HARVARD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
55 SHATTUCK STREET
Boston, Massachusetts
3/27/36
DEPARTMENT OF VITAL STATISTICS
Edwin B. Wilson Carl R. Doering
Professor Wesley C. Mitchell
161 West Twelfth Street,
New York, N.Y.
Dear Mitchell:
I understand Burbank plans for me to be giving next year the course on mathematical economics rather than the course on mathematical statistics which I am giving this year. This if Rollin Bennett were with us he could probably take my course.
There seems to be plenty of mathematical economics around Harvard and I judge that some people are pretty badly worried over the situation. Taussig’s great course on economic theory has now been taken over by Schumpeter and as far as I can find has been completely changed in that instead of covering a wide range of economic variables and points of view in oral discussion and trying to give the student some notion of how the theoretical economist may reason on the facts of a complicated world Schumpeter is practically giving mathematical economics. I don’t know that this is so but I am told that it is. The department is relying somewhat apparently on Chamberlin and Taylor to give general courses on economic theory without requiring much mathematics but the fact seems to be that the tradition that students should take the chief theory course which was Taussig’s and is now Schumpeter’s is so strong that practically nobody can escape Schumpeter’s course. I am told that he not only uses a great deal of mathematics, so that the course is really unintelligible to students who have not had at least two years of collegiate mathematics, but that more than this he marks the students not on how well they handle their economics in view of their total preparation but on their mathematical dexterity which makes it essential if a fellow is to have a high mark that he really be a pretty good mathematician. I have a notion that a good many members of the department are decidedly disturbed over the situation and are making some inquiries to find out whether it may not be possible for the department of mathematics to give a course more or less parallel to the one which it now gives which shall get the students further along in their mathematical notions in two years than is at present the case. You probably are aware that our layout in mathematics here is, like that elsewhere, designed primarily for students who are going to need a great deal of mathematical technique because of going into physics, or engineering, or astronomy, or mathematics itself, and isn’t ideally suited to those students who need a wide range of mathematical conceptions and a moderate range of technique and need to get it quickly as is best for students going into chemistry, physiology, economics, business, psychology, and so on. Now I happen to have repeatedly urged at Yale, at M.I.T., and informally here at Harvard where I am not technically connected with the department of mathematics, that our large institutions instead of giving one and the same course to all Freshmen and Sophomores in anything from 8 to 30 divisions should offer two parallel courses one of them directed to the students who needs to acquire a very considerable mathematical technique and covering topics selected with reference to the needs of such a person whereas the other should be differently conceived. It is a fact that an engineer with his courses on statics including strength of materials needs a pretty thorough grounding in trigonometric analysis. It is also important in the study of alternating current machinery. He may also need a considerable amount of analytical geometry if he is to be at home with ellipsoids of inertia and with stress and strain relations in the theory of materials. He must have considerable familiarity with the integration of differential equations. He really needs two and a half years of continuous and hard mathematics. Now for the other people whom I mentioned trigonometry is a matter that can be covered in very few exercises. They don’t have to do surveying, they don’t have to solve triangles, they don’t have to do analytical statics. On the other hand they do need rather more algebra, including choice and chance, for which there is no special necessity on the part of the engineer or physicist, at any rate at an early stage and they do need to get through with their mathematics say in a year and a half instead of two, and a half years. It is all perfectly simple to do in all institutions large enough so that there is no additional cost in running two parallel courses instead of a single course but I don’t know of any institution that does it. If I were arranging the courses on mathematics for the Freshman and Sophomore years in our major institutions there would be much greater variety in the offering, but this is beside the point. The fact is we are lousy with mathematical economics so near as I can make out. I suppose Leontieff leans pretty strongly that way.
I am sorry you have so much administrative work in the National Bureau. I wish you could be let alone to do your research. For that matter I wish I could. I am in too many things and this job for the National Resources Committee has been a great burden to me this year. Then Gay resigned from the Executive Committee on the Tercentenary and I was put in his place. The president has put me on his project committee to represent sociology as near as I can make out. My time has been dissipated. Some of the things that I was anxious to do when I gave up the presidency of the SSRC I have done but there still remain to be done a great many of those things which I had every reason to believe would have been finished by this time. In the meantime I suppose I have done a few other odds and ends that weren’t on my program because my position here is essentially a consulting position and I have to take in and think about problems which have been initiated by other persons but which can’t be wound up by them because they haven’t adequate knowledge of statistical methods and I fear even not of logical methods.
I wish the SSRC this summer would go up to the South Shore or the North Shore so that their members would be near at hand for the Tercentenary Conference of the social sciences. It would seem to me that the Symposium on Factors Affecting Human Behavior and that on the Relations of Authority to the Individual and that on Cultural Diffusion which occupy the 5 days from September 7th to September 11th inclusive would be right up the main track of the SSRC and that we would be likely to have more of the people here if the Council met up in this vicinity. I daresay that wherever it meets I shan’t have much time for it because of pressure of work on the small committee consisting of Shapley, Henderson, Nock and myself with Jerome Greene which is to take care of the Academic end of this large conference.
Yours very sincerely,
[signed: E. B. Wilson]
Source: Columbia University Libraries Manuscript Collections. Mitchell, W. C. Collection, Box 14 (Correspondence Ve—Z), Folder “Wilson, Edwin B., Boston, 27 March 1936, To Wesley C. Mitchell”.
For the academic years 1912-13 through 1915-16 there are complete (or at least nearly complete) sets of examinations for many departments, including economics available at hathitrust.org. In this posting we have final examinations for all economics courses but three for the 1912-13 academic year. Since courses are only identified in these collections by number, I have provided the course titles, instructors’ names and course registration figures available in the annual Harvard Presidential Report for that academic year.
The three courses for which no final examination questions (perhaps the grade was not even determined by examination) were:
Economics 13. Statistics. Theory, method, and practice. Professor Ripley. (6 Graduates, 1 Senior, 3 Radcliffe: Total 10)
Economics 24. Topics in the Economic History of the Nineteenth Century. Professor Gay. (4 Graduates, 1 Senior: Total 5)
Economics 33 1hf. Tariff Problems in the United States. Professor Taussig. (5 Graduates, 3 Seniors: Total 8)
Professor Taussig and Dr. E. E. Day, assisted by Messrs. Heilman, Jones, Burbank, Crosgrave, and Eldred.
1 Graduate, 21 Seniors, 93 Juniors, 307 Sophomores, 21 Freshmen, 38 Other. Total 481.
[p. 38-39]
ECONOMICS 1
To what extent and in what manner do the following contribute to the formation of capital: (a) a government loan; (b) the stock exchange; (c) commercial banks; (d) the corporate form of business organization?
Explain “margin of cultivation.” Distinguish between the intensive margin of cultivation and the extensive margin of cultivation. What is the relation between (a) the margin of cultivation in agriculture and the price of a bushel of wheat; (b) the margin in gold mining and the value of an ounce of gold?
Assume that a monopoly produces a commodity under conditions of constant cost. What determines the extent to which the monopoly price will be above the price which competition, if existent, would establish? Illustrate by diagram.
The rentals from a New York office building amount to $50,000 a year. The building is worth $200,000. To provide for insurance, depreciation and such fixed items, $10,000 is expended annually. The current rate of interest upon investments of equal security is 5%. What is the value of the land?
What is “dumping “? What induces it? To what extent is it dependent upon (a) monopoly conditions; (b) tariff barriers?
Explain briefly why (a) the rates of wages are generally higher in the United States than in Germany; (b) higher for plumbers than for unskilled laborers; (c) for domestic servants than for women employed in shops and factories. Suppose a socialist community apportioning wages on the basis of equality of sacrifice: would these differences persist?
How are the wages and the number employed within a particular industry affected, immediately and ultimately, by the invention of labor-saving devices in that industry?
Explain: (a) railroad rebates; (b) over-capitalization; (c) public service industries; (d) “reasonable restraint of trade”; (e) stoppage at the source.
________________________________________
Economics 2a lhf. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. M. T. Copeland.
16 Graduates, 14 Seniors, 44 Juniors, 17 Sophomores, 3 Freshmen, 5 Other. Total 99.
[p. 39-40]
ECONOMICS 2a1
“The effect of Peel’s measures of 1842-1845 was to demonstrate how much the trade and industry of the country might be encouraged by the readjustment of fiscal burdens.” Explain.
Is a similar readjustment needed in England at the present time? Why or why not?
(a) How was the capital for the construction of railroads prior to 1870 obtained in the different European countries? Why?
(b) Why was the railroad policy of Prussia modified after 1870? With what results?
Compare the organization of the wool manufacturing industries in England, Germany, and France at the present time, explaining to what the differences are due. How far are these differences typical?
Compare the English and Belgian methods of relieving the recent agricultural depression.
In which industries have Kartells been formed in Germany? Why? Compare with the movement for combination in England.
Explain the statement in regard to English agriculture that “after the middle of the eighteenth century the two revolutions, the industrial and the agricultural, which are indeed only manifestations of the same scientific and commercial spirit, go hand in hand and supplement one another.” Does this statement apply also to Germany? Why or why not?
Discuss briefly —
(a) English ” Friendly Societies.”
(b) Pitt’s Sinking Fund.
(c) Zollverein.
(d) French shipping subsidies.
(e) Charter and line traffic.
________________________________________
Economics 2b2hf. Economic and Financial History of the United States. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. M. T. Copeland.
18 Graduates, 22 Seniors, 50 Juniors, 27 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 6 Other. Total 124.
[p. 40-1]
ECONOMICS 2b
“The most important feature of life in a newly settled community is its commercial connection with the rest of the world.” Why? How is this illustrated (a) by the history of the American colonies and (b) by the history of the West?
