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Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Principles Undergraduate

Johns Hopkins. Exams for the five sections of principles of economics, 1937-1938

 

This post is the first of transcribed mid-year and end-year course examinations in political economy at Johns Hopkins University for the academic year 1937-1938. Principles of economics was taught in five sections: three for the College of Arts and Sciences, one for the School of Business Economics and one for the School of Engineering.

Related earlier material from Johns Hopkins:

Exams 1921-22;  Exams 1923-24Exams 1932-33

A report of activities of the department of political economy for 1935-1936 has also been transcribed and posted earlier.

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Course Description

1 C. Elements of Economics. Three hours weekly through the year. Section 1: Dr. Bullock, Th., F., S., 8.30. Maryland Hall 110. Section 2: Associate Professor Mitchell, M., Tu., W., 8.30. Maryland Hall 110. Section 3: Associate Professor Weyforth, M. Tu., W., 11.30. Gilman Hall 314. Section 4: Dr. Cooper, M., Tu., W., 10.30. Gilman Hall 311. Section 5: Mr. Deupree, M., Tu., W., 8.30. Gilman Hall 314.

Note: Students in the School of Engineering will be assigned to Section 1; students in the School of Business Economics to Section 3; and students in the College of Arts and Sciences to Sections 2, 4, and 5.

This course teaches the elements of the science, aiming to show the principles upon which economic society is organized and operated. Particular attention is given to the theory of value and the theory of distribution together with their application to leading economic problems. Such subjects as Money and Banking, Rent, Wages, Interest, Profits, Industrial Combinations, International Trade, are treated in the course. It is part of the purpose of the course to indicate the application of scientific principles to current economic problems.

Required of all students before graduation.

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular (1937). Vol. LVI, No. 486 (April, p. 61).

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Elements of Economics
Mid-year and End-year Examinations
1937-1938

Elements of Economics. Section 1
Dr. Roy J. Bullock

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
MID-YEAR EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Bullock

Wednesday
February 2, 1938, 9 a.m.

I.

Define or identify:

1. Property
2. Utility
3. Laissez-faire
4. Intensive margin of cultivation
5. Cumulative preferred stock
6. Time preference
7. Craft gild
8. Marginal revenue
9. Vertical combination
10. Demand

II.

What would be the difference between monopoly and competitive price under the following conditions:

    1. Elastic demand and increasing costs
    2. Elastic demand and rapidly decreasing costs
    3. Inelastic demand and increasing costs
    4. Inelastic demand and decreasing costs?

Illustrate each with a diagram.

III.

President Roosevelt has proposed a revision of the Federal Anti-Trust Laws. What reasons are there for being dissatisfied with our existing anti-trust laws? Are there any reasons for changing the objectives that have guided our anti-trust policy in the past? In what respects is the trust problem a price problem? Discuss.

IV.

Assume the following data with regard to a grain farm for the years 1930 and 1936:

1930 1936
Number of bushels produced 5,000 7,000
Total expenses of production $4,500 $8,000
Price of grain per bushel $.90 $1.30
Rate of return expected on farm investments 5% 4%
    1. What was the economic rent of this farm in 1930? in 1936? As a tenant what rent could you have afforded to pay in each year?
    2. Does the rent paid by the former have any effect on the price of grain at the primary market? Explain.
    3. As a buyer of land how much would you have been willing to pay for this farm in 1930? in 1936? Why?
    4. If grain alcohol became a commercial success as a substitute for gasoline, what would be the probable effect on the economic rent of this farm?

V.

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the individual proprietorship, the corporation and the partnership from the point of view of the organizer of a business. Why has the corporation gained in relative importance during recent years?

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Bullock

Friday, June 3, 1938 – 9 a.m.

I

Explain briefly the meaning or significance of:

1. Legal tender
2. Favorable balance of trade
3. Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
4. American Federation of Labor
5. Fiat money
6. Stoppage at the source
7. Elastic currency
8. Committee for Industrial Organization
9. Taxation according to benefit
10. Workmen’s compensation law.

II

(a) Explain clearly how commercial banks are able to make loans greatly in excess of their cash resources.

(b) Explain the difference between the equation of exchange and the quantity theory of money.

III

A popular slogan of recent years has been, “More business in government, less government in business.” Developments have been in the opposite direction to that advocated. Have these developments been the result of party politics or are they in accord with underlying economic tendencies? Evaluate the slogan in the light of current conditions.

IV

Appraise national legislation to stablish a minimum weekly wage and a maximum number of hours work per week with regard to its probable effect on laborers income and on the business cycle.

V

(a) “The restoration of the pound sterling to its pre-war value was equivalent to the imposition of a heavy tax upon the British exporting industries.” Explain. Did the increase in the value of the pound make it easier or more difficult for other countries on the gold standard to sell in the British market? Explain.

(b) Explain and illustrate the difference between a tariff schedule designed as a revenue measure and a schedule aimed primarily at protection.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Elements of Economics. Section 2
Associate Professor Broadus Mitchell

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
MID-YEAR EXAMINATION
Political Economy 1 C

[Monday, Jan. 31, 1938. 9 a.m. Dr. Mitchell]

  1. What is the general theory of the competitive economic system?
  2. (a) Show how prices are determined under conditions of competition.
    (b) What are some of the forces which, in fact, interfere with this perfect operation of competition?
  3. On what economic theory do inflationists rely? Explain this theory briefly.
  4. State and explain the marginal utility theory of value.
  5. Identify briefly: the Physiocrats, Colbert, Kirkcaldy, James Watt, P. S. DuPont, Salmon P. Chase, R. B. Taney, Friedrich Engels, holding company, consumer‘s surplus, elastic demand.
  6. (a) Discuss the chief means used in this country to cope with the problem of unemployment.
    (b) What is meant by “technological unemployment”?
  7. Explain the changes made in the Federal Reserve System as a result of the depression of 1929.

 

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION
IN
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Mitchell

May 30, 1938
9 a.m.

  1. (a) Give the purposes, structure, and method of operation of the Federal Reserve System.
    (b) Why, in your opinion, did it fail to prevent the depression of 1929 and the subsequent closing of the banks of the country?
  2. (a) Explain the differential or Ricardian theory of rent.
    (b) What were the influences responsible for Henry George’s book, Progress and Poverty?
    (c) What is the Socialist’s criticism of the single tax proposal?
  3. State and discuss the Wage Fund Theory and the Exploitation theory of wages.
  4. (a) How do pure profits arise?
    (b) What developments in American economic life appear to make our old reliance upon the profit motive inappropriate now?
  5. In what sense is it true that the cost known as interest would be present even in a collectivist economy?
  6. What forces are responsible for the present increased demand for industrial unionism as against craft unionism in the United States?
  7. Contrast the teachings of Robert Owen with those of Karl Marx.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Elements of Economics. Section 3
Assoc. Professor William O. Weyforth

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
MID-YEAR EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Weyforth

February 3, 1938
9 a.m.

  1. What is meant by the doctrine of “laissez faire”? That were the conditions under which the doctrine was developed? Explain the arguments in favor of the doctrine, and the factors responsible for a departure from the doctrine in recent years.
  2. What are the essential features of the corporation as a form of business organization? How do you account for the rise of the corporate form of business organization in recent years? Distinguish the following: common stock, preferred stock, bonds.
  3. What are the “factors of production” and the “agents of production”? What is meant by the “best combination of the agents of production” as applied to any business enterprise. Distinguish between the average total unit cost of production and the marginal cost of production. Illustrate by diagram.
  4. Explain what is meant by an individual demand schedule for any commodity. Show the relationship between such a demand schedule and the theory of marginal utility. Upon what principles does a consumer tend to divide his expenditures among different commodities? How is the total demand schedule in any market for a certain commodity related to the individual demand schedules?
  5. Show how the market price is determined by supply and demand under conditions of competition. Show how an increase in supply, demand remaining constant, will lead to a decline in price. Would the decline in price be greater where the demand is elastic or inelastic? Explain the problem by the use of diagrams.
  6. In what way is the monopolist able to control price? What is the theory of monopoly price? Explain the statement that the monopolist will tend to fix the price at the point where the marginal revenue curve intersects the marginal cost curve.
  7. What is meant by monopolistic competition? State some of the circumstances under which it tends to appear. Explain the difference in the shape of the demand curve for the product of an individual producer under conditions of pure competition and those of monopolistic competition.
  8. Explain the distinction between industries of constant cost, increasing cost, and decreasing cost. What are the factors primarily responsible for these differences, that is, under what circumstances are we likely to have each type of industry? How can we have an industry of increasing cost and at the same time constant or falling prices for the product of that industry over a period of years.
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Weyforth

June 2, 1938
9 a.m.

  1. In the regulation of public utilities, what are the important economic problems involved in the determination of a fair price to be charged for the services rendered?
  2. Show how bank deposits subject to check serve as a medium of exchange. Explain how the volume of such deposits may be affected by the loan and investment policies of banks.
  3. What are business cycles? Explain the theory that fluctuations in general business activity are due primarily to fluctuations in the volume of investment. What are the possibilities of public spending as a means of remedying business depression?
  4. Explain the theory that under conditions of competition the rate of wages in any occupation tends to correspond to the marginal productivity of labor in that occupation. According to this theory how do you explain the relatively higher wages paid to skilled workers as compared with unskilled workers?
  5. Explain how, other things being equal, the growth of population will affect the rent of land. How is this explanation related to Henry George’s proposal. for a single tax on land?
  6. Show how interest rates are determined by the supply of and the demand for loanable funds. What are the sources of the supply of and demand for loanable funds? How may banking policy affect interest rates? What are the limits of banking policy in this respect?
  7. What are the factors that give rise to profits? What functions do profits perform in an economic system of free enterprise?
  8. What are the characteristic features of capitalism? What do you mean by socialism? by communism? What is “utopian” socialism? “scientific socialism”?
  9. Explain the law of comparative cost as applied to international trade.

    *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Elements of Economics. Section 4
Dr. Howard E. Cooper

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UMIVERSITY
MID-YEAR EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

[Dr. Cooper]

January 31, 1938
9 a.m.

Please write your answers to these questions legibly and in ink.

  1. “The Production of wealth may take the form of the creation of form utility, of place utility, or of time utility.”
    Explain and give examples of each.
  2. What would be the effect on our industrial system of too much saving, of too little saving?
  3. “The division of labor promotes production by economizing labor, increasing its efficiency, and making more effective use of capital.” This is all helpful from the point of view of capital. How about the laborer?
  4. What is the concept of marginal utility?
  5. What are some examples of elastic demand?
    What are some examples of elastic supply?
  6. Distinguish between increasing costs and decreasing costs.
  7. What is the meaning of imperfect competition?
  8. What are some of the limitations on monopoly price?
  9. Suppose the quantity of money held by everyone were to be doubled. Would we be twice as wealthy? Explain.
  10. Discuss briefly some of the factors which influence the rate of interest.
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION
IN
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Cooper

Monday [May] 30, 1938
9 A.M.

Please use ink and write clearly.

  1. In what ways does the Federal Reserve System seek to control credit?
  2. (a) What is the significance of the double budget made use of by President Roosevelt?
    (b) Trace briefly the National Debt of the United States?
  3. (a) What is meant by combining business risks to prevent their harmful effects? Illustrate.
    (b) What is meant by passing risks to the shoulders of others more able or willing to bear them? Illustrate.
  4. Define the following:
    (a) a pool
    (b) a trust
    (c) a holding company
    (d) a consolidation
    (e) a merger.
  5. The newspapers frequently carry statements to the effect that local patriotism requires that you patronize local merchants and industries in order to keep money at home. Criticize.
  6. What factors lead to fluctuations in foreign exchange?
  7. Would you advocate an early return to the gold standard? Give reasons for and against.
  8. Discuss briefly the factors affecting the supply and demand for labor.
  9. Distinguish between the craft or trade union, and the industrial union. Which do you think will be the union of the future? Why?
  10. Marx held that the tendency toward concentration, and the increasing numbers and misery of the laboring class would lead us into Socialism. Taking into consideration the long time period, is it possible that he was right?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Elements of Economics. Section 5
Dr. Robert G. Deupree

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
MID-YEAR EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Deupree

February 1, 1938
1 p.m.

  1. Define: wealth, utility, income, capital, functional distribution.
  2. Contrast: the manorial system, guild system, and domestic system.
  3. Distinguish between the following forms of the business unit: Individual proprietorship, partnership, limited partnership, and corporation.
  4. Discuss the economic effects of division of labor.
  5. Explain the marginal utility concept.
    How does it relate to price?
    Explain marginal cost of production.
    How does it relate to price?
  6. Distinguish between production under conditions of increasing, decreasing, and constant costs, giving examples of each.
  7. A monopolist finds the following cost and demand schedules prevailing in the market for his commodity:
Quantity Cost per unit Selling price per unit
1,000,000 1.00 1.00
750,000 1.07 1.10
500,000 1.36 1.40
250,000 1.49 1.50

What would be the monopoly price in this market? Why? Are there any limitations upon the monopolists’ power to fix price? Explain.

