This post piggybacks on the previous one. I suppose it comes as no surprise that instructors for courses on socialism also typically taught courses in labor economics and/or sociology. Edward Cummings covered these courses in the Harvard economics department at the end of the nineteenth century. Below I have transcribed the examination questions for his course “The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the United States and in other Countries” from 1892-93. As for the previous post, I have added links to the works that are directly cited in the examination questions. Until I come across notes for his course or a syllabus, these links provide a peek into the material taught to Cummings’ students.
The examinations for the academic year for 1893-94 have been transcribed for an earlier post.
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Enrollment
[Economics] 9. Mr. Cummings.—The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the United States and in other countries. 3 hours.
Total 24: 3 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 4 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1892-1893, p. 68.
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ECONOMICS 9.
Mid-Year Examination (1893)
[Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries. Omit two questions.]
- “In a society adjusted to manual labor, it is absolutely impossible that a labor problem, as a class problem, should take its origin; but in a society adjusted to machinery, provided the English law of property be maintained, the development of class lines will surely make its appearance in industries.”
State fully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with these assertions.
[Henry Carter Adams. An Interpretation of the Social Movements of our Time. International Journal of Ethics, Vol. 2 (October, 1891), pp. 39-40.] - “First, government must regulate the plane of competition, for without legal regulation the struggle between men for commercial supremacy will surely force society to the level of the most immoral man who can maintain himself.”
What evidence does the history of factory legislation furnish upon these points?
[Henry Carter Adams. An Interpretation of the Social Movements of our Time. International Journal of Ethics, Vol. 2 (October, 1891), p. 43.] - Comment upon the following passage: “The object held in view by workmen, when they organized themselves into unions, was to gain again that control over the conditions of labor which they lost when machinery took the place of tools.”
[Henry Carter Adams. An Interpretation of the Social Movements of our Time. International Journal of Ethics, Vol. 2 (October, 1891), p. 48.] - “The English public has had the courage and strength to leave workingmen’s associations full freedom of movement, at the risk even of temporary excesses and acts of violence, such as at one time stained the annals of trades-unions.” Explain.
How far is this true of France? Of the United States?
[Josef Maria Baernreither. English Associations of Working Men. (London, 1891), p. 143] - Describe briefly the origin, growth, and present tendencies of the English Friendly Society movement.
[Josef Maria Baernreither. English Associations of Working Men. Part II. Friendly Societies (London, 1891), pp. 155-337.] - To what extent do trade organizations and friendly societies constitute an aristocracy of labor?
[Josef Maria Baernreither. English Associations of Working Men. (London, 1891), pp. 20ff.] - To what forms of remuneration can the evils of “sweating” be traced?
[David Frederick Schloss, Methods of Industrial Remuneration. (New York, 1892), especially Chapter XIV. On the Objections Entertained to the “Method” of Sub-Contract; and Herein of “The Sweating System,” 122-135.] - “The aim of Coöperation is at the same time the aim of Trade Unionism.” In what sense?
- Sketch briefly the course of factory legislation during the present century either in England or in the United States.
[This is a guess: though clearly would provide sufficient information to provide the English history. The English Factory Legislation from 1802 till the Present Time by Ernst von Plener (London, 1873).] - Comment on the following passage: “the fact that the ignorant masses are enabled by the factory to engage in what it once took skilled labor to perform has given the widespread impression that factory labor has degraded the skilled, when in truth it has lifted the unskilled; and this is the inevitable result of the factory everywhere.”
[United States Census Office. 10th Census, 1880. Report on the Factory System of the United States by Carroll D. Wright (Washington, D.C., 1884) p. 34.]
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year examinations 1852-1943. Box 3, Vol. Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1892-93.
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ECONOMICS 9.
Final Examination (June, 1893)
[Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries. Omit two questions.]
- How is the burden of contribution distributed in each of the three departments of the German system of compulsory insurance? What theoretical or practical objections have you to the system?
- “In England especially the State is not in a position to compete effectively with energetic Insurance Companies or with the Friendly Societies, pulsating with the vigour of social life; and still less can it so compete when hampered by restrictions which handicap its powers.” Discuss the evidence on this point furnished by English experience with government workingmen’s insurance. Are there any indications that German ideas are gaining ground in England?
[Josef Maria Baernreither. English Associations of Working Men. (London, 1891), pp. 348-349.] - “What, we will ask, is the relation of Profit-sharing to the ordinary wage system; and to what extent does Profit-sharing constitute an improvement upon the ordinary wage system?” Are there grounds for the assertion that Profit-sharing is “inferior in point of equity and expediency to the ordinary non-coöperative wage system”?
[David Frederick Schloss. Methods of Industrial Remuneration. (New York, 1892), especially Chapter XXII, Critical Examination of the Method of Profit-Sharing, 195.] - “Besides the militant trade unionist workmen, that very shrewd class of workingmen, the coöperators, regard Profit-sharing with marked disapprobation; so much so that, although Profit-sharing forms and essential part of the professed principles of Industrial Coöperation, yet by far the greater part of Industrial Coöperation is carried on upon the system of altogether excluding the employees from participation in profits.” What are the facts referred to, and how do you account for them?
[David Frederick Schloss. Methods of Industrial Remuneration. (New York, 1892), especially Chapter XXII, Critical Examination of the Method of Profit-Sharing, 199.] - “Here it is necessary to interpolate a protest against the assertion almost universally made by previous writers on this subject, that ‘Industrial Coöperation has succeeded in distribution, but has failed in production,’— an assertion generally coupled with the explanation that ‘production’ is too difficult to be, as yet, undertaken by workingmen.” What are the facts?
[David Frederick Schloss. Methods of Industrial Remuneration. (New York, 1892), especially Chapter XXVII, Critical Examination of the Theory of Industrial Co-operation, p. 233.] - “But the enthusiastic Coöperator will ask: why not develop the voluntary system of democratic Coöperation until it embraces the whole field of industry?” Why do you conceive to be the economic limits to such extension by consumers’ associations?
[Beatrice Potter (Webb). The Co-operative Movement in Great Britain. Chapter VIII, Conclusion (1891) p. 225.] - “Having considered the social and economic position of workers in the coal, iron and steel industries in several countries, let us now by proper combination ascertain the average conditions prevailing in the two continents.” What are the probably conclusions to be drawn from these comparative statistics of family budgets in the United States and other countries?
[Elgin Ralston Lovell Gould. The Social Condition of Labor (Baltimore: January, 1893), p. 24.] - “The Hungarians, Italians, Bohemians and Poles, who throng our gates give most concern…Up to the present time there seems no ground to fear that such new comers have wielded a depressing influence. There seems rather reason for congratulation in the fact that instead of their having lowered the American standard of living, the American standard of life has been raising them.” Discuss the evidence. What light do recent change in the character and volume of immigration from different countries throw on this problem?
[Elgin Ralston Lovell Gould. The Social Condition of Labor (Baltimore: January, 1893), p. 38.] - Indicate briefly the course of short-hour legislation in Massachusetts. How does it compare with the legislation in other states and other countries?
- Indicate carefully how far there has been any approximation to compulsory arbitration in Massachusetts; in New York; in other countries. What are the objections to compulsory arbitration?
- What do you conceive to be the significance of the Farmers’ Alliance and the Single Tax movements in the United States? And how are they related to each other?
- Precisely what evidence is there for and against the contention that the employment of “private armed forces” has been largely responsible for violence and bloodshed during strikes? Give concrete examples.
Source:Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 4, Vol. Examination Papers, 1893-95. Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1893), pp. 40-42.
Image Source: University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D. Vol II (1899), pp. 155-156.