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Harvard. Principles of Accounting. Course description, enrollment, and final exam. W.M. Cole, 1902-1903

As the course description clearly indicates, this undergraduate accounting course was offered by the economics department for those Harvard students planning a business career. At the time accounting was seen to be a kissing cousin to statistics and both essentially amounted to a hill of bean-counting.

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Description of Economics 18
First term, 1902-03

  1. 1hf. *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. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science  [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.

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Enrollment in Economics 18
First term, 1902-03

Economics 18. 1hf. Mr. W. M. Cole. — The Principles of Accounting.

Total 46: 1 Gr., 28 Se., 11 Ju., 3 So., 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.

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Final Exam in Economics 18
First term, 1902-03

ECONOMICS 18
  1. Under normal conditions, on which side of a ledger — debit or credit — will appear the balance of the following accounts? In each case, state why you think as you do.

Bills Receivable.
Bills Payable.
Capital Stock.
Expense.
Accounts Payable.

  1. What should be debited and what credited after each of the following transactions?
    1. Buying on credit, at the first of the year, stationery expected to last eight months.
    2. Paying for that stationery by issuing a note.
    3. Paying that note.
    4. Exchanging that stationery at cost (none being used) for merchandise.
    5. Selling that merchandise at cost and receiving a note in payment.
    6. Collecting cash for the note.
      Now what is the net result, upon ledger balances, of all these transactions?
  2. Of the following transactions what would be the ultimate effect upon a railroad balance sheet? Designate, in each case, on which side of the balance sheet, and in what items, the change would appear.
    1. The issue of new capital stock and the use of the proceeds for new (additional) equipment.
    2. A conversion of bonds into stock.
    3. A distribution of accumulated profits of the past in the form of a scrip dividend which is converted into stock.
    4. A reduction in the valuation (set by the company in its own books) of stocks and bonds owned.
    5. Watering stock to represent supposed increase in earning capacity.
  3. In the middle of a business year, July 1, the sole proprietor of a store dies suddenly. You, as his executor, must determine the exact worth of his business. The trial balance of July 1 is given you. Can you get all needed information from that trial balance? If not, what is lacking? State just what you would do to determine the worth of the business. If you can explain best by figures, assume arbitrary figures (not necessarily reasonable) and proceed with those as a basis. Processes, rather than results, are to be shown.
  4. In cases of depreciation, one of at least three courses is open to the managers. State what are the three, and show how each is treated in the accounts.
  5. The following is a page of a book:–
Jan. 1 Balance 1,547.30
A. Andrews His invoice, Dec. 1 615.10
Bills receivable No. 127 paid 500.00
Bills payable No. 19 discounted 1,000.00
Merchandise Cash sales 173.28
Jan. 2 Bills receivable No. 116 paid 123.50
Insurance Premium ret’d on policy 73.23
Jan. 3 Bills receivable No. 139 paid 312.26
Bills receivable 935.76 935.76
Cash, Dr. 2,797.37 2,797.37
4,344.67

Explain fully what transactions are here recorded. What postings should be made, and to which side of each account? If any figures are not to be posted, why not?

  1. Can all the accounts of a business be nominal? Why, or why not?
    Can all the accounts of a business be real? Why, or why not?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).
Also included in Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

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

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Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Reading Lists for Second Semester Graduate Economic Theory. Arrow, Bewley, Oniki, 1972

Kenneth Arrow, one day before turning 90 years old

It’s been a while since Economics in the Rear-View Mirror has posted “new stuff”, e.g. the following half-century old reading list for the second half of the Harvard graduate sequence in economic theory taught in the spring term of 1972 by (not-quite-yet Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences Laureate) Kenneth Arrow, Truman Bewley, and Hajime Oniki.

The six reading lists for the course were transcribed from the copies in Zvi Griliches’ papers at the Harvard Archives. 

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About the course instructors

Even youngster economists should need no introduction to Kenneth Arrow, but here is a memoir by K. Vela Velupillai in the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society just in case.

Truman Bewley, University of California (Berkeley) Ph.D. in 1970. Assistant professor, Harvard (1972-1978). Professor, Northwestern (1978-83). Professor through emeritus professor at Yale (1983-)

Hajime Oniki received his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1968, was assistant professor of economics at Harvard from 1969 to 1972, assistant/associate professor at Queen’s University, Canada (1972-1979), returning to Japan as Professor at Osaka University in 1979.

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Course Announcement for Advanced Economic Theory Sequence, 1971-1972

Economics 2010a. Advanced Economic Theory
Professor Dale W. Jorgenson, Assistant Professors Melvyn Fuss and ____ (fall term); Professor Assistant Professor Michael Rothschild (spring term)

Production theory, consumption theory, and the theories of firms and markets.
Prerequisite: Economics 1050 (formerly Economics 199) or equivalent.
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Fall: Tu., Th., (S.), at 12. Spring: Tu., Th., 10-12.

Economics 2010b. Advanced Economic Theory
Professor Stephen A. Marglin and Assistant Professor Masahio Aoki (fall term); Professor Kenneth J. Arrow and Assistant Professors Hajime Oniki and Truman F. Bewley (spring term)

General equilibrium, welfare economics, income distribution, captial and growth.
Prerequisite: Economics 2010a.
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Tu., Th., (S.), at 12-1:30.

Source: Harvard University, Official Register. Courses of Instruction for Harvard & Radcliffe, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 1971-71,  p. 155.

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Spring 1972
Professors Arrow, Bewley,
and Oniki

ECONOMICS 2010b
Reading List #1

Last term, you studied the behavior of the individual economic units which make up the economy. With that as background, we will put all of the pieces together and study properties of the economic system as a whole. We will be concerned primarily with allocations through the price system, first under conditions of perfect competition and later under less restrictive conditions. We will discuss the following kinds of questions: Do “equilibrium” allocations exist? Is it stable? Unique? Of course, in answering these questions we will have to define rigorously such concepts as “equilibrium,” “efficiency,” and “stability.” This will constitute the first heading of the course:

  1. General Competitive Equilibrium, for which the reading list follows.
    For orientation we state the intended subsequent headings of the course.
  2. Welfare Economics
  3. Additional Aspects of General Equilibrium Analysis
  4. Departures from Perfect Competition
  5. Dynamics I: Theories of Interest and Investment
  6. Dynamics II: Theories of Accumulation and Growth
  7. General Equilibrium with Uncertainty and Money; Keynesian Equilibrium
  8. Theories of Income Distribution

In the following reading list, the dates in parentheses are those of the corresponding lecture. It is important that the relevant readings be done before the lecture.

  1. GENERAL COMPETITIVE EQUILIBRIUM (8 February)
    1. The Concepts and Assumptions
      1.  J. R. Hicks, Value and Capital, Oxford, 1939; chapters 4,8.
      2. K. J. Arrow, “Economic Equilibrium,” in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, vol. 4, pp. 376-386.
      3. R. Dorfman, The Price System, Prentice-Hall, 1964, ch. 5.
      4. T. C. Koopmans, Three Essays on the State of Economic Science, McGraw-Hill, 1957, pp. 1-40, 55-64.
      5. J. Quirk and R. Saposnik, Introduction to General Equilibrium Theory and Welfare Economics, McGraw-Hill, 1968, chapters 1, 2, and 3, sections 1, 2.
    2. Existence of Competitive Equilibrium (10 February)
      1. W. J. Baumol, Economic Theory and Operations Analysis, Prentice-Hall, 1961, chapter 16, sections 1, 2.
      2. Quirk and Saposnik, chapter 3, sections 3-8.
      3. H. Scarf, “An Example of an Algorithm for Calculating General Equilibrium Prices,” American Economic Review 59 (1969) : 669-677.
    3. Uniqueness and Stability of Equilibrium (15 February)
      1. Baumol, chapter 16, section 3.
      2. Quirk and Saposnik, chapter 5, sections 1-3.
      3. P. Newman, The Theory of Exchange, Prentice-Hall, 1965, chapter 4.
    4. Nonconvexity and the Existence of Equilibrium (15 February)
      1.  J. Rothenberg, “Nonconvexity, aggregation, and Pareto optimality,” Journal of Political Economy 68 (1960): 435-468.
      2. H. Houthakker, “Economics and biology: specialization and speciation,” Kyklos 9: 181-187.

