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Columbia Courses Economists Syllabus

Columbia. Syllabus for Trust Problem. Seager, 1907

The second in a two-semester “problem sequence” taught by Professor Henry Rogers Seager at Columbia. Found in the papers of John Maurice Clark. The first semester was a course on the labor problem. The field of pre-game-theory industrial organization can trace its roots to the trust problem.

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ECONOMICS 106—Trust Problem.        Professor Seager.

Tu. And Th. At 11.30, second half-year. 415 L.

In this course special attention is given to the trust problem as it presents itself in the United States. Among the topics considered are the rise and progress of industrial combinations, the forms of organization and policies of typical combinations, the common law and the trusts, anti-trust acts and their results, and other proposed solutions of the problem.

Given in 1906-07 and in alternate years thereafter.

Source: Columbia University. Bulletin of Information. Fifth Series, No. 10 (March 25, 1905). History, Economics, and Public Law. Courses Offered by the Faculty of Political Science. Announcement 1905-07, p. 25.

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Columbia University
in the City of New York

 

THE TRUST PROBLEM

OUTLINE OF COURSE
BY
HENRY R. SEAGER
Professor of Political Economy

 

(The references are to the numbers attached to the titles in the bibliography. Those printed in heavy-faced type constitute the required reading for the course. Those marked with asterisks are especially recommended.)

 

  1. Nature and scope of the trust problem. Survey of literature. (43, chap. XVIII, pp. 428-441.)
  2. Progress of the corporation movement in the United States. (*8, chap. I; *36, June, 1890, pp. 50 et seq.; 47, 1900, vol. VII, chap. II, sec. XI, and 1905, Bulletin 57, pp. 13-18.)
  3. Progress of the trust movement in the United States. (5, chap. I; 9, chap. I; *14, chap. V; *30, chap. I; 31; 41, vol. XIX, pp. 595-608; 47, 1900, vol. VII, chap. II, sec. XVII.)
  4. Conflicting theories in regard to the economic advantages of the trusts. (22, chaps. I and II; 43, chap. XVIII, pp. 442-461; *6, pp. 35-42; *14, chap. IV; *30, chap. II; 27, Part I.)
  5. Typical American trusts; the Addyston Pipe Company. (22, chap. VII ; 43, chap. V.)
  6. Typical American trusts : the Standard Oil Company. (22, chap. VIII, pp. 151-157; 29; 39; 40; 41, vol. I, pp. 93-173; *44; 46.)
  7. Typical American trusts: the Standard Oil Company today. (*37.)
  8. Typical American trusts: the United States Steel Corporation. (22, Appendix F ; *28, chap. XVII ; 41, vol. I, pp. 173-205; 42; *48.)
  9. The United States Steel Corporation’s bond conversion (43, chap. VIII.)
  10. Typical American trusts: the International Mercantile Marine Company. (43, Chap. VI.)
  11. Typical American trusts: the United States Shipbuilding Company (43, chap. IX.)
  12. The success of American trusts as business enterprises. (*15, 1907; 31.)
  13. Conflicting legal theories in regard to corporations and the attitude of American courts. (16; *17, pp. XVIII-XLIII ; *21, pp. 7-16 ; *45, chaps. III and VIII.)
  14. The development of corporation laws in the American states and the present law of New Jersey. (4; *6, pp. 383-394, 409-422 ; *21; 23.)
  15. The Massachusetts Business Corporation Law. (43, chap. XV; *38.)
  16. State anti-trust legislation and the reasons for its failure. (*1, 1904, pp. 37-41; *13, vol. II, part VIII; 30, chap. V ; 41, vol. I, pp. 225-232, vol. II.)
  17. The federal anti-trust act of 1890 and what has been accomplished under it. (43, chap. XII ; 13, vol. II, part VII.)
  18. Latest phases of the attempt to enforce the anti-trust act. (43, chap. XIV.)
  19. The trust problem in the United Kingdom and the British Companies Act of 1900. (43, chap. XVII; 20, part II, chap. III ; 27, chaps. VIII and IX ; 41, vol. XVIII, part I, chap. II.)
  20. The trust problem in Germany. (22, chap. XII; 24 ; 35, third series, vol. V, no. 3; *41, vol. XVIII, part I, chap. V.)
  21. Germany’s corporation law and the attitude of the German government towards trusts. (43, chap. XVI; 24 ; *41, vol. XVIII, part II, chap. IV.)
  22. Present problem in the United States: the trusts and investors. (22, chaps. V and VI; 28, chaps. VII, VIII, XV, and XIX ; 41, vol. I, Digest, pp. 242-253.)
  23. Present problem in the United States: the trusts and wage-earners. (22, chap. IX; 6, pp. 349-354 ; 9, chaps. VII and VIII.)
  24. Present problem in the United States: the trusts and consumers. (22, chap. VIII; 41, vol. I, part I, pp. 39-57.)
  25. Present problem in the United States: the trusts and the tariff. (22, chap. III; 5, chaps. VI and XV; *6, pp. 171-177 ; *8, chap. III; 25; 41, vol. XIX pp. 627-631.)
  26. Proposed solutions of the trust problem. (22, chap. XI; *1, 1904, pp. 44-63; 30, chap. VI; 41, vol. XIX, pp. 649-652.)
  27. Objects to be accomplished through federal control over the trusts. (22, chap. XIII; *7, chaps. IV and V; 21, pp. 168-173; 28, chap. XX.)
  28. The future of trusts in the United States. (*26, part III, chap. II; *27, chap. XII.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

