Columbia. Syllabus and reading assignments from economic affairs course, 1931-36

 

 

One fine research day when I was working in the splendid reading room of the New York Public Library, I came across a ninety page syllabus for a junior year course at Columbia College “The Organization of Economic Affairs” published in 1930. From two articles in the student newspaper “The Columbia Daily Spectator” it looks like this course had a five-year run from 1931-32 through 1935-36 (see below). I was struck by the deliberate sidestepping of “economic principles”, i.e. theory, and was less than impressed by the preface to the syllabus that I have nonetheless transcribed for the digital record. In addition I have transcribed the 73 reading assignments along with the list of required reading for the course (with links to the books that I could find).  For those interested in more, there are indeed 54 pages of detailed questions and commentary for the reading assignments in the published syllabus.

Of some interest for a modern instructor is that this syllabus includes absolutely no discussion of course requirements, grading or policies. The Columbia Daily Spectator description of the course has introduced me to the concept of “Wallop Courses” which in my day at Yale (early 1970s) were referred to as “Gut Courses” and at Harvard (ca. 1910) such courses attracted “snappers”.

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Reform of Columbia College Economics Course Offerings for 1931-32.

“Contemporary Civilization 3-4 has been dropped from the schedule. The entire Economics and Social Science department’s presentation has been reorganized with many sweeping changes indicated.”

Source: Columbia Daily Spectator, Vol. LIII, No. 122 (15 April 1930), p. 1.

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Wallop Courses

         This series outlines courses in the University generally considered by students as easy, either because of the nature of the material or—the chief point—the absence of rigid study and assignment requirements. The purpose of the series is to determine, after investigation how such courses function; the attitude and methods of the instructors; the attitude of students toward course and instructor.

Merely because a course is a “wallop,” does not prevent students from deriving much benefit from it, or from doing unassigned readings if the spirit of the course can move them to it. The question is, What happens in “easy” courses? If a course is invaluable no one is to be blamed because it can be considered a “wallop.”

         Economic 3-4—The organization of economic affairs. Two points each session, and two maturity credits each session. Drs. [Addison T.] Cutler, [George S.] Mitchell and [Robert] Valeur.

This course is not a “wallop” in the strict sense of this rather vague word. It is rumored about the place that if the course is easy, (which it is not, according to some statements,) that it is due more to the ability of the instructors to get the material across than to facility of the material. There is a considerable list of assigned readings, but by paying attention in class it is deemed possible to make a fair grade with a minimum of reading.

The material studied consists of surveys of various important U. S. industries, and of studies of governmental policies toward industry and labor under the New Deal. The material is said to be about 25 per cent repetition of Contemporary Civilization B. Two term papers are required during the year, and grading of these papers is generally considered to be fairly liberal.

Fortunately, or otherwise, the course will be dropped at the conclusion of this year. The material will be included in a new course, to be known as Economics 7-8, which will combine the material of Eco. 3-4 and 5-6, a course in economic theory.

This change is expected to meet general approval of students, as, at present there is some overlapping of material between the two Courses, and both are usually taken by students specializing in Economics.

Source: Columbia Daily Spectator, Volume LIX, No. 81 (21 Feb. 1936), p. 2.

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK

THE ORGANIZATION OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
ECONOMICS 3-4

A SYLLABUS PREPARED AND EDITED BY THE STAFF OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS IN COLUMBIA COLLEGE

PREFACE

ASSIGNMENT NO. 1

To the Students of Economics 3-4:

You have completed the two-year course called “An Introduction to Contemporary Civilization.” It is assumed that you wish to explore in more detail than was possible there the problems of “Economics”. You are not unacquainted with economic affairs, for, in addition to your daily observations, you have examined to a certain extent the development of man’s ways of making a living, his ways of living with his fellow men and his ways of interpreting the world. You have also considered some of the difficult problems centering around modern industry as it expands and affects more and more all phases of life.

What then, will be the content of this course? Shall it consist of the “principles” of economics, or a study of many economic problems, or a perusal of the theoretical contribution of some authoritative economist, or something else? For better or for worse “something else” has been chosen, and that choice is roughly indicated by the title of the course, “The Organization of Economic Affairs.” The reasons for this choice and the manner of executing the task have been dictated by a number of considerations, which have to do broadly with three sorts of things: the nature of your previous experience; other curricular offerings both in and out of the field of economics; and modern descriptive and analytical trends in the study and teaching of economics. In no genuine sense will you be “specializing” even here. You will be given other opportunities for particular study: the curriculum offers courses in money and banking, labor problems, public finance, business cycles and the like.

