William Z. Ripley’s course on problems of labor was an institutional survey of trade unionism and labor legislation. Economics 9a and 9b were dedicated to market power of organized labor and organized capital, respectively.
His assistant was the magna cum laude, prize-winning undergraduate Roscoe Russell Hess who had a QJE publication before leaving for the Harvard Law School.
Links to previous Harvard labor exams 1892-93 to 1910-11.
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Labor Bibliographies
Prepared by Ripley
Short Bibliography of Trade Unionism, 1910.
Short Bibliography of Strikes and Boycotts, 1910.
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Meet the Teaching Assistant:
Roscoe Russell Hess
(1887-1979)
Harvard Class of 1911, First Report (April 1912)
1909-10. Bowdoin Prize. Second prize of $100 for the essay “A Short History and Analysis of the English Submarine Telegraph Company.”
1910-11. Bowdoin Prize. First prize of $250 for the essay “The Paper Industry in its Relation to Conservation and the Tariff.” [Published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1911.]
1911. A.B. magna cum laude
1912. Address: 1722 West 58th St., Seattle, Wash.; is tutoring; his present address is care of Mrs. Hugo R. Johnstone, ” Brackenide,” Hamilton.
Harvard Class of 1911 Decennial Report (1922),
pp. 193-194
Roscoe Russell Hess
Born at Plymouth, Ind., Oct. 17, 1887.
Parents: Joseph William Hess, Nellie Josephine Tibbets.
School: Seattle High School, Seattle, Wash.
Degrees: A. B. 1911; LL. B. 1916.
War Service: Enlisted Aug. 3, 1917, Pvt.; Discharged Jan. 15, 1919, 2nd Lt. F. A. 144th F. A. and others.
Occupation: Lawyer.
Address: ( Home ) Overland Club, Pasadena, Calif. ( Bus. ) 503 H. W. Hellman Bldg., Los Angeles, Calif.
For two years after graduation I was tutor for two sons of Hugo R. Johnstone, ’92, wintering in California. The next three years were in the Law School, wherein I received the ” gentleman’s mark, ” but I did an unbelievable amount of type- writing for other fellows in the Law School. The summer of 1916 I spent as secretary for Sir Edgar Speyer, London banker, and the next year was in California, getting admitted to the bar. Then came seventeen months in the Field Artillery and never got across, but landed as far as Camp Jackson, South Carolina, and was discharged Second Lieutenant, Field Artillery. The last two years I have spent in the office of F. G. Cruickshank, best probate lawyer in Pasadena, but at this present writing I am spending time in Los Angeles, preparing income tax returns for people who cannot understand the intricacies of the thing. After March 15 I hope to open an office of my own in Los Angeles.
As to the service, I can only speak of it with regret – a most poignant bitterness, because I enlisted in August 1917 with an outfit that I hoped had the pull to get overseas orders and I made the mistake of my life in not going back to Boston at that time and trying to tie up with an eastern outfit that would have had a better chance of seeing the real stuff.
Member: Overland Club, Pasadena; Sons of the Revolution, California Society, Los Angeles.
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Course Description
1911-12
[Economics] 9a1hf. Problems of Labor. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. ——
This course will deal mainly with the economic and social relations of employer and employed, with especial reference to legislation. Among the topics included will be: collective bargaining; labor organizations; factory legislation in the United States and Europe; strikes, strike legislation and legal decisions; conciliation and arbitration; employers’ liability and compulsory compensation; compulsory insurance with particular reference to European experience; the problem of the unemployed; apprenticeship, and trade and technical education.
Each student will make at least one report upon a labor union, from the original documents. Two lectures a week, with one recitation, will be the usual practice. This course is open to students who hare passed in Economics 1 and to Juniors and Seniors of good standing who are taking Economics 1 at the same time.
Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911). pp. 64-65.
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Course Enrollment
1911-12
Economics 9a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Hess. — Problems of Labor.
Total 70: 3 Graduates, 23 Seniors, 35 Juniors, 8 Sophomores, 1 Other.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.
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ECONOMICS 9a
Final Exam
Mid-year 1911-12
- Economically speaking, that is to say regardless of legal obstacles, why should not the state regulate conditions of labor for adult men, as well as for women and children? Would this accord with trade union ideals?
- What details in the Baldwin Locomotive Works’ plan of apprenticeship would insure or forfeit its approval by a thoroughgoing trades unionist?
- What are some of the defects, according to Webb, in the Victorian Minimum Wage legislation?
- State any economic differences between American and Australian conditions which might affect the success of such legislation in Massachusetts.
- Name, specifically, four labor and social laws in England, which are more advanced than most of our state regulation in America.
- Having regard to its original uses, to what occurrences might injunctions be applied in connection with labor disputes? To what others has it been applied in later usage?
- Cite as many instances as you can, of different labor laws, held to be unconstitutional by the Courts.
- Discuss the present longshoremen’s strike in Boston.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], p. 55.
Previous Labor Courses at Harvard
1892-93. The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the U.S. and in Other Countries (E. Cummings)
1893-94. The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the U.S. and in Other Countries (E. Cummings)
1894-95. The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the U.S. and in Other Countries (E. Cummings)
1895-96. The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the U.S. and in Other Countries (E. Cummings)
1896-97. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (J. and E. Cummings)
1897-98. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (J. and E. Cummings)
1898-99. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (E. Cummings)
1899-1900. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (Omitted)
1900-01. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (W.F. Willoughby)
1901-02. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (E.D. Durand)
1902-03. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1903-04. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1904-05. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1905-06. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1906-07. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1907-08. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1908-09. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1909-10. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1910-11. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
Image Source: Arthur Young cartoon illustration for “The Industrial Revolt at Lawrence” by Richard Washburn Child in Collier’s The National Weekly, Vol. 48, Issue 25 (March 9, 1912), p. 14.