  1. Annual Reports of the United States Commissioner of Corporations. 1904—
  2. Baker, Monopolies and the People. Third edition. 1899.
  3. Beach, A Treatise on the Law of Monopolies and Industrial Trusts. 1898.
  4. Black, Corporation Laws of New York and New Jersey. Second edition, 1904.
  5. Bolen, Plain Facts as to the Trusts and the Tariff. 1902.
  6. Chicago Conference on Trusts, September, 1899. 1900.
  7. Clark, The Control of Trusts. 1901.
  8. Clark, The Problem of Monopoly. 1904.
  9. Collier, The Trusts. 1900.
  10. Cook, “Trusts.” Second edition. 1888.
  11. Davis, Corporations: Their Origin and Development, 2 vols. 1905.
  12. Dos Passos, Commercial Trusts. 1901.
  13. Eddy, The Law of Combinations, 2 vols. 1901.
  14. Ely, Monopolies and Trusts. 1900.
  15. Financial Review (Annual) of the Commercial and Financial Chronicle.
  16. Freund, The Legal Nature of Corporations. 1896.
  17. Gierke, Political Theories of the Middle Ages. 1900.
  18. Gunton, Trusts and the Public. 1899.
  19. von Halle, Trusts or Industrial Combinations in the United States. 1895.
  20. Hirst, Monopolies, Trusts and Kartells. 1905.
  21. Horack, the Organization and Control of Industrial Corporations. 1903.
  22. Jenks, The Trust Problem. Revised edition. 1903.
  23. Laws of the State of New Jersey Relating to Business Companies. 1905.
  24. Liefmann, Die Unternehmerverbände. 1897.
  25. Liefmann, Schutzzoll und Kartelle. 1903.
  26. Macgregor, Industrial Combination. 1906.
  27. Macrosty, Trusts and the State. 1901.
  28. Meade, Trust Finance. 1903.
  29. Montague, The Standard Oil Company. 1904.
  30. Montague, Trusts of Today. 1904.
  31. Moody, Truth about the Trusts. 1904.
  32. Mussey, Combination in the Mining Industry. 1905.
  33. Nettleton, Trusts or Competition. 1900.
  34. Political Science Quarterly. 1886—
  35. Publications of the American Economic Association. 1886—
  36. Quarterly Publications of the American Statistical Association. 1888—
  37. Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Transportation of Petroleum. 1906.
  38. Report of the Committee (Massachusetts) on Corporation Laws. 1903.
  39. Report of the Committee (New York) on General Laws on the Investigation Relative to Trusts. New York Senate Document No. 50, Vol. V. 1888.
  40. Report of the Committee (United States) on Manufactures on the Investigation of Trusts. House of Representatives Report, No. 3112. 1888.
  41. Report of the United States Industrial Commission, 19 vols. 1900—1902.
  42. Reports of the United States Steel Corporation. 1902—
  43. Ripley, Trusts, Pools, and Corporations. 1903.
  44. Tarbell, The History of the Standard Oil Company, 2 vols. 1904.
  45. Taylor, A Treatise on the Law of Private Corporations. Fifth edition. 1905.
  46. Trust Investigation of the Ohio Senate. 1898.
  47. United States Census Reports and Bulletins.
  48. Wilgus, The United States Steel Corporation. 1901.

Source: Columbia Archives. John M. Clark Collection. Box 23, Lecture Notebooks.

Monopoly Image: From The Up-to-date Primer: A First Book of Lessons for Little Political Economists.