Category: Harvard

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam questions for Medieval and Modern Economic History of Europe. Gay, 1905-1906

For most of the twentieth century you didn’t have a full and complete economics department without significant course offerings in economic history. Needless to say, Harvard has had a full and complete economics department. 

This post contributes an incremental addition to the collection of economics exams with those from Edwin Francis Gay’s European economic history courses at Harvard in 1905-06.

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Related posts

A brief course description for Economics 11 plus the exams from 1902-03.

Exams for 1903-04.

Exams for 1904-05.

A short bibliography for “serious students” of economic history assembled by Gay and published in 1910 has also been posted.

Gay and Usher’s economic history exams from 1930 through 1949.

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Mediaeval Economic History of Europe.

Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 10 1hf. Asst. Professor Gay. — Mediaeval Economic History of Europe.

Total 8: 6 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-190 6, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 101
Final Examination
Mid-year 1905-06
  1. Explain briefly:—
    1. gwely.
    2. liti.
    3. molmen.
    4. formariage.
    5. lettre de foire.
    6. mercator.
    7. commenda.
    8. contractus trinius.
    9. droit d’amortissement, droit de régale.
    10. tunnage and poundage.
  2. Outline the estate organization prescribed by the Capitulare de Villis.
  3. “It seems to be almost certain that the ‘hams’ and ‘tuns’ (of England) were, generally speaking, and for the most part from the first, practically manors with communities in serfdom upon them.” Whose view is this? State succinctly the chief arguments for and against.
  4. Enumerate the chief franchises and privileges of a fair. What was the jus fori?

Take one of the following questions:

  1. What were the provisions of the Law Merchant in regard to sales and contracts?
  2. What is the significance of the following passages:—
    1. “ne alienigene opus suum operatum ad forum non deferant, nisi cum omnium eorum voluntate qui juri illo quod inninge appellatur participes existunt.” (Privilege to Magdeburg shoemakers, end of the twelfth century.)
    2. “quod nullus textor potest vel debet in aliqua civitate nullo etiam tempore, ubi non habet consortium mercatorum quod vulgariter ignige appellatur, pannos incidere.” (Halberstadt, 1291.)
    3. “Si aliquis alienus vult societatem pistorum, quod Innunge dicitur, ille dabit duas marcas et due partes spectabunt ad civitatem, una pars ad pistores.” (Neumarkt, 1235.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06. Also a copy in Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), pp. 35-36. 

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Modern Economic History of Europe

Course Enrollment
Economics 11
1905-06

Economics 11. Asst. Professor Gay. — Modern Economic History of Europe.

Total 10: 8 Graduates, 2 Seniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 11
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06
  1. Explain briefly:—
    1. purveyance.
    2. staple.
    3. copyhold.
    4. Leibzins.
    5. mainmorte.
    6. mesta.
  2. What were the chief factors in the emancipation of the serf? Compare the history of the movement in England with that in Germany.
  3. The craft gild:
    1. What in general was its object and policy?
    2. What, during the sixteenth century, was the attitude of the national government to the craft gilds in England and in France?
    3. What was the Statute of Artificers?
  4. Outline the history of the trade relations between England and northern Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, stating the chief facts connected with the decline of the Hanseatic position in England and the rise of the Merchant Adventurers.
  5. Describe succinctly the price movement of the sixteenth century, its extent, character, causes, and results.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 11
Year-end Examination, 1905-06
  1. State briefly the place in English economic history of Gresham, Burleigh, Cromwell, Paterson, Walpole, Bakewell, Arkwright, the younger Pitt.
  2. [Wages]
    1. Describe, stating causes, the growth of the wage-earning class in England.
    2. Summarize the history and results of wage regulation by public authority.
    3. The average daily wage of an English artisan at the close of the sixteenth century was about one shilling. How would you determine the modern equivalent in purchasing power? What other factors should be considered in a comparison of conditions?
  3. Compare the commerce of England with that of France in the eighteenth century. Can the comparative magnitude be statistically measured? If so, with what result? If not, why not?
  4. Why did the Industrial Revolution take place in England in the latter part of the eighteenth century? What facts of English agricultural history bear upon this question?
  5. Describe the transitions in industrial organization leading up to the domestic system, to the factory system.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), pp. 36-37.

Image Source: Image of a page from the Statute of Artificers  in Vimala C. Pasupathi, Shall Strangers Rule the Roast? Migration and Displacement in Sir Thomas More (1600).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Labor

Harvard. Report assignments and final exam for Problems of Labor. Ripley et al., 1905-1906

Professor William Zebina Ripley’s courses at Harvard ranged from economic and social statistics, through transportation economics, industrial organization and regulation, and (as we see in this post) labor economics/industrial relations. Besides the enrollment figures and the final exam questions for the course, we were able to fish copies of the report assignments for 1905-06 from the Harvard archives. This course material has been transcribed and can be found below.

Fun fact: the teaching assistant Mr. Houghton can be identified as William Morris Houghton who received an A.M. from Harvard in 1904 and went off to work as a writer for the New York Herald Tribune, first as a reporter/feature writer and then as an editorial writer (and was included in the 35th anniversary of the Yale Class of 1904 as a member of the class who did not graduate from Yale).

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Other Labor Related Posts
for William Z. Ripley

Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization, 1902-1903.

Problems of Labor, 1903-1904.

Problems of Labor, 1904-05.

Short Bibliography of Trade Unionism, 1910.

Short Bibliography of Strikes and Boycotts, 1910.

Trade Unionism and Allied Problems, 1914-1915.

Problems of Labor, 1931.

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Course Enrollment

Economics 9a 1hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley, assisted by Messrs. [Vanderveer] Custis and [William Morris] Houghton. — Problems of Labor.

Total 96: 7 Graduates, 23 Seniors, 42 Juniors, 17 Sophomores, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 9a

ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS

Group A

            Students will report upon the comparative conditions respecting Trade Union organization, functions, and efficiency in corresponding industries in the United States and Great Britain. The particular industry assigned to each man is indicated by a number on the enrolment slip, which refers to the Trade Union number on the appended list of National Labor Organizations.

Group B

            Students will report upon the comparative efficiency of Trade Union organization in two distinct lines of industry in the United States. Numbers against the names on the enrolment slip refer to the numbered Trade Union list, appended hereto.

Group C

            Students will report upon the nature of Trade Union organization in two distinct lines of industry in Great Britain. Names on the enrolment slip as numbered refer to the industries concerned in the appended list of Trade Unions.

          → The letters preceding the assignment number against the student’s name refer to the group in which the report is to be made. Thus, for example: “98 A” on the enrolment slip indicates that the student is to report upon the Cotton Spinners’ Unions in the United States and Great Britain; “9 & 98 B,” that a comparison of the Spinners’ and of the Boot and Shoe Workers’ Organizations in the United States is expected; while “9 & 98 C” calls for the same comparison for the two industries in Great Britain.

NATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATIONS
IN THE UNITED STATES

*Indicates that the Trade Union journal is in the Library. [Loeb Fund.]

† Reference to Reports, U.S. Industrial Commission, is given within parentheses.

*The KNIGHTS OF LABOR
*THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR

  1. Actors’ International Union.
  2. Asbestos Workers of America.
  3. Bakery and Confectionery Workers.
  4. Barbers’ International Union.
  5. Bill Posters and Billers of America.
  6. International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths.
  7. *Boiler Makers and Iron Ship Builders of America.
  8. International Brotherhood of Bookbinders.
  9. Boot and Shoe Workers’ Union. († VII, 356; XIV, 333.)
  10. United Brewery Workmen.
  11. *Brick, Tile and Terra Cotta Workers’ Alliance.
  12. Bridge and Structural Iron Workers.
  13. Broom and Whisk Makers’ Union.
  14. Brushmakers’ International Union.
  15. *United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
  16. Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners.
  17. International Carriage and Wagon Workers.
  18. International Wood Carvers’ Association.
  19. International Association of Car Workers.
  20. Brotherhood of Cement Workers.
  21. Chainmakers’ National Union.
  22. *Cigarmakers’ International Union. († VII, 257, 715.)
  23. Retail Clerks’ International Protective Association.
  24. United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers.
  25. Commercial Telegraphers’ Union of America.
  26. International Compressed Air Workers’ Union.
  27. Coopers’ International Union.
  28. Amalgamated Lace Curtain Operatives.
  29. International Union of Cutting Die and Cutter Makers.
  30. International Union of Electrical Workers. († VII, 375.)
  31. International Union of Elevator Constructors.
  32. International Union of Steam Engineers.
  33. International Association of Watch Case Engravers.
  34. International Brotherhood of Stationary Firemen.
  35. International Association of Steam and Hot Water Fitters and Helpers. († VII, 964.)
  36. International Union of Flour and Cereal Mill Employes.
  37. International Brotherhood of Foundry Employes.
  38. International Union of Interior Freight Handlers and Warehousemen.
  39. International Association of Fur Workers.
  40. United Garment Workers of America. († VII, 182.)
  41. International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.
  42. Glass Bottle Blowers’ Association. († VII, 102, 920.)
  43. *Glass Workers’ International Association.
  44. International Glove Workers’ Union.
  45. *Granite Cutters’ International Association. († XIV, 422.)
  46. Pocket Knife Blade Grinders’ and Finishers’ National Union.
  47. Table Knife Grinders’ National Union.
  48. United Hatters of North America.
  49. Hod Carriers and Building Laborers’ Union.
  50. International Union of Journeymen Horse-Shoers.
  51. Hotel and Restaurant Employes’ International Alliance and Bartenders’ International League.
  52. Iron, Steel and Tin Workers. († VII, 84.)
  53. International Jewelry Workers’ Union.
  54. International Union of Wood, Wire, and Metal Lathers.
  55. International Union of Shirt, Waist, and Laundry Workers.
  56. United Brotherhood of Leather Workers on Horse Goods.
  57. Amalgamated Leather Workers’ Union.
  58. International Protective and Beneficial Association of Lithographers.
  59. International Protective Association of Lithographic Press Feeders.
  60. International Longshoremen’s Association.
  61. National Association of Machine Printers and Color Mixers.
  62. *International Association of Machinists.
  63. International Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes.
  64. International Association of Marble Workers.
  65. *Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen.
  66. International Union of Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers, and Brass Workers.
  67. International Alliance of Amalgamated Sheet Metal Workers.
  68. *United Mine Workers.
  69. International Molders’ Union.
  70. American Federation of Musicians.
  71. Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers.
  72. United Brotherhood of Paper Makers.
  73. Pattern Makers’ League.
  74. International Union of Pavers, Rammermen, Flag Layers, Bridge and Stone Curb Setters.
  75. Paving Cutters’ Union.
  76. International Photo-Engravers’ Union.
  77. *International Piano and Organ Workers’ Union.
  78. International Steel and Copper Plate Printers’ Union.
  79. International Association of Operative Plasterers.
  80. United Association of Plumbers, Gas Fitters, Steam Fitters, and Steam Fitters’ Helpers.
  81. National Federation of Post Office Clerks.
  82. National Brotherhood of Operative Potters. († XIV, 636, 643.)
  83. United Powder and High Explosive Workers.
  84. National Print Cutters’ Association.
  85. International Printing Pressmen’s Union.
  86. International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers.
  87. Quarry Workers’ International Union.
  88. *Order of Railroad Telegraphers. († XVII, 821.)
  89. Brotherhood of Railway Clerks.
  90. Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employes. († VII, 205.)
  91. International Brotherhood of Roofers, Composition, Damp and Waterproof Workers.
  92. Saw Smiths’ National Union.
  93. *International Seamen’s Union.
  94. International Shingle Weavers’ Union.
  95. International Union of Shipwrights’ Joiners and Caulkers.
  96. International Slate and Tile Roofers’ Union.
  97. International Union of Slate Workers.
  98. Spinners’ International Union. († XIV, 564, 573, 581.)
  99. Theatrical Stage Employes’ International Alliance.
  100. The Steel Plate Transferers’ Association.
  101. International Stereotypers and Electrotypers’ Union.
  102. Stone Cutters’ Association. († VII, 201.)
  103. Stove Mounters’ International Union. († VII, 860.)
  104. Switchmen’s Union of North America.
  105. *Journeymen Tailors’ Union.
  106. International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
  107. United Textile Workers. († VII, 343.)
  108. International Ceramic, Mosaic and Encaustic Tile Layers and Helpers’ Union.
  109. Tin Plate Workers’ Protective Association.
  110. International Brotherhood of Tip Printers.
  111. *Tobacco Workers’ International Union.
  112. International Union of Travellers’ Goods and Leather Novelty Workers.
  113. *International Typographical Union. († VII, 268.)
  114. Upholsterers’ International Union.
  115. Elastic Goring Weavers’ Amalgamated Association.
  116. American Wire Weavers’ Protective Association.
  117. International Brotherhood of Woodsmen and Saw Mill Workers.
  118. International Union of Amalgamated Wood Workers.
  119. *Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. († XVII, 821.)
  120. *Order of Railway Conductors of America. († XVII, 821.)
  121. *Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. († XVII, 821.)
  122. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. († XVII, 821.)
  123. Brotherhood of Railway Trackmen.

