Tag: Dunbar

Harvard. Political Economy tutor, Henry Howland (Heidelberg PhD). 1873-1874

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-08-03

In Charles F. Dunbar’s third academic year of his professorship in political economy at Harvard [course offerings from the first half of the 1870s], a reshuffling of the required (i.e., non-elective) one semester course in political economy to the sophomore year meant that the course would have to be offered twice in 1873-74, once for juniors and once for sophomores. To handle the increased teaching load, Henry Howland (A.B. Harvard 1869) was appointed tutor in History and Political Economy in 1873-74, having worked as a tutor for German language courses. He had returned to Harvard in the fall term of 1872, after spending a year in France and two years in Germany, where he completed a doctorate in political economy at Heidelberg. Howland went on to Harvard Law School, receiving a law degree in 1878. There he was an instructor on tort law for the years 1879-1883.

Some further research into the life and career of Henry Howland revealed significant episodes of depression (and perhaps other mental illness) that required him to be placed temporarily under the guardianship of his brother.

I have not yet been able to confirm Howland’s Heidelberg advanced degree in political economy mentioned in the memoir of his classmate that was written shortly after his death following “acute melancholia”.

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From Harvard’s
Report of the President 1873-74

“The courses in Political Economy and the Constitution of the United States are found in both years [Sophomore and Junior classes], as these courses were, last year [1873-74], transferred from the Junior to the Sophomore course of study.”

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard University 1873-74, p. 52.

* * * * * * * * * *

Required studies.
Sophomores.

Instructor: Mr. Howland
Subject: Political Economy
Text-Books: Elements of Political Economy. — Constitution of the United States.
Number of students: 170
Number of sections: 5
Exercises per week for students: 2
Exercises per week for Instructor: 10 (for a half-year)

Instructor: Mr. Howland
Subject: History
Text-Books: Outlines of General History.
Number of students: 170
Number of sections: 5
Exercises per week for students: 2
Exercises per week for Instructor: 10 (for a half-year)

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard University 1873-74, p. 42.

* * * * * * * * * *

Required studies.
Juniors.

Instructor: Prof. Dunbar
Subject: Political Economy
Text-Books: Elements of Political Economy.— Constitution of the United States.
Number of students: 153
Number of sections: 3
Exercises per week for students: 2
Exercises per week for Instructor: 6 (for a half-year)

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard University 1873-74, p. 44.

Elective studies.

Instructor: Prof. Dunbar
Subject: Philosophy 6
Text-Books: Political Economy. J. S. Mill’s Political Economy.— Bagehot’s Lombard Street. — Sumner’s History of American Currency.
Number of students: 1 Junior, 70 Seniors
Number of sections: 2
Exercises per week for students: 3
Exercises per week for Instructor: 6

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard University 1873-74, p. 46.

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Obituary from
Boston Evening Transcript
(July 13, 1887)

Mr. Henry Howland, for a number of years a member of the Boston Bar, died in Somerville, Monday. He was born in Boston, Dec. 23, 1846, and was graduated at Harvard in the class of 1869, and at the Harvard Law School in 1878. From 1872 to 1874 he was a tutor at Harvard, taking charge of history and political economy classes. Mr. Howland also continued his studies abroad, obtaining at Heidelberg the degree of Ph.D. He practiced law in Boston until his health gave out, holding just before retirement a position in the United States district attorney’s office under Judge Sanger.

[Cf. the Death Registry of the City of Somerville gives “Acute Melancholia” as the “Disease, or Cause of Death”.]

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Henry Howland (see A.B. 1869), Tutor 1872-1874; Instr. in History and Political Economy 1872-1874; Instr. in Torts 1879-1883.

Source: Harvard University, Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates 1636-1930 (Cambridge, MA: 1930), p. 94.

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1888 Memoir of a Harvard Classmate

HENRY HOWLAND

Born in Boston, December 23, 1846. Son of David and Rebecca (Crocker) Howland.
Died July 11, 1887.

The following Memoir, prepared by Henry W. [Ware] Putnam, was read at the Commencement Meeting of the Class, June, 1888:

Henry Howland, son of David and Rebecca Howland, born December 23, 1846, died July 11, 1887. We had hardly separated after our last Commencement reunion when we were startled with the announcement of another gap made in our ranks by the death of Henry Howland. We could hardly have been more unprepared for the death of any one of our number. It had not occurred to his most intimate friends that the disorder which had hung like a cloud over the last years of his life was likely to have any serious physical consequences, much less a fatal termination, and all had cherished the hope that after a while his fine mental powers would reassert themselves undimmed, and that a career which we had at graduation looked forward to as one of the most brilliant that the Class promised, would yet be achieved. But it was not to be, and on July 11, 1887, he died, at the age of forty, after a sudden illness of only a few days’ duration.

After graduating from College, Howland went abroad for purposes of study, intending to make teaching his profession, and spent one year in France and two in Germany. During this period he became a thorough French and German scholar, studied history and political economy at the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg, taking the degree of Ph.D. at the latter university in political economy. One of the present professors at Harvard who made his acquaintance there, and who remained his devoted and intimate friend till his death, writes as follows of him at that time: “Henry was the first Harvard graduate whom I had ever known well, and from my first meeting with him in Berlin he filled me with admiration by reason of his zeal and enthusiasm in his studies. History was his subject at that time, and he attended the lectures of the university regularly, and had two ‘Docenten’ in addition who went to his room and lectured to him there. He was tireless in finding expedients for increasing his knowledge of German, and accomplished more, I think, in his eighteen months in Germany, than any man of my acquaintance… It was characteristic of Henry,” he continues, “that when he received in Berlin the offer of an appointment in German at Harvard, he came to me and said that he didn’t care for it and would try to get it for me. I knew that he did want it very much, and of course declined to consider the subject of an appointment at all until he had received his. He was appointed in History and German, and it was entirely through his efforts that I was appointed tutor in German. Henry was changed less by his stay in Europe than any American I knew. He absorbed all that was advantageous in his surroundings, and seemed to be affected not at all by that which was worthless or ignoble. Especially in his political and social views he remained a true and steadfast Democrat and high-minded American.”

Returning home in the fall of 1872, he taught for two years at Harvard with success, — the first year as a tutor in German, the second as instructor in History and Political Economy. One of our number who was intimately associated with him during these years, being an instructor in the University at the same time, writes as follows: “He was a close and conscientious student, and possessed a great fund of general information outside of his specialties; but he was always very deferential in making any statement either of fact or opinion even to those who, as he must have known, had but a tithe of his knowledge of the subject in question. He had a happy faculty of making a friend feel at ease while he was imparting to him good information, the faculty of not making an ignorant man feel his ignorance, a faculty which was possessed, as you will remember, in such a marked degree by Professor Gurney. In argument he was always calm and never loud, but very persistent and utterly imperturbable; he never allowed himself to be switched off, and moreover, he never allowed his opponent to jump the track and take to side issues, but held him to the main line of thought until one or the other got somewhere, generally Henry.” His reputation as a teacher at the University was steadily growing, and his outlook for a successful academic career was regarded as very promising by his associates and elders at Cambridge, when he was visited by an attack of mental derangement brought on by overwork in his regular classes and with private pupils, and by the late hours and irregular habits as to sleep and meals, which are apt to accompany excessive application to study. After recovering from this attack he gave up teaching, decided to study law, and entered the Law School in 1876, taking his degree in 1878.

It is not difficult for the rest of us to see now that it was a momentous, probably a mistaken, step to enter so late and so heavily handicapped upon a profession in which one can ill afford to lose any time or have any unnecessary odds against him; but we can also easily see that it was a very natural one under the unsettling and discouraging circumstances of the moment. His natural abilities for the law were indeed fine, lying especially in the direction of a studious and safe adviser in chambers rather than an advocate in court; and with an earlier start and an unobstructed course he would have succeeded in the race; but as it was, the chances were overwhelmingly against him, and the courage with which he entered upon the profession, the patient and unflagging determination with which he clung to it, were at once heroic and pathetic. After being admitted to practice, he gave courses of instruction in torts at the Law School, in addition to his office-work, for three years with great acceptance, and made some scholarly researches in the early literature of the law for one of the professors in the school. During the last of these years he held also the position of Assistant United States District Attorney. The exacting labors of this position, which were not especially adapted to his abilities, nor congenial to his natural tastes, added to his other work, proved too much for him, and in June, 1882, he succumbed to a second attack like the first, but returned to business in December of the same year. Still another slight one occurred in August, 1883, lasting till October of the same year. He then enjoyed entire immunity for three years, and although urged by his closest friends to give up all attempt to practise law and seek some occupation where he would have plenty of outdoor life and leisure for light literary work, he was unwilling to give up his chosen ambition. During this period he did some excellent professional work, chiefly in conveyancing, and in the preparation of briefs and summaries of the law on points placed in his hands by other counsel for his examination, and it seemed as if he might yet get established in the profession; but his father’s illness and death again broke him down in the summer of 1886, and, without again returning to work, and with only a brief interval of even measurably complete restoration to reason in the spring of 1887, he died from a sudden and very brief attack of physical exhaustion.

This long and losing twelve years’ struggle between the finest intellectual gifts and inexorable mental disease is too sad and too pathetic for us, who loved him, and confidently expected so much of him, to be able to dwell upon. As a Class, we can simply put upon our record an expression of our disappointment and grief at this untimely calamity, and then try to put it out of our mind forever. But his character and qualities we shall hold in affectionate and enduring remembrance as long as any of us survive to hold Class meetings. He was the most modest of men — modest to the extent of unjust depreciation of himself. His manners and personal bearing — at all times and in all company — were those of a perfect gentleman; marked as they were, not merely by the friendly good-will and sympathy of the good fellow who is everybody’s friend, but by a certain reserve and formality, not amounting to stiffness, but showing that he made a certain pronounced, though not obtrusive, courtesy of the old school one of the duties of his life never to be forgotten or neglected, even in the society of intimates; and his outward bearing thus never failed to express the real dignity of his character, even when his wit was keenest and his raillery most pungent. His unselfishness, his absolute self-effacement when there was a friend to serve or help in any way, was a part of his very nature, — deep-seated, spontaneous, sincere. Of that fine virtue which the ancients, whose best writings he seems to have absorbed into his very being, placed above all others and called piety, filial devotion, the love of parents, he was the most striking exemplar I have ever known, subordinating every interest of his own — pleasure, social recreation, professional ambition, health — to the unceasing care through long years of an invalid mother and of an aged father. When his love of society is considered, this self-denial — especially when the circumstances did not render it in any sense a necessity — becomes the more striking and admirable. His sense of duty in all the relations of life was so extreme as to be almost morbid, and had in it a touch of Puritanic rigor. His public spirit was strong and his sympathies in this direction broad, and he was active — though not radical or extreme — in all the duties of a citizen and in the movements of social and political reform in his neighborhood. His abilities were peculiarly of a literary kind. His literary taste was of the finest; he was a constant and appreciative reader of the best imaginative literature, a lover of music and the drama. If he could, or would, but have seen it, so rare a spirit was wasted in the study of the law, and would have been so, in a sense, even with health and professional success. The higher fields of literary and historic criticism and, perhaps, composition — of philosophic generalization on literary and particularly on historic subjects — were his true field, and it was only after his first illness had discouraged him somewhat, and perhaps impaired the soundness of his judgment, that he abandoned that career for another. In his death we all mourn a fine, scholarly, high-minded character and loyal classmate; many of us a sympathetic, affectionate, and deeply loved friend.

