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Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Undergraduate

Johns Hopkins. Undergraduate economics examinations, 1921-1922

 

Mid-year and year-end exams for the undergraduate political economy courses at Johns Hopkins for the academic year 1921-1922 have been transcribed for this post. Exams for the second semester of Political Economy V and VI were not found in the department’s file of old examinations. Names of instructors with their educational backgrounds along with short course descriptions are provided below as well.

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Previous years’ exams transcribed

Undergraduate exams for 1919-20.

Undergraduate exams for 1922-23.

Undergraduate exams for 1923-24.

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Johns Hopkins Faculty 1921-22
For Undergraduate Courses in Political Economy

Weyforth, William Oswald, Ph.D., Associate in Political Economy.

A.B., Johns Hopkins University, 1912, and Ph.D., 1915; Instructor, Western Reserve University, 1915-17.

Mitchell, Broadus, Ph.D., Instructor in Political Economy.

A.B., University of South Carolina, 1913; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1916-17, and Ph.D., 1918.

Barnett, George Ernest, Ph.D., Professor of Statistics.

A.B., Randolph-Macon College, 1891; Fellow, John Hopkins University, 1899-1900, and Ph.D., 1901.

Jacobs, Theo, A.B., Associate in Social Economics.

A.B., Goucher College, 1901; Federated Charities of Baltimore (District Assistant, 1905-07, District Secretary, 1907-10, Assistant General Secretary, 1910-17, Acting General Secretary, 1917-19).

Sources:

Academic Rank  in 1921-22 from The Johns Hopkins University Circular, New Series 1922, No. 7. Report of the President of the University 1920-1921  (November 1922), p. 70.

Academic biographical data from The Johns Hopkins University Circular, University Register 1922-1923, No. 342, January 1923. Announcements for 1923-1924.

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UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
1921-22

Political Economy I. Three hours weekly, through the year. In the first half-year the economic development of England and the industrial experience of the United States were studied. In the second half-year particular attention was given to the history of distribution and its application to leading economic problems. (Dr. Weyforth and Dr. Mitchell.)

Political Economy II. Three hours weekly, through the year. In the first half-year a preliminary study of the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation was made; attention was directed to the chief methods used in statistical inquiry. In the second half-year the principles of monetary· science were taught with reference to practical conditions in modern systems of currency, banking and credit. (Professor Barnett and Dr. Weyforth.)

Political Economy IV. Three hours weekly, through the year. In the first half-year the problems growing out of modern industrial employment were studied. In the second half-year the history of the industrial corporation was studied. (Professor Barnett and Dr. Mitchell.)

Political Economy VI. Three hours weekly, through the year. In the first half-year the applications of statistics to business and economic problems, such as price levels, cost of living, wage adjustments, business cycles, and business forecasting, were considered. In the second half-year the theory and practice of finance was considered, with particular reference to the problems of taxation presented in the experience of the United States. (Dr. Weyforth and Dr. Mitchell.)

Political Economy VII. Two hours weekly, through the year. History and development of social work. The responsibility of the State and private organizations toward the dependent, defective, and delinquent. (Miss Theo Jacobs.)

Source:  The Johns Hopkins University Circular, New Series 1922, No. 7. Report of the President of the University 1921-1922  (November 1922), pp. 56-57.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I
(Academic Section)

January 30, 1922 — 2-5 P.M.

  1. What was the economic situation of England during the Roman occupation?
  2. Describe the economic strength and weakness of the manorial system, and show how the feudal plan suggests the Single Tax scheme.
  3. What elements in gild life would be welcome in our present industrial order, and what elements of the medieval arrangement would be impossible with us at present?
  4. Tell what you know of trading in England in the middle ages.
  5. Suppose half the people of the United States should die inside of two or three years. What would be the chief economic consequences?
  6. Trace the gradually developing economic freedom of the lowest order of workers in England. Did peasants benefit more from the breaking up of the manorial system, or journeymen and apprentices from the collapse of the gilds?
  7. What was the economic condition of England on the eve of the Industrial Revolution?
  8. What is the significance of the Industrial Revolution? How did the factor system differ from the factory system?
  9. Define briefly: enclosures, Peasants’ revolt, Gresham’s Law, Steelyard, steward, serf or villein, apprentice, domestic system, Doomsday Book, Statute of Artificers, staple, virgate.
  10. What is the chief thing you have learned in this semester?

 

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY I
(Academic Section)

Wednesday, May 31 — 2-5 P.M.

  1. What distinction would you draw between history, political science, and political economy? Explain fully.
  2. What facts in the industrial history of England illustrate economic principles that we have dwelt upon?
  3. Define: Wealth, capital, labor, time discount, wages of superintendence, consumer’s surplus, real wages, economic good, marginal productivity, entrepreneur.
  4. Explain carefully the differential principle of rent. With whose name do we link this theory, and how did Henry George employ the law of rent to justify the Single Tax?
  5. What was the wage-fund theory, and how was it used to discourage trade unionism?
  6. Comment fully on this passage from Adam Smith: “Nothing is more useful than water; but it will purchase scarce anything; scarce anything can be had in exchange for it. A diamond, on the contrary, has scarce any value in use, but a very great quantity of goods may frequently be had in exchange for it.”
  7. What accounts for the phenomenon of interest?
  8. What is meant by pure profit?
  9. Comment upon the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in declaring the national act imposing a 10% tax on the net profits of industries employing children unconstitutional.
  10. Give, briefly, as many arguments as you can for and against trade unionism?
  11. State the number of firms interviewed by you in connection with the survey of the industrial life of the Negro in Baltimore.

RE-EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY I.
[Handwritten note: Late June 1922]

  1. Define the following terms: “entrepreneur”, “marginal utility”, “capital”, “labor”, “diminishing returns”.
  2. Explain fully the differential principle of rent.
  3. Name and describe briefly four theories of wages.
  4. What in your judgment is the best justification for trade unions?
  5. What seems to you the most reasonable theory of interest?
  6. Explain the theory of value to which most emphasis was given in the lecture.

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POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Dr. Weyforth

Monday — January 30, 1922 — Afternoon.

  1. Describe the chief characteristics of the economic life of the towns in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
  2. What was the industrial revolution? What new conditions and what problems in economic life resulted from it?
  3. Define the following terms: goods, free goods, economic exchange value, price,
  4. Explain the underlying principles of “scientific management” in production. State and explain the attitude of organized labor toward scientific management.
  5. Explain how market price is determined under conditions of competition. What is the relationship between market price and expenses of production?
  6. Describe the principal forms of combination that have been used in the United States. Outline the main features of Federal legislation concerning combinations.
  7. What is meant by standard money? What are the requirements of a bimetallic standard? Outline the main features of the monetary legislation of the United States.
  8. What is a corporation? How is it brought into existence? What are its advantages as compared with the partnership or individual enterprise? Describe the principal securities through the issue of which its capital is obtained.

 

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1
(Engineering Group)

[N.B. falsely filed as a 1923 exam]

Wednesday, May 31.

  1. Define the various types of credit. Explain how bank credit serves as a substitute for money as a medium of exchange,
  2. Explain the factors that a bank officer takes into consideration in judging of the credit standing of a borrower,
  3. What is the fallacy involved in the mercantilist theory of the desirability of a favorable balance of trade?
  4. Explain the theory that each factor in production tends to receive a share of the product corresponding to its marginal productivity.
  5. What is interest? Give an analysis of the forces that determine its rate.
  6. How do you account for inequalities in the personal distribution of wealth? Why is less inequality desirable? How could it be effected?
  7. What are some of the outstanding economic characteristics of railroad transportation? Explain their bearing upon the following: (a) practice of charging what the traffic will bear; (b) large variations in net earnings with small variations in traffic; (c) cut-throat nature of competition that sometimes develops.
  8. What is socialism? Give briefly the arguments for and against

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POLITICAL ECONOMY II.

Thursday, February 2, 1922 — 9-12 A.M.

  1. What is the distinction between a census and a registration?
  2. Define an average. Illustrate by defining the arithmetic mean, the mode and the median.
  3. Define an index number. Explain the difference between the aggregate and the relative methods of constructing an index number.
  4. Taking the following group of figures calculate the standard deviation:
Height of men No. in Class
5.6 — 5.7 28
5.7 — 5.8 42
5.8 — 5.9 65
5.9 — 5.10 78
5.10 — 5.11 164
5.11 — 6.0 92
6.0 — 6.1 46
6.1 — 6.2 7
  1. For the same group, calculate the mode.
  2. For the same group, calculate the mean.

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY II
Money and Banking
Dr. Weyforth

Friday, June 2

  1. What is bimetallism? What are the chief requisites of a bimetallic standard? What principles do the bimetallists depend for maintaining the concurrent circulation of gold and silver?
  2. Define credit. What are the various kinds of credit? Distinguish especially the difference between investment credit and mercantile or commercial credit?
  3. What is the function of the commercial paper house or note broker in present day commercial banking?
  4. What is (a) a trade acceptance and (b) a bank acceptance? Explain their use and advantages.
  5. What problems are presented to bankers (a) by seasonal fluctuations in business and (b) by cyclical fluctuations in business?
  6. Describe the organization of the Federal Reserve System.
  7. In what way does the Federal Reserve System provide for elasticity in currency and elasticity in credit?
  8. What is the principle that governs the distribution of gold among the nations of the world under normal conditions such as those existing before the war?

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY IV
(Labor Problems)

February 2, 1922 — 9 A.M.-12M.

  1. What are the principal reasons for believing that trade unionism and employers’ associations did not originate in the medieval gilds?
  2. State in some detail who Francis Place was and explain his service to trade unionism.
  3. What present-day evidences have we of the spirit which characterized the English combination acts?
  4. State the arguments for and against the “closed shop”.
  5. What do you know of the history of strikes?
  6. Give your estimate of the purposes and progress of workers’ education in England and in the United States?
  7. In the light of what you have learned, do you believe compulsory arbitration likely to promote industrial peace? What would you make the main provisions of a compulsory arbitration law could such be passed by congress?
  8. Speak of the trade agreement and its significance.
  9. Describe briefly one of the books you read during this course.
  10. What do you think will be the next important development in the labor movement in this country?
  11. List the books you have read for this course.

 

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY IV.

Friday, June 2nd, 1922, (3-5 p.m.)

  1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the partnership?
  2. Why is a complex capitalization usually superior to a simple form of capitalization?
  3. What is the distinction between preferred and common stock as to (a) income, (b) control, (c) risk?
  4. Define mortgage bonds, debenture bonds, income bonds, collateral bonds and equipment trust bonds.
  5. What is meant by amortization? Under what circumstances is some provision for amortization necessary for the protection of the bond-holders?
  6. What is the distinction between an underwriting syndicate with undivided liability and a syndicate with divided liability?
  7. Does a stock dividend theoretically increase the total value of the stock outstanding? Practically how does it frequently work and why?
  8. What are the advantages of the holding company form of organization?

 

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POLITICAL ECONOMY VI
Dr. Weyforth.

Tuesday — January 31, 1922 — Afternoon.

  1. Explain the construction of a logarithmic chart. What are its advantages?
  2. Explain and illustrate the construction of (a) an index number of relatives, and (b) an index number of aggregates. What advantages are claimed for the latter?
  3. Describe the way in which the Bureau of Labor Statistics index number of the total cost of living is constructed
  4. What is the utility of an index number of the physical volume of production? Explain how Professor Stewart and Professor Day respectively constructed their index numbers.
  5. Explain as fully as you can the system employed by the Harvard University Committee on Economic Research for the forecasting of business conditions.

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[POLITICAL ECONOMY VII.]
SOCIAL ECONOMICS
Miss Jacobs.

Monday — January 30, 1922  — Morning

  1. Give the arguments for and against public outdoor relief.
  2. Give the war and peace time activities of the American Red Cross.
  3. What is the Confidential Exchange of Information? What is its value to the community?
  4. What are the effects of dependency and delinquency upon the community?
  5. Give some of the causes of poverty. Tell how some of them may be lessened or eradicated.
  6. Give the objects and aims of three (3) social organizations that seem the most important to you.

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 5/6. Box No. 6/1, Folder “Exams 1907-1924.”

Image Source. Gilman Hall image from the 1924 edition of the Johns Hopkins’ yearbook Hullabaloo.

 

Categories
Economics Programs Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Undergraduate

Johns Hopkins. Exams for Undergraduate Political Economy Courses, 1923-1924

 

Several undergraduate course exams for the 1922-23 academic year at Johns Hopkins University in Political Economy have been posted earlier. The exams for 1919-20 have also been transcribed. A more complete (though still incomplete) sample is available the the university archives for the following year and which have been transcribed for this post.

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Johns Hopkins Faculty
for the Undergraduate Courses in Political Economy
1923-1924

Barnett, George Ernest, Ph.D., Professor of Statistics.

A.B., Randolph-Macon College, 1891; Fellow, John Hopkins University, 1899-1900, and Ph.D., 1901.

Weyforth, William Oswald, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Economy.

A.B., Johns Hopkins University, 1912, and Ph.D., 1915; Instructor, Western Reserve University, 1915-17.

Mitchell, Broadus, Ph.D., Associate in Political Economy.

A.B., University of South Carolina, 1913; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1916-17, and Ph.D., 1918.

Jacobs, Theo, A.B., Associate in Social Economics.

A.B., Goucher College, 1901; Federated Charities of Baltimore (District Assistant, 1905-07, District Secretary, 1907-10, Assistant General Secretary, 1910-17, Acting General Secretary, 1917-19).

Newlove, George Hills, Ph.D., Associate in Accounting, School of Business Economics.

Ph.B., Hamline University, 1914; A.M., University of Minnesota, 1915; Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1918; C.P.A. (Ill.), 1918; C.P.A. (S.C.), 1919.

Gillies, Robert Carlyle, A.B., Instructor in Political Economy.

A.B., Princeton University, 1920.

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular, University Register 1922-1923, No. 342, January 1923. Announcements for 1923-1924.

Biographical information for George Hills Newlove found in John J. Kahle American Accountants and their Contributions to Accounting Thought, 1900-1930. Routledge Library Editions: Accounting, 2014.

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UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
1923-24

  1. Elements of Economics.
    Particular attention is given to the theory of distribution and its application to leading economic problems

Three hours weekly through the year. Associate Professor WEYFORTH, Dr. MITCHELL and Mr. GILLIES.

  1. Statistical Methods.

After a preliminary study of the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation, attention is directed to the chief methods used in statistical inquiry.

Three hours weekly, first half-year. Mr. GILLIES.

  1. Money and Banking.

The principles of monetary science are taught with reference to practical conditions in modern systems of currency, banking, and credit.

Three hours weekly, second half-year. Associate Professor WEYFORTH.

  1. American Trade Unionism.

The history, structure and functions of American trade unionism are studied.

Three hours weekly, first half-year. Professor BARNETT.

  1. Labor Problems.

The problems growing out of modern industrial employment will be studied.

Three hours weekly, first half-year. Professor BARNETT.

(Course 5 will not be given in 1923-24.)

  1. Corporation Finance.

The theory and practice of corporation finance are considered , with particular reference to the problems presented in the United States.

Three hours weekly, second half-year. Professor BARNETT.

  1. Investments.

Includes historical and analytical description of the more important forms of investments and theories of valuation and amortization.

Three hours weekly, second half-year. Professor BARNETT.

(Course 7 will not be given in 1923-24.)

  1. Applied Statistics.

The applications of statistics to business and economic problems, such as price levels, cost of living, wage adjustments, business cycles, and business forecasting, are considered.

Three hours weekly, first half-year. Associate Professor WEYFORTH.

  1. Foreign Trade and Exchange.

The economic principles of international commerce, the methods of conducting foreign trade, and the theory and practice of foreign exchange will be studied.

Three hours weekly, first half-year. Associate Professor WEYFORTH.

(Course 9 will not be given in 1923-24.)

