Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Final exams in political economy and ethics of social reform, 1888-1889

 

J. Laurence Laughlin left the Harvard faculty in 1888. The hole he left in the department of political economy’s teaching program was filled by two junior hires whose names were noted in the enrollment statistics published in the annual report of the president of Harvard College for 1888-89: Francis Cleaveland Huntington (A.B. 1887, LL.B. 1891) and John Henry Gray (A.B., 1887).

Huntington ultimately went on to become a New York City lawyer. Judging from the reports of his 1904 marriage, he must have been fairly successful (and/or married into a very well-to-do family). His high-water market in political economy was achieved with this short stint as an instructor, one could say he was Frank Taussig’s wingman for the principles course.

John Henry Gray was another matter altogether, having left Harvard to do graduate work in Europe as a Rogers fellow that culminated in his 1892 doctorate under Johannes Conrad at the University of Halle. His thesis was published in German, Die Stellung der privaten Beleuchtungsgesellschaften zu Stadt und Staat. Die Erfahrungen in Wien, Paris und Massachusetts. Jena, 1893. A fuller c.v. will be the subject of a later post (Besides professorships at Northwestern, Minnesota and Carleton College, Gray served as the AEA president in 1914).

_____________________

Philosophy 11. The Ethics of Social Reform.

Enrollment 1888-89.
Philosophy 11.

Prof. Peabody. 11. The Ethics of Social Reform. — The questions of Charity, Divorce, the Indians, Labor, Prisons, Temperance, etc., as problems of practical Ethics. — Lectures, essays, and practical observations. Hours per week: 2.

Total 84:  3 Graduates, 51 Seniors, 23 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 71.

 

1888-89.
PHILOSOPHY 11.
THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM.
[Mid-year Examination, 1889]

[Omit one question].

  1. “Estimating life by multiplying its length into its breadth, we must say that the augmentation of it results from increase of both factors.” — (Spencer, Data of Ethics, p. 14.)
    Explain and criticise.
  2. “I am one of those who believe that the Real will never find an irremovable basis till it rests on the Idea.” — (J. R. Lowell, Address on Democracy.)
    Illustrate this in the conduct of Charity.
  3. “To lift one man up we push another down” … ”A drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be. If a policeman picks him up, the industrious and sober workman bears the penalty.” — (Sumner, Social Classes, pp. 128, 131.)
    Comment on the ethics of this view.
  4. Plato’s view of the duty of the State to the diseased and helpless (Republic, III., 407), compared with the view of Christian civilization. What is the philosophical basis of each view?
  5. What do you regard as the most immediately practicable remedy for existing evils in the divorce question? And why?
  6. The practical significance of a study of the evolution of the family as a contribution to the divorce question.
  7. Explain the reaction of “marriage by capture” into polyandry, in primitive society.
  8. “Only the group could weather the first ages.” What picture does this give of primitive society, and what transition has ethnology seen in this respect?
  9. The natural status of woman as suggested by biology.
  10. The place of the family in the Socialist programme. Criticise this view of the end of social evolution.

Source:  Harvard University Archives.  Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound Volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1888-89.

 

1888-89.
PHILOSOPHY 11.
THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM.
[Final Examination, 1889]

  1. Describe the present system of administering Indian Affairs, including education; its machinery, its relation to religious bodies, and the changes now proposed.
  2. In dealing with the Indian Question, by what other social questions of our time are you confronted and what answers to them are suggested to you?
  3. Ruskin’s doctrine of: (a) Exchange, (b) Value, with your own comments and criticisms.
  4. The attitude of the Anarchist toward the social institutions of the United States.
  5. The Socialist’s criticism of the Anarchist, and the Anarchist’s criticism of the Socialist.
  6. “It is right and necessary that all men should have work to do:
    “First, Work worth doing;
    “Second, Work of itself pleasant to do;
    “Third, Work done under such conditions as would make it neither over wearisome nor over anxious.” W. Morris, Art and Socialism, p. 45. — Under what social conditions does the author suppose that work will be thus done? Describe and criticize these conditions.
  7. Why have the attempts to “Christianize” Socialism so often begun with hope and ended in failure?
  8. Consider the objection to Profit-Sharing, that the Employed cannot share losses.
  9. The conditions of success in Productive Coöperation.
  10. How far does a judicious self-interest carry one towards abstinence from intoxicating drink?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1889.

