Harvard. European and U.S. Economic History. Reading Lists and Exams. Gay, 1908-09

This post provides the double dose of economic history taught by Professor Edwin Francis Gay at Harvard in the 1908-09 academic year. I have transcribed the reading lists and final exams for the courses covering 19th century European economic history and United States economic history below.

A short bibliography for “serious students” of economic history assembled by Gay and published in 1910 was posted earlier.

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Course Enrollment
19th Century European Economic History, 1908-09

Economics 6a ¹hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Mr. M. T. [Melvin Thomas] Copeland — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 109: 11 Graduates, 28 Seniors, 48 Juniors, 19 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1908-1909, p. 67.

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Reading List
19th Century European Economic History, 1908-09

ECONOMICS 6a (1908)

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

1. GENERAL CONDITIONS. – COLONIAL POLICY.

*Smith, Colonial Policy of Europe, in Rand (4th ed.), pp. 1-30.

*Seeley, Expansion of England (ed. 1883), pp. 98-160.

Warner, Landmarks in English Industrial History, pp. 281-300.

Mantoux, La Révolution Industrielle, pp. 73-125.

2. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

*Toynbee, Industrial Revolution, pp. 32-93,

*Hobson, Evolution of Modern Capitalism, pp. 10-82.

Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Vol. III, pp. 609-619.

Walpole, History of England, Vol. I, pp. 50-76. (Rand, pp. 31-54.)

Wallas, Life of Francis Place, pp. 197-240.

Hutchins and Harrison, History of Factory Legislation, pp. 14-42.

Webb, History of Trade Unionism, pp. 1-101.

Mantoux, La Révolution Industrielle, pp. 349-502.

1. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT. – CONTINENT.

*Von Sybel, French Revolution, in Rand, pp. 55-85.

*Seeley, Life and Times of Stein, Vol. I, pp. 287-297. (Rand, pp. 86-98.)

*Morier, Agrarian Legislation of Prussia, in “Systems of Land Tenure,” pp. 267-275. (Rand, pp. 98-108.)

Colman, European Agriculture (2d ed.), Vol. I1, pp. 371-394.

Flour de St. Genis, La Propriétée Rurale, pp. 80-164.

De Foville, Le Morcellement, pp. 52-89.

Goltz, Agrarwesen und Agrarpolitik, pp. 40-50.

1. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT. – ENGLAND.

*Taylor, Decline of Land-Owning Farmers in England, pp. 1-61.

Brodrick, English Land and English Landlords, pp. 65-240.

Prothero, Pioneers and Progress of English Farming, pp. 64-103.

Caird, English Agriculture in 1850, pp. 473-528.

Colman, European Agriculture (2d ed.), Vol. I, pp. 10-109, 133-174

1. THE FREE TRADE MOVEMENT. – ENGLAND.

*Levi, History of British Commerce, pp. 218-227, 261-272, 292-303. (Rand, pp. 207-241.)

*Morley, Life of Cobden, Vol. I, pp. 140-172, 355-389.

Ashworth, Recollections of Cobden and the League, pp. 32-64,

296-392.

Prentice, History of the Anti-Corn Law League, Vol. I, pp. 49-77.

Parker, Sir Robert Peel from his Private Letters, Vol. II, pp. 522-559; Vol. III, pp. 220-252.

1. THE TARIFF. – CONTINENT.

*Ashley, Modern Tariff History, pp. 3-62, 301-312, [267-300]

Worms, L’Allemagne Economique, pp. 57-393.

Amé, Les Tarifs de Douanes, Vol. I, pp. 21-34, 219-316.

Perigot, Histoire de Commerce Français, pp. 77-185.

1. FINANCE.

*Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Vol. III (ed. 1903), pp. 689-703, 822-829, 833-840.

*Hobson, Evolution of Modern Capitalism, pp. 167-219.

Tugan-Baranowsky, Studien zur Theorie und Geschichte der Handelskrisen in England, pp. 38-54, 62-121.

Giffen, Growth of Capital, pp. 115-134.

Macleod, Theory and Practice of Banking (4th ed.), Vol. I, pp. 433-540; Vol. II, pp. 1-197

Bastable, Public Finance, Bk. V, chaps. 3 and 4 (3d ed.), pp. 629-657

1. THE NEW GOLD.

*Cairnes, Essays, pp. 53-108. (Rand, pp. 242-284.)