This course will center about economic organization today. But “economic organization” is huge, sprawling and complex. The term itself is subject to considerable ambiguity. Unfortunately it is not possible to picture economic organization with the same degree of precision as might be attained in describing the layout of a given steel mill, or the organization of the United States Steel Corporation, or the organization of the steel industry. The latter type of task is puzzling enough, as you will observe in the first section of the course. But economic organization in the large is infinitely more complex and bothersome. In a hundred courses dealing with economic organization which might be offered in as many universities, it is probable that one hundred different plans of procedure would be invented. This is true of the approach to most bodies of subject matter. It is abundantly and poignantly true in the present case.

Economic affairs are in process of change. Even though this course is intended to be concerned strictly with the contemporary, rather than with the historical, it will in no sense be addressed to fixed or static conditions. It would be strange indeed, after spending a good part of two years in studying developing institutions, to assume that institutions have ceased changing. They must be caught on the wing. Changes are immediately behind us, around us, and before us. We shall probably not have frequent occasion to go back of 1920. And the impossibility of isolating a static “present” may force us into some slight projection of the future.

Another characteristic of the course is its use of quantitative data. Many, although not necessarily all, economic phenomena are matters of “more” or “less”. Quantitative tools are an increasingly important part of the equipment for the study of social phenomena. We can hardly fail to recognize this fact, whatever our private convictions as to the ultimate value of “statistics” in general, or whatever our like or dislike for playing with figures. Our quantitative data will not be used for exercises in statistical technique (there are other opportunities for that), but rather for the direct purpose of coming face to face with economic institutions in operation and discovering their meaning, or at least suggested interpretations of meaning. In this, there are two apparent dangers: (1) the student may not be able to interpret the data; (2) he may over-estimate its significance. The latter may be a real danger if a reader accepts too readily a conclusion drawn from statistical data or accepts even the elements of a statistical series, when ignorant of the methods that have been used by the statistician. We shall make our way with at least a forewarning of these dangers. Some comfort may be had from the avoidance of highly specialized and refined statistical procedures. It will be found that in many cases the authors of the materials used have shown a commendable candor in describing the limitations of their own methods.

A word as to the materials used. An emphasis on change, and the use of quantitative data, will be found to characterize the book which will provide about half the reading material: Recent Economic Changes. This is a two-volume work prepared by the National Bureau of Economic Research. It is the product of many minds. It is admittedly not perfect for our purposes; but it does present the most comprehensive and incisive picture available concerning American economic organization on the move. We present it as the best raw material for the purpose at hand. Supplementing this book various other materials appear in the outline of the course.

The outline does not follow the order of topics in Recent Economic Changes. A three-fold division of another sort is employed. First comes an analysis of a small number of important industries, in each case dealing with the industry’s technology, its business organization, and its leading problems and trends. This is for the purpose of providing specific materials for a concrete and realistic background. The classification by “industries”, rather than by topics which are common to all industries, is followed especially because the economic activities of everyday life are usually centered about some particular industry. Recent Economic Changesis not used in this section.

The second section deals with “industrial relationships”. Here we take leave of the boundaries between the specific industries such as steel and textiles, and begin to consider the institutions and practices which industries have in common, and which, taken together, provide consumers with goods and services. Included here are recent trends in industrial technology, transportation, marketing, labor, finance and especially the price system. Each of these topics is studies in its own terms and usually without confinement to any one industry. In this section the use of Recent Economic Changesas text prevails.

The third section deals with the income, the standards of living, and the consumption levels of the various groups of the population; and a consideration of desirable public policy toward the organization and conduct of industry. This study of policy will include not only some familiar current issues such as farm relief, tariff-making and trust policy, but also some larger questions of planned as against unplanned production. Here Recent Economic Changesassumes a somewhat subordinate place in the reading list.

The course centers about economic life as it is found in the United States today; but this does not imply a narrowly nationalistic viewpoint, or a total exclusion of international features of industrialism. These appear inevitably at various points and especially toward the latter part of the third section where planned and unplanned production are discussed with reference to the Russian five-year economic plan and the long-range economic program devised by the British Liberal Party, with reference as well to our own planning and control of industry during the emergency of the World War.

