Tag: Ripley

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Exam Questions Harvard Industrial Organization

Harvard. Economics of Corporations. Description, Enrollment, Final Exam. Ripley, 1911-1912

Harper's Weekly. October 20, 1888

The “so-called trust problem” was the principal topic for William Z. Ripley’s course on the Economics of Corporations. Big Business and Organized Labor were the objects of his research interests as well.

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Earlier Harvard courses
on Corporations

Links to earlier course material for Economics of Corporations taught at Harvard, 1902-1903 through 1909-10.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 9b 2hf. Economics of Corporations. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley, assisted by Dr. [Arthur Stone] Dewing.

This course will treat of the fiscal and industrial organization of capital, especially in the corporate form. The principal topic considered will be industrial combination and the so-called trust problem. This will be broadly discussed, with comparative study of conditions in the United States and Europe. The development of corporate enterprise, promotion, and financing, accounting, liability of directors and underwriters, will be described, not from their legal but from their purely economic aspects; and the effects of industrial combination upon efficiency, profits, wages, prices, the development of export trade, and international competition will be considered in turn.

The course is open to those students only who have passed in Economics 1. Systematic reading and report work will be assigned from time to time.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911). p. 65.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 9b 2hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Dr. [Arthur Stone] Dewing.— Economics of Corporations.

Total 140: 9 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 72 Juniors, 14 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 9b
Final Examination
Year-end, 1911-12

Answer in order.

  1. State in topical form, omitting everything except the briefest outline, all you can recall concerning preferred stocks of industrial corporations. Just such headings as would make paragraphs in an essay on the subject. Name examples under each where possible.
  2. What was the purpose of the valorization of coffee scheme? How has it worked?
  3. Two objections to the price policy of the “trusts” have been advanced. One is the special cutting of prices in local markets; the other is “dumping” abroad at reduced prices. Are the two really different in essence; and if so, in what respect? Discuss fully.
  4. Sketch the argument and conclusions in the recent Standard Oil case in the Supreme Court. What particular logical difficulty had to be overcome?
  5. What is meant by “over capitalization”? What its effect upon: (a) earning power; (b) the market price of securities?
  6. Compare the organization of the “Powder Trust,” with the Standard Oil Co. How does the dissolution of the two bring up different problems in each case?
  7. In what respect is English company law in advance of ours?
  8. Compare Federal incorporation and Federal licences as remedies for some of our industrial ills.
  9. What industrial factors favor the inauguration of a policy of integration in production? Illustrate.

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. 56.

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Other Corporations/Industrial Organization Related Posts
for William Z. Ripley

Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization, 1902-1903.

Economics of Corporations, 1903-1904.

Economics of Corporations, 1904-05 (with Vanderveer Custis)

Economics of Corporations, 1906-07 (with Stuart Daggett)

Economics of Corporations, 1907-08 (with Stuart Daggett)

Economics of Corporations, 1908-09 (with Edmund Thornton Miller)

Economics of Corporations, 1909-10 (with Goepper and Whipple)

Economics of Corporations, 1914-1915.

Image Source: “A Trustworthy Beast” by W. A. Rogers in Harper’s Weekly (October 20, 1888), p. 803.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Labor

Harvard. Problems of labor. Course description, enrollment, final examination. Ripley, 1911-1912

Cartoon by Arthur Young

 

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

  1. 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?
  2. What details in the Baldwin Locomotive Works’ plan of apprenticeship would insure or forfeit its approval by a thoroughgoing trades unionist?
  3. What are some of the defects, according to Webb, in the Victorian Minimum Wage legislation?
  4. State any economic differences between American and Australian conditions which might affect the success of such legislation in Massachusetts.
  5. Name, specifically, four labor and social laws in England, which are more advanced than most of our state regulation in America.
  6. 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?
  7. Cite as many instances as you can, of different labor laws, held to be unconstitutional by the Courts.
  8. 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.

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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.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Transportation Economics. Description, enrollment, exam. Ripley, 1911-1912

Great Northern Railway Co., 1892 Minnesota. $1,000 4% Collateral Trust Coupon Bond

The value-added in this post for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror are the course description, enrollment and final exam for William Z. Ripley’s one semester course at Harvard during the 1911-12 academic year on the economics of transportation. I have copied and pasted some biographical information about Ripley’s T.A. for the course, Arthur Stone Dewing, and appended a list of links for earlier exams on the economics of transportation.

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Bonus Material

Links to earlier course material for Economics of Transportation from Harvard, 1887-88 through 1910-11.

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Not your typical teaching assistant

Dr. Arthur Stone Dewing was born (April 16, 1880) and died (January 19, 1971) in Boston. His academic degrees were awarded by Harvard (A.B., 1902; A.M., 1903; Ph.D. in Philosophy, 1905). Dissertation title: “Negation and Intuition in the Philosophy of Schelling.” He also studied at the University of Munich. Dewing taught philosophy from 1902 to 1913 and in economics and finance from 1911 to 1933.  He was one of the founders of the Harvard Business School. For a memorial see Cornelius Vermeil, “Arthur Stone Dewing”, Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. 83, 1971, pp. 165-167.

Incidentally Arthur S. Dewing was a distinguished numismatist, his collection of nearly three thousand ancient Greek coins was considered “one of the most outstanding in the hands of a private collector in the world.” Here a fascinating article about the theft and recovery of much the Dewing collection.

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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 Description
1911-12

51hf. Economics of Transportation. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley, assisted by Dr. Dewing.