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Spring, 1972
Professors Arrow, Bewley
and Oniki

ECONOMICS 2010b
Reading List #2

  1. WELFARE ECONOMICS
    1. Pareto Efficiency (February 22)
      1. Quirk and Saposnik, chapter 4, sections 1-4.
      2. Samuelson, P. A., Foundations of Economic Analysis Atheneum, 1965, chapter 8, pp. 203-228.
    2. Social Choice and Just Distributions (February 22-24)
      1. Arrow, K. J., “Values and collective decision-making,” in P. Laslett and W. G. Runciman (eds.), Philosophy, Politics, and Society, Third Series, Basil Blackwell, 1965, chapter 10.
      2. Edgeworth, F. Y., Mathematical Psychics, C. Kegan and Paul, 1881, pp. 56-82.
      3. Edgeworth, F. Y. “Pure theory of taxation,” in Papers Relating to Political Economy, Macmillan, 1925, Vol. II, Pp. 100-122.
      4. Vickrey, W. S., “Utility, strategy, and social decision rules,” in K. J. Arrow and T. Scitovsky (eds.), Readings in Welfare Economics, Irwin, 1969, pp. 459-461.
      5. Rawls, J., “Distributive justice,” in Laslett and Runciman, op. cit., chapter 3.
      6. de Jourvenel, B., The Ethics of Redistribution, Cambridge University Press, pp. 53-56, 62-65.
    3. Competitive Equilibrium and Pareto Efficiency (February 24-29)
      1. Scitovsky, op. cit., chapters 4 and 8 (and note to chapter 8).
      2. Bator, F. M., “The simple analytics of welfare maximization, ” American Economic Review, Vol. 47, 1957, pp. 22-59.
      3. Koopmans, op. cit., pp. 41-65.
      4. Quirk and Saposnik, op. cit. chapter 4, section 5.
    4. Market Failure (February 29, March 2)
      1. Bator, F. M. “Anatomy of market failure,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 72, 1958, pp. 351-379.
      2. Coase, R. H., “The problem of social cost,” Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 3, 1960, pp. 1-44.
      3. Scitovsky, op. cit., chapter 20.
      4. Scitovsky, T. “Two concepts of external economies,” in Arrow and Scitovsky, op. cit., pp. 242-252.
      5. Arrow, K. J., “Political and economic evaluation of social effects and externalities,” in J. Margolis (ed.), The Analysis of Public Output, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1970, pp. 1-23; see also the following comment by S. Alexander, pp. 24-30.
    5. Problems of Redistribution (March 2)
      1. Meade, J. E., Efficiency, Equality, and the Ownership of Property. George Allen & Unwin, 1964, pp. 35-77.
      2. Diamond, P., “Negative taxes and the poverty problem — a review article,” National Tax Journal, Vol. 21, 1968, pp. 288-303.

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Spring, 1972
Professors Arrow,
Bewley, and Oniki

ECONOMICS 2010b
Reading List #3

  1. ADDITIONAL ASPECTS OF GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS
    1. The Core of a Market Economy (March 7)
      1. Debreu, G. and H. Scarf, “A Limit theorem on the core of an economy,” International Economic Review 4 (1963): 235-246.
      2. Newman,  op. cit., chapter 5.
    2. Input-Output Analysis (March 7)
      1. Leontief, W. W., The Structure of the American Economy, 1919-1939, Second Edition, New York: Oxford University Press, 1951, pp. 139-163, 188-207.
      2. Baumol, op. cit. (first edition), chapter 15.
      3. Dorfman, R., P. Samuelson and R. Solow, Linear Programming and Economic Analysis, McGraw-Hill, 1958, chapter 9 except section 5.
    3. Activity Analysis in General Equilibrium (March 9)
      1. Dorfman, Samuelson and Solow, chapter section 5; chapter 13.
      2. Koopmans, op. cit., pp. 66-104.
    4. Pricing of Goods in General Equilibrium (March 9)
      1. Samuelson, P. A., “Pricing of goods and factors in general equilibrium,” Review of Economic Studies, 21 (1953-4): 1-20; reprinted in Collected Scientific Papers, vol. 2, MIT Press, 1960, chapter 70.
      2. Robinson, J., “Rising supply price,’ ” AEA Readings in Price Theory, pp. 233-241.
      3. Robinson, J. “The basic theory of normal prices, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 76 (1962): 1-19.
      4. Friedman, M., Price Theory: A Provisional Text, Chicago: Aldine, 1962, pp. 74-93.
      5. Morishima, M., “On the three Hicksian laws of comparative statics, Review of Economic Studies 27 (1960): 195-201.
  2. DEPARTURES FROM PERFECT COMPETITION
    1. Measurement of Welfare Loss (March 14)
      1. Dupuit, J., “On the measurement of the utility of public works,” International Economic Papers, Vol. 2 (1952), pp. 93-110; reprinted in AEA Readings in Welfare Economics (Arrow and Scitovsky, eds.), pp. 255-283.
      2. Hotelling, H., “The general welfare in relation to problems of taxation and of railway and utility rates, Econometrica 6 (1938): 242-249; reprinted in Arrow and Scitovsky, op. cit., pp. 284-308 (read pp. 294-308).
      3. Oort, C., Decreasing Costs as a Problem in Welfare Economics, chapter 2.
      4. Harberger, A. C., “Three basic postulates for applied welfare economics: an interpretive essay,” Journal of Economic Literature 9 (1971): 785-797.
    2. Theory of Second Best (March 16)
      1. Little, I.M.D., “Direct versus indirect taxes,” Economic Journal 61 (1951): 577-584; reprinted in Arrow and Scitovsky, op. cit., pp. 608-615.
      2. Mohring, H., “The peak-load problem with increasing returns and pricing constraints,” American Economic Review 60 (1970): 693-705.
      3. Meade, J. E., Trade and Welfare, Oxford, 1955, chapter 1, pp. 3-9, chapter 7, pp. 102-118.
      4. Lipsey, R. and K. Lancaster, “The general theory of second best, ” Review of Economic Studies 24 (1958-9): 11-32.
    3. Imperfect Competition
      1. Kaldor, N., “Market imperfections and excess capacity,” Economica, 1935, pp. 33-50; reprinted in AEA Readings in Price Theory, pp. 384-403.
      2. Marris, R., The Economic Theory of “Managerial” Capitalism, New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1964 chapters 1, 3, 5, 6.
      3. Shubik, M., Strategy and Market Structure, New York: Wiley, chapters 1, 3-6.
      4. Harsanyi, J., “Approaches to the bargaining problem before and after the theory of games: a critical discussion of Zeuthen’s, Hicks’, and Nash’s theories, Econometrica 24 (1956): 144-157.
      5. Modigliani. F., “New developments on the oligopoly front. Journal of Political Economy 66 (1958): 215-232.

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Spring, 1972
Professors Arrow,
Bewley, and Oniki

ECONOMICS 2010b
Reading List #4

  1. DYNAMICS I: THEORIES OF INTEREST AND INVESTMENT
    1. Dynamics vs. Statics
      1. Hicks, J. R., Capital and Growth. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8.
      2. Samuelson, P. A., Foundations of Economic Analysis, Chapter 11.
    2. Productivity of Capital and the Rate of Return
      1. Haavelmo, T., A Study in the Theory of Investment, Chapters 7, 17, 25, 28-31.
      2. Solow, R., Capital Theory and the Rate of Return, Chapter 1.
      3. Harcourt, G. C., “Some Cambridge controversies in the theory of capital,” Journal of Economic Literature, 7 (1969): 365-386.
      4. Hirshleifer, J., Investment, Interest, and Capital, Chapter 6.
    3. Equilibrium and Optimal Capital Accumulation
      1. Hirshleifer, op. cit., Chapters 4, 7.
      2. Dorfman, Samuelson, and Solow, op. cit., pp. 265-281.
      3. Ramsey, F. P., “A mathematical theory of saving,” Economic Journal 38 (1928); reprinted in Arrow and Scitovsky (op. cit.), pp. 619-624, 630-633.
      4. Arrow, K. J. and M. Kurz, Public Investment, the Rate of Return and Optimal Fiscal Policy, Chapter 3, section 1.
    4. Technological Change
      1. Solow, R., op. cit., Chapters 2, 3.
      2. Solow, R., “Technical change and the aggregate production function,” Review of Economic Statistics, August 1957.
      3. Arrow, K. J., “The economic implications of learning by doing,” Review of Economic Studies, June 1962, pp. 155-173; reprinted in P. Newman, Readings in Mathematical Economics, Volume II, pp. 200-220.
      4. Becker, G., Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, Columbia University Press, 1964, Chapters 2, 3.