  1. Business Organization.

This course is designed not only to show the structure of typical business entities, but their methods of formation and expansion. The common forms of securities are examined. Operation and administration of business units and the processes of marketing are studied in detail.

Three hours weekly, second half-year. Mr. GILLIES.

  1. Accounting.

This course deals with the fundamental principles underlying the recording of business transactions in the accounting books and records, and the preparation of balance sheets and statement of profit and loss for single entrepreneurs, partnerships, and corporations.

Four hours weekly, through the year. Dr. NEWLOVE.

  1. Economic History.

This course is designed to furnish a background for the study of economic principles and special phases of economic activity. It is a particular purpose of the course to show the relationship between economic fact and economic and political theory and practice.

Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. MITCHELL.

  1. Social Economics.

The history and development of charitable and social agencies are traced. Causes and treatment of cases of dependency and delinquency are discussed.

Two hours weekly, through the year. Miss JACOBS.

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular, University Register 1922-1923, No. 342, January 1923. Announcements for 1923-1924, pp. 255-256.

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Examinations for
Undergraduate Political Economy Courses
Johns Hopkins University
1923-1924

POLITICAL ECONOMY I “A”

February 5th, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. Compare the manorial system with farming at the present time. Compare the system of industry in towns during the middle ages with the modern industrial system.
  2. What is meant by the “industrial revolution”? What theories in regard to the proper relationship of the state to industry, developed at this time? Explain. Compare these new ideas with the theory and practice preceding. What is the tendency of present theory and practice as regards state interference with industry?
  3. (a) “Labor alone is the producer of wealth; take away labor and not all the capital in the world could produce anything.” Allowing the second clause to be true as a statement of fact, does it prove the proposition contained in the first? Explain.
    (b) “Discovery and invention have doubtless played a very large part in securing our present high industrial efficiency. But they are not the whole thing. The increase of capital has been equally necessary; for, without capital, invention could have accomplished little or nothing.” Defend and illustrate the last sentence.
  4. Explain how market price is the result of the forces of supply and demand. Illustrate by tables and diagrams showing supply and demand. At what point does price tend to be fixed? Why?
  5. Define the following: (a) utility; (b) diminishing utility, (c) marginal utility. Why can we say that the market price of a good corresponds to the marginal utility of that good to the marginal consumer?
  6. In general, what is the relationship between cost of production and market price? What is the relationship between the cost of production of two goods produced under conditions of joint cost and the selling prices of those goods? If the price of cotton seed oil should rise, what would tend to be the effect upon the price of cotton fibre? Why?
  7. What are the functions of money? What is meant when it is said that we have a “gold standard” in the United States? What are the actual kinds of money in use in the United States?
  8. What is credit? What service does it perform in the modern economic system? What is the difference between a promissory note and a bill of exchange? What use does the business man make of a commercial bank?

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY I “A”
[Dr. Weyforth]

Thursday; May 29, 1924—9 a.m.

  1. Explain the economic factors that must be taken into consideration in determining Germany’s capacity to pay reparations. How will Germany obtain funds abroad with which to make such payments?
  2. What policy should be pursued by the business man during a period of cumulating prosperity? What would be the policy of banks during such a period?
  3. Explain the principles determining the rent of land. If the price of wheat is $1.50 per bushel, what rent could be paid for the use of an acre of land that yielded 30 bushels at an average cost in labor and capital of $1.25 per bushel? Would the tendency be for any of these bushels to cost the producer $1.50? Explain.
  4. How do you account for the great differences in the wages of railroad presidents and of unskilled laborers? Suggest a general program for our society that would tend to bring about a much greater degree of equality in the returns for labor service than now prevails.
  5. Explain why interest can be paid and why it must be paid. What is the effect upon the rate of interest of (a) increased saving, (b) inventions making possible the use of more elaborate machinery, (c) war? Explain.
  6. What is the nature of the railroad problem in the United States? Describe briefly the history of our governmental policy toward railroads. What possible methods of handling the problem are open to us at the present time?
  7. Distinguish socialism from anarchism and syndicalism. What would you say is the fundamental idea in socialism? What criticisms do the socialists make of our present economic system? Give a critical estimate of socialism.
  8. What would you expect to be the relation between the goods exports and the goods imports of a country during the following periods:
    1. When it is first open to settlement or to industrial enterprise;
    2. When it has become quite well supplied with imported capital goods;
    3. When its citizens begin to make investments in other countries;
    4. When a relatively large amount of such foreign investments have been made.

Explain the reasons for your answer. In which of the above stages is the United States? England? Mexico?

POLITICAL ECONOMY I “B” [Mitchell.]

Tuesday, February 5th, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. What are the distinctions between the physical sciences and the social sciences?
  2. Why is our interest turning at this time to production?
  3. Define briefly: consumer’s surplus, capital, wealth, “unearned increment”, diminishing returns.
  4. What is the chief criticism to be made of cost theories of value?
  5. (a) Why is it sometimes to the advantage of an individual landowner to withhold his land from use?
    (b) How does the withholding of land from use affect the incomes of landlords as a class?
    (c) Can a tax on land be shifted from owner to occupier?
  6. What do you understand by Ricardo’s “iron law of wages”?
  7. (a) Why is interest paid? (b) Why did the schoolmen of the Middle Ages object to interest?
  8. What is the justification of a progressive income tax?
  9. State all you know about the personnel of the new labor government in Great Britain.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY I “B”
Elements of Economics

Thursday, May 29, 1924

  1. Discuss the several sorts of monopoly.
  2. What are the advantages of the corporate form of business enterprise?
  3. (a) What is the justification for a progressive income tax?
    (b) Compare the advantages of financing a war by taxation and by borrowing.
  4. Describe briefly the Federal Reserve System.
  5. What are the economic and social effects of inflation?
  6. Discuss the main doctrines of Karl Marx.
  7. What are the chief benefits and drawbacks of a cooperative system as opposed to a competitive system?
  8. (a) Discuss the origin of trade unionism.
    (b) Distinguish between the purposes and methods of the I.W.W. and the unions affiliated with the A.F. of L.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY I “C”

February 5th, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the present economic system? What are its present tendencies? Under what conditions should the state interfere in our economic processes, and how?
  2. Summarize the case for competition as opposed to (a) private monopoly; (b) state ownership. In what type of cases would private monopoly under state regulation offer the best solution?
  3. How is the price of labor affected by changes in the volume of immigration? By shifting of the negro population? What classes of labor would be affected? Relate your answer to the fact that wages rose constantly in the United States from 1897-1921.
  4. (a) Given the following data:
Price (Dollars)
3.00 4.00 5.00
Demand (units) 52 46 30
Supply (units) 24 35 56

Calculate the elasticity of demand at $4.00.
(b) What are the conditions that make for a slow rate of diminishing utility?

  1. Is there any necessary connection between monopoly and “big business”? What is the difference between a partnership and a corporation in (a) legal requirements and liability, (b) structural organization, (c) comparative advantages?
  2. Define non-cumulative-participating-preferred stock; holding company; general-mortgage bond. Give the principal features of the Sherman Act. Name some methods of unfair competition.
  3. Would wheat be a satisfactory money commodity? Would diamonds? Give reasons for your answers. What is meant by the “gold standard”? What has been our experience with bimetallism? Can it work?
  4. What is meant by “fiat” money? Were the greenbacks fiat money? Were the Federal Reserve notes issued during the World War fiat money? Why did prices go up during both wars? Is this necessary? Why?
  5. Describe the Federal Reserve System, its chief functions, changes it produced in our money and banking system, etc. How are checks cleared under the system?
  6. What is the quantity theory of money? What would be the effect upon prices of (a) adopting bimetallism, (b) increased bank reserve requirements, (c) a national fad for gold ornaments, (d) a higher rediscount rate, (e) enforcing seigniorage?
    If the quantity of metallic money has not changed, nor the level of prices, how do you reconcile this fact with a change in the volume of business over the same period?

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY I “C”
[Mr. Gillies]

May 29, 1924—9  A.M.

  1. Whom do you consider the most important factor in modern business, the landlord, the laborer, the capitalist, or the entrepreneur? Give reasons for answer.
    What other elements must be separated from price movements before the business cycle can be recorded? How can you tell when business is near a crisis?
  2. What is the purpose of the finance bill, and how does it operate? Discuss the merits and limitations of the doctrine of purchasing power parity, and tell what effect the maintenance of a high tariff by the United States against England has in the working of the doctrine as between these two countries.
  3. Validate the statement that the only way Germany can pay her indemnity is by an excess of exports over imports.
    Show how the mechanism of foreign exchange and international trade tends to produce like price movements all over the world.
  4. Outline the argument for the utility theory of value as opposed to the cost of production theory of value and show the application of these arguments to the determination of the share of industrial earnings going per unit to land and to capital.
  5. How is rent determined when the same land may be used for a number of different purposes? What has the varying intensivity [sic] of cultivation to do with rent?
    What is the economic justification of labor unions?
  6. Distinguish the attitude of British law and the Clayton Act in regard to labor disputes. What place does the concept of conspiracy play in the treatment by the courts of labor troubles in this country? Do you consider it just for the employer to bear the whole cost of industrial accidents? Is this the effect of our compensation laws?
  7. How large a return must be imputed to capital goods in order that they may truly pay for themselves? Does the fact that the price of consumption goods, when traced back, ultimately resolves into rent, wages and interest mean that there is no such thing in the long run as profits? (Reasons)
    Show roughly how income is distributed among our population. What can be done to improve this distribution.
  8. Is an increasing percentage of the national income spent for governmental activity a sign of increasing extravagance? (Reasons) To what extent should a government borrow and to what extent should it support itself by taxation? What constitutes justice in taxation?
  9. Distinguish direct and indirect taxes. Name some taxes of each kind. What taxes can be shifted? What determines the amount of shifting? What are the objections to a general property tax?

 

Examination in Statistics
(Pol. Econ. II)

January 31, 1924

  1. What are some of the common sources of secondary data? Given the relative advantages and disadvantages of collecting data by (a) personal investigation, (b) questionnaires, (c) enumerators. Give examples where possible in all cases.
    20 minutes.
  2. Give the number and total capacity of box cars, coal cars, and other cars in the Eastern, Southern, and Western Districts of the United States, tabulate so as to show average capacity of these three types and of all cars in each district and in all districts; use letters with subscripts to represent data, e.g. capacity coal cars in the Southern District = Ccs.
    30 minutes.
  3. Sow the various ways in which the above data could be presented diagrammatically, pictorially, or graphically.
    20 minutes.
  4. Given the following data:
Article of Food Consumption, 1901, per family Average Retail Price per Unit
1913 1917 1920
Sirloin steak 70 lbs. $0.25 $0.32 $0.35
Eggs 80 doz. 0.35 0.48 0.70
Milk 350 qts. 0.09 0.11 0.17
Potatoes 15 bu. 1.00 2.60 3.80

Show (do not compute) how an index number for these four commodities would be made up on

      1. Bradstreet’s method,
      2. Dun’s method.
      3. Compute the index number for 1917 and 1920 according to the method of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (base = 1913).
      4. What is the chief objection to an “average of relatives” index number?
        25 minutes.

5.  (A or B).

    1. How is an ogive constructed? Illustrate by sketch and show how the mode and the eighth decile may be determined from it. How is a percentage histogram constructed? What is its purpose?
    2. Prove the general validity of the short-cut method of computing the standard deviation.
      15 minutes.

 

  1. Given the following data:
Operating Revenues of Class I Carries
Eastern District—1920
In Millions of Dollars
1 2 3 4 7 15 24 74 492
1 2 3 4 8 15 26 75 —
1 2 3 5 10 15 30 76 —
1 2 3 5 10 16 35 81 —
1 2 4 5 11 17 39 94 —
1 2 4 5 11 19 45 94 —
2 2 4 6 12 19 51 107 —
2 2 4 6 12 22 65 [?] 200 —
2 3 4 7 14 23 70 314 —
Arithmetic Average $32,268.

Calculate, showing operations, the quartile coefficient of dispersion and skewness (series is theoretically continuous).
Compute, in tabular form, the coefficient of dispersion based on the median (to nearest whole number of millions).
How many places are justified in the above arithmetic average, on basis of data shown? Calculate the coefficient of skewness based on the mode.
30 minutes.

  1. Inflation of money is accompanied, or followed, by higher prices. Price fluctuations are measured roughly by index numbers. To the extent that inflation in one country exceeds that in another, its exchange in terms of the currency of the other country will depreciate. The following exercise is designed to test the tenth [sic, “truth”] of this doctrine.
    Given the following data:
1920 Index Numbers Sterling Cables
New York
Value £ in Dollars
B.L.S.*
(United States)		 Statist+
(England)
January 248 288 $3.68
February 249 306 3.39
March 253 307 3.72
April 265 313 3.93
May 272 305 3.85
June 269 300 3.95
July 262 299 3.86
August 250 298 3.63
September 242 292 3.52
October 225 282 3.47
November 207 263 3.43
December 189 243 3.63
* Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wholesale Prices.
+ The Statist, English journal of finance, Wholesale Prices.

Reduce the B.L.S. indices to relatives of the corresponding statist indices, and correlate these relatives with the price of sterling by Pearson’s method. Does result confirm the above theory? How would you modify the method to correlate the short time changes in the two variables? Compute the standard deviation for one variable in your table.
Explain log. How would you plot a logarithmic historigram of the B.L.S. index numbers?
40 minutes.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY III

Monday, May 26, 1924—9 a.m.

  1. What is standard money? State the requisites of (a) a gold standard; (b) a bimetallic standard; (c) a paper standard. State the advantages and disadvantages of each.
  2. Explain the functions of a commercial bank, showing what economic services it performs. Distinguish the functions of a commercial bank from those of (a) a savings bank; (b) an investment banker.
  3. Define, illustrate and explain the use of the following types of credit instruments: (a) promissory note; (b) bill of exchange; (c) trade acceptance; (d) bank acceptance.
  4. Explain the connection between the loans and deposits of commercial banks. To what extent ordinarily can an individual bank increase its loans as the result of a cash deposit of $100,000? To what extent can the loans of the banking system as a whole be increased as the result of such an addition to the cash deposits of the system? Explain.
  5. How does the Federal Reserve System provide for elasticity in currency and in credit? What is the need for such elasticity?
  6. What is the need for the control of bank credit? How may this control be effected under the Federal Reserve System?
  7. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York receives $8,000,000 of gold deposits.
    1. If member banks take all their rediscounts in federal reserve notes, how much additional paper can the reserve bank rediscount for its members, assuming that it does not borrow at other reserve banks? Make no allowance for discount charges.
    2. Answer the same question, assuming that member banks leave all their rediscounts on deposit.
    3. Answer the same question, assuming that member banks take 1/5 of their rediscounts in federal reserve notes and leave the remainder on deposit.
    4. Explain the quantity theory of money, showing the effect upon prices, of changes in the quantity of money, and of bank credit.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY IV

January 31, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. Define a trade union and indicate the distinctions between trade unions and other analogous associations such as cooperative societies, societies of physicians, etc.
  2. Classify trade unions according to the character of the employer.
  3. Sketch the historical development, by periods, of American trade unionism.
  4. Describe the present structure of American trade unionism, indicating the relation of the national union to the other forms of organization.
  5. Classify American national trade unions from the point of view of function.
  6. Classify and discuss the methods of enforcement used by trade unions.
  7. What is meant by collective bargaining? What is the economic justification for collective individual bargaining?
  8. Describe the system known as scientific management and indicate why it has been opposed by trade unions.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY VI
Corporation Finance

Monday, May 26, 1924

  1. Define a “bond”. Describe the following classes of bonds: divisional bonds, guaranteed bonds, income bonds, convertible bonds.
  2. Distinguish the capitalization, the capital, and the capital stock of a corporation.
  3. Distinguish equipment bonds and equipment trust certificates.
  4. Distinguish repairs, depreciation, and obsolescence.
  5. Discuss the relative advantages of serial bonds and sinking fund bonds.
  6. State and illustrate the law of balanced returns.
  7. Describe the various financial devices which have been used in the expansion of American railways.
  8. What is usually the nature of the agreement among the members under which an underwriting syndicate is formed?
  9. A corporation with common stock of $1,000,000 wishes to secure additional capital. The stock has a par value of $100 and is selling at $150. The corporation offers additional stock at par to the amount of $200,000, or one share of the new for each five shares held. What will be the value of the rights? What will be the value of the stock after the issue is consummated? Explain your answer.
  10. Define a “reorganization”, a “receivership”.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY X
Business Organization

Monday, May 26, 1924—9 A.M.