Source: Eleventh Report of the Class of 1869 of Harvard College. Fiftieth Anniversary (June 1919), pp. 149-154.

Image Source: Title page of the Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1876-1877.

Tags Dunbar, Howland

Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Economics Course Descriptions, Enrollments, and Exams. 1897-98

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-03-27

For the academic year 1897-1898 we are blessed with ample records for the economics courses offered (and bracketed) at Harvard. Detailed course descriptions, enrollment figures, semester-end exams are available and have been transcribed below for almost every course.

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ECONOMICS.
GENERAL STATEMENT.

Course 1 is introductory to the other courses. It is intended to give a general survey of the subject for those who take but one course in Economics, and also to prepare for the further study of the subject in advanced courses. It is usually taken with most profit by undergraduates in the second or third year of their college career. It may be taken with advantage in the second year by those who are attracted to political and social subjects. A knowledge of general history (such as is given in Course 1 in History) is a useful preparation.

The advanced courses divide themselves into two groups. The first group contains Courses 2, 3, 13, 14, 15, which are concerned chiefly with economic and social theory. Courses 2 and 15 follow the development of economic theory from its beginnings to the present time, with critical examination of the conclusions reached by economists of the past and the present. Course 13, on scope and method in economic investigation, continues the same subjects; it is taken to best advantage after either 2 or 15. Course 3 considers the wider aspects of economic and social study, and reviews the progress of sociological inquiry. Course 14 takes up the history and literature of socialistic and communistic proposals, and leads to a discussion of the foundations of existing institutions.

The second group contains the remaining courses, which are of a more descriptive and historical character. In all of them, however, attention is given to principles as well as to facts, and some acquaintance with the outlines of economic theory is called for.

Before taking any of the advanced courses, students are strongly advised to consult with the instructors. Courses 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 may not be taken without the previous consent of the instructors. It is advised that Course 1 be taken in all cases as a preparation for the advanced courses; and such students only as have passed satisfactorily in Course 1 will be admitted to Courses 2, 3, 4, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. But Courses 5, 7, and 9, may also be taken by Juniors and Seniors of good rank who are taking Course 1 at the same time; Course 6 is open to students who have taken or are taking cither History 13 or Economies 1; and Courses 10 and 11 are open to students who have passed satisfactorily either in History 1 or in Economics 1.

The Seminary in Economics is intended primarily for Graduate Students; but Seniors in Harvard College, who have had adequate training in the subject, may be admitted to it.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 30-31.

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Outlines of Economics
Economics 1

I. Outlines of Economics. —Principles of Political Economy.— Lectures on Social Questions and Monetary Legislation. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor [Frank William] Taussig, Asst. Professor Edward Cummings, Dr. John Cummings, assisted by Messrs. [Charles Sumner] Griffin, [Edward Henry] Warren, and ——.

Course 1 gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics sufficient for those who have not further time to give to the subject. It begins with a consideration of the principles of production, distribution, exchange, money, and international trade, which is continued through the first half-year. In the second half-year, some of the applications of economic principles and some wider aspects of economic study are taken up. Social questions and the relations of labor and capital, the theory and practice of banking, and the recent currency legislation of the United States, will be successively treated in outline.

Course 1 will be conducted mainly by lectures. A course of reading will be laid down, and weekly written exercises will test the work of students in following systematically and continuously the lectures and the prescribed reading. Large parts of Mill’s Principles of Political Economy will be read, as well as parts of other general books; while detailed references will be given for the reading on the application and illustration of economic principles.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, p. 31.

Economics 1: Enrollment

[Economics] 1. Professor [Frank William] Taussig, Asst. Professor [Edward] Cummings, Dr. [John] Cummings, and Messrs. [Charles Sumner] Griffin, [Charles Whitney] Mixter and [Edward Henry] Warren. — Outlines of Economics. — Principles of Political Economy.— Social Questions, and Financial Legislation. 3 hours.

Total 381: 32 Seniors, 99 Juniors, 199 Sophomores, 14 Freshmen, 37 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1897-98, p. 77.

1897-98
Economics 1.
[Mid-year Examination]

Is a shop building, situated on a busy city street, capital? is the land on which it stands capital? Is a dwelling on a fashionable city street capital? the land on which it stands?
Does the rent of a piece of land determine its price, and if so, how? or does its price determine the rent, and if so, how?
Do you believe that differences in wages in different occupations would cease if, by gratuitous education and support, access to each occupation were made equally easy for all?
Mention a case in which the income received by a person doing no manual labor is to be regarded as wages; one in which it is to be regarded as profits; one in which it is to be regarded as interest; and one in which the classification would be regarded as doubtful.
Explain what is meant by the effective desire of accumulation; and consider whether, in a country like England, the minimum return on capital fixed by it has been reached.
“The quantity demanded [of any commodity] is not a fixed quantity, even at the same time and place; it varies according to the value; if the thing is cheap, there is usually a demand for more of it than when it is dear. The demand, therefore, depends partly on the value. But it was laid down before that value depends on the demand. From this contradiction, how shall we extricate ourselves? How solve the paradox, of two things, each depending on the other?”
What answer did Mill give to the question thus put by him?
Does the proposition that value is determined by cost of production hold true of gold?
Is it advantageous to a country to substitute paper money completely for specie?
Trace the consequences of an issue of inconvertible paper, greater in amount than the specie previously in circulation, on prices, on the foreign exchanges, and on the relations of debtor and creditor.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 4. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1897-98.

1897-98.
Economics 1.
[Final Examination]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

In what sense does Mill use the terms “value” and “price”? Professor Hadley? What do you conceive to be meant by the “socialistic theory” of value?
“Many people regard the luxury of the rich as being on the whole a means of preventing harm to the poor. They regard free expenditure of the capitalists’ money as a gain to laborers, and its saving as a loss.” Is this view sound?
What services are rendered to society by commercial speculation? by industrial speculation?
Patent-laws, protection by customs duties, private ownership of land, — wherein analogous, in Professor Hadley’s view? in your own view?
Does Mill regard the rent of land as an “unearned increment”? Does Professor Hadley? On what grounds do they reach their conclusions?
“By far the most important form of consumers’ coöperation is exemplified in government management of industrial enterprises.” Why, or why not, is government management to be regarded as a form of consumers’ coöperation? What other forms of such coöperation have had wide development?
The peculiarities of labor considered as a commodity; and the grounds on which it is concluded that “the members of trade unions are in a condition entirely like that of the sellers of other commodities.”
Consider how, according to Mill, successive issues of paper-money will affect the supply of specie in a country; and explain how far this theoretical conclusion was or was not verified by the mode in which the silver currency (dollars and certificates) issued under the act of 1878 affected the supply of gold in the United States.
On what ground does Mill object to the issue of inconvertible paper? On what ground does Professor Dunbar object to the legal tender paper now issued by the United States? Wherein are the objections similar, wherein different?
“If we try to make things for which we have only moderate advantages, and in so doing divert labor and capital from those where we have extraordinary ones, we do not, in general, make money; we lose more than we gain.” — HADLEY. Point out wherein this statement is akin to the analysis of international trade by Mill, and explain precisely what is here meant by making or losing money.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, pp. 40-41.

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Mediaeval Economic History of Europe
Economics 10
[Omitted in 1897-98.]

[*10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. Tu., Th., (and at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor [William James] Ashley.]

The object of this course is to give a general view of the economic development of society during the Middle Ages. It will deal, among others, with the following topics: — the manorial system in its relation to mediaeval agriculture and serfdom ; the merchant gilds and the beginnings of town life and of trade ; the craft gild and the gild-system of industry, compared with earlier and later forms; the commercial supremacy of the Hanseatic and Italian merchants ; the trade routes of the Middle Ages and of the sixteenth century ; the merchant adventurers and the great trading companies ; the agrarian changes of the fifteenth nd sixteenth centuries and the break-up of the mediaeval organization of social classes ; the appearance of new manufactures and of the domestic industry.

Special attention will be devoted to England, but that country will be treated as illustrating the broader features of the economic evolution of the whole of western Europe; and attention will be called to the chief peculiarities of the economic history of France, Germany, and Italy.

Students will be introduced in this course to the use of the original sources, and they will need to be able to translate easy Latin.

It is desirable that they should already possess some general acquaintance with mediaeval history, and those who are deficient in this respect will be expected to read one or two supplementary books, to be suggested by the instructor. The course is conveniently taken after, before, or in conjunction with History 9; and it will be of especial use to those who intend to study the law of Real Property.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 31-32.

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Modern Economic History of Europe and America
(from 1500)
Economics 11

11. The Modern Economic History of Europe and America (from 1500). Tu., Th., (and at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor [William James] Ashley.

This course, — which will usually alternate with Course 10 in successive years, — while intended to form a sequel to Course 10, will nevertheless be independent, and may usefully be taken by those who have not followed the history of the earlier period. The main thread of connection will be found in the history of trade; but the outlines of the history of agriculture and industry will also be set forth, and the forms of social organization dependent upon them. England, as the first home of the “great industry,” will demand a large share of attention; but the parallel or divergent economic history of the United States, and of the great countries of western Europe, will be considered side by side with it.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, p. 32.

Economics 11: Enrollment
1897-98

[Economics] 11. Professor Ashley— The Modern Economic History of Europe and America (from 1500). 2 or 3 hours.

Total 16: 9 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 1 Junior, 1 Sophomore.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1897-98, p. 77.

1897-98.
Economics 11.
[Mid-year Examination]

N.B.—Not more than eight questions should be attempted.