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Spring, 1972
Professors Arrow,
Bewley, and Oniki

ECONOMICS 2010b
Reading List #5

  1. DYNAMICS II. THEORIES OF ACCUMULATION AND GROWTH
    1. One-Sector Models
      1. Solow, R. M., Growth Theory: An Exposition. Oxford, 1970. Chapters 1, 2.
    2. Maximal Growth: The von Neumann Model
      1. Koopmans, T. C., “Economic growth at a maximal rate, Quarterly Journal of Economics 82 (1968): 335-345. Reprinted in P. Newman, Readings in Mathematical Economics, Johns Hopkins, 1968, Vol. II, pp. 239-278.
      2. Hicks, J. R., Capital and Growth, Chapters 17-19.
      3. von Neumann, J. “A model of general economic equilibrium, Review of Economic Studies, August 1945, pp. 1-9. Reprinted Newman, op. cit., pp. 221-229.
    3. Intertemporal Efficiency
      1. Koopmans, T. C., Three Essays on the State of Economic Science, pp. 105-126.
      2. Phelps, E. S., Golden Rules of Economic Growth, North-Holland, 1967, pp. 3-20.
      3. Dorfman, R., P. A. Samuelson, and R. M. Solow, Linear Programming and Economic Analysis. McGraw-Hill, 1958, Chapter 12.
      4. Samuelson, P. A., “An exact consumption loan model of interest with or without the social contrivance of money,” Journal of Political Economy 18 (1958): 467-482.
      5. Starrett, D. A., “On golden rules, the ‘biological theory of interest,’ and competitive inefficiency,” H.I.E.R. Discussion Paper. June 1970.

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Spring, 1972
Professors Arrow,
Bewley, and Oniki

ECONOMICS 2010b
Reading List #6

  1. GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM: UNCERTAINTY AND EMPLOYMENT (25,27 April, 2 May)
    1. Uncertainty in General Equilibrium
      1. Hirshleifer, J., Investment, Interest, and Capital. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1970, Chapter 9.
      2. Diamond, P. A., “The role of a stock market in a general equilibrium model under technological uncertainty,” American Economic Review 57 (1967): 758-776.
    2. Underemployment Equilibrium
      1. Leijonhufvud, A., On Keynesian Economics and the Economics of Keynes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968, chapter II.
      2. Arrow, K. J. and F. Hahn, General Competitive Analysis. San Francisco: Holden-Day, 1971, Chapter 14.
    3. Growth and Distribution Without Full Employment
      1. Robinson, J., Essays in the Theory of Economic Growth. London: Macmillan, 1964, pp. 1-87.
      2. Sraffa, P., Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities, pp. 12-95.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches. Box 123, Folder “Advanced Economic Theory, 1971-1975”.

Image Source: Photo of Kenneth Arrow by Irwin Collier, August 22, 2011.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Enrollment and Demand for Theory and Methods of Taxation. Durand, 1902-1903

Edward Dana Durand

 

Edward Dana Durand taught at Harvard for only two semesters, he also taught at Stanford for three semesters and later at the University of Minnesota for four years. The rest of his long career was in government service. This post adds the final exam questions from his taxation course taught at Harvard..

Bonus material regarding Durand’s biographical record has been added. He was not a big name in the history of economics, but definitely someone who added significantly to historical government economic statistics. His long years as a U.S. Tariff Commissioner also make him of interest to historians of economic policy.

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Papers of Edward Dana Durand

Given his long professional association with Herbert Hoover, it is appropriate that Durand’s papers are kept at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa.

Archival Tip: Microfilm MF-65/3. Memoirs of Edward Dana Durand, 1954 (438 pages).

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Edward Dana Durand
Timeline

1871. Born October 18 in Romeo, Michigan. Lived there about eleven years.

Ca. 1882. Family moved to Huron, South Dakota where he graduated from high-school.

Freshman year at Yankton College (South Dakota).

1893. A.B., Oberlin College.

1893. Summer. Stenographer to the Secretary of the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago.

1896. Political and municipal legislation in 1895. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 7  (May 1896), p. 411-425.

1896. June, awarded  Ph.D. (assistant to J. W. Jenks. Other instructors of Durand: C. H. Hull,  Walter F. Willcox) from Cornell University. Thesis: “Finances of New York City.”

1896. Political and municipal legislation in 1896. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 9 (March, 1897), pp. 231-245.

1896-97. Legislative librarian, New York State Library at Albany.

1897. Student, University of Berlin. Quit his studies there to take the job at Stanford.

1898-1899. Assistant Professor of Political Economy and Finance at Stanford University. [added to faculty in spring 1897, “began duty” spring term 1898] Courses taught: elementary economics, practical economic questions (e.g. labor movement, labor legislation, corporations, trusts), economic history, socialism and social control, money and banking, public finance, politics and administration, municipal government.

1898. Political and municipal legislation in 1897. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,  Vol. 11 (March, 1898), pp. 174-190.

1899. E. Dana Durand. “Council Government versus Mayor Government,” Political Science Quarterly. Vol. 15, Nos. 3 and 4.

1899-1902. On leave from Stanford to work in Washington, D.C.

1899-1902. Editor for the federal Industrial Commission that produced a report of nineteen volumes. [ Links to all 19 volumes can be found in the following two catalog pages at hathitrust.org: all but vols. 1 and 10 here; vols. 1 and 10 (and 12 other volumes) found here.]

1900. Durand prepared “Topical digest of evidence” in the Industrial Commission’s Preliminary report on trusts and industrial combinations. (In Vol. I of the Commission’s Reports). One of authors of the “Report on labor legislation” (Vol. 5). Washington: 1900.

1902-03. Taught courses on the labor question, problems of industrial organization and theories and methods of taxation at Harvard in the second term of the 1901-02 academic year (see link immediately following)  and in the first term of 1902-03.

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

1903. Married Mary Elizabeth Bennett (1871-1943) in New York City on July 15. Three sons and a daughter. (They compiled a Bennett Family History, 1941)

1903. Special Examiner for about four months before being called to the newly created Bureau of Corporations [forerunner of Federal Trade Commission] as Special Examiner.

Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census. Street and Electric Railways 1902. Washington, 1905. Text prepared by T. Commerford and E. Dana Durand.

Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Beef Industry. Washington, March 3, 1905.
“As Deputy Commissioner of Corporations he gained experience with the report on the Beef Trust, for which report he was chiefly responsible.” [Garfield report]

1904. Recent tendencies in economic legislation. Yale Review, Vol. 12 (Feb., 1904), pp. 409-428.

1905. The beef industry and the government investigation. American Monthly Review of Reviews, Vol. 31 (Apr., 1905), pp. 464-471.

1907-09. Deputy Commissioner of Corporations.

1907. Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Petroleum Industry. Part I, Position of the Standard Oil Company in the Petroleum Industry (May 20, 1907); Part II, Prices and Profits (Aug. 5, 1907).

1909-1913. Director of the Census Bureau (appointed June 16, 1909; resigned June 30, 1913).

1910. Thirteenth Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1910.

1913-1917. Professor of Statistics, taught ‘descriptive’ economics, agricultural economics, and statistics at the University of Minnesota. On leave October 1917-1921.

1915. Published The Trust Problem. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

1915. President of the American Statistical Association.

1915. Assessments of Railroads in North Dakota, Report to the North Dakota Tax Commission.

1916. Bulletins from the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Minnesota.

Coöperative Livestock Shipping Associations in Minnesota. Bulletin 156, February 1916.
Farmers’ Elevators in Minnesota, 1914-1915 (with J. P. Jensen). Bulletin 164, October 1916.

1917. Bulletins from the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Minnesota.

Coöperative Creameries and Cheese Factories in Minnesota, 1914 (with Frank Robotic). Bulletin 166, March 1917.
Coöperative Buying by Farmers’ Clubs in Minnesota (with H. B. Price). Bulletin 167, June 1917.
Coöperative Stores in Minnesota, 1914. Bulletin 171, October 1917.