Lectures

  1. Discuss the relation between the problem of distribution and the density of population, proportion of inhabitants living in cities, etc. What part does credit play in this problem? Is it a cause or an effect?
  2. What gains could be made in efficiency of our distribution system by the general state ownership and control of industry? Do you consider these possible gains sufficient grounds for the adoption of such a plan? (Reasons)
  3. What is meant by scientific management? Why is the present a logical time for its introduction into business? What is the purpose of motion study, and what does it consist of?
  4. Discuss the elements to be considered in locating an establishment. What is the proper balance between fixed and circulating capital (including investment in labor)? Why is (or is not) the cost-plus method of letting building contracts to be preferred to the lump sum method?
  5. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of profit-sharing as a method of stimulating employee efficiency.

Text: Stockder

  1. What are securities? When is an industry said to be in the securities-capital stage? What are factors’ agreements? Why is it proper for railways to issue long term mortgage bonds, without sinking fund or serial retirement provisions, even to an amount exceeding the par value of stocks, and not for an ordinary industry to do so?
  2. Describe the joint-stock company operating structure. Why is the business trust said to be superior to all other forms of business organizations? Are these two forms of organization common law or statute law?
  3. Tell what you would do to organize a holding company which also to operate as an industrial company; including principal terms of agreements, regulations, etc.
  4. Describe the formation of the Standard Oil trust of 1882, using sketch. Is Federal Incorporation an effective or desirable remedy for commercial abuses? (Reasons)
  5. Have you completed the auxiliary reading, including supplementary forms in Stockder and pamphlets from U.S. Chamber of Commerce? If not, to what extent have you completed this reading?

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY XI
Accounting 1

January 30, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. [Given the following items:]
Cash $2,320
Inventory $12,000
Accounts Receivable $21,000
Reserve for Bad Debts $1,500
Store $20,000
Reserve for Depreciation $7,000
Accounts Payable $2,500
Capital Stock $20,000
Surplus $23,940
Insurance $120
Wages $500
$55,440 $55,400

Purchased on credit $20,000; paid creditors $21,500. Credit sales were $30,000; collected from customers $45,000. Estimated amount of uncollectable accounts receivable on books $1,750. Depreciation for period was $2,000. Other cash disbursements: Wates $6,000, Dividends $10,000. At the end of the year the unexpired insurance was $60, inventory $11,000, accrued wages $400.
From the above starting point—closing trial balance and the interim adjustments given, prepare a closed ledger, a final balance sheet, and a profit and loss statement.

  1. Describe two different ways of recording cash discounts on sales in the cash books. Do not mention any accounting books except the cash books.
  2. Define the different kinds of indorsements used with negotiable instruments.
  3. A note for $1,000, dated June 10, for 4 months, with interest at 7 per cent, was discounted July 30, at 8 per cent. Find the net proceeds under the rules of bank discount.

 

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY XI
Accounting 1
[Dr. Newlove]

May 28, 1924—9-12 a.m.

  1. A and B start in partnership investing $10,000 and $8,000, respectively, on January 1. A withdrew $2,000 on May 1 and invested $2,000 on November 1. B invested $3,000 on March 1 and withdrew $3,000 on July 1. Give the entries for the above transactions together with the allocation of a net profit of $5,000 on the average investment basis.
  2. X and Y, partners, sell their business to a new corporation, whose authorized stock of $50,000 is all paid to the partners. The balance sheet of X and Y is:
Cash $5,000 Accounts Payable $15,000
Merchandise 30,000 X, Capital 15,000
Accounts Receivable 25,000 Y, Capital 30,000
$60,000 $60,000

Give the detailed closing entries of the partnership.

  1. Give the detailed opening entries for the corporation in Problem 2.
  2. (a)
Accounts Receivable Reserve for Bad Debts
$75,000 $5,000

Make entry for a customer owing $500 who becomes bankrupt and pays 10 cents on the dollar.
(b)

Machinery Reserve for Depreciation
$50,000 $4,000

A machine, which cost $1,000 five years ago, is sold for $400. The recorded depreciation on the machine is $500. Give the entry for sale.

  1. C and D entered on January 1 a joint venture each contributing merchandise costing $5,000. C paid expenses of $1,000 on the same date. On July 1 C received a draft from the consignee for $15,000. Interest was allowed at the rate of 6 per cent per annum. Show the accounts on C’s books affected by the venture, if C settled with D on July 1.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY XII
ECONOMIC HISTORY

January 29, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. How does economic history differ from political history?
  2. What did the Romans accomplish economically for Britain?
  3. (a) What were the rights and obligations of the various classes under the manorial system
    (b) Did William the Norman change the manorial plan fundamentally?
  4. How were goods exchanged in England of the Middle Ages?
  5. What were the facts which rendered the guilds suitable to the economic needs of the country at the time they flourished?
  6. (a) What were the consequences of the “Black Death”?
    (b) Of the “Peasants’ Revolt”?
  7. What were the main facts of the Industrial Revolution, and what was the economic theory upon which it rested?
  8. Tell something of (a) chartism; (b) the Factory Acts; (c) the rise of trade unions.
  9. What is the present status of child labor legislation in the United States?
  10. What have been the forces that have brought the Labor Party into power in England?

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY XII
ECONOMIC HISTORY

Saturday, May 24, 1924

  1. What were the colonial policies of Great Britain?
  2. (a) Give the chief economic doctrines of Alexander Hamilton.
    (b) What was the connection between economic interests and the formation of the Constitution?
  3. What were the chief economic causes and effects of the Civil War?
  4. Discuss the economic and political consequences of the opening of the West.
  5. What were the main routes covered by canals and railroads, and why were these selected?
  6. Discuss the growth of trusts.
  7. Why is the Federal Government gaining in power while the individual State Governments are losing power?
  8. A factory needing 500 operatives is located in a farming community. What will be the likely economic results?
  9. Discuss the tariff vs. free trade.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY XIII
SOCIAL ECONOMICS

February 4th, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. Why are delinquency and dependency community problems?
  2. Give the laws regulating school attendance in Maryland. Are they adequate?
  3. Give the Child Labor Laws of Maryland.
  4. Give the significance of the White House Conference of 1909. State the recommendations made. Give what you think the most important outcome of this conference.
  5. Give the names of the social agencies in the Alliance of Charitable and Social Agencies. Describe the work of the Family Welfare Association and one other social organization in the federation.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY XIII
SOCIAL ECONOMICS

Friday, May 30, 1924—9 a.m.

  1. What are the functions of a Charities Endorsement Committee?

  2. On what principles is social case work based? What is the difference in the meaning of social case work and social work?
  3. Of what value is knowledge of social economics to the professional and business man?
  4. Give the social functions of recreation.

 

Source:  Johns Hopkins University. Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 5/6, Box 6/1, Folder “Exams, 1907-1924”.

Image Source: Gilman Hall, Johns Hopkins University. Hullabaloo 1924.

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Midyear and Final Exams for Five Economics Courses, 1932-1933

While on the whole I find these examination questions uninspired, I do wonder how one would have answered the last of the mid-year examination in economic history “Why is it that England had a socialist prime minister while the United States has an individualist president?”

_________________________

1C. Elements of Economics.

Three hours weekly through the year. Section 1: Dr. [George H.] Evans [Jr.], Thurs., Fri., Sat., 8.30, Maryland Hall 110; Section 2: Associate Professor [Broadus] Mitchell, Mon., Tues., Wed., 8.30, Gilman Hall 313; Section 3: Associate Professor [William O.] Weyforth, Mon., Tues., Wed., 11.30, Gilman Hall 314.

Particular attention is given to the theory of distribution and its application to leading economic problems.

Required of all students before graduation.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Evans
February 1, 1933

  1. Under what conditions do lower prices mean higher profits?
  2. How do overhead costs affect the nature of competition?
  3. A country innkeeper hires a man to cripple the automobiles of passers-by. Is this man a producer? Explain.
  4. If each of our states were a separate nation, would we have less specialization than we have today? Explain.
  5. “The marginal utility of a ton of coal to a householder is $7.20.”
    1. Explain just what is meant by this statement.
    2. Why is the marginal utility of coal different now from what it was during the war? Explain carefully.
  6. Trace the history of bimetallism in the United States. What classes would be benefited if bimetallism were adopted in the United States in the near future?
  7. “The price of each good is determined by the willingness of buyers to purchase the last unit of the supply that is sold.” Discuss.
  8. A manufacturer buys out all his competitors. Assuming demand to be unchanged, can he now sell the former aggregate output at an advanced price? Explain.
  9. From the following figures for three firms which constitute the only producers or possible producers in the field, construct the combined long run supply curve and also the combined average cost curve which would prevail in the long run
  Average Costs of Production for Each Firm
No. of Units X Y Z
1 5 7 9
2 4.5 6 7.5
3 4.67 6 7.33
4 5 6.25 7.5
5 5.4 6.6 7.8
6 5.83 7 8.17

If the price in the market remains at $8 for a long period of time, how many articles will be supplied; what quantity will be produced by each firm? Suppose the price dropped to $7 and remained there.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Mitchell
February 6, 1933

  1. Give a definition of Political Economy.
  2. What are the relative importances today of Production, Exchange, Distribution, and Consumption of wealth?
  3. Is the enterpriser gaining or losing in importance as an economic agent?
  4. Define capital and discuss the capitalistic method of production and exchange of wealth.
  5. Explain the marginal utility concept of value.
  6. Explain how market price is determined under conditions of competition.
  7. Discuss (a) monopoly price; (b) class price.
  8. What would be your definition of money?
  9. What is the argument of the inflationists at the present time?
  10. Give the organization and functions of the Federal Reserve System.
  11. Tell what you know of Technocracy, with your comment upon it.
  12. What are the main indictments which the present depression brings against the capitalist economic system?
  13. What are some reasons for believing that there is a decided drift toward collectivism in the United States now?

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Weyforth
February 2, 1933

  1. Describe the more important changes that came about in the economic life of England as a result of the industrial revolution.
  2. How under a system of free enterprise is the overproduction of any article remedied? How is underproduction remedied?
    “Free enterprise is a self-regulating device for producing maximum satisfaction with a minimum of sacrifice.” Explain and criticize this statement.
  3. What is meant when it is said that modern industry is a capitalistic organization?
    A municipality which owned a street railway might find it desirable to give service at less than cost. Why? Could a capitalistically controlled company do this? Explain.
  4. “The use of machinery is limited by the extent of the market.” Why? In what sense is it equally true that the extending of markets has depended upon the development of the machine technique?
  5. Explain the nature of a corporation. How does it come into existence? Who owns it? How is it controlled and managed? What are some of its advantages and disadvantages?
  6. What functions do trade unions perform in our present economic system? Why did they not exist during the middle ages? What is meant by the “closed shop”? What justification is there for unions employing this device?
  7. In what way do commercial banks provide a medium of exchange? Why may it be said that banks create deposits? The national banking laws require that national banks maintain a certain reserve against deposits How does this limit the ability of banks to make loans?

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Final Examination
Dr. Mitchell
June 5, 1933

  1. Explain and discuss the underlying economic theory and the proposals of the Single tax. Tell something of the life of Henry George.
  2. State and discuss three theories of wages.
  3. Distinguish between “pure profits” and “wages of superintendence”. In what ways do pure profits arise?
  4. Explain the time discount theory of interest.
  5. “The business cycle is inherent in the capitalist economic system.” Discuss this statement.
  6. What are the main arguments for and against fiat money inflation?
  7. Explain the difficulties in combining economic planning with the price-and-profit system.
  8. What developments in American economic life appear to recommend socialism today?
  9. Enumerate and discuss the conditions under which trade and labor unions may raise the wages of their members without being injured by the boomerang of unemployment due to decreased demand for their products.
  10. Identify: Nassau Senior, John Stuart Mill, Charles Kingsley, Robert Owen, Friedrich Engels, Richard Arkwright, Charles Fourier, Samuel Gompers, David Ricardo, Mathew Carey.
  11. Discuss economic nationalism as applicable to the present day.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Final Examination
Dr. Evans
May 31, 1933

  1. What is meant by monetary inflation in the United States?
    How is it to be effected; what are its advantages and disadvantages?
  2. To raise revenue to pay the interest on a three billion dollar loan for the purpose of carrying out a public works program, it has been proposed that the federal government increase the income and gasoline taxes. A general manufacturer’s sales tax has apparently been rejected. Criticize the plan.
  3. The wages of federal employes were recently cut by approximately the same per cent that the Bureau of Labor Statistics index of the cost of living has fallen. What theory of wage determination was involved in this action? What theory of wages seems to you to explain wages most completely?
  4. What is meant by the incidents of ownership? Discuss them in connection with the various legal forms under which business units operate.
  5. If the prices of commodities rise in the near future, what will probably happen to rates of interest? Why? What is your prediction concerning the future of pure interest?
  6. Criticize some of the arguments for the tariff.
  7. Do the credit structure and the type of organization under which business units operate have anything to do with determining the recipient of profits?
  8. Is it necessary to give special assistance to the agriculturists in order to pull this country out of the depression? What characteristics of agriculture make it so difficult to do much for the farmers? What program should the government follow in its efforts?

_________________________

2C. Statistics. Dr. Evans.

Three hours weekly through the year. Th., Fri., Sat., 10.30, Gilman Hall 314.

In the first half-year attention is directed to the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation, and study is made of the chief methods used in statistical inquiry. In the second half-year the application of statistics to business and economic problems, such as price levels, cost of living, wage adjustments, business cycles, and business forecasting, are considered.

Prerequisite: Mathematics 1 C or 2 C.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 2C
Mid-year Examination
February 3, 1933

  1. The average deposit per individual depositor in savings banks in the United States was $437.89 in 1913. By 1926 this figure had risen to $633.10 per depositor, indicating that savings bank depositors were noticeably more thrifty than at the earlier date. Is the conclusion a sound one?
  2. Upon the following data construct price indices of the simple geometric type for 1901 and 1902, using 1900 as the base.
Commodity 1900
Price		 1901
Price		 1902
Price
A 1 2 3
B 3 3 3
C 1 1.5 2

In which year is the dispersion of the price relatives the larger? What is the significance of your observations upon the dispersions.

  1. A Japanese speaker argued recently that the apparently high birth rate of the Japanese in California was due to the fact that an unusually large proportion of the Japanese population was between the ages of 15 and 45, and that later this high birth rate would be reduced as the age distribution of the population became more normal. Discuss the validity of this argument.
  2. How would you verify the law of statistical regularity and the principle of inertia of large numbers?
  3. Without constructing what is technically called a ratio chart, plot the following figures so as to give the same effect as that produced by the ratio chart.
1900 2.4
1903 5.8
1904 7.3

How could your chart be converted into a ratio chart?

  1. Draw up in the rough a table with title, captions, stubs, etc., to provide for a complete cross-classification of the population of a city according to color, sex, marital status and age. (Note: emphasize the characteristics in the order named.)