*Chevalier. On Gold (3d English ed.), pp. 1-9, 40-71, 99-106.

Jevons, Investigations in Currency and Finance, pp. 34-92.

Leroy-Beaulieu, Traité d’Economie Politique, Vol. III, pp. 192-238.

Giffen, Economic Inquiries and Studies, Vol. I, pp. 75-97.

1. TRANSPORTATION. – ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 146-202, 236-258.

Ross, British Railways, pp. 1-36.

—— The Railway Clearing House, pp. 7-28.

Findlay, Working and Management of an English Railway (6th ed.), pp. 262-322.

Meyer, Governmental Regulation of Railway Rates, pp. 123-132.

Colson, Legislation des Chemins de Fer, pp. 3-20, 133-182.

Kaufmann, Die Eisenbahnpolitik Frankreichs, Vol. II, pp. 178-284.

Guillamot, L’Organisation des Chemins de Fer, pp. 82-120.

Forbes and Ashford, Our Waterways, pp. 107-137.

Colson, Transports et Tarifs, pp. 80-145.

Léon, Fleuves, Canaux, Chemins de Fer, pp. 1-70.

1. TRANSPORTATION. – GERMANY AND RUSSIA.

*Meyer, Governmental Regulation of Railway Rates, pp. 93-122, 133-188.

Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 203-235.

Mayer, Geschichte und Geographie des Deutschen Eisenbahnen, pp. 3-14.

Leuschau, Deutsche Wasserstrassen, pp. 9-56, 95-162.

De Koulomzine, Le Transsibérien, pp. 1-53, 261-312.

1. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 1-95.

*Bowley, England’s Foreign Trade in the Nineteenth Century (ed. 1905), pp. 55-107.

Fry, History of North Atlantic Steam Navigation, pp. 55-106, 207-249.

Cornewall-Jones, British Merchant Service, pp. 252-260, 306-317.

Day, History of Commerce, pp. 373-379, 399-405.

LeRoux de Bretagne, Les Primes à la Marine Marchande, pp. 93-224.

Rossignol, Le Canal de Suez, pp. 23-148.

1. AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION.

*Report on Agricultural Depression, 1897, pp. 6-87.

Pratt, Organization of Agriculture, pp. 1-104, 269-391.

Haggard, Rural England, Vol. I1, pp. 536-576.

Channing, Truth about the Agricultural Depression, pp. 1-59, 311-320.

Arch, Autobiography, pp. 65-144, 300-345.

Fillmore, Agricultural Laborer, pp. 12-24.

Winfrey, Progress of Small Holdings Movement, Econ. Jour., Vol. XVI, pp. 222-229.

Plunkett, Ireland in the New Century (ed. 1905), pp. 175-209.

Bastable, Some Features of the Economic Movement in Ireland, Econ. Jour., Vol. XI, pp. 31-42.

Imbart de la Tour, Le Crise Agricole, pp. 24-34, 127-223.

Bretano, Agrarian Reform in Prussia, Econ, Jour., Vol. VII, pp. 1-20, 165-184.

1. RECENT TARIFF HISTORY.

*Smart, Return to Protection, pp. 7-44, 136-185, 284-259.

Ashley, W. J., Tariff Problem, pp. 53-167.

Ashley, P., Modern Tariff History, pp. 78-112, 313-358.

Dawson, Protection in Germany, pp. 17-160.

Dietzel, German Tariff Controversy, Q.J.E., Vol. XVII, pp. 365-417.

Zimmermann, Deutsche Handelspolitik, pp. 218-314.

Fisher, Protectionist Reaction in France, Econ. Jour., Vol. VI, pp. 341-355.

Meredith, Protection in France, pp. 54-129.

1. INDUSTRIAL COMBINATION.

*Macrosty, Trust Movement in British Industry, pp. 24-56, 81-84, 117-154, 284-307, 329-345.

*Report of Industrial Commission, Vol. XVIII, pp. 7-13, 75-88, 101-122, 143-165.

Report of Industrial Commission, Vol. XVIII, pp. 14-38.

Smith, New Trades Combination Movement, pp. 1-96.