The fact that many or most of the topics listed are already familiar to college Juniors may cause the course to appear repetitive. Any annoyance on this score should be short-lived. The similarities in names of topics often conceal real differences. Since the course is built upon the foundations of the two-years’ study of “Contemporary Civilization”, a more concentrated and intense piece of study may be expected than would be if the extended survey had not already been made.

 

LIST OF REQUIRED READINGS

Recent Economic Changes in the United States.McGraw-Hill, 1929 (text).

Berglund, A. and Wright, P. G.: The Tariff on Iron and Steel. The Brookings Institution, Washington, 1929.

Black, J. D.: Agricultural Reform in the United States. McGraw-Hill, 1929.

Britain’s Industrial Future. Benn, 1928.

Chase, S., Dunn, R., and Tugwell, R.G.: Soviet Russia in the Second Decade. John Day, 1928.

Commons, J.R. and Andrews, J.B.: Principles of Labor Legislation(second edition). Harper, 1927. [First edition, 1920]

Ellingwood, A.R. and Coombs, W.: The Government and Labor. McGraw-Hill, 1926.

Foster, W.Z.: The Great Steel Strike and Its Lessons. Viking Press, 1920.

Garrett, P.W.: Government Control over Prices. (Price Bulletin No. 3, War Industries Board.) Government Printing Office, Washington, 1920.

Keezer, D.M. and May, S.: Public Control of Business. Harper, 1930.

Lewisohn, S.A., Draper, C.S., Commons, J.R., and Lescohier, D.D.: Can Business Prevent Unemployment?Knopf, 1925.

Page, T.W.: Making the Tariff in the United States. McGraw-Hill, 1924.

Seager, H.R. and Gulick, C.A., Jr.: Trust and Corporation Problems. Harper, 1929.

Stocking, G.W.: The Oil Industry and the Competitive System. Houghton Mifflin, 1925.

Tugwell, R.G.: Industry’s Coming of Age. Harcourt, Brace, 1927.

Tugwell, R.G., Munro, T., and Stryker, R.E.: American Economic Lifeand the Means of Its Improvement(third edition). Harcourt, Brace, 1930.

Warshow, H.T., Representative Industries in the United States. Holt, 1928.

ARTICLES

Hartl, E.M., and Ernst, E.G.: “The Steel Mills Today,” The New Republic, February 19, 1930

“Steel’s Empire is Restless.” The Business Week, February 12, 1930.

Tugwell, R.G.: “Farm Relief and a Permanent Agriculture,” Reprinted from The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March 1929.

Tugwell, R.G.: “Experimental Control in Russian Industry,” Reprinted from the Political Science Quarterly, Vol. XLIII, No. 2, June 1929.

SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS

I. SOME IMPORTANT AMERICAN INDUSTRIES

1. 1. Preface to the course.
      Introduction to Section I.
   2. Berglund and Wright: The Tariff on Iron and Steel, 10-40, 75-103.
   3. Seager and Gulick: Trust and Corporation Problems, 216-242.
   4. Seager and Gulick, 243-262.
      “Steel’s Empire is Restless,” The Business Week, Feb. 12, 1930.
   5. W. Z. Foster: The Great Steel Strike, Introduction, 1-7, 16-27, 50-67, 162-175.
      Hartl and Ernst: “The Steel Mills Today,” The New Republic, Feb. 19, 1930.
   6. Reading to be assigned.
   7. Reading to be assigned.
   8. Reading to be assigned.
   9. G. W. Stocking: The Oil Industry and the Competitive System, 1-35.
   10. Stocking, 83-114.
   11. Stocking, 115-164.
   12. Stocking, 165-210.
   13. Stocking, 238-265, 303-314.
   14. H. T. Warshow: Representative Industries, 3-44.
   15. Warshow, 44-71.
   16. Meat Packing. Warshow, 440-469.

II. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONSHIPS

1. 17. Introduction to Section II.
       Changes in new and old industries. Recent Economic Changes, 79-95.
   18. Technical changes in manufacturing industries. Recent Economic Changes, 94-146.
   19. Technical Changes in manufacturing industries. Recent Economic Changes, 147-166.
   20. Suggested theories to account for increased productivity. R.G. Tugwell: Industry’s Coming of Age, 29-64.
   21. The changing structure of industry. Recent Economic Changes, 167-194.
   22. The changing structure of industry. Recent Economic Changes, 194-218.
   23. Recent Economic Changes, 425-462.
   24. Recent Economic Changes, 462-490.
   25. Proceedings, 1928 Convention of the American Federation of Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers.
   26. Excerpts from the Proceedings of the 1929 Special Convention of the American Federation of Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers (see Appendix).
   27. Transportation: railways. Recent Economic Changes, 255-279.
   28. Transportation: railways. Recent Economic Changes, 279-308.
   29. Transportation: shipping. Recent Economic Changes, 309-319.
   30. Recent Economic Changes, 321-343.
   31. Recent Economic Changes, 343-374.
   32. Recent Economic Changes, 374-402.
   33. Recent Economic Changes, 402-421.
   34. Money and credit and their effect on business. Recent Economic Changes, 657-679.
   35. Money and credit and their effect on business. Recent Economic Changes, 680-707.
   36. Foreign markets and foreign credits. Recent Economic Changes, 709-725.
   37. Foreign markets and foreign credits. Recent Economic Changes, 725-756.
   38. The system of prices. Tugwell, Munro, and Stryker: American Economic Life (third edition), 368-378.
       Excerpt from W. C. Mitchell: Business Cycles, the Problem and its Setting (see Appendix).
   39. Price movements and related industrial changes. Recent Economic Changes, 602-623.
   40. Price movements and related industrial changes. Recent Economic Changes, 623-655.

III. THE FRUITS OF INDUSTRY AND SOCIAL POLICY

1. 41. Introduction to Section III.
       Consumption and the standard of living. Recent Economic Changes, 13-51.
   42. Consumption and the standard of living. Recent Economic Changes, 51-78.
   43. The national income and its distribution. Recent Economic Changes, 757-774.
   44. The national income and its distribution. Recent Economic Changes, 774-813.
   45. The national income and its distribution. Recent Economic Changes, 813-839.
   46. Farm relief policy. J.D. Black: Agricultural Reform in the United States, 232-270.
   47. Farm relief policy. Black, 321-366.
   48. Farm relief policy. Black, 368-405.
   49. Farm relief policy. R.G. Tugwell: “Farm Relief and a Permanent Agriculture,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March 1929.
   50. Tariff policy. T. W. Page: Making the Tariff in the United States, 41-99.
   51. Tariff policy. Page, 100-170.
   52. Tariff policy. Page, 171-239.
   53. Social legislation. Commons and Andrews: Principles of Labor Legislation, 1-34.
       Ellingwood and Coombs: The Government and Labor, 20-26.
   54. Social legislation. Ellingwood and Coombs, 443-450, 461-467.
       Reprint of Lochner vs. New York (see Appendix).
   55. Social legislation. Ellingwood and Coombs, 559-579, 516-537.
   56. Social legislation. Lewisohn, Draper, Commons, and Lescohier: Can Business Prevent Unemployment? 152-210.
   57. Public policy toward large businesses. Keezer and May: Public Control of Business, 40-84.
   58. Public policy toward large businesses. Keezer and May, 85-120.
   59. Public policy toward large businesses. Keezer and May, 121-148.
   60. Public policy toward large businesses. Keezer and May, 149-183.
   61. Public policy toward large businesses. Keezer and May, 184-229.
   62. Planned production in Russia. Chase, Dunn, and Tugwell: Soviet Russia in the Second Decade, 14-54.
   63. Planned production in Russia. Chase, Dunn, and Tugwell, 189-215, 55-66.
   64. Planned production in Russia. R.G. Tugwell: “Experimental Control in Russian Industry,” Political Science Quarterly, June 1929.
   65. Planned production in Great Britain. Britain’s Industrial Future, the report of the Liberal Industrial Inquiry, v-vii, xvii-xxiv, 3, 14-20, 61-92, 116-120.
   66. Planned production in Great Britain. Britain’s Industrial Future, 139-141, 205-225, 265-279, 341-366.
   67. War-time planning and control in the United States. Excerpt from American Industry in the War (see Appendix).
       W. Garrett: Government Control Over Prices, 23-39.
   68. War-time planning and control. Garrett, 40-87.
   69. War-time planning and control. Garrett, 151-194.
   70. War-time planning and control. Garrett, 195-244.
   71. War-time planning and control. Garrett, 350-360, 380-414.
   72. A review of recent economic changes. Recent Economic Changes, 841-874.
   73. A review of recent economic changes. Recent Economic Changes, 874-910.

Source: Copy of The Organization of Economic Affairs–A Syllabus (1930) at the New York Public Library.

Image Source: The New York City Public Library Reading Room. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.