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 1, First half-year.

Prof. Taussig and Mr. Huntington. 1. First half-year: Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on Social Questions. Hours per week: 3.

Total 232 (Four sections):  1 Graduate, 19 Seniors, 83 Juniors, 95 Sophomores, 4 Freshmen, 30 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

 

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
[Mid-year Examination, 1889]

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

  1. How is the rapid recovery of countries devastated by war to be explained?
  2. Is it for the advantage of the laborers that the rich should spend largely for unproductive consumption?
    Is it desirable that a large proportion of the annual produce of a country should be consumed unproductively?
  3. If all land were of equal fertility, equally distant from the market, and all were required for cultivation, would it pay rent?
  4. Explain under which head, — wages, profit, rents, — you would classify the gains of (1) a shop-keeper; (2) a farmer tilling his own land; (3) a manufacturer; (4) a stock-holder; (5) a bond-holder; (6) a house-owner receiving rent for houses.
  5. Can capitalists recoup themselves for a general rise in the cost of labor by raising the prices of their goods?
  6. “Since cost of production fails us in explaining the value of commodities having a joint cost, we must revert to a law of value anterior to cost of production, and more fundamental.” What is this more fundamental law, and what is its application in the case referred to by Mill?
  7. Suppose that
    in England one day’s labor produces 25 yards of linens,
    in England one day’s labor produces 30 yards of cottons,
    in Germany one day’s labor produces 15 yards of linens,
    in Germany one day’s labor produces 20 yards of cottons.
    Would international trade arise between Germany and England?
    If a day’s labor in Germany produced 25 yards of linens, would trade arise?
  8. Suppose a new article of export to appear in the international trade of the United States; what would be the effect on the price in New York of sight bills on London? How long would that effect continue?
  9. What causes the tendency of profits to a minimum (1) in a country whose population is stationary; (2) in a country whose population is advancing? What forces counteract the tendency, and how do they act in each of these cases?
  10. If productive cooperation were universally adopted, how would rent, interest, wages, and “profits” (i.e. wages of superintendence) be affected? How, if socialism were adopted?

Source:  Harvard University Archives.  Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound Volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1888-89.

 

 

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 1, Second half-year, Division A.

Prof. Taussig and Mr. Huntington. 1. Division A (theoretical). Second half-year: Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on Banking and Finance. Hours per week: 3.

Total 127 (Two sections):  1 Graduate, 8 Seniors, 39 Juniors, 60 Sophomores, 4 Freshmen, 15 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

 

 

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
[Final Examination, 1889]
Division A.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

  1. “The price of mutton on an average exceeds that of beef in the ratio of 9 to 8; we must conclude that people generally esteem mutton more than beef in this proportion, otherwise they would not buy the dearer meat.”
    (a) Give your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with the above conclusion.
    (b) On Jevons’s theory of value, what conclusion should you draw from the given hypothesis?
  2. If you suppose free competition, does Cairnes’s theory of normal value differ essentially from that of Mill? If so, wherein? If not, why not?
  3. Longe “puts the case of a capitalist who, by taking advantage of the necessities of his workmen, effects a reduction in their wages, and succeeds in withdrawing so much, call it £1000, from the wages fund; and asks, how is the sum thus withdrawn to be restored to the fund? On Mr. Longe’s principles the answer is simple — ‘by being spent on commodities’; for it may be assumed that the sum so withdrawn will in any case not be hoarded….The answer, therefore, to the case put by Mr. Longe is easy on his own principles; and I am disposed to flatter myself that the reader who has gone with me in the foregoing discussion will not have much difficulty in replying to it upon mine.”
    What is the answer, on Cairnes’s principles, to the case put by Mr. Longe?
  4. What bearing, if any, has the wages-fund theory as expounded by Cairnes upon the question of the ability of trades unions to raise permanently (a) general wages, (b) wages in particular occupations?
  5. “If labor will only be employed where work is to be done, and will be employed more largely in any given work in proportion as there is more of that work to do; and if, again, as the work becomes more urgent the laborer is more sought; why is it wrong to say that it is the interest of the laborer that the quantity of work to be done should be as large and the need for it as urgent as possible?”
  6. Would a general fall of wages in the United States cause an expansion of the country’s international trade? Would a fall of wages in a particular industry?
  7. Did Mill think there were grounds for a separate theory of international trade? Did Cairnes?
  8. How much truth is there in the common opinion that the value of gold is the same the world over?
  9. Mill lays down certain propositions as to the connection between the quantity of money and the general range of prices. How are they modified by what you have learned of deposit banking?
  10. What general causes affected the market price of gold, or in other words the premium on gold, during the civil war? How far did the premium at a given moment indicate depreciation of the paper currency, and what would be a more exact test of such depreciation?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1889.