“Locutus sum de breviori via ad loca aromatum per maritimam navigationem quam sit ea quam facitis per Guineam.” Translate and comment upon this.
Give some account of the Fairs of Champagne.
What light does Jones’ account of agricultural conditions in Europe in his own time cast upon the agrarian history of England in the 15th and 16th centuries? Be as definite as possible in your answer.
What do you suppose happened to the “craft-gilds” of England during the reign of Edward VI?
Discuss the purpose and effect of the statute 5 Eliz. c. 4, in the matter of the Assessment of Wages.
What were the essential characteristics of the “Domestic System” of Industry?
Give some account of the industrial legislation of France in the 16th century.
“The policy of Europe occasions a very important inequality in the whole of the advantages and disadvantages of the different employments of labour and stock.” What had the writer of this passage in mind?
Give some account of any four of the following: Albuquerque, Veramuyden, Jacob Fugger, John Hales, Jacques Cartier, Bartholomew Diaz, Barthelemy Laffemas.
Give a critical account of any really important work, not prescribed, of which you have read any considerable portion in connection with this course.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 4. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1897-98.

1897-98.
Economics 11.
[Year-end Examination]

N.B.- Not more than eight questions should be attempted.

“Publicae mendicationis licentiam posse civium legibus cohiberi ad liquidum ostendit ille absolutus Theologus, loannes Major.” Translate; and shew the significance of the position thus maintained.
Illustrate from the history of Hamburg the change in the position of the Hanseatic League during the 16th century.
Distinguish between the various races of immigrants into England since 1500, and state shortly the several respects in which the trade and industry of England were influenced by each.
“Perhaps the wisest of all the commercial regulations of England.” Give a brief account of the enactment of which Adam Smith thus speaks; distinguish between the various aspects in which it may be regarded; and give your own opinion as to the justice of Adam Smith’s observation.
Explain the position of “les Six Corps” at Paris. Does London furnish any analogous institutions?
“Hitherto,” i.e. up to 1750, “industry had been chiefly carried on in England by numbers of smaller capitalists who were also manual workmen.” Criticise this as a bit of exposition.
The position of Arthur Young in economic history.
The commercial policy of the younger Pitt.
Mention, with the briefest possible comment, some of the more important features in which the agricultural, industrial and commercial life of the England of to-day differs from that of the England of 1750.
What were the principal defects in the administration of the English Poor Laws prior to 1834, and how was it sought to remedy them?
Explain the need for the English Factory Acts, and give some account of their history.
Give a critical estimate of any really important book, not prescribed, of which you have read any considerable proportion in connection with this course during the second half-year.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, pp. 50-51.

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The Economic History of the United States
Economics 6

6. The Economic History of the United States. Tu., Th., at 2.30, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructors. Mr. [Guy Stevens] Callender.

Course 6 gives a general survey of the economic history of the United States from the formation of the Union to the present time, and considers also the mode in which economic principles are illustrated by the experience so surveyed. A review is made of the financial history of the United States, including Hamilton’s financial system, the second Bank of the United States and the banking systems of the period preceding the Civil War, coinage history, the finances of the Civil War, and the banking and currency history of the period since the Civil War. The history of manufacturing industries is taken up in connection with the course of international trade and of tariff legislation, the successive tariffs being followed and their economic effects considered. The land policy of the United States is examined partly in its relation to the growth of population and the inflow of immigrants, and partly in its relation to the history of transportation, including the movement for internal improvements, the beginnings of the railway system, the land grants and subsidies, and the successive bursts of activity in railway building. Comparison will be made from time to time with the contemporary economic history of European countries.

Written work will be required of all students, and a course of reading will be prescribed, and tested by examination. The course is taken advantageously with or after History 13. While an acquaintance with economic principles is not indispensable, students are strongly advised to take the course after having taken Economics 1, or, if this be not easy to arrange, at the same time with that course.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 32-33.

Economics 6: Enrollment

[Economics] 6. Dr. Callender. — The Economic History of the United States. 3 hours.

Total 94: 4 Graduates, 38 Seniors, 41 Juniors, 8 Sophomores, 1 Sophomore, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1897-98, p. 78.

1897-98.
Economics 6.
[Mid-year Examination]

[Omit one question from each group]

I.

“The effect of England’s policy was, through a restriction of the market, to render the production of those staple commodities (i.e. of agriculture, and the fisheries) less profitable. Thus New England, and later the middle colonies, not being allowed to exchange their normal products for England’s manufactures, were forced to begin manufacturing for themselves.”—
“Briefly describe the measures designed to prevent the rise of manufactures in the colonies; and state whether in your opinion the growth of manufactures in the northern colonies was stopped chiefly by this legislation or by other causes.
The American colonies during the Revolution were in much the same economic position as the South during the Rebellion. The chief resource of the latter was the value of its cotton crop to the world; that of the former was the supposed value of their trade to the nations of Europe. Describe the various ways in which the Revolutionary statesmen made use of this resource.
Judging from the opinions of statesmen as well as from acts of legislation what would you say were the leading objects of American Commercial policy from 1783 to 1789?
State briefly the exact circumstances which permitted the growth of American commerce during the years from 1793 to 1806. How did this temporary commercial prosperity affect the subsequent growth of manufactures?

II.

Compare the conditions which gave rise to manufactures in the northern colonies before 1760 with those which prevailed during the years immediately following 1783 and 1815; and indicate what conclusions you would draw from such a comparison, as to the necessity or expediency of protective legislation to secure the development of manufactures in a new country.
Discuss the effect of the duties on Cotton and Iron during the period from 1816 to 1833.
Compare the treatment of wages in Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures with that which appeared in the debate on the Tariff Act of 1846. How do you explain the change?
Mention several industries which were created or greatly promoted by inventions between 1840 and 1860.

III.

Henry Clay declared in 1832 that the seven years preceding 1824 “exhibited a scene of the most widespread dismay and desolation,” while the seven years following 1824 exhibited the “greatest prosperity which this people, bare enjoyed since the establishment of the present constitution.” How do you explain this change?
In what ways have the people of the United States made use of the Federal and State governments to provide transportation facilities? How do you explain this tendency to State interference in industrial affairs at so early a date in America?
Describe the abuses in Railroad management which the Interstate Commerce Act was intended to correct.
Explain why competition proves less effective in regulating freight rates than in regulating the price of most commodities.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 4. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1897-98.

1897-98.
Economics 6.
[Year-end Examination]

Answer at least eight questions.

Give your reasons for agreeing to, or dissenting from, the following proposition: Until the wars of the French Revolution temporarily suspended the colonial policy of Continental Europe, the United States was in a more unfavorable economic position than they had been in prior to the Revolution
Why was the adoption of a liberal tariff policy by the U.S. in 1846 more justifiable than in 1816?
“The provisions of the constitution were universally considered as affording a complete security against the danger of paper money. The introduction of the banking system met with a strenuous opposition on various grounds; but it was not apprehended that bank notes, convertible at will into specie, and which no person could be legally compelled to take in payment, would degenerate into pure paper money, no longer paid at sight in specie… It was the catastrophe of 1814 which first disclosed not only the insecurity of the American banking system, as it then existed, but also that when a paper currency, driving away, and suspending the use of gold and silver, has insinuated itself through every channel of circulation, and become the only medium of exchange, every individual finds himself, in fact compelled to receive such currency, even when depreciated more than twenty per cent. in the same manner as if it had been a legal tender.” — GALLATIN.
Prior to the adoption of the national banking system in 1863, how did the federal government attempt to prevent the evil here described. and with what success?
How far do the conditions, which render competition ineffective as a regulator of transportation charges, prevail in any of the industries in which Trusts have been formed? — or to ask the same thing in another way, how far is it possible to justify Trusts on the same grounds as Railroad Pools?
What reasons would you assign for the change in the relative value of gold and silver which occurred after 1873?
What difficulty did the Treasury department encounter in administering the silver act of 1878, and what means were used to overcome it?
Compare the effect of the protective duties on wool and woollens since 1867 with the effect of those on silk and steel during the same time.
“In the division of employments which has taken place in America, the far preferable share, truly, has fallen to the Northern States…The states, therefore, which forbid slavery, having reaped the economical benefits of slavery, without incurring the chief of its moral evils, seem to be even more indebted to it than the slave states.” — WAKEFIELD.
How would you explain this statement?
According to Mr. Cairnes, what constituted the economic basis of Negro slavery in the Southern States and enabled it to successfully resist the competition of free white labor? Do you consider this economic basis of slavery to have been permanent?
Describe the most important change in Southern agrarian conditions which has resulted from emancipation.
What influences can you mention that have contributed to the fall in the prices of the staple products of Northern agriculture during the last ten years?
Why has this fall in the price of agricultural products caused greater hardship to the farmers than the corresponding fall in the price of manufactured products has caused among manufacturers?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, pp. 45-47.

_______________________

History and Literature of Economics to the Close of the 18th Century
Economics 15

*15. The History and Literature of Economics to the Close of the Eighteenth Century. Mon., Wed., (and at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 12. Professor[William James] Ashley.

The course of economic speculation will here be followed, in its relation alike to the general movement of contemporary thought and to contemporary social conditions. The lectures will consider the economic theories of Plato and Aristotle; the economic ideas underlying Roman law; the mediaeval church and the canonist doctrine; mercantilism in its diverse forms; “political arithmetic;” the origin of the belief in natural rights and its influence on economic thought; the physiocratic doctrine; the work and influence of Adam Smith; the doctrine of population as presented by Malthus; Say and the Erench school; and the beginnings of academic instruction in economics.

The lectures will be interrupted from time to time for the examination of selected portions of particular authors; and careful study will be given to portions of Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Politics (in translation) to Mun’s England’s Treasure, Locke’s Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, certain Essays of Hume, Turgot’s Réflexions, and specified chapters of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and Malthus’ Essay. Students taking the course are expected to procure the texts of the chief authors considered, and to consult the following critical works:

Ingram, History of Political Economy; Cossa, Introduction to the Study of Political Economy; Cannan, History of the Theories of Production and Distribution; Bonar, Philosophy and Political Economy; Böhm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest; Taussig, Wages and Capital.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 33-34.

Economics 15: Enrollment
1897-98

[Economics] 15. Professor Ashley. — The History and Literature of Economics to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century. 2 or 3 hours.

Total 6: 3 Graduates, 1 Senior, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1897-98, p. 77.

1897-98.
Economics 15.
[Mid-year Examination]

N.B.—Not more than eight questions should be attempted.

