Broschures that advertise economics departments are often useful summaries of the “order of battle” for their educational and research missions. The Chicago Department of Political Economy was about a dozen years in business when this programme, transcribed below, was published. The course descriptions are somewhat thicker than are typically found in full university catalogs that must share space for the many divisions and schools that constitute the larger institution.
Incidentally, the copy of the printed programme that was transcribed for this post was found in an archival box of material dealing with graduate studies in the Division of History, Government, and Economics at Harvard University. Then as now, prudence demands keeping an eye on your competition.
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Related Posts on the Early Years
of the Department of Political Economy
of the University of Chicago
First detailed announcement of Political Economy program at the University of Chicago, 1892.
General Regulations for the degree of Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, 1903.
Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Department of Political Economy, 1916.
______________________________
CONSPECTUS OF COURSES,
1904-1905.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
All courses are Mj [major] unless otherwise indicated.
| SUMMER |
AUTUMN |
WINTER |
SPRING |
1 Principles of Political
Economy
(Hill) 9:00 |
1 Principles of Political Economy
a (Hill) 8:30
b (Davenport) 12:00 |
1 Principles of Political Economy
(Hill) 12:00 |
|
|
|
2 Principles of Political Economy Con’d
a (Hill) 8:30
b (Davenport) 12:00 |
2 Principles of Political Economy Con’d
(Davenport) 12:00 |
|
3 Economic and Social History
(Morris) 2:00 |
|
3 Economic and Social History
(Morris) 12:00 |
|
4 History of Commerce
(Morris) 12:00 |
|
|
5B Commercial Geography for Teachers
(Goode) 1:30 |
5 Commercial Geography
(Mr. —) 8:30 |
|
8 Mathematical Problems of Insurance
(Epsteen) |
|
6 Modern Industries
(Mr. —) 11:00 |
7 Insurance
(Davenport) 8:30 |
[9 Law of Insurance]
(Bigelow) |
|
|
10 Accounting
(Mr. — ) 11:00 |
11 Special Problems of Accounting
(Several Experts) |
12 Modern Business Methods
(Clow) 8:00 |
|
|
12 Modern Business Methods
(Mr. —) 9:30 |
|
20 History of Political Economy
(Veblen) 11:00 |
21 Scope and Method
(Veblen) 11:00 |
22 Finance
(Davenport) 8:30 |
24 Financial History of the United States
(Cummings) 8:00 |
24 Financial History of the United States
(Cummings) 2:00 |
|
23 Tariff Reciprocity and Shipping
(Cummings) 9:30 |
26 American Agriculture
(Hill) 10:30 |
|
26 American Agriculture
(Hill) 10:30 |
25 Economic Factors in Civilization
(Veblen) 11:00 |
|
|
|
27 Colonial Economics
(Morris) 9:30 |
|
40 Value
(Davenport) 8:30 |
41 Labor and Capital
(Laughlin) 12:00 |
44 Socialism
(Veblen) 9:30 |
46 Trade Unions
(Cummings)
9:30 |
45 Industrial Combinations (Veblen) 9:30 |
43 Economics of Workingmen
(Cummings) 9:30 |
46 Trades Unions
(Cummings) 12:00 |
|
50 Money
(Laughlin) 12:00 |
51 Banking
(Mr. —) 8:30 |
50 Money
(Laughlin) 12:00 |
|
|
|
[52 Advertising]
53 Practical Banking
(Mr. — ) 8:30 |
|
60 Railways
(Hill) 2:00 |
61 Railway Rates
(Meyer) 2:00 |
|
|
|
62 Government Ownership (I)
(Meyer) 2:00 |
63 Government Ownership (II)
(Meyer) 2:00 |
|
|
|
64 American Competition
(Meyer) 3:00 |
|
70 Statistics
(Cummings) 8:30 |
71 Statistics of Wages
(Cummings) 12:00 |
|
|
80 Seminar
(Laughlin) |
81 Seminar
(Laughlin) |
[82 Seminar
(Laughlin)] |
______________________________
THE DEPARTMENT
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
OFFICERS OF INSTRUCTION.
JAMES LAURENCE LAUGHLIN, Ph.D., Professor and Head of the Department of Political Economy.
THORSTEIN B. VEBLEN, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Political Economy.
WILLIAM HILL, A.M., Assistant Professor of Political Economy.
JOHN CUMMINGS, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Political Economy.
HENRY RAND HATFIELD, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Political Economy.
HERBERT JOSEPH DAVENPORT, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Political Economy.
HUGO RICHARD MEYER, A.B., Assistant Professor of Political Economy.
ROBERT MORRIS, A.B, LL.B., Instructor in Political Economy.
F. R. CLOW, Professor of Political Economy, State Normal School, Oshkosh, Wis. (Summer Quarter, 1904).
FELLOWS.