1917-18. Assistant head of the meat division, Food Administration. Charged by a commission merchant of Chicago with settting prices on the behalf of meat packers. Statement  before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry,  March 21, 1918. (Hearings on Government Control of Meat-Packing Industry) pp. 1661-1676.  The agricultural committee refused to press charges after the investigation.

1918-1919. From May 1 through February 15 in England. From February 15 to July 20 in France.

1919. Resigned professorship at Minnesota and leaves the Food Administration position to represent the Hoover relief Commission in Warsaw and advise the Polish Ministry of Food (leaving France July 20).

1921. Arrived in New York on July 21, returning from Poland.

1921. August. Appointed chief of the newly created eastern European division of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce by Secretary Hoover.

1922. Public finance of Poland. Trade Information Bulletin, No. 32 (June 19 1922). Supplement to Commerce Reports published by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, U. S. Department of Commerce.

1924-30. Chief of the Division of Statistics and Research in the Department of Commerce.

1926. Economic and political effects of governmental interference with the free international movement of raw materials. Paper in International Conciliation, published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Number 226 (January 1927), pp. 25-34. (Reprinted from Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, Vol. 12, No. 1 (July, 1926), pp. 135-144).

1928. November. Headed the American delegation at the 1928 International Conference on Economic Statistics.

1929. Free and dutiable imports of the United States in the calendar year 1927. Trade Information Bulletin, no. 626 (1929).

1930. American Industry and Commerce. Boston: Ginn and Company. Durand identified as “Statistical Assistant to the Secretary of Commerce” on the title page.

1930-35. Chief economist for the Tariff Commission. In October 1930, it was announced that he was to take charge of the commission’s statistical work.

1935 to June 1952. Appointment annouced in December 1935 by FDR to fill the Republican vacancy on the Tariff Commission. Durand replaced John Lee Coulter of North Dakota.

1960. Died January 6 in Washington, D.C.

Sources: K. Pribram, “Edward Dana Durand, 1871-1960,” Revue de l’Institut International de Statistique / Review of the International Statistical Institute, Vol. 28, No. 1/2 (1960), pp. 118-120.
The Outing Magazine, Vol. 54, August 1909, pp. 563-564.
Miscellaneous newspaper reports have been useful in filling a few gaps.

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Course Description

7b2 hf. The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to local taxation in the United States. Half-course (second half-year).

[NOTE:  Listed as omitted in 1902-03 in the announcement of course offerings. However it was indeed offered during the first semester by Durand in 1902-03.]

In this course both the theory and practice of taxation will be studied.

Attention will be given at the outset to the tax systems of England, France, and Germany; and the so-called direct taxes employed in those countries will receive special consideration. After this, the principles of taxation will be examined. This will lead to a study of the position of taxation in the system of economic science, and of such subjects as the classification, the just distribution, and the incidence of taxes. Finally, the existing methods of taxation in the United States will be studied, each tax being treated with reference to its proper place in a rational system of federal, state, and local revenues.

Written work will be required of all students, as well as a systematic course of prescribed reading. Candidates for Honors in Political Science and for the higher degrees will be given the opportunity of preparing theses in substitution for the required written work.

Course 7b is open to students who have taken Economics 1.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science  [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.

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Course Enrollment

Economics 7b. 1hf. Dr. Durand. — The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to local taxation, in the United States.

Total 21: 3 Gr., 13 Se., 4 Ju., 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68. 

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Over five years ago Economics in the Rear-View Mirror posted some course materials for Durand’s Economics 7b course.

Harvard. Local taxation. Suggested topics and readings. Durand, 1902

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Final Examination
ECONOMICS 7b
1902-1903

  1. Compare England and France as regards:
    1. purpose of customs duties and character of articles taxed;
    2. character and weight of excise taxation;
    3. main forms of direct taxation;
    4. methods of local taxation.
  2. Discuss the correctness and wisdom of the recent Income Tax decision of the Supreme Court.
  3. To what extent would the general property tax, if evasion could be prevented, meet the demand that every citizen be taxed according to his ability?
  4. Mention three ways of adjusting the taxation of mortgages and mortgaged real estate. Which do you think preferable, and why?
  5. A man living in Massachusetts, with no property there of a tangible character, owns land in New York and stock of a corporation whose property is in New York. (a) To what extent is he and his property now legally taxable by each State? (b) To what extent ought he justly to pay taxes to each State, and what would be a feasible method of adjustment?
  6. Compare Pennsylvania and Ohio as regards (a) sources of State, as distinguished from local, revenue; (b) method of taxing intangible personal property.
  7. What would you consider the best method of taxing railroad corporations? Compare this with other methods.
  8. Discuss the justice of taxing the pure economic rent of land to practically its full amount.
  9. State and discuss briefly four rules or principles for the selection of commodities for indirect taxation.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).
Also included in: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: E. Dana Durand. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Washington, D.C. 20540. Image colorized by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

Categories
Business Cycles Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam and enrollment for History and Theory of Commercial Crises. Andrew, 1902-1903

Abram Piatt Andrew

Before there were courses on business cycles, courses at Harvard dealt with “commercial crises”. Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr. was the young man for the job in 1902-03. His Harvard Ph.D. dissertation’s title was “The ways and means of making payments” (1900) and together with Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague he was an essential member of the post-Dunbar staff to cover the field of money and banking (and monetary macroeconomics).

Oops I did it ago. Almost all of this post had been shared in a collection of all of Andrew’s exams for commercial crises (1903-1908). The colorized and retouched photo from 1909 is new to this post.

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Biography

ABRAM PIATT ANDREW, Jr., was born in La Porte, La Porte County, Ind., February 12, 1873; attended the public schools and the Lawrenceville (N. J.) School; was graduated from Princeton College in 1893; member of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 1893-98; pursued postgraduate studies in the Universities of Halle, Berlin, and Paris; moved to Gloucester, Mass,, and was instructor and assistant professor of economics in Harvard University 1900-1909; expert assistant and editor of publications of the National Monetary Commission 1908-11; Director of the Mint 1909 and 1910; Assistant Secretary of the Treasury 1910-12; served in France continuously for 4-1/2 years, during the World War, first with the French and later with the United States Army; commissioned major, United States National Army, in September 1917 and promoted to lieutenant colonel September 1918; awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor medal by the Republic of France in 1917 and the distinguished service medal by the United States Government in 1918; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Willfred W. Lufkin; reelected to the Sixty-eighth and to the six succeeding Congresses, and served from September 27, 1921, until his death; delegate to the Republican National Conventions at Cleveland in 1924 and at Kansas City in 1928; member of the board of trustees of Princeton University 1932-36; died in Gloucester, Mass., June 3, 1936; remains were cremated and the ashes scattered from an airplane flying over his estate at Eastern Point, Gloucester, Mass.

Source: Memorial Service Held in the House of Representatives of the United States, Together with Remarks Presented in Eulogy of Abram Piatt Andrew, Late a Representative from Massachusetts. Seventy-fifth Congress, First Session. Washington, D.C. GPO, 1938. Archived transcription at the American Field Service website.

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Course Description

  1. b2 hf. History and Theory of Commercial Crises. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 9. Dr. Andrew.

Course 12b will be devoted to the study of the more important crises of the past two hundred years. The phenomena of these crises will be described, and the record of events before and after will be examined with the object of disentangling their contributory causes and their consequences. The influence upon commercial fluctuations of the present organization of industry, of government finance, of foreign trade, of the money supply, of speculation, of banking methods, and of other credit institutions will be considered, as well as questions with regard to periodicity, over-production and over-investment. In connection with these subjects attention will be given to the methods actually employed in dealing with crises, and to proposed reforms designed to prevent or relieve them.

Subjects will be assigned for special reports, and these reports will be presented for discussion in class.

Course 12b is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science  [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.

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Course Enrollment, 1902-1903

Economics 12b. 2hf. Dr. Andrew. — History and Theory of Commercial Crises.

Total 37: 2 Gr., 9 Se., 19 Ju., 5 So.,2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.

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ECONOMICS 12b
Final Examination, 1903

Omit one question.

