Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr. sprang from an assistant professorship of economics at Harvard (following his Ph.D. in 1900) to playing a key staff role in the preparation of the reports of the National Monetary Commission. Ultimately he became a Republican Congressman from Massachusetts, serving from September 1921 until his death in June 1936.
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Official Congressional Biography of
Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr.
ANDREW, Abram Piatt, Jr., a Representative from Massachusetts; born in La Porte, La Porte County, Ind., February 12, 1873; attended the public schools and the Lawrenceville (N.J.) School; was graduated from Princeton College in 1893; member of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 1893-1898; pursued postgraduate studies in the Universities of Halle, Berlin, and Paris; moved to Gloucester, Mass., and was instructor and assistant professor of economics at Harvard University 1900-1909; expert assistant and editor of publications of the National Monetary Commission 1908-1911; director of the Mint 1909 and 1910; Assistant Secretary of the Treasury 1910-1912; served in France continuously for four and a half years during the First World War, first with the French Army and later with the United States Army; commissioned major, United States National Army, in September 1917 and promoted to lieutenant colonel in September 1918; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Willfred W. Lufkin; reelected to the Sixty-eighth and to the six succeeding Congresses and served from September 27, 1921, until his death; delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1924 and 1928; member of the board of trustees of Princeton University 1932-1936; died in Gloucester, Mass., June 3, 1936; remains were cremated and the ashes scattered from an airplane flying over his estate at Eastern Point, Gloucester, Mass.
Source: Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr. entry at the internet Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
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Economics 8a
Course Description
1902-1903
8a1hf. Money. — A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Dr. Andrew.
In this course the aim will be to show how the existing monetary systems of the principal countries have come to be, and to analyze the more important currency problems. The course will begin with a brief history of the precious metals, which will be connected, in so far as possible, with the history of prices and the development of monetary theory. The history of coinage legislation in England and Europe and the United States will be traced, and will lead to an extended consideration of the various aspects of the bimetallic controversy.
At convenient points, the experiences of various countries with paper money will also be reviewed, and the influence of such issues upon wages, prices, and trade examined. Some attention, moreover, will be given to the non-monetary means of payment and to the large questions of monetary theory arising from their use.
Systematic reading will be required and will be tested by monthly examinations.
Course 8a1 is open to students who have taken Course 1.
Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.
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Economics 8a
Course enrollment
1902-1903
Economics 8a. 1hf. Dr. Andrew. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times.
Total 99: 4 Gr., 34 Se., 40 Ju., 14 So., 1 Fr., 6 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.
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Reading List
Economics 8a
1902-03
BOOKS TO BE PROCURED
Francis A. Walker: International Bimetallism.
J. Laurence Laughlin: History of Bimetallism in the United States.
Leonard Darwin: Bimetallism.
REQUIRED READING
October
Walker: 1-110, 118-183.
Laughlin: 109-206.
Macaulay: History of England, ch. XXI. (Passages concerning the currency and its reform.)
The Bullion Report in Sumner, History of American Currency, Appendix; or in Sound Currency pamphlet, Vol. II, No. 14.
In connection with the Bullion Report consult Macleod: Theory of Credit, 738-760, 551-573; or Theory of Banking, I, 516-539,II, 1-95; or Sumner, American Currency, 231-310.
November
Laughlin: 1-105, 209-280.
Walker: 110-117, 183-9, 217-224.
Darwin: 1-154.
December
Taussig: Recent. Investigations on Prices in the United States, in the Yale Review for November, 1893.
Walker: 190-288.
Darwin: 157-280.
Taussig: The International Silver Situation in the Quarterly Journal of Economics for October, 1896.
January
(To be assigned later.)
Hour examinations will be held Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “1902-1903.”
Cf. the richer bibliography for this course from the first term 1901-1902.
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ECONOMICS 8a
Mid-year Examination
1902-1903
Arrange answers strictly in the order of the questions
Omit one question
- Why did England adopt the gold standard? Why have other countries adopted it?
State Walker’s and Laughlin’s opinions as well as your own. - In a country with an inconvertible paper currency what are the conditions which control the premium on gold?
- according to the Bullion Report.
- according to Tooke.
- according to your own opinion.
Illustrate from English or American experiences with inconvertible paper.
- Trace the general changes in the value of gold in the United States from 1850 to the present time, analyzing so far as possible the reasons for these changes.
- Explain what you consider to be the merits and defects in the plans for the Phillipine currency adopted last year by the Senate and the House respectively? What lesson of significance for the Phillipine currency can be drawn from the history of the Latin monetary Union?
- Suppose that owing to the increasing gold supply the ratio between gold and silver were to fall, how would Mexican prices and the foreign trade of Mexico tend to be affected?
- How would you expect the fall in the value of silver to have affected (a) the trade relations of England and India before 1893? (b) the trade relations of India and China after 1893? How far is theory confirmed by actual experience?
- How according to Walker did monetary conditions affect the interests of the American working classes during the last quarter of the 19th century? Explain and criticise the nature of our evidence upon this subject.
How did Walker and Marshall differ with regard to the effect of monetary conditions upon productive enterprise? - Do falling prices “necessarily enhance the burden of all debts and fixed charges?”
Illustrate by the experience of the United States during the period from 1873 to 1896, pointing out possible differences between agricultural and mercantile debts. - Under what circumstances might a higher level of prices be maintained by means of book credits? Under what circumstances might a continuous rise in prices be effected by means of such credits?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).
Also included in: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).
Image Source: 1911 portrait of Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr. by Anders Born at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Wikimedia Commons.