What were the causes for the decline of the American merchant marine? What attempts have been made to assist its recovery? With what results?
Compare in its main features the economic history of the decade 1830-40 with that of the decade 1880-90.
Compare the conditions which stimulated industrial combinations in the ’90’s with those which resulted in railroad combinations in the ’70’s.
Within the last twelve months the New England Cotton Yarn Company, the U. S. Finishing Company, and the International Cotton Mills Corporation have each undergone reorganization. What was the earlier history of these companies and how far did that history foreshadow the necessity for such reorganizations?
If you were to establish a mill for manufacturing silk goods at the present time, how would the conditions which you would meet in that industry differ from those which confronted a silk manufacturer forty or forty-five years ago? Why have these changes taken place? How far are they typical of the general industrial development of the United States during this period?
(a) Comment on the following statement, which was made in a speech in Congress in 1846. “It is a protective tariff which gives to American industry the only effectual guaranty that it will not be brought down to a level with the degraded labor of Europe. It furnishes the only security that our standard of wages is not to be measured by the cost of production in those countries where the life of the laborer is but an incessant struggle for bread.”
(b) Judging from the history of the years 1893-1900, as well as from present conditions, is the present year more or less opportune than 1909 for a downward revision of the tariff? Why?
________________________________________
Economics 3. Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises. Dr. E. E. Day, assisted by Messrs. Ise and F. E. Richter.
3 Graduates, 31 Seniors, 67 Juniors, 16 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 1 Other. Total 119.
[p. 41-42]
ECONOMICS 3
What factors favored the monetary rehabilitation of silver in the United States during the 70’s? Which of these factors are still operative? Explain the disappearance of the others.
What banking abuses were most common in the United States early in the nineteenth century? When and how, if at all, have these since been eliminated?
What is the relation between the Bank of England rate and the London market rate of discount when (a) funds are abundant; (b) funds are relatively scarce? In what ways does varying the Bank rate accomplish the protection of the English banking reserves?
What is meant by a free gold market? Are the following such: London; Paris; Berlin; New York? In each case, why or why not?
How will the rate of sterling exchange in New York be affected by: (a) a crop failure in the United States; (b) hoarding of specie in Europe; (c) a slump on the New York Stock Exchange; (d) a banking panic in this country?
“The call-loan market . . . furnishes to the banks of the country under the present organization of banking, their only means of mobilizing their reserves, of liquifying their assets, and of securing flexibility in their lending power.” Explain and criticize. How, if at all, should this feature of our system be changed?
In the equation of exchange given by Professor Fisher, what is the relation of M, M’, V, and T (a) during a period of rising prices; (b) during a period of settled prices?
Describe the crisis of 1873 with reference to: (a) its general antecedents; (b) its more important causes in the United States; (c) its final outbreak in this country; (d) the territorial extent of the reaction; (e) the severity and duration of the subsequent depression.
________________________________________
Economics 4a1hf. Economics of Transportation. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Crosgrave.
6 Graduates, 2 G.B., 36 Seniors, 85 Juniors, 24 Sophomores, 3 Other. Total 156.
[p. 42-3]
ECONOMICS 4a
Compare the lease with stock ownership as a means of combination, stating the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Show how recent interpretation of the Federal law may conceivably affect the status of railway traffic agreements.
State very briefly the point raised in the following cases: —
(a) Portland Gateway.
(b) Illinois Central car supply.
(c) Alabama Midland (Troy).
(d) Orange Routing.
Have any of the above points been since corrected by legislation; if so in what manner?
Give reasons for the following differences in net capitalization per mile of line:
Union Pacific $65,000 Reading $170,000
Pennsylvania 86,000 Erie 170,000
What particular circumstance materially affects the success of Government ownership and operation:
(a) In Germany?
(b) In Italy?
(c) In Switzerland?
What is the present attitude of the Federal courts toward the proper basis to be used in the determination of reasonable rates?
How effective practically has been the ” Commodity Clause” of the law of 1906?
To whom properly belongs the surplus earnings of a railroad over and above a rate of return requisite to provide an adequate supply of new capital for future development? State your own view, but set forth your reasons fully.
________________________________________
Economics 4b2hf. Economics of Corporations. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Crosgrave.
6 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 86 Juniors, 15 Sophomores, 3 Other. Total 130.
[p. 43-4]
ECONOMICS 4b
Why was the dissolution of the “Tobacco Trust” more difficult than that of the Standard Oil Company? Explain fully.
Indicate certain differences in the eye of the law between monopolization and restraint of trade.
Herewith are two balance sheets of companies A and B respectively. Comment upon them, contrasting one with the other. Which apparently denotes the greater financial stability?
Co. A
Assets
Liabilities
Plant
$3,500,000
Preferred Stock
$5,000,000
Merchandise
1,800,000
Common Stock
15,000,000
Bills Receivable
700,000
Accounts Payable
600,000
Cash
1,400,000
Good-will and Patents
13,200,000
$20,600,000
$20,600,000
Co. B
Assets
Liabilities
Factories
$15,000,000
Capital Stock
$65,000,000
Securities owned
18,000,000
Debentures
15,000,000
Merchandise
20,000,000
Surplus
3,000,001
Accounts Receivable
30,000,000
Franchises and Good-will
1
$83,000,001
$83,000,001
Name, with briefest possible description in each case, and in order of seriousness, at least five distinct forms of unfair competition in trade.
Do all the foregoing forms of unfair competition affect thgeneral public as well as direct competitors? Does this factor apparently influence the attitude of the courts?
What was the essence of the U. S. Steel Bond Conversion plan? What became of it?
Contrast administrative and judicial forms of controlling monopoly, pointing out the merits of each.
Outline the plan of reorganization of the National Cordage Company. Was it typical of industrial reorganizations in general?
What are the three leading objections to the so-called “holding company “?
Outline what most appeals to you as a feasible plan for dealing with the existing trust problem. State concisely in definite propositions covering all points at issue.
________________________________________
Economics 5. Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation. Professor Bullock.
6 Seniors, 14 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 1 Other. Total 25.
[p. 44]
ECONOMICS 5
Explain and discuss critically the methods employed in the taxation of land in Germany, France, Great Britain, Australia, and the United States.
Compare the general property tax with the general income tax, considering both the theory and the practical operation of these taxes.
Compare the French, Prussian, and British systems of direct taxation.
Compare the British system of indirect taxation with those of France and the United States.
Discuss the taxation of mortgages in the United States.
What changes in the taxation of personal property have recently occurred in the United States?
Compare the British, Prussian, and Italian income taxes. .
Outline what you consider a satisfactory theory of the just apportionment of public charges.
________________________________________
Economics 6alhf. Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Crosgrave.
3 Graduates, 44 Seniors, 19 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 2 Other. Total 72.
[p. 45]
ECONOMICS 6a
Answer the first five briefly
What is sabotage?
What is the ” extended ” closed shop?
What is the principal practical difficulty in the “general strike”?
Is it met by the adoption of any positive policy in France by the “syndicates”?
In the syndicalist programme what is to be the unit in the reorganized state?
Contrast collective bargaining under sanction of the law with its adoption by private arrangement; (a) from the point of view of advantage to the employer; (b) from that of the workman.
What are the four main features of the New Zealand legislation. (Each in a sentence.)
What is the principal demonstrated weakness in the above legislation?
What are three disabilities of the individual workmen in negotiating a wage contract?
Wages for women in domestic service and in manufactures seem out of line with one another. What main difference helps to explain this?
What is the present condition of affairs respecting the closed shop in the United States? Outline the course of events for two decades.
How does the law of conspiracy enter into the decision by courts in labor disputes? How has Great Britain settled it?
________________________________________
Economics 6b2hf. The Labor Movement in Europe. Asst. Professor Rappard.
5 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 3 Other. Total 30.
[p. 45-6]
ECONOMICS 6b
Arrange answers in order of questions. Students who wrote theses will omit the first three questions.
Enumerate five of the effects which Engels says the Industrial Revolution had on the manufacturing population of England. What were Engel’s chief sources of information?
How does Sombart distinguish between (a) Rational Socialism (Utopian Socialism and Anarchism) and (b) Historical Socialism?
What effect, according to Marx, does machinery have
(a) Upon real wages?
(b) Upon nominal wages?
(c) Upon “relative surplus-value”?
(d) Upon “absolute surplus-value”?
Why is it customary to mention the English enclosure movement in dealing with the history of labor in Europe in the 19th century?
What were the historical relations between the doctrines of Godwin, Malthus and Darwin?
What was Chartism? Saint-Simonism? Which was more radical? More socialistic? Give reasons.
Write a biography of Marx (300 to 500 words).
Compare the views of Marx and Vaudervelde on ” Capitalist Concentration.”
Give chapter headings of a thesis on “The Socialist Movement in Germany, 1860-1890” in six or more chapters.
Distinguish between (a) Socialism (b) Anarchism (c) Syndicalism.
“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs … To every laborer the entire product of his labor … At first sight, these two formulas are absolutely contradictory. We believe, however, that it is possible and necessary to reconcile them and to complete each by the other.” — Vaudewelde.
How does the author do this? What practical suggestions does he make for arranging distribution in the socialist state?
What difficulties does Skelton think a socialist state would encounter
(a) In administering the government?
(b) In determining what commodities should be produced?
(c) In distributing wealth?
________________________________________
Economics 7. Theories of Distribution and Distributive Justice. Professor Carver.
3 Graduates, 7 Seniors, 13 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Other. Total 25.
[p. 47]
ECONOMICS 7
Explain and illustrate the principle of marginal utility and its relation to the value of consumers’ goods.