  1. Show how economic rent arises on urban lands. Does the law of diminishing returns apply to urban lands? If so, in what manner? Explain what is meant by the extensive and intensive margins of cultivation in agriculture and their relation to economic rent.
  2. What is the time preference theory of interest?
    How would the rate of time preference be affected by:
  1. a steady growth of the national income?
  2. extravagance in consumption?
  3. old age pensions paid by the government?
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Deupree

June 1, 1938
9 a.m.

  1. Identify or define:
    1. Karl Marx
    2. Thomas Malthus
    3. Gresham’s law
    4. Knights of Labor
    5. Rochdale system
    6. Law of large numbers
    7. Hedging
    8. Processing taxes
    9. Gold export point
    10. Mint par of exchange.
  2. a. Discuss money.
    b. Define a commercial bank and discuss its functions.
    c. Define a central bank and discuss its functions.
  3. Summarize the major provisions of and evaluate any two of the following:
    a. Banking Act of 1935
    b. Social Security Act
    c. Trade Agreements Act
    d. National Labor Relations Act
    e. National Industrial Recovery Act
    f. Clayton Anti-trust Act
  4. a. Sketch the basis of the conflict between the American Federation of Labor and the Committee for Industrial Organization. Discuss the relative merits of the arguments.
    b. How would you account for the wages paid a particular group of workers — for example, carpenters in Baltimore?
  5. a. What are the basic Socialist proposals?
    b. Distinguish: Socialism, Communism, Fascism.
  6. How would you meet the unemployment problem in the United States? Give reasons for each step you propose.

Source: Johns Hopkins University, Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy. Curricular Materials. Series 6. Box 2. Folder “Department of Political Economy — Exams, 1936-1940”.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. Law and Economics. Syllabus and Exams. Wyman, 1901-1902

 

In addition to a course in accounting that was introduced into the undergraduate curriculum at Harvard for students expecting to go on into business, the following course taught by a young Law School lecturer, Bruce Wyman (b. 15 June 1875; d. 21 June 1926) was offered to provide future businessmen an overview of commercial and trade law. Students expecting to go to study law were explicitly not encouraged to take the course.

The post begins with the long personal report Wyman wrote about his life and career for the 25th anniversary of his Harvard Class of 1896. A long description, enrollment figures, syllabus, and final exam questions for his 1901-1902 course “Principles of Law in their Application to Industrial Problems” provide the sort of content that Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is proudest of.

We encountered Bruce Wyman in an earlier post. Harvard President Lowell complained about Wyman’s course in the economics department having too soft a grade distribution (making it a “snap” course). Also we discover the somewhat scandalous circumstances that led to Wyman’s forced resignation of his Harvard Law professorship in December 1913.

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Bruce Wyman
1921 report to Class of 1896

BORN at Boston, Mass., June 15, 1876. Son of Ferdinand A., Harriet A. (Bruce) Wyman.

PREPARED AT Chauncy Hall School, Boston, Mass.

YEARS IN COLLEGE: 1893-96. DEGREES: A.B.; A.M. 1897; LL.B. 1900.

MARRIED: Mary Ethel Andrews, June 30, 1902, Cambridge, Mass. CHILDREN: Andrews, Oct. 3, 1905; Rosemary, Dec. 8, 1908.

OCCUPATION: Counselor at Law and Professor of Law.

ADDRESS: (business) 617-619 Old South Bldg., Boston, Mass.; (home) 15 Winnetaska Road, Waban, Mass.

WHILE the blank for my Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report has been on my desk for months, in my file of matters requiring attention immediately, but always buried by other demands more pressing, I have from time to time asked other members of the class what they regarded as most characteristic of the Twenty-fifth year, and we all agreed that it was the busiest year. We were all of us still endeavoring to do everything to which we had become devoted successively during these years, notwithstanding all the accumulation of our interests; but we realized that in this year we were reaching the climax of what is possible in view of what some one has called the central tragedy of existence, that there are only three hundred and sixty-five days to the year. And hereafter, we appreciated that we must soon be withdrawing from one activity after another as we grew older; just at present, therefore, I seem to be driven by what I must do next, although I look forward to the time when I may begin to choose what I will prefer to do.

Among all the things of interest to me in the years that I was a student at Harvard, getting my A.B. (Summa Cum), A.M. (Final Honors) and LL. B. (Cum Laude), I had thought in that youthful pursuit of scholastic honors that it would be impossible for me to be busier ever again in my life. But when in 1900 upon final graduation I was admitted to the Massachusetts bar and was appointed a lecturer at the Harvard Law School, I found, as we were taught in psychology, that there are powers of man in reserve which may be drawn upon far beyond apparent capacity. Ever since that year I have been engaged both in the practice of law as an art and the teaching of it as a science, endeavoring at times to approximate the impossibility of devoting all of my time to both. The proportions in this have varied — in the first ten years being principally a professor and incidentally a consultant, and now actively a practitioner and incidentally a lecturer. But, fortunately, in either case I have found the vocation more interesting than the avocation.

In these twenty years of teaching, principally at the Harvard Law School and the Law School of University of Chicago, incidentally in the Department of Economics of Harvard College and the School of Engineering of Harvard University, and especially in the Blackstone Institute of Chicago and the Portia Law School of Boston, I have taught the subjects of private business corporation and public service companies, combinations in restraint of trade, administrative law of regulating commissions, contracts and sales, suretyship and mortgage, wills and deeds, conflict of laws and constitutional law. And in all of this I have had the incalculable advantage of discussing these subjects as they have developed in this country with thousands of students.

During this time I have written much on the subjects of the law with which I have identified myself, largely concerning legal control of economic activity, particularly with regard to public utilities and business combinations. Altogether my writings cover some ten thousand pages, in preparation for which I have examined for citation over a hundred thousand decisions. Certain of my treatises of these subjects have come to be regarded as standard, being repeatedly cited by courts and commissions and in briefs and in arguments. The Railroad Rate Regulation in its second edition is used by traffic officials and regulating bodies throughout the country; and the Public Service Companies in its third edition is used in the class room in some twenty five law schools in the United States. Such authority as these books have attained I believe is due quite as much to my experience in practice as to my work in libraries.

My practice has been unusually interesting. I have been at times counsel for most of the New England railway lines and for many of the coastwise navigation companies in a great variety of cases involving important matters of policy; and I have occasionally acted for Western railways and terminals. Recently, I have been more actively engaged as counsel for other public utilities, particularly gas and electric companies in New England and the Central States, and especially concerned with hydro-electric constructions and fuel gas developments. I am at present associated with the management of certain of these and with banking houses that control groups of utilities. And general corporation practice is almost as varied as American affairs; so in the course of years I find myself for a time being in almost every kind of business. For instance, among the papers on my desk at this writing are organizations for a commercial finance company, a national trading syndicate, a chemical works, a textile plant, a chain of hotels and a pulp wood domain.

From the field in which I have specialized I have been called upon for civic services at various times. For a Governor of our Commonwealth, I drafted a Public Service Commission Bill for which I spoke throughout the State. For the National Civic Federation, I acted as counsel for a Committee on Public Utilities in getting together a volume including all of the Commission Laws under analytical headings. For the Directors of the Port of Boston, I have made a report on switching rights looking toward unified terminals. And I later drafted a plan upon which a conference of the Governors of New England upon railroad consolidation was based. I am a member of the Newton Republican City Committee, and I have attended conventions as a delegate.

The stethoscope kept me out of the war; but as a legal adviser to our Draft Board, I saw to it that every lad who belonged there went in. By the chances of practice I am often called upon by national associations and commercial bodies to represent the community in bringing about adjustments with utilities. And I can seldom resist an invitation, sufficiently urged, to speak before associations and conferences, clubs and unions, trade banquets and college commencements. I have taken my part in the drives of recent years, and I have served on boards of charities. For the thesis I am here defending, describing myself without modesty as exemplification, is that it is only by living strenuously that one may enjoy many lives within the span allotted to one.

There is not much left for me to add to all this unblushing autobiography, except those things more personal which round out a life as full as mine. My family becomes increasingly interesting to me, with my son at sixteen just completing his preparation for college and my daughter at twelve just beginning hers. It has been a matter of congratulation to me that I can still scan Virgil and extract cube root, so that I have not yet reached the age where I will be looked down upon by them. A few years ago, after much searching, we bought a long colonial farm house out in Waban on the river, which my wife and I, without architects or decorators, rebuilt and furnished consistently with its style (as you may see from the photographs of it in the files of House Beautiful), into a home to which we hope the children will ever return for the anniversaries of the years to come. The country clubs of the neighborhood provide us with all our outdoor and indoor sports.

My practice in organizing and reorganizing corporations and passing upon their bond issues and financial adjustments gives me the opportunity at times to travel about the United States and to foreign countries and keeps me in touch with lawyers in the large cities and the affairs of the world. With the five thousand Harvard men that I have known in the twenty years that I was at the university as undergraduate and graduate, instructor and professor, I hardly ever go upon a train or steamboat or stop at a hotel or club in these journeyings and conferences, where I do not happen upon some one I have known at college, so that I have come to realize as most of us do the acquaintance one makes in college is the best of all one gains thereby.

Source: Harvard College Class of 1896. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report (1921), pp. 658-662.

Publications of Bruce Wyman

Books:

Cases on public service companies, public carriers, public works and other public utilities.(With J. H. Beale.) Cambridge, Harv. Law Review Publ. Assoc., 1902: — 2d ed., Ibid ., 1909: — 3d ed. , Ibid ., 1920.

Cases on restraint of trade. Cambridge, Harv. Law Review Publ. Assoc., 1902-04 . 5 pt. [Part 1 (second edition); Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5]

The principles of the administrative law governing the relations of public officers. St. Paul, Keefe-Davidson, 1903.

A selection of cases on mortgages. Cambridge, Harv. Law Review Publ. Assoc., 1903: — 2d ed., Ibid ., 1903: – revised ed., 1906.

The law of railroad rate regulation. (With J. H. Beale.) Boston, W.J. Nagel, 1906: — 2d ed., New York, Bake , Voorhis, 1915.

Control of the market; a solution of the trust problem. New York, Moffat, Yard, 1911.

The special law governing public service corporations. New York, Baker, Voorhis, 1911. 2 vol. [Volume I; Volume II]

Cases on engineering contracts, a selection from Cases on the Law of Contracts, ed. by Samuel Williston. Boston, Little, Brown, 1904.

Articles:

Equity. Cyclopædia of Government and Law, 1913.

Unfair competition. Annals of American Academy, 1913.

Monopolies. Cyclopædia of Law and Procedure, 1914.

Public service companies. Modern American Law, 1915.

Together with some twenty-five magazine articles on law, economics, government and politics in the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, Green Bag, Railway Age Gazette and Boston Transcript, 1901-1921. 

Source: Harvard College Class of 1896. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report (1921), p. 714.

______________________________

Course Description
ECONOMICS 21
1901-1902

For Undergraduates and Graduates

Principles of Law in their Application to Industrial Problems. Three times a week. Mr. Wyman.

Course 21 considers certain rules of the law governing the conduct of modern trade and the organization of modern industry. The course is designed especially for students who mean to enter business life, and who wish to secure some contact with the law and some understanding of its methods, such as will be of service in a business career. As it deals with the course of adjudication and legislation on questions of special importance in the economic development of modern times, it will also be of advantage to those who wish to equip themselves for the intelligent discussion of questions having both legal and economic aspects.

In the one part of the course will be considered the law governing certain combinations of capital and of labor. It will be seen what contracts in restraint of trade are considered in violation of the common law, and what it has been attempted to prevent by statutes. It will also appear what action by such combinations is held to be a tort at common law, and what it has been proposed to make so by legislation. It will further be discussed what combinations to control the market are crimes by common law and by statute. The limits to be placed upon competition in trade and the demarcation to be drawn between fraudulent and permitted dealing will be the final subject in this part of the course. The object will be at once to give the students training in the methods of legal reasoning, and to inform them regarding the main principles involved.

In the other part of the course will be considered the general question raised by the association of men for the carrying on of business. This will require a study of the main principles involved in the various forms of the corporation. The stress will be laid upon the conception of the association as an entity, and the liabilities and capacities of the officers and stockholders. It will be considered how far the industrial organism may be affected by judicial decision and by legislation; what tendencies are manifested by the courts; and what policies appear on the part of the legislatures. The object will be to equip the student for better understanding of questions he will meet in a business career, and of the public problems presented by the growth of this form of organization.

The conduct of the course will be by the reading and discussion of selected cases from the law reports and of the text of typical statutes and bills.

Course 21 is open to Seniors and Graduates who have taken Economics 1. Those who propose to study law as a profession are not advised to take it.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science (June 21, 1901), University Publications, New Series, No. 16, pp. 47-48.

______________________________

Course Enrollment
1901-1902
ECONOMICS 21

Economics 21. Mr. Wyman. — Principles of Law in their Application to Industrial Problems.

Total 33: 24 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 78.