 

 

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 1, Second half-year, Division B.

Prof. Taussig and Mr. Huntington. 1. Division B (descriptive). Second half-year: Hadley’s Railroad Transportation. — Laughlin’s History of Bimetallism in the United States. — Lectures on Banking and Finance. Hours per week: 3.

Total 105 (Two sections):  11 Seniors, 44 Juniors, 35 Sophomores, 15 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

 

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Division B.
[Final Examination, 1889]

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

  1. State the principles upon which the system of subsidiary coinage rests. When were these principles first applied by the United States?
  2. State the causes assigned by Mr. Laughlin for the fall in the gold price of silver since 1873.
  3. In what way, if any, was the change which took place in the value of gold after the gold discoveries in Australia and California different from what it would have been if, at the time, the mint of France had not been open for the free coinage of gold and silver into full legal tender money at a fixed ratio?
    In the United States also there was at the same time free coinage of gold and silver into full legal tender money at a fixed ratio. Was the influence exerted by bi-metallism on the value of gold different in these two cases? If so, why?
  4. How did the trade dollar differ in value from the standard dollar (a) in the United States, (b) in foreign countries?
  5. Mill lays down certain propositions as to the effect of an increase or decrease in the quantity of money on general prices. How far are they modified by what you have learned of deposit banking?
  6. Mill divides commodities into three classes, and lays down certain principles of value applying to the three classes, respectively.
    In which class would you put the commodity of transportation by railroad, and by what principle is its value determined?
  7. What is meant when it is said that “an effective pooling of through business leaves the hands of railroads free to serve local interests”?
  8. What is meant by “charging repairs to construction”? Why should it ever be done?
  9. In what countries does government ownership of railroads now exist, and how long has it existed in them?
  10. Explain briefly the following terms: differential; long and short haul principle; “dollar of our fathers”; demonetization of silver.
  11. What descriptions of paper, intended to serve as currency, did the United States issue during the civil war?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1889.

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 2

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 2.

Prof. Taussig. 2. — Examination of selections from leading writers. — Lectures and discussions; one extended thesis from each student. Hours per week: 3. *Consent of instructor required.

Total 24: 13 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

 

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Mid-year and Final Examination, 1889]

  1. Point out wherein the teachings of the mercantile writers on population and on the balance of trade were connected with the political and economic history of their time.
  2. Under what conditions did Adam Smith believe that wages could long remain high? What reasoning led him to his conclusion? Do you think the reasoning sound?
  3. Wherein did Adam Smith’s doctrines as to foreign trade differ from those of Hume and of the Physiocrats?
  4. Ricardo’s chapter on value has been criticized on the following grounds: —
    (1) Ricardo asserts, but in no way proves, that value depends on quantity of labor.
    (2) He does not state whether he means labor expended on the production of goods, or labor needed for their reproduction.
    (3) His principle holds good only of goods of which the production can be increased indefinitely, and as to which competition is free.
    (4) The principle is at once modified by the statement that the general rate of profits affects values.
    Discuss briefly each objection.
  5. Malthus laid it down that (1) marriages and deaths bear a constant proportion in an old country; (2) with a rise in the standard of living, marriages become less in proportion to population; (3) births, like marriages, bear a constant proportion to deaths, in an old country.
    What led Malthus to these conclusions? Does experience bear him out?
  6. By what mode of proof did Malthus show that the wars of the French Revolution had not diminished the population of France? Point out wherein his discussion of this subject is characteristic of the Essay on Population.
  7. Malthus, Ricardo, J. S. Mill, Cairnes, — note briefly how they are related in the history of economic theory.
  8. What would be the movement of wages and prices in case of a general improvement in industrial processes?
  9. What does Cairnes conclude as to the results which Trade Unions can permanently bring about (1) in England; (2) in the United States?