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 only to students who have passed in Economics 1.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), p. 63.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

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

Total 99: 4 Graduate, 23 Seniors, 54 Juniors, 14 Sophomores, 3 Freshmen, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 5
Final exam
(mid-year 1911-12)

  1. The “operating ratio” on the Delaware and Hudson is 59.7; on the New Haven 67; and on the Union Pacific 51. Suggest explanations for these variations.
  2. Pittsburg soft coal operators contend that their freight rate to the Lake ports is unreasonably high; and urge, as one reason for a reduction, the fact that the predominant movement of other tonnage, principally iron ore, is in the opposite direction. In other words, because many cars would otherwise be hauled northwards empty, soft coal should be carried as a back load at cheaper rates.
    Discuss this proposition; indicating especially what other factors must necessarily be considered.
  3. Does a “flat rate” over a large territory favor the local jobbers within that territory or not? Illustrate by an actual or hypothetical case.
  4. State the main features of the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910, — the East Federal law regulating common carriers.
  5. Contrast the Gould and Harriman policies of railroad expansion, pointing out the main reasons for the success of one and the failure of the other.
  6. Define carefully: —

Commodity rate.
Valuation of railroads.
Stock watering.
Collateral Trust Bond.
Voting Trust.

  1. What was the nature of the first great case to come before the Interstate Commerce Commission under the law of 1910, which could not have arisen under the law of 1906? How was it decided?
  2. Are there any features of transportation in foreign countries which seem to you to be worthy of imitation in the United States? If so, indicate how they would need to be modified to suit our conditions.

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 […], pp. 49-50.

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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)
1910-11 (Ripley with Ralph Cahoon Whitnack)

….etc.

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

Image Source: madoncollections.com.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Statistics

Harvard. Statistics. Course description, enrollment, final exam. Ripley, 1911-1912

Q. 1. Define "Quet".

As we move into the second decade of the twentieth century we can see the field structure of the Harvard economics department crystallizing both with respect to the fields and the faculty covering the courses. William Zebina Ripley was responsible for courses in statistics, industrial organization and industrial relations.

Of note is the application of Engel’s law seen in the last question of the year-end examination below.

Note: For the academic year 1911-12 I have been unable to find a mid-year examination for Ripley’s statistics course.

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Statistics (Econ 4), previous years

1896-1900, John Cummings.
1900-01 [omitted]
1901-02, Ripley.
1902-03, Ripley.
1903-04, Ripley. [only mid-year exam found]
1904-05, Ripley.
1905-06 [omitted]
1906-07. [offered but no printed exam found]
1907-08, Ripley. [only mid-year exam found]
1908-09, Ripley.
1909-10, Ripley.
1910-11, Young.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 4. Statistics. — Theory, Method, and Practice. Tu., Th., at 11.Professor Ripley.

This course is intended rather as an analysis of methods of research and sources of information than as embodying mere results. A brief history of statistics will be followed by an account of census and other statistical methods in the United States and abroad, with the scientific use and interpretation of results. The main divisions of vital statistics, relating to birth, marriage, morbidity and mortality, life tables, etc.; the statistics of trade and commerce, such as price indexes, etc.; industrial statistics relating to labor, wages, and employment; statistics of agriculture, manufactures, and transportation, will be then considered in order. Laboratory work, amounting to not less than two hours per week, in the preparation of charts, maps, and diagrams from original material, will be required. Course 4 is open to students who have taken Economics 1.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), pp. 588-59.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 4. Professor Ripley. — Statistics. Theory, method, and practice.

Total 20: 4 Graduates, 6 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 1 Other

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 63.

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ECONOMICS 4
Year-end Examination, 1911-12

  1. Define the following: —

Skewness.
Quet.
Fecundity (as applied to population).

  1. Standardize and compare the following: —

 Population A. Number. Population A. Death Rate. Population B. Number. Population B. Death Rate.

44,000 16.4 44,000 16.2
Components:
Under 5 4,000 25.5 1,000 26.
Over 5 40,000 15.5 43,000 16.
  1. Discuss the following statistics. What do they show?

Cost of Product Valued at $100.

 Materials. Wages. Misc. Exp. Total.
U. S. All industries, 1890 $55.08 $24.36 $6.73 $86.17
  1. Work up and draw conclusions from the following figures of incomes of a college class: —
Incomes. Number. Incomes. Number.
$1,000 to $1,499 5 $7,500 to $7,999 5
1,500 to 1,999 15 8,000 to 8,499 2
2,000 to 2,499 22 8,500 to 8,999 0
2,500 to 2,999 25 9,000 to 9,499 1
3,000 to 3,499 11 9,500 to 9,999 0
3,500 to 3,999 10 10,000 to 14,999 6
4,000 to 4,499 9 15,000 to 19,999 4
4,500 to 4,999 8 20,000 to 29,999 2
5,000 to 5,499 7 30,000 to 39,999 1
5,500 to 5,999 3 40,000 to 49,999 1
6,000 to 6,499 5 50,000 and above 2
6,500 to 6,999 3 —
7,000 to 7,499 5
  1. What is the corollary according to Mayo-Smith from Engel’s law as to just methods of taxation applied to the masses of the people?

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 […], pp. 48-49.

Image Source: Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet. From the Royal Collection Trust, acquired by Prince Albert.

Categories
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.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Labor

Harvard. Problems of Labor. Course description, enrollment and exam. Ripley, 1910-1911

New York City, Labor Day Parade (1909)

For the institutional economist William Zebina Ripley at Harvard, trade unions and corporations were central for an understanding of the economy. In the 1910-11 academic year his course, Problems of Labor, completed its ninth iteration.

Beginning with this post on Harvard labor economics, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror will provide links to all previous labor course material transcribed and posted:

Links to previous Harvard labor exams 1892-93 to 1909-10.

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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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Course Announcement, Description
1910-11

9a 1hf. 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. [Ralph Cahoon] Whitnack.

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.

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), pp. 58-59.

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 9a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Ralph Cahoon] Whitnack. — Problems of Labor.

Total 64: 6 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 29 Juniors, 8 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 3 Others.