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 2C
Final Examination
June 2, 1933

  1. Discuss the limitations upon the use of statistical method.
  2. Describe how and when the estimation of the value of one variable can be made from a known value of another variable by the use of the scatter diagram.
  3. How can the period of lag of one series in relation to another be determined.
  4. What is meant by “normal” business conditions and how may mathematical measurements of normal be made?
  5. In obtaining a seasonal index, can cyclical and erratic influences be largely eliminated? How? Describe two methods of eliminating the effects of seasonal variation from time-series data.
  6. Explain “mathematical methods of trend fitting are not fool-proof”. What are the various methods of determining a line of trend?
  7. What kinds of situations make necessary the use of index numbers? Give the methods of constructing index numbers.

_________________________

3B. Money and Banking.
Associate Professor Weyforth.

Three hours weekly through the year. Mon., Tues., Wed., 9.30, Gilman Hall 311.

In this course an analysis of the functions of money, credit and banking in our modern economic life will be made. There will be a description of various types of monetary systems, of the forms of credit and of banking and financial institutions. Particular attention will be given to the relationship between money, bank credit and prices; to the effects of price fluctuations upon individuals and upon general business conditions; to the problems of stabilizing prices and controlling business fluctuations by means of a deliberately directed monetary and credit policy. The Federal Reserve System will be studied with special emphasis upon its problem of credit control. Some time will also be devoted to the relationship between the money market and the stock market, to the problem of brokers’ loans, and to the financial operations involved in our international trade.

Prerequisite: Political Economy 1 C.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 3B
Mid-year Examination
January 31, 1933

  1. Describe the functions performed by money and explain its importance in our present economic system.
  2. What is meant by “standard” money? Describe as many types of standard money as you can. Explain the difference between standard money and legal tender money. Illustrate the latter by examples from the United States currency.
  3. What factors were responsible for the rapid depreciation of German currency after the war? Why did prices rise more rapidly than the volume of currency? Can this be reconciled with the quantity theory of money? Explain.
  4. Explain the difference between fixed and circulating capital. What problems does this distinction create in regard to the financing of business enterprises? Explain fully.
  5. What is meant by the value of money? How do we measure changes in it? Explain the economic consequences of changes in the value of money.
  6. Distinguish between the functions of an investment banker and of a commercial bank. Explain how the commercial banks create deposits and show the limitations upon their powers in this respect.
  7. Describe the history of the monetary standard in the United States.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 3B
Final Examination
May 30, 1933

  1. Describe the more important types of loans and investments made by commercial banks. Describe the changes in the nature of their business since the war and the reasons for these changes.
  2. Explain the defects in our banking system prior to the establishment of the Federal reserve system and give a brief description of the steps toward reform.
  3. Explain the circumstances under which shipments of gold occur between two countries both of which are on a gold standard.
  4. Is there any limit to the extent to which the market rate of exchange may fluctuate between two countries when one or both of them does not provide for redemption of its currency in gold? Explain the operation of the factors involved.
  5. What is the importance of an elastic currency? What provision was made in the Federal Reserve Act for such a currency? What are the provisions of the laws passed during the present depression enlarging the note issues of national banks and Federal reserve banks?
  6. Explain the various methods which Federal reserve banks may employ to control credit and show how they operate.
  7. Explain and criticize the various principles that may be employed by Federal reserve banks as guides to their credit policy.
  8. What do you think of inflation as a means of promoting recovery from the depression?

_________________________

4B. Labor Problems. Professor [George E.] Barnett.

Three hours weekly through the year. Mon., Tues., Wed., 10.30, Gilman Hall 314.

In the first part of this course the problems growing out of modern industrial employment will be studied, e.g., child labor, industrial accidents, unemployment. It includes a critical discussion of the ameliorative measures which have been adopted in the leading industrial countries. Special attention will be given to an analysis of the principles underlying the schemes of social insurance against sickness, old age, and unemployment, so generally put into effect in recent years in European countries. In the second part of the course the history, structure and functions of American trade unionism are considered. Particular attention will be given to the working of representative systems of collective bargaining and an analysis of the conditions under which these systems have attained their greatest strength. An appraisal of rival forms of wage fixation, such as individual bargaining governmental intervention and shop committees will conclude the course.

Prerequisites: Political Economy 1 C and 12 B.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 4B
Mid-year Examination
January 30, 1933

  1. On what principles, should an economic man divide his income between expenditure and saving?
  2. On what principles, should he divide his expenditure among different objects of expenditure?
  3. How and why should he divide his savings between investment and insurance?
  4. Describe briefly the various causes of unemployment.
  5. Discuss the effects of shortening the hours of labor.
  6. Why are the risks of unemployment, old age, etc. a part of the labor problem?

    *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 4B
Final Examination
May 29, 1933

  1. Define “trade union” and distinguish trade unions from such associations as medical societies, bar associations.
  2. Describe the relations among the various units (local union, national unions, etc.) making up the structure of American trade unionism.
  3. Classify and discuss the methods of enforcement used by trade unions against employers.
  4. Discuss “picketing”.
  5. What is the object of trade unions to the injunction?
  6. What is “scientific management” and how has it influenced the employer in his attitude toward labor?
  7. Outline the chief lines of approach to the governmental adjustment of industrial disputes.
  8. Is the labor market a good market?

_________________________

12B. Economic History. Associate Professor Mitchell.

Three hours weekly through the year. Mon., Tues., Wed., 1 p.m., Gilman Hall 314.

In the first part of this course a study is made of English economic history, the purpose being to show not only the industrial development of the English people as such but the way in which the economic motive has influenced the whole of social life. Particular attention is given to the characteristic forms of economic organization—the manorial system, the guild system, the entrance of capitalism and the causes and consequences of the Industrial Revolution. Special reference is made to those features of English economic history which have influence industrial life in the United States. The second part of the course is a survey of the economic history of our own country. Here the same effort is made, as in the case of England, to show the bearing of economic considerations on political evolution, especially in the direction of the growing importance of the Federal Government.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 12B
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Mitchell
February 3, 1933

  1. What is meant by the economic interpretation of history?
  2. Describe the manor and the main steps in its disappearance.
  3. Contrast Wat Tyler and George Washington.
  4. How did the medieval city under the craft gilds differ from Baltimore today, economically, socially, and politically?
  5. What was Mercantilism? Are there tendencies toward a return to Mercantilism now? If so, is this movement wise or unwise, and why?
  6. What developments preceded the Industrial Revolution?
  7. Describe the Industrial Revolution.
  8. Make an argument that mankind would be better off had the inventors of the eighteenth century never lived.
  9. Why is it that England had a socialist prime minister while the United States has an individualist president?

    *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 12B
Final Examination
June 2, 1933

  1. State and discuss what you consider to have been the main tendencies in American economic life.
  2. Give an outline history of the tariff until the time of the Civil War.
  3. Sketch the history of banking in the United States from 1791 to 1863.
  4. “The essential cause of the Civil War was the difference in economic pursuits of North and South.” Explain this statement.
  5. Describe the causes of the panics of 1837 and 1873.
  6. In what respects have Hamilton’s policies been borne out by American economic and political development?
  7. What considerations have turned the American people from approval of Theodore Roosevelt’s policy of “trust busting” to Franklin Roosevelt’s policy of relaxing the anti-trust acts?
  8. Give the main developments in “internal improvements” to the present time.
  9. State briefly what you think you will recall from this course twenty-five years from now.

Sources:

Course announcements from The College of Arts and Sciences, 1932-33 (February, 1932). The Johns Hopkins University Circular, New Series 1932, No. 2, Whole Number 434, pp. 38-39.
Course examinations from Johns Hopkins University, Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy. Series 6, Curricular materials. Box 2, Folder “Exams 1930-1935.”

Image Source:  Photo of Gilman Hall from the 1924 Johns Hopkins yearbook, Hullabaloo.

 

 

 

Categories
Chicago Economics Programs Economist Market Economists

Chicago. Memos discussing guests to teach during summer quarter, 1927

 

 

Apparently the 1926 summer quarter course planning at the Chicago department of political economy in 1926 was so wild that the head of the department, Leon C. Marshall, decided to start the discussion for 1927 on the second day of Summer, 1926. Four of the seven colleagues responded with quite a few suggestions.

This post provides the first+middle names where needed in square brackets. Also links to webpages with further information about the suggested guests have been added.

______________________

Copy of memo from
Leon Carroll Marshall

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Department of Economics

Memorandum from L. C. Marshall. June 22, 1926

To: C. W. Wright, J. A. Field, H. A. Millis, J. Viner, L. W. Mints, P. H. Douglas, W. H. Spencer

We really must break through the morass we are in with respect to our summer quarter. Partly because of delayed action and partly because of an interminable debating society in such matters we finally get a patched up program which is not as attractive as it should be.

I shall proceed on the basis of the homely philosophy that the way to do something is to do something. I shall try to secure from every member of the group a statement of his best judgment concerning the appropriate course of action for the summer of 1927 and then move at once toward rounding out a program.

Won’t you be good enough to turn in to E57 within the next few days your suggestions and comments with respect to the following issues.

  1. Do you yourself expect to be in residence the summer quarter of 1927?
  2. If you do, what courses do you prefer to teach? Please list more than two courses placing all of the courses in your order of preference. In answering this question, please keep in mind the problem of guiding research. Should you offer a research course?
  3. What are your preferences with respect to hours? Please state them rather fully and give some alternatives so that a schedule may be pieced together.
  4. What courses or subject matter should we be certain to include in the summer of 1927?
  5. What men from outside do you recommend for these courses which we should be certain to include? Please rank them in the order of your preference.
  6. Quite aside from the subject matter which you have recommended above, what persons from the outside ought we try to make contact with if our funds permit? This gives an opportunity to aid in making up the personnel of the summer quarter in all fields.
  7. Please give any other comments or suggestions which occur to you.

Yours very sincerely,

LCM:G

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Jacob Viner

The University of Chicago
Department of Political Economy

July 1, 1926

Dear Mr. Marshall

I will want to offer 301 (Neo-class Ec.) & 353 (Int Ec. Pol) as usual next summer, though if we have a good outside theorist to give 301, I would like to give a course on Theory of Int Trade in addition to 353. I think we need someone especially in Banking, next in theory. Beyond these we should offer work in some of the following, if we can get first rankers: statistics, private finance, transportation, economic history of Europe & ec. Hist. of U.S.

I suggest the following from which selections could be made:

Banking

 Theory Statistics Transportation

Ec. Hist.
[Eugene E.]
Agger

 

[Benjamin Haggott] Beckhart

 

[Allyn Abbott]
A.A. Young

 

[Chester Arthur]
C. A. Phillips

 

[Oliver Mitchell Wentworth]
Sprague

 

[James Harvey] Rogers

 

[Ernest Minor] E.M. Patterson

 [Allyn Abbott]
Young

 

[Jacob Harry]
Hollander[Frank Hyneman] Knight

 

[Albert Benedict] Wolfe

 

[Herbert Joseph] Davenport

 [Henry Roscoe] Trumbower

 

[Homer Bews] Vanderblue

 [Melvin Moses] M.M. Knight

 

[Abbott Payson] A.P. Usher

As other possibilities I suggest [George Ernest] Barnett, [James Cummings] Bonbright, [Edward Dana] Durand, [Edwin Griswold] Nourse, [Sumner Huber] Slichter, John D. [Donald] Black, Holbrook Working, [Alvin Harvey] Hansen.

[signed]
J Viner

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Paul Howard Douglas

The University of Chicago
The School of Commerce and Administration

June 29, 1926

Professor L. C. Marshall
Faculty Exchange

Dear Mr. Marshall:

You have hit the nail on the head in your proposal to get under way for next summer, and I am very much pleased at your action. Answering your questions specifically may I say—

  1. That I do not expect to be in residence for the summer quarter of 1927.
  2. &3. Since I shall not be in residence no answers to these questions are, I take it, necessary.

 

  1. We should, I think, be certain to include adequate work in the following fields (a) Economic theory, (b) Monetary and banking theory, (c) Labor problems, (d) Statistics and quantitative economics, (e) Taxation and Public finance, (f) Economic history.
  2. As regards men from outside, I would recommend the following in each field: (a) Economic theory—[Herbert Joseph] H. J. Davenport, [John Rogers] J. R. Commons, [Frank Hyneman] F. H. Knight; (b) Monetary and banking theory—[Allyn Abbott] A. A. Young, [Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] O.M.W. Sprague, [James Waterhouse] James W. Angell; (c) Labor problems—Selig Perlman, Alvin [Harvey] H. Hansen; (d) Statistics and quantitative economics—[Frederick Cecil] F. C. Mills, [Robert Emmet] R. E. Chaddock, [William Leonard] W. L. Crum; (e) Taxation and public finance—[Harley Leist] H. L. Lutz, [William John] William J. Shultz; (f) Economic history—[Norbert Scott Brien] N. S. B. Gras.
  3. As people from outside to try for, might it not be possible to secure some one from England, such as [John Atkinson] John A. Hobson, Henry Clay, or [Dennis Holme] D. H. Robertson? Might it not also be possible to get Charles Rist from France or [Werner] Sombart from Germany?

Faithfully yours,
[signed]
Paul H. Douglas

P.S. The news that [Henry] Schultz and [Melchior] Palyi are to be with us next year is certainly welcome. Should we not let everyone know that they are coming, and should not a news note to this effect be sent on to the American Economic Review? [Handwritten note here: “Mr. Wright doing this”]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Lloyd Wynn Mints

The University of Chicago
The School of Commerce and Administration

July 16, 1926

Memorandum to L. C. Marshall from L. W. Mints, concerning the work of the summer quarter, 1927.

  1. It is my present intention not to be in residence during the summer quarter, 1927, although I will be in the city, I suppose.
  2. It appears to me that we should attempt to get men from the outside who would represent some of the newer points of view rather than the orthodox fields. I should suppose that it would be desirable to have a man in statistics and, if he could be found, somebody to do something with quantitative economics. For the statistics I would suggest [William Leonard] Crum, [Frederick Cecil] Mills, [Frederick Robertson] Macaulay, [Willford Isbell] King, [Bruce D.] Mudgett, [Robert] Riegel. I am ignorant of the particular bents of some of the statistical men, but I should suppose that in quantitative economics [Holbrook] Working, [Alvin Harvey] Hansen, or [William Leonard] Crum might do something. Perhaps [Edmund Ezra] Day should be added to the men in Statistics.
    In economic history, as I remember it, we have had no outside help for a long time. I should like to see either [Noman Scott Brien] Gras or Max [Sylvius] Handman give some work here in the summer.
    Particular men who represent somewhat new points of view, and who might be had for the summer, I would suggest as follows: [Lionel Danforth] Edie, [Oswald Fred] Boucke, [Morris Albert] Copeland, [Sumner Huber] Slichter.
    In addition I should like very much to see either [Edwin Robert Anderson] Seligman or [John Rogers] Commons here for a summer.

[signed]
L.W.M.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Harry Alvin Millis

Answers to questions re Summer Teaching, 1927

  1. Yes, I feel that I must teach next summer unless that plan you have been interested in goes through.
  2. 342 [The State in Relation to Labor] and 440 [Research].
  3. 342 at 8; 440 hour to be arranged.
  4. 5. 6.: Should get a better rounded program than we have had. Should have an outstanding man in economic theory and another in Finance. For the former I would mention [John] Maurice Clark, [John Rogers] Commons, and [Frank Hyneman] Knight—in order named. For the latter I would mention [Allyn Abbott] Young, [James Harvey] Rogers. If we can get the money I should like to see [George Ernest] Barnett brought on for statistics and a trade union course.

 

  1. Would it be possible to have a seminar which would bring together the outside men and some of the inside men and our mature graduate students—these hand-picked? It might be made very stimulating.