1904-1905.
EDITH ABBOTT, A.B
EARL DEAN HOWARD, Ph.B.
WILLIAM JETT LAUCK, A.B.
INTRODUCTORY.
The work of the department is intended to provide, by symmetrically arranged courses of instruction, a complete training in the various branches of economics, beginning with elementary work and passing by degrees to the higher work of investigation. A chief aim of the instruction will be to teach methods of work, to foster a judicial spirit, and to cultivate an attitude of scholarly independence. (1) The student may pass, in the various courses of instruction, over the whole field of economics. (2) When fitted, he will be urged to pursue some special investigation. (3) For the encouragement of research and the training of properly qualified teachers of economics, Fellowships in Political Economy have been founded. (4) To provide a means of communication between investigators and the public, a review, entitled the Journal of Political Economy, has been established, to be edited by the officers of instruction in the department; while (5) larger single productions will appear in a series of bound volumes to be known as Economic Studies of the University of Chicago. [For links see below]
FELLOWSHIPS.
The Fellowships here offered by the Department of Political Economy are independent of those offered by the allied departments of History, Political Science, or Sociology.
Appointments will be made only on the basis of marked ability in economic studies and of capacity for investigation of a high character. It is a distinct advantage to candidates to have been one year in residence at the University. Candidates for these Fellowships should send to the President of the University a record of their previous work and distinctions, degrees and past courses of study, with copies of their written or printed work in economics. Applications should be sent in not later than March 1 of each year Appointments will be made during the first week of April.
Fellows are forbidden to give private tuition, and may be called upon for assistance in the work of teaching in the University or for other work; but in no case will they be expected or permitted to devote more than one sixth of their time to such service.
In addition, one Graduate Scholarship, yielding a sum sufficient to cover the annual tuition fees, is awarded to the best student in economics just graduated from the Senior Colleges; and a similar Scholarship is given to the student graduating from the Junior Colleges who passes the best examination at a special test.
CANDIDACY FOR HIGHER DEGREES.
Graduate courses are provided for training and research in subjects such as wages, money, agriculture, socialism, industrial combinations, statistics, demography, finance, and the like. Specialization may be carried on in many parts of the field, under special direction in the Seminar, whereby each student receives a personal appointment for one hour a week. The work is so adjusted as to form an organized scheme leading by regular stages to productive results suitable for publication.
Candidates for the degree of A.M. will not be permitted to offer elementary courses in Political Economy as part of the work during the year’s residence. The work of students taking Political Economy as a secondary subject for the degree of A.M., should include (1) the general principles of economics (as contained in Courses 1 and 2, or an equivalent); (2) the history of Political Economy; and (3) the scope and method of Political Economy.
The work of candidates for the degree of Ph.D., taking Political Economy as a secondary subject, should include, in addition to the above requirements for the degree of A.M., on (1) Public Finance, and (2) on some descriptive subject as, e.g., Money, or Tariff, or Railways, etc.; and the examination will be more searching than that for the degree of A.M.
In all cases candidates should consult early with the heads of the departments within which their Major and Minor subjects are taken.
Before being admitted to candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in case Political Economy is chosen as the principal subject, the student must furnish satisfactory evidence to the head of the department that he has been well prepared in the following courses (or their equivalents at other institutions): History of Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (History 11); Europe in the Nineteenth Century (History 12); Later Constitutional Period of the United States; the Civil War and the Reconstruction (History 18); Comparative National Government (Political Science 11); Federal Constitutional Law of the United States (Political Science 21); Elements of International Law (Political Science 41); and Introduction to Sociology (Sociology 72).
PUBLICATIONS
As a means of communication between investigators and the public, the University issues quarterly the Journal of Political Economy, the first number of which appeared in December of 1892. Contributions to its pages will be welcomed from writers outside as well as inside the University the aim being not only to give investigators a place of record for their researches, but also to further in every possible way the interests of economic study throughout the country. The Journal will aim to lay more stress than existing journals upon articles dealing with practical economic questions. The editors will welcome articles from writers of all shades of economic opinion, reserving only the privilege of deciding as to merit and timeliness.
Longer investigations, translations of important books needed for American students, reprints of scarce works, and collections of materials will appear in bound volumes in a series of Economic Studies of the University of Chicago, of which the following have already been issued:
No. I. The Science of Finance, by Gustav Cohn. Translated by Dr. T. B. Veblen, 1895, 8vo, pp. xi+800. Price, $3.50.
No. II. History of the Union Pacific Railway, by Henry Kirke White, 1895, 8vo, pp. 132. Price, $1.50.
No. III. The Indian Silver Currency, by Karl Ellstaetter. Translated by J. Laurence Laughlin, 1896, 8vo, pp. 116. Price, $1.25.