            The constitutions of most of the Trades Unions for the United States will be found in Vol. XVII, Reports, U. S. Industrial Commission. Similar data for Great Britain is in the Appendix to “Foreign Reports, Vols. 1-2,” Royal Commission on Labour, pp. 15-324. [Volume I, United States; Volume II, Colonies and Indian Empire] [Both reserved in Gore Hall.] For early history of British Unions consult Reports, Royal Commission on Organization and Rules of Trades Unions, 1867-69; Parl. Papers, 1867, Vol. XXXII; 1867-68, Vol. XXXIX; 1868-69, Vol. XXXI. The Annual Report on Trade Unions by the Labour Department of the Board of Trade also contains up-to-date material on English conditions. Additional evidence as to labor conditions in each industry will be found in Vols. VII, VIII, XII, XIV, and XVII, U. S. Industrial Commission (consult Digest and Index in each volume); in the 11th Special Report, U.S. Bureau of Labor, on Restriction of Output; in the annual reports of the state bureaus of labor of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, etc. [See index under Unions in Special Index published by the U.S. Department of Labor; and in the Reports of the British Royal Commission.] The student should also consult 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];

Webbs’, Industrial Democracy and History of Trade Unionism; and other books reserved in Gore Hall.

            Data respecting the various unions among railroad employees in the United States will be found in a separate section on Railway Labor, in Vol. XVII, U. S. Industrial Commission: as also in Vols. IV and IX. (See Digests and Indexes.)

            In cases where the American Trade Union journal is not in the library, the student will be expected to procure at least one copy from the Secretary of the Union. [See list of post office addresses posted with the enrolment slip.] These are to be filed with the report.

→ Exact references by title, volume and page must be given in foot-notes for all facts cited. This condition is absolutely imperative. Failure to comply with it will vitiate the entire report.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1905-1906”.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 9a

ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS

            → Exact references by title, volume and page must be given in footnotes for all facts cited. This condition is absolutely imperative. Without such foot-notes the report will be rejected. General references listed separately are of no value.

Group F

            Students will prepare a connected and logical statement of the course of a labor dispute, as indicated by number on the appended list. The particular year being given in this reference, proceed at first to fix the date of beginning and close of the contest. Poole’s Index of Periodicals should be carefully searched for references. Note, however, that the more serious studies do not appear until a year or two after the event. A Select List of Books (and periodicals) on Strikes, published by the Library of Congress in 1903, may conveniently be used. The World Almanac often contains data worthy of consideration. Rely upon the Economic journals, where possible, but always seek many different authorities. The various reports of state Bureaus of Labor, which might take cognizance of the strike, should also be examined. Newspapers, to be found at the Boston Public Library, are useful; but statements therein should be carefully weighed. Clearly distinguish among other things: the cause of the strike; the policy of workmen and employers in its conduct; legal processes invoked; and the results to both parties. Summarize your conclusions succinctly at the end.

  1. Pennsylvania Railroad, 1877.
  2. Chicago Printers, 1880.
  3. Railway Telegraphers, 1883.
  4. Southwestern Railways, 1886.
  5. Anthracite Coal Miners, 1887-88.
  6. Homestead Strike, 1890.
  7. Spring Valley, 1890.
  8. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 1891.
  9. Cripple Creek, 1893.
  10. Anthracite Coal Miners, 1893-94.
  11. Northern Pacific Railway, 1894.
  12. Pullman Strike, 1894.
  13. The Army of the Commonweal, 1894.
  14. New York Tailors, 1895.
  15. Bituminous Coal Miners, 1897.
  16. Marlboro, Mass., 1898-99.
  17. Chicago Building Trades, 1900.
  18. New York Cigar Makers, 1900.
  19. Anthracite Coal Workers, 1900.
  20. Steel Workers, 1901.
  21. Louis Street Railway, 1901.
  22. Boston Teamsters, 1901.
  23. Machinists Strike, 1901.
  24. Anthracite Coal Miners, 1902.
  25. Boston Brewery Workmen, 1902.
  26. Pawtucket Weavers, 1902.
  27. New York Building Trades, 1903.
  28. Colorado Miners, 1903-04.
  29. New York Garment Workers, 1903-04.
  30. New York Subway, 1904-05.
  31. Fall River Cotton Mills, 1904-05.
  32. Chicago Butchers, 1904

[Note: nothing listed between items 32 and 51]

  1. London Docks, 1889.
  2. Scottish Railways, 1891.
  3. English Coal Miners, 1893.
  4. Lancashire Cotton Mills, 1900.
  5. English Coal Miners, 1901.
  6. French Coal Miners [Carmaux], 1902.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1905-1906”.

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ECONOMICS 9a
Final Examination, 1905-06

  1. Criticise Compulsory Insurance Acts from the distinct points of view of (1) thrift, (2) efficiency, and (3) morality, stating the nature of the evidence in each case.
  2. In what domains of social legislation are the following countries more advanced than the United States: (a) Great Britain, (b) the colony of Victoria, (c) the colony of New Zealand, (d) Germany? In what branches of such legislation does the United States surpass Buropean countries? [Answer by merely naming, without descriptive matter.]
  3. How do the Australian colonies deal with the non-union man in their labor laws?
  4. Defend the Minimum Wage policy from the workman’s point of view, and state the employers’ objections thereto.
  5. In what kinds of social legislation is the Federal character of our government a serious bar to experimentation? Show clearly the reasons why.
  6. What policies in the matter of apprenticeship on the part of employers do the trades unions seek to thwart by their rules on the subject?
  7. How does an injunction differ from an ordinary rule at law; and why is it so commonly used in labor disputes?
  8. What is a Federal Union as distinct from a Trade Union?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 35.

Image Source: Four strikers of the Ladies Tailors union on the picket line during the “Uprising of the 20,000”. Photo dated February 1910. Strike ran from November 1909 to March 1910. From the George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Money and Banking

Harvard. Exams for Money and Banking. Andrew, 1905-1906

Abram Piatt Andrew

 

The financial Panic of 1907 was still a few years down the historical road when A. Piatt Andrew picked up the banking semester of the two semester sequence of money and banking at Harvard from O. M. W. Sprague who had left for Japan. This expanded scope in matters monetary no doubt came in handy when Andrew joined the staff of the National Monetary Commission established by Congress in 1908.

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Previous course materials
Money and Banking 

1900-01 (Meyer and Sprague)
1901-02 (Andrew, Sprague, Meyer)
1902-03 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)
1903-04 (Andrew and Sprague)
1904-05 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 8a 1hf. Asst. Professor Andrew. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times.