  1. “The crisis is practically of nineteenth century origin, and it is an acute malady to which business appears to be increasing subject.”
    Give your opinion of these statements.
  2. In what respects was the English crisis of 1866 peculiar?
  3. “Commercial crises of the earlier type now belong only to history in England.”
    Discuss this statement and explain the situation to which it refers.
  4. Compare the American crises of 1884 and 1893 as regards antecedent conditions, course of events and consequences.
  5. Describe in their mutual connections the fluctuations in exports and imports of commodities, in gold shipments, and in prices which occur in a normal trade cycle.
    Discuss DeLaveleye’s theory of crises.
  6. (a) How far did Jevons succeed in proving a relation between crises and agricultural conditions?
    (b) To what extent can a connection be traced in the United States between trade cycles and crop conditions?
    (c) In the case of which crop is the connection closest?
  7. Explain and discuss Professor Laughlin’s theory as to the relations between “normal” and “abnormal”credit and price movements.
  8. Explain and discuss Rodbertus’ theory of crises.
  9. Explain and discuss Professor Carver’s theory of industrial depressions.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: Picture of Abram Piatt Andrew from ca. 1909 used in a magazine article on his appointment to the directorship of the U. S. Mint. Hoover Institution Archives. A. Piatt Andrew Papers, Box 51. Retouched and colorized by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Money and Banking

Harvard. Final examination and enrollment for international trade and payments. Sprague, 1902-1903

Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague

Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr. and Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague were the instructor team that picked up and ran with the baton for the field of money and banking at Harvard after Charles Dunbar had died in 1900. Their division of labor was for Andrew to cover money and for Sprague to teach banking.

Both semester courses continued to be offered in 1902-03. The examination questions with enrollment data for Sprague’s course have been transcribed for this post.

A timeline for his life has been added to “really tie the room together.”

For a recent view of Sprague, see Hugh Rockoff’s NBER Working Paper (October 2021) “O.M.W. Sprague (the man who ‘wrote the book’ on financial crises) meets the Great Depression”.

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O.M.W. Sprague

1873,
Apr. 22		 Born in Somerville, Massachusetts
1894 A.B., summa cum laude, Harvard
1894-95 University Scholar, Harvard
1895 A.M., Harvard
1895-96 Henry Lee Memorial Fellow, Harvard
1896-97 Thayer Scholar, Harvard
1897 Ph.D. (Political Science), Harvard. Thesis: The English woolen industry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
1897-98 Study of economic history in London, England as Rogers Fellow
1898-99 Assistant in Economics, Harvard
1899-1900 Austin Teaching Fellow in Political Economy, Harvard
1900-04 Instructor in Political Economy, Harvard
1904-05 Assistant professor of economics (five year appointment), Harvard
1905,
June 12		 Married Fanny Knights Ide (2 children)
1905-08 Professor of Economics, Imperial Univ. of Tokyo
1908-13 Asst. Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard
1913-41 Edmund Cogswell Converse Professor of Banking and Finance, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard
1929 Member of the Gold Delegation of the League of Nations in a final effort to maintain the gold standard
1930-33 Economic adviser to Bank of England
1933 Financial and executive adviser to Secretary of Treasury
1937 39th President of the American Economic Association
1938 Litt.D., Columbia University
1941-1953 Professor emeritus, Harvard
1953,
May 24		 Died in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Sources:

Cole, Arthur H., Robert L. Masson, and John H. Williams. Memorial [for] O.M.W. Sprague, 1873-1953. American Economic Review, Vol. 44 (1), March 1954, pp. 131-132.

Committee on the History of the Federal Reserve System, Register of Papers: Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague (1873-1953), 1 November, 1955, p. 2.

Reports of the President of Harvard College.

Obituary in The Boston Globe May 25, 1953.

Books:

Economic Essays by Charles Dunbar, edited by O.M.W. Sprague. New York: Macmillan, 1904.

History of Crises Under the National Banking System. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1910. (Prepared for National Monetary Commission)

Banking Reform in the United States: A Series of Proposals including a Central Bank of Limited Scope. Cambridge: Harvard University, 1911.

Theory and History of Banking by Charles F. Dunbar, Fifth edition, with supplementary chapter presenting the record of the Federal Reserve System by Henry Parker Willis. Revised and in part rewritten with additional material by Oliver M. W. Sprague. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1929.
[Original 1st edition by Charles F. Dunbar, 1891; 2nd edition, 1901; 3rd edition, 1917; 4th edition, 1921]

Recovery and Common Sense. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1934.

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Course Description.

International Trade and Payments
1902-03, first semester

  1. a 1hf. *International Trade and International Payments. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Dr. Sprague.

Course 12a begins with a careful study of the theory of international trade, and of the use and significance of bills of exchange. The greater portion of the time will be devoted to an analysis of the foreign trade of the United States in order to distinguish the various factors, permanent and temporary, which determine the growth and direction of international commerce. With this purpose, also, a number of commodities important in foreign trade and produced in more than one country will be studied in detail. Each student will be given special topics for investigation which will familiarize him with sources of current information upon trade matters, such as trade journals, consular, and other government publications. In conclusion certain topics of a general nature will be considered, among which may be mentioned, foreign investments, the effects of an unfavorable balance of payments under different circumstances, and colonial trade.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.

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Course Enrollment.

International Trade and Payments
1902-03, first semester

Economics 12a. 1hf. Dr. Sprague. — International Trade and International Payments.

Total 10: 1 Gr., 3 Se., 5 Ju., 1 So.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.

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Course Final Examination

International Trade and Payments
1902-03, first semester

ECONOMICS 12a
  1. Compare the English Consular Reports with those of the United States.
  2. Explain carefully the reasons which render possible permanent differences in the general level of prices between countries, assuming (1) free trade, (2) a high general tariff in one country and free trade in the other. How would the removal of tariff barriers probably affect prices in the United States?
  3. The temporary effects of an unfavorable balance of foreign payments.
  4. Characteristics and advantages of trade with the tropics.
  5. Exports of manufactures from the United States.
  6. Analyze the effects to each country of complete reciprocity between Cuba and the United States. Would there be any advantage which the United States does not gain from unrestricted trade with Porto Rico?
  7. The effect of the growth of the foreign trade of other countries upon the absolute amount of British exports.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).
Also included in Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: O.M.W. Sprague in the Harvard Class Album, 1915, colorized by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Enrollment and exams on Adam Smith, Ricardo and followers. Mixter, 1902-1903.

 

Charles Whitney Mixter (b. Sept. 23, 1869 in Chelsea, MA; d. Oct. 21, 1936 in Washington, D.C.) taught a year-long course at Harvard on Adams Smith, Ricardo, and their dissenting followers in 1902-03.

Mixter received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1897 with the thesis “Overproduction and overaccumulation: a study in the history of economic theory.” Further biographical information about Charles Whitney Mixter (1869-1936) is found in the post about his course offered 1901-1902. Also Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has a post with a student’s description of Mixter as economics instructor at the University of Vermont.

One of the dissenting followers of Adam Smith considered in Mixter’s course below was John Rae. Mixter edited a reprint of the 1834 book by John Rae, which he retitled The Sociological Theory of Capital. A few years before, Mixter had written two Quarterly Journal of Economics articles comparing Rae with Böhm-Bawerk:

“A forerunner of Böhm-Bawerk”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, January, 1897. [“the first article by me upon Rae…had a title which was also in great measure a misnomer. Rae is not a mere ‘anticipator of the discoverer’ (to use one of Cannan’s phrases), but the discoverer himself. By reason of the lack of a theory of invention, Böhm-Bawerk’s doctrine of capital, although coming much later, is in essentials the less complete of the two.”]

“Böhm-Bawerk on Rae,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1902. [Review of Chapter XI of the second edition of the Geschichte und Critik der Capitalzins-Theorien].