Compare the Republic of Plato with the Politics of Aristotle, as to purpose and temper.
Expound Aristotle’s teaching with regard to Slavery.
“He is supposed to have given a striking proof of his wisdom, but his device for getting money is of universal application.” Comment, and explain the context.
What parts of Aristotle’s criticism of Communism seem to you pertinent to modern Socialism. Explain what particular kind of Socialism you have in mind.
Set forth, and criticise, Maine’s account of the influence in modern times of the conception of a Law of Nature.
Were the early Christians communists?
How did “Inter-est [sic],” in its original meaning, differ from “Usury.”
The position in economic literature of Nicholas Oresme.
What principles, if any, of the canonist teaching seem to you to have any bearing on modern economic problems.
What were “the particular ways and means to encrease our exportations and diminish our importations,” according to Mun?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 4. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1897-98.

1897-98.
Economics 15.
[Year-end Examination]

Criticise the current conception of “Mercantilism” in the light of your own study of the later English mercantilist writers.
The place of Locke in English economic thought.
“Tout ce qu’il y a de vrai dans ce volume estimable, mais pénible à lire, en deux gros volumes in-4°, se trouve dans les Réflexions de Turgot; tout ce qu’Adam Smith y a ajouté manque d’exactitude et même de fondement.”
Translate, and then criticise this remark of Du Pont’s.
Trace the various elements which went to make up the idea of Nature in Adam Smith’s mind, and then explain Smith’s application of it to any particular subject.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, p. 53.

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Economic Theory
in the 19th Century
Economics 2

*2. Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 2.30. Professor [Frank William] Taussig.

Course 2 is designed to acquaint the student with the history of economic thought during the nineteenth century, and to give him at the same time training in the critical consideration of economic principles. The exercises are accordingly conducted mainly by the discussion of selected passages from the important writers; and in this discussion students are expected to take an active part. Lectures are given at intervals, tracing the general movement of economic thought and describing its literature. Special attention will be given to the theory of distribution.

The course opens with an examination of Ricardo’s doctrines, selections from Ricardo’s writings being read and discussed. These will then be compared with the appropriate chapters in Mill’s Principles of Political Economy, and further with passages in Cairnes’ Leading Principles. The theory of wages, and the related theory of business profits, will then be followed in the writings of F. A. Walker, Sidgwick, and Marshall, and a general survey made of the present stage of economic theory in England and the United States. The development on the continent of Europe will be traced chiefly in lectures; but toward the close of the year a critical examination will be made of the doctrines of the modern Austrian school.

Course 2 is taken with advantage in the next year after Course 1; but Course 15 may also be taken with advantage after Course 1, and then followed by Course 2, or taken contemporaneously with it.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, p. 34.

Economics 2: Enrollment
1897-98

[Economics] 2. Professor Taussig. — Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century. 3 hours.

Total 32: 9 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 3 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1897-98, p. 77.

1897-98.
Economics 2.
[Mid-year. 1898.]

[Arrange your answers in the order of the questions. One question may be omitted.]

According to Ricardo, what is the effect, if any, of a rise in the price of food on wages? on profits? on the prices of commodities?
“Ricardo expresses himself as if the quantity of labor which it costs to produce a commodity and bring it to the market, were the only thing on which its value depended. But since the cost of production to the capitalist is not labor but wages, and since wages may be greater or less, the quantity of labor being the same; it would seem that the value of the product cannot be determined solely by the quantity of labor, but by the quantity together with the remuneration; and that values must depend on wages.” — Mill.
What do you conceive Ricardo would have said to this?
“We have therefore remarked that the difficulty of passing from one class of employments to a class greatly superior, has hitherto caused the wages of all those classes of laborers who are separated from one another by any very marked barrier, to depend more than might be supposed upon the increase of population of each class, considered separately; and that the inequalities in the remuneration of labor are much greater than could exist if the competition of the laboring people generally could be brought practically to bear on each particular employment. It follows from this that wages in each particular employment do not rise or fall simultaneously, but are, for short and sometimes even for long periods, nearly independent of each other. All such disparities evidently alter the relative costs of production of different commodities, and will therefore be completely represented in the natural or average value.” — Mill.
What has Cairnes added to this?
“He [Mr. Longe] puts the case of a capitalist who, by taking advantage of the necessities of his workmen, effects a reduction in their wages; and asks how is this sum, thus withdrawn, to be restored to the fund? . . . The answer to the case put by Mr. Longe is easy on his own principles; and I am disposed to flatter myself that the reader who has gone with me in the foregoing discussion will not have much difficulty in replying to it on mine.” — Cairnes.
Give the reply.
“Fixity or definiteness is the very essence of the supposed wages-fund. No one denies that some amount or other must within a given period be disbursed in the form of wages. The only question is whether that amount be determinate or indeterminate.” — Thornton.
What is Cairnes’s answer to the question put in this passage?
What would you expect the relation of imports to exports to be in a country whose inhabitants had for a long time been borrowing, and were still borrowing, from the inhabitants of other countries?
Are general high wages an obstacle to a country’s exporting?
“Granted a certain store of provisions, of tools, and of materials for production, sufficient, say, for 1000 laborers, those who hold the wage-fund theory assert that the same rate of wages (meaning thereby the actual amount of necessaries, comforts, and luxuries received by the laborer) would prevail whether these laborers be Englishmen or East Indians. . . . On the contrary, it is not true that the present economical quality of the laborers, as a whole, is an element in ascertaining the aggregate amount that can now be paid in wages; that as wages are paid out of the product, and as the product will be greater or smaller by reason of the workman’s sobriety, industry, and intelligence, or his want of these qualities, so wages may and should be higher or lower accordingly?”
Give your opinion.
What do you conceive to be the “no profits class of employers” in President Walker’s theory of distribution?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 4. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1897-98.

1897-98.
Economics 2.
[Final Examination]

The answer to one question may be omitted.

The analysis of capital in its relation to labor and wages at the hands of Ricardo and of Böhm-Bawerk, — wherein the same? wherein different?
The contributions of permanent worth for economic theory by Cairnes? by F.A. Walker? [Consider one.]
The position of Carey and Bastiat in the development of economic theory.
“If the efficiency of labor could be suddenly doubled, whilst the capital of the country remained stationary, there would be a great and immediate rise in real wages. The supplies of capital already in existence would be distributed among the laborers more rapidly than would otherwise be the case, and the increased efficiency of labor would soon make good the diminished supplies. The fact is that an increase in the efficiency of labor would bring about an increase in the supply of capital.” — Marshall. Why? or why not?
“The capital of the employer is by no means the real source of the wages even of the workmen employed by him. It is only the intermediate reservoir from which wages are paid out, until the purchasers of the commodities produced by that labor make good the advance and thereby encourage the undertaker to purchase additional labor.” W. Roscher.
What do you say to this?
“If the rate of profit falls, the laborer gets more nearly the whole amount of the product. But if the rate of wages falls, we have a corresponding fall in prices and little change in the relative shares of labor and capital.” Hadley.
Why, or why not, in either case?
“In the present condition of industry, most sales are made by men who are producers or merchants by profession, and who hold an amount of commodities entirely beyond any needs of their own. Consequently, for them the subjective use-value of their own wares is, for the most part, very nearly nil; and the figure which they put on their own valuation almost sinks to zero.” Explain the bearing of this remark on the theory of value as developed by Böhm-Bawerk.
What, according to Böhm-Bawerk, is the explanation of interest derived from “durable consumption goods”? And what is your own view?
How far do you conceive that there is a “productivity” of capital, serving to explain the existence of interest, and the rate?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, pp. 41-42.

_______________________

Scope and Method in Economic Theory and Investigation
Economics 13²

*13² hf. Scope and Method in Economic Theory and Investigation. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 11. Professor [William James] Ashley.

Course 13 will examine the methods by which the important writers, from Adam Smith to the present time, have approached economic questions, and the range which they have given their inquiries; and will consider the advantage of different methods, and the expediency of a wider or narrower scope of investigation. Mill’s essay on the Definition of Political Economy; Cairnes’ Logical Method of Political Economy; Keynes’ Scope and Method of Political Economy; certain sections of Wagner’s Grundlegung and Schmoller’s essay on Volkswirthschaft will be carefully examined. The conscious consideration of method by the later writers of the classic school and by their successors in England; the rise of the historical school and its influence; the mode in which contemporary writers approach the subject, — will he successively followed.

Course 13 is open to students who take or have taken Course 2 or Course 15. A fair reading knowledge of German as well as of French will be expected of students, and the opportunity will be taken to assist them to acquire facility in reading scientific German. Subjects will be assigned for investigation and report, and the results of such investigations will be presented for discussion.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 34-35.

Economics 13²: Enrollment
1897-98

[Economics] 13². Professor Ashley. — Scope and Method in Economic Theory and Investigation. 3 hours.

Total 5: 3 Graduates, 1Senior, 1 Sophomore.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1897-98, p. 77.

1897-98.
Economics 13².
[Year-end Examination]

“Ganz unabhängig von der deutschen historischen National-Ökonomie haben Sociologen wie A. Comte ähnliche, freilich auch zu weit gehende Bedenken gegen Deduction und Abstraction der britischen Oekonomik erhoben.”
Translate this; and then (1) state Comte’s position with regard to economic method, (2) criticise it.
“Die besondere Leistung des wissenschaftlichen Socialismus ist der Nachweis des beherrschenden Einflusses der Privateigenthums ordnung, speciell des Privateigenthums‚ an den sachlichen Productionsmitteln’, auf die Gestaltung der Production und der Vertheilung des Productionsertrag, zumal bei Wegfall aller Beschränkungen der Verfügungsbefugnisse des Privateigenthümers im System der freien Concurrenz…Durch den Socialismus ist aber auch das andere grosse Hauptproblem, dasjenige der Freiheit und ihrer Rechtsordnung, in ein neues Stadium getreten. Hier begeht der Socialismus nun jedoch trotz seiner scharfen Kritik der wirthschaftlichen Freiheit im System der ökonomischen Individualismus und Liberalismus principiell denselben Fehler, wie letzterer: auch er fasst die Freiheit als Axiom, statt als Problem auf, ein schwerstes Problem gerade jeder socialistischen Rechts- und Wirtschaftsordnung.”
(1) Translate, (2) explain, and (3) comment on this.
Discuss the questions raised by the application to Economies of the distinction between a Science and an Art.
What did J. S. Mill mean by the Historical Method? Consider (1) the source of the idea, (2) its characterization by Mill, and (3) the bearing of his utterances with regard to it upon the question of economic method.
Examine either (1) the Malthusian doctrine of Population or (2) the Ricardian doctrine of Rent as a specimen of an economic “law.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, pp. 52-53.