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Syllabus
ECONOMICS 21
CASES ON COMMERCIAL LAW

FIRST TOPIC. — COMPETITION

I. To What Extent Competition Is Allowed

(A) Free Competition

Schoolmasters Case, Y. B. 11 H. 4, 47. A.679
Pudsey Gas Co. v. Bradford, L. R. 15 Eq. 167.

(B) Unfree Competition

Hix v. Gardner, 2 Bulstrode, 115.
B. & L. R. R. v. S. & L. R. R., 2 Gray, 1.

II. By What Methods Competition Is Allowed

(A) Fair Competition

Snowden v. Noah, Hopkins Ch. 347.
Parson v. Gillipsee, 1898, A. C. 239.
Choynski v. Cohen, 39 Cal. 501.
Tallerman v. Dowsing Co., 1900, 1 Ch. 1.
Ayer v. Rushton, 7 Daly, 9.
Johnson v. Hitchcock, 15 Johns. 185. A. 634
White v. Mellen, 1895, A. C. 154.
Ajello v. Worsley, 1898, 1 Ch. 274.
Young v. Hickens, 6 Q. B. 606.
Walsh v. Dwight, 40 App. Div. 513.
Manufacturers Co. v. Longley, 20 R. 1. 87.

(B) Unfair Competition

  1. By inducing persons dealing with another to commit a breach of legal duty to him.

Hart v. Aldridge, Cowp. 54. A. 584.
Boston Glass Manuf. v. Binney, 4 Pick. 425.
Lumley v. Gye, 2 E. & B. 216. A. 600.
Bowen v. Hall, L. R. 6 Q. B. D. 333. A. 613.
Laly v. Cantwell, 30 Mo. App. 524.
Ashley v. Dixon, 48 N. Y. 430.
Chambers v. Baldwin, 91 Ky. 121.
Heaton Co. v. Dick, 55 Fed. 23.
N. C. & L. R. R. v. McConnell, 82 Fed. 65.

  1. By influencing persons dealing another who owe no legal duty to him.

a. By fraud.

Blofield v. Payne, 4 B. & A. 410. A. 635.
Coates v. Holbrook, 2 Sandf. Ch. 586.
Materne v. Horwitz, 18 Jones & Sp. 41.
Sawyer Co. v. Hubbard, 32 Fed. 388.
Morgan v. Wendover, 43 Fed. 420.
Wamsutta Mills v. Fox, 49 Fed. 141.
Cook v. Ross, 73 Fed. 203.
Van Camp v. Cruikshank, 90 Fed. 814.
Lawrence Co. v. Tenn Co., 138 U. S. 537.
Johnson v. Ewing, 7 A. C. 219.
Stone v. Carlan, 13 Law Reporter, 360. A. 630.
Boulnois v. Peake, 13 Ch. D. 513 N.
Birmingham Co. v. Powell, 1897, A. C. 710.
National Co. v. Baker, 95 Fed. 135.
Croft v. Day, 7 Beav. 84.
Baker Co. v. Saunders, 80 Fed. 889.
Singer Co. 2. June Co., 163 U. S. 88.
Brewery Co. v. Brewery Co., 1898, 1 Ch. 539.
Canal Co. v. Clark, 13 Wall. 11.
Wotherspoon v. Currie, L. R. 5 H. L. 508.
Waltham Co. v. U. S. Co., 173 Mass. 85.
Reddaway v. Banham, 1896, A. C. 199.
Ratcliffe v. Evans, 1892, 2 Q. B. 524. A. 642.
Rice v. Manley, 67 N. Y. 82. A. 663.
Hughes v. McDonough, 43 N. J. 459. A. 666.

b. By disparagement.

(1) Of person.

Harmon v. Delaney, 2 Str. 898.
Secor v. Harris, 18 Barb. 425. A. 406.
Davy v. Davy, 50 N. Y. S. 161.
Harmon v. Falle, L. R. 4 A. C. 247. A. 640.
Morassee v. Brochu, 151 Mass. 567. A. 652.
Australian Co. v. Bennett, 1894, A. C. 284.
Paris v. Levy, 9 C. B. (n.s.) 342.
Boynton v. Shaw Co., 146 Mass. 221.
Bradstreet Co. v. Gill, 72 Tex. 496.

(2) Of goods.

American Co. v. Gates, 85 Fed. 729.
Jenner v. A’beckett, L. R. 7 Q. B. D. 11.
Malachy v. Soper, 3 Bing. N. C. 371. A. 677.
Young v. Macrae, 3 B. & S. 634.
Western Co. v. Lawes Co., L. R. 9 Exch. 218. A. 623.
Hubbuck v. Wilkinson, 1899, 1 Q. B. 86.
Lubricating Co. v. Oil Co., 42 Hun. 153.
Hatchard v. Mege, L. R. 18 Q. B. D. 771. A. 625.
Lewin v. Welsbach Co., 81 Fed. 904.

c. By coercion.

(1) With force.

Garret v. Taylor, Cr. Jac. 567. A. 675.
Keeble v. Hickeringill, 11 East, 574 n. A. 678.
Tarleton v. McCauley, Peake, 205. A. 678.
Higgins v. O’Donnell, Ir. R. 4 C. L. 91.
Walker v. Cronin, 107 Mass. 555. A. 694.

(2) Without force.

Royalston Bank v. Suffolk Bank, 27 Vt. 505.
Fallon v. Schilling, 29 Kans. 292. A. 729.
Heywood v. Tillson, 75 Me. 225. A. 707.
Crawford v. Wick, 18 Oh. St. 190.
Graham v. St. R. R., 47 La. Ann. 214.
Robinson v. Texas Land Assoc., 40 S. W. 843.
Dels v. Winfree, 80 Tex. 400. A. 704.
Mogul S. S. Co. v. McGregor, L.R. 23 Q.B.D.598. A. 680.
Allen v. Flood, 1898, A. C. 1.

SECOND TOPIC. — CONTRACT IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE

I. Agreement in Total Restraint of Competition

(A) When unreasonable — principal contract

Claygate v. Batchelor, Owen 143.
Toby v. Major, 43 Sol. J. 778.
Oliver v. Gilmore, 52 Fed. 563.
Ice Co. v. Williams, 28 So. 669.
Perkins v. Lyman, 9 Mass. 521.
Presbury v. Bennet, 18 Mo. 50.
Oakes v. Water Co., 143 N. Y. 430.

(B) When reasonable — ancilliary contract

Mitchell v. Reynolds, 1 P. WMS. 181.
Whitney v. Slayton, 40 ME. 224.
Alger v. Thacher, 19 Pick. 51.
Herreschoff v. Boutineau, 17 R. I. 3.
Lufkin Co. v. Frengeli, 57 Oh. St. 596.
Diamond Co. v. Roeber, 106 N. Y. 473.
Baker v. Hedgecock, L. R. 39 Ch. D. 520.
Mills v. Dunham, 1891, 1 Ch. 301.
Mandeville v. Harmon, 42 N. J. Eq. 185.
Nordenfeldt v. Maxim Co., 1894, A. C. 535.
Rogers v. Drury, 57 L. J. Ch. 504.

II. Agreement in Partial Restraint of Competition

(A) When unreasonable — suppression of competition

King v. Maynard, Cro. Car. 231.
Raymond v. Leavitt, 46 Mich. 447.
Young v. Timmins, 1 Cromp. & Jer. 331.
Acheson v. Mallon, 43 N. Y. 147.
Jones v. North, L. R. 19 Eq. 426.
Ch. R. R. v. W. R. R., 61 Fed. 993.
Anderson v. Jett, 89 Ky. 375.
L. R. R. v. St. L. R. R., 63 Fed. 775.
Sandford v. R. R., 24 Pa. 378.
Cravens v. Rodgers, 101 Mo. 247.
State v. Portland Co., 153 Ind. 483.
Thompson 2. Harvey, 1 Show. 2.
Pacific Co. v. Adler, 90 Cal. 110.
Richards v. Desk Co., 87 Wis. 503.
Texas Co. v. Adoue, 83 Tex. 650.
Brigham v. Brands, 119 Mich. 255.

(B) When reasonable — regulation of competition

Freemantle v. Throwsters, 1 Lev. 229.
Stovell v. McCutcheon, 54 S. W. 969.
Crystal Co. v. Brewing Assn., 8 Tex. Civ. 1.
Jones v. Lees, 1 H. & N. 189.
Bowling v. Taylor, 40 Fed. 104.
Heaton Co. v. Specialty Co., 77 Fed. 298.
Wickens v. Evans, 3 Younge & Jerv. 318.
Fowle v. Parke, 131 U. S. 88.
National Co. v. Union Co. 45 Minn. 272.
Collins v. Locke, L. R. 4 A. C. 674.
Gloucester Co. v. Russia Co., 154 Mass. 92.
Clarke v. Frank, 17 Mo. App. 602.
Long v. Towle, 42 Mo. 545.
Walsh v. Dwight, 40 N. Y. App. D. 513.
Catt v. Towle, L. R. 4 Ch. App. 654.
Van Mater v. Babcock, 23 Barb. 633.
Altman v. Royal Acquarium, L. R. 3 Ch. D. 228.
Printing Co. v. Sampson, L. R. 19 Eq. 462.
N. Y. Co. v. Brown, 61 N. J. 536.
Keith v. Optical Co., 48 Ark. 138.
Hounk v. Wright, 77 Miss. 476.
Welch v. Windmill Co., 89 Tex. 653.

THIRD TOPIC. — COMBINATION

I. Combination of Labor

(A) To what extent combination is forbidden

1. When unreasonable restraint

R. v. Journeymen Tailors, 8 Mod. 10.
P. v. Fisher, 14 Wend. 9.
C. v. Carlisle, Brightly 36.
R. v. Bykerdyke, 1 M. & Rob. 179.
R. v. Hewitt, 5 Cox C. C. 162.
Curran v. Gallen, 152 N.Y. 33.
Knights of Labor v. Laborers’ Union, 60 N.Y. Sup. 388.
Lucke v. Assembly, 77 Md. 396.
Plant v. Woods, 176 Mass. 492.

2. When unfair competition

Gunmakers v. Fell, Willes, 384.
R. v. Hibbert, 13 Cox C. C. 82.
R. v. Parnell, 14 Cox C. C. 508.
Dominion S. S. Co. v. McKenna, 30 Fed. 48.
Sherry v. Perkins, 147 Mass. 212.
Crump v. C. 84 Va. 927.
Delz v. Winfree, 80 Tex. 400.
Temperton v. Russell, 1893, 1 Q. B. 715.
U. S. v. Elliot, 62 Fed. 801.
Elder v. Whitesides, 72 Fed. 724.
Murdock v. Walker, 152 Pa. 595.
Vegelahn v. Guntner, 167 Mass. 92.
Doremus v. Hennessey, 176 Ill. 608.
Glass Mfgrs. v. Bottle Blowers, 59 N. J. Eq. 49.
Quinn v. Leatham, 1901, A. C. 495.

(B) To what extent combination is permitted

1. When reasonable restraint

Freemantle v. Silk Throwsters, 1 Lev. 229.
C. v. Hunt, 4 Met. 111.
Snow v. Wheeler, 113 Mass. 179.
Righy v. Connol, L. R. 14 Ch. D. 482.
Meyer v. Stone Cutters, 47 N. J. Eq. 519.
Clemmit v. Watson, 14 Ind. App. 38.

2. When fair competition

Kirkham v. Shawcross, 6 T. R. 103.
R. v. Shepard, 11 Cox C. C. 375.
Rogers v. Evarts, 17 N.Y. Sup. 264.
Coons v. Chrystie, 53 N. Y. Sup. 668.
Vegelahn v. Gunter, 167 Mass. 92.
Lyons v. Wilkins, 67 L. J. Ch. 383.
Tube Co. v. Allied Mechanics, 7 Oh. N. P. 87.
Krebs v. Rosenstein, 66 N. Y. Sup. 42.
Allen v. Flood, 1898, A. C. 1.

II. Combination of Capital.

(A) To what extent combination is forbidden

1. When unreasonable restraint

Anon. 12 Mod. 248.
Cousins v. Smith, 13 Ves. 542.
Bagging Assn. v. Koch, 14 La Ann. 168.
Arnot v. Coal Co., 68 N. Y. 558.
Salt Co. v. Guthrie, 35 Oh. St. 666.
Moore v. Bennet, 140 Ill. 69.
Umston v. Whitelegg, 63 L. T. 455.
Hester v. Brewing Co. 161 Pa. 480.
U. S. v. Joint Traffic Assn., 171 U. S. 505.
Addystone Pipe Co. v. U. S., 175 U. S. 211.
The Wiswall, 86 Fed. 671.
U. S. v. Fuel Co., 105 Fed. 93.
Cummings v. Bluestone Assn., 164 N. Y. 401.

2. When unfair competition

Davenant v. Hurdis, Moore, 576.
Hilton v. Eckersly, 6 E. & B. 47.
Craft v. McConoughy, 79 Ill. 346.
Mattison v. Railway, 3 Oh. Dec. 526.
Olive v. Van Patten, 7 Tex. Civ. App. 630.
Dueber Co. v. Noyes, 21 N. Y. Sup. 341.
P. V. Duke, 44 N. Y. Sup. 336.
Hartnett v. Plumbers’ Assn., 169 Mass. 229.
Bailey v. Plumbers’ Assn., 103 Tenn. 99.
U. S. v. Coal Dealer’s Assn., 85 Fed. 252.
Ertz v. Produce Exchange, 79 Minn. 149.