Source:  Harvard University Archives.  Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound Volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1888-89.

 

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Final Examination, 1889]

  1. On what grounds can you reason that the stock of consumable commodities is likely to be sufficient, or more than sufficient, to last, at the present rate of consumption, till a new stock can be produced? What bearing has the answer on the wages-fund controversy?
  2. Discuss President F. A. Walker’s explanation of business profits in its bearing on the general theory of distribution.
  3. By what reasoning does Cairnes reach the conclusion that, in the present state of society, “the rich will be growing richer, and the poor, at least relatively, poorer.”
  4. Could Cairnes, consistently with his conclusions as to coöperation, oppose measures such as were urged by Lasalle?
  5. Point out wherein Sidgwick’s exposition of the causes determining the rate of interest differs from Mill’s.
  6. What was the attitude toward laissez-faire of Adam Smith? Of Ricardo? Of Cairnes?
  7. What reasons are there why the term “socialist” should or should not be applied to (1) the Christian socialists; (2) advocates of German legislation on workmen’s insurance; (3) followers of Mr. Henry George.
  8. Point out wherein Marx’s discussion of wages is similar to that of Rodbertus.
  9. “From the history of the double standard we reach Gresham’s law, that where two currencies exist side by side the baser will drive the good out; from the prosperity of England we can reason to the principle of free trade, at least for industrially developed nations.” — R. M. Smith. What would Cairnes say to this mode of investigation for the specific questions mentioned?
  10. Comment on the following extracts, separately or in connection with each other:—

“The value of most of the theorems of the classic economists is a good deal attenuated by the habitual assumption…that there is a definite universal rate of profits and wages in a community; this last postulate implying (1) that the capital embarked in any undertaking will pass at once to another in which larger profits are for the time to be made; (2) that a laborer, whatever his ties and feelings, family, habit, or other engagements, will transfer himself immediately to any place where, or employment in which, larger wages are to be earned; (3) that both capitalists and laborers have a perfect knowledge of the condition and prospects of industry throughout the country, both in their own and in other occupations.” — J. K. Ingram.

“In proof of the equalization of profits, Mr. Cairnes urges that capital deserts or avoids occupations which are known to be comparatively unremunerative; while if large profits are known to be realized in any investment there is a flow of capital toward it. Hence it is inferred that capital finds its level like water. But surely the movement of capital from losing to highly profitable trades proves only a great inequality of profits.” — Cliffe Leslie.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1889.

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 3

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 3.
Omitted in 1888-89.

[3. Investigation and Discussion of Practical Economic Questions. *Consent of instructor required.]

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

 

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 4

Enrollment 1888-89.
Political Economy 4.

Mr. Gray. 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. — Lectures and written work. Hours per week: 3.

Total 95: 1 Graduate, 16 Seniors, 46 Juniors, 27 Sophomores, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

 

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Mid-year Examination, 1889]

[Give one hour to A. Under B omit any two questions except number 5.]

A.

  1. Make a concise statement of the English Navigation and Colonial system.
  2. Give a careful sketch of the English Corn Laws. Discuss the wisdom of these laws and their relation to the general question of Protection.
  3. The Emancipating Edict of Stein. Give the provisions in it; the reasons for it, and the results of it.

B.

  1. “It has been a generally received notion among political arithmeticians that we (the English nation) may increase our debt to £100,000,000, but they acknowledge that it must then close by the debtor becoming bankrupt” [Samuel Hannay, 1756].
  2. Compare the English and Belgian Railway System in their origin, methods, and results.
  3. Give a sketch of the introduction of Steam Navigation. What country felt the beneficial effects first? Why?
  4. Say what you can about the geographical distribution of the Iron, Cotton, and Woolen industries of to-day, both as regards the different countries and also within each country. How did the new inventions and discoveries affect the location of these industries respectively?
  5. Make a clear statement of our Commercial Relations with the West Indies since the independence of the United States. Pay particular attention to the laws under which that trade has been carried on, and the character and importance of that trade to the United States.
  6. What was the attitude of the United States towards a Protective tariff in 1816? How do you account for that attitude?
  7. Say what you can of the Economic effects of Slavery on the South.
  8. The chief arguments used against the abolition of the Slave Trade in England. Were they sound? Why was the abolition postponed to so late a day?
  9. Looking at the history of England since the adoption of Free Trade, what fact can you cite to show that Free Trade has been the best policy for her?