_______________________

Principles of Sociology
Economics 3

*3. The Principles of Sociology. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings.

Course 3 begins with a general survey of the structure and development of society; showing the changing elements of which a progressive society is composed, the forces which manifest themselves at different stages in the transition from primitive conditions to complex phases of civilized life, and the structural outlines upon which successive phases of social, political, and industrial organization proceed. Following this, is an examination of the historical aspects which this evolution has actually assumed: Primitive man, elementary forms of association, the various forms of family organization, and the contributions which family, clan and tribe have made to the constitution of more comprehensive ethnical and political groups ; the functions of the State, the circumstances which determine types of political association, the corresponding expansion of social consciousness, and the relative importance of military, economic, and ethical ideas at successive stages of civilization. Special attention is given to the attempts to formulate physical and psychological laws of social growth; to the relative importance of natural and of artificial selection in social development; the law of social survival; the dangers which threaten civilization; and the bearing of such general consideration upon the practical problems of vice, crime, poverty, pauperism, and upon mooted methods of social reform.

The student is thus acquainted with the main schools of sociological thought, and opportunity is given for a critical comparison of earlier phases of sociological theory with more recent contributions in Europe and the United States. Regular and systematic reading is essential. Topics are assigned for special investigation in connection with practical or theoretical aspects of the course.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, p. 35.

Economics 3: Enrollment
1897-98

[Economics] 3 Asst. Professor E. Cummings. — The Principles of Sociology. — Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions. 2 or 3 hours.

Total 59: 4 Graduates, 30 Seniors, 13 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1897-98, p. 77.

1897-98.
Economics 3.
[Mid-year examination]

[Answer the questions in the order in which they stand. Give one hour to each group.]

I.

Discuss the merits and defects of the following conceptions of society:

A) Society as an organism.
B) Society as a physio-psychic organism.
C) Society as an organization.
D) Society as an “organisme contractuel.”

What in your opinion are the essential differences between an ant hill and a human society?

II.

Give a critical summary and comparison of the views of Spencer, Giddings, Ritchie in regard to (a) the origin, (b) the development and forms, and (c) the functions of political organization.
Contrast the ancient, medieval and modern views of the relations of the State to Society and to the Individual.

III.

Discuss the views of Spencer, Westermarck, Giddings and others on the causes and the effects of the successive phases of family organization.
What claims has the family to be regarded as the “social unit”?
Discuss the significance of existing tendencies.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 4. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1897-98.

1897-98.
Economics 3.
[Final Examination]

I.

The nature, the causes, and the criteria of progress, according to (a) Spencer, (b) Kidd, (c) La Pouge, (d) Haycraft, (e) Giddings, (f) Tarde? State and illustrate by historical examples your own views in regard to the “curve of progress.”

II.

“The special feature of the final adjustment secured by our occidental civilizations, contrary to what has been seen on the earth before them, will therefore have been the subordination of the social to the individual. This singularly daring enterprise is the true novelty of modern times. It is well worth living to second it or to participate in it.”— TARDE.
“There seems no avoiding the conclusion that these conspiring causes must presently bring about that lapse of self-ownership into ownership by the community, which is partially implied by collectivism and completely by communism.” — SPENCER.
Discuss carefully the merits of these opinions, and the evidence on which they rest.

III.

What do you conceive to be some of the dangerous tendencies of our civilization? And what are the remedies?

IV.

State the subject of your final report and the reading you have done in connection with it.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, p. 42.

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Socialism and Communism
Economics 14

*14. Socialism and Communism. — History and Literature. Tu., Th., and at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings.

Course 14 is primarily an historical and critical study of socialism and communism. It traces the history and significance of schemes for social reconstruction from the earliest times to the present day. It discusses the historical evidences of primitive communism, the forms assumed by private ownership at different stages of civilization, the bearing of these considerations upon the claims of modern socialism, and the outcome of experimental communities in which socialism and communism have actually been tried. Special attention, however, is devoted to the recent history of socialism, — the precursors and the followers of Marx and Lassalle, the economic and political programmes of socialistic parties in Germany, France, and other countries.

The primary object is in every case to trace the relation of historical evolution to these programmes; to discover how far they have modified history or found expression in the policy of parties or statesmen; how far they must be regarded simply as protests against existing phases of social evolution; and how far they may be said to embody a sane philosophy of social and political organization.

The criticism and analysis of these schemes gives opportunity for discussing from different points of view the ethical and historical value of social and political institutions, the relation of the State to the individual, the political and economic bearing of current socialistic theories.

The work is especially adapted to students who have had some introductory training in Ethics as well as in Economics. A systematic course of reading covers the authors discussed; and special topics for investigation may be assigned in connection with this reading.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 35-36.

Economics 14: Enrollment

[Economics] 14. Asst. Professor E. Cummings. — Communism and Socialism. — History and Literature. 2 or 3 hours.

Total 12: 3 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1897-98, p. 78.

1897-98.
Economics 14.
[Mid-year Examination]

Outline briefly the characteristics of socialistic theory and practice in ancient, medieval and modern times, — devoting about an hour to each epoch, and showing —

(a) so far as possible the continuity of such speculations; the characteristic resemblances and differences;
(b) the influence of peculiar historical conditions;
(c) the corresponding changes in economic theory and practice.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 4. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1897-98.

No Year-end Examination for 1898 found.

_______________________

Labor Question
in Europe and the U.S.
Economics 9.

9. The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen. Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings and Dr. John Cummings.

Course 9 is a comparative study of the condition and environments of workingmen in the United States and European countries. It is chiefly concerned with problems growing out of the relations of labor and capital. There is careful study of the voluntarily organizations of labor, — trade unions, friendly societies, and the various forms of cooperation; of profit-sharing, sliding scales, and joint standing committees for the settlement of disputes; of factory legislation, employers’ liability, the legal status of laborers and labor organizations, state courts of arbitration, and compulsory government insurance against the exigencies of sickness, accident, and old age. All these expedients, together with the phenomena of international migration, the questions of a shorter working day and convict labor, are discussed in the light of experience and of economic theory, with a view to determining the merits, defects, and possibilities of existing movements.

The descriptive and theoretical aspects of the course are supplemented by statistical evidence in regard to wages, prices, standards of living, and the social condition of labor in different countries.

Topics will be assigned for special investigation, and students will be expected to participate in the discussion of selections from authors recommended for a systematic course of reading.

The course is open not only for students who have taken Course 1, but to Juniors and Seniors of good rank who are taking Course 1.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 36-37.

Economics 9: Enrollment

[Economics] 9. Asst. Professor E. Cummings and Dr. J. Cummings. — The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen. 3 hours.

Total 108: 1 Graduate, 39 Seniors, 51 Juniors, 12 Sophomores, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1897-98, p. 78.

No Mid-year Examination found.

1897-98.
Economics 9.
[Year-End Examination]

I.
WORKINGMEN’S INSURANCE.

“After a preliminary examination of the various kinds of working-men’s insurance, and the chief methods by which its provision can be accomplished, we have considered the history and present condition of the problem in each of the great countries of Europe and in the United States. It now remains to pass in review the whole field, to contrast, in a measure, the various policies that have been pursued, and to indicate some of the ways in which this rich experience can be of assistance in any attempt that may be made in this country to further similar movements.”
Devote one hour (a) to analyzing the present condition in each country; (b) to indicating the ways in which this rich experience can be of assistance.

II.

a) Give the name, the size, the characteristics of the important labor organizations in the United States.

b) Compare the development and present condition of labor organizations in the United States, with the movement in England.

c) How do you account for the differences in success attending trade union and coöperative enterprises in the two countries?

III.

a) What agencies, public and private, are available for settling disputes between employers and employed in the United States?

b) To what important legal questions have these disputes given rise? What has been the attitude of the judiciary and what are the merits of the present controversy in regard to injunctions?

c) What has been the general character and value of labor legislation during the last decade?

IV.

Indicate approximately the husband’s earnings, the family income and the standard of living among laborers in coal, iron, steel, textile or other industries,

1) in the United States.
2) in European countries.
3) Compare the native with the foreign-born American in these respects.
4) What conclusions do you draw from the evidence?

V.

What is the subject of your special report? State briefly (a) the method of your research, (b) the conclusions reached.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, pp. 49-50.

_______________________

Statistics
Economics 4

*4. Statistics. — Applications to Social and Economic Problems. — Studies in Movements of Population. — Theory and Method. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 11. Dr. John Cummings.

This course deals with statistical methods used in the observation and analysis of social conditions, with the purpose of showing the relation of statistical studies to Economics and Sociology, and the scope of statistical inductions. It undertakes an examination of the views entertained by various writers regarding the theory and use of statistics, and an historical and descriptive examination of the practical methods of carrying out statistical investigations. The application of statistical methods is illustrated by studies in political, fiscal, and vital statistics, in the increase and migration of population, the growth of cities, the care of criminals and paupers, the accumulation of capital, and the production and distribution of wealth.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, p. 37.

Economics 4: Enrollment
1897-98

[Economics] 4. Dr. J. Cummings. — Statistics. — Applications to Economic and Social Questions. — Studies in the Movement of Population. — Theory and Method. 3 hours.

Total 18: 7 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1897-1898, p. 78.

1897-98.
Economics 4.
[Mid-year Examination]

[Divide your time equally between A. and B.]

A.

[Take two.]

In what sense do you understand Quetelet’s assertion that “the budget of crime is an annual taxation paid with more preciseness than any other”?
Comment upon the “element of fixity in criminal sociology.”
What are the “three factors of crime”?
Can you account for the “steadiness of the graver forms of crime”? for the increase or decrease of other crimes?
Define “penal substitutes.”
What determines the rate of criminality?
Comment upon the tables relating to crime in the last federal census, and explain how far they enable one to estimate the amount of crime committed and the increase or decrease in that amount.
Comment upon the movement of population in the U. S. as indicated in the census rates of mortality and immigration. Upon the movement of population in France and in other European countries during this century. Can you account for the decline in the rates of mortality which characterize these populations?
Give an account of the growth of some of the large European cities and of the migratory movements of their populations.
Give an account for the depopulation of rural districts which has taken place during this century?
Give some account of the Descriptive School of Statisticians and of the School of Political Arithmetic.
Of the organization and work of statistical bureaus in European countries during this century.
Of the census bureau in the United States.

B.

[Take four.]