Explain and illustrate the law of variable proportions and its relation to the value of the factors of production.
Discuss the various criteria of justice in the distribution of wealth.
Explain and illustrate exactly what you understand by self-interest.
How would the single tax probably affect the demand for labor? Would its effect probably be stronger on unskilled than on skilled labor? On skilled labor than on business talent?
How do mechanical inventions affect the demand for capital and for different grades of labor?
Describe one communistic society, giving some account of its origin, the causes of its success if it succeeded and of its failure if it failed.
Outline a program for raising the wages of all the lower grades of labor.
________________________________________
Economics 8. Principles of Sociology. Professor Carver.
10 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 74 Juniors, 18 Sophomores, 4 Other. Total 147.
[p. 47-8]
ECONOMICS 8
What, in your opinion, is the ultimate test of progress? Give your reasons.
Compare the views of Buckle and Peschel as to the influence of geographical surroundings on religion.
What is the relation between the institution of the family and the institution of property?
What place has the genius in social progress? Give your own opinion and state the views on this question of authors whom you have read.
Outline the leading forms of waste labor and of waste land, giving briefly the reasons why each form of waste exists at the present time.
Compare the views of Mill and Ross as to the limits of social control.
What, according to Ross, is the relation of resentment to social order?
What are the reasons for the existence of the ballot? How far would these reasons justify the extension of the ballot?
________________________________________
Economics 9. Principles of Accounting. Asst. Professor Cole, assisted by Mr. Eliot Jones.
7 Graduates, 8 Graduates of Applied Sciences, 62 Graduates of Business School, 147 Seniors, 50 Juniors, 2 Sophomores. Total 276.
[p. 48-50]
ECONOMICS 9
Save one hour for the last question. It will count as one-third of the paper.
Show by journal entries what should be debited and what credited for the following transactions:
(a) Granting a discount to a customer, for early payment of a bill, so that, though the amount of the bill was $100, he pays but $95.
(b) Paying a lawyer $50 for trying to collect a bill that proves uncollectible, and writing off the debt ($250) as bad.
(c) Collecting $75 as full payment, including interest to the amount of $17, for a debt previously written off as bad.
(d) Giving a friend whose credit at banks is not very good, because he is a new-comer in town, and for whom, therefore, you do not wish to endorse notes, your own note for $1000, with the understanding that he will discount it at a bank, and taking in exchange your friend’s note (for the same amount and time) which you intend to keep until maturity.
(e) Discounting at a bank your friend’s note mentioned in (d), because you find his credit has improved in the public mind and you need the money. [Discount $7.]
(f) Returning to the manufacturers, as unsatisfactory, goods billed at $500 and bought to be sold at $650.
(g) Delivering goods from the store as part payment of clerks’ wages, and allowing 5% discount to clerks. [Retail price $50, clerks’ price $47.50.]
(h) Issuing a stock dividend of $50,000.
(i) Selling a new $2,000,000 issue of stock for $2,100,000. [Corporation’s books.]
A bond table gives the value of $10,000 of bonds for January 1 as $10,366.27, and for July 1 as $10,323.60. On the latter day you collect $250 interest. What entry shall you make for the interest?
Assuming that the valuation of the bonds was determined on a 4% basis, how could you prove the correctness of the July 1 valuation if you knew that the valuation for January 1 was correct?
Define and discuss the purpose of the following: —
(a) a machine rate,
(b) a life-insurance reserve,
(c) a national-bank redemption fund,
(d) a stores ledger,
(e) a machine ledger,
(f) a controlling account.
Would expense burden enter into a plan of cost accounting for (a) a department store, (b) a hospital, (c) a college, (d) a gas company? Explain briefly how, or why not, in each case.
Remember in solving problems that time and confusion are often saved by the use of journal entries as guides in determining which accounts are affected.
The balance sheet a year ago was as follows: —
Plant
$125,000
Capital Stock
$140,000
Accounts Receivable
33,000
Bills Payable
10,000
Merchandise
19,000
Accounts Payable
24,000
Cash
5,000
Surplus
8,000
$182,000
$182,000
An abbreviated tentative income sheet for the year just closing gave the following figures: —
Wages
$85,000
Other Expenses
$71,000
Materials
54,000
Gross Income
240,000
No items relating to the care of property were included in the “other expenses,” and they are now to be provided for. Such items are found on the debit side of the trial balance as follows:—
Depreciation
$5,000
Replacement
$4,000
Repairs
8,000
Additions
12,000
Supposing the only changes in the balance sheet are those caused by the items shown above (profit or loss and care of property) and that cash absorbs the net effect of changes not otherwise indicated, show the income sheet and the balance sheet for the new year.
Prepare such a tabular statement or statements as an accountant should give to his employers or clients for a business yielding the following figures on three trial balances (of ledger balances) taken at the times indicated.
Trial balance at the opening of business, Jan. 1, 1912
Trial balance, Dec. 31, 1912, before the books are closed
Trial balance at the opening of business, Jan. 1, 1913
Dr.
Cr.
Dr.
Cr.
Dr.
Cr.
Capital Stock
$200,000
$200,000
$200,000
Bills Payable
30,000
40,000
40,000
Accounts Payable
35,000
37,500
37,500
Surplus
7,000
7,000
9,000
Dividends declared
10,000
10,000
Real Estate and Plant
$135,000
$137,500
$137,000
Accounts Receivable
88,200
80,200
80,200
Goods in process
17,000
17,000
20,000
Finished Goods
25,000
25,000
23,000
Raw Materials Inventory
15,000
15,000
35,000
Raw Materials
57,000
Wages
7,000
52,000
2,000
Taxes
200
2,300
200
Insurance
1,000
2,200
1,000
General Expenses
7,500
Sales
113,200
Cash
8,000
2,000
2,000
$289,200
$289,200
$397,700
$397,700
$298,700
$298,700
If you give more than one statement, prepare one at a time, and leave the reconciliation between statements until all are complete.
________________________________________
Economics 11. Economic Theory. Professor Taussig.
20 Graduates, 1 Graduate at Business School, 4 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 1 Other. Total 31.
[p. 50-3]
ECONOMICS 11
[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions]
Explain the connection between
(a) the rent of mines;
(b) Carey’s doctrine that the total rent received by land-owners is less than interest on the total investment for improving land;
(c) the earnings of barristers or opera-singers;
(d) the earnings of ” successful ” business men.
“Men are not equal. . . . Those capable of organizing and leading industrial enterprise are in a minority, and are indeed few; hence they can put a price on their services which would be impossible if there were many. Their services are not worth more on this account, but they can get more for them. Because the community needs their services, and cannot perhaps get along without them, they can, if they like, put ” famine prices ” on the commodity (organizing and directing talent) which they have to sell; while, on the other hand, those who have only labor or physical skill, though they are just as necessary, are many, and hence can about as readily be taken advantage of as the others can take advantage.” What have you to say? Can the ” famine prices ” be justified?
(a) “There are, in fact, few no-rent men in actual employment; and the reason for this is clear, since work involves a sacrifice, and it does not pay to incur the sacrifice unless the earnings be a positive quantity. In those times and places in which child labor has been employed, with little regard for the welfare of the victims, labor that was not at the no-rent point, but very near it, has been pressed into service. But, where the sacrifice entailed by labor is, in some way, neutralized by a benefit that work confers, labor which creates literally nothing may sometimes be employed. Lunatics or prisoners may be kept at work, in order that they may secure fresh air and exercise, even though the amount of capital that they use, if it were withdrawn from their hands and turned into marginal capital, would produce as much as it does when it is used by them. In such a case the product imputable to their labor is nil.
The existence of any no-rent labor enables us to make the rent formula general and to apply it to every concrete agent of production.”
(b) “The productivity of any capital, whether human or external, will differ with the capital. Men differ in quality, i. e., in productive power, as truly as lands or other instruments differ. Some men have a high degree of earning power and some have not.
Some men can work twice as fast as others. Some men can do higher grades of work than others. The result is that we find men classified as common manual laborers, skilled manual laborers, common mental workers, superintending workers, and enterprisers.
Just as we can measure the rent of any land by the difference in productivity between that and the low-rent, or no-rent, land, in exactly the same way we can measure the difference in productivity between men. There is no grade of workmen called the “no-wages men,” but there would be such a grade if it were customary for their employer to pay for their cost of support (as the employer of land pays for its cost), so that only the excess above this cost were to be called wages.”
Compare the two trains of reasoning; give your opinion; and state by what authors the passages were written.
“If the proprietor of superior land were to say, ‘I will take no rent for it,’ this would not make wheat cheaper. The supply would not be changed; for the same quantity would be raised, the marginal amount raised on the no-rent land would be needed and would be bought at the former price, and all other parts of the supply would command the same rate. … It is a striking fact — but one hitherto much neglected — that similar conclusions apply to the product of every other agent ” [capital and labor]. Do similar conclusions apply? Who do you think is the author of this passage?
What three grounds explain, according to Böhm-Bawerk, the preference for present goods over future? Which of them does he conclude to be the most important? State Fisher’s criticism; and give your own opinion on the controverted question.
“In the present condition of industry, most sales are made by men who are producers and merchants by profession. . . .For them, the subjective use value of their own wares is, for the most part, very nearly nil. … In sales by them the limiting effect which, according to our theoretical formula, would be exerted by the valuation of the last seller, practically does not come into play.” — Böhm-Bawerk.
What is the ” theoretical formula “? and what is the importance of the qualification here stated?