Source:  Harvard University Archives.  Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound Volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1888-89.

 

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Final Examination, 1889]

[Take all of A, all of B, and two questions from C.]

A.

  1. Pitt’s “perfectly new and solid system of finance,” 1797.
    At what actual rate could England borrow in 1797? What methods were used? What provision made for repayment? — [“The Finances of England, 1793-1815.” — Selections.]
  2. Say what you can of the extent, the methods, the importance, and the prospects of the cotton manufacture in the United States. The possibility of successful competition with England in this industry. — [“The Cotton Manufacture.” — — Selections.]
  3. What would have been the effect upon the United States, Australia, and India, respectively, of introducing a gold currency into India when the “new gold” came in? — [“The New Gold.” — — International Results. — Selections.]

B.

  1. The history, present extent, character, benefits, evils, and prospects of immigration to the United States.
  2. At what general periods in this century have the exports largely exceeded the imports of the United States? The imports the exports? The medium by which balances were settled for the time being in each case. The chief commodities exported or imported by the United States in each period.
  3. Describe the plans of Napoleon III. for aiding industry.
  4. Sketch the English factory and workshop legislation. Its economic and political significance. Which political party has been most prominent in securing this legislation?
  5. The coal supply as the basis of England’s industrial and commercial supremacy. The possibility of England’s decline because of the exhaustion of her coal supply.
  6. State the chief provisions of the Resumption Act of 1875. How much cash did the Treasury collect for the purposes of this act before 1879? How was the cash obtained? How much of it was used? What was done with the balance?

C.

  1. The demands for gold, 1871-1883? How was it possible to meet them?
  2. Explain the causes of the variation in the number of failures, and the peculiar local distribution of the failures in the United States, 1873-1879.
  3. T-he causes of the fall in the price of silver in 1876.
  4. The causes of the decline of American navigation since 1860.
  5. What were the internal revenue taxes laid during the civil war, 1861-1865? The relation of those taxes to our customs revenue.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1889.

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 5

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 5.
Omitted in 1888-89.

[5. Economic Effects of Land Tenures in England, Ireland, France, and the United States. *Consent of instructor required.]

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

 

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 6

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 6, Second half-year.

Prof. Taussig. 6. History of Tariff Legislation in the United States.—Lectures and reports on special topics. Hours per week: 2, 2nd half-year. *Consent of instructor required.

Total 34:  18 Seniors, 14 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

 

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6
[End-Year]