No. IV. State Aid to Railways in Missouri, by John Wilson Million, 1897, 8vo, pp. 264. Price, $1.75.
No. V. History of the Latin Monetary Union, by Henry Parker Willis, 1901, 8vo, pp. ix + 332. Price $2.00.
No. VI. The History of the Greenbacks, with Special Reference to the Economic Consequences of Their Issue, by Wesley Clair Mitchell, 1903, 8vo, pp. xiv + 500. Price, $4.00, net.
No. VII. Legal Tender: A Study in English and American Monetary History, by Sophonisba P. Breckinridge, 1903, 8vo, pp. xvii + 180. Price, $1.50, net.
LIBRARY FACILITIES.
In the suite of class-rooms occupied by the department will be found the Economic Library. Its selection has been made with great care, in order to furnish not only the books needed for the work of instruction in the various courses, but especially collections of materials for the study of economic problems. The University Library contains an unusually complete set of United States Documents, beginning with the First Congress. It is believed that ample provision has thus been made for the work of serious research. The work of the students will necessarily be largely carried on in the Economic Library where will also be found the past as well as the current numbers of all the European and American economic journals.
The combined library facilities of Chicago are exceptional. The Public Library, maintained by a large city tax, the Newberry Library, and the Crerar Library, with a fund of several millions of dollars, which has provided books on Political Economy, will enable the student to obtain material needed in the prosecution of detailed investigation.
SPECIAL ADVANTAGES.
For the convenience of those who wish to know the branches of economics in which especial advantages are offered by the department, attention is called to the new facilities afforded for specialization in several directions:
RAILWAYS.
Apart from the fundamental training in the general economic field, a new and exceptional series of advanced courses in the economic side of railways has been provided. It is believed that no such extended and useful courses have ever been offered before on this subject. Beginning with the usual general course on railway transportation, four new courses are presented for advanced students.
LABOR AND CAPITAL.
In view of the pressing importance of questions touching upon the rewards of labor and capital, an exceptional arrangement of courses dealing both with the underlying principles and the practical movements of the day have been prepared upon new and extended lines.
MONEY.
Opportunities for specialization in the field of money and banking have been offered in the past, but new courses have been organized in order to permit a more thorough study in these subjects, both theoretical and practical, than has ever been possible before.
LABORATORY FOR STATISTICAL RESEARCH WORK.
The University has equipped a laboratory for statistical research work in which students are given training in the collection and tabulation of statistical data, as well as in the scientific construction of charts, and diagrams. The object of the work is to familiarize students with practical methods employed in government bureaus, municipal, state, and federal, in the United States and in other countries, and in private agencies of sociological and economic investigation. Men are trained to enter the service of such bureaus or agencies of social betterment as statisticians, capable of undertaking any work requiring expert statistical service. The Departments of Political Economy and of Sociology co-operate in the direction of statistical investigations.
COURSES OF INSTRUCTION.
Summer Quarter, 1904—Spring Quarter, 1905.
M=Minor course a single course for six weeks.
Mj=Major course=a single course for twelve weeks
GENERAL.
The courses are classified as follows:
Group 1, Introductory and Commercial: Courses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Group II, Advanced Business Courses: Courses 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
Group III, General Economic Field: Courses 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29-30, 31-32.
Group IV, Labor and Capital: Courses 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47.
Group V, Money and Banking: Courses 50, 51, 52, 53, 54.
Group VI, Railways: Courses 60, 61, 62, 63, 64.
Group VII, Statistics: Courses 70, 71, 72.
Group VIII, Seminars: Courses 80, 81, 82.
Students are advised to begin the study of economics not later than the first year of their entrance into the Senior Colleges; and students of high standing, showing special aptitude for economic study, may properly take the Courses of Group I in the last year of the Junior Colleges.
For admission to the courses of Groups II and III, a prerequisite is the satisfactory completion of Courses 1 and 2 in the department, or an equivalent. Course 1 is not open to students who do not intend to continue the work of Course 2.
JUNIOR COLLEGE COURSES.
Group I. — Introductory and Commercial.
1 and 2. Principles of Political Economy. — Exposition of the laws of modern Political Economy.
Course 1.
Mj. Summer Quarter; 8:00. Assistant Professor Hill.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 2 sections, 8:30 and 12:00. Assistant Professors Hill and Davenport.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 12:00. Assistant Professor Hill.
Course 2.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 2 sections: 8:30 and 12:00. Assistant Professors Hill and Davenport.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 12:00. Assistant Professor Davenport.
Courses 1 and 2 together are designed to give the students an acquaintance with the working principles of modern Political Economy. The general drill in the principles cannot be completed in one quarter; and the department does not wish students to elect Course 1 who do not intend to continue the work in Course 2. Descriptive and practical subjects are introduced as the principles are discussed, and the field is only half covered in Course 1. Those who do not take both 1 and 2 are not prepared to take any advanced courses.