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

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ECONOMICS 9a1
Mid-Year Examination, 1910-11

  1. Under the compulsory German insurance laws, who pays the premiums for (a) accident, (b) sickness, (c) old age, insurance, respectively?
  2. What are some of the abuses of private employment offices in the United States? What is alleged to be one of the main objections to the establishment of public employment offices? What has been the experience in Germany and the United States in this regard?
  3. As contrasted with English conditions, what is the main dificulty to be considered in the proposed adoption of “workmen’s compensation” legislation in Massachusetts?
  4. What is the one great advantage from the employers’ standpoint of the German over the English system in respect of accident insurance?
  5. New Zealand provided by law for both conciliation boards and courts of arbitration for labor disputes. What has been the experience with the former?
  6. The western locomotive engineers have recently endeavored to secure the adoption of a wage scale granting much higher wages to drivers of compound Mallet engines; not simply because more labor was needed to handle them, but largely because they could haul twice the tonnage of freight. What would be the engineers’ probable motive? Is this anything in principle like a premium plan of paying for labor? Discuss it.
  7. Explain the nature of an injunction. What was its origin in law, and how did it become applicable to the prosecution of labor disputes?
  8. What English statute resulted from the Taff Vale decision in England? Have we any law or, in your judgment, need of such a law in the United States?

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

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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)

Image Source: Library of Congress, Prints & Phtographs Online. Women on float of the Women’s Auxiliary Typographical Union in New York City’s Labor Day parade, published 6 September 1909.

Categories
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.

__________________________

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)

__________________________

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 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.

__________________________

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.

__________________________

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
Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Course Readings for Economics and Social Ethics, 1920-1921

Old Gate at Harvard College (August 6, 1920)

The artifact transcribed and linked for this post was found in last of ten boxes in the Harvard Archives collection “Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003”. I had worked through the previous nine boxes containing folders chronologically ordered by academic year. Box 10 contained five folders of poorly sorted course materials that were undated, requiring some effort to establish a probable time range for any of the artifacts. 

In the first folder I found an eight page typed list of courses, with the names and assigned readings (for most of the courses offered to both undergraduate and graduate students, though no reading lists for the courses that were primarily offered for graduate students) which was relatively easy to date by looking at the course staffing announced in the annual catalogue for the Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1920-21. There is one reference to Taussig’s third edition (Dec. 1921) in the list which would suggest that the list was probably prepared for the 1921-22 or 1922-23 year using materials gathered from the earlier 1920-21 academic year. But the perfect correspondence of course staffing between the transcribed list below and the published announcement for 1920-21 is sufficient for me to assign the 1920-21 academic year to the post.

Square brackets […] have been used to distinguish additional information from the typed list. All explicit titles have been linked, increasing the value of this post considerably.

______________________

Course Descriptions for
Economics and Social Ethics,
1920-21

Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1920-21 published in the Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XVII (May 22, 1920) No. 27.

______________________

One Harvard Graduate’s Memoir
of the 1920s

Carlson, Valdemar. “The Education of an Economist before the Great Depression: Harvard’s Economics Department in the 1920’s.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 27, no. 1, 1968, pp. 101–12.

______________________

ASSIGNED READINGS IN ECONOMICS

A. PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS

[Assistant] Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank and assistants

Readings:

Taussig, [Frank William], Principles of Economics

[First Edition (1911): Volume I; Volume II]
[Second Edition, Revised (1915): Volume I; Volume II]
[Third Edition, (Dec. 1921): Volume I; Volume II]
[Fourth Edition (1939) requires readers to set up an individual account at archive.org for temporary access: Volume I; Volume II]

[Questions on the Principles of Economics by Edmund Ezra Day and Joseph Stancliffe Davis (Revised for the thrid edition of Taussig’s Principles of Economics) edition, 1922.]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

1a. ACCOUNTING

Asst. Professor [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis

Readings:

[none listed]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

1b. STATISTICS

Asst. Professor [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis

Readings:

Secrist, Introduction to Statistical Methods, 1-77, 116-424

King, Elements of Statistical Method, pp.1-19, 64-82, 167-196

Elderton, W. P. and E. M., Primer of Statistics, ch. 1-4

U.S. Census, The Story of the Census, 1790-1915

Field, “Some Advantages of the Logarithmic Scale in Statistical Diagrams,” Journ. Pol. Econ., Oct. 1917

Persons, W. M., Measuring and Forecasting General Business Conditions

Joint Committee on Graphic Standards, Preliminary Report
[Publications of the American Statistical Association 14, no. 112 (1915): 790–97. https://doi.org/10.2307/2965153]

Additional;

Unprescribed portions of King and Secrist

List of references appended to chapters in King and Secrist

References for Statistical Work (Prepared for Economics 1b, 1920)

Questions and Exercises in Statistics (Prepared for Economics 1b, 1920)

The Review of Economic Statistics

Lists of references in specific fields

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

2a. EUROPEAN INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln

Readings:

See printed bibliography on file in Tutorial Library

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

2b. ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln

Readings:

See printed bibliography on file in Tutorial Library

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

3. MONEY, BANKING, AND COMMERCIAL CRISES

Professor [Allyn Abbott] Young

Readings:

[none listed]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

4a. ECONOMICS OF TRANSPORTATION

Professor [William Zebina] Ripley

Readings:

Ripley, Railroad Rates, vol. 1, (not vol. II)

Ripley, Railway Problems

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

4b. ECONOMICS OF CORPORATIONS

Professor [William Zebina] Ripley

Readings:

Ripley, Trusts, Pools, and Corporations

Haney, Business Organization and Combination

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

5a. PUBLIC FINANCE, EXCLUSIVE OF TAXATION

Asst. Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank

Readings:

Bastable, Public Finance

Bullock, Selected Readings in Public Finance
[Second edition, 1921]

Daniel [sic], Public Finance [Possibly: Winthrop More Daniels, Elements of Public Finance (1899)]

Adams, H. C., Public Finance [sic]
[Probably: The Science of Finance, An Investigation of Public Expenditures and Public Revenues (1912)]

Seligman, Essays in Taxation

Darwin, Municipal Trade

Stourm, The Budget

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

5b. THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF TAXATION

Asst. Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank

Readings:

Bastable, Selections on Public Finance

Bullock, Selected Readings in Public Finance
[Second edition, 1921]

Seligman, Essays in Taxation

Means, Methods of Taxation

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

6a. TRADE-UNIONISM AND ALLIED PROBLEMS

Professor [William Zebina] Ripley

Readings:

Webb, Industrial Democracy

Commons, Trade Unionism

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

7a. THEORIES OF VALUE AND DISTRIBUTION

Professor [Edmund Ezra] Day

Readings:

Marshall, Principles of Economics

Carver, The Distribution of Wealth

Taussig, Principles of Economics (1921 edition)
[Third Edition, (Dec. 1921): Volume I; Volume II]

Clark, The Distribution of Wealth

Walker, Political Economy

Fisher, The Rate of Interest

Böhm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest

Fetter, Economic Principles

Davenport, Economics of Enterprise

Veblen, The Theory of Business Enterprise

Hobson, Work and Wealth

Anderson, Social Value

Anderson, The Value of Money

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

7b. SOCIALISM, ANARCHISM, THE SINGLE TAX

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

Readings:

See printed circular on file in the Tutorial Library

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

8. PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

Readings:

Bristol, Social Adaptation

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress

Sumner, Folkways

Spencer, Principles of Sociology [Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3]

Carver, Essays in Social Justice

Giddings, Sociology

Tardl [sic], Social Gains [sic]   [Looks like a typographical error. Probably Social Laws, An Outline of Sociology by Gabriel Tarde (1899 translation from the French)[

Kidd, Social Evolution

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

9a. ECONOMICS OF AGRICULTURE

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

Readings:

Carver, Principles of Rural Economics

Carver, Selected Readings in Rural Economics

Various bulletins and reports

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

9b. INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND TARIFF POLICIES

Professor [Frank William] Taussig

Readings:

Taussig, Free Trade, the Tariff and Reciprocity

Mill, Principles of Political Economy

Smith, Wealth of Nations

State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff

Taussig, Selected Readings (to appear shortly)

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

10. ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND INSTITUTIONS

Dr. [Arthur Eli] Monroe

Readings:

Aristotle, Politics, Bk. I, ch. 1-11; Bk. II, ch. 1-6; IV, ch. 11-13; V, ch. 1-9

Maine, Ancient Law, ch. 5-8

Ashley, Economic History of England, vol. I, ch. 3

Mun: England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade

Turgot, Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth

Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. I, 1-3, 5-9, 11 (secs. 1,2)

Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. II, 3-5; IV, 1, 2, 9

Malthus, Essay on Population, [Vol. I, 6th ed. ] Bk I, 1, 2; Bk. II, 13; [Vol. II, 6th ed.] III, 2, 3; Bk. IV, 1, 2, 3. (Or selections in Ashley’s Classics)

Mill, Political Economy [Vol. I], Bk. I, 5; Bk: II, 11; Bk. III, 1-5

Mill, Political Economy [Vol. II], Bk. IV, 3,4; Bk. V, 8, 10, 11 (sec. 1-9)

List, National System of Political Economy, Bk. II, 2-5, 7

Carlyle, Past and Present (selected chap.) or
Ruskin, Unto this Last, ch. 1, 3

 Bücher, Industrial Evolution, chs. 3, 4

Ashley, Economic Organization of England, ch. 1-7

Wells, Mankind in the Making

(Several optional assignments to be announced later)

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

11. ECONOMIC THEORY

Professor [Frank William] Taussig
[“Maurice Beck Hexter’s notes from Harvard University, 1921-22” and “Supplemental notes from F.W. Taussig’s Course in economic theory with contributions by A.A. Young” edited by Marianne Johnson and Warren J. Samuels in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 28-C (2010), pp. 11-176]

Readings:

Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy
[Third edition, 1821]

Mill, Principles of Political Economy

Marshall, Principles of Economics

Clark, Distribution of Wealth

Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital

Fetter, Principles of Economics

Hobson, Work and Wealth

Veblen, Theory of Business Enterprise

Divers separate articles and chapters in other books

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

9a. THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

Readings:

Carver, Distribution of Wealth

Marshall, Principles of Economics

Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital

Fisher, The Rate of Interest

Clark, The Distribution of Wealth

Taussig, Work [sic] and Capital [Wages and Capital]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

14. HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF ECONOMICS TO THE YEAR 1848

Professor [Charles Jesse] Bullock

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

15. MODERN SCHOOLS OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT

Professor [Allyn Abbott] Young

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

31. PUBLIC FINANCE

Professor [Charles Jesse] Bullock

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

32. ECONOMICS OF AGRICULTURE, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO AMERICAN CONDITIONS

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

33.  INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND TARIFF PROBLEMS

Professor [Frank William] Taussig

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

34. PROBLEMS OF LABOR

Professor [William Ripley] Ripley

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

35a. BUSINESS CORPORATIONS

Asst. Professor Davis

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

35b. BUSINESS COMBINATIONS

Asst. Professor [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

36a. PUBLIC OWNERSHIP: HISTORICAL, THEORETICAL, AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS

Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

36b. PUBLIC REGULATION AND CONTROL OF PRIVATE INDUSTRY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO PUBLIC SERVICE INDUSTRIES

Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

37. COMMERCIAL CRISES

Professor [Warren Milton] Persons

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

38. SELECTED MONETARY PROBLEMS

Professor [Allyn Abbott] Young

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

[ASSIGNED READINGS]
IN SOCIAL ETHICS

1. SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND SOCIAL POLICY

Asst. Professor [Robert Franz] Foerster and Asst. Professor [James] Ford

Readings:

Booth, Life and Labour of the People of London, vol. 1 of Series 1, 3-8, 24-73, 131-171

Conklin, Heredity and Environment, rev. ed. pp.197-242, 256-258, 297-306, 416-456, 475-497

Dewey, and Tufts, Ethics, ch. 15, pp. 297-304; ch. 18-26, pp. 364-606

Flexner, and Baldwin, Juvenile Courts and Probation, Pts.1, 2, pp. 3-78

Oppenheimer, The Rationale of Punishment, pp. 1-4, 171-175, 234-295

Spencer, Principles of Sociology, vol. 1, pt. 3, ch. 9 and 12, pp. 686-724, 745-756