Walker, Monopolistic Combinations in Europe, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 13-41.

———, Combinations in German Coal Industry, pp. 38-111, 175-289, 322-327.

Liefmann, Kartelle und Trusts, pp. 22-32.

Baumgarten und Meszlény, Kartelle und Trusts, pp. 83-152.

1. LABOR, COÖPERATIVE MOVEMENT.

*Bowley, Wages in the United Kingdom, pp. 22-57, 81-127.

*Ashley, W. J., Progress of German Working Classes, pp. 60-65, 74-141, [1-52].

Shadwell, Industrial Efficiency, Vol. II, pp. 307-350.

Giffen, Essays in Finance (2d series), pp. 372-474.

Howell, Labor Legislation, pp. 447-499.

Webb, Trade Unionism, pp. 344-478.

Willoughby, Workingmen’s Insurance, pp. 29-87.

Gide, Productive Coöperation in France, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 30-66.

Bertrand, Le Mouvement Coopératif en Belgique, Rev. d’Econ. Pol., Vol. XIII, pp. 668-694.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 394-397, 407-413.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1908-1909”.

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ECONOMICS 6a
19th Century European Economic History
Mid-year Examination, 1908-09

1. Toynbee says concerning the English yeomanry: “It was not till about 1760 that the process of extinction became rapid. … It was the political conditions of the age, the overwhelming importance of land, which made it impossible for the yeoman to keep his grip upon the soil.”
   Von Sybel states that in France prior to the Revolution “a middle class of proprietors, substantial enough to derive from their land a sufficient livelihood, and yet humble enough to be bound to constant and diligent labor, was entirely wanting. … But what the movement of 1789 did produce is this middle class of proprietors.”
   Comment on these statements. How, furthermore, do you account for the divergence of development between French and English agrarian conditions
2. (1) Criticise the following statements:
   “Il est évident que nous serious plus riches si nos exportations avaient été plus considérables et nos importations moines fortes.” — Méline.
   “It is a mathematical truth that if imports come into this country of manufactured goods which we can make as well as any other nation, they must displace labor.” — Mr. Chamberlain.
   (2) “What brings great changes of policy is the shifting and readjustments of interests, not the discovery of new principles.” — John Morley.
   Illustrate this from the tariff history of Germany, France, and England.

1. “Ability to compete in the world’s market is a vital matter for Germany. …To this achievement the State railways have contributed in the past practically nothing. … Nor will the railways be able to do much more in the future than they have done in the past.” Who says this? Give the arguments for and against this view.
2. Discuss the recent agricultural depression in England.
3. (1) Compare concisely the trust movement in England, Germany, and France.
   (2) What were the provisions of the Austrian bill of 1897 to regulate industrial combinations?
4. The Report of the Industrial Commission says that “France is less developed industrially than England and Germany.” What does this mean? Can such a statement be verified by the comparison of statistics? If so, what statistics would you use? What are the chief factors which have determined industrial development in the nineteenth century, and why, in your opinion, have they not operated equally in the three countries named?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1909), pp. 37-38.

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Course Enrollment
United States Economic History
1908-09

Economics 6b ²hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Mr. M. T. [Melvin Thomas] Copeland — Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 198: 15 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 87 Juniors, 41 Sophomores, 7 Freshmen, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1908-1909, p. 68.

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Reading List
United States Economic History
ECONOMICS 6b (1909)

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

1. COLONIAL PERIOD.

*Ashley, Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 1-29; printed also in Ashley’s Surveys, pp. 309-335.

*Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 36-51.

McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 1-102.

Eggleston, Transit of Civilization, pp. 273-307.

Beer, Commercial Policy of England, pp. 5-158.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 3-91.

Lord, Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies of North America, pp. 56-86, 124-139.

1776-1860.

1. COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, AND TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History of the United States, pp. 68-154.

*Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, in Taussig’s State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 1-79, 103-107, (79-103).

Bolles, Industrial History of the United States, Book II, pp. 403-426.

Bishop, History of American Manufactures, Vol. II, pp. 256-505.

Pitkin, Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States (ed. 1835), pp. 368-412.

Gallatin, Free Trade Memorial, in Taussig’s State Papers, pp. 108-213.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 146-183.

Hill, First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States, Amer. Econ. Assoc. Pub., Vol. VIII, pp. 107-132.

1. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

*Callender, Early Transportation and Banking Enterprises, Q.J.E., Vol. XVII, pp. 111-162; printed also separately, pp. 3-54.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. IV, Thos. C. Purdy’s Reports on History of Steam Navigation in the United States, pp. 1-62, and History of Operating Canals in the United States, pp. 1-32.

Chevalier, Society, Manners and Politics in the United States, pp. 80-87, 209-276.

Ringwalt, Development of Transportation Systems in the United States, pp. 41-54, 64-166.

Phillips, History of Transportation in the Eastern Cotton Belt, pp. 46-131.

Bishop, State Works of Pennsylvania, pp. 150-261.

Gallatin, Plan of Internal Improvements, Amer. State Papers, Misc., Vol. I, pp. 724-921 (see especially maps, pp. 744, 762, 764, 820, 830).

Pitkin, Statistical View (1835), pp. 531-581.

Chittenden, Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Vol. II, pp. 417-424.

1. AGRICULTURE AND LAND POLICY. — WESTWARD MOVEMENT.

*Hart, Practical Essays on American Government, pp. 233-257 printed also in Q.J.E., Vol. I, pp. 169-183, 251-254.

*Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 67-119.

*Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 52-74.

Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History, in Report of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1893, pp. 199-227.

Donaldson, Public Domain, pp. 1-29, 196-239, 332-356.

Hibbard, History of Agriculture in Dane County, Wisconsin, pp. 86-90, 105-133.

Sanborn, Congressional Grants of Land in Aid of Railways, Bulletin of Univ. of Wisconsin Econ., Pol. Sci. and Hist. Series, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 269-354.

Hart, History as Told by Contemporaries, Vol. III, pp. 459-478.

1. THE SOUTH AND SLAVERY.

*Cairnes, The Slave Power (2d ed.), pp. 32-103, 140-178.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 34-66.

Russell, North America, its Agriculture and Climate, pp. 133-167.

De Tocqueville, Democracy in America (ed. 1838), pp. 336-361, or eds. 1841 and 1848, Vol. I, pp. 386-412.

Helper, Compendium of the Impending Crisis of the South, pp. 7-61.

Ballagh, Land System of the South, Publications of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1897, pp. 101-129.

1. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Dewey, Financial History of the United States, pp. 34-59, 76-117, 224-246, 252-262.

*Catterall, The Second Bank of the United States, pp. 1-24, 68-119, 376 map, 402-403, 464-477.

Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the United States, pp. 60-93.

Hamilton, Reports on Public Credit, Amer. State Papers, Finance, Vol. I, pp. 15-37, 64-76.

Kinley, History of the Independent Treasury, pp. 16-39.

Sumner, Andrew Jackson (ed. 1886), pp. 224-249, 257-276, 291-342.

Ross, Sinking Funds, pp. 21-85.

Scott, Repudiation of State Debts, pp. 33-196.

Bourne, History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837, pp. 1-43, 125-135.

Conant, History of Modern Banks of Issue, pp. 310-347.

1860-1900.

1. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Mitchell, History of the Greenbacks, pp. 3-43, 403-420.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 1-72, 234-254, (73-233).

Taussig, Silver Situation in the United States, pp. 1-157.

Dunbar, National Banking System, Q.J.E., Vol. XII, pp. 1-26; printed also in Dunbar’s Economic Essays, pp. 227-247.

Howe, Taxation and Taxes in the United States under the Internal Revenue System, pp. 136-262.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. VII; Bayley, History of the National Loans, pp. 369-392, 444-486.

1. TRANSPORTATION.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 1-23, 125-145.

*Johnson, American Railway Transportation, pp. 24-68, 307-321, 367-385.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 466-481.

Adams, Chapters of Erie, pp. 1-99, 333-429.

Davis, The Union Pacific Railway, Annals of the Amer. Acad., Vol. VIII, pp. 259-303.

Villard, Memoirs, Vol. II, pp. 284-312.

Dixon, Interstate Commerce Act as Amended, Q.J.E., Vol. XXI, pp. 22-51.

1. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 150-171.

Meeker, Shipping Subsidies, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 594-611.

Soley, Maritime Industries of the United States, in Shaler’s United States, Vol. I, pp. 518-618.