Total 50: 5 Graduates, 7 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 8a
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

  1. Explain and give illustrations of
    1. the double standard;
    2. the parallel standard;
    3. the limping standard;
    4. the single standard;
    5. quasi-redemption;
    6. forced circulation.
  2. State briefly the circumstances which led to the issue and withdrawal of the American trade dollar.
  3. Trace briefly the chronology of the adoption of the gold standard throughout the world. To what extent is the fall in price of silver due to this movement? To what extent has the value of gold been affected by it?
  4. How would the adoption of international bimetallism to-day at the ratio of 32 to 1 affect (a) the circulating medium, (b) the standard of value of different countries? Consider both the immediate and the eventual results.
  5. What arguments advanced in favor of bimetallism ten years ago are inapplicable to-day?
  6. Is there any peculiar significance for the “quantity theory”
    1. of British India between 1893 and 1898;
    2. of Austria between 1878 and 1892;
    3. of Russia between 1878 and 1896;
    4. of Holland between 1873 and 1875.
      When possible give variant opinions.
  7. Would an ideal monetary standard always measure the same quantity of goods?
    1. According to Walker?
    2. According to Darwin?
    3. According to your own opinion?
      Answer both from the points of view of production and distribution.
  8. “Inasmuch as gold (before 1848) was more valuable on the world’s market than at the French mint, relatively to silver, it was impossible that gold should circulate in France.” Is this a necessary conclusion?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06. Also a copy in Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 33.

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 8b 2hf. Asst. Professor Andrew. — Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems.

Total 105: 7 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 56 Juniors, 22 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 8b
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Explain the system of “cash credits” and the importance of the £1 note in Scotland.
  2. Discuss the following:—
    1. Bank statement based on falling averages.
    2. Five per cent fund with treasurer.
    3. Bonds for circulation.
    4. Bonds for deposits.
  3. Sketch briefly the various stages in the American government’s policy of caring for its funds.
  4. How do state banks compare with national banks in the United States to-day (a) in number, (b) in size, (c) in the kinds of business done? What differences in these regards appear in different parts of the country?
  5. On what grounds is an extension of branch-banking advocated in the United States? What are the objections raised? To what extent does it already exist?
  6. Explain the ways and trace the seasons in which the New York bank reserves are apt to decline. Discuss the means which have recently been employed by the government to strengthen them.
  7. Sight exchange is quoted at 4.8550; 60-day bills at 4.8240; commercial bills at 4.8212. Explain these differences and show how each quotation will be affected, if the Bank of England raises its rate by 1%.
  8. The following are abstracted statements of the New York Associated Banks:
(1)
Aug. 5, ’93		 (2)
Feb. 3, ’94		 (3)
May 20, ’99		 (4)
May 23, ’03
Loans 409 420 763 923
Deposits 373 552 902 914
Capital 129 133 134 224
Circulation 6 13 16 44
Reserve 79 250 260 238

Compare 1 with 2, and 3 with 4, explaining in each case the changes in the relations (a) between loans and deposits, (b) between deposits and reserve.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906),  p. 34.

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 Public Finance

Harvard. Exam for undergraduate public finance. Bullock, 1905-1906

Charles Jesse Bullock compressed his two semester public finance sequence at Harvard that was pitched to graduates and advanced undergraduates in 1904-05 into a single semester for undergraduates in the following academic year. This compression and “dumbing down” [?] resulted in a significant increase in enrollment. Who knows, maybe he even lowered the curve for grading?

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Exams from the two semester sequence in public finance (1904-05)

1904-05. Introduction to Public Finance (post includes two obituaries for Bullock)

1904-05. Theory and Methods of Taxation

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 7 2hf. Asst. Professor Bullock. — Public Finance considered with special reference to the Theory and Methods of Taxation.

Total 137: 13 Seniors, 54 Juniors, 55 Sophomores, 4 Freshman, 11 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 7
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Discuss the history of federal expenditures in the United States since 1860.
  2. Discuss the past and the present policy of the United States with respect to its public lands.
  3. Give an account of the present status of the municipal ownership movement in the United States.
  4. Discuss the proposition that income is the normal source of taxation.
  5. What is your opinion concerning the justice of progressive taxation?
  6. What was decided in the income tax decisions of 1895?
  7. Give a detailed account of the present method of taxing personal property in Massachusetts.
  8. Compare the general corporation tax of Massachusetts with that of Pennsylvania.
  9. Write an account of the present status of the inheritance tax in the American commonwealths.
  10. Write a history of federal taxation in the United States from 1789 to the present day.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 32.

Image Source: Illustration by Louis M. Glackens in Puck, April 8, 1908. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.26261

Categories
Economists Harvard Transcript

Harvard. Application for PhD candidacy. James Waterhouse Angell, 1921

The empirical questions behind most of the collection of archival artifacts found here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror can be reduced to i) what was being taught ii) who was teaching it, and iii) what was the pattern of the courses actually taken by young economists. These artifacts can be thought of as occupying cell(s) in a matrix of year by academic institution, e.g. this post deals with question (iii) and will be filed in the Harvard, early 1920’s cell.

James Waterhouse Angell (1898-1986) was a Harvard and Chicago trained economist who joined the Columbia faculty upon receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1924. He was a member of Columbia’s faculty for over forty years, interrupted by government service during World War II at the War Production Board and the Foreign Economics Administration.  More about his life and career can be read in his New York Times obituary (April 1, 1986)

With this post we have the record for Angell in Harvard’s Division of History, Government, and Economics. It provides us with a wealth of information about his academic training. There will be a flow of such records for other graduate students that promises to match the flow of syllabi and exams, the stock of which constitute the core of archival material.

 You  should subscribe to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror if you are working on the history of economics. To do so scroll down (or search “Subscribe” on this page from your web browser).

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Autobiographical snippet

Angell’s personal statement in the 25th year anniversary report of the Harvard Class of 1918

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Application for Candidacy for the Degree of Ph.D.

[Note: Boldface used to indicate printed text of the application; italics used to indicate the handwritten entries]

I. Full Name, with date and place of birth.

James Waterhouse Angell. May 20, 1898. Chicago.

II. Academic Career: (Mention, with dates inclusive, colleges or other higher institutions of learning attended; and teaching positions held.)

Undergraduate: Harvard 1914-18. Graduate: University of Chicago, March 1919-June 1920; Harvard, September 1920-date. Teaching: Assistant in Economics, Univ. of Chicago, October 1919-June 1920.

III. Degrees already attained. (Mention institutions and dates.)

A.B. Harvard, 1918. [magna cum laude]

IV. General Preparation. (Indicate briefly the range and character of your undergraduate studies in History, Economics, Government, and in such other fields as Ancient and Modern Languages, Philosophy, etc.) In case you are a candidate for the degree in History, state the number of years you have studied preparatory and college Latin.)

History. Harvard: Hist. A, 30a. Government. Univ. of Chicago: Elementary Comp. Govt. Economics. Harvard: Economics A, 2a, 2b, 4b, 5a, 5b. Univ. of Chicago: Labor Problems, Money and Banking, Statistics.

Greek: Harvard: Greek G, A, 2, 8. Latin. Harvard: Latin B, 8. French. Harvard: French 2. Philosophy. Univ. of Chicago: Social and Political Philosophy. Psychology. Harvard: Psychology A, Univ. of Chicago: Social Psychology.