In what sense are the terms “demand” and “increase of demand ” used in the following passages:
(a) “The democratization of society and the aping of the ways of the well-to-do by the lower classes have greatly increased the demand for silk fabrics.”
(b) “The lower price of sugar after 1890, when sugar was admitted free of duty, at once caused an increase of demand.”
(c) “The cheapening of a commodity may mean an increase of demand such that the total sum spent on it will be as great as before, even greater than before.”
Explain the essentials of Veblen’s theory of crises, and state wherein you think it most tenable, wherein least so.
________________________________________
Economics 12 lhf. Scope and Methods of Economic Investigation. Professor Carver.
2 Graduates, 1 Radcliffe. Total 3.
[p. 53]
ECONOMICS 12
Explain verbally, and show by means of an outline, the relation between private and public economics and the main subdivisions of each.
Into what main departments would you subdivide the subject of economics if you were going to write a general text book for college classes. Give your reasons.
What are the characteristic methods of reasoning, methods of collecting information, and methods of exposition in economics? Mention examples, or give illustrations of each. What are the special advantages of each? To what class of problems is each especially adapted?
Comment upon the following: —
“The economist may thus be considered at the outset of his researches as already in possession of those ultimate principles governing the phenomena which form the subject of his study, the discovery of which in the case of physical investigation constitutes for the inquirer his most arduous task; but, on the other hand, he is excluded from the use of experiment.” (Cairnes, pp. 89-90.)
What, according to Warner, are the characteristic methods of determining the causes of poverty? What are the merits and defects of each method? Give illustrations.
Comment upon the statement that “political economy depends more upon reasoning than on observation.” Is this the same as saying that the greatest present need is for sound reasoners rather than for close observers? Would either statement apply to all possible conditions and to all classes of problems?
Discuss Clark’s reasons for describing capital as a sum of money.
________________________________________
Economics 14. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. Professor Bullock.
7 Graduates. Total 7.
[p. 54]
ECONOMICS 14
What significant analyses of economic structure and functions were made by the mercantilists?
Discuss the development of economic opinions as reflected in the writings of Hales, Bodin, Montchrétien, Mun, Petty, Boisguilbert, Cantillon, Vanderlint, and Hume.
Explain the structure and purpose of the “Wealth of Nations,” and give a brief analysis of the doctrines of the first two books.
Discuss the treatment of the subject of population by Aristotle, the Schoolmen, Cantillon, Smith, and Malthus.
At what points did the economic theories of Ricardo differ from those of Adam Smith?
________________________________________
Economics 16. The History of Modern Socialism. Asst. Professor Rappard.
4 Graduates Total 4.
[p. 54-5]
ECONOMICS 16
Fill out the blanks in the following table according to the Marxian phraseology and theory.
Con-stant capital
Vari-able capital
Rate of surplus value
Capital con-sumed
Indi-vidual rate of profit
Value of commo-dities pro-duced
Cost price of commodities prod-uced
Average rate of profit
Price of com-modities
Deviation of price from value
90
10
50%
20
80
20
50%
10
70
30
50%
—
“The theory of value which Marx presents is a variation of the familiar labor-value doctrine.” Discuss.
State the Marxian theory of rent.
What is meant by the Bernstein-Kautsky controversy? State three of the principal points involved, with the arguments advanced on both sides.
What, according to Skelton, are the distinctive features of Utopianism? How does Shelton classify the Utopian doctrines?
What, according to Skelton, are the two “quite distinct interpretations” of which the Marxian materialist conception of history is susceptible?
“In spite of himself, Marx was the last of the classical economists.” How does Shelton justify this assertion?
“Had the third volume of ‘Capital’ appeared at the same time as the first, little would have been heard about ‘exploitation’ from socialist platforms.” Why not, according to Skelton?
________________________________________
Economics 23. Economic History of Europe to the Middle of the Eighteenth Century. Dr. Gray.
4 Graduates, 1 Radcliffe. Total 5.
[p. 55]
ECONOMICS 23
Discuss the origin and early expansion of capital in Italy, the Low Countries, Germany and England. (One hour.)
Compare the development of copyhold in England with that of Meierrecht in Germany. In what way were agrarian conditions in southwestern Germany different from conditions in the north-west at the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Trace the growth of the mercantile system in England. Has Cunningham’s treatment any bias? Explain.
Describe fully four of the following documents: —
Notularium Johannis Scribae.
An English Pipe Roll.
Royal licenses to export English wool in 1273. De institutis Lundonie. Chrysobullium Alexii I.
________________________________________
Economics 31. Public Finance. Professor Bullock.
6 Graduates, 1 Junior. Total 7.
[p. 55-6]
ECONOMICS 31
How far does the present British system of taxation conform to the maxims of Adam Smith?
How far does the present French system of taxation conform to Smith’s maxims?
How far does the present Prussian system of taxation conform to Smith’s maxims?
How far would the single tax on land values conform to Smith’s maxims?
Compare the general property tax in Switzerland with the same tax in the United States.
What changes in the general property tax have occurred in the United States in recent years?
Discuss fully the opinions of Leroy-Beaulieu or Eheberg concerning the income tax.
Discuss fully the opinions of Leroy-Beaulieu or Eheberg concerning the inheritance tax.
________________________________________
Economics 32 2hf. Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American conditions. Professor Carver.
8 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 1 Junior. Total 11.
[p. 56]
ECONOMICS 32
What are some of the larger characteristics which distinguish rural from urban life?
Where would you draw the line between large scale and medium scale, and between medium scale and small scale farming, and what are the principal advantages and disadvantages of each?
Exactly what is the distinction between intensive and extensive farming, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
To what system of culture does the horse as a draft animal belong, and what are some of the characteristics of that system?
Where do we find the larger percentage of tenancy in this country, where land is highly productive or where its productivity is low? How would you explain the situation?
Give your ideas as to the function of the middle-man, and to what extent and how that function may be performed by the farmers themselves.
What are the advantages of diversified farming as compared with specialized farming?
Give your ideas as to how country life may be made more attractive to men and women of education and culture.
Few characters in the history of economics are quite as titillating as those who serious historians have concluded indeed passed confidential materials to the Soviet Union, namely, Lauchlin Currie and Harry Dexter White. Before they grew up to be card-carrying members of the economics profession, they too were once graduate students. Here from the Harvard General Examination for the Degree of Ph.D. we have their respective examination committees, academic histories, subject fields, and thesis subjects/advisers.
Lauchlin Currie received his Harvard Ph.D. in 1931 with the dissertation “Bank Assets and Banking Theory.”
Harry Dexter White was awarded his Harvard Ph.D. in 1930 with the dissertation “The International Balance of Payments for France, 1880-1913.”
________________________________
From: Division of History, Government and Economics, Examinations for the Degree of Ph.D., 1926-27, pp. 10-11.
21. Lauchlin Bernard Currie.
General Examination in Economics, Monday, April 11, 1927.
Committee: Professors Young (chairman), Burbank, A. H. Cole, Usher, and Wright.
Academic History: St. Francis Xavier College, 1921-22; London School of Economics, 1922-25; Harvard Graduate School, 1925-. B.Sc., London, 1925
General Subjects.
1. Economic Theory.
2. Economic History since 1750.
3. Public Finance.
4. International Trade and Tariff Policy.
5. History of Political Theory.
6. Money, Banking, and Crises.
Special Subject: Money, Banking, and Crises.
Thesis Subject: Monetary History of Canada, 1914-26. (With Professor Young.)
[…]
23. Harry Dexter White.
General Examination in Economics, Thursday, April 14, 1927.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Dewing, Elliott, Monroe, and Usher.
1. Economic Theory and its History.
2. Money, Banking, and Crises.
3. Economic History since 1750.
4. Economics of Corporations.
5. History of Political Theory.
6. International Trade.
Special Subject: International Trade.
Thesis Subject: Foreign Trade of France. (With Professor Taussig.)
Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC7000.70. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. Folder “1926-27”.
Image Source: Laughlin Currie and Harry D. White from Harvard Class Album 1934.
Historians need to deal with “missing values” in their archival work on a daily basis. For instance in the Harvard Archives there is a box with the promising title “Examinations for the Ph.D.” What you find in that box are officially printed lists of candidates (with their respective academic histories) and their general examinations by academic year in which the examiners and thesis advisers are identified together with the six fields covered in the general examination as well as the “special subject” field and the thesis subject. That is the good news.
The bad news is that these printed lists suffer significant gaps in coverage. In this box we find information for the academic years 1902-03 through 1904-05, 1906-07 through 1913-14, 1915-16, 1917-18 through 1918-19, and finally 1926-27.This gives me hope that perhaps in some departmental folder (not necessarily in the economics department) there still are copies of some of those missing listings to fill in the gap and/or extend the range of the examination lists.
This posting provides us the general examination information for Charles Beardsley, Jr. who it turns out was never awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard. More about Charles Beardsley’s life is found in my earlier posting taken from the Secretary’s Report of the Harvard Class of 1892 (1912).
________________________________
From: Division of History and Political Science Examinations for the Degree of Ph.D., 1903-04, pp. 1-2.
Charles Beardsley.
General Examination in Political Science, Wednesday, February 24, 1904.
Committee: Professors Ripley, Lowell, Haskins, Carver, Bullock, Gay and Dr. Sprague.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1888-92; Graduate School, 1893-94, 1896-97, 1902-03; Harvard, 1897[sic, he received his A.B. in 1892] (A.B.); Harvard, 1902 [sic, he received his A.M. in 1897] (A.M.).
(A) General Subjects.