What are some of the “positive” statistical evidences of vitality in a population? “negative”?
Define “index of mortality.”
Comment upon the density and distribution of population in the United States.
What do you understand by “normal distribution of a population according to sex and age”? Define “movement of population.”
Explain the various methods of estimating a population during intercensal years.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 4. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1897-98.

1897-98.
Economics 4.
[Final Examination]

A.

“The wealth of a nation is a matter of estimate only. Certain of its elements are susceptible of being approximated more closely than others; but few of them can be given with greater certainty or accuracy than is expressed in the word ‘estimated.’” Why? State the several methods used for determining the wealth of a nation. Give some account of the increase and of the present distribution of wealth in the United States.

II.

What statistical data indicate the movement of real wages during this century? What facts have to be taken into account in determining statistically the condition of wage earners? State the several methods of calculating index numbers of wages and prices, and explain the merits of each method. Explain the use of weighted averages as indexes, and the considerations determining the weights. What has been the movement of wages and prices in the United States since 1860?

III.

Statistical data establishing a hierarchy of European races, the fundamental “laws of anthropo-sociology,” and the selective influences of migratory movements and the growth of cities.

Take six.

“I have striven with the help of biology, statistics and political economy to formulate what I consider to be the true law of population.” (Nitti.) What is this law? Is it the true law? Why?
Upon what facts rests the assertion that “the fulcrum of the world’s balance of power has shifted from the West to the East, from the Mediterranean to the Pacific”?
What factors determine the rate of suicide? Consider the effect upon the rate of suicide of the sex and age distribution of the population, of the social and physical environment, and of heredity.
Statistical determination of labor efficiency, and the increase of such efficiency during this century.
How far are statistics concerning the number of criminal offenders indicative of the amount of criminality? Statistics of prison populations? Of crimes? What variables enter in to determine the “rate of criminality”? What significance do you attach to such rates?
The statistical method.
Graphics as means of presenting statistical data.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, pp. 43-44.

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Railways and other Public Works
Economics 5²

5² hf. Railways and other Public Works, under Government and Corporate management. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Mr. [Hugo Richard] Meyer.

In this course it is proposed to review the history and working of different modes of dealing with railway transportation, and to deal summarily with other similar industries, such as the telegraph, street railways, water and gas supply. Consideration will be given to the economic characteristics of these industries, the theory and history of railway rates, the effects of railway service and railway charges on other industries, the causes and consequences of monopoly conditions. The history of legislation in the more important European countries will be followed, as well as the different modes in which they have undertaken the regulation and control of private corporations, or have assumed direct ownership, with or without management and operation. Some attention will be given also to the experience of the British colonies, and more especially of those in Australia. In the United States, there will be consideration of the growth of the great systems, the course of legislation by the federal government, the working of the Interstate Commerce Act, and the modes of regulation, through legislation and through Commissions, at the hands of the several States. So far as time permits, other industries, analogous to railways, will be discussed in a similar manner.

Written work, in the preparation of papers on assigned topics, will be expected of all students in the course.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 37-38.

Economics 5²: Enrollment
1897-98

[Economics] 5². Mr. Meyer. — Public Works, Railways, Postal and Telegraph Service, and Monopolized Industries, under Corporate and Public Management. Hf. 3 hours. 2d half year.

Total 65: 31 Seniors, 16 Juniors, 8 Sophomores, 10 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1897-1898, p. 78.

1897-1898.
Economics 5².
[Final Examination]

“The principle [of railway rates] commonly advocated by the antagonists of the railways, as well as by the would-be reformers, is that of cost of service. Charges should be regulated in accordance with the cost of the particular transaction to the company. This is certainly not the actual method. Is it the correct method?”
Give your reasons for accepting or rejecting the “cost of service” principle.
What were the causes of the so-called granger agitation of 1871-74; of the reappearance of this agitation in 1886-88?
What were the principal reasons for the instability of railway pools in the United States?
By what means did the Trunk Line Associations which succeeded the Trunk Line Pool seek to limit competition and attain the effects of pooling?
Discuss the working of the Interstate Commerce Act under the following headings:—
The prohibition of undue or unreasonable preference or advantage and the prohibition of pooling.
The construction by the United States Courts of the clause that the findings of the Commission shall be prima facie evidence in judicial proceedings.
Legal embarrassments and other obstacles encountered by the Commission in obtaining testimony in penal cases.
The attitude of the railways to the Act.
The history of the application of the long and short haul clause to competitive rates made by railways not subject to competition from railways which are beyond the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission; and to rates on imported commodities. Discuss under the following heading:—
“The construction put upon the long and short haul clause by the Interstate Commerce Commission; by the United States Supreme Court.
Discuss the working of the German legislation prescribing for distances over 100 km a uniform rate per ton per kilometer.
Should you expect the practice of equal mileage charges to work with more friction or with less in the United States than in Germany?
Alternative:
The important points of difference between the management of the Prussian State Railways and the management of the Australian State Railways; between the management of the English Railways and the management of the American Railways.
The reasons for the failure of the De Freycinet (1879) railway construction schemes; and the effect upon the French Budget of the “agreements” negotiated in 1883 between the French Government and the Six Companies.
Alternative:
The effect upon the Italian Budget of the “conventions” made in 1885 between the Italian Government and the Three Companies. The effect upon the Italian Exchequer of the railway construction carried out under the act of 1879 and the supplementary acts of 1881, 1882, and 1885.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, pp. 44-45.

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Theory and Methods of Taxation
Economics 7¹

*7¹ hf. The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to local taxation in the United States. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Professor [Frank William] Taussig.

Course 7¹ undertakes an examination of the theory of taxation, based upon the comparative study of methods as practised in different countries and in different States of the American Union. This examination necessarily includes some discussion of leading questions in revenue legislation, such as the taxation of incomes and personal property, the single tax, progressive taxation, and indirect taxes.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, p. 38.

Economics 7¹: Enrollment

[Economics ] 7¹. Professor Taussig.—The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to Local Taxation in the United States. 2 or 3 hours. 1^st half year.

Total 42: 5 Graduates, 27 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 1 Sophomore.

Source: Annual Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College 1897-98, (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1899), p. 78.

Economics 7¹.
Readings

Seligman—Essays in Taxation.
Bastable—Public Finance.
Leroy-Beaulieu—Science des Finances, Vol. I.
Say—Dictionnaire des Finances.
Quarterly Journal of Economics, cited as Q. J. E.
Dowell—History of Taxation in England.

PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS: CLASSIFICATION.

Seligman, Ch. IX.
Bastable, Bk. II, Ch. I; Bk. III, Ch. 1

TAXES ON LAND.

{Leroy-Beaulieu. Bk. II, Ch. VI;
Say, article “Foncière (Contribution).” 233-241.}
Bastable, Bk. IV, Ch. I.
Dictionary of Political Economy, article “Land Tax.”

HABITATION TAXES.

{Leroy-Beaulieu, Bk. II, Ch. VII.
Say, article “Personelle-Mobilière,” 850-857.}
Dowell, Vol. III, 186-192.

INCOME TAXES.

Leroy-Beaulieu, Bk. II, Ch. X.
Bastable, Bk. IV, Ch. IV.
{Dowell, Vol. III, 99-122;
Article “Income Tax in the United Kingdom,” in Dictionary of Political Economy, Vol. II.}
J. A. Hill, The Prussian Income Tax, Q. J. E., January, 1892.
Seligman, Ch. X, iii, iv.

BUSINESS TAXES.

{Say, article “Patentes,” pp. 743-752;
Leroy-Beaulieu, Bk. II, Ch. VIII.}
J. A. Hill—The Prussian Business Tax, Q. J. E., October, 1893.

SUCCESSION TAXES.

Seligman, Ch. V; Ch. IX, i.
Bastable, Bk. III, Ch. III.

PROGRESSION.

{Leroy-Beaulieu, Bk. II, Ch. II;
Bastable, Bk. III, Ch. III.}
Seligman, Progressive Taxation, pp. 190-200; pp. 39-53 (Switzerland).

DIRECT TAXES BY THE UNITED STATES.

C. F. Dunbar,The Direct Tax of 1861, Q. J. E., July, 1889; Vol. III, pp. 436-446.
J. A. Hill,The Civil War Income Tax, Q. J. E., July, 1894.
C. F. Dunbar, The New Income Tax, Q. J. E., October, 1894.

LOCAL TAXES IN ENGLAND.

Blunden, Local Taxation and Finance, Ch. III, IV, V.

LOCAL TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

Seligman, Ch. II, IV, VI, XI.
Ely, Taxation in American States, part III, Ch. VII.
Plehn, The General Property in California, (Economic Studies, Vol. II, No. 3), Part II, 151-178.
Angell, The Tax Inquisitor System in Ohio, in Yale Review, February, 1897.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 1, folder “1897-1898”.

1897-98.
Economics 7¹.
[Mid-year Examination]

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Give and answer, however brief, to each question]

Consider which of the following combinations, if any, bring about “double taxation”: (1) the impôt sur la propriété batie and the personelle-mobilière, in France; (2) local rates and schedule A of the income tax, in Great Britain; (3) the taxation of mortgaged property and of mortgages, as commonly provided for in American States.
It has been said that the taxation of merchants’ stock in trade in Massachusetts, by assessors’ estimate, if effect proceeds in a somewhat similar fashion to that of the French impôt des patentes and of the Prussian business tax. Why? or why not?
Are there good reasons for taxing funded incomes at a higher rate than unfunded?
It has recently been proposed in Great Britain to impose a general tax on property, based on the income tax returns, and levied at the rate of (say) five per cent. on the income derived from the property; reducing at the same time the income tax to one-half its present rate. Point out what important changes in the British tax system would result; consider what examples in other countries may have suggested the proposal: and give an opinion as to its expediency.
What do you conceive to be the “compensatory theory” in regard to progressive taxation?
What reasoning pertinent in regard to the principle of progression in taxation is also pertinent in regard to taxes on successions? in regard to the single tax?
As between owner and occupier of real estate who is responsible for local rates in England? for local taxes in the United States? Do you believe that the differences have important consequences in the incidence of these taxes?
Consider points of resemblance, points of difference, in the modes in which the States of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania tax (1) domestic corporations (2) the securities issued by foreign corporations.
What grounds are there in favor, what against, the imposition of income taxes by the several States?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 4. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1897-98.

Also: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, pp. 47-48.

Also: Harvard University Archives. Examination papers in economics 1882-1935, Prof. F. W. Taussig. Scrapbook. (HUC 7882), p. 61.