Warner, American Charities, 3rd ed., ch. 4, 6-10, 12, 14-15, 17-22, pр. 64-90, 113-225, 248-284, 305-346, 363-476

Wines, Punishment and Reformation, ch. 8, 10, 12-14 (3rd ed.) pp. 133-167, 199-234, 265-412

Committee of Fifty to Study the Liquor Problem, Summary of Investigations, pp. 15-134

Burritt, Dennison, Gay, Heilman, and Kendall, Profit Sharing, pp. 159-257

Commons and Andrews, Principles of Labor Legislation, pp. 1-414, 454-464

Fay, Cooperation at Home and Abroad, pp. 273-285, 310-354

Foerster, A Promising Venture in Industrial Partnership, Annals American Academy of Political and Social Science, Pub. 703, November 1912, pp. 97-103

Hoxie, Scientific Management and Labor, pp. 25-139

King, Industry and Humanity, ch. 7, 8, pp. 167-303; ch. 10, pp. 364-390

British Labor party, Sub-committee on Reconstruction, report, Labor and the New Social Order, reprint from the New Republic, Feb. 16, 1918, pp. 12

Lee, Play in Education, pp. 319-391, 423-494

Schaeffle, Quintessence of Socialism, pp. 39-127

Schloss, Industrial Remuneration, pp. 286-309

Spargo, Applied Socialism, pp. 87-325

Veiller, Housing Reform, pp. 3-190

Williams, Profit-sharing, pp. 17-42, 146-171

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

4. AMERICAN POPULATION PROBLEMS: IMMIGRATION AND THE NEGRO

Asst. Professor [Robert Franz] Foerster

Reading:

Byington, Homestead: The Households of a Mill Town, ch. 9-11, pp.131-157

Fairchild, Immigration, ch. 1-5, 7, 9, 10, 12-14, 16, pp. 1-105, 123-143, 163-212, 233-368, 393-415

Foerster, The Italian Emigration of Our Times, ch. 21-24, pp. 415-525

Ibid. Quarterly Journal of Economics, Aug.1913, Review of Hourwich’s book on immigration, pp. 656-671

Hourwich, Immigration and Labor, ch. 4, 5, 12-15, 18, 23, pp. 82-112, 284-352, 375-383, 489-501, 414-431 and in chapter 21, Report of the MASS. COMMISSION ON IMMIGRATION, 1914, pp. 54-104

Millis, The Japanese Problem in the United States, ch. 1, pp. 1-29

Reely, Selected Articles on Immigration (Debaters’ Handbook) pp. 131-134, 200-204, 219-222, 225-229

Roberts, The New Immigration, ch. 9, 11-13, pp. 124-138, 156-199

Ross, The Old World in the New, ch. 1-4, 6, 11, pp. 1-92, 120-140, 259-281

U. S. Immigration Commission, vol. 39, pp. 5-81, 127-129

Walker, Discussions in Economics and Statistics, vol. 2, pp. 417-426

Warne, Slav Invasion, pp. 28-38, 47-83

U. S. Immigration Commission, vol. 1, pp. 491-541; vol. 4, pp. 239-281, 337-348

Ovington, Half a Man, ch. 4-8, pp. 75-217

Shaler, The Neighbor, pp. 278-336

Stone, Studies in the American Race Problem, pp. 149-208

Tillinghast, The Negro in Africa and America, Amer. Econ. Review, May 1902, pp. 28-45, 60-79, 102-170

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

6. UNEMPLOYMENT AND RELATED PROBLEMS OF THE WORKING CLASSES

Asst. Professor [Robert Franz] Foerster

Readings:

Beveridge, Unemployment, pp. 1-237

Webb, Seasonal Trades, ch. 1, 2, pp. 1-90

U. S. Bureau of Labor, Report on Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. 7, pp. 43-60, 64-67, 177-192

Barnes, The Longshoremen, pp. 55-92, 199-206, 210-227

Chicago, Report of the Mayor’s Commission on Unemployment, 1914, pp. 107-165

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 206, B. Lasker, British System of Labor Exchanges, pp. 1-56

Kellor, Out of Work, Ch. 6, pp. 157-193

Gibbon, Unemployment Insurance, pp. 187-203

Dawson, Vagrancy Problem, ch. 4, 11, pp.104-132; 229-249

Ibid. Social Insurance in Germany, ch. 2-4, 7-9, pp. 22-127,182-265

Gibbon, Medical Benefit …Germany and Denmark, ch. 2, 6, 9, 12, 18 pp. 10-14, 43-52, 81-106, 125-131, 192-203

Rubinow, Standards of Health Insurance, Ch. 5-9, pp.67-152

Belloc, The Servile State, pp. 155-189

24th Annual Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Labor, 1909, Vol. 2, pp. 1499-1530, 1540-1544

Foerster, The British National Insurance Act, Q. J. of Econ., Feb. 1912, pp. 275-298, 305-312

Bernhard, Undesirable Results of German Social Legislation, pp. 39-75

Mass. Commission on Old Age Pensions, 1910 Report, pp. 112-122, 164-203, 224-259, 268-284, 300-344

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin 195, Unemployment in the United States, 1916

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 10, Folder “Economics, undated (1 of 5)”.

Image Source: Old Gate at Harvard College (Leon H. Abdalian, photographer). Boston Public Library Arts Department.  [No Copyright – United States]

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Industrial Organization Paper Topics

Harvard. Economics of Corporations. Reports assignment and final exam. Ripley, 1909-1910

An angry Uncle Sam holding up a lantern labeled “Congressional Legislation” to illuminate a rotund man wearing a crown labeled “Trusts” and a robe decorated with dollar signs, there is a ring with many keys hanging from a cord around his waist, and he is sitting on a stack of books that are labeled “Day Book, Ledger, Entry Book, Stock Book, [and] Cash Book”, he has his right hand on an open book. All the books are locked with padlocks.