[Signed]
H. A. Millis

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Chester Whitney Wright

The University of Chicago
The Department of Political Economy

Memorandum to Marshall from Wright

Summer 1927
First term some aspects of economic history
1:30 or 2:30
May have to teach the whole summer but hope I can confine it to first term.
Can teach any phases of subjects in any fields suitable for term.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
James Alfred Field

[No written answer in the folder: however L. C. Marshall noted that Field would not be teaching in the summer term of 1927]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
William Homer Spencer

The University of Chicago
The School of Commerce and Administration
Office of the Dean

July 12, 1926

Mr. L. C. Marshall
The Department of Political Economy

My dear Mr. Marshall:

As Mr. [Garfield Vestal] Cox does not wish to teach during the Summer Quarter of 1927, I wish the Department of Political Economy would try to get Mr. [Edmund Ezra] Day of Wisconsin [sic, Michigan is correct] who could give both a course in statistics and a course in forecasting. Forecasting is not given this summer and unless we get someone from the outside to give it, I presume it will not be given next summer.

Why does not the Department of Political Economy for the coming summer get someone like Mr. [Leverett Samuel] Lyon to give an advanced course in economics of the market for graduate students? The Department of Political Economy could handle half of his time and I perhaps could handle the other half for market management

Now that it appears that the Department of Political Economy cannot get any promising young men in the Field of Finance, why do you not try for [Chester Arthur] Phillips of Iowa? He will give good courses and will draw a great many students from the middle west to the University.

So far as my own program is concerned, I have not made much progress. I tried to get [Roy Bernard] Kester of Columbia, but he turned me down. I am placing a similar proposition before [William Andrew] Paton of Michigan. In the Field of Marketing, I am trying for [Frederic Arthur] Russell of the University of Illinois to give a course in salesmanship primarily for teachers in secondary schools. Otherwise I have made no progress in getting outside men for next summer.

Yours sincerely,
[signed]
W. H. Spencer

WHS:DD

Source:  University of Chicago Archives. Department of Economics. Records. Box 22, Folder 7.

Categories
Economics Programs Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Activities of department of political economy, 1935-1936

 

Annual reports by university presidents often include chapters submitted by individual faculties, schools, and/or departments about their instructional, research, and outreach activities. Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is as good a place as any to serve as a digital depository of such dispersed material that can document time-lines for individual economics departments and economists. It would be boring for both the curator and subscribers to be subject to a long continuous stream of such material from any one department, so from time to time, I’ll just add additional years and gradually complete the time-series of reports.

_____________________

1935-1936
POLITICAL ECONOMY
[at Johns Hopkins University]

The instruction in Political Economy was directed by Professor Hollander, who met students daily in seminary organization for formal study and for cooperative research. The courses were designed to afford systematic instruction in general economic principles, intimate acquaintance with special fields of economic activity, and, most important of all, knowledge of and ability to employ sound methods of economic research. Dr. George E. Barnett, Professor of Statistics; Dr. William O. Weyforth, Associate Professor of Political Economy; Dr. Broadus Mitchell, Associate Professor of Political Economy; Dr. George H. Evans, Jr., Associate Professor of Political Economy; Dr. Howard E. Cooper, Associate in Political Economy; and Dr. Roy J. Bullock, Associate in Political Economy, assisted in the conduct of the work.

ECONOMIC SEMINARY

The papers and reports presented to the Seminary were as follows: Gregory King, the Political Arithmetician, by Professor Barnett; The History of British Preference Shares, by Dr. Evans; The Baltimore Wholesale, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Market, by Mr. Deupree; Tench Coxe and the Federal Constitution, by Mr. Hutcheson; Hamilton’s Early Financial Papers, by Dr. Mitchell; Constitutional Restrictions on Economic Liberty, by Dr. Kahn; The Historical Development of the Massachusetts Municipal List, by Mr. Hickman; Food Marketing and Public Policy, by Dr. Bullock; The Baltimore Clearing House Association, by Mr. Hales; Real Property Tax Delinquency in Maryland, by Miss Wolman; The Trade Acceptance in America, by Mr. Wilcox; The Banking Principle and the Currency Principle, by Dr. Weyforth; The Settlement of Frederick County, Maryland, by Mr. Douglas; The Literary and Economic Influences upon Alexander Hamilton, by Mr. Rappeport; Tench Coxe’s Plea for a National Economy, by Mr. Hutcheson; Real Property Tax Delinquency in Baltimore, by Miss Wolman; Administrative Control of Labor Relations, by Mr. Ziskind; The Fiduciary Nature of the Savings Bank, by Mr. Hickman; The Street Railway Industry, by Mr. Saks; The History of Marsh Market, by Mr. Deupree; The Origin of the Baltimore Clearing House, by Mr. Hales; Industrial Corporate Surplus, by Dr. Cooper; The Concept of Self Interest in Adam Smith and Related Writers, by Mr. Lovenstein; The Growth of Municipal Indebtedness in the United States, by Mr. Shattuck; Investment Affiliates in Recent American Banking, by Mr. Peach; Small Scale Enterprise in the Anthracite Coal Fields, by Mr. Lanyon.

Appreciable progress has been made by members of the Seminary in the study of special aspects of the several questions chosen for investigation. The income of the Lessing Rosenthal Fund for Economic Research has been of aid in connection with Mr. W. Braddock Hickman’s study of “The Legal Control of Savings Bank Investments in Massachusetts” and with Mr. Harold Hutcheson’s study of “Tench Coxe.” The Fund was also drawn upon for temporary advances toward defraying the cost of publication by the Johns Hopkins Press of Dr. Evans’ “British Corporation Finance,” of Dr. Wyckoff’s “Tobacco Regulation in Colonial Maryland,” and also a second impression of five numbers of the Economic Tracts, out of print.

The Hutzler Collection has continued to add to its works disclosing the development of American economic thought and American economic history. During the present session we have also acquired an admirable copy of the rare first edition of Graunt’s “Bills of Mortality,” and photostat copies of important writings of Gregory King and Charles Davenant for use in the forthcoming series of Economic Tracts. The recataloguing and the rearrangement of the collection, in progress for the past two years, will be completed in the coming months.

Professor Hollander lectured one hour a week on the Development of Economic Theory and one hour a week on Theory and Practice of Public Expenditure.

Professor Barnett lectured one hour a week throughout the year on American Trade Unionism.

Associate Professor Weyforth lectured one hour a week throughout the year on Industrial Fluctuations.

Associate Professor Mitchell lectured one hour a week throughout the year on The Slave South.

Associate Professor Evans lectured one hour a week during the first half-year on Index Numbers.

Dr. Cooper gave a series of lectures in the second half-year on The Interpretation of Financial Statements.

Dr. Bullock gave a series of lectures in the second half-year on Marketing of Consumers’ Goods by Manufacturers.

Members of the staff were called upon for public service in various capacities. Professor Barnett continued his service as a representative of the American Economic Association on the Advisory Committee of the Census. He was also appointed chairman of the Nominating Committee of the American Economic Association and Vice-President of the American Statistical Association. Dr. Weyforth was reappointed to the Maryland State Board of Examiners of Public Accountants. Dr. Mitchell served as consultant to the Director, Division of Review of the N. R. A. from November 1935 to March 1936. He was elected for the second time to membership on the Executive Committee of the American Economic Association.

The following undergraduate courses were given:

1. Elements of Economics. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Weyforth, Associate Professor Mitchell, and Associate Professor Evans.

2. Statistics. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Evans.

3. Money and Banking. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Weyforth.

6. Corporation Finance and Investments. Three hours weekly, through the year. Professor Barnett.

11. Principles of Accounting. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Cooper.

12. Economic History. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Mitchell.

14. Advanced Principles of Accounting. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Cooper.

16. The Money Market. One hour weekly, through the year. Professor Hollander.

18. Wages and Employment. One hour weekly, through the year. Professor Barnett.

20. Marketing. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Bullock.

21. Advanced Marketing. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Bullock.

22. Commercial Law. Two hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Howell.

23. Mathematics of Finance and Statistics. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Richeson.

 

EVENING COURSES IN BUSINESS ECONOMICS

During the past twenty years The Johns Hopkins University has offered a series of Evening Courses in Business Economics under the general direction of the Department of Political Economy. Such instruction is made available at hours and under conditions designed to meet the convenience of those likely to make use thereof. While designed in the main to offer instruction to young men and women actually engaged in or contemplating entrance into business, industry and commerce, the courses are planned to meet the needs also of those who have a more general interest in the subjects. The following courses were offered during the year:

Current Economic Problems, Professor Hollander; Investments, Professor Barnett; Money and Banking, Associate Professor Weyforth; Political Economy, American Economic History, Associate Professor Mitchell; Business Statistics, Corporation Finance, Associate Professor Evans; Corporation Accounting, Dr. Cooper; Elements of Business Administration, Marketing, Dr. Bullock; Elementary Accounting, Dr. Bryan; Mercantile Credit, Mr. Clautice; Auditing Principles and Practice, Federal and State Tax Accounting, Mr. Baker; Advanced Commercial Law, Dr. Watkins; Salesmanship and Salesmanagement, Mr. Ramsen; Advanced Auditing and Accountant’s Working Papers, Mr. Stegman; Applications of Psychology to Business, Dr. Bentley; Advanced Accounting Problems, Mr. McCord; Principles of Advertising, Mr. Corner; Commercial Law, Mr. Thomsen; Specialized Accounting, Cost Accounting, Mr. Smith; Business English, Public Speaking, Dr. Lyons.

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ECONOMICS

The academic year 1935-36 marked the fourteenth year of operation of the School of Business Economics. The School was established to take care of the increasing need of specialized academic training for men contemplating a business career. In planning the curriculum of the School of Business Economics there was kept in mind the need for an adequate training in certain fundamental subjects, as well as for specialized instruction in economics and business subjects. Accordingly, during the first two years the studies are rather closely prescribed and are selected so as to furnish an essential background for a career in any field of business. In these years the curriculum is very similar to that which would be taken in the College of Arts and Sciences. In the third year greater latitude is allowed the student in the selection of subjects, and in the fourth year nearly all the subjects are elective. During these last two years it is intended that there should be intensive specialization in studies in business economics.

Students in the School of Business Economics are called upon, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Economics, to submit in the last year of residence an essay dealing with some business or economic subject. A wide range of choice is permitted to students in the selection of subjects. A suggested list of topics is submitted to them, but they are not restricted to such topics. It is believed that one of the principal benefits that a student may derive from the writing of such an essay is the experience obtained in the independent gathering and organization of material; and the industry and zeal of the student is likely to be enhanced if the subject on which he is working is one of special interest to him. The subjects on which essays were written in the year 1935-36 included the following: Interest as a Cost to Manufacture; The Chain Store Movement in Men’s Wear Merchandising; Control and Planning of Department Store Merchandising; Accounting Presentation for the Executive; Production Indexes; Should Public Utility Holding Companies be Eliminated?; Advertising Agencies in the United States; Investment Value of Low, Medium, and High Priced Common Stocks; Public Policy Toward Chain Stores; The Federal Securities Act of 1933 and Its Amendments; Revaluation of Fixed Assets; The American Paper Industry; The Baltimore Consumer Market. Several students wrote on the Analysis of Financial Statements, each one selecting a different corporation as the basis of his study.

In 1936, 17 students were graduated. These students were awarded the degree of Bachelor of Science in Economics.

PUBLICATIONS

George E. Barnett.

Review of History of Labor in the United States, 1896-1932, volumes III and IV, in American Economic Review, June 1936, pp. 339-342.

George Heberton Evans, Jr.

British Corporation Finance 1775-1850; A Study of Preference Shares. (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press), pp. 208.

Jacob H. Hollander.

Two Letters on the Measure of Value by John Stuart Mill, 1822 (Editor). Fourth number of fourth series of Reprint of Economic Tracts. (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1936), pp. 24.

Broadus Mitchell.

American Radicals Nobody Knows, in South Atlantic Quarterly, October 1935, pp. 394-401.

Economists and the Depression, in Social Frontier, April 1936, pp. 215-217.

Articles in Dictionary of American Biography, as follows: vol. XV—Enoch Pratt, pp. 171-172; John Rae, pp. 321-322; vol. XVI—Edward Van Dyke Robinson, pp. 42-43; Jacob Schoenhof, pp. 450-451; XVII—Stephen Simpson, pp. 183-184; Lysander Spooner, pp. 466-467; XVIII—Philip Evan Thomas, pp. 442-443; Robert Ellis Thompson, pp. 469-470; Daniel Augustus Tompkins, pp. 581-583.

—and reviews as follows:

Parmelee, Farewell to Poverty, in Social Frontier, January 1936, p. 122.

Lawrence, Stumbling into Socialism, in The Annals, January 1936, pp. 281-282.

Ely and Bohn, The Great Change, in The Annals, November 1935, pp. 191-192.

Douglas, Controlling Depressions, and Fledderus and van Kleeck, On Economic Planning, in New Republic, August 28, 1935, p. 81.

Harvey, Samuel Gompers, in Journal of Political Economy, February 1936, pp. 106-107.

Baker, Concerning Government Benefits, in The Survey, June 1936, p. 188.

Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, in Virginia Quarterly Review, July 1936, pp. 453-457.

William O. Weyforth.

Review of A New Monetary System of the United States (Related Studies), in Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, November 1935, pp. 308-309.

Jacob H. Hollander,
Abram G. Hutzler Professor of Political Economy.

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. University Circular. Annual Report of the President, 1935-1936, Vol. 481, (November 1936), pp. 99-103.

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Undergraduate

Johns Hopkins. Undergraduate Economics Exams, 1920

Barnett, Weyforth, Mitchell

 

Even at the Johns Hopkins University, one of the pioneers in academic economics in the United States, there were only six semesters worth of undergraduate economics actually offered in 1919-20. This post provides transcriptions of the six semester final examinations for that year.

The final examinations for the 1922-23 academic year have been transcribed for an earlier post.

Note:

Political Economy 2(b) Money and Banking was scheduled to be taught by Professor Barnett in 1919-20. However in the announcement for 1920-21 Dr. Weyforth was listed as course instructor which is consistent with the ex post report for 1919-20 for instruction in the department of political economy.

Political Economic 4(b) was scheduled as Public Finance to be taught by Professor Hollander in 1919-20, but from the exam below it is clear that the course matches “Corporation Finance” found in the course announcements for 1920-21 which was taught by Professor Barnett.

___________________

Instructors of Undergraduate Courses
1919-20

George Ernest Barnett, Ph.D., Professor of Statistics.
A. B., Randolph-Macon College, 1891; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1899-1900, and Ph.D., 1901.
Appointment to professor, 1911.

Broadus Mitchell, Ph.D., Instructor in Political Economy.
A.B., University of South Carolina, 1913; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1916-17, and Ph. D., 1918. Appointment to instructor, 1919.

William Oswald Weyforth, Ph.D., Associate in Political Economy.
A. B., Johns Hopkins University, 1912, and Ph.D., 1915; Instructor, Western Reserve University, 1915-17. Appointment to instructor, 1919.

___________________

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
1919-20

  1. (a) Economic History.
    The economic development of England and the industrial experience of the United States are studied.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Weyforth and Dr. Mitchell.
    (b) Elements of Economics.
    Particular attention is given to the theory of distribution and its application to leading economic problems.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Dr. Weyforth and Dr. Mitchell.
  2. (a) Statistical Methods.
    After a preliminary study of the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation, attention is directed to the chief methods used in statistical inquiry.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Professor Barnett.
    (b) Money and Banking.
    The principles of monetary science are taught with reference to practical conditions in modern systems of currency, banking, and credit.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Dr. Weyforth.
  3. (a) Insurance.
    The principles of insurance are taught with reference to existing systems of property, personal, and social insurance.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year.
    (b) Transportation.
    The history and theory of transportation are taught with particular reference to conditions in the United States.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year.
    [Course 3 will not be given in 1919-1920.]
  4. (a) Labor Problems.
    The problems growing out of modern industrial employment will be studied.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Dr. Mitchell.
    (b) Corporation Finance.
    The theory and practice of corporation finance are considered, with particular reference to the problems presented in the United States.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Professor Barnett.

NOTE—Undergraduate Course 2 is open only to such students as have completed or are pursuing Course 1: Courses 3, 4, and 5 only to students who have completed 1 and 2.