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Financial Administration and Public Debts
Economics 7²

*7² hf. Financial Administration and Public Debts. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor [Charles Franklin] Dunbar.

Course 7² is devoted to an examination of the budget systems of leading countries, and their methods of controlling expenditure, the methods of borrowing and of extinguishing debts practised by modern states, the form and obligation of the securities issued, and the general management of public credit.

Topics will be assigned for investigation by the students, and a list of topics, references, and required reading will be used.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, p. 38.

Enrollment data not published for 1897-98.

1897-98.
Economics 7²
[Final Examination]

What are the comparative advantages of (a) an Independent Treasury like that of the United States, and (b) the use of a bank or banks by the government, as practised in England or Germany?
What changes (if any) of constitution, law or practice would be required, in order to establish a thorough-going budget system in the United States?
Compare the French budget procedure with the English, and point out their respective advantages or disadvantages.
Suppose a fiscal year to have ended before financial measures for the new year have been agreed upon. How would current expenditure be provided for in the United States? In England? In France? In Germany?
What is the practice of those four countries respectively as regards the control of revenue by means of annual grants?
Suppose the case of a country having a depreciated paper currency, but expecting the ultimate resumption of specie payments, and compelled to borrow on a large scale. Which method of borrowing upon bonds (principal and interest payable in gold) would be the best,—
(a), To sell the bonds for par in gold and make the rate of interest high enough to attract buyers;
(b) To sell the bonds for gold at such discount as might be necessary, their interest being fixed, say, at six per cent;
(c) To sell the bonds for their nominal par in depreciated paper. Give the reasons for and against each method.
State the probable effect on the selling value of bonds when their terms provide for, —
(a) Annual drawings by lot for payment;
(b) Reserved right to pay at pleasure after some fixed date;
(c) Obligation to pay at some fixed date;
(d) “Limited option” like that of the “five-twenties.”
Examine the reasoning involved in the following expression of opinion:—
“There is one essential difference between the anticipation of interest. payments, and the anticipation of the payment of the principal of a debt by purchases on the market. This latter procedure…requires a larger sum of money to extinguish a given debt than will be required after the debt comes to be redeemable; but no such result follows the anticipation of interest-payments. These are determined by the terms of the contract, and may be calculated with accuracy. The interest does not, like the market value of a debt, fall as the bonds approach the period of their redemption, and it is but the application of sound business rules to use any surplus money on hand in making advanced payments of interest.”
Describe the existing arrangements for the reduction of the English debt.
State, with reasons, your own conclusion as to the real advantage (if any) derived from the system of terminable annuities.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, pp. 48-49.

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Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems
Economics 12²

*12¹ hf. Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems. Half -course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor [Charles Franklin] Dunbar.]

[Note: originally announced as omitted for 1897-98.]

In Course 12^[1] the modern system of banking by deposit and discount is examined, and its development in various countries is studied. The different systems of note-issue are then reviewed and compared, and the relations of banks to financial crises carefully analyzed. Practical banking does not come within the scope of this course. The study is historical and comparative in its methods, requiring some examination of important legislation in different countries, practice in the interpretation of banking movements, and investigation of the general effects of banking. The course, therefore, naturally leads to an examination of the questions now raised as to bank issues in the United States.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 38-39.

Economics 12: Enrollment

[Economics ] 12¹. Professor Dunbar.—Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems. Hf. 3 hours. 1^st half year.

Total 12: 5 Graduates, 4 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Annual Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College 1897-98, (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1899), p. 78.

1897-98.
Economics 12¹.
[Mid-year Examination]

Give ONE THIRD of your time to these two questions.

Suppose that, in the period 1848-70, India had had a banking system as extensively used and as efficient as that of England or the United States, and that in the East prices had depended upon competition as much as they did in the Western nations? How would these altered conditions have affected the drain of silver to India, and the value of the precious metals in America and Europe?
What do you say to the general proposition, that England, “being a debtor nation,” can draw gold at pleasure from any part of the world?

A few years ago an American writer said:—
“We will be able to resume specie payments when we cease to rank among the debtor nations, when our national debt is owed to our own people, and when our industry is adequate to the supply of the nation’s need of manufactured goods.”
To what extent should you regard the circumstances of the resumption in 1879 as a verification of the reasoning implied in this statement?
In what way did the payment of the French Indemnity, 1871-73, tend to stimulate affairs in England, Austria, and the United States?
What economic conditions or events tended to make the year 1890 a turning point, both in domestic and in international finance? Give a clear statement of such as you recall.
How do the banking and currency systems of England, France and the United States differ, as regards their ability respectively to resist export movements of gold?
What temporary changes in the general level of prices in this country should you expect to see, as the result of a large permanent withdrawal of foreign capital? What ultimate change of prices should you expect?
State the general conditions which determine the movement of gold as it issues from the mining countries and is distributes over the world?
Cairnes discusses some of the conditions which determine the relative quickness with which countries raise their general scale of prices when a rapid depreciation of gold is in progress. Consider how far the effect upon a given country would be influenced by the fact that its exports were

(a) chiefly manufactured articles;
(b) chiefly articles of food.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 4. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1897-98.
Also: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, pp. 51-52.

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International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals
Economics 12¹

[Was not offered first nor second term, instead see above]

[* 12¹ hf. International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor [Charles Franklin] Dunbar and Mr. [Hugo Richard] Meyer.

Course 12¹ is taken up with the discussion of the movements of goods, securities, and money, in the exchanges between nations and in the settlement of international demands. After a preliminary study of the general doctrine of international trade and of the use and significance of bills of exchange, it is proposed to make a close examination of some cases of payments on a great scale, and to trace the adjustments of imports and exports under temporary or abnormal financial conditions. Such examples as the payment of the indemnity by France to Germany after the war of 1870-71, the distribution of gold by the mining countries, and the movements of the foreign trade of the United States since 1879, will be investigated and used for the illustration of the general principles regulating exchanges and the distribution of money between nations.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 38-39.]

_______________________

Selected Topics in the Financial Legislation of the United States
Economics 16²

*16² hf. Selected Topics in the Financial Legislation of the United States. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 2.30. Professor [Charles Franklin] Dunbar.

The topics for study in this course for 1897-98 will be: (1) The Legal Tender Issues of the Civil War; (2) Development of the National Banking System. Subjects will be assigned and reports called for, requiring thorough investigation in the debates of Congress and other contemporary sources of information, for the purpose of tracing the history and significance of the legislative acts to be discussed, and a close study of such financial and commercial statistics as may throw light upon the operation of the acts.

Arrangements will be made by which graduate students and candidates for Final Honors in Political Science may take this course in connection with the Seminary in Economics as a full course running through the year.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, p. 39.

Economics 16²: Enrollment

[Economics ] 16². Professor Dunbar.—Selected Topics in the Financial History of the United States. Hf. 2 hours. 1^st half year.

Total 8: 3 Graduates, 3 Seniors, 2 Juniors.

Source: Annual Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College 1897-98, (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1899), p. 78.

1897-98.
Economics 16²[Year-end Examination]

Give one-half of the time allowed for this examination to the discussion of any two of the questions stated under B.

Answer, with such fulness as the remaining time allows, those of the following questions which you have not selected for discussion under A.

Rhodes (History of the United States since 1850, iii., 567) states as “the conclusion which it seems to me a careful consideration of all the facts must bring us to,” that “The Legal Tender act was neither necessary nor economical.”
Discuss this conclusion.
In December, 1868, Senator Morton introduced a bill providing that specie payments should be resumed, by the government July 1, 1871, and by the banks January 1, 1872, greenbacks ceasing to be a legal tender at the latter date; gold to be provided in the Treasury by the accumulation of surpluses and by the sale of bonds, but no greenbacks to be redeemed until the date fixed for resumption by the United States.
What would have been the probable operation of such a measure?
Sherman said in January, 1874,—
“The plan, which in my judgment presents the easiest and best mode of attaining specie payments, is to choose some bond of the United States which in ordinary times, by current quotations, is known to be worth par in gold in the money markets of the world, where specie is alone the standard of value, and authorize the conversion of notes into it.”
Discuss the probable working of such a plan, having in view also Mr. Sherman’s strong objection to a contraction of the currency
Suppose an Issue department of the Treasury, completely separated from all other business, provided with an ample reserve and strictly limited to the exchange of coin for notes and notes for coin as required by the public; what would you say would then be the nature and the force of the objections, if any, to the permanent maintenance of our legal tender issues?
The greenbacks having been regarded originally as the temporary element in our paper currency and the bank notes as the permanent element, what were the one or two great turning points in the development which reversed this relation?
If the issue of bank-notes were made equally available for all parts of the country, so far as the requirements of the system are concerned, would the South and South West find themselves more amply provided with paper currency than at present?
What in your judgment is the most important function discharged by banks in this country, and what is your estimate of the importance and practicability of national supervision of their discharge of that function?
The act just passed by Congress to provide ways and means for the expenditures occasioned by the war, contains the following section:—
“That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and directed to coin into standard silver dollars as rapidly as the public interests may require, to an amount, however, of not less than one and one-half millions of dollars in each month, all of the silver bullion now in the Treasury purchased in accordance with the provisions of the act approved July 14, 1890, entitled “An act directing the purchase of silver bullion and the issue of Treasury notes thereon, and for other purposes, and said dollars, when so coined, shall be used and applied in the manner and for the purposes named in said act.”
State carefully the use and application of the dollars thus required by the act of 1890.

Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Examination Papers 1898-99, Bound Volume, pp. 554-55.

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Economics Seminary
Economics 20

20. Seminary in Economics. Mon., at 4.30. Professors [Charles Franklin] Dunbar, [Frank William] Taussig, and [William James] Ashley, and Asst. Professor Edward Cummings.

In the Seminary the instructors receive Graduate Students, and Seniors of high rank and adequate preparation, for training in investigation and discussion. No endeavor is made to limit the work of the Seminary to any one set of subjects. Subjects are assigned to students according to their needs and opportunities, and may be selected from any of the larger fields covered by the courses in which stated instruction is given. They may accordingly be in economic theory, in economic history, in applied economics, in sociology, or in statistics. It will usually be advisible for members of the Seminary to undertake their special investigation in a subject with whose general outlines they are already acquainted; but it may sometimes be advantageous to combine general work in one of the systematic courses with special investigation of a part of the field.

The general meetings of the Seminary are held on the first and third Mondays of each month. The members of the Seminary confer individually, at stated times arranged after consultation, with the instructors under whose special guidance they are conducting their researches.