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

  1. State the duties on cotton cloths, woolen cloths, pig iron, and coffee, in 1790, 1840, 1850, 1885, noting whether the duties were specific or ad valorem, and what tariff acts were in force at these dates, respectively [Use tabular form if you wish.]
  2. “Beside the protection thrown over the manufacturing interest by Congress during this period (1789-1812), the war which raged in Europe produced a favorable effect. As the United States was a neutral nation, she fattened on the miseries of the European nations, and her commerce increased with astonishing rapidity. Our manufactures flourished from the same cause, though not to a corresponding degree with our commerce”
    Did Congress protect manufactures during this period? Did the wars in Europe have the effect described on our commerce and manufactures?
  3. Wherein were the duties on rolled iron in France, in the first half of this century, similar to those in the United States at the same period? How do you account for the similarity, and what was the effect of the duties in either country?
  4. Why was a compound duty imposed on wool in 1828? Why in 1867? Is such a duty now imposed on wool?
  5. Wherein does the present duty on worsted goods differ from that imposed on woolen goods in 1828? wherein from the present duty on woolens? What has been the effect of the difference between the present rates on woolens and worsteds?
  6. Point out some general features in the tariff act of 1846 which were recommended in Secretary Walker’s Report of the year preceding.
  7. What would be the effect of a treaty with Spain admitting free of duty sugar from Cuba?
  8. Wherein has the effect of the duties of the last twenty-five years been different as to cottons, linens, woolens? Why the differences?
    [Omit one of the following:—]
  9. Mill says that certain conclusions which he reaches as to the effect on foreign countries of import duties, do not hold good as to protective duties. Is there good ground for distinguishing as he does between revenue and protective duties.
  10. “The only case indeed in which personal aptitudes go for much in the commerce of nations is where the nations concerned occupy different grades in the scale of civilization…In the main it would seem that this cause does not go for very much in international commerce. The principal condition, to which all others are subordinate, must be looked for in that other form of adaptation founded on the special advantages, positive or comparative, offered by particular localities for the prosecution of particular industries.”—Cairnes, Leading Principles.
    Discuss, with reference to the general line of reasoning in this passage, the international trade of the United States in (1) glassware, (2) hardware and cutlery, (3) hemp and flax [take any two].
  11. Comment on the following:—
    “The manufacture of silk goods in the United States at the present time [1882] probably supplies an example of an industry which, though comparatively new, can hardly be said to deserve protection as a young industry. The methods and machinery in use are not essentially different from those of other branches of textile manufactures. No great departure from the usual track of production is necessary in order to make silks….Those artificial obstacles which might temporarily prevent the rise of the industry do not exist; and it may be inferred that, if there are no permanent causes which prevent silks from being made as cheaply in the United States as in foreign countries, the manufacture will be undertaken and carried on without needing any stimulus from protecting duties.”— Taussig, Protection to Young Industries.

 

Political Economy 6. Grade Distribution 1888-89, 2d half-year.

Total (32)

 Senior (16) Junior (14) Other (2)
A 2 2

A-

 1
B+ 3 2

B

 4 4
B- 1 1

C

 1 3 2
D 4

E

2

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1889. Grade distribution source: Harvard University Archives. Examination papers in economics, 1882-1935. Prof. F. W. Taussig.

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 7

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 7.

Prof. Dunbar. 7. Taxation, Public Debts, and Banking. Hours per week: 3. *Consent of instructor required.

Total 7:  3 Graduates, 3 Seniors, 1 Junior.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

 

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
[Mid-year Examination, 1889]

  1. Commenting upon taxes on commodities, Mill remarks that “the necessity of advancing the tax obliges producers and dealers to carry on their business with larger capitals than would otherwise be necessary,” the excess being “employed in advances to the state, repaid in the price of the goods,” for which “the consumers must give an indemnity to the sellers.”
    Compare in this respect the several methods of taxing tobacco.
    Everything considered, which method appears to you the best, and why?
  2. How much difference is there in theory between a tax of repartition like the French land tax and tax levied by a general rate, or tax of quotité?
  3. Discuss the importance of the familiar proposition that taxation should not encroach upon capital or hinder its increase, with special reference to these three cases: —
    (a) The taxation of business profits at the same rate as incomes from invested property, as g. in the English Schedules D and A;
    (b) Succession duties, which Ricardo regards as in practice a deduction from capital;
    (c) Graduated taxation, which lays a heavier percentage on the larger properties or incomes than on the smaller.
  4. Supposing all difficulty in the way of obtaining a full disclosure to be removed and the returns to be complete, would it be better to tax the assessed value of property or the actual income derived from it?
    In the following cases, which may serve for illustration, the assessment is supposed to fairly represent the selling value: —

Assessed.

Income.
Improved real estate

$20,000

$1,200
Vacant land

$10,000

nil
Railroad stock, 50 sh.

$10,000

$400
Railroad stock, 50 sh.

$5,500

$200
Railroad stock, 50 sh.