In the preface to his reprint of Rae’s book, Mixter provides us with some backstory to his research revealing the support of Frank Taussig and Irving Fisher at the beginning and the end of this book project:

When I first became interested in Rae’s theory of capital, under Professor Taussig’s direction in the economic seminary at Harvard University, there existed no printed information (except in his Preface) in respect to Rae himself; and for a long time nothing could be learned through inquiry in quarters which promised well in Canada and Great Britain. The late Professor Dunbar of Harvard, who always displayed a keen interest in the undertaking, urged me to persist, and at length a letter printed in the Montreal Star drew forth two replies, one from the Canadian antiquary Mr. H. J. Morgan, the other from the late Robert S. Knight of Lancaster, Ontario, a grand-nephew of Rae. This set me upon the right road to get into communication with several people who knew Rae personally. Of these the one who could tell me most was the late Sir Roderick W. Cameron of New York, a former pupil and life-long friend, at whose summer residence on Staten Island Rae died. Better still, I was able through the interest and kindness of this gentleman to come into possession of what few papers Rae left at his death. That is, I obtained all Rae’s effects of a literary nature which seem now to be in existence. Apparently, from statements made by Sir Roderick, there was another set of papers which Rae had with him at the time, but which were destroyed or in some way lost. The papers I obtained were little more than odds and ends, mostly unfinished fragments on a great variety of subjects, unfortunately but little on economics. Their chief use has been to help me to a fair understanding of Rae’s life, which I have been able, however, only very imperfectly to set forth.

I have received much information and kind assistance in this part of my work from not a few people in Canada, the United States, Honolulu, and Great Britain. I trust they will accept this general acknowledgment of my sense of indebtedness to them.

To Mr. L. W. Zartman of Yale University my especial thanks are due for assistance in preparing the copy for the printer, and in reading the proofs. I am also much indebted to Mr. Wilmot H. Thompson of the Graduate School of Yale, for revision of the classical quotations.

Finally, I wish here to express my obligations to Professor Irving Fisher of Yale University. His interest and encouragement have been of unfailing support. The proof sheets of the whole book have passed his able scrutiny, and his direct help in many other ways has been invaluable.

C. W. M.

Burlington,
Vermont, July, 1905.

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Course Description

  1. a. Selected Topics in the History of Economic Thought since Adam Smith. , Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri, at 12. Dr. Mixter.

The chief subject to which attention will be directed in this course is the school of dissenting followers of Adam Smith — Lauderdale, Rae, and those influenced by them — who carried forward Smith’s work to very different results from those attained by the Ricardians. This study of a little known tradition gives a fresh point of view as to the general method of formulating and presenting economics. Some of the other subjects to be discussed are, — the classic doctrine of over-production, and the opposition to that doctrine; the economics of absenteeism; the history of the theory of colonization; early American economic theory.
The exercises will be conducted largely by means of discussion. Oral reports on assigned topics will be required.

  1. d 2hf. Adam Smith and Ricardo. Half-course (second half-year). Wed., Fri., at 2.30. Professor Taussig.

In this course, a careful study will be made of large parts of the writings of Adam Smith and Ricardo, and comparison made with contemporary authors as well as with the later writers who accepted the teachings of the earlier English school.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science  [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.

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Course Enrollment

Economics 20a. Dr. Mixter. — The History of English Economic Theory from Adam Smith to John Stuart Mill.

Total 5: 3 Gr., 2 Se.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.

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Mid-Year Examination 1902-03

ECONOMICS 20a

It is expected that questions 3 and 7 will be answered more at length than the other questions.

  1. Who was Bentham and what does he stand for in the history of economics?
  2. What is the nature of Rae’s reply to Smith’s 5th argument against protection?
  3. What would Adam Smith say to the assertion that trades unions are necessary in the United States to prevent a fall of general wages? In what various aspects did Smith examine the subject of wages?
  4. What are Adam Smith’s four canons or “maxims” of taxation?
  5. Is “capital” or “labor” the leading concept in the economics proper of the Wealth of Nations?
  6. What idea of most value have you obtained from Cannan?
  7. Discuss the Malthusian theory with respect to errors and shortcomings:—
    1. In its original form of statement and proof.
    2. In its original application.
    3. Sum up the modernized Malthusian doctrine in the form which seems to you most sound and useful.
  8. How has “the Commerce of the Towns contributed to the Improvement of the Country”?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).

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Year-End Examination 1902-03

ECONOMICS 20a

Omit two of the last five questions.

  1. Criticise the following statement: “What he [Ricardo] really ‘endeavored to show’ was that the rate of profit depends on the productiveness of the last employed, or no-rent-paying agricultural industry, and it is not of much importance to his theory whether this dependence is brought about through rises and falls of money wages, or also by the direct influence of variations in the productiveness of industry.”
  2. What is Lauderdale’s significance in the history of economics?
  3. What are the points of similarity and of difference between Rae and Böhm-Bawerk?
  4. What portions of a complete treatise on economics are lacking in Rae’s work? Give some examples of peculiar terminology.
  5. Give an account of one of the following writers: Chalmers, Wakefield, Longfield, Senior.
  6. “His [the capitalist’s] profit consists of the excess of the produce above the advances; his rate of profit is the ratio which that excess bears to the amount advanced.” Comment on this.
  7. Criticise the phrase “the profits of stock are only another name for the wages of accumulated labour.” Who first advanced this idea?
  8. What was John Stuart Mill’s treatment of the subject of general overproduction?
  9. When it is said that a certain writer “took as his type of capital, machinery instead of wage-fund,” what do you understand by the expression? Mention several writers who have done this.
  10. Give a brief account of Cannan’s description of the discovery of the law of diminishing returns.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: Harvard scores (1905),  John Jepson (artists), Boston. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Exam for German Economic Thought. Gay, 1903

Edwin Francis Gay

This must have been a quick addition to the course offerings for 1902-03 since the course was not announced in the June 1902 brochure for the Division of History and Political Science for the coming academic year. In the following year Edwin Francis Gay (Berlin, Ph.D. in 1902 under Gustav Schmoller) expanded the course to cover both French and German economic thought.

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Course Enrollment

Economics 22. 2hf. Dr. Gay. — Outlines of the Development of Economic Thought in Germany in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 4: 3 Gr., 1 Se.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.

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ECONOMICS 22

  1. Translate from Conrad, pp. 69 [p. 64-65 in 1897 ed.], § 66, Die Grundrente.
    1. Describe briefly von Thünen’s concentric circles.
    2. Outline Rodbertus’s theory of rent and its relation to his explanation of crises.
  2. Translate  §69 [pp. 68-69 in 1897 ed.] , Die Regulierung des Lohnes.
    1. What features in this passage remind you of von Hermann’s treatment of wages?
      [Note: no (b) or any other parts to the question were printed]
  3. Karl Marx: a concise note concerning his life, his works, his theory of value, his influence in Germany at present.
  4. Give an account of the German historical school of economists.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: Portrait of Edwin F. Gay from the Harvard Class Album 1914 colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Philosophy

Harvard. Ethics of the Social Questions. Course description, enrollment, final exam. Peabody, 1902-1903

One fairly popular field chosen for doctoral exams by Harvard’s economics students in the early 20th century was Social Ethics that combined elements of so-called “practical economics”, sociology, philosophy, and religion. That field and later department was chaired by Professor Francis Greenwood Peabody who served in both Harvard College and the Harvard Divinity School.

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A short biography of Francis Greenwood Peabody can be found at the Harvard Divinity School History webpage.

A previous post provides the history of Harvard’s Department of Social Ethics up through 1920.

Peabody’s book, The Approach to the Social Question: An Introduction to the Study of Social Ethics (New York: Macmillan, 1909), presumably captures much, if not all, the spirit (Spirit?) of his ethical teachings.

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Biographical note on
Francis Greenwood Peabody

Francis Greenwood Peabody (1847–1936), Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, was associated with Harvard College and Harvard Divinity School from 1880 to 1912, serving as a lecturer, professor, and dean. He received his Harvard AB in 1869 and graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1872; while a junior, Peabody was first baseman on the first Harvard baseball team to play against Yale. In 1874, he was ordained as minister of the First Parish in Cambridge, a position he maintained until 1880, when he resigned due to poor health. Harvard Divinity School Dean Everett then asked Peabody to lecture, but President Eliot, whose first wife was Peabody’s eldest sister, opposed the appointment due to nepotism. Later that year, however, he was appointed lecturer on ethics and homiletics. His courses, “The History of Ethics,” and “Practical Ethics” were the first of their kind in American theological education. While at Harvard, he ended compulsory worship and helped transform the Divinity School from a denominational seminary into a non-denominational theological school.

Peabody was named Parkman Professor of Theology in 1882, and became Plummer Professor of Christian Morals in 1886, also taking charge of Harvard College’s Appleton Chapel. He retired in 1913. Peabody also served as Acting Dean of the Divinity School on two occasions during the absence of Dean Everett, and was Dean himself from 1901 to 1905. Throughout his career, Peabody published many works, served as an Overseer of Harvard College, and was on the Board of Trustees of the Hampton Institute. Peabody died in 1936.