- Economic and Social History. — It is thought that the course may be of advantage to students of Political Science and History by giving them a view of the economic side of the social and political life of the past one hundred and fifty years. Special attention is devoted to the study of the economic effects of the Colonial System; the American and French Revolutions; the “industrial revolution;” the effects of invention and the new transportation upon the movement and grouping of population; the discoveries of the precious metals in North America, South America, Africa, and Australia; slavery, the Civil War, the new South, and the redistribution of industries in the United States; the progress of Great Britain since the repeal of the Corn Laws; and the recent development of German industry.
Mj. Autumn 2:00 and Spring Quarters; 12:00.
Mr. Morris.
Course 3 is required of all students in the College of Commerce and Administration.
- History of Commerce. — A brief general survey of ancient medieval and modern commerce. Consideration of the articles of commerce, the market places, the trade routes, methods of transportation, and the causes which promoted and retarded the growth of commerce in the principal commercial nations.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 12:00. Mr. Morris.
- Commercial Geography. — A study of the various countries and their chief products; the effect of soil, climate, and geographical situation in determining national industries and international trade, commercial routes, seaports; the location of commercial and industrial centers; exports and imports; the character, importance, and chief sources of the principal articles of foreign trade.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 8:30.
Mr. ———
Required of all students in the
College of Commerce and Administration.
- Modern Industries. — This elementary course, requiring no previous study of economics, examines the present organization of some of the leading industries. Study is made of the internal business organization, the processes of manufacture, the effect of inventions, etc. Emphasis will be placed on the manufactures of the United States.
The class will visit a number of large industrial establishments in and near Chicago.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 11:00.
Mr. ———
SENIOR COLLEGES AND GRADUATE COURSES.
Group II. — Advanced Business Courses.
- Insurance. — This course will aim to cover those aspects of insurance important to the practical business man, and to serve at the same time as a descriptive and theoretical treatment adapted to the needs of students intending to specialize in the actuarial and legal aspect of the subject. The history and theory of insurance, the bearing of these on the different insurance relations of modern business, including accident, health, burial, suretyship, credit forms, and the like will be examined. Especial emphasis will, however, be given: (1) to Life Insurance, the various forms of organization, assessment, fraternal, stock, and mutual; the theory of rates, mortality, expense, reserve, and interest aspects; the different combinations of investment and mortality contracts, loan and surrender values, dividends, distribution periods; (2) to Fire Insurance, the various forms of business organization, the terms and conditions of the insurance contract, the different forms of hazard, and the competition and combination of rates therefor; the theory of reserves and co-insurance, and the problem of the valued policy laws; (3) the general principle of public supervision with regard to the different forms of insurance, and the wider question of public ownership.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 8:30.
Assistant Professor Davenport.
- The Mathematics of Insurance. — This course presupposes some acquaintance with the descriptive aspect of insurance. The course is devoted particularly to the mathematical principles of Life Insurance. The necessary elements of the theory are selected from the theories of probability, finite differences, and interpolation. Applications are made in particular to the following problems: The examination of the different mortality tables and the basing of mortality rates thereon; the loading of expenses and reserves and the variations of premiums, as affected by the prospective earnings of investments: the computation of total reserves; the fixation of loan and surrender values of paid-up insurance, whether by life or term extension; the computation of present and deferred annuities as affected by considerations of age, life, term, endowment, joint-life, and annuity policies.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 12:00.
Mr. Epsteen.
Prerequisite: Trigonometry and College Algebra
(Mathematical Courses 1, 2 or 1, 5 or 4, 5).
See Mathematics 9.
- Law of Insurance. — Insurable interest in various kinds of insurance and when it must exist; beneficiaries; the amounts recoverable and valued policies; representations; warranties; waiver and powers of agents; interpretation of phrases in policies; assignment of insurance.
Mj. Spring Quarter.
Assistant Professor Bigelow.
Text book: Wambaugh, Cases on Insurance.
- Accounting. — The interpretation of accounts viewed with regard to the needs of the business manager rather than those of the accountant: the formation and meaning of the balance sheet; the profit and loss statement and its relation to the balance sheet; the capital accounts, surplus, reserve, sinking funds; reserve funds, their use and misuse; depreciation accounts; other accounts appearing on credit side; assets; methods of valuation; confusing of assets and expenses; capital expenditures and operating expenses; capital assets, cash, and other reserves.
Prerequisite: The Course in Bookkeeping offered by the Department of Mathematics.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 11:00.
Mr. ———.
- Special Problems in Accounting.
- Bank accounting.
- The duties of an auditor; methods of procedure; practice; problems frequently met.