V. Department of Study. (Do you propose to offer yourself for the Ph.D., “History,” in “Economics,” or in “Political Science”?)

Economics

VI. Choice of Subjects for the General Examination. (State briefly the nature of your preparation in each subject, as by Harvard courses, courses taken elsewhere, private reading, teaching the subject, etc., etc.)

  1. Economic Theory and Its History. Harvard: Economics A, 11, 14; Univ. of Chicago: History of Econ. Thought. Teaching: Univ. of Chicago: 2 quarters of elementary theory, 1920.
  2. Economic History since 1750. Harvard: Economics 2a and 2b.
  3. Public Finance. Harvard: Economics 5a, 5b, 31
  4. Money and Banking. Harvard: Economics 38. Univ. of Chicago: Elementary Money & Banking. Also private reading.
  5. International Trade and Tariff Policy. Harvard: Economics 33; and private reading.
  6. [Constitutional] History of the U.S., 1789-1914. Univ. of Chicago. 3 quarters of graduate study. (A. D. Mr. Laughlin)

VII. Special Subject for the special examination.

Special subject either Economic Theory or Public Finance; to be specified later. Money and Banking

VIII. Thesis Subject. (State the subject and mention the instructor who knows most about your work upon it.)

International Price Levels (With Professors Taussig and Young)

IX. Examinations. (Indicate any preferences as to the time of the general and special examinations.)

General: Last week in October, 1921.

X. Remarks

[Left blank]

Signature of a member of the Division certifying approval of the above outline of subjects.

[signed] Edmund E. Day

*   *   *   [Last page of application] *   *   *

[Not to be filled out by the applicant]

Name: James W. Angell

Approved: April 29, 1921

Ability to use French certified by Charles J. Bullock. 10 March, 1922 B.S.M.

Ability to use German certified by Charles J. Bullock, 10 March, 1922 B.S.M.

Date of general examination June 2, 1922 Passed A.A.Y.

Thesis received Oct. 15, 1923

Read by Professors Taussig, Young, and Persons

Approved October 29, 1921

Date of special examination Thursday, March 6, 1924. Passed A.A. Young 

Recommended for the Doctorate[left blank]

Degree conferred  [left blank]

Remarks.  [left blank]

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

Record of James Waterhouse Angell in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University

1920-21
Economics 11.
[Economic Theory, Prof. Taussig]		 A
Economics 14
[History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848, Prof. Bullock]		 A minus
Economics 31
[Public Finance, Prof. Bullock]		 A
Economics 331 [half course]
[International Trade and Tariff Problems, Prof. Taussig]		 A
Economics 382 [half course]
[Selected Monetary Problems, Prof. Young]		 A
Attained the degree of Master of Arts.
1921-22
Economics 20 (F.W.T.)
[Economic Research (for Ph.D. candidates)]		 A

Note: A transcript can also be found in Harvard University Archives, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Record Cards of Students, 1895-1930, Aab—Belcher (UAV 161.2722.5). File I, Box 1, Record Card of James Waterhouse Angell.

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

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Committee on Economic Research
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Charles J. Bullock, Chairman

Charles F. Adams
Nicholas Biddle
Frederic H. Curtiss
Wallace B. Donham
Ogden L. Mills
Eugene V. R. Thayer

W.M. Persons, Editor
Review of Economic Statistics

J.B. Hubbard, Editor
Harvard Economic Service

F.Y. Presley
General Manager

March 10, 1922.

Professor Charles H. Haskins,
23 University Hall,
Cambridge, Mass.

This is to certify that I have examined Mr. J. W. Angell and find that he has such a knowledge of French and German as we require of candidates for the doctor’s degree.

[signed] Charles J. Bullock

CJB/AMB

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

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts
6 June 1922

I beg to report that Mr. James W. Angell passed the General Examination in Economics held on Friday, 2 June. Mr. Angell’s examination clearly earned a pass, but it is proper to say that the examination was not as distinguished and the margin was not as large as Mr. Angell’s brilliant course record indicated it would be.

[signed by D.C. for] Allyn A. Young

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

[Carbon copy]

26 February 1924

My dear Professor Young:

We are arranging J.W. Angell’s special examination for Thursday, 6 March, at 4 p.m. I will let you know the place later. The committee will consist of Professors Taussig, Williams, Sprague, and yourself as chairman.

Very truly yours,
Secretary of the Division.

Professor A. A. Young

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

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 7, 1924

Dear Haskins:

On behalf of the committee appointed to conduct the special examination of Mr. J. W. Angell, I beg to report that Mr. Angell successfully passed the examination. I may add that the examination as a whole was unusually satisfactory.

Very truly yours,
[signed by k. for] Allyn A. Young

Dean C. H. Haskins

Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government, and Economics. Ph.D. exams and records of candidates, study plans, lists, etc. pre-1911-1942. Box 5. Folder “J. W. Angell.”

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Annotated Typescript for
Division of History, Government, and Economics
Examinations for the Degree of Ph.D. 1923-1924
JAMES WATERHOUSE ANGELL.

SPECIAL EXAMINATION in Economics, passed. Thursday, March 6, 1924.

GENERAL EXAMINATION passed June 2, 1922.

ACADEMIC HISTORY: Harvard College, 1914-18; University of Chicago, March, 1919, to June, 1920; Harvard Graduate School, 1920-23. A.B., 1918; A.M., 1921. Assistant in Economics, University of Chicago, 1919-20; Tutor in the Division of History, Government, and Economics, Harvard, 1921-22; Frederick Sheldon Travelling Fellow, Harvard, 1922-23; Instructor in Economics and Tutor in the Division of History, Government, and Economics, Harvard, 1923-4.

GENERAL SUBJECTS: 1. Economic Theory and Its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Public Finance. 4. Money and Banking. 5. International Trade and Tariff Policy. 6. American History since 1789.

SPECIAL SUBJECT: Money and Banking.

COMMITTEE: Professors Young (chairman), Taussig, Williams,
and Sprague.

THESIS SUBJECT: The Theory of International Prices and its History.

COMMITTEE ON THESIS: Professors Taussig, Young, and Persons.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government, and Economics. Ph.D. exams and records of candidates, study plans, lists, etc. pre-1911-1942. Box 5. Unmarked Envelope/Folder

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Image Source:  James Waterhouse Angell’s July 18, 1922 U.S. passport application. National Archives.

 

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Reading list and final exam for U.S. economic and financial history. Taussig and Gay, 1905-1906

Assistant Professor Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague taught the Harvard course “Economic History of the United States”/ “Economic and Financial History of the United States” in 1901-02 (with James Horace Patten), 1902-03, 1903-04, and 1904-05. The course was taken over in 1905-06 by Frank William Taussig and Edwin Francis Gay after Sprague left for a full professorship at the Imperial University of Japan.