(B) To what extent combination is permitted

1. When reasonable restraint

R. v. Harrison, 3 Burr, 1322.
Jones v. Fell, 5 Fla. 510.
Ontario Co. v. Merchants Co., 18 Grant Ch. 540.
Skranka v. Scharringhaussen, 8 Mo. App. 522.
Collins v. Locke, L. R. 7 A. C. 674.
Livestock Assn. v. Levy, 54 N. Y. Supr. Ct. 32.
Mogul S. S. Co. v. McGregor, L. R. 23 Q. B. D. 598.
Good v. Daland, 121 N. Y. 1.
U. S. v. Nelson, 52 Fed. 646.
Herriman v. Menzies. 115 Cal. 16.

2. When fair competition

Kirkham v. Shawcross, 6 T. R. 103.
Orr v. Insurance Co. 12 La Ann. 255.
Bowen v. Matheson, 14 Allen, 499.
Ladd v. Cotton Press, 53 Tex. 172.
Mogul S. S. Co. v. McGregor, L. R. 23 Q. B. D. 598.
McCauley v. Tierney, 19 R. I. 255.
Brewster v. Miller. 101 Ky. 368.
Boots Co. v. Grundy. 82 L. T. 769.

FOURTH TOPIC. — THE CORPORATION

I. The Nature of the Corporation

(A) The idea of the corporation

1. Definition of the corporation

Liverpool Ins. Co. v. Mass., 10 Wall, 566. S. 1.
Thomas v. Dakin, 22 Wend. 9. S. 4.
Gifford v. Livingstone, 2 Denio, 395. S. 20.
Carr v. Inglehart, 30 Oh. 457. S. 875.
Trustees v. Flint, 13 Metc. 539. S. 876.
Moyer v. Slate Co., 71 Pa. 293. S. 883.

2. Distinction between corporation and shareholders

Waring v. Cataba Co., 2 Bay, 109. S. 39.
Foster v. Commissioners, 1894, 1 Q. B. 516. S. 40.
Williamson v. Smoot, 7 Martin, 31. S. 24.
Burton v. Hoffman, 61 Wis. 20. S. 33.
Moore etc. Co. v. Towers etc. Co., 87 Ala. 206. S. 45.
Salomon v. Salomon Co., 1897, A. C. 22. S. 1143.
Montgomery v. Forbes, 148 Mass. 249. S. 94.
P. v. England, 27 Hun. 139. S. 593.
Sandford v. McArthur, 13 B. Mon. 413. S. 600.

(B) The body corporate

1. Organization of the corporation

Franklin Bridge Co. v. Wood, 14 Ga. 80. S. 65.
State v. Dawson, 16 Ind. 40. S. 69.
Newcomb v. Reed, 12 Allen, 362. S. 77.
Finnegan v. Noerenberg, 52 Minn. 239. S. 87.
Rutherford v. Hill, 22 Ore. 218. S. 109.
Slocum v. Warren, 10 R. I. 116. S. 134.
Bank v. Silk Co., 3 Metc. 287. S. 138.

2. Funds of the corporation

Russell v. Temple, 3 Dane Abr. 108. S. 23.
White v. Salisbury, 33 Mo. 150. S. 1069.
C. v. Crompton, 137 Pa. 138. S. 1073.
Music v. Corey, 129 Mass. 435. S. 1120.
Bank v. Paper Co., 19 R. I. 139. S. 221.
Curries Case, 3 De G., J. & S. 367. S. 817.
Coit v. Gold Amalgamating Co., 119 U. S. 343. S. 839.
Malting Co. v. Brewing Co., Minn. S. 831.
Handley v. Stutz. 139 U. S. 417. S. 844.
Harger v. McCullogh, 2 Denio, 119. S. 839.
Taft v. H. P. & F. R. Co., 8 R. I. 310. S. 347.
C. v. Smith, 10 Allen, 449. S. 190.
Parsons v. Hayes, 11 Abb. N. C. 419. S. 314.

II. The Powers of the Corporation

(A) The capacity of the corporation

1. Rights of the corporation

Downing v. Mt. Washington Rd., 40 N. H. 230. S. 148.
Stockton Bank v. Staples, 98 Cal. 189. S. 179.
Aurora Society v. Paddock, 80 Ill. 264. S. 189.
Bradbury v. Canoe Club, 153 Mass. 77. S. 196.
Norris v. Staps, Hobart 211. S. 209.
Bank v. Paterson, 7 Cranch, 299. S. 213.
Greenwood v. Freight Co., 105 U. S. 13. S. 720.
Sinking Fund Case, 99 U. S. 100. S. 777.
Eagle Co. v. Ohio, 153 U. S. 446. S. 704.

2. Rights of the majority

Dudley v. High School, 9 Bush, 576. S. 224.
Ashton v. Burbank, 2 Dill, 435. S. 229.
H. & H. H. R. R. v. Croswell, 5 Hill, 383. S. 230.
Treadwell v. Salesbury Co., 7 Gray, 293. S. 243.
Taylor v. Earle, 8 Hun. 1. S. 246.
Peabody v. Flint, 6 Allen, 52. S. 263.
Menier v. Telegraph Works, L. R. 9 Ch. App. 350. S. 287.
Foss v. Harbottle, 2 Hare, 401. S. 267.

(B) The incapacity of the corporation

1. Ultra vires

Monument Bank v. Globe Works, 101 Mass. 57. S. 451.
Long v. Georgia Co., 91 Ala. 519. S. 457.
St. L. R. R. v. T. H. R. R., 145 U. S. 393. S. 503.
Marble Co. v. Harvey, 92 Tenn. 116. S. 511.
Washburn Co. v. Bartlett, 3 N. Dak. 138. S. 515.
Davis v. O. C. R. R., 431 Mass. 258. S. 564.
Bates v. Beach Co., 109 Cal. 160. S. 941.

2. Effect of ultra vires

S. v. Oberlin Assn., 35 Oh. St. 258. S. 375.
Wheeler v. Pullman Co., 143 Ill. 379.
Morville v. Tract Society, 123 Mass. 129. S. 588.
Packet Co. v. Shaw, 37 Wis. 655. S. 590.
McCutcheon v. Capsule Co., 37 U. S. App. 586. S. 422.

FIFTH TOPIC. — THE CONSOLIDATION

I. Without Incorporation

(A) Trust agreement

Shepaug Voting Trust Cases, 60 Conn. 553. S. 1032.
Mobile etc. R. R. v. Nicholas, 98 Ala. 92. S. 1043.
Gould v. Head, 38 Fed. 886.
P. v. Sugar Refining Co., 121 N. Y. 582. S. 943.
State v. Distilling Co., 29 Neb. 700.
State v. Standard Oil Co., 49 Oh. St. 137.
Distilling Co. v. Importing Co., 86 Wis. 352.

(B) Partnership agreement

Whittenton Mills v. Upton, 10 Gray 582. S. 935.
Tram Co. v. Bancroft, 16 Tex. C. App. 170.
Mallory v. Oil Works, 86 Tenn. 598.
Lowry v. Tile Assn., 98 Fed. 817.
Addystone Pipe Co. v. U. S., 175 U. S. 211.
Stockton v. Central R. R., 50 N. J. Eq. 53.
U.S. v. Joint Traffic Assn., 171 U. S. 505.

II. With Incorporation

(A) Holding corporation

Pauley v. Coronado Beach Co., 56 Fed. 428.
Milbank v. N. Y. etc. R. R., 64 How. Pr. 20. S. 963.
De La Vigne Co. v. German Institution, 175 U.S. 40.
P. v. Gas Trust, 130 Ill. 268. S. 952.
National Harrow Co. v. Hench, 76 Fed. 667.

(B) Operating corporation

Shade Roller Co. v. Cushman, 143 Mass. 353.
Oakdale Co. v. Garst, 18 R. I. 484.
Richardson v. Buhl, 77 Mich. 632.
McCutcheon v. Capsule Co., 37 U. S. App. 586.
Trenton Potteries v. Oliphant, 58 N. J. Eq. 507.
Distilling Co. v. P., 156 Ill. 448.
Louisville & Nashville R. R. v. Kentucky, 161 U. S. 677.
Keokuk etc. R. R. Co. v. Missouri, 152 U. S. 301.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics 1895-2003, Box 1, Folder “Economics 1901-1902”.

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Mid-year Examination
ECONOMICS 21
1901-1902

Answer seven questions.

  1. The A Railroad Company had by express provision of its charter the exclusive right of transporting persons and property from X to Z by railroad. Later the B Street Railway Company built a line from X to Y; the C Street Railway Company built a line from Y to Z; and the B and C Companies under an agreement began to run through street cars from X to Z. Can the A Company have an injunction against the B and C Companies for this competition?
  2. A and B were rival manufacturers of infant foods. B inserted this advertisement: The A food is less nutritious and less healthful than the B food; therefore, all persons are advised not to buy the A food, but to insist on getting the B food. A thereupon sued B, alleging that an expert examination would prove the A food better than the B food; and that by means of the circulation of these misstatements by B his trade had been ruined. Should A recover damages against B?
  3. A sold button fastening machines to shoe manufacturers. Each manufacturer agreed with A that all staples to be used in the machines should be bought of A. B began the sale of staples to these manufacturers although he knew of the contract between these manufacturers and A. Can A have an injunction against B for such competition?
  4. B, a large manufacturer of saleratus, made a contract with certain jobbers that they should not sell the saleratus of A below a certain price and not more than a certain amount of the saleratus of A in any event. Can A sue B for the damage to his business as consequence to this agreement?
  5. Certain steamship companies formed themselves into the B Steamship Conference. It was agreed amongst the members of the conference that if any rival line entered into competition with them they would cut the rates one-half, also they would raise the rates to double for any shippers who shipped by the new line. Later A entered into competition with a new line against the B Conference; the B Conference put the proposed rates in force; and A was thereby ruined. Can A sue the B Conference?
  6. A and B and C were all that were engaged in the ice business in X. B sold A his ice-houses, teams, etc., and B agreed with A that he would not engage in the ice business in X for five years. C also sold A his ice-houses, teams, etc., and made the same agreement with A. Are these agreements valid?
  7. A, a manufacturer of pianos, enters into a contract with a jobber, B, that B shall have exclusive right to sell the pianos at wholesale in Massachusetts. B enters into a contract with a retailer C, that C shall sell the pianos in Boston at not less than a certain price. Are these contracts valid?
  8. The B Union struck on the A Railroad because the A Railroad took cars from another railroad where the men had gone out for higher wages. The B Union posted men at the yards to persuade new men not to take their places. Can the A Railroad have an injunction?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-Year Examination Papers, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume, Mid-year Examination Papers, 1901-02. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (January 1902).

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Year-end Examination
ECONOMICS 21
1901-1902

Answer seven questions.

  1. By a contract between a fuel company and an association composed of ten concerns engaged in producing coal and coke in a certain district, the company was to handle for a term of years the entire output of the mines of the association intended for the western market. The amount to be furnished by each member of the association was to be fixed by its executive committee; the fuel company was to fix a uniform price from time to time at which it should sell the products turned over. The net profits of the fuel company less its commission were to be turned back to the members of the association pro rata. Is this agreement enforceable?
  2. A retail lumber association agrees not to buy lumber of any wholesale lumber dealer who sells direct to customers. A certain wholesale dealer began to sell to customers direct in car load lots only. Thereupon the executive committee of the lumber association sent notices to all members, warning them not to buy any lumber of this wholesale dealer upon penalty of a fine to be paid in accordance with the by-laws. May the wholesale dealer sue the members of the association for damages caused thereby to his business?
  3. An act of legislature provided: “That X, Y, and Z, proprietors of the Charles River Marshes, are hereby constituted a corporation under the name of the Marsh Company, with authority to assess and collect from each member ten per cent. upon the valuation of his land, to be expended in making and maintaining a street across the same.” X and Y, after giving Z notice of the proposed meeting, meet, organize the corporation, and vote an assessment upon all the members for the amount specified in the charter. Suit against Z to collect the assessment. What decision?
  4. A merchant conveys all the property of his business to a corporation organized by himself and his two brothers, with one share subscribed by each of the three. By vote of them as directors, the merchant takes in payment for the property the debenture bonds of the company at proper valuation. Later the whole capital stock of the corporation is subscribed by outside parties at par. Still later the corporation incurs large debts to bankers. After all this the corporation goes into bankruptcy, with small assets. What is the right to these assets of the merchant? of the bankers? of the stockholders?
  5. In a certain banking corporation with various branches the conduct of the business was as follows: The manager of each branch made to the general manager of the corporation a weekly statement; from these statements the general manager made up a monthly summary for the Board of Directors to examine. The general manager left the weekly statements on the file in the directors’ room. Later the bank failed; it appeared that the general manager had been a rascal from first to last; and that his summaries had been false all the time. Now, the receiver of the banking corporation sues the directors for losses due to their neglect in office. What decision?
  6. The A railroad was chartered to run from X to Y; the stock was all subscribed and the road was built. Later a consolidation was proposed with the B railroad which ran from Y to Z. An act was passed by the Legislature of the State in which both railroads A and B lie, which allowed a new corporation, the C railroad, to be formed to take over both the A and B railroad, and which directed the exchange of the capital stock of each of the railroads A and B share for share for the stock of the new corporation C. The act provided that it should take effect when accepted by a majority of each corporation. A majority is found in each corporation for the scheme; but a minority object in each. Can the scheme be carried out?
  7. On account of a sudden great demand for coal, the A railroad company, running through a coal-mining region, was unable to supply enough cars to carry all the coal offered by the mine owners. A bought and opened a new coal-mine, and presented to the company coal for shipment; the company declined to receive the coal until its old customers were supplied with cars. Can A legally object?
  8. A corporation is formed in California to construct a large storage basin, and conduct the water therefrom by means of a canal to the valley for the purpose of irrigation. The company has given to it the right of eminent domain. When its works are constructed the company publishes the following schedule: “Any consumer must pay to the company $10 per acre in advance every ten years and $1.50 in advance per acre each year. Twenty-five per cent. deduction will be allowed to consumers having 100 acres or over. [”] It is proved that if all consumers, paid $2.50 per acre each year the company would make about 9% on its capital stock. Q, a farmer, applies for water. His farm is, 50 acres in extent. What objections may he bring forward against this schedule?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1902-03. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (June 1902).