- Appraisal and Depreciation.
- Railway Accounting. A consideration of the principal features. Determination of the four main divisions of expense. The relation between capital expenditures and profit and loss.
- The Public Accountant. Legal regulations; duties and methods; constructive work in devising system of accounting to fit special needs. Practice in comparison of various systems. The advantages of various devices, loose-leaf and card systems; voucher system; cost keeping.
Mj. Spring Quarter.
Conducted by experts from Chicago institutions.
- Modern Business Methods. Corporation Finance. — Speculation, investment, exchange. The course aims to make clear to the student the meaning of the commercial and financial columns of current journals and to examine the economic significance of the business transactions thus reported. Attention is given among other things to the reports of the money market, the business on stock and produce exchanges, market quotations, the various forms of investment securities, and foreign exchange.
Summer Quarter; 11:30.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 9:30.
Professor Clow.
Group III — General Economic Field.
- History of Political Economy. — Lectures, Reading, and Reports. This course treats of the development of Political Economy as a systematic body of doctrine; of the formation of economic conceptions and principles, policies, and systems. The subject will be so treated as to show the continuity and systematic character of Political Economy as an intelligent explanation of economic facts. Both the history of topics and doctrines and that of schools and leading writers will be studied. Attention will be given to the commercial theories of the Mercantile System, the Physiocratic School, Adam Smith and his immediate predecessors, the English writers from Adam Smith to J. S. Mill, and the European and American writers of the nineteenth century. Selection will be made of those who have had great influence, and who have made marked contributions to Political Economy. The student will be expected to read prescribed portions of the great authors bearing on cardinal principles. It is hoped that in this way he will learn to see the consistency and relations of economic theories and to use the science as a whole, and not as a mere mass of arbitrary formulæ or dicta. A special feature of the work will be a thorough study of Adam Smith and of Ricardo.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 11:00.
Assistant Professor Veblen.
- Scope and Method of Political Economy. — The course treats of the premises on which the analysis of economic problems proceeds, the range of problems usually taken up for investigation by economists, the methods of procedure adopted in their solution, the character of the solutions sought or arrived at, the relations of Political Economy to the other Moral Sciences, as well as to the influence of the political, social, and industrial situation in determining the scope and aim of economic investigation. Special attention is given to writers on method, as Mill, Cairnes, Keynes, Roscher, Schmoller, Menger.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 11:00.
Assistant Professor Veblen.
- Finance. — In this course it is intended to make a comprehensive survey of the whole field of public finance. The treatment is both theoretical and practical, and the method of presentation historical as well as systematic. Most emphasis is placed upon the study of taxation, although public expenditures, public debts, and financial administration are carefully studied.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 8:30.
Assistant Professor Davenport.
- Tariffs, Reciprocity, and Shipping. — The course of legislation and the development of our commercial policy is followed, and an effort made to indicate the influence of our protective tariffs upon the development of our domestic industries, upon the growth and character of our international trade, and incidentally upon the occurrence of industrial crises and the continuance of industrial prosperity at different periods in our history. Foreign trade policies and schemes for imperial tariff federation are taken up, and especial attention given to the negotiation of reciprocity treaties, as well as to recent attempts which have been made through federal legislation granting subsidies to build up American shipping.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 11:00.
Assistant Professor Cummings.
- Financial History of the United States. — In this course the financial history of the United States is followed from the organization of our national system in 1789 to the close of the Spanish war. The following topics may be mentioned as indicating the scope of the course; the funding and management of the Revolutionary and other war debts; the First and Second United States Banks; the Independent Treasury; the present national banking system; Civil War financiering with especial reference to bond and note issues, and resort to legal tender currency; the demonetization of silver and issue of silver certificates; inflation of the currency and the gold reserve; the currency act of 1900. This study of the course of legislation upon currency, debts, and banking in the United States is based upon first-hand examination of sources, and students are expected to do original research work.
Summer Quarter; 8:00.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 9:30.
Assistant Professor Cummings.
- Economic Factors in Civilization. — The course is intended to present a genetic account of the modern economic system by a study of its beginnings and the phases of development through which the present situation has been reached. To this end it undertakes a survey of the growth of culture as affected by economic motives and conditions. With this in view, such phenomena as the Teutonic invasion of Europe, the Feudal system, the rise of commerce, the organization of trade and industry, the history of the condition of laborers, processes of production, and changes in consumption, will be treated.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 11:00.
Assistant Professor Veblen.
- Problems of American Agriculture. — Special attention will be given to the extension and changes of the cultivated area of the United States; the methods of farming; the influence of railways and population, and of cheapened transportation; the fall in value of Eastern farm lands; movements of prices of agricultural products; European markets; competition of other countries; intensive farming; diminishing returns; farm mortgages; and the comparison of American with European systems of culture.