 

Sources: Johns Hopkins University, University Register 1918-1919 with Announcements for 1919-20. Circular, Vol. 38, No. 314, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, April 1919), p.222.

Johns Hopkins University, Annual Report of the President 1919-20, Circular, Vol. 39, No. 327, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, April 1919), p. 66.

___________________

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I
[Economic history]

February 5, 1920, 9 – 12 A.M.

  1. Describe the manor system.
  2. How were the gilds organized, and what were the circumstances of their dissolution? What were the economic consequences of the Black Death?
  3. Discuss the Industrial Revolution, giving its causes and main effects. What results did it have for the manual worker in England?
  4. What is the doctrine of laissez faire, and how did it come to have such vogue, particularly in the first years of the 19th century?
  5. Discuss the Factory Acts. What tendency in social thinking did they represent?
  6. What are chief social and economic advantages and disadvantages of the division of labor?
  7. Do you think our present method of securing entrepreneurs a good one? How might it be improved?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I
[Elements of economics]

June 3, 1920, 9 A.M. – 12 M.

  1. Name and discuss as many theories of wages as you know.
  2. Explain, with the assistance of a diagram, the differential principle of rent. How does the argument of the Single Tax rest on this law?
  3. What is the distinction between interest and profits? Explain the economic justification of each.
  4. Describe the functions of credit. Show how the Federal Reserve System has remedied defects in the National Bank System.
  5. Comment upon the following statement: “We are coming to be more interested in promoting the health of nations than the wealth of nations. The aim of political economy is humanistic.”
  6. Using your economic knowledge, supplemented by conversation with a man of affairs, give an estimate of the present financial and business situation.
  7. What are the theoretical foundations and practical proposals of socialism?
  8. What advantage have you gained from studying political economy?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY II
[Statistical methods]

February 2, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Explain how a “refined” death rate is calculated. Illustrate.
  2. What kinds of questions can not properly be asked in taking a census?
  3. Define “average” and “measure of dispersion.”
  4. Discuss the significance of different averages.
  5. Calculate Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, the probable error, and the ratio of variation for the following:

X

 Y
1

2

2

5

3

3

4

 8
5

7
  1. Define an index number.
  2. Discuss the relative advantages of the “aggregate” and the “relative” methods of computing index numbers.
  3. Under what conditions is “weighting” necessary?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY II
[Money and banking]

TUESDAY June 1, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Describe the various forms of money in use in the United States.
  2. What are the essential features of a system of bimetallism? Explain the advantages and disadvantages of such a system.
  3. Give a brief history of the greenbacks.
  4. What is a bill of exchange? An acceptance? A promissory note? What are the advantages of trade acceptances?
  5. What are the principal ways in which deposits originate in commercial banks? Explain the connection between loans and deposits.
  6. Describe the defects of the old national banking system.
  7. Outline the organization of the Federal Reserve System.
  8. Explain the quantity theory of money, showing the effect of both money and deposits on prices.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY IV
[Labor problems]

February 3, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Did trade unionism in England originate in the gilds? Did the American labor movement grow out of gild organizations? Give reasons for your answer.
  2. How did the Industrial Revolution affect British working-men?
  3. Discuss the Combination Acts. Who was Francis Place and what part did he play in the labor movement?
  4. What facts as to the Knights of Labor are indicated by the motto “an injury to one is the concern of all”?
  5. Discuss the closed shop.
  6. Is there any justification for the policy of restriction of output as employed by unions? By employers?
  7. What are the chief causes of strikes? How have unions affected the causes of strikes?
  8. What did you learn from the steel strike and the coal strike?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY IV
[Corporation finance]

June 2, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Discuss the relative advantages of the various legal forms of the business unit.
  2. Trace briefly the history of the corporation.
  3. Define “preferred stock” and describe the varieties of such stock.
  4. Why are ordinary business corporations frequently over-capitalized? Is this justifiable?
  5. State the principles of capitalization adopted by public service commissions.
  6. Explain the difference between “treasury stock” and “authorized but not issued” stock.
  7. Discuss the legal relations of the persons participating in a syndicate.
  8. How are corporate securities usually marketed? Why?
  9. Explain and discuss the principle of “trading on the equity” as applied in the capitalization of corporations.
  10. Under what conditions would the issue of common stock only be desirable?

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives, Eisenhower Library. Department of Political Economy, Series 5/6. Box: 6/1. Folder: Department of Political Economy, Exams, 1907-1924.

___________________

Image Sources: Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

George Ernest Barnett (1873-1938), ca 52 years of age
William Oswald Weyforth (1889-1983), ca 36 years of age
John Broadus Mitchell (1892-1988), ca 30 years of age

 

 

Categories
Economics Programs Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Graduate Studies and Exams of Yukimasa Hattori, Ph.D. 1903

 

This post begins with a chronicle of the course work and seminar presentations of the Japanese graduate student of economics, Yukimasa Hattori, at the Johns Hopkins University for the academic years 1900-01 and 1901-02. I find it really remarkable that one is able to put together such a detailed timeline for an arbitrary single graduate student well over a century ago from online sources.  A transcription of the doctoral examination questions given to Hattori found in the Johns Hopkins archive and a link to Hattori’s published dissertation complete the post.

Perhaps a Japanese visitor to this blog could find and share additional biographical information about Hattori from Japanese language sources?

____________________________

Date of death of Yukimasa Hattori

In Graduates and Fellows of the Johns Hopkins University, 1876-1913. Yukimasa Hattori was listed as having died April 6, 1913.

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular, (April 1914). Graduates and Fellows of the Johns Hopkins University 1876-1913, p. 23.

____________________________

Coursework of Yukimasa Hattori

First Half-Year, 1900-1901

Daily except Wednesday, 11 a.m. Class B. Elementary German and German Reader. Dr. Kurrelmeyer

Minor Course, Class B. Four hours weekly. Otis, Elementary German (First Part); Brandt, German Reader (50pp.); Heyse, L’Arrabbiata; Goethe, Egmont; E. S. Buchheim, Elementary German Prose Composition; Whitney, German Grammar.

Monday and Tuesday, 9 a.m. Labor Problems. Mr. W. F. Willoughby

Labor Problems. Mr. W. F. Willoughby, of the United States Bureau of Labor, lectured on Labor Problems to ten graduate students, two hours weekly, during the first half-year.
This course was devoted primarily to a study of the group of movements having for their purpose the increase in the economic security of the laboring classes. Each of the contingencies was considered in which workingmen are unable to earn wages, as disability, sickness, accident, premature invalidity old age, and inability to obtain work, and the effort now being made in Europe and the United States for providing for them through insurance or otherwise A few lectures were also given on the organization and practical work of statistical bureaus in various countries.

Monday and Tuesday, 12 M. United States Constitutional Law. Dr. Willoughby

Advanced United States Constitutional Law. Eleven graduate students, two hours weekly, throughout the year. These lectures presupposed a general knowledge of our political history and of the elements of our public law, and were therefore devoted to the discussion of the more perplexing and as yet unsettled points in our constitutional law, the illustrations being largely drawn from the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court during the last few years. Especial attention was given to the examinations of the legal problems involved in the annexation and government of foreign territories. Carefully prepared written analyses of the leading cases considered were required of the students.

Wednesday, 9 a.m. Economic Development. Associate Professor Sherwood.

The Law of Economic Development. Eight graduate students, one hour weekly, through the year. This course was an examination of the law of evolution as applied to economic life. The basis of this application is found in the fact that social activity and organization begin in the want and will of individuals, and that these are governed by an economic or utilitarian principle which leads men to act so as to secure the greatest satisfaction with the least sacrifice. The operation of this principle was shown in military, political, and religious life, as well as in industrial activity. Individual variation, which begins change, in itself an illustration of this law and the new social organization which results, is evolved from these utilitarian choices and efforts of the individuals. Division of labor, the varying forms of industrial organization and the growth of capital are all to be explained in the same way.

Wednesday and Thursday, 12 m. History of Political Philosophy. Dr. Willoughby.

History of Political Theories, 1300 to 1750 A.D. Twelve graduate students, two hours weekly, throughout the year. The political ideals and principles of this period were analyzed and criticized. An especial effort was made to show the extent to which these theories were the outcome of the political conditions and general characteristics of the times in which they were formulated.

Alternate Thursdays, 4-6 p.m. Economic Seminary, Associate Professor Sherwood

Economic Seminary met two hours fortnightly, with eight graduate students. The special study of Commerce and Commercial Policy of the United States has been continued, in part by the preparation of papers and in part by the critical study of List’s National System of Political Economy. Papers upon other topics were also read and reviews were given of current economic literature.

Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. Banking. Associate Professor Sherwood

Modern Banking. Two hours weekly, first half-year, with ten graduate students. A comparative study of the banking systems of England, France, Germany, and the United States was made. Attention was directed to the internal organization of the central banks and their relation to the other banking institutions of their respective countries, to the present status of the business done by the banks, and to the relation of these banks to the government. Conclusions were drawn from these studies as to the tendencies in modern banking, and certain needed reforms in the American system were pointed out.

Alternate Fridays, 8 p.m. Historical Seminary. Professor Adams.

Historical Seminar [also called “Historical and Political Science Association”] met regularly on alternate Friday evening and was attended by eighteen students and five instructors. The more important original work of the department was presented in these fortnightly meetings, and the current literature of history, economics, and political science was subjected to review and criticism. The proceedings from October 5 to March 15 are published in the University Circulars in January, March,[ and May-June] 1901.

Sources:  Johns Hopkins University Circulars Vol. XX. No. 148 (November, 1900), pp. 5-6; Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the President of Johns Hopkins University, 1901, pp. 72, 84-87.

 

Second Half-Year, 1900-1901

Daily except Wednesday, 11 a.m. Class B. Elementary German Grammar and Prose. Dr. Kurrelmeyer

Monday, 9-11 a.m. American Finance. Dr. E. D. Durand.

American Financial History. Dr. E. Dana Durand, Secretary of the United States Industrial Commission, on leave of absence from Stanford University, lectured…to a class of six graduate students, two hours weekly, during the second half-year. The course covered the history of the public finances of the United States Government, from the beginning of the Revolution to 1890. The development of the customs duties and of other methods of taxation was traced and the policy of debt management was discussed. The history of the currency and banking system was also considered in so far as it bears on the general subject of the administration of the public treasury. The students did collateral reading from a number of original documents and of secondary treatises, and each of them presented a paper on some phase of financial history.

Monday and Tuesday, 12 M. United States Constitutional Law. Dr. Willoughby

See First Half-year 1900-1901, above

Wednesday, 9 a.m. Economic Development. Associate Professor Sherwood.

The Law of Economic Development [Associate Professor Sherwood], with eight graduate students, one hour weekly, through the year. This course was an examination of the law of evolution as applied to economic life. The basis of this application is found in the fact that social activity and organization begin in the want and will of individuals, and that these are governed by an economic or utilitarian principle which leads men to act so as to secure the greatest satisfaction with the least sacrifice. The operation of this principle was shown in military, political, and religious life, as well as in industrial activity. Individual variation, which begins change, in itself an illustration of this law and the new social organization which results, is evolved from these utilitarian choices and efforts of the individuals. Division of labor, the varying forms of industrial organization and the growth of capital are all to be explained in the same way.

Wednesday and Thursday, 12 m. History of Political Philosophy. Dr. Willoughby.

See First Half-year 1900-1901, above

Alternate Thursdays, 4-6 p.m. Economic Seminary, Associate Professor Sherwood

See First Half-year 1900-1901, above

Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. Theory of Credit. Associate Professor Sherwood

Theory of Credit with six graduate students, two hours weekly, second half-year. Analysis of credit was made so as to indicate the operation of credit in its economic rather than in its legal aspect. The part played by credit in productive organization and processes was then traced. The adequacy of present credit institutions to meet the requirements of the various classes of industry was also discussed, as well as the relation of credit to prices. The course was closed with a brief review of the historical development of the theory of credit.

Alternate Fridays, 8 p.m. Historical Seminary. Professor Adams

See First Half-year 1900-1901, above

Sources: Johns Hopkins University Circulars Vol. XX, No. 150 (March, 1901), pp. 40-41.; Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the President of Johns Hopkins University, 1901, pp. 72, 84-87.

 

First Half-Year, 1901-1902

Monday 9 a.m. Current Economic Literature, Associate Professor Hollander and Dr. Barnett

During the first half-year, Associate Professor Hollander also directed a journal club, in weekly meetings, for the review and discussion of current economic literature, and for exercise in the use of original sources of economic and financial information.

Monday and Tuesday 10 a.m. Germanic Civilization. Associate Professor Vincent.

No further information available.

Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 a.m. Theory and Practice of Finance. Associate Professor Hollander

Finance, [was taught by Associate Professor Hollander] two hours weekly through the year. The past financial experience and the present fiscal practice of the United States — federal, state, and local — were taken as the basis for critical and comparative study. The emergence of contemporary problems in our public economics was traced, and the concrete issues thus presented served to introduce an exposition of the fundamental theories of the science of finance. Emphasis was put upon the place of financial technique in public economics, and attention was directed to the immediate financial problems presented by our new insular possessions. A reasonable amount of collateral reading from selected texts was done in connection with the course.

Wednesday, 11 a.m. Oral Examinations in General History. Dr. Ballagh.

Oral Examinations in General History, [Dr. J. C. Ballagh, Associate in History has conducted] one hour weekly, through the year. This work is particularly designed for candidates for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, though advanced graduates are sometimes admitted to attendance. Important fields of general history were consecutively and systematically reviewed, but especial emphasis was laid upon those in which greater concentration was needed by the individual members of the class. The special course on the political history of Greece and Rome given last year was replaced by a similar specialized course on the constitutional history of England and the political history of the United States. The sources and best exponents of the history of the periods covered were discussed and used by the class.

Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. Mediaeval France. Associate Professor Vincent.

Mediaeval France [taught by Associate Professor J. M. Vincent]. Two hours weekly, first half-year. These two courses together provided a systematic treatment of the history of Europe during the early Middle Ages. Each student was required to present a syllabus of the whole subject with references to sources and authorities.

Wednesday and Thursday 12 m. Legal Aspects of Economic and Industrial Problems. Associate Professor Willoughby.

The Legal Aspects of Economic and Industrial Problems [taught by Associate Professor Willoughby] two hours weekly, throughout the year. The points of law involved in such matters as the control of interstate commerce, taxation, factory legislation and other exercises of the so-called police power, the fixing of wages and prices, the management of strikes, lockouts, boycotts, the control of industrial combinations, of labor unions, etc., were examined. The development of the present law was traced both in the common law and in statutory enactments, and proposals for its amendment outlined and discussed.

Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. Development of Economic Theories since Adam Smith. Associate Professor Hollander

Development of Economic Theories since Adam Smith, [was taught by Associate Professor Hollander] two hours weekly through the year. A detailed historical survey was made of the development of the fundamental concepts of economic science from Adam Smith to current thought. The body of English thought was followed in the main, but other writers and schools were examined wherever direct influence or analogy was discerned. The method of treatment was topical, resulting in a series of cross-sectional views of the history of economic thought. In connection with the course, members of the class read Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, Thomas Robert Malthus’s Essay on Population, and John Stuart Mill’s Principles of Political Economy.

Alternate Tuesdays, 8 p.m. Economic Seminary, Associate Professor Hollander and Dr. Barnett

Economic Seminary, [was led by Associate Professor Hollander] fortnightly, in two-hour sessions, through the year, with membership limited to the most advanced students, and designed to develop the use of sound methods of economic research. The general subjects of study were the commercial policies and the industrial institutions of Europe and the United States in the nineteenth century. Dr. George E. Barnett, Instructor in Political Economy, assisted in the conduct of the work. Each member of the Seminary prepared and submitted, for detailed criticism as to method and content, one or more studies within [their] field of inquiry.

Alternate Fridays, 8 p.m. Historical and Political Science Association.