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Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Principles of Accounting. Exam questions. W. M. Cole, 1901-1902

Harvard. Life of accounting professor William Morse Cole, A.M. 1896

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Course Description
ECONOMICS 181
1901-1902

For upperclass undergraduates and graduates to prepare for a business career

The Principles of Accounting. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 3.30. Mr. W. M. Cole.

This course is designed primarily for students who expect to enter a business career, and wish to understand the processes by which the earnings and values of industrial properties are computed. It is not intended to afford practice in book-keeping, but to give students a grasp of principles which shall enable them to comprehend the significance of accounts.

In order that students may become familiar with book-keeping terms and methods, a few exercises will be devoted to a brief study of the common systems of recording simple mercantile transactions. The chief work of the course, however, will be a study of the methods of determining profit, loss, and valuation. This will include an analysis of receipts, disbursements, assets, and liabilities, in various kinds of industry, and a consideration of cost of manufacture; cost of service, depreciation and appreciation of stock and of equipment, interest, sinking funds, dividends, and the like. Published accounts of corporations will be studied, and practice in interpretation will be afforded. Attention will also be given to the functions and methods of auditors.

The instruction will be given by lectures, discussions, reading, and written work.

Course 18 is open to Seniors and Graduates who have taken Economics 1.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science (June 21, 1901), University Publications, New Series, No. 16, pp. 46-47.

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Course Enrollment
ECONOMICS 181
1901-02

Economics 181hf. Mr. W. M. Cole. — The Principles of Accounting.

Total 36: 1 Graduate, 24 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 78.

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Semester Final Examination
ECONOMICS 18
First Half-year 1901-1902

  1. What is the profit and loss account?
    Are charges or credits made direct to this account? If so, under what circumstances?
    How is this account closed?
  2. Formulate journal entries to express each of the following transactions :—
    1. a sale of goods for a note bearing interest;
    2. discounting the above note at a bank;
    3. annulling a personal account as uncollectible;
    4. interest charged, but not paid, on a long-standing account.
  3. What is indicated by each of the following ledger accounts when
    1. the account shows a debit balance, and
    2. the account shows a credit balance: loss and gain, merchandise, rent, commission, purchase ledger, stores?
  4. Illustrate roughly a columnar cash book and a columnar journal. Comment on the columnar system.
  5. Which of the following should be charged to capital account and which to revenue account: The purchase of a patent right; legal fees for organizing a corporation; the purchase of a lease; repairs of machinery; replacement of machinery; the purchase of additional machinery; the loss by fire of uninsured property?
    Explain in each case why you decide as you do.
  6. You contemplate purchasing an interest in a business that has run five years, and agree to pay one third the valuation of its net assets. The following statement is given you by the partners:—

Dr.

Buildings, machinery, etc., at cost $50,000
Expended for repairs and renewals $8,000
Patent rights purchased $14,000
Balance of sales ledger $26,000
Inventory, as per stores and stock books $19,000
$117,000

Cr.

Bills payable $48,000
Balance of purchase ledger $47,000
Partners’ capital $22,000
$117,000
    1. Assuming that this statement gives all that you need to know, how much must you pay for your interest in the business?
    2. Does this statement give all necessary information about the assets? If not, what is lacking?

7.  The chief items on the balance sheet of a firm may be summarized as follows :—

Assets.
Cash, stock, and accts. receivable $48,000
Buildings and machinery $37,000
$85,000
Liabilities.
Notes and accts. payable $33,000
Capital of the partners $62,000
$95,000

Is the firm solvent or insolvent? Why do you think so?

  1. The books of a firm have been kept by the ordinary methods and all transactions prior to the close of business on December 31 have been carried through the books. You are asked to determine profit or loss for the year just closed. Describe carefully the steps that you would take.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-Year Examination Papers, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume, Mid-year Examination Papers, 1901-02. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (January 1902). Also included in Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1902-03. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (June 1902).

Image SourceHarvard Alumni Bulletin, Vol. XIX, No. 16, p. 308. Portrait of William Morse Cole colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam questions for European countries’ resources and economies. Ripley and Meyer, 1901-02

This post adds to the expanding collection of Harvard economics examinations. European economic geography was the subject of a year-long course co-taught in 1901-1902 by William Zebina Ripley and Hugo Richard Meyer.

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Last minute staff replacements for 1901-1902

It will be recalled that the Harvard economics department was faced with enormous staffing problems for the 1901-1902 academic year. Frank Taussig was on sick-leave and Edward Cummings and William Ashley had left the department for other pastures.

In an earlier post we saw that Charles W. Mixter substituted for William Ashley in a history of economic thought course.

Thomas Nixon Carver had to fill-in for Frank Taussig for the advanced theory course.  He also took over Taussig’s methods course.

Thomas Nixon Carver and Frederick Bush were needed to cover the “Socialism and Communism” course previously taught by Edward Cummings.

In this post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror adds the transcriptions of exams for a course on European resources and organization that had been previously taught by William Ashley but was taught by William Z. Ripley and Hugo R. Meyer in 1901-1902.

Examinations for Professor William J. Ashley’s course in 1900-01  posted earlier.

Biographical information for Professor William Z. Ripley also posted earlier.

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has also posted some life and career information for Hugo Richard Meyer.

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ECONOMICS 17
Course Description
1901-1902

For Undergraduates and Graduates

[Economics] 17. The Economic Organization and Resources of European Countries. Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor Ashley.

This course will begin with a survey of the physical geography and of the distribution of population and wealth in Europe as a whole, in order to explain (1) the relative position at present of agriculture in its various forms on the one side and mining and manufacture on the other, and (2) the presence in their several localities of the chief industries. The great countries — Great Britain and Ireland, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Italy — will then be taken in order; and a statement will be made (1) of their natural resources, and (2) of the manner in which these are utilized. Under the latter head will be considered such topics as the following: the investment of capital, the forms of business organization, the means of transportation, the relations between private enterprise and governmental stimulus and control, and the character and supply of labor. Returning, then, to Europe as a whole, attention will be directed to the points at which the interests of the several countries appear to conflict, and to the attempts to remove or mitigate the antagonism by international agreements — as, for instance, in the matters of customs tariffs, bounties, and labor legislation. Finally, a survey will be made of the main lines of transportation for commodities between one country and another and between Europe and the rest of the world, and of the economic effects of recent changes in this regard.

Course 17 is open to those who have passed satisfactorily either in History 1 or in Economics 1.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science (June 21, 1901), University Publications, New Series, No. 16, p. 39.

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Enrollment
1901-02
ECONOMICS 17

Economics 17. Professor Ripley and Mr. Meyer. — The Economic Organization and Resources of European Countries.

Total 24: 2 Graduates, 13 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.

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ECONOMICS 17
Mid-year Examination
1901-1902

  1. English farming and German farming from 1879 to 1900: a study of the respective effects of the policy of free-trade in grains and meats and the policy of protection to agriculture.
    Alternative:—
    The arguments for and against the small farm and the peasant farm. Take your facts from the history of England; Belgium or France; and Germany.
  2. The German customs duties on grains and meats, and Germany’s position in the “struggle for the export markets.”
    Alternative:—
    Give an account, descriptive and critical, of the beet-sugar policy of the countries of continental Europe from 1870 to 1900
  3. What facts and what kinds of statistics were used in the discussion of the failure of the Prussian (German) State Railways to contribute materially to the industrial development effected in Germany in the years 1880 to 1900?
  4. What kinds of statistics were used in discussing the mineral resources of England, Germany, France, and the United States?
  5. The birth-rate in France in the last twenty-five years.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-Year Examination Papers, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume, Mid-year Examination Papers, 1901-02. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (January 1902).

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ECONOMICS 17
Year-end Examination
1901-1902

  1. State four economic reasons for the imperial federation movement in Great Britain.
  2. Analyze the principal characteristics of British foreign trade, comparing it with Germany.
  3. When and why did Germany change from a free trade to a protectionist country, and what had Prince Bismarck to do with the movement?
  4. How do the Agrarian demands in the present tariff discussion in Germany compare with those of a generation ago?
  5. Outline the present status of France, in respect of population, industry, and foreign trade.
  6. What are some of the international industrial combinations?
  7. What are the main features of the E. J. Smith type of industrial combinations in Great Britain?
  8. Compare Germany and Austro-Hungary in respect of the industrial combination movement.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1902-03. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (June 1902).

Image Source: Political Map of Europe, ca. 1890 in Wikimedia Commons.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Final exams for history of economics up through Ricardo. Mixter, 1901-1902

 

With Edward Cummings and William J. Ashley gone and Frank W. Taussig on a medical leave-of-absence, the Harvard economics department had to scramble to cover its course offerings in 1901-02. The course on the history of economics up through the early nineteenth century was then taught by Harvard economics Ph.D. alumnus, Charles W. Mixter. His semester final examinations questions have been transcribed below.

In an earlier post we find the exams from 1900-01 when William J. Ashley last taught the course at Harvard.

The immediately preceding post provides us with a student’s POV of University of Vermont Professor Charles W. Mixter in the classroom. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Charles Whitney Mixter
(b. Sept. 23, 1869 in Chelsea, MA;
d. Oct. 21, 1936 in Washington, D.C.)

A.B. Johns Hopkins University (Md.), 1892; A.M. Harvard University, 1893; 1897 Harvard Ph.D.

Thesis title: Overproduction and overaccumulation: a study in the history of economic theory.

Edited Work

John Rae. The Sociological Theory of Capital, being a complete reprint of the New Principles of Political Economy, 1834Edited with biographical sketch and notes by Charles Whitney Mixter, Ph.D., Professor of Political Economy in the University of Vermont. New York: Macmillan, 1905.

OBITUARY
The Burlington Free Press (Oct. 22, 1936), p. 14

Charles Whitney Mixter, for nine years a member of the University of Vermont faculty, died at a hospital in Washington, D. C., on Tuesday evening. [October 20]

Dr. Mixter was born in Chelsea, Mass., in 1867. He received his early education at Thayer Academy and Williston Seminary, and received his A.B. degree from John Hopkins University in 1892.

This was followed by graduate studies at Berlin, Goettingen and Harvard, from which he received his doctorate in 1897. Then followed a series of teaching positions: Assistant in economics at Harvard, 1897-98; Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., 1899-1900; instructor in economics, Harvard, 1901-1903; professor of economics, University of Vermont, 1903-1912.

Then Dr. Mixter served as efficiency expert for Towne and Yale at New Haven, Conn., and later for several manufacturing concerns in New Hampshire. For a year he was professor of economics at Clark University, and for a brief period he was an investigator in the service of the United States Chamber of Commerce.

For the last 13 years he had been connected with the tariff commission in Washington.

Professor Mixter had an unusually fertile mind, was an accomplished scholar in his special field, and widely read in related subjects. he became an enthusiastic student of scientific management introduced by the late Frederick W. Taylor and an active exponent of the system. He was a member of the leading economic organizations and a frequent contributor to economic journals.

He was a strong advocate of free trade. Interment was made in Plymouth, Mass.

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ECONOMICS 15
Course Description
1901-02

Primarily for Graduates

[Economics] 15. The History and Literature of Economics, to the opening of the Nineteenth Century.
Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 12. Professor Ashley.

The course of economic speculation will here be followed, in its relation alike to the general movement of contemporary thought and to contemporary social conditions. The lectures will consider the economic theories of Plato and Aristotle; the economic ideas underlying Roman law; the medieval church and the canonist doctrine; mercantilism in its diverse forms; “political arithmetic”; the origin of the belief in natural rights and its influence on economic thought; the Physiocratic doctrine; the beginnings of academic instruction in economics; the work and influence of Adam Smith; the doctrine of population as presented by Malthus; and the Ricardian doctrine of distribution.