$4,500

nil
Railroad bonds, $5,000

$3,000

nil
Railroad bonds, $5,000

$3,500

$200

 

  1. Cossa, discussing the taxation of public debts, (1) favors it “on principles of justice and equity, which are opposed to fiscal privileges in favor of the creditors of the state, who should not be released from the fulfilment of the duties of citizens”; and (2) suggests in answer to the argument that public credit would be thereby injured, “that a moderate impost does not produce the anticipated evils, because the tendency towards a decline of the public credit may be balanced by a tendency to rise owing to financial improvement, partly due to the impost itself.”
    Examine these two points.
  2. In answering the proposition that

Every man ought to be taxed [solely] on all that property which he consumes or appropriates to his exclusive use,

President Walker says among other things that,

If wealth not devoted to personal expenditure is to be exempt from taxation on the ground that it is to be used for the public good, it unmistakably is the right, and it might even become the duty of the state, to see to it that such wealth is, in fact, in all respects and at all times put to the best possible use. Indeed, if any citizen protests against taxation on the ground that his tools “are working the business of the state,” — how can the state, without injustice to all other citizens, excuse him from contribution without requiring that he shall exhibit satisfactory evidence, not only that his tools are really working its business, but that they are doing this in the most thorough, efficient and economical manner? If this is not socialism of the rankest sort, I should be troubled to define socialism.

Source:  Harvard University Archives.  Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound Volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1888-89.

 

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
[Final Examination, 1889]

  1. State the conditions under which loans will sell higher or lower by reason of
    (a) annual drawings by lot for payment;
    (b) reserved right to pay at pleasure;
    (c) agreement to pay at or after some distant date;
    (d) arrangement like that of the “Five-twenties.”
  2. When the United States issued the 5-20 bonds (principal and interest payable in gold) they had the choice between three courses, viz.:—
    (a) to sell the bonds for par in gold and make the rate of interest high enough to attract buyers;
    (b) to sell the bonds for gold at such discount as might be necessary, their interest being at six per cent.;
    (c) to sell the bonds at their nominal par in depreciated paper.
    Which course now seems to you the best of the three, and why?
  3. In discussing the Aldrich plan for converting the 4 per cents. into 2½ per cents. by paying the creditors the present worth of 1½ per cent. interest for the period 1889-1907, Mr. Adams says:—

“It will be noticed that there is one essential difference between the anticipation of interest-payments, and the anticipation of the payment of the principal of a debt by purchases on the market. This latter procedure, as has been shown, is expensive, because it requires a larger sum of money to extinguish a given debt than will be required after the debt comes to be redeemable; but no such result follows the anticipation of interest-payments. These are determined by the terms of the contract, and may be calculated with accuracy. The interest does not, like the market value of a debt, fall as the bonds approach the period of their redemption, and it is but the application of sound business rules to use any surplus moneys on hand in making advanced payments of interest.”— Public Debts, p. 278.
What do you say to this reasoning?

  1. Explain the English method of using terminable annuities as a sinking fund, and its advantages or disadvantages.
  2. As an ultimate arrangement of the right of issuing bank notes, should you give your preference (a) to a system which gives the right to a single bank or to few banks, as in the English and Continental practice, or (b) to a system of free banking like that contemplated by the law of the United States; and why?
  3. Bonamy Price says “the Bank of England has become a non-issuing bank.”
    How is this remark to be justified and yet reconciled with the course of events on those occasions when, as in November, 1857, it has been necessary to suspend the provisions of the act of 1844?
  4. Give an outline of the German system of banks of issue.
  5. Considering deposits as a part of the currency, how do you extend to them the usual reasoning as to the dependence of the value of currency on (a) its quantity, rapidity of circulation, and the quantity of transactions to be effected, and (b) the cost of the precious metals?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1889.

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 8

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 8, First half-year.

Prof. Dunbar. 8. History of Financial Legislation in the United States. Hours per week: 2. 1st  half-year. *Consent of instructor required.

Total 44:  28 Seniors, 12 Juniors, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

 

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
[Final Examination, Mid-year, 1889]