In the early decades of the twentieth century William Zebina Ripley was the institutional economist at Harvard who covered courses in organized labor and organized capital as well as statistics. This post provides the course description, enrollment, report assignment, and final exam for the 1909-10 version of the course. His teaching assistants are very briefly identified, a couple of Harvard men who went on to careers in law and business.

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Other Corporations/Industrial Organization Related Posts
for William Z. Ripley

Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization, 1902-1903.

Economics of Corporations, 1903-1904.

Economics of Corporations, 1904-05 (with Vanderveer Custis)

Economics of Corporations, 1906-07 (with Stuart Daggett)

Economics of Corporations, 1907-08 (with Stuart Daggett)

Economics of Corporations, 1908-09 (with Edmund Thornton Miller)

Economics of Corporations, 1914-1915.

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Meet Ripley’s teaching assistants
1909-10

Herman William Goepper, Jr., A.B. 1909, M.B.A. 1911.

Charles Augustus Whipple, magna cum laude Economics A.B. 1909

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Course Announcement, Description
1909-10

[9b2hf. Economies of Corporations. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley.]

Omitted in 1909-10.
[NOTE: this course was actually offered in 1909-10]

This course will treat of the fiscal and industrial organization of capital, especially in the corporate form. The principal topic considered will be industrial combination and the so-called trust problem. This will be broadly discussed, with comparative study of conditions in the United States and Europe. The development of corporate enterprise, promotion, and financing, accounting, liability of directors and underwriters, will be described, not from their legal but from their purely economic aspects; and the effects of industrial combination upon efficiency, profits, wages, prices, the development of export trade, and international competition will be considered in turn.

The course is open to those students only who have taken Economics 1. Systematic reading and report work will be assigned from time to time.

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. 59.

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 9b 2hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Herman Goepper and Mr. C. A. Whipple. — Economics of Corporations.

Total 129: 7 Graduates, 39 Seniors, 60 Juniors, 12 Sophomores, 3 Freshmen, 8 Others.

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

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ECONOMICS 92
ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS.

1910

→ Exact references 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 industrial combination in the United States. This will be indicated by a number, placed against the student’s name on the enrolment slip, which number refers to the industrial combination similarly numbered on this sheet. See directions on last page.

GROUP B

Students will compare the character and extent of industrial control in two different industries in the United States. These are indicated by numbers given below, which are posted against the student’s name on the enrolment slip. The aim should be to point out and explain any discoverable differences in the nature or extent of the industrial monopoly attained in the two industries concerned. Mere description of conditions in either case will not suffice; actual comparison is demanded. The parallel column method is suggested. See directions on last page.

GROUP C

Students will compare industrial combinations in different countries of Europe with one another, or with corresponding ones in the United States. The assignment of industries will be made by numbers, referring to the list below, these numbers being posted against the student’s name on the enrolment slip. Mere description will not be accepted; the student will be judged by the degree of critical comparison offered. Parallel columns may be used to advantage. See directions on last page.

→ 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: “31 A” on the enrolment slip indicates that the student is to report upon the American Cotton Oil Co.; “2 & 64 B,” that a comparison of the American Bridge Co. and the United States Leather Co. in the United States is expected; while “59 & 158 C” calls for an international comparison of industrial organizations in thread manufacture as described under Group C.

INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS
IN THE UNITED STATES

A star indicates that data will be found in Industrial Commission Reports, Vol. I or XIII.