Source: Harvard Archives. Guide to Papers of Francis Greenwood Peabody webpage.

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Earlier, at the end of the 19th century

Exam questions for earlier years of this course have been transcribed and posted:

1888-1889; 1889-1890; 1890-1891; 1892-1893; 1893-1894; 1894-1895; 1895-1896.

A history of Harvard’s Department of Social Ethics has also been posted earlier.

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The Ethics of the Social Questions
Course Description, 1902-03

Philosophy 5. The Ethics of the Social Questions. The problems of Poor-Relief, the Family, Temperance, and various phases of the Labor Question, in the light of ethical theory. Lectures, special researches, and prescribed reading. Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Professor Peabody assisted by Mr. —.

This course is an application of ethical theory to the social problems of the present day. It is to be distinguished from economic courses dealing with similar subjects by the emphasis laid on the moral aspects of the social situation and on the philosophy of society involved. Its introduction discusses the various theories of Ethics and the nature and relations of the Moral Ideal [Required reading from Mackenzie’s Introduction to Social Philosophy; and Muirhead’s Elements of Ethics]. The course then considers the ethics of the family [Required reading from Spencer’s Principles of Sociology (Volume 1; Volume 2; Volume 3]; the ethics of poor-relief [Required reading from Charles Booth’s Life and Labor of the People (see links to volumes below)]; the ethics of the labor question [Required reading: Carlyle’s Past and Present; Ruskin’s Unto this Last; Schäffle’s Quintessence of Socialism]; and the ethics of the drink-question [Required reading from Fanshawe’s Liquor Legislation in the United States]. In addition to lectures and required reading two special and detailed reports are made by each student, based as far as possible on personal research and observation of scientific methods in poor-relief and industrial reform. These researches are arranged in consultation with the instructor or his assistant; and an important feature of the course is the suggestion and direction of such personal investigation and the provision to each student of special literature or opportunities for observation. Students are advised to take both Philosophy 1 and Economics 1 before taking this course, and must have taken either the one or the other, or its equivalent. A special library of 650 carefully selected volumes is provided for the use of students in this course. Attention is also called to the Paine Fellowship, the holder of which should pursue advanced study in the same direction.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science  [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.

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Charles Booth’s Life and Labor of the People:

(Original) Volume I, East London;
(Original) Volume II, London;
(Original) Appendix to Volume II;
Note: the previous three original volumes were re-printed as four volumes that then were followed by
Volume V, Population Classified by Trades;
Volume VI, Population Classified by Trades (cont.);
Volume VII, Population Classified by Trades;
Volume VIII, Population Classified by Trades (cont.);
Volume IX, Comparisons, Survey and Conclusions.

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The Ethics of the Social Questions
Course Enrollment, 1902-03

Philosophy 5. Professor Peabody, assisted by Mr. Ireland. — The Ethics of the Social Questions. The problems of Poor-Relief, the Family, Temperance, and various phases of the Labor Question, in the light of ethical theory.

Total 134: 5 Gr., 60 Se., 37 Ju., 15 So., 17 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 69.

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Mid-Year Examination, 1902-03

[to be added]

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Philosophy 5
The Ethics of the Social Questions
Final Examination, 1902-03

This paper should be considered as a whole. The time should not be exhausted in answering a few questions, but such limits should be given to each answer as will permit the answering of all the questions in the time assigned.

  1. The place in the modern Labor Question of:—

Chalmers;
Proudhon;
von Ketteler;
William Morris;
Leclaire.

  1. Carlyle on:

Democracy;
Permanence;
Captains of Industry.

  1. Ruskin on:

Ad valorem;
Veins of Wealth;
Ideals of Education. (Preface to: Unto this Last, p. xi.)

  1. Anarchism and Communism compared with each other and with the present industrial order.
  2. Lasalle and Marx compared as influences on German socialism.
  3. “Social labor-time” as a standard of value; the view of Marx (Schäffle, p. 81 ff.); the criticism of Schäffle (ch. VI, VII); the ethical effect to be anticipated.
  4. The scheme of industrial conciliation proposed by the Anthracite Coal Commission and its relation to French and English methods of arbitration and conciliation.
  5. The scheme of industrial partnership proposed by the U.S. Steel Corporation — its plan, results, and relation to other types of profit-sharing.
  6. The ethical principles underlying all forms of liquor legislation. Compare the liquor legislation of Massachusetts with that of Pennsylvania. (Fanshawe, ch. XI and XII.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: Harvard University Archives.  Francis Greenwood Peabody [photographic portrait, ca. 1900], Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Statistics

Harvard. Enrollment and Exam for Statistics. Ripley, 1902-1903

Young William Zebina Ripley

At the turn of the 20th century the breadth of Harvard’s course offerings grew faster than the depth of its instructional bench. Thomas Nixon Carver was teaching economic theory, sociology, social reform, and agricultural economics while William Zebina Ripley covered statistics, railroads, European resources, industrial and labor organization.

This post adds another year’s worth of Harvard statistics exams to the Economics in the Rear-View Mirror collection of transcribed artifacts. 

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Course Description

  1. hf. Statistics. — Theory, method, and practice. Half-course. Tu., at 11. Professor Ripley.

This course is intended to serve rather as an analysis of methods of research and sources of information than as a description of mere results. A brief history of statistics will be followed by an account of modes of collecting and tabulating census and other statistical material in the United States and abroad, the scientific use and interpretation of results by the mean, the average, seriation, the theory of probability, etc. The main divisions of vital statistics, relating to birth, marriage, morbidity, and mortality, life tables, etc.; the statistics of trade and commerce, such as price indexes, etc.; industrial statistics relating to labor, wages, and employment; statistics of agriculture, manufactures, and transportation, will be them considered in order. The principal methods of graphic representation will be comprehended, and laboratory work, amounting to not less than two hours per week, in the preparation of charts, maps, and diagrams from original material, will be required.

Course 4 is open to students who have taken Economies 1; and it is also open to Juniors and Seniors who are taking Economics 1. It is especially recommended, in connection with Economies 2, for all candidates for advanced degrees.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science  [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.

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Course Enrollment

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

Total 15: 10 Gr., 2 Se., 2 Ju., 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.

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Economics 4
Mid-Year Examination
1902-03

  1. The population of Massachusetts in 1870 was 1,457,351, in 1875 was 1,651,912, in 1880 was 1,783,085. The births in 1878 were 41,238. The Massachusetts Registration Report gives the birth rate in that year as 24.73. How was this obtained?
  2. The birth rates for 1885 in Massachusetts by counties were as follows: Barnstable, 17.4; Berkshire, 25.7; Dukes and Nantucket, 14; Suffolk, 28.7; Middlesex, 24.7; Worcester city, 27.1; Fall River city, 31.07; Cambridge, 27.04; Newburyport, 17.79, etc.
    How would you determine the real significance of these differences?
  3. Padding of the enumerator’s returns in Delaware counties in 1900, being known, how could you estimate the probable amount, assuming no considerable migration of population to have occurred?
  4. What are the main tests for determining the amount of migration in a given population between census periods?
  5. What single merit has the card system of tabulation used by the Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics, over the use of electric machines as in the Federal Census?
  6. Compare the rate of increase of the population of the United States with that of principal European countries. What probable future movement is indicated?
  7. What are the principal demographic results of an inequality in the distribution of the sexes? Illustrate by the United States.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).

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Economics 4
Year-End Examination
1902-03

  1. What is meant by the “duration of life”? What figures are apt to be confused with it in mortality statistics?
  2. What are the main objections to the use of index numbers, illustrating by examples?
  3. What is the “modulus” as applied to wage statistics? In what different ways may it be ascertained?
  4. Where would you seek for examples of the best practice in interpretation of (a) price statistics; (b) wage statistics?
  5. May the “cost of production” in manufactures be determined with precision? Where has the attempt has been made and with what results?
  6. Where are the best statistics of imports and exports compiled? How does the system differ from those of the United States?
  7. How is a logarithmic curve constructed; and for what purpose?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: MIT Museum website. William Zebina Ripley. Image colorized by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Industrial Organization

Harvard. Railways and public utility regulation. Exam questions. Meyer, 1902-1903.

