Relatively early on transportation economics was recognised as one of the major specialisation fields within applied economics. This can be illustrated with the courses offered by William Zebina Ripley at Harvard that were introduced during the first decade of the twentieth century. Ripley also covered labor relations as well as industrial organisation and regulation. This was still a time when economics faculty members were expected to span several special fields. As Adam Smith had said, “The division of labour is limited by the extent of the market.” The era of the “Universalgenie” [Narrator’s voice: “They only thought they were.”] had not yet been replaced by the era of the “Fachidiot” [The narrator continues, “…ahem, present company excluded”].
__________________________
Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5
1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer alone)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
__________________________
Course Enrollment
1905-06
Economics 5 1hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Stuart] Daggett. — Economics of Transportation.
Total 138: 10 Graduates, 32 Seniors, 59 Juniors, 28 Sophomores, 9 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.
__________________________
ECONOMICS 5
Final Examination
1905-06
- What is the present legal status of the “Long and Short Haul” clause of the Act to Regulate Commerce? Outline the decisions clearly.
- The average length of haul on the St. Paul road is about 185 miles; while on the Union Pacific it is about 386 miles. How would these conditions affect the revenue per ton mile?
- What advantages might follow the repeal of the prohibition of pooling, from a railway point of view?
- What authority has the Interstate Commerce Commission concerning witnesses and the production of papers? What is the latest decision?
- Should the following items of expenditure be charged to capital, improvement, or operating expense account, viz.: (1) cost of abolishing grade crossings; (2) replacement of light rails with heavy ones; and (3) premium on purchase of stock in a subsidiary road? Give your own reasons for whichever course you advocate.
- What is the present method of control of the anthracite coal roads?
- What are the main inducements for stock watering, as described by Johnson?
- What is the nature of the principal bills now before Congress, amending the Act to Regulate Commerce? Describe them separately.
Source: Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1905-06; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College(June, 1906), p. 31.
Image Source: Harvard University Archives. William Zebina Ripley [photographic portrait, ca. 1910], J. E. Purdy & Co., J. E. P. & C. (1910). Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.