The lectures will be interrupted from time to time for the examination of selected portions of particular authors; and careful study will be given to portions of Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Politics (in translation), to Mun’s England’s Treasure, Locke’s Consideration of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, certain Essays of Hume, Turgot’s Réflexions, and specified chapters of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, Malthus’ Essay, and Ricardo’s Principles. Students taking the course are expected to procure the texts of the chief authors considered, and to consult the following critical works: Ingram, History of Political Economy; Cossa, Introduction to the Study of Political Economy; Cannan, History of the Theories of Production and Distribution; Bonar, Philosophy and Political Economy; Böhm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest; Taussig, Wages and Capital.

Course 15 is open to those who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1. It is taken to advantage after Course 2, or contemporaneously with that Course.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science (June 21, 1901), University Publications, New Series, No. 16, p. 45.

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ECONOMICS 15
Enrollment
1901-02

Economics 15. Dr. Mixter. — The History and Literature of Economics to the opening of the Nineteenth Century.

Total 5: 3 Graduates, 2 Seniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 78.

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ECONOMICS 15
Mid-year Examination
1901-02

  1. Give an account of Aristotle on “the art of money-making”(χρηματιστική) as contrasted with “household management” (οἰκονομική); on the institution of private property.
  2. Why was economics little cultivated in classical times: in Ingram’s opinion; in your opinion?
  3. Where, in economic literature, do the following expressions occur, and what was meant by them: “City of pigs”; “Private Vices, Public Benefits”; “led by an invisible hand”?
  4. The chief distinction between man and the inferior animals consists in this: They are moved only by the immediate impressions of sense, and, as its impulses prompt, seek to gratify them from the objects before them, scarce regarding the future, or endeavoring from the experience of the past to provide against what is to come. Man, as he is endowed with reason,…” Who first expressed this thought? What use was made of it by a later writer?
  5. What passage in the Wealth of Nations has frequently been quoted as giving a concise statement of the author’s theory of the law of profits? What is the usual criticism of this passage? What your own criticism?
  6. Many writers have held that the increase of capital lessens at the same time the demand for the products of capital, since savings are made by curtailing one’s consumption. Show the fallacy of this contention?
  7. State the doctrine of wages in the Wealth of Nations, bringing out the contrast with the pre-Smithian doctrine.
  8. What are Adam Smith’s four “maxims” or canons of taxation, and what his position on “Taxes upon Profit, or upon the Revenue arising from Stock”?
  9. Comment on the leading arguments of the chapter, “Of Restraints upon the Importation from foreign Countries of such Goods as can be produced at Home.”
  10. What are the “Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon the real Price of Manufactures”? What is the significance of this doctrine in the history of economic opinion?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-Year Examination Papers, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume, Mid-year Examination Papers, 1901-02. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (January 1902).

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ECONOMICS 15
Year-end Examination
1901-02

  1. Who were they and what do they stand for: Nicholas Oresme, Acquinas, Thomas Mun, Boisguillebert, Turgot, Gournay?
  2. What was the general advance in economic thought during the century preceding the publication of the Wealth of Nations?
  3. Comment upon Jones’ „Primitive Political Economy in England” and Schmoller’s Mercantile System.
  4. Give a critical account of the history of opinion on the subjet of lending money at interest.
  5. Sketch in outline the history of the theory of “natural law” and indicate the way in which it came in contact with economics.
  6. What part of the teaching of the Physiocrats do you consider to have helped forward economic science, and what part to have been of little or no use?
  7. What was “Political Arithmetic”?
  8. Give a brief account of :–
    1. Speculation on the subject of population before Malthus.
    2. The Malthusian doctrine, its purpose, its content, the argument put forward in its support.
    3. The bearing of Rae’s principle of “the effective desire of offspring” upon the Malthusian doctrine.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1902-03. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (June 1902).

Image Source: Harvard University Archives. Hollis Images. College Yard, ca. 1900.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Final exam questions for Socialism and Communism. Carver and Bushée, 1901-1902

Thomas Nixon Carver was originally hired to beef up the economic theory side of the Harvard curriculum but soon found himself holding an instructional portfolio that included sociology, schemes of social reform (i.e. socialism and communism), and agricultural economics. The fields of sociology and socialism were briefly left fallow when Edward Cummings resigned to become the minister at Boston’s South Congregational Church before Carver joined the faculty in 1900.

Artifacts included below are a thick course description, enrollment figures, and the final exam questions for the half-year course “Socialism and Communism” that was co-taught by assistant professor Thomas Nixon Carver and Frederick Bushée during the Fall term of 1901-02.

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Material from earlier years: Exams and enrollment figures for economics of socialism and communism taught by Edward Cummings, 1893-1900.

Material from later years: Thomas Nixon Carver (1920), Edward S. Mason (1929), Paul Sweezy (1940), Wassily Leontief  (1942-43), Joseph Schumpeter (1943-44), and Overton Hume Taylor (1955).

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Socialism and Communism
1901-02

ECONOMICS 141
For Undergraduates and Graduates

Socialism and Communism. Half course (first half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Asst. Professor Carver.

Course 14 begins with an historical study of socialistic and communistic writing and agitation. This is followed by a critical examination of socialistic theories as presented in the works of representative socialists. The purpose is to get a clear understanding of the economic reasoning that lies at the base of socialistic contentions and of the economic and social conditions which make such reasoning acceptable to socialists. Attention will be given largely to the reading of Marx’s Capital, but parts of the writings of other expounders of socialism will also be read.

Course 14 is open to those who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1; but it is to the advantage of students to take or to have taken either Course 2 or Course 3.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science (June 21, 1901), University Publications, New Series, No. 16, p. 37.

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Economics 14
(Carver and Bushée)
1901-1902 Syllabus

Previously posted: https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-socialism-communism-carver-bushee-1901/

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Enrollment 1901-02
Economics 141

Economics 141 hf. Asst. Professor Carver and Mr. Bushée. — Socialism and Communism.

Total 27: 5 Graduates, 14 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 3 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.

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Semester Final Examination
1901-02

ECONOMICS 14

Write on the following topics.

  1. The definition of Socialism and its relation to competition
  2. Fourier’s plan of social organization.
  3. Lassalle’s place in the socialistic movement.
  4. Marx’s theory of the evolution of society.
  5. Marx’s theory of value.
  6. Marx’s theory of interest.
  7. How does Bernstein’s theory differ from that of Marx?
  8. The problem which George set out to solve and his solution of it.
  9. George’s theory of interest.
  10. The origin and early development of the German Social Democratic Labor Party.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-Year Examination Papers, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume, Mid-year Examination Papers, 1901-02. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (January 1902). Also included in Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1902-03. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (June 1902).

Image Sources:

Thomas Nixon Carver (left). The World’s Work. Vol. XXVI (May-October 1913) p. 127.

Frederick Alexander Bushée (right). Detail from portrait in the University of Colorado Archives. Charles Snow photograph of Professor Bushee (March 30 1921). Detail reproduced in the 1924 University of Colorado Yearbook.

Both portraits colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final exam for graduate economics course on methods. Carver, 1902

 

This post resumes the systematic transcribing of Harvard economics exam questions year-by-year and course-by-course. Today we visit young Thomas Nixon Carver‘s graduate methods course (incidentally attended by zero graduate students during the second semester of the 1901-02 academic year). The recently hired assistant professor found Frank Taussig’s methods course dropped into his lap when the latter went on a two year leave for personal health reasons (Schumpeter called it recovery from a “nervous breakdown”, i.e., Taussig almost certainly suffered from clinical depression).

Carver’s exam questions from 1900-01 for the course have been previously posted.

Fun fact with supporting image: While a graduate student at Cornell, Thomas Nixon Carver rowed on the varsity crew. He is seen sitting on the far left in the yearbook image posted above.

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Methods of Economic Investigation
[2nd half-year, 1901-1902]

Primarily for Graduates

[Economics] 13. Methods of Economic Investigation. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Asst. Professor Carver.

Course 13 will examine the methods by which the important writers of modern times have approached economic questions, and the range which they have given their inquiries; and will consider the advantage of different methods, and the expediency of a wider or narrower scope of investigation. These inquiries will necessarily include a consideration of the logic of the social sciences. Cairnes’ Logical Method of Political Economy and Keynes’ Scope and Method of Political Economy will be carefully examined. At the same time selected passages from the writings of Mill, Jevons, Marshall, and the Austrian writers will be studied, with a view to analyzing the nature and scope of the reasoning.

Course 13 is designed mainly for students who take or have taken Course 2 or Course 15; but it is open to mature students having a general acquaintance with economic theory.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science (June 21, 1901), University Publications, New Series, No. 16, pp. 45-46.

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Enrollment 1901-02

ECONOMICS 132

Economics 132 hf. Asst. Professor Carver. — Methods of Economic Investigation.

Total 5: 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 1 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 78.

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Semester Final Examination

ECONOMICS 13

Discuss the following topics.

  1. The relation of economics to history, to ethics, and to sociology.
  2. The division of economics into departments.
  3. Methods of reasoning, methods of investigation, and methods of exposition as distinguished from one another.
  4. The nature of an economic law.
  5. The methods of investigating the causes of poverty.
  6. The use of hypotheses in economic investigation.
  7. The application of mathematics to economics.
  8. The meaning of an economic quantity.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1902-03. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (June 1902).

Image Source: The Cornell varsity crew of 1894. Thomas Nixon Carver standing on the far left. The Cornellian 1895, p. 197.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Undergraduate

Harvard. Undergraduate courses taken by John F. Kennedy, Class of 1940

 

In an earlier post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror presented James Laurence Laughlin’s recollection of Theodore Roosevelt’s economics education at Harvard.

This post moves us forward to the graduate of the Class of 1940, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who it took the standard two term principles of economics followed by three semester courses in economics at Harvard. The future president was a concentrator in the government department which accounted for much more of his studies.

We begin with a complete list of the courses taken by Kennedy that is probably not untypical for your average government major except for maybe the junior semester abroad to England where his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., happened to be serving as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

As it turns out, material for three of the courses taken by Kennedy have already been transcribed and posted.

Economics A. Principles of Economics (1936-37).
Economics 11bEconomics of Socialism (2nd term, 1940).
Economics 62bIndustrial Organization and Control (2nd term, 1940).

To help complete the picture this post adds the final examination for Kennedy’s junior year course Economics 61a, The Corporation and its Regulation. The reading list for this course used in the following year (Kennedy’s senior year, 1939-40) has been transcribed and posted earlier.

Fun fact: Nobel prize economist and economic adviser to JFK, Professor James Tobin of Yale was a fellow student in the Principles of Economics course taken by Kennedy. Plot spoiler: Tobin got an A in Economics A.

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Undergraduate Courses Taken by John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Class of 1940

Note: Second term senior year courses are listed without a final grade because final examination were waived for the history, government, and economics division honors examination

JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY
S.B. cum laude June 20, 1940
Field of Concentration Government

Freshman year (1936-37)

English A. Rhetoric and English Composition, Oral and Written. (Not Required)

English 1. History and Development of English Literature in Outline. Professor Munn. (C)

Economics A. Principles of Economics. Professor Burbank. (B)

History 1. European History from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the Present Time. Professor Merriman. (C)

French F. Introduction to France. Professor Morize. (C)

Sophomore year (1937-38)

English F1. Public Speaking. Asst. Professor Packard. (C)

Fine Arts 1e. Interpretation of Selected Works of Art: an Introduction to Art History. Professor Koehler. (C)

Government 1. Modern Government. Professors Holcombe and Elliott. (C)

History 32a1. Continental Europe; 1815-1871. Professor Langer. (D)

History 32b2. Continental Europe; 1871-1914. Professor Langer. (C)

Government 302. New Factors in International Relations: Asia. Asst. Professor Hopper. (B)

Junior year (1938-39)

Economics 61a1. The Corporation and its Regulation. Professor Mason. (C)

English A-11. English Composition. Messrs. Davis, Gordan, Bailey and McCreary. (B)

Government 7a1. The National Government of the United States: Politics. Professor Holcombe. (B)

Government 9a1. State Government in the United States. Professor Hanford. (B)

Government 181. New Factors in International Relations: Europe. Associate Professor Hopper. (B)

History 551. History of Russia. Asst. Professor Karpovich. (B)

Second Term Leave of absence (England)

Senior year (1939-40)

Economics 11b2. Economics of Socialism. Dr. P. M. Sweezy.

Economics 62b2. Industrial Organization and Control. Professor Mason.

Government 3a1. Principles of Politics. Professor Elliott. (B)

Government 4. Elements of International Law. Associate Professor P. S. Wild. (B)

Government 22. Theses for Honors. Members of the Department. (B)

Government 8a1. Comparative Politics: Bureaucracy, Constitutional Government and Dictatorship. Professor Friedrich. (B)

Government 10a2. Government of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Professor Elliott.