Summer Quarter; 10:30.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 9:30.
Assistant Professor Hill.
- Colonial Economics. — The economics of colonial administration, including some account of commercialism, past and present, and of modern trade theories of imperial federation, trade relations, financial policies, and economic development and dependence of colonies.
A brief historical account of American and foreign experience serves as introduction to a fuller consideration of economic problems involved in modern colonial administration. In the light of this experience study is undertaken of some economic problems which have arisen in Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippine Islands.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 9:30.
Mr. Morris.
29, 30. Oral Debates. — Selected Economic Topics. Briefs. Debates. Criticism.
2M. Autumn and Winter Quarters; Mon., 3:00-6:00.
Assistant Professor Hill, Mr. Chandler, and Mr. Gorsuch.
31, 32. Argumentation. — To be taken in connection with English 9.
2 hrs. a week.
2M. Autumn and Winter Quarters; Wed., 3:00.
2M. Autumn and Winter Quarters.
Mr. Chandler.
Group IV. — Labor and Capital.
- Theory of Value. — After a brief preliminary survey of the discussions prior to Adam Smith, the cost of production-theory as developed at the hands of Ricardo, McCulloch, James Mill, Senior, J. S. Mill, and Cairnes is taken up for detailed study. Then the utility theory of value, as presented by Jevons and Austrian economists, is examined. Finally, the attempts made by such writers as Marshall, Dietzel, Pantaleoni, Clark, Patten, McFarlane, Hobson, etc., to frame a more satisfactory theory of value by combining the analysis of cost and of marginal utility, are reviewed.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 8: 30.
Assistant Professor Davenport.
- Labor and Capital. — Unsettled problems of distribution. The more abstruse questions of distribution will be considered. No student, therefore, can undertake the work of this course with profit who has not already become familiar with the fundamental principles. The course is open only to those who have passed satisfactorily Course 2, or who can clearly show that they have had an equivalent training. The subjects to be considered will be as follows: The wages-fund and other theories of wages, the interest problem, managers’ profits, and allied topics. The discussion will be based upon selected passages of important writers. The study of wages, for example, will include reading from Adam Smith, Ricardo, J. S. Mill, Longe, Thornton, Cairnes, F. A. Walker, Marshall, George, Böhm-Bawerk, Hobson, J. B. Clark, and others. Students will also be expected to discuss recent important contributions to these subjects in current books or journals.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 12:00.
Professor Laughlin.
- Economics of Workingmen. — Continuing the study of distribution (Course 41), examination is here undertaken of social movements for improving the condition of labor, to determine how far they are consistent with economic teaching, and likely in fact to facilitate or to retard economic betterment of workingmen. Efforts to increase earnings through modification of the wages system itself, resort to legislation, and the purposes and practices of labor organization are discussed, and the effect upon labor efficiency, earning capacity and steadiness of employment, of modern industrial systems; workingmen’s insurance; co-operation; profit-sharing; competition of women and children; industrial education; social-settlement work; consumers’ leagues. Interest centers about practical efforts for economic amelioration of employment conditions in “sweated” and in other industries. These studies are supplemented by statistical data on the condition of labor in different countries.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 9:30.
Assistant Professor Cummings.
Note. — Although open in certain cases to students of Sociology and others who have had the equivalent of the economic Courses 1 and 2, this course can be taken to best advantage by those only who have already had Course 41.
- Socialism — A history of the growth of socialistic sentiment and opinion as shown in the socialistic movements of the nineteenth century, and the position occupied by socialistic organizations of the present time. The course is in part historical and descriptive, in part theoretical and critical. The programmes and platforms of various socialistic organizations are examined and compared, and the theories of leading socialists are taken up in detail. Marx is given the chief share of attention, but other theoretical writers, such as Rodbertus, Kautsky, Bernstein, are also reviewed. The factors which at the present time further or hinder the spread of socialism, and what are its chances of being carried through or of producing a serious effect upon the institutions of modern countries, are considered.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 9:30.
Assistant Professor Veblen.
- Organization of Business Enterprise—Trusts. — A discussion of the growth of the conditions which have made large business coalitions possible, the motives which have led to their formation, the conditions requisite to their successful operation, the character and extent of the advantages to be derived from them, the drawbacks and dangers which may be involved in their further growth, the chances of governmental guidance or limitation of their formation and of the exercise of their power, the feasible policy and methods that may be pursued in dealing with the trusts. The work of the course is in large part investigation of special subjects, with lectures and assigned reading.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 9:30.
Assistant Professor Veblen.
- Trades Unions and the Labor Movement — An historical and comparative study of the trades union movement in the United States and in foreign countries. Negotiation and maintenance of wage-compacts; methods of arbitration, conciliation and adjustment; trades union insurance and provision for the unemployed; incorporation and employés’ liability; the precipitation and conduct of strikes; and in general all concrete issues involved in the organization of labor for collective bargaining with employers, with especial reference to the working programs of the more important trades unions at the present time.