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 6 2hf. Professor Taussig and Asst. Professor Gay. — Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 79: 14 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 37 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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READING FOR ECONOMICS 6
(1905-6)

Prescribed reading is indicated by an asterisk (*).

1. COLONIAL PERIOD.

*Ashley, Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 1-30; printed also in Surveys, pp. 309-335.

Schmoller, Mercantile System, pp. 57-80.

Beer, Commercial Policy of England, pp. 1-158.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 3-91.

Eggleston, Agriculture and Commerce in the Colonies, The Century Magazine, Jan. and June, 1884, Vol. V, pp. 431-449; Vol. VI, pp. 234-256.

2. COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES, 1776-1815.

*Hill, First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States, Amer Econ. Assn. Pub., Vol. VIII, pp. 107-132.

Pitkin, Statistical View of the United States, ed. 1835, ch. ix, pp. 368-412.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 287-324, 95-145.

Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, in Taussig’s State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 1-108.

3. REVOLUTIONARY AND NATIONAL FINANCE – WESTWARD MOVEMENT, 1776-1815.

*Dewey, Financial History of the United States, chs. ii-vi, pp. 33-141.

Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the United States, pp. 60-78.

Hamilton, Reports on Public Credit, Amer. State Papers, Finance, Vol. 1, pp. 15-37, 64-67.

Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History, in Report of Amer. Hist. Assn., 1893, pp. 199-227.

Semple, American History and its Geographical Conditions, chs. iv, v, pp. 52-92.

4. FINANCE AND BANKING, 1815-1860.

*Dewey, Financial History, pp. 223-237, 252-262.

Sumner, Andrew Jackson, ed. 1886, pp. 224-249, 257-276, 291-342.

Catterall, The Second Bank of the United States, chs. xvi-vviii, pp. 376-403, 430-452.

Conant, History of Modern Banks of Issue, ch. xiv, pp. 310-347.

White, Money and Banking, chs. ix-xii, pp. 324-361.

5. TARIFFS AND MANUFACTURES, 1815-1860.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 1-154.

Taussig, State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 108-385.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, 146-199, 325-383.

6. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, 1815-1860.

*Callender, Early Transportation and Banking Enterprises, Q.J.E., Vol. XVII, pp. 111-162.

Chevalier, Society, Manners, and Politics in the United States, chs. vii, xx, xxi, pp. 80-87, 209-276.

Pitkin, Statistical View (1835), Vol. XII, pp. 531-581.

Gallatin, Plan of Internal Improvements, Amer. State Papers, Misc., Vol. I.

Tanner, Railways and Canals of the United States. See, especially, the map.

7. LAND POLICY AND AGRICULTURE, 1815-1860.

*Hart, Practical Essays on American Government, pp. 233-257.

*Hammond, Cotton Industry, ch. iii, pp. 67-119.

Donaldson, Public Domain.

Sato, History of the Land Question in the United States, Johns Hopkins University Studies, 4th series, nos. 7-9, pp. 127-181.

8. POPULATION AND SLAVERY, 1815-1860.

*Cairnes, Slave Power, chs. ii, iii, v, pp. 34-93, 120-150.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, ch. ii, pp. 34-60.

Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, ch. ix, pp. 150-177.

9. FINANCE, BANKING, AND CURRENCY PROBLEMS, 1860-1900.

*Dewey, Financial History, chs. xii, xiii, xx, pp. 271-330, 463-473.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, chs. i, ii, iii, x, pp. 1-72, 234-254.

Taussig, Silver Situation, pp. 1-157.

Dunbar, National Banking System, Q.J.E., Vol. XII, pp. 1-36.

10. TRANSPORTATION; TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 155-230.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 466-481.

Johnson, American Railway Transportation, chs. ii, ii, v, pp. 13-38, 52-68.

Taussig, Contribution to the Theory of Railway Rates, Q.J.E., Vol. V, pp. 438-465.

Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 24-56.

11. INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION AND TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 230-409.

Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, Vol. II, pp. 243-394.

Taussig, Iron Industry, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 143-170, 475-508.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 485-519, 544-569.

Twelfth United States Census, Vol. IX, pp. 1-16; Vol. X, pp. 723-743.

Taussig, Wool and Woolens, Q.J.E., Vol. VIII, pp. 1-39.

Wright, Wool-growing and the Tariff since 1890, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 610-647.

Willoughby, Integration of Industry in the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XVI, pp. 94-115.

12. AGRICULTURE AND OPENING OF THE FAR WEST.

*Industrial Commission, XIX, pp. 43-123, 134-168.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, Book I, chs. iv-vii, ix, pp. 120-228, 324-356.

Adams, The Granger Movement, North American Review, Vol. CLXXV, pp. 394-424.

13. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Meeker, Shipping Subsidies, Pol. Sci. Qr., Vol. XX, pp. 594-611.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 167-209.

Wells, Our Merchant Marine, chs. i-v, pp. 1-94.

14. WAGES AND THE LABOR PROBLEM.

*Levasseur, American Workman, pp. 436-509.

Mitchell, Organized Labor.

Industrial Conciliation, National Civic Federation.

Wright, Industrial History of the United States, Part III, pp. 231-322.

15. IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION.

*Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, chs. iii, iv, pp. 33-78.

Tillinghast, Negro in Africa and America, pp. 102-227.

Hoffman, Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, pp. 141-148, 170-176, 310-329.

Washington, Future of the American Negro, pp. 3-244.

Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, pp. 79-167, 227-283.

Walker, Discussions in Economics and Statistics, Vol. II, pp. 417-434.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in conomics, 1895-2003, Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1905-1906”.

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ECONOMICS 6
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Describe the history of the agitation for “cheap money” in the United States; the forms assumed both before and after 1860, its causes and the probability of its recurrence.
  2. Compare critically the financing of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Spanish War.
  3. (a) Summarize the principal features of our tariff legislation from the close of the Civil War to the Dingley Tariff.
    (b) What has been the effect of the tariffs on the iron and steel industry?
  4. Give the history of the Union Pacific Railroad and its relations to the government.
  5. Account for the changes in the character of the foreign trade of the United States in respect to the excess of imports or of exports.
    Take one of the following questions:
  6. Discuss the significance and causes of the increase of farm tenancy and the rural exodus.
  7. What can you say as to agricultural conditions in the South before and since the Civil War? What about the negro problem?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), pp. 31-32.

Image Source: Portraits of Frank William Taussig and Edwin Francis Gay from the Harvard Class Album 1906.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Final examination for transportation economics. Ripley, 1905-1906

William Zebina Ripley

Relatively early on transportation economics was recognised as one of the major specialisation fields within applied economics. This can be illustrated with the courses offered by William Zebina Ripley at Harvard that were introduced during the first decade of the twentieth century. Ripley also covered labor relations as well as industrial organisation and regulation. This was still a time when economics faculty members were expected to span several special fields. As Adam Smith had said, “The division of labour is limited by the extent of the market.” The era of the “Universalgenie” [Narrator’s voice: “They only thought they were.”] had not yet been replaced by the era of the “Fachidiot” [The narrator continues, “…ahem, present company excluded”].

