Harvard. Exams for Money and Banking. Andrew, 1905-1906

 

The financial Panic of 1907 was still a few years down the historical road when A. Piatt Andrew picked up the banking semester of the two semester sequence of money and banking at Harvard from O. M. W. Sprague who had left for Japan. This expanded scope in matters monetary no doubt came in handy when Andrew joined the staff of the National Monetary Commission established by Congress in 1908.

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Previous course materials
Money and Banking 

1900-01 (Meyer and Sprague)
1901-02 (Andrew, Sprague, Meyer)
1902-03 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)
1903-04 (Andrew and Sprague)
1904-05 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 8a ¹hf. Asst. Professor Andrew. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times.

Total 50: 5 Graduates, 7 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 8a
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

1. Explain and give illustrations of
   1. the double standard;
   2. the parallel standard;
   3. the limping standard;
   4. the single standard;
   5. quasi-redemption;
   6. forced circulation.
2. State briefly the circumstances which led to the issue and withdrawal of the American trade dollar.
3. Trace briefly the chronology of the adoption of the gold standard throughout the world. To what extent is the fall in price of silver due to this movement? To what extent has the value of gold been affected by it?
4. How would the adoption of international bimetallism to-day at the ratio of 32 to 1 affect (a) the circulating medium, (b) the standard of value of different countries? Consider both the immediate and the eventual results.
5. What arguments advanced in favor of bimetallism ten years ago are inapplicable to-day?
6. Is there any peculiar significance for the “quantity theory”
   1. of British India between 1893 and 1898;
   2. of Austria between 1878 and 1892;
   3. of Russia between 1878 and 1896;
   4. of Holland between 1873 and 1875.
      When possible give variant opinions.
7. Would an ideal monetary standard always measure the same quantity of goods?
   1. According to Walker?
   2. According to Darwin?
   3. According to your own opinion?
      Answer both from the points of view of production and distribution.
8. “Inasmuch as gold (before 1848) was more valuable on the world’s market than at the French mint, relatively to silver, it was impossible that gold should circulate in France.” Is this a necessary conclusion?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06. Also a copy in Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 33.

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 8b ²hf. Asst. Professor Andrew. — Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems.

Total 105: 7 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 56 Juniors, 22 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 8b
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

1. Explain the system of “cash credits” and the importance of the £1 note in Scotland.
2. Discuss the following:—
   1. Bank statement based on falling averages.
   2. Five per cent fund with treasurer.
   3. Bonds for circulation.
   4. Bonds for deposits.
3. Sketch briefly the various stages in the American government’s policy of caring for its funds.
4. How do state banks compare with national banks in the United States to-day (a) in number, (b) in size, (c) in the kinds of business done? What differences in these regards appear in different parts of the country?
5. On what grounds is an extension of branch-banking advocated in the United States? What are the objections raised? To what extent does it already exist?
6. Explain the ways and trace the seasons in which the New York bank reserves are apt to decline. Discuss the means which have recently been employed by the government to strengthen them.
7. Sight exchange is quoted at 4.8550; 60-day bills at 4.8240; commercial bills at 4.8212. Explain these differences and show how each quotation will be affected, if the Bank of England raises its rate by 1%.
8. The following are abstracted statements of the New York Associated Banks:

	(1) Aug. 5, ’93	(2) Feb. 3, ’94	(3) May 20, ’99	(4) May 23, ’03
Loans	409	420	763	923
Deposits	373	552	902	914
Capital	129	133	134	224
Circulation	6	13	16	44
Reserve	79	250	260	238

Compare 1 with 2, and 3 with 4, explaining in each case the changes in the relations (a) between loans and deposits, (b) between deposits and reserve.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906),  p. 34.

Image Source: Picture of Abram Piatt Andrew from ca. 1909 used in a magazine article on his appointment to the directorship of the U. S. Mint. Hoover Institution Archives. A. Piatt Andrew Papers, Box 51. Retouched and colorized by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.