Besides adding to the database of economics examination questions, this post provides us with additional biographical information for the railroad and municipal utility expert, Harvard economics Ph.D. alumnus Hugo Richard Meyer (1866-1923). He was an assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago in 1903-05.

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From a review of Meyer’s book,
Government Regulations of Railway Rates

Hugo Richard Meyer is a native of Cincinnati, O., and is now 39 years of age. He attended the pubic schools of that city in early childhood and in 1877 he was taken by his parents to Germany, where he remained five years. From Germany, his father returned to America and made his home in Denver, Colo., where in the high school young Meyer prepared for Harvard college, from which he was graduated in 1892. Afterward he attended Harvard Graduate school five years.

Prof. Meyer’s usefulness began as an instructor of political economy in Harvard, serving from 1897 until 1903. In 1903 he was one of three commissioners appointed by the Governor to investigate and report on the wisdom of amending the laws of Massachusetts, governing the exercise of the right of eminent domain by cities in public improvement. In 1903, he wrote a series of leaflets on the subject of municipal ownership, taking the side of private ownership. Mr. Meyer began the study of economics with a prejudice in favor of socialism, but came out in a strong belief of individualism. He has studied socialism in Australia and the operation of municipal ownership in Great Britain. He especially has paid attention to the government regulation of railroad rates in the United States, Germany, France, Austria Hungary, Russia and Australia. In his book, Government Regulation of Railway Rates [a study of the experience of the United States, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Australia] , he gives a comparative study of the experiece of public regulation of railway rates in countries where he has been.

In addition to this book, Mr. Meyer has two other works in preparation. One deals with municipal ownership in Great Britain [followed by The British State Telegraphs (1907) and Public Ownership and the Telephone in Great Britain (1907)] and the other with state socialism in Australia. Mr. Meyer has written also articles on the regulation of railway rates in Europe, and an article entitled, “Rate Making by Government,” which were published respectively in 1903 and 1905.

Mr. Meyer came into national prominence in May last, when he appeared before the Senate sub-committee of interstate commerce and gave his views on the question of rate making by government. It was the clearest statement given by any witness on either side of this great question. He presented an array of facts that no other witness had summoned, and when he left the chair it was the judgment of all that he had been the most impressive witness that had appeared before the committee.

Source: The Topeka Daily Herald, October 14, 1905, p. 8.

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Course Description
Economic 5
1902-1903

  1. 1hf. Railways and other Public Works. under Public and Corporate Management. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 1.30. Mr. Meyer.

This course reviews the history and working of different modes of dealing with transportation, and deals with the questions of street railways, gas, and electric light supply.

The manner in which Germany [Municipal Ownership in Germany. Journal of Political Economy, (1906), 14(9), 553–567.], France [The Breakdown of State Railway Building in France. Journal of Political Economy (1906), 14(7), 450–453.], and Russia have regulated railway rates, either by exercising control over private corporations, or by assuming public ownership and operation, will be studied with special reference to the effect of such regulation upon the elasticity of railway rates and the ability of the railways to develop trade and industry. In this connection will be studied the part played by the railways and by the waterways in the development of the leading industries of Germany, France, and Russia; as well as the question why Germany, France, and Russia are obliged to have recourse to the waterways for the performance of services that in the United States are rendered by the railways.

The attempts of the railways of the United States to regulate railway rates through pools will be compared with the attempts of the several states and of the federal government to regulate rates through legislation and through commissions. Typical decisions of pools, of state commissions, and of the Interstate Commerce Commission will be studied for the purpose of ascertaining whether those decisions are founded on a body of principles that may be said to have the character of a science, or whether they express merely the judgment of administrative officers on questions of fact to which no body of scientific principles can be made to apply. In conclusion, the question whether railway rates should be regulated through pools or through legislation and commissions will be discussed by means of a comparison of the experience of the European countries, the United States under the régime of regulation by pools, and the United States under the régime of regulation by state and federal legislation and by commissions.

The problem of the public ownership and operation of the railways will be discussed under the following heads: the difficulties experienced by Prussia, France, Italy, Russia, and the Australian Colonies, in making the railway budget fit into the state budget; the problem of a large body of civil servants in a self-governing community, as illustrated in the experience of the Australian Colonies.

The question of the regulation and control of private corporations operating street railways, gas, and electric light plants will be studied by means of a review of the experience of Massachusetts, which exercises control by means of legislation and commissions; and the experience of Great Britain, which exercises control by means of legislation, and, in many instances, supplements that control by the policy of municipal ownership.

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Enrollment
Economics 5
1902-1903

Economics 5. 1hf. Mr. Meyer. — Railways and other Public Works under Public and Corporate Management.

Total 60: 1 Gr., 30 Se., 14 Ju., 5 So., 1 Fr., 9 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.

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ECONOMICS 5
Mid-year Examination
1902-1903

Give one hour to question 1

  1. If the Act to Regulate Commerce has been enacted at the close of the Civil War, and if it had been interpreted and enforced in the spirit in which the Interstate Commerce Commission has interpreted it, what, in your opinion, would have been the effect upon the development of the resources of the United States; and what would be the present position of affairs as to local discriminations and personal discriminations? Indicate briefly the facts upon which you base your opinion, but do not recite the details of those facts.
  2. If you were asked to ascertain with what efficiency and reasonableness of charges the railways of a country were serving that country, what information should you seek to obtain?
  3. What facts, and what statistics should you use, were you asked to discuss the question whether the “basing-point” system concentrates trade and population?
  4. Among the dicta of the Interstate Commerce Commission is this one, that the railways have no right to drive out of business the vessels upon the rivers. Discuss the soundness of this dictum, basing your discussion upon the experience of several countries.
  5. The Northern Pacific Railroad Co. charges 65 cents per 100 Ibs. for carrying Pacific slope sugar from the Pacific slope to St. Paul. That charge is fixed by the lake and rail route which carries Atlantic sea-board sugar from the Atlantic sea-board to St. Paul. The N. P. R. Co. charges 97 cents per 100 lbs. for carrying sugar from the Pacific slope to Fargo, which is 240 miles west of St. Paul, on the direct line between the Pacific slope and St. Paul. It also charges 32 cents per 100 lbs. for carrying sugar from St. Paul to Fargo.
    The distance from New York to St. Paul is 1373 miles; from San Francisco to St. Paul, 2300 miles. The charge of 97 cents from San Francisco to Fargo is reasonable per se.
    The San Francisco output of refined sugar is 140,000 tons to 150,000 a year; and of that output, between 30,000 tons and 40,000 are sold to St. Paul, the balance being sold to points upon the Pacific slope and points in the mountain districts between the Pacific slope and St. Paul.
    M. Raworth, a wholesale grocer at Fargo, complains that the rates charged by the N. P. R. Co. are in violation of Clause 4 of the Act to Regulate Commerce.
    What, in your opinion, would be (1) the decision of the Interstate Commerce Commission; (2) the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States?
    Base your opinion upon decisions made respectively by the Commission and the Supreme Court.
  6. State the conditions under which the Interstate Commerce Commission said that certain cuts in the rates on “grain for export” were “a gratuitous gift to the foreigner”; and criticize the reasoning with which the Commission sought to support its position.
  7. When it was suggested in England that the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas be constituted a railway tribunal, Lord Campbell, afterward Lord Chancellor, in behalf of his associates declined the responsibility, saying: “This is not a code which the judges can interpret, it leaves them altogether to exercise their discretion as to what they may deem reasonable. They are, besides, to form a just judgment on all matters of complaint relating to railway management that may come before them, and they are to lay down a code of regulation for the government of railway companies. The judges, himself among the number, feel themselves incompetent to decide on these matters. He had spent a good part of his life in studying the laws of his country, but, he confessed, he was wholly unacquainted with railway management, as well as the transit of goods by boat. He knew not how to determine what is a reasonable rate…”
    What judicial opinion does this quotation recall to your mind; and what is the significance of that opinion?
  8. A recent Siberian Census revealed the fac that there were large and fertile regions in Siberia in which the farmers cultivated, on an average, sixteen acres of land. The farmers in question had emigrated from European Russia in the seventies. What do you presume to be the reasons for that state of affairs?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).
Also included in: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: A newspaper sketch of Hugo Richard Meyer from 1905 reproduced in Wikimedia Commons.