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Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5

1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer alone)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 5 1hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Stuart] Daggett. — Economics of Transportation.

Total 138: 10 Graduates, 32 Seniors, 59 Juniors, 28 Sophomores, 9 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 5
Final Examination
1905-06

  1. What is the present legal status of the “Long and Short Haul” clause of the Act to Regulate Commerce? Outline the decisions clearly.
  2. The average length of haul on the St. Paul road is about 185 miles; while on the Union Pacific it is about 386 miles. How would these conditions affect the revenue per ton mile?
  3. What advantages might follow the repeal of the prohibition of pooling, from a railway point of view?
  4. What authority has the Interstate Commerce Commission concerning witnesses and the production of papers? What is the latest decision?
  5. Should the following items of expenditure be charged to capital, improvement, or operating expense account, viz.: (1) cost of abolishing grade crossings; (2) replacement of light rails with heavy ones; and (3) premium on purchase of stock in a subsidiary road? Give your own reasons for whichever course you advocate.
  6. What is the present method of control of the anthracite coal roads?
  7. What are the main inducements for stock watering, as described by Johnson?
  8. What is the nature of the principal bills now before Congress, amending the Act to Regulate Commerce? Describe them separately.

Source:  Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1905-06;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College(June, 1906), p. 31.

Image Source: Harvard University Archives.  William Zebina Ripley [photographic portrait, ca. 1910], J. E. Purdy & Co., J. E. P. & C. (1910). Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Final exam questions for principles of sociology. Carver, 1905-1906

Thomas Nixon Carver

 

Excerpts from Thomas Nixon Carvers’s autobiography dealing with sociology, his course reading list and a “thick” course description from the 1904-05 academic year have been transcribed and posted earlier.

Image today having a question like “What are the chief factors tending to promote the improvement of the race, and what are the chief factors tending to deteriorate it?” standing between you and your final grade in a course.

I wonder when such a question was first able to elicit a consensus cringe among social scientists. 

Likely readings for this course can be found in Sociology and Social Progress, compiled by Thomas Nixon Carver (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1905).

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Course Enrollment

Economics 3. Professor Carver. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 60: 9 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 23 Juniors, 13 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

  1. State and explain briefly, —
    1. Spencer’s position as to the possibility of a science of society.
    2. Bagehot’s conclusion as to verifiable progress.
    3. Kidd’s theory as to the function of religious beliefs in the development of society.
    4. Kidd’s prediction as to the future relation of European races to tropical regions.
  2. What are the chief factors tending to promote the improvement of the race, and what are the chief factors tending to deteriorate it?
  3. Discuss briefly the following topics in their relation to social development:
    1. “The consciousness of kind.”
    2. Imitation
    3. Resentment.
    4. The power of idealization.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Discuss Kidd’s view that the real drift of society is toward greater equality and that this is accompanied by keener competition.
  2. Can social progress be defined in terms of human well being? Explain.
  3. What is meant by the transition from a pain to a pleasure economy? What corresponding transition does Comte describe?
  4. If we grant that war is primarily due to economic reasons, does the conclusion follow that it is permanent?
  5. What importance attaches to the prolongation of infancy in the human species?
  6. Compare the views of Kidd and Buckle as to the relative importance of the moral and the intellectual factors in social development.
  7. What is meant by the storing of social energy, and what are some of the chief agencies by which it is accomplished?
  8. Compare the prince, as described by Machiavelli, with the modern political boss.
  9. What is meant by the distinction between the repressive and the directive activities of the State? What are the main conditions which justify the latter?
  10. What general principle determines the obligation of the State in the imposition of taxes?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 30.

Image Source: Portrait of Thomas Nixon Carver, colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror, from the Harvard Class Album 1906.

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. Graduate student teaching assistant, A.M. but no Ph.D. Frank Richardson Mason, 1906

Not all graduate students complete the requirements for a Ph.D. and, early in the 20th century, it was quite common for the Master’s degree to be the terminal degree and not all career paths lead to economics education and/or research. From time to time your curator of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror stumbles upon career information of the one or other graduate student of economics who left the formal study of economics for that so-called real world and the information is added as a biographical post. 

Here we feature two reports from the Harvard Class of 1905 graduate (summa cum laude), Frank Richardson Mason. A trace of his academic life was encountered in the previous post that dealt with the Principles of Economics course taught at Harvard in 1905-06.  Earlier we found mention of his Special Examination for the Ph.D. that was scheduled for May 14, 1908. Presumably something must have wrong in his special examination, because he looked to be on track for a Ph.D., having passed his general examinations and published a paper on his thesis topic in the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

_______________________________

From the Class of 1905
Twenty-fifth Reunion (1930)

FRANK RICHARDSON MASON

BORN: Hebron, Ill., Oct. 6, 1882. PARENTS: Ralph Nathaniel Mason, Helen May Richardson.

PREPARED AT: John Marshall High School, Chicago, Ill.

IN COLLEGE: 1901-1905. DEGREES: A.B. summa cum laude 1905; A.M. 1906.

MARRIED: Jennie Louise Barr, Chicago, Ill., Sept. 25, 1912. CHILDREN: Alfred Barr, Sept. 5, 1914; Jennie Louise, Oct. 19, 1917; Donald Frank, March 17, 1926.

OCCUPATION: Accountant.

ADDRESSEs: (home) 1124 No. Harvey Ave., Oak Park, Ill.; (business) 10 So. LaSalle St., Chicago, Ill.

For three years after graduating I was in the Graduate School, where I held a teaching fellowship, specializing in economics. For two years I was secretary of Northwestern University School of Commerce, and since then have been in various business positions. For seven years, 1912 to 1919, I was office manager for J. W. Butler Paper Company, in Chicago. For the past several years I have been a public accountant on my own, operating under the firm name of F. R. Mason & Co.

My life has been singularly free from either high lights or shadows. Outside of one trip to Europe before the war, I have had no mad adventures. My chief preoccupation has been raising a family. I meet the Chicago boys of our class about once a month, and so keep in vicarious touch with the past and present glories of our Alma Mater.

PUBLICATIONS: “The Silk Industry in the United States,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1908; “Business Organization and Principles,” (Cree Pub. Co., 1910); various translations from French and German.

MEMBER OF: Harvard Club, Chicago, Ill.

Source: Harvard Class of 1905, Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Report (June, 1930), pp. 410-11.

