Assistant professor of banking and finance, Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague, was assisted by George Randolph Grua when he taught the second semester in the two term sequence in money and banking at Harvard in 1909-10. The course description says “The work is both historical and comparative in its methods,” unlike the bulk of contemporary money and banking courses that are locked into the here and now.
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Previous course materials for
Money and Banking
1900-01(Meyer and Sprague)
1901-02 (Andrew, Sprague, Meyer)
1902-03 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)
1903-04 (Andrew and Sprague)
1904-05 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)
1905-06 (Andrew’s money and banking exams)
1906-07 (Andrew’s money and banking exams)
1907-08 (Andrew’s money and banking exams)
1908-09 (Wesley Clair Mitchell’s money and banking exams)
1909-10 (Davis Rich Dewey’s money exam)
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Course Description
1909-10
8b 2hf. Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 1.30. Asst. Professor Sprague, assisted by Mr. Grua.
In Course 8b, after a summary view of early forms of banking in Italy, Amsterdam, and Hamburg, a more detailed account is given of the development, to the middle of the nineteenth century, of the system of banking in which notes were the principal form of credit and the chief subject of discussion and legislation. The rise and growth of the modern system of banking by discount and deposit is then described. The work is both historical and comparative in its methods. The banking development, legislation, and present practice of various countries, including England, France, Germany, Scotland, and Canada, are reviewed and contrasted. Particular attention is given to banking history and experience in this country: the two United States banks; the more important features of banking in the separate states before 1860; the beginnings, growth, operation, and proposed modification of the national banking system; and credit institutions outside that system, such as state banks and trust companies.
The course of the money markets of London, Paris, Berlin, and New York will be followed during a series of months, and the various factors, such as stock exchange dealings, and international exchange payments, which bring about fluctuations in the demand for loans, and the rate of discount upon them will be considered. In conclusion the relations of banks to commercial crises will be analyzed, the crises of 1857 and 1893 being taken for detailed study.
Written work, in the preparation of short papers on assigned topics, and a regular course of prescribed reading will be required of all students.
The course is open to those who have taken Economics 1.
Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 58.
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Course Enrollment
1909-10
Economics 8b 2hf. Asst. Professor Sprague, assisted by Mr. Grua. — Banking and Foreign Exchange.
Total 96: 3 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 49 Juniors, 17 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 5 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.
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ECONOMICS 8b
Year-end Examination, 1909-10
Answer nine questions.
- Give a short account of the London gold market.
- By what means and to what extent was the Second Bank of the United States able to control the expansion of credit by the other banks of the country?
- The bond secured notes issued by the national banks have not been a serious element of positive weakness in the working of our credit machinery. Explain.
- In what ways would savings departments with segregated deposits strengthen the national banks?
- If a central bank is established in the United States it is of the greatest importance that clearing house settlements should be made by means of transfers on its books. Explain.
- Give an account of the circumstances which led to the adoption of the device of the clearing house loan certificate.
- Consider the working of the Canadian banking system with reference to the borrower.
- Give a short account of the banking situation in the United States in 1860, outside of New England and New York.
- Criticise the banking proposals of the Indianapolis Monetary Commission.
- Is it possible to equalize rates for loans throughout the country by means of a central bank?
- Consider the policy of Secretary Shaw with reference to gold imports.
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), p. 45.
Image Source: O.M.W. Sprague from Harvard Class Album, 1915.