1. Constitutional History of England since the beginning of the Tudor Period.
2. Modern Government and Comparative Constitutional Law.
3. Economic Theory and its History.
4. Applied Economics: Money and Banking, International Trade, Taxation and Finance.
5. Economic History of the United States, with special reference to the Tariff, Financial Legislation, and Industrial Combinations.
6. Sociology, including the Labor Question.
7. (Special subject.)
(B) Special Subject: Tariff Legislation and Controversy in England since the time of Adam Smith.
(C) Thesis Subject: “Huskisson’s Tariff Reforms in England.” (With Professors Taussig and Gay.)
Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC7000.70. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. Folder “1903-1904”.
Frank Whitson Fetter (born May 22, 1899 in San Francisco, CA; died July 7, 1991 in Hanover, NH). A.B. from Swarthmore College (1920), A.M. from Princeton (1922), also A.M. from Harvard (1924). Ph.D. from Princeton (1926). His father was Princeton economics professor Frank Albert Fetter.
During the course of his career Fetter taught at Princeton, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Dartmouth.
The 1942 copy of his A.M. course transcript below matches an undated transcript (or report card) from the Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for the academic year 1923-24 found in the same folder at the Duke Economists’ Papers Project.
____________________________
[Course titles and instructors]
From Economics Group I, Economic Theory and Method
11 Professor Taussig — Economic Theory.
From Economics Group III: Applied Economics
371hf. Professor Persons — Commercial Crises
392hf. Asst. Professor Williams — International Finance
From Economics Group V: Course of Research in Economics
20 Professors Taussig, Carver, Ripley, Bullock, Young, and Persons — Economic Research
From History, Group IV. American History
17a1hf. Professor Turner—The History of the West.
392hf. Professor Turner—History of the United States, 1880-1920.
Source: Harvard University Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College for 1923-24. History, p. 103; Economics, p. 107.
____________________________
Harvard University The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
24 University Hall, Cambridge, Massachusetts
November 30, 1942
Transcript of the record of Mr. Frank Whitson Fetter
1923-24
COURSE
GRADE
Economics 11 (1 course)
A
Economics 20 (1 course)
A
Economics371 ( ½ course)
A
Economics 392( ½ course)
A minus
History 17a1 ( ½ course)
A minus
History 392 ( ½ course)
A
Mr. Fetter received the degree of Master of Arts in June, 1924.
The established grades are A, B, C, D, and E.
A grade of A, B, Credit, Satisfactory, or Excused indicates that the course was passed with distinction. Only courses passed with distinction may be counted toward a higher degree.
[signed] Lawrence S. Mayo Associate Dean
Source: Duke University, Rubenstein Library. Frank Whitson Fetter Papers. Box 50, Folder “Student Papers, Transcripts, grades, Harvard University (1923-1924).
Edwin Francis Gay (1867-1946) came to Harvard in 1902 as an instructor of economic history taking over William Ashley’s courses after having spent a dozen years of training and advanced historical study in Europe (Berlin, Ph.D. in 1902 under Gustav Schmoller, also he was in Leipzig, Zurich and Florence). He and Abram Piatt Andrew received five-year contracts as assistant professors of economics in 1903. In just four years he actually advanced to the rank of professor. He served as a principal advisor to Harvard President Charles Eliot in establishing the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1908. After the favored candidate to be the founding dean of the business school, William Lyon Mackenzie King (Ph.D., Harvard 1909) turned down the offer, instead continuing as deputy minister of labor in Canada then later becoming prime minister of Canada, President Eliot turned to Gay. In nine years Gay put his stamp on the Harvard Business School, apparently playing an instrumental role in the use of the case method (pedagogic transfer from the law school) with a strong emphasis on obtaining hands-on experience through practical assignments with actual businesses. He is credited with establishing the academic degree of the M.B.A. (Master of Business Administration), the credential of managers.
During WW I Gay worked as adviser to the U.S. Shipping Board and then went on to become editor of the New York Evening Post that would soon go under, giving Gay “an opportunity” to return to Harvard where he could teach economic history up through his retirement in 1936. Gay was among the co-founders of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Council of Foreign Relations. He and his wife moved to California where he worked at theHuntington library where the bulk of his papers are to be found today.
Note: “A double dagger(‡) indicates that the course is open under certain conditions to properly qualified students of Radcliffe.”
Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1934-35. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 31, No. 38 (September 20, 1934), p. 128.
________________________________
[Course Enrollment]
[Economics] ‡23. Professor Gay.—Recent Economic History.
16 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Other, 4 Radcliffe: Total 22
Bertrand Russell, Freedom vs. Organization, 1814-1914. (W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1934)
For review
P. Mantoux, The Industrial Revolution in the Eighteenth Century, (English translation) 1928
or
H. Heaton. Article: The Industrial Revolution in The Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 8, (1932), pp. 3-13.
J. H. Clapham, An Economic History of Modern Britain, 2 vol., 1926 (2nd ed.o 1932. Cambridge University Press.
Industrial History, Vol. I, chapters 5, 10, 14, Vol. II, chs. 3, 4, 11.
Agriculture, Vol. I, ch. 4; vol. II, ch. 7.
Transportation, Vol. I, chs. 3, 9.
Commerce and commercial policy, vol. I, ch. 12, vol. II, chs. 6, 8.
Also Vol. II, chs. 1, 2, 10.
J. H. Clapham, Economic Development of France and Germany, 1921 (1923), chs. 1-9 inclusive.
E. C. Kirkland, History of American Economic Life, chs. 1-9 inclusive.
L. H. Jenks, The Migration of British Capital to 1875. (1927), pp. 1-262.
A. E. Feavearyear, The Pound Sterling, Oxford, 1931. Chs. 8-11 inclusive (pp. 138-298)
Percy Ashley, Modern Tariff History, 1926
F. W. Taussig, Tariff History of the United States. (to and including tariff of 1890).
_____________________________
ECONOMICS 231935
Second assignment: [second semester] references in brackets are optional
Wells, D. A. Recent Economic Changes, 1890 (written 1887-9).
[Marshall, A. Industry and Trade (1919) Bk. I, chaps. 5-8, pp. 86-162]
Sharfman, I. L. Interstate Commerce Commission, vol. I. chaps. 1-4, pp. 11-176.
Royal Institute of International Affairs, World Agriculture (1932), pp. 1-252.
Nourse, E. G. Chapter on “Agriculture” in Recent Economic Changes, vol. II, chap. viii, pp. 547-602.
Black, J. D. Agricultural Reform in the United States (1929) Part I. The Setting, Chaps. 1-3, pp. 1-84.
Royal Institute of International Affairs. Monetary Policy in the Depression, (1933), pp. 1-81.
Committee on Finance and Industry. (Macmillan Report) (1931), pp. 1-185.
[Department of Commerce (U.S.) Bulletin on “Balance of International Payments” 1934 (for 1933)]
Mitchell, W. C. Business Cycles, the Problem in its Setting. (1927) pp. 61-188, 424-450.
Webb, Sidney and Beatrice. History of Trade Unionism (1920 or 1926), chaps. 7-11, pp. 358-704 (718).
Webb, Sidney and Beatrice. Consumers’ Cooperative Movement (1921) Chap. 6, pp. 383-487.
Clay, Henry. The Problem of Industrial Relations (1929), pp. 74-102.
Perlman, S. History of Trade Unionism in the United States.
Seager, H. R. and Gulick, C. A. Trust and Corporation Problems (1929) chaps. 5, 6, 18-26; pps. 49-85, 367-627.
Berle A. A. and Means, G. C. The Modern Corporation and Private Property (1933) Bk. I, chaps. 1-3, Bk. IV, chaps. 1-4, pp. 1-46, 333-356.
Mitchell, W. C. “A Review,” Recent Economic Changes, vol. II, pp. 841-910.
Hansen, A. H. Economic Stabilization in the Unbalanced World (1932), pp. 271-380.
Morrison, Herbert. Socialisation and Transport (1933) Chaps. 8, 9, 13, 15; ppps. 131-176, 213-242, 280-297.
Source:Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1894-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1), Box 2, Folder “1934-1935”.
Harold Hitchings Burbank (1887-1951) has gone down in the history of economics as being the chairman of the Harvard economics department who let the up-and-coming Paul Samuelson get away to M.I.T. A more positive legacy perhaps was the role he played in his younger years as one of the founders of Harvard’s tutorial system and its administrator within the department of economics. In any event Burbank’s footprints in the sands of the history of economics have only survived as Jurassic fossils of that pre-Samuelson era of economics and he is mostly remembered as the incarnation of the Dark Side in the familiar legend of the rise of M.I.T. economics.
Burbank was a specialist in Public Finance and this posting features the syllabus for his Public Finance course for undergraduates and graduate students requiring remedial work in the field.
Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Burbank.
Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Course of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1935-36 (second edition), p. 137.
_____________________________
[Course Enrollment]
[Economics] 5 2hf. Professor Burbank.—Public Finance
35 Seniors, 27 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 1 Other: Total 66.
The required reading assignments and the suggested readings are given on the following pages.
A report on some special subject in the general field of Public Finance is required of all students registered in the course. Seniors, candidates for honors in the Division of History, Government, and Economics, are expected to undertake the report. The reports may be either written or oral. If written they will be graded and included in the course grade; if oral, they will not be graded, but they must be completed satisfactorily to secure final credit for the course.
Reports are due:
For seniors: On or before April 6
For others: On or before May 1
For selection of subjects and bibliography suggestions, all students should consult Dr. Eugene E. Oakes during the first three weeks of the course. He will be available by appointment in Kirkland H-15 at the following hours:
Appointments may be made before or after the lectures. Office hours for the oral reports will be announced later.
