collections of the Library of Congress …. Washington : Library of Congress …, 1975, no. 39.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Final examination for transportation economics. Ripley, 1905-1906

William Zebina Ripley

Relatively early on transportation economics was recognised as one of the major specialisation fields within applied economics. This can be illustrated with the courses offered by William Zebina Ripley at Harvard that were introduced during the first decade of the twentieth century. Ripley also covered labor relations as well as industrial organisation and regulation. This was still a time when economics faculty members were expected to span several special fields. As Adam Smith had said, “The division of labour is limited by the extent of the market.” The era of the “Universalgenie” [Narrator’s voice: “They only thought they were.”] had not yet been replaced by the era of the “Fachidiot” [The narrator continues, “…ahem, present company excluded”].

__________________________

Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5

1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer alone)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1905-06

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

Total 138: 10 Graduates, 32 Seniors, 59 Juniors, 28 Sophomores, 9 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 5
Final Examination
1905-06

  1. What is the present legal status of the “Long and Short Haul” clause of the Act to Regulate Commerce? Outline the decisions clearly.
  2. The average length of haul on the St. Paul road is about 185 miles; while on the Union Pacific it is about 386 miles. How would these conditions affect the revenue per ton mile?
  3. What advantages might follow the repeal of the prohibition of pooling, from a railway point of view?
  4. What authority has the Interstate Commerce Commission concerning witnesses and the production of papers? What is the latest decision?
  5. Should the following items of expenditure be charged to capital, improvement, or operating expense account, viz.: (1) cost of abolishing grade crossings; (2) replacement of light rails with heavy ones; and (3) premium on purchase of stock in a subsidiary road? Give your own reasons for whichever course you advocate.
  6. What is the present method of control of the anthracite coal roads?
  7. What are the main inducements for stock watering, as described by Johnson?
  8. What is the nature of the principal bills now before Congress, amending the Act to Regulate Commerce? Describe them separately.

Source:  Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1905-06;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College(June, 1906), p. 31.

Image Source: Harvard University Archives.  William Zebina Ripley [photographic portrait, ca. 1910], J. E. Purdy & Co., J. E. P. & C. (1910). Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

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

 

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

__________________________

Monographs/Books on Transportation by W. Z. Ripley

Transportation. Chapter from the Final report of the U.S. Industrial Commission (Vol. XIX) and privately issued by the author for the use of his students and others. Washington, D.C., 1902.

Railway Problems, edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1907).

Railroads: Rates and Regulation (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912).

Railroads: Finance & Organization (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915).

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1904-05

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

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

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

__________________________

Course Description
1904-05

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

A brief outline of the historical development of rail and water transportation in the United States will be followed by a description of the condition of transportation systems at the present time; with a view to familiarizing the student with the principal sources of information. The four main subdivisions of Rates and Rate-Making, Finance, Traffic Operation, and Legislation will be considered in turn. The first subdivision deals with the relation of the railroad to the shipper. It will comprehend an analysis of the theory and practice of rate-making, including, for example, freight classification, the nature of railroad competition, the long and short haul principle, pooling, etc. Under the second heading, having reference to the interests of owners and investors, an outline will be given of the nature of railroad securities, such as stocks, bonds, etc., the principles of capitalization, the interpretation of railroad accounts and annual reports, receiverships and reorganizations, etc. Railroad Operation, the third subdivision, will deal with the practical problems of the traffic department, such as the collection and interpretation of statistics of operation, pro-rating, the apportionment of cost, depreciation and maintenance, etc. In the fourth subdivision, Legislation, the course of state regulation and control in the United States and Europe will be traced. Discussion will follow concerning the work of the Interstate Commerce Commission, judicial interpretation of the law, and the relation of the Commission to the Courts.

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

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

__________________________

ECONOMICS 51
Final Examination, 1904-05

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

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

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

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