Money and banking were the subjects in a two semester sequence of distinct courses at Harvard in 1902-03. Material for the money course taught by Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr. can be found in the previous post. Here we have a description, enrollment figures, and the final exam questions for economics instructor O.M.W. Sprague’s banking course in the sequence.
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8b2hf. Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Dr. Sprague.
In Course 8b, after a summary view of early forms of banking in Italy, Amsterdam, and Hamburg, a more detailed account is given of the development, to the middle of the nineteenth century, of the system of banking in which notes were the principal form of credit and the chief subject of discussion and legislation. The rise and growth of the modern system of banking by discount and deposit is then described. The work is both historical and comparative in its methods. The banking development, legislation, and present practice of various countries, including England, France, Germany, Scotland, and Canada, are reviewed and contrasted. Particular attention is given to banking history and experience in this country: the two United States banks; the more important features of banking in the separate states before 1860; the beginnings, growth, operation, and proposed modification of the national banking system; and credit institutions outside that system, such as state banks and trust companies.
The course of the money markets of London, Paris, Berlin, and New York will be followed during a series of months, and the various factors, such as stock exchange dealings, and international exchange payments, which bring about fluctuations in the demand for loans, and the rate of discount upon them will be considered. In conclusion the relations of banks to commercial crises will be analyzed, the crises of 1857 and 1893 being taken for detailed study.
Written work, in the preparation of short papers on assigned topics, and a regular course of prescribed reading will be required of all students.
The course is open to those who have taken Economics 1.
Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.
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Economics 8b. 2hf. Dr. Sprague. — Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems.
Total 133: 2 Gr., 38 Se., 52 Ju., 27 So., 1 Fr., 13 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.
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ECONOMICS 8b
Answer the questions strictly in their order.
- (a) Why does a fall in the prices of stock exchange securities tend to reduce the loans and the deposit liabilities of the New York banks?
(b) Why is the rate for call loans subject to greater fluctuations than those for time loans or on commercial paper? - (a) Explain the relation between the supply of commercial bills of exchange and the rates for bankers’ sterling.
(b) Explain the usual method by which a profit is realized from the export of gold from New York to Paris. - Define or explain—
- Due to approved reserve agents.
- Bills payable.
- Cable transfers.
- The bank price of gold.
- Changes in the charter of the Reichsbank in 1899.
- What changes in other items would involve a change in the amount of deposits?
- Discuss the advantages of a central reserve bank and consider its applicability to the United States.
- Give some account of failures of the national banks.
- How do loans in Europe serve to reduce the credit liabilities of the New York banks?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).
Image Source: Portrait of Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague in the Harvard Class Album 1915, colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.