An attempt is made in all cases to arrange topics which are of particular individual interest, or are suitable as correlative work in fields of concentration in preparation for the divisional examinations. No report is acceptable unless the subject has been approved.
Possible subjects, among others, are as follows:
(1) Special problems on the relation of public and private finance.
(2) The present taxation problem in a particular state or county.
(3) A critical study of some particular kind of tax—income taxes, inheritance taxes, business taxes, etc.
(4) Theories of the incidence of taxes.
(5) Various administrative problems, such as budget or assessment procedure.
(6) The financial history of the United States.
Assignments and Readings in Public Finance
Attention is directed particularly to the following books:
Bastable, C.F.
Public Finance
*Bullock, C.J.
Selected Readings in Public Finance (3d. ed.)
Dewey, D.R.
Financial History of the United States (11th ed.)
Fagan, E.D., and Macy, C.W.
Public Finance
Hibbard, B.H.
A History of the Public Land Policies
Lutz, H.L.
The State Tax Commission
Mills, M.C. and Starr, G.W.
Readings in Public Finance and Taxation
Seligman, E.R.A.
Essays in Taxation (10th ed.)
Seligman, E.R.A.
The Income Tax
Seligman, E.R.A.
Studies in Public Finance
Great Britain
Report of the Committee on National Debt and Taxation (The Colwyn Report, 1927)
Great Britain
Report of the Committee on National Expenditure (The May Report, 1931)
National Tax Association
Proceedings
National Tax Association
Bulletin
*Lutz, H.L.
Public Finance (2d ed.)
February 3 – 14 Public Expenditures, Public Works, and the Budget.
A copy of this report written by economics professors Charles J. Bullock and Thomas N. Carver is found in the papers of Harvard President Abbott Lawrence Lowell. The report itself is undated but a comparison with the course catalogues for the period 1909-1914 shows almost a perfect fit for the course staffing in the academic year 1910-11.
Harvard-wide courses were divided into three groups:
Courses primarily for Undergraduates (lower group); Courses for Undergraduates and Graduates (middle group); Courses primarily for Graduates (upper group).
In the 1912-13 Announcements of the Courses of Instruction, the recommendations of the committee were implemented to limit undergraduate access to the upper group of courses: only after a “special vote of the Department” or for undergraduate senior “candidates for the degree with distinction” would undergraduate students be admitted to courses designated “primarily for Graduates”. The new course numbering beginning with 1912-13 does not match the ordering of courses given in the report.
Handwritten names added to the Report have been placed within square brackets “[…]”.
_________________________________
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE UPON COURSES OF INSTRUCTION
The Committee appointed at the last meeting of the Department to consider the courses of instruction in the Department of Economics, submits the following preliminary report as a basis for discussion at the next meeting of the Department:
The Committee recommends in the first place that there shall be hereafter a complete separation of the graduate and undergraduate courses. it seems to us that this can be done by adopting the principle that in undergraduate courses the work of the students is to be carefully supervised, and that in the graduate courses the students are to be thrown wholly upon their own resources and be tested only by the final examinations. This plan will enable the Department to concentrate its elementary instruction upon a smaller number of courses specially adapted to the needs of undergraduates, and will free the members from work of supervision in the courses offered for graduates.
It will not be inconsistent with this plan of separating graduate from undergraduate work to admit to the graduate courses undergraduates who are candidates for honors; and your Committee recommends that if the separation be effected this privilege be offered to undergraduates. The Department can safely assume that a candidate for honors in Economics can be trusted to pursue an advanced course without supervision, and can be treated precisely like a graduate student. Such an arrangement will prevent the proposed plan from reducing the opportunities offered to men of exceptional capacity and interest in economic study.
Nor will it be inconsistent with the plan to admit to the undergraduate courses graduate students whose previous training in economics has been deficient, provided such students be placed upon a somewhat different footing from undergraduates. Graduate students in the courses designed for undergraduates should not be subject to supervision, and should not be required to attend the weekly conferences or to take the weekly or fortnightly examinations. On the other hand they should be required to do somewhat more work than is expected from undergraduates; and this requirement might well take the form of a provision that such graduate students be required to do additional reading upon which one or two special questions will be set in the final examination. it would be possible also in the larger courses, where the instructor meets the class but twice a week, for him to have a fortnightly conference for the graduate students. This conference may be devoted to the discussion of the assigned reading. (Professor Carver suggests that this requirement might be made for candidates for the A. M. degree and not for candidates for the Ph. D. degree.)
If the separation of courses is effected, the Committee believes it desirable that hereafter the undergraduate courses should be considered a Department matter rather than a matter wholly under the control of the individual instructors. It seems to us that the Department should, in a general way, determine the scope and methods of the instruction offered, as well as the kind of examinations to be given in these courses. We also believe that there should be regular inspection of the work done in these courses. Inspection of the examination books is already provided for, but not carried out. In addition to this, we believe it is worth while for the Department to consider the desirability of securing inspection of the undergraduate courses by some competent person outside the Department.
There are two other matters which the Committee may later bring to the attention of the Department, but which need not be considered in connection with the proposed plan.
The first is the proposal to have instructors adopt hereafter a uniform system of lecture notes by which, if the Department ever cares to do so, it will be possible to make available to present and future members of the Department the notes used by instructors in giving the several courses. In this way the embers of the Department will gradually pool their experience; and whenever changes occur in the instructors conducting courses new men will have the benefit of the experience of their predecessors. Such a system would require not only uniform methods of keeping lecture notes, but uniform filing cards and filing cases.
The other matter is the question of whether the members of the Department can do more than is done at present in the direction of bringing students into direct contact with original sources of information. Something has already been done by books like Professor Dunbar’s Laws relating to Currency and Finance, and by Professor Ripley’s series of Selections and Documents. The Committee may desire later to raise the question whether, at least in our undergraduate courses, more systematic effort may not be made in this direction,
The Committee has examined our present list of courses with a view to determining which were best suited to the needs of undergraduates, and recommends that the following courses be hereafter offered in the undergraduate group:
Economics I, as at present [Prof. Taussig.]
The Economic History of England and the United States (the present Courses 6a and 6b) [Prof. Gay.]
Money, Banking and Crises (the present Course 8) [Drs. Day & Huse]
Public Finance (the present Courses 7a and 7b) [Prof. Bullock.]
The Labor Problem and Socialism (the present Courses 9a and 14b) [Profs. Ripley & Carver.]
Corporations and Railway Transportation (the present Courses 9b and 5) [Prof. Ripley.]
Sociology (the present Course 3) [Prof Carver.]
Accounting (the present Course 18) [Prof. Cole.]
A course in Economic Theory (One suggestion is that this be a course in Classical English Economics. Professor Carver suggests a course in the Distribution of Wealth. The Committee confines itself to recommending one advanced course in Economic Theory for undergraduates. (the present Course 2) [Prof. Taussig.]
(Professor Carver would prefer to add to this list Economics 28, but the Committee merely raises this question, and makes no recommendation upon the point.)
With these courses placed in the undergraduate group, there would remain in our present offering a substantial amount of graduate instruction. The Committee suggests, but without making a definite recommendation, the following:
Theories of Value and Distribution: with consideration of methods of economic investigation. Carver. (A consolidation of Courses 13 and 14a)
Ripley.
History of Economic Theory. Bullock. (In place of the one course, there could be offered two courses given in alternate years: the first covering the history of economics up to 1776; the other covering the period from 1776 to 1848, or even some later date.)
French and German Economics. Gay. (The present Economics 22)
Mediaeval Economic History. Gray. (The present Economics 10)
Modern Economic History. Gay. (The present Economics 11)
Economic History of Antiquity. Ferguson. (The present Economics 26) The committee recommends, however, that unless this course can be given next year, it shall be dropped from the Catalog.
Economics of Agriculture. Carver. (The present economics 23, unless this be included in the list of courses offered undergraduates)
Financial Aspects of Combinations. Dewing. (The present Economics 30)
Bullock. (The present economics 16)
Research Courses (20a, b, c, d, e ,f, g, h)
In addition to these courses, it may be possible to provide two or three new courses by members of our present staff, if additional assistants can be secured in the group of courses offered to undergraduates. Professor Taussig has expressed a desire sometime to undertake a course in International Trade. Then if the undergraduate courses in the Labor Problem and Socialism could be given by a new instructor, Professor Ripley would be free to offer another advanced course. But this matter, however, like some others, is obviously one that cannot be settled at the present time; and the Committee mentions it merely to point out the possibilities of its proposed plan.
Signed,
Charles J. Bullock
T. N. Carver
Source: Harvard University Archives. President Lowell’s Papers, 1909-1914, Box 15, Folder 410.
The division of labor among the three professors jointly responsible for this course appears to be according to topic. The accounting business clearly fell to Crum. Why Mason is listed ahead of Chamberlin (seniority? or order of topic within the course) is not explicit. For now I’ll just conjecture that Mason taught the Dewing (i.e. Finance) part of the course and Chamberlin then taught the Berle and Means material. The enrollment numbers indicate it was a popular course (maybe as pre-law or pre-MBA preparation for economics majors?).
Economics 4a1hf. The Corporation and its Regulation
Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Crum, Associate Professor Mason, and Associate Professor Chamberlin.
Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1934—35 (second edition). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 31, No. 38 (September 20, 1934), p.126.
______________________________
[Course Enrollment]
4a 1hf. Professor Crum, Associate Professors Mason and Chamberlin.—The Corporation and its Regulation.