Summer Quarter; 9:00.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 12:00.
Assistant Professor Cummings.
- The Industrial Revolution and Labor Legislation. — The social consequences to the wage-earner of the development of the factory system of industry and of industrial development, more particularly during the last half of the 19th century, are taken up historically and descriptively. The social status of the modern wage-earner is contrasted with that of the handicraftsman working under more primitive conditions, and especial attention is given to the development of the modern wages system of remuneration, the historical modification of the labor contract in its legal aspects, and, finally, to the course of labor legislation which has in different countries accompanied industrial reorganization and development.
Mj.
Assistant Professor Cummings.
[Not to be given in 1904-5.]
Group V — Money and Banking.
- Money and Practical Economics.— An examination is first made of the principles of money, whether metallic or paper; then either the subject of metallic or paper money is taken up and studied historically, chiefly in connection with the experience of the United States, as a means of putting the principles into practice. Preliminary training for investigation is combined in this course, with the acquisition of desirable statistical information on practical questions of the day. The student is instructed in the bibliography of the subject, taught how to collect his data, and expected to weigh carefully the evidence on both sides of a mooted question. The work of writing theses is so adjusted that it corresponds to the work of other courses counting for the same number of hours.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 12:00.
Professor Laughlin.
- The Theory and History of Banking. — A study is made of the banking systems of leading nations; the relations of the banks to the public; their influence on speculation; and the relative advantages of national banks, state banks, trust companies, and savings banks.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 8:30.
Mr. ———.
- Advanced Course in Money. — After having been drilled in the general principles of money (Course 50) the student is given an opportunity to examine the more difficult problems of money and credit.
Mj. Spring Quarter.
Professor Laughlin.
[Not given in 1904-5.1
- Practical Banking. — The internal organization and administration of a bank; the granting of loans; the valuation of an account; bank records; arithmetic of bank operations; mechanical and other time-saving devices.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 8:30.
Mr. ———.
- Commercial Crises. — A practical study of the operations of credit in the experiences of this and other countries during the periods of crises.
Mj. Spring Quarter.
Mr. ———.
[Not given in 1901-5.]
Group VI — Railways.
- Railway Transportation. — The economic, financial, and social influences arising from the growth of modern railway transportation, especially as concerns the United States, will be discussed. An account of the means of transportation developed in Europe and America during the early part of this century; the experiments of the states in constructing and operating canals and railways; national, state, and municipal aid to private companies; the rapid and irregular extension of the United States railway system; the failures of 1893; the reorganizations and consolidations since that time, with some attention to railway building in other countries, will form the historical part of the work. A discussion of competition, combination, discrimination, investments, speculation, abuse of fiduciary powers; state legislation and commissions, and the Inter-State Commerce Act, with decisions under it; and the various relations of the state, the public, the investors, the managers and the employés, will form the most important part of the work. This course gives a general view of the subject. Students who wish to continue the work by investigating special problems will have an opportunity to do so under Courses 61 and 62.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 2:00
Assistant Professor Hill.
- The Regulation of Railway Rates. — The efforts of the railways of the United States to regulate railway rates through pools, will be compared with the efforts of the several states, and of the federal government, to regulate rates through legislation and through commissions. Typical decisions of pools, of state commissions, and of the Interstate Commerce Commission, will be studied for the purpose of ascertaining: (a) whether the decisions of the commissions are founded on a body of principles that may be said to have the character of a science, or, whether they express merely the judgment of administrative officers on questions of fact to which no body of scientific principles can be made to apply; (b) whether the past experience warrants the faith that the public regulation of railway rates will leave the railways sufficiently unhampered to develop trade and industry; (c) whether regulation by public authority promises to achieve more substantial justice than regulation by pools. The experience of Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia with the public regulation of railway rates — exercised either by legislation or by public ownership — will be studied with reference to the effect of such regulation upon the elasticity of railway rates, and upon the ability of the railways to develop trade and industry. In this connection will be studied the part played respectively by the railways and by the waterways in the development of Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. The study will show why the countries in question are obliged to have recourse to the waterways for services that, in the United States, are rendered by the railways.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 2:00.
Assistant Professor Meyer.
- Industrial Activities of the State in Europe. — This course reviews the efforts made in Great Britain to secure to the public a share in the profits to be made in those so-called public service industries that use the streets: water, gas, electric light, street-railways, and hydraulic power, or compressed air, power transmission. These efforts consist of the imposition of severe restrictions upon franchises, with the alternative of municipal ownership. The experience of Great Britain will be compared with that of the United States, under: (a) the practice of practically no restrictions upon the industries in question; (b) the Massachusetts practice of regulation by legislation which is enforced and supplemented by state commissions. As for Continental Europe, the course will cover the experience of Prussia, France, and Russia, in attempting to make the railway and public works budgets fit into the state budget. In this connection the inelasticity of state activity in Europe will be compared with the elasticity of private activity in the United States.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 3:00.