  1. In what manner is it probable that the first Bank of the United States effected what Hamilton declared to be one of the principal objects of a bank, viz. “the augmentation of the active or productive capital of a country”?
  2. The act of 1790, providing for the assumption of State debts, fixed the maximum which could be assumed for every State, as e.g. for Connecticut $1,600,000. What effect would it have on the fairness of the settlement of accounts with any State, if its outstanding revolutionary debt were found to be more or less than the amount thus to be assumed for it?
  3. Comment on the following extract:—
    “It is sometimes said that Mr. Hamilton believed in a perpetual debt, and when one notices the form into which he threw the obligations of the United States, the only escape from this conclusion is to say that he was ignorant of the true meaning of the contracts which he created.” — [H.C. Adams, Public Debts, p. 161]
  4. How did Hamilton’s financial system tend to increase the political strength of the Government, and in what features of the system is this tendency most marked?
  5. Describe the general condition of the public finances just before the news of peace arrived in 1815.
  6. Inasmuch as Jackson’s general prepossessions were unfavorable to all banks, how are we to explain his resort to the plan of depositing Government funds in State banks after the removal of the deposits in 1833?
  7. How did the specie circular of 1836 and the deposit of surplus revenue with the States affect the banks and help to produce the revulsion of May, 1837?
  8. What law, if any, regulated the deposit of public funds by the Treasury in 1837, and what changes of system were made down to the passage of the Independent Treasury act of 1846?
  9. What is to be inferred from the provisions of the Legal Tender act of February, 1862, as to the intention of Congress with respect to the payment of the principal of the five-twenty bonds in paper?
  10. Several rulings made in the Treasury Department [House Exec. Doc. 1885-86, No. 158, p. 15] have declared a State’s unpaid quota of the direct tax of 1861 to be a debt due by the State as a body corporate, and so to be properly chargeable against any money which the General Government may chance to owe the State. What is to be inferred on this point from the provisions made for the collection of previous direct taxes?
  11. What were the circumstances which gave such peculiar importance to Grant’s veto of the inflation bill of 1874?
  12. What were the forms in which the question as to the power of Congress to make a paper legal tender presented itself, in the three cases,

Hepburn v. Griswold (1869),
Knox v. Lee (1872), and
Juillard v. Greenman (1884),

respectively?

Source:  Harvard University Archives.  Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound Volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1888-89. Also, Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1889.

 

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 9, Second half-year.

Mr. Gray. 9. Management and Ownership of Railways. — Lectures and written work. Hours per week: 2. 2nd  half-year. *Consent of instructor required.

Total 13:  5 Seniors, 8 Juniors.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

 

 

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 9.
[Final Examination, 1889]

Take all in Group A; two in Group B.

A.

  1. Explain briefly any five:
    1. Cost of Service.
    2. Value of Service.
    3. Differential rate.
    4. Grouping (of rates).
    5. Pooling.
    6. Fixed Charges.
    7. Operating Expenses.
    8. Common Carrier.
    9. Cumulative Voting.
    10. “Railroad” (as used in the Act to Regulate Commerce).
  2. State clearly under what conditions Competition “may make out the dissimilar circumstances entitling the carrier to charge less for the longer than for the shorter haul, etc.”, under the Interstate Commerce Act.
  3. Discuss one of the following cases decided by the Interstate Commerce Commission:
    (1) Boston Export Rates. Boston Chamb. Com. v. Lake Shore, etc., R.R. Co. — I.I.C.C.R. 436.
    (2) Providence Coal Co. v. Providence & Worcester R.R. Co. — I.I.C.C.R. 107.
    (3) Boards of Trade Union of Farmington, etc. v Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul R’y. Co. — I.I.C.C.R. 215.
  4. State the principles which, in your opinion, ought to govern railroad rates.
  5. Take either (a) or (b).
    (a) The benefits and the evils of general railroad incorporation laws. The extent to which special charters can be obtained in the United States.
    (b) Compare the security of railway investments in France, England and the United States.
  6. Take either (a) or (b).
    (a) Give a careful account of the powers and the work of the Massachusetts Railroad Commission.
    (b) Compare the English Railway Commission of 1873-88 with the Interstate Commerce Commission.
  7. History of the English Railway Clearing House. The Desirability and the possibility of such an organization in the United States.

B.

  1. Competition as a regulator of rates. Particulars in which Competition among railroads differs from ordinary business Competition.
  2. Relation of the French Government to the Railroads compared with the Relation of the German Government to the Railroads.
  3. What do you consider the “Railroad Problem” of to-day? What indications do you see of a reasonable solution of that problem?
  4. Discuss the statement that whatever partakes of the nature of a monopoly can be better managed by the Government than by a private Corporation.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1889.

Image Source: Harvard University, Memorial Hall, 1923. Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.