  1. American Axe and Tool Co., 1889.
  2. American Bridge Co., 1900. (See No. 139.)
  3. American Iron and Steel Mfg. Co., 1899.
  4. American Steel Foundries Co., 1902.
  5. *American Radiator Co., 1899.
  6. *American Sheet Steel Co., 1900. (See No. 139.)
  7. *American Steel and Wire Co. of New Jersey, 1899, (See No. 139.)
  8. American Steel Casting Co., 1894.
  9. *American Steel Hoop Co., 1899. (See No. 139.)
  10. *American Tin Plate Co., 1898. (See No. 139.)
  11. *Federal Steel Co., 1898. (See No. 139.)
  12. International Steam Pump Co., 1899.
  13. *National Shear Co., 1898.
  14. *National Steel Co., 1899. (See No. 139.)
  15. National Tube Co., 1899. (See No. 139.)
  16. *Otis Elevator Co., 1898.
  17. Republic Iron and Steel Co., 1899.
  18. United Shoe Machinery Co., 1899.
  19. United States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Co., 1899.
  20. American Beet Sugar Co., 1899.
  21. *American Chicle Co., 1899.
  22. Corn Products Co., 1902.
  23. *American Sugar Refining Co., 1891.
  24. *Glucose Sugar Refining Co., 1897.
  25. *National Biscuit Co., 1898.
  26. National Sugar Refining Co., 1900.
  27. *Royal Baking Powder Co., 1899.
  28. United States Flour Milling Co., 1899.
  29. *American Fisheries Co., 1899.
  30. American Agricultural Chemical Co., 1899.
  31. *American Cotton Oil Co., 1889.
  32. American Linseed Co., 1898.
  33. *Fisheries Co., The, 1900.
  34. *General Chemical Co., 1899.
  35. *National Salt Co., 1899.
  36. *National Starch Manufacturing Co., 1890.
  37. *Standard Oil Co., 1882.
  38. Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co., 1895.
  39. American Shot and Lead Co., 1890.
  40. American Smelting and Refining Co., 1899.
  41. American Type Founders Co., 1892.
  42. *International Silver Co., 1898.
  43. National Lead Co., 1891.
  44. American Malting Co., 1897.
  45. American Spirits Manufacturing Co., 1895.
  46. Kentucky Distilleries and Warehouse Co., 1899.
  47. Pittsburgh Brewing Co., 1899.
  48. St. Louis Brewing Association, 1889.
  49. Standard Distilling and Distributing Co., 1898.
  50. *American Bicycle Co., 1899. (Now Pope Bicycle Co.)
  51. American Car and Foundry Co., 1899.
  52. *Pressed Steel Car Co., 1899.
  53. Pullman Co., The, 1899.
  54. American Snuff Co., 1900.
  55. *American Tobacco Co., 1890.
  56. *Continental Tobacco Co., 1898.
  57. *National Cordage Co., 1887. (See No. 62.)
  58. American Felt Co., 1899.
  59. *American Thread Co., 1898.
  60. American Woolen Co., 1899.
  61. New England Cotton Yarn Co., 1899.
  62. *Standard Rope and Twine Co., 1895. (See No. 57.)
  63. American Hide and Leather Co., 1899.
  64. *United States Leather Co., 1893-1905.
  65. American Straw Board Co., 1889.
  66. American Writing Paper Co., 1899.
  67. International Paper Co., 1898.
  68. *National Wall Paper Co., 1892-1905.
  69. Union Bag and Paper Co., 1899.
  70. United States Envelope Co., 1898.
  71. American Clay Manufacturing Co., 1900.
  72. American Window Glass Co., 1899.
  73. International Pulp Co., 1893.
  74. National Fire Proofing Co., 1899.
  75. *National Glass Co., 1899.
  76. *Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., 1895.
  77. United States Glass Co., 1891.
  78. American School Furniture Co., 1899.
  79. Diamond Match Co., 1889.
  80. National Casket Co., 1890.
  81. United States Bobbin and Shuttle Co., 1899.
  82. American Glue Co., 1894.
  83. American Ice Co., 1899.
  84. American Shipbuilding Co., 1899.
  85. American Soda Fountain Co., 1891.
  86. *General Aristo Co. (Photography), 1899.
  87. Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co., 1899.
  88. United States Rubber Co., 1892.
  89. Allis-Chalmers Co., 1901.
  90. American Cigar Co., 1901.
  91. American Grass Twine Co., 1899.
  92. American Light and Traction Co., 1901.
  93. American Locomotive Co., 1901.
  94. American Machine and Ordnance Co., 1902.
  95. American Packing Co., 1902.
  96. American Plow Co., 1901.
  97. American Sewer Pipe Co., 1900.
  98. American Steel Foundries Co., 1902.
  99. Associated Merchants Co., 1901.
  100. Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co., 1902.
  101. Consolidated Railway Lighting and Refrig. Co., 1901.
  102. Consolidated Tobacco Co., 1901.
  103. Corn Products Co., 1902.
  104. Crucible Steel Co., of America, 1900.
  105. Eastman Kodak Co., 1901.
  106. International Harvester Co., 1902.
  107. International Salt Co., 1901. (Also National Salt Co.)
  108. *Jones & Laughlin Steel Co., 1902.
  109. *National Asphalt Co., 1900.
  110. New England Consolidated Ice Co., 1902.
  111. New York Dock Co., 1901.
  112. Pacific Hardware and Steel Co., 1902.
  113. Pennsylvania Steel Co., 1901,
  114. Railway Steel Spring Co., 1902.
  115. International Mercantile Marine Co., 1902.
  116. Northern Securities Co., 1901. (See Library Catalogue.)
  117. United Box, Board and Paper Co., 1902.
  118. United Copper Co., 1902.
  119. United States Cotton Duck Corporation, 1901.
  120. United States Realty and Construction Co., 1902.
  121. United States Reduction and Refining Co., 1901.
  122. United States Shipbuilding Co., 1902.
  123. American Tobacco Co., 1903.
  124. Central Leather Co.
  125. American Ice Securities Co.
  126. Amalgamated Copper Co.
  127. General Electric Co.
  128. United Shoe Machinery Co.
  129. American Telephone and Telegraph Co.
  130. United Gas Improvement Co.
  131. Interborough-Metropolitan Co.
  132. Mass. Electric Companies.
  133. Mass. Gas Companies.
  134. Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co.
  135. Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co.
  136. N. Y. Consolidated Gas Co.
  137. American Express Co.
  138. Adams Express Co.
  139. United States Steel Corporation; Promotion.
  140. United States Steel Corporation; Financial Development.
  141. United States Steel Corporation; Bond Conversion.
  142. United States Steel Corporation; Relations to Employees.
  143. United States Steel Corporation; Earnings, Quotations and Business.
  144. The American Silk Co.
  145. The Association of Licensed Cement Manufacturers.
  146. The Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers.
  147. The United Fruit Co.
  148. The Quaker Oats Co.
  149. Du Pont de Nemours Powder Co.

INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS IN EUROPE.

[Consult: Industrial Commission, Vol. XVIII; U.S. Special Consular Reports, Vol. XXI, Part III; and London Economist on England since 1895; Griffin’s Library of Congress List of Books on Trusts, 1902, p. 35; and for the respective countries, Stock Exchange Official Intelligence (Lib 5230.7), Salling’s Börsenpapiere (Lib. 5234.5.2), and Annuaire Général des Sociétés françaises par Action (5232.5), On Germany consult also Kontradictorische Verhandlungen über deutsche Kartelle (Lib., Econ. 3871.1).]

  1. Canadian Iron Founders’ Association. (See Canadian Commission on Trusts, 1888.)
  2. *Bleachers’ Association, England.
  3. *Iron Combination, France.
  4. *Iron Combination, Germany. (Stahlwerkverband.)
  5. *Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate.
  6. *Spirits Combination, Germany.
  7. *United Pencil Factories’ Company, Germany.
  8. *Portland Cement Manufacturers’ Association, England.
  9. *Bradford Dyers’ Association, England.
  10. *Brass Bedstead Association, England.
  11. *British Cotton and Wool Dyers’ Association.
  12. *British Oil and Cake Mills.
  13. *Calico Printers’ Association, England.
  14. *Wall Paper Manufacturers’ Association, England.
  15. *English Sewing Cotton Co.
  16. *Petroleum Combination, Germany.
  17. *Petroleum Combination, France.
  18. *Sugar Combination, Germany.
  19. *Sugar Combination, Austria.
  20. German Salt Combination.
  21. German Potash Combination.
  22. International Sulphur Trust.

DIRECTIONS.

All books here referred to are reserved in Gore Hall.