 

Sources: Johns Hopkins University Circulars Vol. XXI, No. 154 (December, 1901), p. 15; Twenty-Seventh Annual Report of the President of The Johns Hopkins University, 1902, pp. 58-60, 62-64.

 

Second Half-Year, 1901-1902

Monday, 9 a.m. Elements of Statistics. Dr. Barnett.

Dr. George E. Barnett, Instructor in Political Economy, gave a course of twenty lectures on the Elements of Statisticsduring the second half- year. Attention was directed chiefly to the history of statistics and to methods of statistical investigation. As illustrative material, some of the chief problems of vital statistics were discussed.

Monday and Tuesday, 10 a.m. German Reformation. Associate Professor Vincent

The German Reformation [taught by Associate Professor J. M. Vincent]. Two hours weekly, second half-year. Beginning with the causes of the Lutheran movement these lectures extended through the Swiss Reformation until the Protestant churches were firmly established. Emphasis was laid particularly upon the social and political conditions which influenced this revolution.

Alternate Tuesdays, 8 p.m. Economic Seminary, Associate Professor Hollander and Dr. Barnett

See First Half-year 1901-1902, above

Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 a.m. Theory and Practice of Finance. Associate Professor Hollander

See First Half-year 1901-1902, above

Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. English Reformation. Associate Professor Vincent

England in the Sixteenth Century [taught by Associate Professor J. M. Vincent]. Two hours weekly, second half-year. This course covered the period of the Reformation in England and included the significant parts of the reign of Elizabeth.

Wednesday, 11 a.m. Oral Examinations in General History. Dr. Ballagh.

See First Half-year 1901-1902, above

Wednesday and Thursday 12 m. Legal Aspects of Economic and Industrial Problems. Associate Professor Willoughby.

See First Half-year 1901-1902, above

Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. Development of Economic Theories since Adam Smith. Associate Professor Hollander

See First Half-year 1901-1902, above

 

Sources: Johns Hopkins University Circulars Vol. XXI., No. 157 (April, 1902), pp. 73-74; Twenty-Seventh Annual Report of the President of The Johns Hopkins University, 1902, pp. 58-60, 62-64.

____________________________

Fellowship Announced June 10, 1902

Yukimasa Hattori, of Sagaken, Japan, Tokyo College of Science, 1898. Economics.

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University Circulars Vol. XXI., No. 159 (July, 1902), p. 111.

 

____________________________

Presentations by Yukimasa Hattori

Historical and Political Science Assocation

May 10, 1901. International Private Law in Japan.

Source: Johns Hopkins University Circulars Vol. XX., No. 152 (May-June, 1901), p. 89.

February, 1902. Patten’s Theory of Prosperity.

Source: Johns Hopkins University Circulars Vol. XXI., No. 157 (April, 1902), p. 66.

Economic Seminary

December 10, 1901. Commercial Relations of Japan since 1868.

April 22, 1902. Japan’s Foreign Trade since the Restoration, (1868-1900).

Source: Johns Hopkins University Circulars Vol. XXI., No. 158 (June, 1902), p. 77.

____________________________

Ph.D. Examinations

Mr. Y. Hattori.

General Examination in Political Economy, May 27, 1903
(General)

  1. Discuss the commercial development of Japan with reference to the theory of international value.
  2. What theoretical influences contributed to Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations?
  3. Trace the development of economic thought with respect to the measure of value.
  4. Describe and criticize the wage-fund theory.
  5. Discuss modern industrial combinations in the light of an assignable limit to the growth in the size of the modern industrial unit.
  6. Describe the history of the general property tax, and discuss its shifting and incidence.
  7. What successive financial measures should be taken by Japan upon the declaration of war with a foreign power?
  8. Discuss the theoretical difficulties and the practical advantages in the use of index numbers.
  9. Upon what principle should railroad rates be fixed? Discuss fully.
  10. Discuss the validity of collective bargaining with reference to industrial conditions in Japan.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Mr. Y. Hattori.

SPECIAL EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY
MAY 30, 1903.
(Money and Banking.)

  1. Discuss the relation of prices to the money supply.
  2. Define credit and describe its functions.
  3. Describe the chief stages in the history of the Bank of England.
  4. Discuss the theory of bimetallism.
  5. Describe the chief classes of banks in the United States.
  6. Compare the Bank of Japan with the German Reichsbank.
  7. Discuss the relation of deposits to reserve.
  8. Describe the history of the Japanese Currency since 1868.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, MAY 29, 1903.
Graduate Courses, 1902-1903.

  1. Discuss credit and its service in modern economic life.
  2. What changes are desirable in the American currency system?
  3. Discuss the movement of the precious metals as a feature of international trade.
  4. Speculation and its relation to modern industrial organization.
  5. Describe the inter-relations of mercantilistic theory and practice.
  6. The forerunners of Adam Smith and their contributions to the “Wealth of Nations”.
  7. What is the genesis of the differential law of rent?
  8. Contrast the places of Adam Smith and David Ricardo in the history of economic thought.

Source:  Johns Hopkins University. Milton S. Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy. Series 6. Box 3/1. Folder “Graduate Exams, 1903-1932”.

____________________________

Ph.D. Dissertation

Hattori, Yukimasa. The Foreign Commerce of Japan Since the Restoration, 1869-1900. In the series Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Series XXII, No. 9-10. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, September-October, 1904. (text: 71 pages)

 

JAPAN’S FOREIGN TRADE SINCE THE RESTORATION (1868-1900).
By YUKIMASA HATTORI.

[Abstract of a paper read before the Economic Seminary, April 22, 1902.]

The total amount of Japan’s exports and imports was 26 million yen in 1868; 65 million yen in 1880; 138 million yen in 1890, and from that year on, the aggregate increased by leaps and bounds—most notably after the China-Japanese War (1894-5)—until it reached the enormous sum of 491 million yen in 1900. Stated in terms of the yen, this increase is, however, more apparent than real. Since 1873 the value of silver not only relative to gold but also relative to all commodities has gradually gone down, or in other words general prices in Japan have gone up about seventy-five per cent, so that the figures above stated must be reduced according to the index number of prices in each, particular year in order to show the actual quantity of commodities.

In character, it is only since 1890 that Japan’s export trade has undergone important change. Such commodities as cotton yarn, habutaye (white silk fabric,) silk handkerchiefs, matches, straw braids, floor matting, and European umbrellas, which now form the most important exports, first appeared in the foreign trade of Japan almost simultaneously in 1890. For example, in the case of cotton yarn and habutaye,—in 1890 the export of the former was only 2,000 yen and of the latter 818,000 yen; in 1900 the corresponding figures were 20,589,000 yen and 18,314,000 yen, respectively. In other words, up to 1890, the principal articles of export were the natural products most suited to the soil of Japan such as tea, raw silk, rice, copper, coal, camphor and marine products. Since 1890, the export of manufactured goods has gradually risen to a far larger percentage than that of raw materials.

The logical consequence of this change in the character of Japan’s foreign trade has been a change in its geographical distribution. The tide of Japanese trade is moving more and more towards the eastern shores of continental Asia, namely, Russian Asia, Corea, China, Hongkong, British India and the Straits Settlement. Both exports to and imports from European countries are decreasing, relatively; while the imports from the United States show a remarkable increase.

Source: Johns Hopkins University Circulars Vol. XXI., No. 158 (June, 1902), p. 81.

Ph.D. Awarded, 1902-03:

Yukimasa Hattori, of Sagaken, Japan, Tokyo College of Science, 1898.
Subjects: Political Economy, Political Science, and History. Dissertation: The Foreign Commerce of Japan since the Restoration. Referees on Dissertation: Professor Hollander and Dr. Barnett.

Source: Johns Hopkins University, University Publications No 2, 1903-04. The Twenty-Eight Annual Report of the President with Accompanying Reports, 1903 (Baltimore, January 1904), p. 71.

Image Source: Frontpiece of the Johns Hopkins University yearbook, The Hullabaloo 1903.

Categories
Johns Hopkins Seminar Speakers

Johns Hopkins. Economic Seminary. Participants, Presenters and Topics, 1926-27

 

The graduate economic seminary at Johns Hopkins University kept good records of the weekly sessions so that we know the names of all the presenters and their topics. I have added the academic backgrounds from the published Johns Hopkins Circular for graduate students either attending or presenting.

The economic seminary schedule for the following years have also been posted:

1903-1904
1904-1905

1922-1923
1923-1924
1924-1925
1925-1926
1926-1927

_____________

POLITICAL ECONOMY
The Economic Seminary

“The students following Political Economy as a principal subject for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy met weekly under the direction of Professors Hollander and Barnett. The work of the year centered in the investigation of representative forms of industrial development in the United States, and in the analysis of significant activities of American labor organizations…”

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular, Annual Report of the President of the Johns Hopkins University 1926-1927, (October 1927, Vol. 46, No. 385), p. 63.

_____________

MEMBERS OF THE ECONOMIC SEMINARY
1926-1927

[B = School of Business Economics; BE = Evening courses in Business Economics; E = School of Engineering; G = Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; SE = Social Economics; T = College for Teachers. The small “s” following a capital letter indicates a special student. Roman numeral indicates year of residence.]

Allen, George Levis. (G) I. S.B. Washington University 1905. Political Economy.

Allen, Paul Stephen (BE).

Adams, Beatrice. (SE) (G) II. A.B. Newcomb College, Tulane University 1925. Political Economy.

Black, Stanley.

Goodnow, Elinor Root (SE) (G) II. A.B. Vassar College 1913. Political Economy.

Hart, William Sebastian. (G) III. A.B. Johns Hopkins University 1924. Political Economy.

Helbing, Albert Theodore. (G) III. Ph.B. Denison University 1923. Political Economy.

Hodgkins, Alton Ross. (G) I. A.B. Bates College 1911; A.M. American University 1926. Political Economy.

Lampen, Dorothy. (BE) (Ts) (G) I. A.B. Carleton College 1926. Political Economy.

McCulloch, Mary W. C. (SE) (G) II. Political Economy.

McDaniel, J. Milton. (G) II. A.B. Johns Hopkins University 1924. Political Economy.

Morrissy, Elizabeth. (Gs) VI. A.B. Beloit College 1908; A.M. Johns Hopkins University 1922. Political Economy.

Murchison, Lucia. (SE) (GE) II. A.B. Agnes Scott College 1922. Political Economy.

Powlison, Keith Eon. (G) III. A.B. Columbia College 1922. Political Economy.

Rea, Leonard Owens. (G) III. A.B. Johns Hopkins University 1924. Political Economy.

Reid, Gertrude. (SE) (G) II. S.B. Elmira College 1925. Political Economy.

Schneider, David Moses. (G) III. E.E. University of Kieff [sic, Kyiv] 1921. A.M. Johns Hopkins University. Political Economy.

Snoke, M. Elsie S. (Mrs.) (SE)

Street, Helen Merryman. (SE) (G) II. A.B. Salem College 1921. Political Economy.

Taylor, Lyra. (SE) (G) II. LL.B. Victoria College, Wellington (New Zealand). Political Economy.

Van Hall, Madeleine W. (SE) (G) II. A.B. Radcliffe College 1925. Political Economy.

Walker, Mabel L. (S) (G) I. A.B. Barnard College 1926. Political Economy.

Wine, Helen. (SE) (G) II. A.B. Western Maryland College 1923. Political Economy.

Faculty

Dr. Professor Jacob Harry Hollander, Professor of Political Economy

Dr. George Ernest Barnett, Professor of Statistics

Dr. William O. Weyforth, Associate Professor of Political Economy

Dr. George Hilles Newline, Associate Professor of Accounting

Dr. Broadus Mitchell, Associate in Political Economy

Miss Theo Jacobs, Associate in Social Economics

Dr. George Heberton Evans, Jr., Instructor in Political Economy

 

Seminar Presentations 1926-27

October 6, 1926

The session’s first meeting of the Seminary was held on October 6. Members of the staff gave informal accounts of their summer activity.

October 13, 1926

Professor Hollander read a paper on “The Royal Commission on Indian Currency”.

October 20, 1926

Professor Barnett read a paper on “Family Allowances”.

October 22, 1926

Incident to the Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration of the University, the Department of Political Economy held a reunion of alumni Friday afternoon, October 22. The meeting was held in the Seminary Room. Professor Hollander presided. He told in outline the history of the Seminary under the seeral professors and lecturers who have directed its work. He then called upon old members of the seminary to give their reminiscences of work in the department.

Following the meeting in the Seminary Room, Professor Barnett entertained the alumni of the Departments of Political Economy, History and Political Science at tea in the Historical Library. Those attending the reunion of the Department are as follows:

Victor Rosewater William A. Wetzel Alfred B. Morton
A. Herbert Fedder James W. Chapman William O. Weyforth
Joshua Bernhardt Broadus Mitchell G. H. Evans, Jr.
M. A. Mechanic A. M. Sakolski L. Owens Rea
G. H. Newlove Edward W. Bemis Dorothy Lampen
K. Morimoto David A. McCabe Albert T. Helbing
Robert Merrick L. F. Schmeckebie George L. Allen
B. W. Arnold Theo Jacobs J. Milton McDaniel
D. M. Schneider

At eight o’clock in the evening, fifty past members of the Seminary and members of their families were guests of Professor Hollander at dinner at his home. Several were present who had not found it possible to attend the afternoon meeting.

October 27, 1926

Dr. Mitchell read a paper on “Installment Buying”.

November 3, 1926

Mr. Powlison read a paper on “Substitution of Other Materials for Wood and Their Relation to the Lumber Industry”.

November 10, 1926

Mr. Helbing read a paper on “The Metal Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor”.

November 17, 1926

Mr. Schneider read a paper on “The Workers’ Party and the Furriers’ Union”.

November 24, 1926

Dr. Evans read a paper on “History of Preferred Stock”.

December 1, 1926

Miss Jacobs read a paper on “Trade Unions and Social Work”.

December 8, 1926

Dr. Newlove read a paper on “Graduate Schools of Business”.

December 15, 1926

Mr. Rea read a paper on “The Financial History of Baltimore Since 1900”.

Christmas Recess.

January 5, 1927

Professor Barnett read a paper on “The Validity of the Index Numbers of the Cost of Living”.

January 12, 1927

Miss Taylor read a paper on “Juvenile Courts in the United States”.

January 19, 1927

Miss Adams read a paper on “A Survey of the Hospitals of New Orleans”.

January 26, 1927

Mr. Schneider read a paper on “The Workers’ Party and the Miners’ Union”.

February 2, 1927

Miss Morrissy read a paper on “Unemployment Insurance in the Clothing Industry”.

February 9, 1927

Professor Hollander read a paper on “The Theory of a Universal Glut”.

February 16, 1927

Dr. Mitchell read a paper on “The Industrial Revolution in the South”.

February 23, 1927

Miss Lampen read a paper on “Land Reclamation in the West”.

March 2, 1927

Mr. Helbing read a paper on “The Union Label Trades Department and the Railway Employees Department of the American Federation of Labor”.

March 9, 1927

Miss Walker read a paper on “Finances of Public Libraries”.

March 16, 1927

Mr. Newman read a paper on “The Conception of Income”.

March 23, 1927

Dr. Weyforth read a paper on “The McFadden Bill”.

March 30, 1927

Mr. Hodgkins read a paper on “Baltimore’s Trade with South America”.

April 6, 1927

Professor Hollander read a paper on “John Bates Clark as an Economist”. Professor Barnett read a paper on “The Theory of the Entrepreneur”.

April 13, 1927

Mr. Newman read a paper on “Significance of Depreciation as Applied in the Administration of Federal Income Tax”.

April 20, 1927

No meeting. — Easter Recess

April 27, 1927

Miss Reid read a paper on “An Index of Dependency in Baltimore”.

May 4, 1927

Miss Streett read a paper on “Hospital Facilities for Negroes in Baltimore”.

May 11, 1927

Miss Van Hall read a paper on “Domestic Difficulty Cases of the Family Welfare Association”.