S. Baldwin, Modern Political Institutions
Paton and Stevenson, AccountingPrinciples
A. S. Dewing, FinancialPolicyofCorporations (1934 edition) [link to 1926 edition]
Berle and Means, TheModernCorporationandPrivateProperty
Bonbright and Means, The Holding Company
Seager and Gulick, Trust and Corporation Problems
J. B. Hubbard, ed., Current Economic Policies
* * * * * * *
October 1-6:
Baldwin, Ch. 6.
October 8-13:
Paton and Stevenson, pp. 1-207 (Omit Ch. 5)
October 15-20:
Paton and Stevenson, Ch. 22.
October 22-17:
Dewing, Book IV, Chs. 7, 8,9.
October 29-November 3:
Dewing, Book III, Chs. 3, 4.
November 5-10:
Dewing, Book I, Chs. 3, 4, 5.
November 12-17:
Dewing, Book V, Ch. 3 and pp. 730-736.
November 19-24:
Berle and Means, Book II, Chs. 1, 2, 3.
November 26-December 1
Berle and Means, Book II, Chs. 5-8, Book IV (complete).
Today I generate another posting from the Mason Committee Report The Behavioral Sciences at Harvard published in June, 1954. Here we have a quick trot through Harvard’s own history of behavioral and social sciences, the splitting of some of its divisions into departments and the creation of new departments and schools. It is an extremely convenient collection of names and dates to help us see where economics and economists fit into the larger academic community during the first half century or so following the emergence of political economy and government at Harvard College. You can tell an economist chaired the committee, it’s so much about us. I have added boldface to help readers of this blog find stuff they might (should) be interested in.
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[p. 18]
HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES AT HARVARD
The future historian of Harvard will note that a new term began to be prominent in University documents during 1953-1954. A reorganization of course offerings in the Graduate School of Education created the “behavioral sciences” as a prominent new rubric. Reports in the Business School allude to present and planned developments in the “behavioral sciences” and this survey utilizes the new term as an inclusive category to define the area of its inquiry.
If the term is of recent birth, Harvard’s activities in the area of the behavioral sciences certainly are not. Taking the loose definition of the behavioral sciences, which we have adopted (at least provisionally) for this survey, their cultivation at Harvard goes back at least to the emergence of Harvard as a modern university in the second half of the nineteenth century. At least some of the behavioral sciences shared in the rapid growth of Harvard to university stature at the end of the nineteenth century. The reorganization of 1890, establishing the system of Divisions and Departments of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, brought into existence a Division of History, Government, and Economics. Prior to this time there had been instruction in all of these fields, and Harvard could already point to distinguished scholars in some parts of them. History, after a “false dawn” in 1838 when Jared Sparks was appointed to the new McLean Professorship of Ancient and Modern History, was rapidly coming to strength under the inspiration of Henry Adams and the young men bringing new methods and standards from the German universities. Economics had begun its emergence from moral philosophy in the early Seventies when anxiety that sound currency doctrines be heard in Harvard College led to the appointment of Charles F. Dunbar as Professor of Political Economy. The study of government was comfortably developing in the work of a group of historians who were predominantly concerned with constitutional and institutional history.
Charles F. Dunbar
Today the Division of History, Government, and Economics has been reduced to a shadowy holding company for three powerful and [p. 19] autonomous departments. In 1890-1891, the situation was different. Prior to the reorganization, the Harvard College faculty had indeed been subdivided into departments, but they were very loose and informal bodies, so casual in their operation that regular meetings were not held nor formal records kept. After 1891, a new structure of departments established itself firmly, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences quickly became the nexus of self-contained subdivision that it is today. History and government naturally fell together in a department first labeled that of “History and Roman Law” which in 1895 became the Department of History and Government.1 The split of this joint department into the present Departments of History and Government took place considerably later, in 1911. A Department of Political Economy was in existence from 1879, and economics courses enjoyed a separate listing under this heading until the present Department of Economics became established in 1892.
Within this evolving framework, Harvard quickly pushed to a place of prominence in studies in this area. In history the dominant pattern of activity was clear:
“Institutional History was uppermost at Harvard in the last third of the nineteenth century. Maine and Stubbs in England, Waitz in Germany, Fustel de Coulangcs in France, initiated an eager search into the origins and development of political institutions, believing therein to find the true explanation of human progress. Henry Adams introduced the fashion to Harvard. To take a sample year, 1890-91, there was hardly a history course in the catalogue, save History I, and those given by Emerton, which did not smack of Verfassungsgeschichte. There was Constitutional Government (later Government 1), Constitutional History of England since George I, and Principles of Constitutional Law, by Professor Macvane; English Constitutional History from 1485 to George I, and Early Medieval History “with special reference to Institutions,” by Mr. Bendelari; French History to Louis XIV, with the same emphasis, by Dr. Snow; Constitutional History, Constitutional Development, and Federal Government by Professor Hart; Early American Institutions, by Professor Channing; and three more courses on English Constitutional History by Dr. Gross. Certainly no institutions in the United States or England today would offer so much constitutional history. . . “2
The doctoral dissertations accepted before 1900 in history and government reflect this concentration of interest. In a total of thirty-one accepted during the period 1873-1900, twelve were in United States national and colonial history, ten were in English institutional history, three were in “government and international law.”3 While Harvard initially lagged behind Johns Hopkins in its production of Ph.D.’s, it was early in the field, and its staff played a prominent role in the professionalization of historical study. They were active in the establishment of the American Historical Association (1884) and can claim [p. 20] to have been the prime movers in starting the American Historical Review. The intimate connection between political science and history which was fostered by the joint department and the nature of historical studies in this early period served to give the study of political science a strong historical cast. But instruction in political science extended beyond clearly historical courses, and Government 1 by 1900 was established as one of the great introductory courses with more than four hundred students.
After beginnings in the Seventies with the appointment of Charles F. Dunbar as Professor of Political Economy, Harvard’s work in economics quickly took on strength in the Eighties. The year 1886 is notable for two events: the establishment of the first professional economics journal in the English language, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, which has been continuously published under the auspices of the Department since that date; and the appointment of Frank W. Taussig, who became perhaps the central figure in a generation of growth in Harvard economics. As Professor Taussig modestly remarks in his own survey of department history, after 1886, the Department of Political Economy “was able to present a substantial offering.”4 From the first, the work of the Department showed a strong concern with contemporary issues of public policy, but it also reflected the late nineteenth-century concern with economic history in the appointments of William J. Ashley (1892) and Edwin F. Gay. Economics 1 took its place alongside History 1 and Government 1 as one of the famous introductory courses and like them attracted more than four hundred students by 1900.5 A temporary dip in activity occurred shortly after the turn of the century, but the foundations were laid for an exuberant later development.
The history of the other behavioral sciences in this early period is more varied, tentative, and uncertain. Anthropology got off to an early start with the Peabody bequest in 1866 establishing the Peabody Museum and the Peabody Professorship of American Archaeology and Ethnology. The terms of the bequest were such that part of it had to be left to accumulate until it had reached a specified level. The building which now houses the Peabody Museum was not begun until 1876, and the Professorship was not filled until 1887 (by Frederick Ward Putnam).6 The gathering of collections, however, began almost immediately after the Peabody bequest, and the first Report dates from 1868. By the Nineties the Museum collections had grown impressively, [p. 21] and the University acquired a major resource when the Museum became an integral part of it in 1897. Instruction in anthropology was almost lacking before 1890, there being no undergraduate courses and only a few graduate students. The reorganization of 1890 established a Division of American Archaeology and Ethnology, but no regular course in general anthropology was offered until 1894-1895. During the Nineties the Division shared in the general expansion of the University, increasing its staff and offerings so that by 1903 its old title was inappropriate, and it became the Department of Anthropology which still exists. The Nineties saw the beginning of a long series of archaeological and ethnological expeditions in the Americas and elsewhere which have enriched the collections of the Museum and the literature of the field. Studies and instruction in physical anthropology began at this time and have continued to the present day.
Psychology at Harvard is relatively old. Professor Boring when interviewed in the course of this survey has emphasized the point:
“America was very early in the development of experimental psychology, and the development was centered largely at Harvard. James had a very small laboratory as early as Wundt, actually — that is, in 1875. It is true that Germany led the world in experimental psychology in the 1890’s, but there was a great push in America to get psychological laboratories started, and I would say that they lagged behind Germany by less than ten years. In America there was a laboratory developed at Johns Hopkins in 1883, and ours here at Harvard officially began in 1892, although, as I said, there was a small laboratory before that.”
William James not only began experimental studies in psychology at an early date; in 1875 he offered a course in the Relations between Physiology and Psychology, and in the following year he presented another psychology course under the label of Natural History 2. His enthusiasm for experimental psychology led him to raise the necessary funds for the official establishment of the Psychology Laboratory in 1892. He did not, however, want to devote himself primarily to this work, and at his instigation Dr. Hugo Muensterberg was brought from Freiburg, first temporarily (in 1892), then after a brief interval, as a permanent Professor of Psychology in 1897. The early years of the new century saw important additions to the staff (in E. B. Holt and Robert M. Yerkes) and the availability of new space for the laboratories in Emerson Hall (1905). Instruction in psychology grew rapidly, but no independent department appeared. In 1913 psychology courses won separate listing, and the title of the sheltering department was expanded to become the Department of Philosophy and Psychology.