First.—Secure if possible by correspondence, enclosing ten cents postage, the last or recent annual reports of the company. Unless they are “listed” on the stock exchanges, no reports will be furnished. P. O. addresses for American corporations will be found in the latest Moody’s Manual of Corporation Securities; in 12th U. S. Census, 1900, Manufactures, Part I, p. lxxxvi; in the latest Investors’ Supplement, N. Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle; or in the Manual of Statistics.

Second.—In all cases where possible (starred on list) consult Vols. I, XIII, or XVIII, U. S. Industrial Commission Reports. Read appropriate testimony in full, consulting lists of witnesses, Vol. I, p. 1263, and Vol. XIII, p. 979; and also using the index and digests freely. Always follow up all cross references in foot-notes in the digests. Duplicate sets of these Reports are in Gore and Harvard Halls.

Third.—For companies organized prior to 1900 look through the bibliography and index in Halle or Jenks for references; and also in Griffin’s Library of Congress List.

Fourth.—Work back carefully through the files of Moody’s Manual of Corporations and 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 Bulletin U. S. Dept. of Labor, No. 29.

Fifth.—The files of trade publications should also be consulted. Among these are Bulletin of the National Wool Manufacturers’ Association, The Iron Age, Dry Goods Economist, etc. Many of these are now in Gore Hall, a special list is to be seen at the desk.

Sixth.—Read carefully in the U.S. Census the special reports on industries; and compile all data possible as to the growth and development of the industry in general, by means of statistics of production, exports and imports, number of employees and capital invested.

The course of prices of securities in detail for many companies is given in Industrial Commission Reports, Vol. XIII, p. 918, et seq.

As for the form of the reports all pertinent matter may be introduced, proper references to authorities being given. Particular attention is directed to the extent of control, nature and value of physical plant, mode of selling products and fixing prices, amount and character of capitalization, with the purpose for which it was issued, relative market prices of different securities as well as of dividends paid through a series of years, degree of publicity in reports, etc. Mere history is of minor importance, unless it be used to explain some features of the existing situation.

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 9b
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. Describe the course of state anti-trust legislation, with approximate dates. What were the main causes on each occasion?
  2. Concerning payment of unearned dividends out of capital, a writer on trusts, pools, and corporations, commenting on German company law, observes: “The distinction between the depreciation of fixed and circulating capital, which is the basis of these (British) decisions, is unsound from a mercantile point of view.” What were some of these British decisions? Give hypothetical cases if you please.
  3. How does the so-called Trust Problem in the United States differ from the British situation? State points of difference concisely, in separate paragraphs.
  4. What changes in corporation law would most effectively discourage speculative promotion of new companies?
  5. What is the economic argument advanced in support of the policy of “dumping” in foreign countries? Any fallacy in it?
  6. What is the common law? Illustrate its mode of growth by concrete instances.
  7. Define in a sentence in each case: —
    1. A sinking fund.
    2. A reorganization.
    3. A “guinea pig” director.
    4. An underwriting syndicate.
    5. Good-will.
  8. Outline the attitude towards labor organizations of some of the leading industrial combinations.
  9. What is the precise form of organization of the two great industrial combinations now on trial before the Supreme Court of the United States? What was the nature of the decision in the leading case bearing upon the points involved?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 46-47.

Image Source: “The kind of anti-trust legislation that is needed” by  J.S. Pughe. From Puck, 1902 February 5.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Labor

Harvard. Problems of labor. Description, enrollment, final exam. Ripley, 1909-10

In 1910 Harvard published 43 short bibliographies covering “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”, about half of which were dedicated to particular topics in economics and economic sociology. The project was coordinated by Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Francis G. Peabody. Trade Unionism was an “allied subject” covered in the bibliography provided by Professor William Z. Ripley that has been transcribed and posted earlier along with links to digital copies of the items found at archive.org, hathitrust.org, as well as at other on-line archives. It is a safe guess that the items there represent the core of required and suggested readings for Ripley’s  course on the Problems of Labor.

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Ripley’s Problems of Labor:
previous semesters

1902-03
1903-04
1904-05
1905-06
1906-07
1907-08
1908-09

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Course Teaching Assistant
1909-10

James Edwin Gardner.

A.B. Harvard, cum laude Economics 1908.
LL.B. Harvard, 1910.

Born 21 Jan 1887 in Norfolk, Virginia.
After Harvard, he practiced law in Louth, Minnesota.
Died 2 January 1957 at Rose Valley Farm, Spotsylvania County Va.

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Course Announcement,
Description
1909-10

9a 1hf. Problems of Labor. Half-course (first half-year); Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Professor Ripley and an assistant.

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.

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, pp. 58-59.

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 9a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. J. E. Gardner. — Problems of Labor.

Total 64: 2 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 31 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 3 Freshmen, 7 Others.

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

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ECONOMICS 9a1
Mid-Year Examination, 1909-10

  1. One of the main criticisms of trade unionism is that it tends to reduce all men to a dead level of mediocrity of performance. What are two possible answers to this contention?
  2. Webb says: “Collective bargaining thus implies, in its fullest development, compulsory Trade Unionism.” Yet the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the most powerful union in America, enforces no closed-shop policy. The United Garment Workers seek to do so. How do you reconcile these differences of statement and of fact?
  3. What positive result has followed the reduction of hours of labor by law in Massachusetts, (a) in methods of manufacture; and (b) in quality of work people?
  4. Membership in the hat-makers’ union is highly concentrated geographically; that of the plumbers’ union is widely scattered. How would you expect to find this difference reflected in their constitutional organizations? What devices might be employed to overcome the difficulty in the second union?
  5. Piece work “is in appearance a system of rewards, but it is in fact a system of punishments, and worse still, a system of punishments for doing well.” What does this mean? Is it true?
  6. How does the “premium plan” of paying for labor propose to meet this difficulty above mentioned?
  7. Justice Holmes, in Plant vs. Woods, says: “Organization and strikes may get a larger share for the members of an organization, but, if they do, they get it at the expense of the less organized and less powerful portion of the laboring class. They do not create something out of nothing.” Criticise this statement.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 45-46.