The first course dedicated to the economics of railroads at Harvard was offered during the first semester of the 1887-1888 academic year and taught by James Laurence Laughlin. After that the field was handed off to a several different instructors. By 1901-02 the course had been split into one semester dedicated to the management of railroads and one semester to the regulation of railroads and other public works.
51 hf. Railway Economics, with particular reference to the United States. Taught by William Z. Ripley in 1901-1902.
52 hf. Railways and other Public Works (advanced course). Taught by Hugo Richard Meyer in 1901-1902.
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Previous year’s exams
1900-01
Hugo Richard Meyer taught both semesters.
Harvard. Final Exams for Railways and Other Public Works. Meyer, 1901
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Original Course Announcement
Economics 51 hf.
For Undergraduates and Graduates
5 1hf. Railways and other Public Works, under Public and Corporate management. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Mr. [Hugo Richard] Meyer.
In this course it is proposed to review the history and working of different modes of dealing with railway transportation, and to deal summarily with the questions of street railways, water, gas, and electric light supply. Consideration will be given to the economic characteristics of these industries, the theory and history of railway rates, the effects of railway service and railway changes on other industries, the causes and consequences of monopoly conditions. The history of legislation, in the more important European countries and in Australia will be followed, as well as the different modes in which the countries in question have undertaken the regulation and control of private corporations, or have assumed direct ownership, with or without management and operation. As to the United States, there will be a consideration of the modes of regulation, through legislation and through commissions, at the hands of the several states; and of the course of legislation by the federal government, concluding with a study of the working of the Interstate Commerce Act.
Written work, in the preparation of papers on assigned topics, will be required of all students in the course. Course 5 is open to students who have taken Economics 1.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Annual Announcement of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901). Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. pp. 41-42.
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Revised Statement Concerning Course 51 hf.
51 hf. Railway Economics, with particular reference to the United States. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley (Mass. Inst. Technology).
A brief outline of the historical development of rail and water transportation in the United States will be followed by a description of the condition of the railroad system at the present time; with a view of familiarizing the student with the principal sources of information. The four main subdivisions of Rates and Rate-Making, Finance, Traffic Operation, and Legislation, will be considered in turn. The first subdivision deals with the relation of the railroad to the shipper. It will comprehend an analysis of the theory and practice of rate-making, including, for example, freight classification, the nature of railroad competition, the long and short haul principle, pooling, etc. Under the second heading, having reference to the interests of owners and investors, an outline will be given of the nature of railroad securities, such as stocks, bonds, etc., the principles of capitalization, the interpretation of railroad accounts and annual reports, receiverships and reorganizations, etc. Railroad Operation, the third subdivision, will deal with the practical problems of the traffic department, such as the collection and interpretation of statistics of operation, pro-rating, the apportionment of cost, depreciation and maintenance, etc. In the fourth subdivision, Legislation, the course of state and federal regulation and control will be traced. Discussion will follow concerning the work of the Interstate Commerce Commission, judicial interpretation of the law, the relation of the Commission to the Courts, etc.
Written work in the preparation of papers on assigned topics will be required of all students in the course. Course 5 is open to all students who have taken Economics 1.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1901-1902.”
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Course Enrollment
For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 5 1hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley. — Railway Economics with particular reference to the United States.
Total 81: 6 Graduates, 40 Seniors, 19 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 11 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.
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Mid-Year Examination, 1902
ECONOMICS 5.
- State three points of difference between capital stock and bonds, indicating the resultant effect upon American railway management.
- Outline the course of state legislation and of judicial decisions, leading to the enactment of the Act to Regulate Commerce, etc. of 1887.
- Describe the present condition of affairs as respects the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission to prescribe freight rates; with the nature of the principal suggestions for amendment of the law in this regard.
- What principles were involved in the following cases:
(a) Social Circle; (b) Cincinnati and Chicago Freight Bureaus; and (c) Louisville and Nashville.
- In what two independent ways has the Long and Short Haul clause been rendered ineffective as originally interpreted. Illustrate by examples.
- What is the principal difference between rail and water competition in the case of canals, small rivers, and the Great Lakes?
- Discuss the various bases proposed for railroad capitalization, defining that term exactly. What is the policy in Massachusetts in this respect?
- Combine and arrange the following items so as to give the best information about the operation and condition of the road.