Sociology began its Harvard career in at least two places. The broad concern about social problems which swept over American society in the last third of the nineteenth century and did so much to establish sociology as an academic discipline had its representation at Harvard. The Reverend Francis Greenwood Peabody was giving a course in [p. 22] Practical Ethics in 1881, and from 1883 he offered another in Ethical Theories and Moral Reform. In 1905 it became possible, largely through the benefactions of Andrew Tredway White, to establish instruction of this sort more amply in a separate Department of Social Ethics. The early years of the new department saw expanded work in various types of social problems and a somewhat cautious venture in the direction of professional social work training.7
Not all of Harvard’s early sociology was contained in this lineal ancestor of its present work in sociology. The Department of Economics appointed an assistant professor of sociology in 1893, and after his appointment in 1901 Thomas Nixon Carver regularly gave sociology courses. There was further concern with sociology in connection with such subjects as labor problems, but in summing up the situation to 1929, Professor Taussig found cause to lament Harvard’s failure to “keep pace with the forward movement of economic science … in the field of the social applications or implications of the subject.”
Our sketch thus far has brought the account of the behavioral sciences at Harvard down to the years preceding the first World War. The subsequent years were crowded and active ones, but they have put their imprint so clearly on the present that we may hope to bridge them quickly, reserving details for the contemporary picture presented in Section B.
The organization of the behavioral sciences at Harvard has seen both fission and fusion in the twentieth century. We have noted the splitting off of Social Ethics in 1905 from its parent Department of Philosophy. The next fission was that between Government and History in 1911. In this, as in other organizational changes at Harvard, personalities and special local problems played their role, but the development of the fields themselves made the change a natural one. As Harvard developed rapidly into one of the major American centers of historical study, the heavy concentration in constitutional and institutional history yielded to more diversity. Many of Harvard’s great historians continued to write history in which political events and institutions bulked large, but the range of interests became increasingly catholic. In the history of religions George Foote Moore and others continued and ornamented an established Harvard tradition, Charles H. Haskins ranged over a vast field of medieval studies, Frederick J. Turner brought a sweeping perspective on American democracy, and by 1924 the University had a recognized practitioner of the “new” history in Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. An era arrived in which social and economic history took established positions among the common varieties of historical writing so that they now look like older trends in the 1954 picture. A glance at the list of doctoral dissertations submitted [p. 23] to the Department shows a steady and strong growth in American and modern European history paralleling the over-all growth of the Department to a commanding position in the production of the professional historians.8
Since its independent establishment in 1911, the Department of Government has shown continued loyalty to its older union with History. In Charles Mcllwain it had an inspiring continuator of the tradition in English constitutional history and thought. The new Department rapidly expanded its concern with political theory and made new ventures in constitutional and international law, American national, state and local government, comparative government, and international relations. The establishment of the Graduate School of Public Administration in 1937 broadened and strengthened work on matters related to contemporary public policy. A steady rise in the popularity of government as a field of undergraduate concentration brought the Department in the years after World War II into the demanding position of caring for more undergraduates than any other department.
The Department of Economics has continued to grow until it stands today among Harvard’s largest. The concern with the issues of the day which engaged Harvard economists from the first has persisted. The tradition of government consulting blossomed with the work of Taussig, Ripley, Gay and Day during World War I, and in the ill-fated Harvard Economic Service Harvard economists in the Twenties ventured predictions on the course of business conditions. Theoretical economics was pursued with distinction, and a rounded development of the field could be pointed to as a basis for a commonly recognized position of leadership. The Graduate School of Public Administration at its founding could draw on a department with vigorous interests in economic policy, and it in turn provided stimulus and facilities for such work.
Anthropology at Harvard during the early decades of this century continued activities on the wide front established in the Nineties. While Harvard could claim no single figure of such commanding leadership as Boas at Columbia, men like Dixon, Tozzer, and Hooton took major places in the development of American anthropology. A long series of Peabody Museum expeditions extended all over the globe and established Harvard’s position of leadership in Middle American archaeology, Southwestern archaeology, Old World prehistory, and other fields. The large-scale Irish expedition in the Thirties brought widely-known results, and it is perhaps less well remembered that the Yankee City study had its inception in the Department of Anthropology. The Forties brought an important organizational change in the establishment of the Department of Social Relations (1946). This move, which relocated part of the work in [p. 24] Social Anthropology in a new department, has resulted in a substantial expansion of the total numbers of anthropologists on the Harvard staff and of the range and quantity of anthropological investigation.
The chapter on psychology in an official history of Harvard published in 1930 was written by a philosopher, Ralph Parton Perry. Professor Perry notes at the beginning of his account: “Harvard is almost the only American university in which Philosophy and Psychology still constitute a single department.”9 This tardiness of Harvard in following the movement toward an independent status for psychology continued until 1934, when the Department of Psychology was established with Professor Boring as chairman. The lack of separate status had not meant inactivity. The work of the Psychological Laboratory begun under James and Muensterberg continued under the direction of Langfeld (until 1924) and later under Professor Boring. The range of work included that of Yerkes on animal psychology, Troland on physiological optics, and McDougall (after 1920) on social psychology. In 1926 a special bequest for work in abnormal and dynamic psychology led to the establishment of the Psychological Clinic, first under Dr. Morton Prince, and later under Professor Henry A. Murray. The appointment of Professor K. S. Lashley in 1936 brought new work in physiological psychology which was later transferred to the Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology, Orange Park, Florida. During the second World War, Harvard’s psychologists became heavily involved in work which led to the present Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory under the direction of Professor S. S. Stevens. Substantial uncertainty as to the ideal arrangements for psychology in the University persisted. A special commission was appointed in 1945, under the chairmanship of Dr. Alan Gregg to examine this question,10 but the work was overtaken by action from another quarter which issued in the founding of the Department of Social Relations in 1946. The consequences of this change will be evidenced at many places in this report; suffice to say here that work in clinical and social psychology was moved to the new department, experimental and physiological psychology remaining in the Department of Psychology.11
Sociology at Harvard continued under the departmental label of Social Ethics until 1929. In the early years of this department (after 1905) the ethical and practical concerns of its founder marked both instruction and research.12 Courses were taught in criminology and penology, radical social movements, juvenile delinquency, housing, immigration, and the typical range of “social problems” found in sociology [p. 25] curricula of this era. After World War I, when Dr. Richard C. Cabot was made Professor of Social Ethics and Chairman of the Department (1920), sociology extended its concerns into philosophical questions and some applied fields, while preserving the ethical orientation. As Professor Cabot’s retirement approached, the status of sociology was subject to a general re-examination. A new Department of Sociology was established under the direction of a committee drawn from various existing departments and including a new appointee, Pitirim A. Sorokin, as Chairman and Professor of Sociology. The new department continued through the Thirties, establishing a strong tradition in theoretical sociology and producing a small but distinguished group of Ph.D.’s. A need for further organizational change was felt by the beginning of the Forties,13 and when the Department of Social Relations emerged in 1946, it had absorbed the old Department of Sociology. Since that time, sociology has been without separate departmental status at Harvard, but it has been strongly represented in the new organization.
This rapid survey could include little more than the most conspicuous and central developments in the behavioral sciences within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. It has neglected many interdisciplinary committees and degree programs, research organizations, area programs, and the growth of such indispensable facilities as the College Library. A great many of the most important special developments have appeared since World War II and are still in existence. As elsewhere throughout the country, much of the history of behavioral sciences at Harvard crowds onto the contemporary scene.
The history we have presented has been largely a history of departments, but we think this not improper. The departments have long been and remain the fundamental units in the organization of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The historical record of the growth of the behavioral sciences at Harvard seems to show a common pattern. Harvard has not been unresponsive to new needs and the development of new fields, but it has moved cautiously, making its first ventures under the shelter of established departments. Government, psychology, and sociology at Harvard thus began under older departments, only slowly winning autonomous status. Ultimately, fields like these have taken their place in an extended roster of the same type of organization which fostered them, namely, as departments on the established model. The record is doubtless a conservative one, substantively and organizationally, but it is perhaps in keeping with President Eliot’s aim of building “securely and slowly, a university in the largest sense.”
Thus far the growth of the behavioral sciences in the professional [p. 26] schools has gone largely unmentioned. Their development will be sketched briefly near the end of Section B, but, to avoid too much repetition, the more detailed historical developments are reserved for Part VI of this report, where each professional school receives a unified and comprehensive analysis. Unless the reader familiarizes himself with the trends in the utilization of the behavioral sciences in the graduate schools of Business, Education, Law, Medicine and Public Health, and Public Administration he will have only a partial image of Harvard’s activities in this field.
[NOTES]
1 Emerton and Morison, in Morison, ed.. Development of Harvard University, 1869-1929 (1930) p. 153, n. 1.
2 Emerton and Morison, op. cit., pp. 159-160.
3 Tabulation in Emerton and Morison, op. cit., p. 164.
4 In Morison, op. cit., p. 190.
5 A graph in Morison (between pp. 194-195) traces the rise in enrollment in these courses. They followed roughly the over-all increase in college enrollment.
6 A delay in the approval of Putnam’s appointment by the Board of Overseers deprived Harvard of the distinction of having the first professorship of American archaeology. (Daniel S. Brinton was appointed Professor of American Archaeology and Linguistics at Pennsylvania in 1886.) Dixon in Morison, p. 211, n. 1.
7 Ford in Morison, op. at., p. 225.
8 Cf. tabulation in Morison, op. cit., p. 164, and data below in Section B.
9 Morison, op. cit., p. 216.
10 Cf. The Place of Psychology in an Ideal University (1947).
11 A contemporary report on the nature and rationale of the split may be found in a joint article by Professors Allport and Boring, American Psychologist, v. 1, 1946, pp. 119-122.
12 Cf. the chapter by James M. Ford in Morison, op. cit., pp. 223-230.
13 The Report of the Visiting Committee to the Department for 1944-1945 remarks, “Obviously, the Department should not be allowed to continue as at present constituted.” Report No. 32, p. 219.
