Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Course enrollment, description, and final exam. Economics of Transportation. Ripley and Daggett, 1904-1905

 

Professor William Zebina Ripley together with his student Stuart Daggett (Ph.D. 1906) offered “Economics of Transportation” during the first semester of 1904-05 at Harvard. Reading the exam questions it is pretty clear that the emphasis was on railroads, a subject that posed interesting and important policy questions in industrial organization, government regulation, and finance. Ripley published much on transportation problems in general and railway problems in particular. 

__________________________

Monographs/Books on Transportation by W. Z. Ripley

Transportation. Chapter from the Final report of the U.S. Industrial Commission (Vol. XIX) and privately issued by the author for the use of his students and others. Washington, D.C., 1902.

Railway Problems, edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1907).

Railroads: Rates and Regulation (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912).

Railroads: Finance & Organization (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915).

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1904-05

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

Total 139: 5 Graduates, 54 Seniors, 47 Juniors, 25 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 74.

__________________________

Course Description
1904-05

[Economics] 5. 1hf. Economics of Transportation. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley.

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 transportation systems at the present time; with a view to 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 regulation and control in the United States and Europe will be traced. Discussion will follow concerning the work of the Interstate Commerce Commission, judicial interpretation of the law, and the relation of the Commission to the Courts.

One special report from original sources on an assigned topic will be required of every student in the course. Two lectures will be given regularly per week, while the third hour will be devoted to recitation and written work. Course 5 is open to all students 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, 1904-05 (May 16, 1904), p. 40.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 51
Final Examination, 1904-05

  1. What is a “voting trust,” and for what purposes may one be created?
  2. What seems to be the plan of organization of the anthracite coal roads to secure concerted action in marketing their product? Outline clearly what their policy is.
  3. What does the Operating Ratio show and what is its main defect as an index of efficiency?
  4. Outline the Massachusetts policy of railway regulation: (a) in respect of general service; and (b) in financial matters.
  5. What are the present powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission in respect of rate making? Carefully distinguish the different phases of this matter.
  6. How far have the Elkins’ Amendments remedied the abuses against which it was directed?
  7. Illustrate at least two possible uses of the power of injunction to remedy evils in railway service. Give concrete illustrations.
  8. Define exactly what is meant by the following:—

(a) Charging expenses to capital account.
(b) Cancelling a commodity rate.
(c) A pro-rating division of the rate.

Source: Harvard University Archives. . Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1904-05. Copy also available in Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1905), p. 25.

Image Source: Buster Keaton in “The General” (1926). If you want a mugshot of Professor William Z. Ripley go here.