(Do not rewrite the names but use the corresponding numbers where possible.)
| 1. Passenger train miles |
2,000,000 |
| 2. Freight train miles |
3,400,000 |
| 3. Passenger train earnings |
$2,400,000 |
| 4. Freight train earnings |
$5,500,000 |
| 5. Income from investments |
$100,000 |
| 6. Dividends |
$500,000 |
| 7. Franchises and property |
$90,400,000 |
| 8. Operating expenses |
$4,700,000 |
| 9. Tons freight carried |
2,800,000 |
| 10. Av. load per car (loaded and empty), tons |
8.2 |
| 11. Av. no. loaded cars per train |
12.3 |
| 12. Av. no. empty cars per train |
6.7 |
| 13. Interest charge for year |
$2,200,000 |
| 14. Due other roads |
$100,000 |
| 15. Stocks and bonds owned |
$4,900,000 |
| 16. Surplus for the year |
$300,000 |
| 17. Profit and loss account |
$1,000,000 |
| 18. Taxes accrued but not due |
$100,000 |
| 19. Capital stock |
$50,000,000 |
| 20. Supplies on hand |
$500,000 |
| 21. Taxes for the year |
$300,000 |
| 22. Accounts receivable |
$500,000 |
| 23. Cash |
$1,000,000 |
| 24. Bonds of the company in its treasury |
$800,000 |
| 25. Accounts payable |
$1,000,000 |
| 26. Interest due |
$700,000 |
| 27. Funded debt |
$45,000,000 |
| 28. Due from other roads |
$100,000 |
| 29. Interest accrued not due |
$300,000 |
- Describe three methods of treating depreciation and illustrate each in a case for which it is especially serviceable.
- Determine whether to charge the following expenditure to capital account or to revenue account. State your reasons fully. If you should charge to operating expenses, state to which general group.
- A new forty-ton car to replace a thirty-ton car.
- An expensive new anion station substituted for two small inexpensive stations.
- Premium paid on purchase of stock in a connecting line.
- Wages on a train hauling company’s coal for company’s use.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1901-02.
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Original Course Announcement
Economics 52 hf.
52 hf. Railways and other Public Works (advanced course). Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat, at 1.30. Mr. Meyer.
This course is a continuation of the preceding one. It makes a detailed study of certain of the more important questions discussed in the first half-year. Among those questions are: the accounts and finances of railroads and street railways, as illustrated in the reports and statements of important systems; the development of transportation methods in certain important railroad systems; some State Commissions and their action in specific cases; the decisions rendered by the Interstate Commerce Commission; and some further aspects of public ownership, especially in Germany.
Subjects will be assigned for special examination, and the third hour may be used for the presentation and discussion of the reports upon the subjects examined.
Course 52 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 51.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Annual Announcement of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901). Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. p. 42.
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Revised Statement Concerning
Course 52 hf.
51 hf. The problems of public ownership of railways; and the question of the public or the private ownership of street railways, gas, and electric lighting plants. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat, at 1.30. Mr. [Hugo Richard] Meyer.
The problems of the public ownership of railways will be discussed under three headings: the problem of making a railway budget fit into the state budget; the problem of devising a scheme of railway rates that shall meet the demands of ideal justice, and shall at the same time be sufficiently elastic to meet the needs of commerce and industry; and the problem of a large body of civil servants in a self-governing community. The discussion of these questions will be based mainly on the experience of Germany and the Australian Colonies, though some notice will be taken of the experience of France and Italy.
The question of the public or the private ownership of street railways, gas, and electric light plants will be studied by means of a comparison of the working of the so-called American practice of little or no control with the working of the British practice of control by Parliament, supplemented by the policy of municipal ownership.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1901-1902.”
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Course Enrollment
Economics 52 hf.
For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 5 2hf. Mr. [Hugo Richard] Meyer. — The Problems of Public Ownership of Railways; and the Question of the Public or the Private Ownership of Street Railways, Gas, and Electric Lighting Plants.
Total 49: 5 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 8 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.
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Final Examination, 1902
ECONOMICS 52
- Railway rates and the utilization of the agricultural resources: in Germany, in Russia, and in the United States. A study of the railway problem as the problem of conflicting local interests.
- Is the State, when put in charge of the railways, likely to be in a better position than are corporations to pursue an enlightened policy as to the extension of the railroad net and the reduction of railway charges; is it likely to be more considerate of the interests and the rights of the public than are corporations?
Base your argument upon the experience of the countries studied in this course.
- Has the management of the railways by the State in Germany put the small shipper on a footing of equality with the large shipper?
- What is the evidence as to the profitableness of electric street railways in the United States?
- In the long run, would it be to the interest of the public, to adopt the policy of securing to the public the profit made by public service corporations in excess of the return obtained from good mortgages on real estate?
- The evidence as to the comparative economy of management of private gas plants in England and municipal gas plants; as to the comparative cost of gas to the consumer served by private plants and the consumer served by public plants.
- State carefully the body of administrative law to be found in the decisions of the Massachusetts Gas and Electric Light Commissioners upon petitions for reduction in the price of gas and of electric light.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1902-03. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College (June, 1902), pp. 24-25.
Image Source: American Railroad Scene: Lightning Express Trains Leaving the Junction. Currier & Ives (1874). Published in: Viewpoints; a selection from the pictorial collections of the Library of Congress …. Washington : Library of Congress …, 1975, no. 39.