Assistant Professor Meyer.
- The Industrial Activities of the State in Australasia. — This course will cover the Australasian experience of the last forty years under a wide extension of the functions of the state. Although Australasia is a comparatively small country, the experience in question is more significant than might appear at first sight, for it is the experience of a homogeneous, English-speaking people. The course will cover the management of the state-railways; the administration of the public finances; the civil service; and the legislative regulation of the conditions of labor, such as the fixing of minimum wages, and the establishment of compulsory arbitration. Incidentally comparisons will be made with certain conditions and practices in Great Britain and France, for the purpose of showing how the extension of the functions of the state has made the politics of Australasia resemble, in many vital respects, the politics of France, rather than those of Great Britain.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 2:00.
Assistant Professor Meyer.
- American Competition in Europe since 1873. — This course is a study in economics and politics; it purposes to put before the student information equipping him for the critical consideration of the merits of the question: Laissez faire vs. state intervention. To that end it institutes a series of comparisons between the United States and Europe, especially in the fields of agricultural practice and railway transportation. The course begins with the consideration of the nature of the competition to which the opening of new sources of supply of food products exposed Western Europe, the nature of the adjustments demanded by the situation, and the adjustments actually achieved, under free-trade in Great Britain, and under protection on the Continent. The course then proceeds to contrast the comparative failure to develop the agricultural resources of Eastern Europe (the Danubian Provinces and Russia) and Siberia with the rapid development of the agricultural resources of the interior regions of the United States. In this connection will be studied the comparative efficiency of the railway systems of Europe and the United States, with especial reference to the effect of the public regulation of railway rates, either through state-ownership, or through legislative and administrative intervention. Incidental to the main investigation an array of facts will be presented bearing upon questions of economic theory: the growth of population and the raising of the standard of living; some of the principal factors that have determined the present scale of real wages in the several European countries; some instances of the working of natural selection; and the relative merits of large farms and small farms, or of extensive cultivation and intensive cultivation.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 3:00.
Assistant Professor Meyer.
Group VII — Statistics.
- Training Course in Statistics. — The object of this course is to train students in the practical use of statistical methods of investigation. Stress is laid upon work done by students themselves in collecting, tabulating, interpreting, and presenting statistics of different orders. Members of the class are also required to make close critical examinations of various publications of statistical nature with a view to determining the accuracy of data and the legitimacy of inferences drawn. Students engaged in any special work of investigation are encouraged to deal mainly with data relevant to their subjects. To others special topics are assigned. It is hoped that the course may prove useful to all students whose work, in whatever department it may lie, whether in history, sociology, or in other fields of study, is susceptible of statistical treatment.
Courses 70 and 72 will be given in alternate years.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 8:30.
Assistant Professor Cummings.
- Statistics of Wages in the Nineteenth Century. — In this course effort is made to determine what has been the actual movement of wages during the nineteenth century. An examination is undertaken of the more important statistical investigations of wage movements which have been made from time to time by economists, government bureaus, or other agencies, in specific industries; the object being to determine the extent to which the wage-earner has in general participated in the benefits of industrial progress and of the increased economic efficiency of labor and capital. The course is intended to be informational and descriptive in character, as well as to give training in the collection and tabulation of statistical data.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 12:00.
Assistant Professor Cummings.
- Demography. — Statistical methods are illustrated by studies in population data, comprising the construction of actuarial tables; determination of the economic value of populations; economic aspects of the data of criminality and pauperism; growth and migration of population in the United States as “labor force,” including statistics of the negro race. The development of official statistics of population, and the demographic work of government bureaus is taken up historically and critically. The object of the course is to give students training in handling population data as a basis of sociological and economic speculation, and to point out the bearing of such data and their importance in the historical development of economic theories.
Assistant Professor Cummings.
[Not to be given in 1904-5.]
Group VIII — The Seminars.
80, 81. Economic Seminar.
2Mj. Autumn and Winter Quarters.
Professor Laughlin.
Source: University of Chicago. Programme of the Departments of Political Economy, Political Science, History, Sociology and Anthropology, 1904-1905. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1904. Transcription from a copy found in the Harvard University Archives, Division of History, Government, and Economics. Ph.D. exams and records of candidates, study plans, lists, etc. pre-1911-1942. Box 2, Unlabeled Folder.
Image Source: Technology Reading Room 2, Crerar Library (Marshall Field Annex). From the University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-01949, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