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From the Class of 1905
Thirtieth Reunion (1935)

FRANK RICHARDSON MASON has spent the last five years “accounting, and getting clients out of trouble when Uncle Sam thinks they’ve ‘rationalized’ on their income tax” During this time he has performed the following public service: “gone to one Phi Beta Kappa dinner and stuck it out to the bitter end; contributed generously to Samuel Insull’s total of defalcation.” He has also written several diatribes condemning the new dealers for not paying the swatters for the home runs they didn’t make, and has spent a good deal of time standing on his head to see if he can’t make the new deal look right side up. His chief aversion is “The guy with one idea which will solve the world’s problems.” But he adds seriously, “After a life of frugal toil, having accumulated a few thousands by diligence and self denial, I have lost everything — except faith, hope, and charity.

Faith — that the American people will rise with the strength of their own backbone out of the Slough of Despond in which they have been wallowing for the past five years; Hope — that there are greater horizons further on than those we have already seen, and that dauntless souls will forge ahead to call us on to the visions discernible from the new heights; Charity — for the loud-mouthed demagogues continually shouting a rallying cry for every mirage that shimmers over the barren desert of our economic outlook. I still have Faith, Hope, and Charity, and I agree with St. Paul, the greatest of these is Charity.” Address: 10 South La Salle Street, Chicago, Ill.

Source:  Harvard Class of 1905, Thirtieth Anniversary Report (June, 1935),  p. 91.

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Frank Richardson Mason died Jan 22, 1953 in Oak Park, Illinois.

Source: Find-a-grave website.

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Image Source: Frank Richardson Mason’s 1905 Class Album picture and his twenty-fifth reunion portrait.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Principles

Harvard. Principles of Economics Exam. Taussig et al., 1905-1906

Over the next couple of weeks Economics in the Rear-view Mirror will be posting the printed economics course exams from Harvard for the academic year 1905-06.  Economics in the Rear-View Mirror has already transcribed and posted nearly every economics exam at Harvard University up to this year. You will find links to them in the Catalogue of Artifacts, then use page search for, e.g.,”Exam” to be awed if not shocked by the sheer quantity of material available to you.

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Course Enrollment

Economics 1. Professor [Frank William] Taussig and Asst. Professor [Abram Piatt] Andrew, assisted by Messrs. [Silas Wilder] Howland, [Chester Whitney] Wright, [Seldon Osgood] Martin, [William Hyde] Price, [Frank Richardson] Mason, and [Stuart] Daggett. — Principles of Economics.

Total 470: 1 Graduate, 9 Seniors, 87 Juniors, 266 Sophomores, 63 Freshmen, 44 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 1
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
Answer nine questions, five from Group I, four from Group II.

Group I

  1. Which of the following would you class as capital:—
    1. stocks of goods in retailers’ hands;
    2. a theatre:
    3. the skill, acquired through training and education, of highly efficient workmen;
    4. agricultural land permanently improved by drainage, embankments and the like.
  2. Explain concisely,
    1. the law of diminishing returns;
    2. intensive and extensive margin of cultivation;
    3. marginal utility.
  3. Suppose all agricultural land to be equally fertile and equally distant from the market; suppose all to be under cultivation: would there be rent? If so, why and where? if not, why not?
  4. Explain in what way the value of monopolized commodities is influenced on the one hand by cost of production, on the other hand by marginal utility.
  5. Explain in what way the value of commodities produced at joint cost is influenced on the one hand by cost of production, on the other hand by marginal utility.
  6. State two different ways in which expense of education and training affects variations of wages in different occupations.

Group II

  1. “The extra gains which any producer or dealer obtains through superior talents for business, or superior business arrangements, are very much of a similar kind [to rent]. . . . All advantages, in fact, which one competitor has over another, whether natural or acquired, whether personal or the result of social arrangements, bring the commodity, so far, into the Third Class, and assimilate the possessor of the advantage to a receiver of rent.” —Mill.
    Explain what is the “third class” of commodities here referred to by Mill; wherein “personal” advantages differ from those which are “the result of social arrangements”; and how far the general doctrine set forth in this extract is found also in Walker and in Seager.
  2. State concisely the residual theory of distribution, as set forth by Walker.
  3. Suppose the number of laborers to increase greatly, the other factors in production (capital, land) remaining unchanged: what changes in wages would ensue, and in what manner would they be brought about, according to Mill? Walker? Seager?
  4. Explain concisely,
    1. the capitalization of rent;
    2. the capitalization of monopoly profits;
    3. the statement that the rate of interest determines the value of land and securities;
    4. innocent investors and acquired rights.
  5. A corporation organized to do a mercantile business buys an expensive city site, erects a building thereon, carries on the operations of buying and selling, and in due time distributes dividends among its stockholders. What is the nature of the return received by the stockholders?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 1
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

Omit one question from each group.

I.

  1. Define capital, and mention two articles of wealth which are always capital, two which never are, and two which sometimes are and sometimes are not.
  2. Under what conditions would there be no economic rent?
  3. Explain briefly the salient influences which will determine the value (1) at any given moment, (2) in the long run, of the following:
    1. an uncopyrighted book,
    2. a copyrighted book,
    3. an ounce of gold.
  4. What are the limits to the price-fixing and profit-earning powers of monopolies? Are there any other conditions which will tend to check the indefinite growth of combinations?

II.

  1. Is it true of all commodities that changes in supply affect their value proportionally? Is it true of the commodity money? If in your opinion there is any difference, explain it.
  2. Can a commodity change its value without changing its price? Can it change its price without changing its value? Suppose the commodity were gold bullion, would your answer vary?
  3. Suppose an increase in the volume of our currency, due to a new issue of silver, what would be the effect upon international trade? Would this effect be lasting? Would your answer depend at all upon the condition of our currency at the time the increase occurred?
  4. If the merchandise imports from England to the United States equalled the exports from the United States to England (a) what would be the state of exchange on London? (b) Would there be any greater advantage to either of the countries engaged in trade?

III.

  1. Would a tariff “for revenue only” differ from a protective tariff, the product of which is entirely devoted to revenue? Has either any advantage over the other?
  2. “A man is of all sorts of luggage the most difficult to be transported.” What is the bearing of this fact upon the theory of international trade?
  3. (a) How are loans affected when the reserve limit (as established either by law or custom) is reached in England, Germany, and in the United States?
    (b) Show whether a system of “combined reserves” is needed in France, England, or Germany.
  4. Arrange the following items in their proper order as they would appear in the statement of a national bank. What criticisms would a bank examiner make? Would these criticisms vary if the bank were situated in New York, Boston, or the town of Lexington?
Loans,

360 thousands of dollars
Capital,

50      “                “       “
Reserve,

50      “                “       “
Real estate,

28      “                “       “
Deposits,

300    “                “       “
Undivided profits,

3        “                “       “
Notes,

115    “                “       “
Other assets,

20      “                “       “
Bonds and stocks,

40      “                “       “
Surplus,

30      “                “       “

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), pp. 26-27.

Image Source: Portrait of Professor Frank W. Taussig in the Harvard Class Album 1906.