May 18, 1927

Miss Wine read a paper on “The Intake of the Family Welfare Association”. Miss Murchison read a paper on “A Study of Juvenile Gonorrheics in Baltimore”.

(last meeting)

Sources:   

Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 1. Minutes of the Economic Seminary, 1892-1951. Folder “1922-1940”.

The Johns Hopkins University Circular, University Register, 1926-27, (February 1927, Vol. 46, No. 378). For full names and educational backgrounds of students in the seminar.

The Johns Hopkins University Circular, Annual Report of the President of the Johns Hopkins University 1926-1927, (October 1927, Vol. 46, No. 385), pp. 63-64. List of names and topics for seminar speakers without dates.

Image Source:  Jacob Harry Hollander (ca. 1918) from Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries’ graphic and pictorial collection.

 

Categories
Johns Hopkins Seminar Speakers

Johns Hopkins. Economic Seminary, presenters and topics. 1925-26

 

 

The graduate economic seminary at Johns Hopkins University kept good records of the weekly sessions so that we know the names of all the presenters and their topics. I have added the academic backgrounds from the published Johns Hopkins Circular for all the graduate students either attending or presenting.

The economic seminary schedule for the following years have also been posted:

1903-1904
1904-1905

1922-1923
1923-1924
1924-1925
1925-1926
1926-1927

_____________

POLITICAL ECONOMY

…The Economic Seminary

“The students following Political Economy as a principal subject for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy met weekly under the direction of Professors Hollander and Barnett. The work of the year centered in the investigation of representative forms of industrial development in the United States, and in the analysis of significant activities of American labor organizations…”

 

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular, Annual Report of the President of the Johns Hopkins University 1925-1926, (October 1926, Vol. 45, No. 375), pp. 106.

_____________

MEMBERS OF THE ECONOMIC SEMINARY
1925-1926

Students and visitors

[G = Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; SE = Social Economics; T = Teachers College. The small “s” following a capital letter indicates a special student. Roman numeral indicates year of residence.]

Fonaroff, Frank Israel. (Gs) I. S.B. Eng. Johns Hopkins University 1918; M.B.A. Harvard University 1924. Political Economy.

[Froehlich, Wolfgang. (G) I. Graduate, St. Elisabeth Real-Gymnasium, Breslau 1924. Political Economy.]

Fulton, Maria Kent.  (SE) (G) II. A.B. Hollins College 1924. Political Economy.

Hart, William Sebastian. (Gs) II. A.B. Johns Hopkins University 1924. Political Economy.

Helbing, Albert Theodore.(G) II. Ph.B. Denison University 1923. Political Economy.

Hilberg, Mildred Edith.(SE) (G) II. A.B. Goucher College 1923. Political Economy.

Hoops, Walther Dietrich. (G) I. Ph.D. Heidelberg University 1923. Political Economy.

Howard, Charles Harold. (G) II. S.B. Gettysburg College 1923. Political Economy.

Mitchell, Elizabeth W. (SE) (G) II. A.B. Goucher College 1924. Political Economy.

Mitchell, George Sinclair. (G) III. A.B. University of Richmond 1922. Political Economy.

Newman, Andrew J. (G) II. A.B. Washington University 1910. A.M. University of Missouri 1911. Political Economy.

Northcutt, Elizabeth. (SE) (G) I. S.B. in Education, University of Missouri 1924. S.B. in Business and Public Administration 1925. Political Economy.

Powlison, Keith Eon. (G) II. A.B. Columbia College 1922. Political Economy.

Rea, Leonard Owens. (G) II. A.B. Johns Hopkins University 1924. Political Economy.

Richardson, Ellen L. (SE) (G) II. A.B. Wellesley College 1919. Political Economy.

Richardson, Hayes Ayres. (Ts) (G) I. A. B. Randolph-Macon College 1922. Political Economy.

Robinson, Carolyn A. (G) I. A.B. Wellesley College 1924. Political Economy.

Schneider, David M. (G) II. E.E. University of Kieff [sic, Kyiv?] 1921. Political Economy.

Townsend, Clarissa L. (SE) (Gs) III. A.B. Goucher College 1923. Political Economy.

 

Faculty

Professor Jacob H. Hollander, Professor of Political Economy

Professor George E. Barnett, Professor of Statistics

Dr. William O. Weyforth, Associate Professor of Political Economy

Dr. Broadus Mitchell, Associate in Political Economy

Miss Theo Jacobs, Associate in Social Economics

Dr. George Heberton Evans, Jr., Instructor in Political Economy

_____________

Seminar Presentations 1925-26

October 7, 1925

The session’s opening meeting of the Seminary was held in the Seminary Room, 315 Gilman Hall, at 2 o’clock. Accounts were given of summer experiences. The list of the members of the Seminary is given on another page [see above].

October 14, 1925

Professor Hollander read a paper on “The History of the Manuscript of Ricardo’s ‘Notes on Malthus’.”

October 21, 1925

Professor Barnett read a paper on “The Introduction of Machinery and the Displacement of Skill”.

October 28, 1925

Dr. Weyforth read a paper on “The ‘Current Rate of Wages’ in Baltimore”.

November 4, 1925

Dr. Mitchell read a paper on “Simon Newcomb and Simon N. Patten”.

November 11, 1925

Mr. Mitchell read a paper on “The Progress of the Unions in the Southern Textile Industry. (1900-1925).”

November 18, 1925

Mr. Powlinson read a paper on “Historical Sketch of the Hours of Labor Movement.”

November 25, 1925

Mr. Rea read a paper on “The Development of Uniform Municipal Accounting.”

December 2, 1925

Mr. Newman read a paper on “Definition of Income.”

December 9, 1925

Mr. Schneider read a paper on “The Workers’ Party in the Machinists’ Union”.

December 16, 1925

Mr. Helbing read a paper on “Structure and Function of the Building Trades Department of the A. F. of L.

Christmas Recess.

January 6, 1926

Mr. Howard read a paper on “Promotion and Tenure in the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen.”

January 13, 1926

Professor Hollander read a paper on “Introduction to Ricardo’s Notes on Malthus”.

January 20, 1926

Professor Barnett read a paper on “The Introduction of Machinery and Trade Union Policy”.

January 27, 1926

Dr. Mitchell read a paper on “The Economic Opinions of William Gregg and J. H. Hammond”.

February 3, 1926

Miss Townsend read a paper on “Sight-Saving Classes in Baltimore”.

February 10, 1926

Miss Jacobs read a paper on “The Attitude of Trade Unions toward Social Work.”.

February 17, 1926

Mr. Mitchell read a paper on “Trade Unions in the Southern Textile Field”.

February 24, 1926

Miss Richardson read a paper on “The Shriners’ Hospitals for Crippled Children”.

March 3, 1926

Mr. Schneider read a paper on “Union Cooperative Management Plans”.

March 10, 1926

Dr. Hoops read a paper on “The German Iron Industry.

March 17, 1926

Mr. McDaniel read a paper on “The Leather Workers”.

March 24, 1926

Mr. Froehlich read a paper on “The Reconstruction of German Finances”.

March 31, 1926

Miss Mitchell read a paper on “The Intake of the Henry Watson Children’s Aid Society”.

April 14, 1926

Professor Barnett read a paper on “Family Endowments”.

April 21, 1926

Professor Hollander read a paper on “Differences between Ricardo and Malthus as to Rent”.

April 28, 1926

Miss Hilberg read a paper on “Public Welfare in Maryland”.

May 5, 1926

Miss Northcutt read a paper on “The Housing of Common Laborers in Baltimore”.

May 12, 1926

Mr. Richardson read a paper on “Treasury Certificates of Indebtedness”.

May 19, 1926

Mr. Newman read a paper on “The Distinction between Capital and Income as Revealed by the Income Tax”. This was the last meeting of the seminary for the session 1925-26.

 

 

Sources:   

Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 1. Minutes of the Economic Seminary, 1892-1951. Folder “1922-1940”.

The Johns Hopkins University Circular, University Register, 1925-26, (November 1925, Vol. 44, No. 365).

The Johns Hopkins University Circular, Annual Report of the President of the Johns Hopkins University 1925-1926, (October 1926, Vol. 45, No. 375), pp. 106-107. Also lists names and topics for seminar speakers.

 

Image Source: Gilman Hall, Johns Hopkins University from the Johns Hopkins’ yearbook Hullabaloo (1924) .

 

Categories
Johns Hopkins Seminar Speakers

Johns Hopkins. Economic Seminary. Speakers and Topics, 1904-1905

 

 

The  notes of date, place, speaker, topic, seminary participants and occasional visitors of the Johns Hopkins’ economic seminary in 1904-05 were recorded as seminary minutes by James M. Motley. From these handwritten notes we learn that  on a roughly alternating basis the seminary would meet at the home of Professor Hollander (2011 Eutaw Place, Baltimore) and Room 21 McCoy Hall on campus. These minutes have been compared to printed report of the seminar published in the University Circular.

A visitor noted in the October 26, 1904 minutes of the Seminary was Professor Weber from Heidelberg. As can be seen from the letter appended to this post, this was indeed Max Weber who was travelling through the United States at the time.

Source:  The Johns Hopkins University, Eisenhower Library, The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 1, Minutes of the Economic Seminary, 1892-1951. Box 1, 2ndvolume of minutes, Folder “Minutes of the Economic Seminar, 1897-1908”, pp. 148-156.

The printed reports  of seminary participants and the schedule of speakers and their topics have been transcribed for this post.

The economic seminary schedule for the following years have also been posted:

1903-1904
1904-1905

1922-1923
1923-1924
1924-1925
1925-1926
1926-1927

_________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY
Classes meet in McCoy Hall

Economic Seminary: Professor Hollander and Dr. Barnett. Alternately, Wednesday, 8 p. m., Tuesday, 11 a.m. (12)

Bagge, G. A. Glocker, T. W. Kirk, W. Sakolski, A. M.
Blum, S. Hilbert, F. W. Motley, J. M. Taliaferro, T. H.
Buckler, W. H. Kennedy, J. B. Rosebro, F. B. Willis, L. M. R.

Source:  The Johns Hopkins University Circular. New Series, 1905, No. 3 (March, 1905), p. 20.

 

_________________

THE ECONOMIC SEMINARY, 1904-1905,
EDITED BY
PROFESSOR J. H. HOLLANDER and DR. G. E. BARNETT.

The Economic Seminary has continued its investigation into the history, activities and influence of labor organizations in the United States during the current academic year. Its membership has been narrowly limited to advanced students preparing for a scientific career in economic study, and its primary design has been the development of sound method in economic research. The regular fortnightly evening sessions have been supplemented by briefer morning sessions in alternate weeks. The material resources necessary for the inquiry have been supplied by the continued generosity of the citizen of Baltimore, whose original gift made its inception possible.

Appreciable progress has also been made by individual members of the Seminary in the study of specific aspects of the several questions assigned for investigation. During the summer, field work was carried on in various carefully selected localities, and the data thus collected have since been supplemented and corrected by documentary study and personal interview. Certain preliminary studies were completed and published in dignified form, and two senior members of the Seminary submitted monographic studies of the particular subjects on which they have been engaged, in part fulfillment of the requirements for the doctor of philosophy degree. These will appear in the twenty-third series of the Johns Hopkins Studies in Historical and Political Science. Early in the next academic year a cooperative volume of ”Essays in American Trade Unionism” will also be issued by the Seminary, embodying the preliminary results of the various investigations now in progress and ultimately designed for monographic publication.

The record of the proceedings of the Seminary, and abstracts of certain papers there presented, are appended:

October 5. Report of the summer’s field work, by Professor Hollander, Dr. Barnett, Messrs. Kirk, Motley, Hilbert, Glocker, Kennedy, and Blum.
October 11. “Trade Union Agreements in the Iron Holders’ Union,” by F. W. Hilbert.
October 17. Report on the summer’s field work, by W. H. Buckler.
October 26. “Functions of the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor,” by Wm. Kirk.
November 2. “Finances of the Iron Molders’ Union,” by A. M. Sakolski.
November 8. “Collective Bargaining in the International Typographical Union,” by Dr. George E. Barnett.
November 16. “The Apprentice in the Building Trades,” by J. M. Motley.
November 22. “Shop Rules in the Building Trades,” by S. Blum.
November 29. “School Taxation in the Indian Territory,” by Professor Hollander.
December 7. “Shop Rules in the Building Trades,” by S. Blum.
December 13. “Recent Court Decisions Affecting Labor Unions,” by L. M. R. Willis.
December 21. “The Open Shop,” by Dr. George E. Barnett.
January 11. “The Structure of the Iron Holders’ Union,” by T. W. Glocker.
January 17. “The Maryland Workmen’s Compensation Act,” by Dr. George E. Barnett.
January 25. “The Meeting of the Economic Association at Chicago,” by Professor Hollander.
“The Beneficiary Features of the Railway Unions,” by J. B. Kennedy.
January 31. “Reform Movements in Baltimore,” by S. Blum.
February 8. “The Functions of the Allied Trades Council,” by Wm. Kirk.
February 14. “A Sketch of David Ricardo,” by Professor Hollander.

[Dr. Barnett also gave a notice of Adams and Sumner’s “Labor Problems”]
February 24. “The Development of Apprentice Laws in American Labor Unions,” by J. M. Motley.
February 28. “The Origin of the Constitution of the International Typographical Union,” by Dr. George E. Barnett.
March 8. “The Standard Wage in the Machinists’ Union,” by W. H. Buckler.
March 22. “Beneficiary Expenditures of American Trade Unions,” by A. M. Sakolskl
March 29. “Statistical Methods,” by Hon. Charles P. Neill, U. S. Commissioner of Labor.
April 4. “The Government of General Federations of Labor,” by Wm. Kirk.
April 11. “The Union Stamp of the Boot and Shoe Workers’ Union,” by G. A. Bagge.
“Cunnynghame’s Geometrical Political Economy,” by Dr. T. H. Taliaferro.
April 18. “The Administration of Trade Union Finances,” by A. M. Sakolski.
May 2 “The Rise of the National Union,” by T. W. Glocker.
“The Baltimore Municipal Loans,” by S. Blum.
“The Recent Nine Hour Decision of the Supreme Court,” by F. W. Hilbert.
May 9. “The Trade Union Agreements in the Building Trades,” by F. W. Hilbert.
May 16. “Trade Union Rules for Maintaining the Standard Rate,” by S. Blum.
May 23. “Beneficiary Features of the Iron Holders’ Union,” by J. B. Kennedy.

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular. New Series, 1905, No. 6 (June, 1905), pp. 1-3.

_________________

Excerpt from letter to Jacob Hollander from Max Weber
November 3, 1904

Dear Professor Hollander—

Allow me to express, again, how much I enjoyed my visit in your seminary, the acquaintance I made of your students and of your assistant fellow-teacher. I was deeply impressed by the intensity of the work done in your department and, before all, learned with pleasure, that—at least in your university—the ambition to get the largest numberof students, so dangerous even now to almost all our German universities—is not allowed to lower the high standard of scientific investigation. In Germany we suffer much more than you are able to imagine from that illness resulting out of our system of paying the teacher by taxes paid by the students for each lecture.—When I come again after some years—as I hope to do—[I] think my English will be improved so that I will be more able to express myself. —
…
Do you think I should be able to get some recent reports of the Johns Hopkins University and, if possible, the rules for taking the Ph.D. degree, by simply applying to the Secretary of the President? or are the[y] sold by the bookseller? I should be much obliged for any information about that and am sorry having forgotten to ask you in Baltimore.

Yours very respectfully Max Weber (Young’s Hotel, Boston or: Holland House, New York) …

Source: Max Weber to Jacob Hollander 3 November 1904 Young’s Hotel, Boston handwritten Hollander Papers, series I, box 11; Eisenhower Library, the Johns Hopkins University transcribed in Lawrence A. Scaff, Max Weber in America (Princeton, 2011). pp. 260-261.