Government 281. Modern Imperialism. Associate Professor Emerson. (B)

Source: John F. Kennedy Academic Record at Harvard.  John F. Kennedy Personal Papers, 1917-1963, Harvard University Files, 1917-1963/Academic Records 1939-1940; John F. Kennedy Harvard Course Transcript. John F. Kennedy Personal Papers, 1917-1963, Harvard University Files, 1917-1963/Course listing.

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The Corporation and its Regulation
First Semester 1938-39

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 61a 1hf. Professor Mason and Dr. P. M. Sweezy. — The Corporation and its Regulation.

Total 209: 2 Graduates, 57 Seniors, 110 Juniors, 29 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 10 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1938-39, p. 98.

Reading Period Assignment
January 5-18, 1939

Economics 61a: Read one of the following

  1. Larcom, R. C., The Delaware Corporation.
  2. Flynn, Security Speculation.
  3. Lowenthal, The Investor Pays.
  4. Gordon, Lincoln, The Public Corporation in Great Britain, omit pp. 156-244.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2. Folder “Economics,1938-1939”, Reading Period, p.3.

Final Examination (Mid-Year)

1938-39
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 61a1

PART I

Write a critical review of your reading period work (about one hour).

PART II
Answer two questions.

  1. Discuss the influence of depreciation policies in the determination of net income.
  2. In corporate reorganizations what considerations determine the priority of claims on the assets of the reorganized company?
  3. “The large corporation is a bureaucracy of much the same type as a government agency. As such it faces all the management problems faced by bureaucracy.” Discuss.

PART III
Answer two questions.

  1. “The only people who gain from the stock market are brokers and speculators. Corporations, investors and underwriters would be better off if there were no stock market.” Analyse this statement with respect to each class of person or institution named.
  2. Discuss the direction and significance of present trends in the ownership of securities in the United States.
  3. Write on either the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Describe the main problems with which the act in question is intended to deal, any previous efforts to solve these problems, and how the act proposes to solve them.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-Year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 13. Bound volume “Mid-Year Examinations 1939”.

Image Source: Harvard Class Album 1940.

Categories
Cornell Exam Questions Harvard Industrial Organization Labor

Harvard. Exams for labor economics and industrial organization. Durand, 1902

This post adds to the growing collection of transcribed course examinations from the Harvard economics department. The “labor question” and “problems of industrial organization” courses were taught during the second semester of 1901-1902 by a visiting instructor hired by the department, E. Dana Durand. In the Harvard Archive’s collection of course syllabi and reading lists I found a four page printed leaflet, “Systems of Agreements and Arbitration”, from Durand’s labor course. It is added to this post.

Archival Tip: 5 manuscript boxes for Edward Dana Durand (1885-1959) are found at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa.

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Backstory

Following the resignation of Edward Cummings in the summer of 1900, William Franklin Willoughby was hired for the year (1900-1901). The exams for Willoughby’s Economics 9 courses for 1900-01 have been transcribed earlier. 

William Franklin Willoughby, Instructor in Economics, resigned, effective September 1, 1901.

Source. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1900-1901, p. 290.

Temporarily taking the Cummings/Willoughby courses next was Edward Dana Durand who was appointed Instructor in Economics, December 2, 1901.

Source. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 319.

Durand was also appointed for the first term of 1902-1903.

Source. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 321.

Along with material for his first semester course taught 1902-03 on taxation, you will find some additional information about Durand’s life and career in this earlier post

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Short Biography
from U.S. Census Bureau

Edward Dana Durand (Director, 1909-1913): Durand was born, in 1871, in Romeo, Michigan. When he was still a child, however, his parents moved to a homestead in South Dakota. Durand attended Yankton College for one year before transferring to Oberlin College. He received a Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1896. After receiving his doctorate, Durand moved between several government and academic positions until 1909, when he became deputy commissioner of corporations. Later that year, President Taft appointed him the new director of the census. He replaced Samuel North, who had left after repeated clashes with the secretary of commerce and labor, and took over the Census Bureau well into the planning process for the 1910 census.

Durand concentrated much of his energy on improving the preparation of census reports. He pioneered several lasting innovations in the presentation of data at the Census Bureau. For example, Durand introduced the publication of state-level reports and the early release in press releases of statistics for which there was the greatest demand (such as the total population of individual cities, states, and the United States population). These releases were be followed by bulletins, abstracts, and final reports with greater detail.

After leaving the Census Bureau in 1913, Durand eventually took a place on the U.S. Tariff Commission, where he served from 1935 until his retirement in 1952. He died in 1960.

Source: United States Census Bureau website. Webpage Directors 1909-1921.

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Course Enrollment
for Economics 9

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

[Economics] 9 2hf. Dr. Durand. — The Labor Question in Europe and the United States.

Total 116: 5 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 46 Juniors, 32 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 12 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.

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Course Description
Economics 9

[Economics] 92 hf. The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Mr. [William Franklin] Willoughby.

Course 9 is chiefly concerned with problems growing out of the relations of labor and capital in the United States and European countries. There is careful study of the methods of industrial remuneration — the wages system, profit sharing, sliding scales and collective bargaining; of the various forms of coöperation; of labor organizations; of factory legislation and the legal status of laborers and labor organizations; of state and private efforts for the prevention and adjustment of industrial disputes; of employer’s liability and compulsory compensation acts; of the insurance of workingmen against accidents, sickness, old age, and invalidity; of provident institutions, such as savings banks, friendly societies and fraternal benefit orders; of the problem of the unemployed.

While the treatment will necessarily be descriptive to a considerable extent, the emphasis will be laid on the interpretation of the movements considered with a view to determining their causes and consequences, and the merits, defects, and possibilities of existing reform movements.

A systematic course of reading will be required, and topics will be assigned for special investigation.

The course is open not only to students who have taken Course 1, but to Juniors and Seniors who are taking Course 1

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902, Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901), p. 40.

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ECONOMICS 9
SYSTEMS OF AGREEMENTS AND ARBITRATION.

Agreements at present existing between the Stove Founders’ National Defense Association and the Iron Moulders’ Union of North America.

Conference, 1891. — Whereas there has heretofore existed a sentiment that the members of the Stove Founders’ National Defense Association and the members of the Iron Moulders’ Union of North America were necessary enemies, and in consequence a mutual dislike and distrust of each other and of their respective organizations has arisen, provoking and stimulating strife and ill-will, resulting in severe pecuniary loss to both parties; now this conference is held for the purpose of cultivating a more intimate knowledge of each other’s persons, methods, aims, and objects, believing that thereby friendly regard and respect may be engendered, and such agreements reached as will dispel all inimical sentiments, prevent further strife, and promote the material and moral interests of all parties concerned.

Clause 1, conference 1891.Resolved, That this meeting adopt the principle of arbitration in the settlement of any dispute between the members of the I. M. U. of N. A. and the members of the S. F. N. D. A.

Clause 2, conference 1891. — That a conference committee be formed, consisting of six members, three of whom shall be stove moulders appointed by the Iron Moulders’ Union of North America and three persons appointed by the S. F. N. D. A., all to hold their offices from May 1 to April 30 of each year.

Clause 3, conference 1891. — Whenever there is a dispute between a member of the S. F. N. D. A. and the moulders in his employ (when a majority of the latter are members of the I. M. U.), and it can not be settled amicably between them, it shall be referred to the presidents of the two associations before named, who shall themselves or by delegates give it due consideration. If they can not decide it satisfactorily to themselves, they may, by mutual agreement, summon the conference committee, to whom the dispute shall be referred, and whose decision by a majority vote shall be final and binding upon each party for the term of twelve months.

Pending adjudication by the presidents and conference committee, neither party to the dispute shall discontinue operations, but shall proceed with business in the ordinary manner. In case of a vacancy in the committee of conference it shall be filled by the association originally nominating. No vote shall be taken except by a full committee or by an even number of each party.

Clause 4, conference 1892. — Apprentices should be given every opportunity to learn all the details in the trade thoroughly, and should be required to serve four years. Any apprentice leaving his employer before the termination of his apprenticeship should not be permitted to work in any foundry under the jurisdiction of the I. M. U. of N. A., but should be required to return to his employer. An apprentice should not be admitted to membership in the I. M. U. of N. A until he has served his apprenticeship and is competent to command the average wages. Each apprentice in the last year of his apprenticeship should be given a floor between two journeymen moulders, and they, with the foreman, should pay special attention to his mechanical education in all classes of work.

Clause 5, conference 1892. — The general rate of moulders’ wages should be established for each year without change.

Clause 6, conference 1892. — When the members of the Defense Association shall desire a general reduction in the rate of wages or the Iron Moulders’ Union an advance, they shall each give the other notice at least thirty days before the end of each year, which shall commence on the first day of April. If no such notice be given, the rate of wages current during the year shall be the rate in force for the succeeding year.

Clause 7, conference 1892. — The present established price of work in any shop should be the basis for the determination of the price of new work of similar character and grade.

Clause 8, conference 1892. — Any existing inequality in present prices of molding in a foundry or between two or more foundries should be adjusted as soon as practicable upon the basis set forth in the foregoing paragraphs, by mutual agreement or by the decision of the adjustment committee provided by the conference of March, 1891.

Clause 9, conference 1896. — Firms composing the membership of the S. F. N. D. A. should furnish in their respective foundries a book containing the piece prices for moulding, the same to be placed in the hands of a responsible person.

Clause 10, conference 1896. — New work should always be priced within a reasonable time, and under ordinary circumstances two weeks is considered a reasonable time, and such prices, when decided upon, should be paid from the date the work was put in the sand.

Clause 11, conference 1896. — The members of the S. F. N. D. A. shall furnish to their molders: Shovels, riddles, rammers, brushes, facing bags, and strike-off; provided, however, that they charge actual cost of tools so furnished, and collect for the same, adopting some method of identification; and when a moulder abandons the shop, or requires a new tool in place of one so furnished, he shall, upon the return of the old tools, be allowed the full price charged, without deducting for ordinary wear; any damage beyond ordinary wear to be deducted from amount to be refunded.

Clause 12, conference 1896. — When there is a bad heat, causing dull iron, the foreman’s attention shall be called to it, and payment shall be made for work that is lost from this cause only when poured by foreman’s order, or person next in authority.

If sufficient iron is not furnished the moulder to pour off his work, and such work has to remain over, he shall be paid for such work remaining over at one half the regular price.

These rules shall apply excepting in case of break down of machinery or other unavoidable accident, when no allowance shall be made.

Clause 13, conference 1898. — Whenever a difficulty arises between a member of the S. F. N. D. A. (whose foundry does not come under the provisions of clause 3, 1891 conference) and the moulders employed by him, and said difficulty can not be amicably settled between the member and his employees, it shall be submitted for adjudication to the presidents of the two organizations, or their representatives, without prejudice to the employees presenting said grievance.

Clause 14, conference 1898. — In pricing moulding on new stoves, when there are no comparative stoves made in the shop, the prices shall be based upon competitive stores made in the district, thorough comparison and proper consideration being given to the merits of the work according to labor involved.

Form of agreement adopted and recommended by the National Association of Builders to secure the establishment of arbitration committees, with plan of organization of the same, for the use of associations of employers and associations of workmen in all branches of the building trade.

Agreement.

For the purpose of establishing a method of peacefully settling all questions of mutual concern [name of organization of employers] and [name of organization of employees] severally and jointly agree that no such question shall be conclusively acted upon by either body independently, but shall be referred for settlement to a joint committee, which committee shall consist of an equal number of representatives from each association; and also agree that all such questions shall be settled by our own trade, without intervention of any other trade whatsoever.

The parties hereto agree to abide by the findings of this committee on all matters of mutual concern referred to it by either party. It is understood and agreed by both parties that in no event shall strikes and lockouts be permitted, but all differences shall be submitted to the joint committee, and work shall proceed without stoppage or embarrassment.

The parties hereto also agree that they will incorporate with their respective constitutions and by-laws such clauses as will make recognition of this joint agreement a part of the organic law of their respective associations. The joint committee above referred to is hereby created and established, and the following rules adopted for its guidance:—

Organization or joint and rules for its government.

  1. This committee shall consist of not less than six members, equally divided between the associations represented, and an umpire, to be chosen by the committee at their annual meeting, and as the first item of their business after organization. This umpire must be neither a journeyman craftsman nor an employer of journey-men. He shall preside at meetings of the committee when necessary.
  2. The members of this committee shall be elected annually by their respective associations at their regular meetings for the election of officers.
  3. The duty of this committee shall be to consider such matters of mutual interest and concern to the employers and the workmen as may be regularly referred to it by either of the parties to this agreement, transmitting its conclusions thereon to each association for its government.
  4. A regular annual meeting of the committee shall be held during the month of January, at which meeting the special business shall be the establishment of “working rules” for the ensuing year; these rules to guide and govern employers and workmen, and to comprehend such particulars as rate or wages per hour, number of hours to he worked, payment for overtime, payment for Sunday work, government of apprentices, and similar questions of joint concern.
  5. Special meetings shall be held when either of the parties hereto desire to submit any question to the committee for settlement.
  6. For the proper conduct of business, a chairman shall be chosen at each meeting, but he shall preside only for the meeting at which he is so chosen. The duty of the chairman shall be that usually incumbent on a presiding officer.
  7. A clerk shall be chosen at the annual meeting to serve during the year. His duty shall be to call all regular meetings, and to call special meetings when officially requested so to do by either body party hereto. He shall keep true and accurate record of the meetings, transmit all findings to the association interested, and attend to the usual duties of the office.
  8. A majority vote shall decide all questions. In case of the absence of any member, the president of the association by which he was appointed shall have the right to vote for him. The umpire shall have casting vote in case of tie.