McVey, Shipping Subsidies, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. IX, pp. 24-46.

Wells, Our Merchant Marine, pp. 1-94.

Day, History of Commerce, pp. 553-575.

1. AGRICULTURE AND OPENING OF THE WEST.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 43-123, 134-167.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 167-187.

Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. V, pp. xvi-xlii.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 120-226.

Quaintance, Influence of Farm Machinery, pp. 1-103.

Adams, The Granger Movement, North American Review, Vol. CXX, pp. 394-424.

Bemis, Discontent of the Farmer, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. I, pp. 193-213.

1. INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION.

*Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. VII, pp. clxx-clxxviii.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 113-152, 182-233.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 485-519, 544-569.

Twelfth Census, Vol. IX, pp. 1-16; Vol. X, pp. 725-748.

Wells, Recent Economic Changes, pp. 70-113.

Sparks, National Development, pp. 37-52.

1. THE TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 155-229, 321-360.

Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, Vol. II, pp. 243-394.

Taussig, Iron Industry, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 143-170, 475-508.

Taussig, Wool and Woolens, Q.J.E., Vol. VIII, pp. 1-39.

Taussig, Sugar, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. CI, pp. 334-344.

Wright, Wool-growing and the Tariff since 1890, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, p. 610-647.

Robinson, History of Two Reciprocity Treaties, pp. 9-17, 40-77, 141-156.

Laughlin and Willis, Reciprocity, pp. 311-487.

1. INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION.

*Willoughby, Integration of Industry in the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XVI, pp. 94-115.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 188-209.

Twelfth Census, Vol. VII, pp. cxc-ccxiv.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII, pp. v-xviii.

Bullock, Trust Literature, Q.J.E., Vol. XV, pp. 167-217.

1. THE LABOR PROBLEM.

*Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 502-547.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, No. 18 (Sept., 1898), pp. 665-670; No. 30 (Sept., 1900), pp. 913-915; No. 53 (July, 1904), pp. 703-728.

Levassesur, American Workman, pp. 436-509.

Mitchell, Organized Labor, pp. 391-411.

Twelfth Census, Special Report on Employees and Wages, p. xcix.

National Civic Federation, Industrial Conciliation, pp. 40-48, 141-154, 238-243, 254-266.

1. POPULATION, IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION.

* United States Census Bulletin, No. 4 (1903), pp. 5-38.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XV, pp. xix-lxiv.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 68-112.

Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, pp. 33-78.

Walker, Discussions in Economies and Statistics, Vol. II, pp. 417-451.

Hoffmann, Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, pp. 250-309.

Tillinghast, The Negro in Africa and America, pp. 102-228.

Twelfth Census Bulletin, No. 8.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, Nos. 14, 22, 32, 35, 37, 38, 48.

Washington, Future of the American Negro, pp. 3-244.

Stone, A Plantation Experiment, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 270-287.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1908-1909”.

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United States Economic History
ECONOMICS 6b
Year-end Examination, 1909

1. Compare the financial history of the United States during the period 1829-1840 with that of the period 1880-1896.
2. Trace briefly the relation between tariff legislation and the public revenue since the establishment of the Independent Treasury.
3. —
   1. Comment on the following (from President Grant’s message of 1870):—
      “Building ships and navigating them utilizes vast capital at home; it creates a home market for the farm and the shop; it diminishes the balance of trade against us precisely to the extent of freights and passage money paid to American vessels, and gives us a supremacy of the seas of inestimable value in case of foreign war.”
   2. Was the balance of trade before 1870 “favorable” or “unfavorable” to the United States? Why?
4. Sketch the history of wheat-growing in the United States: changes in geographical location, markets, and prices.
5. What is meant by the integration of industry? How far has it affected, and how far do you think it will affect, the following industries: Cotton; woolen; iron; sugar; tobacco; boots and shoes? Give reasons.
6. (a) The distribution of immigrants in the different industries as shown by the Industrial Commission report. (b) The alien contract labor law.
7. State briefly what you consider to be the most significant point brought out in your thesis for this course.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1909), p. 38.

Image Source: John George Brown, The Longshoremen’s Noon, 1879, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund), 2014.136.2. From the National Gallery of Art’s web-page “Industrial Revolution.”