Clauses to be incorporated with by-laws of parties to joint agreement.

A. All members of this association do by virtue of their membership recognize and assent to the establishment of a joint committee of arbitration (under a regular form of agreement and governing rules), by and between this body and the ______, for the peaceful settlement of all matters of mutual concern to the two bodies and the members thereof.

B. This organization shall elect at its annual meeting ______ delegates to the said joint committee, of which the president of this association shall be one, officially notifying within three days thereafter the said ______ of the said action and of the names of the delegates elected.

C. The duty of the delegates thus elected shall be to attend all meetings the said joint committee, and they must be governed in this action by the rules jointly adopted by this association and the said ______.

D. No amendments shall be made to these special claims, A, B, C, and D, of these by-laws, except by concurrent vote of this association with the said ______, and only atter six months’ notice of proposal to so amend.

Rules for the Year 1900

Boston, February 8, 1900.

The Mason Builders’ Association of Boston and vicinity has, through the joint committee on arbitration, made the following agreement with Bricklayers’ Unions Nos. 3 and 27 of Boston and vicinity, as follows:—

  1. Hours of labor. — During the year not more than eight (8) hours’ labor shall be required in the limits of the day, except it be as overtime, with payment of same as provided for.
  2. Working hours. — The working hours shall be from 8 A.M. to 12 M. (one hour for dinner during February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October). During November, December, and January it shall be optional with the men on jobs whether they work half hour at noon and quit at 4.30 p.m.
  3. Night gangs. — Eight hours shall constitute a night’s labor. When two gangs are employed, working hours to be from 8 p.m. to 12 m. and from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Where regular night gangs are employed, from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday morning, the minimum rate shall be paid.
  4. Overtime. — Except in cases of emergency no work shall be done between the hours of 5 and 8 a.m. and 5 and 6 p.m. Overtime to be paid for as time and one half, except the hour between 5 and 6 p.m. which shall be paid for as double time, but this section as to double time is not to be taken advantage of to secure a practical operation of a 9-hour day.
  5. Holiday time. — Sundays, Fourth of July, Labor Day, and Christmas Day are to be considered as holidays, and work done on either of these days is to be paid for as double time.
  6. Wages. — The minimum rate of wages shall be forty-five (45) cents per hour.
  7. That the bricklayers shall be paid their wages on or before 5 p.m. on the regular pay day.
  8. If an employee is laid off on account of a lack of material, or for other causes, or is discharged, and if said employee demands his wages, intending to seek other employment, he shall receive his money.
  9. The business agent of the Bricklayers’ Union shall be allowed to visit all jobs during working hours to interview the steward of the job.
  10. In the opinion of the joint committee the best interests of the employing masons demand that all journeymen bricklayers shall belong to the Bricklayers’ Union. Therefore preference of employment shall be given to union bricklayers by the members of the Mason Builders’ Association.

Issued by order of the joint committee on arbitration.

John T. Healy, Secretary of Committee.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1. Folder “Economics, 1901-1902”.

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ECONOMICS 9
Final Examination
(1902)

  1. Discuss the charge that labor organizations, by fixing a standard rate of wages, injure both the most efficient and the least efficient workmen.
  2. How far do labor organizations enforce restrictions upon the number of apprentices? Give fully one reason for and one against the justice of this policy of restriction.
  3. Describe fully but in general terms the more systematic process of collective bargaining, as practiced, for example, by the coal miners or the glass workers.
  4. Distinguish the two chief classes of boycotts. What do you think of their justice and legality, and why?
  5. What in a broad war has been the movement of nominal and real wages in the United States since 1870, and since 1890? Name three leading sources of information as to wage statistics.
  6. State briefly four causes which contribute to the evils of the “sweating system.” Discuss one thoroughly.
  7. Give briefly three arguments in favor of the eight hour day, and criticise one fully.
  8. Describe the existing legislation regarding child labor, in the United States and England.
  9. Has the employment of women in gainful occupations increased in the United States, or not, and why? Give three reasons why the wages of women average less than those of men.
  10. What is the doctrine of the common law in the United States regarding the liability of employers for injuries to employees by their fellow servants? What do you think of this doctrine, and why?
  11. Distinguish three main forms of coöperation. What degree of success has each attained in the United States, and England (statistics unnecessary)?
  12. State the leading arguments in favor of further restriction of immigration.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1902-03. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College (June, 1902), pp. 28-29.

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Course Enrollment
for Economics 9a

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

[Economics] 9a 2hf. Dr. Durand. — Problems of Industrial Organization

Total 45: 5 Graduates, 19 Seniors, 12 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.

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Course Description
Economics 9a

9a2 hf. Problems of Industrial Organization. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Mr. [William Franklin] Willoughby.

This course will give a critical study of modern industry with special reference to the efficiency of production and the relations existing between employers and employees. The actual organization of industrial enterprises will first be considered. Under this head will be treated such subjects as corporations, the factory system, the concentration and integration of industry, and the trust problem in all its phases. Following this, or in connection with it, will be studied the effect of the modern organization of industry, and changes now taking place, upon efficiency of production, stability of employment, and industrial depressions. Careful attention will be given to the relations existing between employers and employees, and the functions of organizations of both classes. Finally will be considered the position of the individual under the present system, – his preparation for a trade through apprenticeship, technical education, or otherwise; his opportunities for advancement: his economic independence. Conditions in Europe as well as in the United States will be shown.

Topics will be assigned for special investigation, and the results of such inquiries will be considered in class.

This course is open to students who have taken Course 1, and it is desirable that they shall have taken Course 9 as well.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902, Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901), pp. 40-41.

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ECONOMICS 9a
Final Examination
(1902)

  1. Discuss methods by which corporation stockholders may be defrauded by officers, directors, and other stockholders.
  2. What form and degree of publicity would you think desirable to require from great corporations, and why?
  3. Describe a typical case of the methods of promoting, capitalizing, and floating the securities of a modern industrial combination.
  4. Describe the trust form of combination and contrast it with two leading forms of combination in single corporations.
  5. Discuss the relation of the principle of increasing returns to monopoly, distinguishing between possible meanings of the phrase.
  6. Discuss economies from the integration of plants performing different processes into a single corporation. How far do such economies tend toward monopoly?
  7. Define four unfair advantages or unfair methods of competition which may strengthen a combination, and discuss one fully.
  8. What do you think of reduction of the tariff as a remedy for abuses by industrial combinations, and why?
  9. and 10. Discuss fully the character and scope of such Federal legislation regarding corporations and combinations as seems to you desirable.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1902-03. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College (June, 1902), p. 29.

Image Source: E. Dana Durand. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Washington, D.C. 20540.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Money and Banking

Harvard. Money, Banking, and International Payments. Exams. Andrew, Sprague, Meyer 1901-1902

 

 

The reading list for the first semester (4 pages) of the money, banking, and international payments course taught at Harvard in 1901-02 along with some biographical information for one of the instructors, Abram Piatt Andrew, has been posted earlier.

While I have not found a reading list for the second semester of the course, it is safe to assume that the enlarged second edition of  Dunbar’s Chapters on the Theory and History of Banking, edited by O.M.W. Sprague (1901) was assigned as the primary text. 

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Course Enrollment

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

[Economics] 8. Drs. [Abram Piatt] Andrew [Jr.] and [Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] Sprague, and Mr. [Hugo Richard] Meyer. — Money, Banking and International Payments.

Total 78: 5 Graduates, 35 Seniors, 30 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 78.

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Course Description

  1. Money, Banking, and International Payments. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Drs. Andrew and Sprague, and Mr. Meyer.

The first part of the year will be devoted to a general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory. The course will begin with a history of the precious metals, which will be connected, in so far as possible, with the history of prices, and with the historical development of theories as to the causes underlying the value of money. The course of monetary legislation in the principal countries will be followed, with especial attention to its relation to the bimetallic controversy; but the experiences of various countries with paper money will also be reviewed, and the influence of such issues upon wages, prices, and trade examined. Some attention, moreover, will be given in this connection to the non-monetary means of payment and to the large questions of monetary theory arising from their use.

The second part of the course will begin with an historical account of the development of banking. Existing legislation and practice in various countries will be analyzed and compared. The course of the money markets of New York, London, Paris, and Berlin will be followed during a series of months, and the various factors, such as stock exchange operations and foreign exchange payments, which bring about fluctuations in the demand for loans and the rate of discount upon them, will be considered. The relations of banks to commercial crises will also be analyzed, the crises of 1857 and 1893 being taken for detailed study.

The course will conclude with a discussion of the movement of goods, securities, and money, in the exchanges between nations and in the settlement of international demands. After a preliminary study of the general doctrine of international trade, it is proposed to make a close examination of some cases of payments on a great scale, and to trace the adjustments of imports and exports under temporary or abnormal financial conditions. Such examples as the payment of the indemnity by France to Germany after the war of 1870-71, the distribution of gold by the mining countries, and the movements of the foreign trade of the United States since 1879, will be used for the illustration of the general principles regulating exchanges and the distribution of money between nations.

Course 8 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1. With the consent of the instructors, it may be taken by Seniors and Graduates as a half-course in either half-year.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902, Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901), pp. 42-43.

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Mid-year Examination, 1901-02
ECONOMICS 8

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
Omit one question.

  1. Describe and illustrate with two examples (giving approximate dates): (a) the double standard, (b) the limping standard, (c) the parallel standard, (d) the single standard.
  2. Explain some of the different motives which in earlier centuries led to the debasement of the coins, and show the measure of their justification.
  3. Show how the levying of a seignorage will affect the value of money (a) if the owner of bullion is given back the same number of coins but of lighter weight, (b) if he receives fewer coins but of the same weight.
  4. During the entire century which preceded England’s adoption of gold as her single standard, less than one million pounds sterling of silver were issued from her mints, while in a period of less than a hundred years since then the silver coinage has amounted to fifty millions.
    How do you explain (a) the small amount of silver coined before its “demonetization”? (b) the larger amount coined subsequently?
  5. Before 1873 the United States had coined only about eight million silver dollars ($8,031,238) but since that year, which is often assumed to mark the beginning of demonetization, we have coined over five hundred millions ($522,795,065).
    Explain these two facts.
  6. “No experiment of bimetallism has ever been inaugurated under circumstances more favorable for its success… No fairer field for its trial could have been found.” Describe the conditions under which bimetallism was tried in the United States, and give your opinion of the passage quoted as a characterization of American monetary history.
  7. “Inasmuch as gold [before 1848] was more valuable in the market than at the French mint, relatively to silver, it was impossible that gold should circulate in France.”
    Is this a necessary conclusion?
  8. What does Darwin mean by the labor standard? By the commodity standard? Explain the merits claimed for each, and show the exemplification of the two standards in the history of the precious metals between 1873 and 1896.
  9. What were the reasons which induced Europe to abandon the free coinage of silver during the seventies (a) according to Laughlin? (b) according to Walker? (c) in your own opinion?
  10. State the factors that increased India’s power to purchase in the international markets in the period from 1850 to 1870, and explain what use India made of that increased power, together with the reasons for the use made.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-years 1901-1902.

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Year-end Examination, 1901-02
ECONOMICS 8

  1. The strength or weakness of the United States in the so-called struggle for the world’s stock of gold.
  2. Applying Mill’s reasoning upon international trade to the situation in the United States, state what you would expect to be the course of prices of imports and exports in the years immediately following.
  3. Why is long exchange quoted at lower rates than sight exchange? If sight is $4.84 and long $4.80, what will be the effect (1) of a reduction of 1% in English rates for money? (2) of the increase of the price of eagles at the Bank of England?
  4. New York Bank Statement, May 31, 1902:—
Loans

$855.60

Increase

15.1

Deposits

$948.30

Increase

16.6

Reserve

$249.00

Increase

1.8

Complete the statement and explain the probable reasons for the increase of deposits and reserve.

  1. Comment on the following: —
    1. 3 per Mills against us.
    2. Bank statement based on falling averages.
    3. U.S. Bond account.
    4. National gold banks.
    5. Recepisse.
  2. Discuss the following:—
    1. The limitation of note issue to capital.
    2. The retirement of the legal tender notes as an essential part of any plan for an asset currency.
  3. Compare the safety fund and the free banking systems of New York.
  4. Regulations of the national banking system other than those of note issue.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1902-03. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College (June, 1902), p. 28.

Image Sources:
Left to right: Andrew (Harvard Classbook 1906, p. 6), Sprague (Harvard Classbook 1912), Meyer, The Minneapolis Messenger, October 12, 1905, Page 4, from Wikipedia.