At the regular meetings, the results of the investigations of members are presented and discussed. The instructors also at times present the results of their own work, and give accounts of the specialized literature of Economics. At intervals, other persons are invited to address the Seminary on subjects of theoretic or practical interest, giving opportunity for contact and discussion with the non-academic world. Among those who thus contributed to the Seminary in 1895-97 were President Francis A. Walker, Dr. Frederick H. Wines, Mr. S. N. D. North, Mr. A. T. Lyman, Mr. E. W. Hooper, and Mr. F. C. Lowell.

In 1896-97 the Seminary had fifteen members, of whom twelve were Graduate Students, two were Seniors in Harvard College, and one was a Law Student. Among the subjects under investigation in that year were: The Woollen Industry in England during the 17th and 18th centuries; Over-production and Over-accumulation in Economic Theory; The Taxation of Sugar in the United States and in Foreign Countries; The National Banking System with regard to its operation in the West and South; The Financial History of the Pennsylvania Railway; The Financial History of the Union Pacific Railway; The History of Immigration into the United States.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 39-40.

Economics 20: Enrollment

[Economics ] 20. Professors Dunbar, Taussig and Ashley, and Asst. Professor Edward Cummings.—Investigation of topics assigned after consultation.

Total 12: 11 Graduates, 1Senior.

Source: Annual Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College 1897-98, (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1899), p. 78.

Members of the Harvard Economics Seminary, 1897-1898

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-members-of-the-economics-seminary-1897-1898/

Image Source: Harvard Hall (1906). From the Center for the History of Medicine (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine).

Tags Ashley, Callender, CummingsEdward, CummingsJohn, Dunbar, GriffinCS, MeyerHR, MixterCW, Taussig, WarrenEH

Economics Programs Harvard

Harvard. Visiting Committee Reports. 1895, 1901, 1903, 1906, 1908, 1914

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-03-18

Around the turn of the 20th century visiting committees to the Harvard economic department were supposed to submit reports to the Board of Overseers of Harvard College at least once every three years. When I first saw that at archive.org there were six items listed dealing with Harvard’s visiting committees I was excited, hoping to find a rich mine of material as extensive as Arthur F. Brimmer’s 1974 Report of Economics Department Visiting Committee. As you can see from below, quite the opposite is the case. The early Visiting Committees submitted the nano-reports transcribed and posted below.

Perhaps one indication of the purely formal nature of the reporting system is that the “department of political economy” was renamed the “department of economics” in 1892 but the visiting committee was still referred to the visiting committee “on political economy” as late as 1912-1913.

__________________________________

LII.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO VISIT THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
May 22, 1895

To the Board of Overseers of Harvard College:

ln the department of Political Economy the Professors feel the pressure of increased numbers of students, the lack of satisfactory space for lecture rooms, and the lack of time for independent work and research.

The difficulty is most serious in Economics 1. The lecture room available is ill-fitted for speaking or hearing, and the great number of students make it impossible, with the present corps of instructors, to divide them into sections small enough for adequate teaching and discussion. The difficulty has been met, as far as practicable, by strenuous and continuous work on the part of the Professors and instructors. This department, like others, feels the want of more books for reference, and of more library space for books and reading.

ARTHUR T. LYMAN, Chairman

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from February 6, 1890 to January 8, 1902. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1902), p. 299.

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XCIX.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.
June 5, 1901.

To the Board of Overseers of Harvard College:––

The Committee on Political Economy has had this year and last year long conferences with the Professors in the Department, and members of the Committee have also corresponded with the head of the Department.

A very large proportion of the students take Political Economy, and many take the more advanced courses. The courses seem to be satisfactorily conducted and the lecture system is supplemented by conferences and teaching in sections.

A course in Accounting has been taken by a considerable number of students, and next year an excellent programme is proposed for a course in business law. It is intended that such special courses should be confined to graduates or to seniors, and it seems best that they should not interfere with the general and broader courses of instruction in this or any other department.

The great loss to the University and to the Department of Political Economy from the death of Professor Charles F. Dunbar has been referred to by the President in his report.

For the Committee,

ARTHUR T. LYMAN,
Chairman

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from February 6, 1890 to January 8, 1902. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1902), p. 621.

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CXXXIV.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.
September 30, 1903.

To the Board of Overseers of Harvard College:—

The Committee on Political Economy met the professors and instructors.

Professor Taussig, who has been absent for a long time on account of illness, will resume a part of his work in October.

There continues to be a very large attendance in the courses of Economics — 519 in Economics 1, which deals with the general outlines of the subject, and one hundred or more in four other courses on banking, economic history of the United States, problems of labor and industrial organization, and currency legislation with recent experience and theory. These large classes involve the usual difficulties in giving interesting and adequate instruction, but they are gratifying evidences of the interest in this important subject. They make necessary many instructors for proper division of large classes, and consequently large expense.

The list of courses in the Catalogue shows the wide range of the instruction.

The Quarterly Journal of Economics, published by the Department, is well worthy of your attention. In recent numbers Professor Taussig has given an interesting and instructive history of the iron industry in this country, and the sugar problem has been fully treated.

Many other articles on important practical and theoretical questions have appeared in this Journal, which, like all publications of this class, needs the increased subscriptions and financial support to which its merits fully entitle it.

For the Committee,

ARTHUR T. LYMAN,
Chairman

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from January 8, 1902 to July 30, 1909. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1909), p. 741.

Visiting Committee Members (1903):

Arthur T. Lyman, Charles S. Fairchild, Horace E. Deming, John E. Thayer, John F. Moors.

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from January 8, 1902 to July 30, 1909. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1909), following p. 708.

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CLXXVIII.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.
May 9, 1906.

To the Board of Overseers of Harvard College:—

The Committee on Political Economy met the Professors in the Department at a long conference. They are able, accomplished, and interesting, and there is, as usual, a very large attendance on their various courses of instruction. These courses deal not only with economic theory, but with transportation, finance, taxation, currency legislation, and banking, economic history, the distribution of wealth, labor, socialism, commercial law, and accounting.

The course on the principles of accounting is taken chiefly by Graduates and Seniors, and it is the purpose of the Department not to sacrifice to it the general and fundamental courses, but to confine it mainly to Seniors or Graduates rather than to follow the plan of some of the Western State Universities in which courses are given throughout the college terms treating in an elaborate way the practical details of business in various branches.

The large attendance in several of the courses in Economics requires subdivisions and conferences, and instructors for such divisions. There is naturally considerable difficulty in securing the desired or desirable instructors, owing to the small salaries that can be afforded and the consequent lack of permanency of employment, and it is much desired that the needed competency and permanency should, if possible, be secured by the assignment of some fellowships to the best of the instructors in the subdivisions and conferences. Much of the time of the Professors might be saved by the addition of various apparatus needed. Some help in this matter has been given by members of the Committee and others.

For the Committee,

ARTHUR T. LYMAN,
Chairman

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from January 8, 1902 to July 30, 1909. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1909), p. 925.

Visiting Committee Members (1906):

Arthur T. Lyman, Charles S. Fairchild, Horace E. Deming, John F. Moors, J. Wells Farley.

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CCVIII.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.
April 8, 1908.

To the Board of Overseers of Harvard College:—

The Committee on Political Economy met the Professors of the Department, and considers that the conditions are satisfactory.

There seems to be nothing new to report, except that arrangements have become possible through the generosity of various persons for carrying on for five years advanced business courses, such as have been under consideration for several years past.

More space is needed for conferences and books, and some plans are under consideration for relief in these matters.

For the Committee,

ARTHUR T. LYMAN,
Chairman

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from January 8, 1902 to July 30, 1909. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1909), p. 1128.

Visiting Committee Members (1908):

Arthur T. Lyman, Frederic A. Delano, John F. Moors, Charles S. Fairchild, William Endicott, Jr., J. Wells Farley, Charles G. Washburn.

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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 1913-14.
April 13, 1914.

5. Economics. — The enrolment of students in Economics for the first, half of the academic year shows a falling off from 1634 to 1520 students, the most significant loss taking place in the course on Banking. The amount of instruction offered at Harvard in Economics exceeds that offered at any other University except Michigan, while in the amount of money expended Harvard is far in the lead. The Committee notes the continuing eminence and prosperity of the Quarterly Journal of Economics, published by the Department since 1886, which maintains its place as one of the foremost periodicals in the subject in the English Language, and perhaps the foremost. It has the largest circulation of any periodical published by the University, except the Law Review, and there is no more certain way of making a reputation as a writer on Economic subjects than to publish an article in this journal. The most important need of the Department is a fund for the endowment of Economic Research, which will make possible the scientific investigation of pressing economic questions. A very interesting supplemental report is made by Mr. John Wells Morss, one of the members of the Committee, representing the views and experience of a man of business, rather than of a student of education. It should be read as a whole, as it is difficult to give a satisfactory impression of its interest and value by quotations or a summary.

Source: Appended to: Harvard University. Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College for the Academic Year, 1914-15. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1915), three pages after page 260.

Image Source: John Harvard statue, ca. 1904. U.S. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Tags Dunbar, Taussig

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Mid-year and Year-End Final Exams in Economics and Social Ethics, 1894-1895

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-01-12

With this post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror adds yet another annual collection of final examination questions for the economics courses offered at Harvard together with the questions from Professor Peabody’s “Ethics of the Social Questions” that covered issues such as poverty, labor relations, and socialism (as opposed to doctrines of individualism). In 1894-95 Frank Taussig was on sabbatical leave in Italy which accounts for his whereabouts that academic year. Today I learned that “doctrine” was understood as a synonym for “theory” during the gay nineties, see Economics 2 (Economic Theory from Adam Smith to the present time) below.

Exams for one course taught were not included in the published collection of exams. It was Edward Cummings course Economics 14 (Philosophy and Political Economy.—Utopian Literature from Plato’s Republic to the present time). Exams for Economics 14 given in other years have been transcribed and posted.

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1894-95.
PHILOSOPHY 5.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[PHILOSOPHY] 5. Professor [Francis G.] Peabody. — The Ethics of the Social Questions. — The questions of Charity, the Family, Temperance, and the various phases of the Labor Question, as problems of practical Ethics. — Lectures, essays, and practical observations. 2 hours.

Total 84: 1 Graduate, 40 Seniors, 15 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 25 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 59.

PHILOSOPHY 5.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

[Omit one question.]

The Ethical Idealism of Plato, of Aristotle, and of Kant, compared with the modern doctrine of duty.
Professor Sumner’s doctrine of the Social Fulcrum vs. the philosophy of scientific charity.
Indicate, very briefly, the place in the History of Philanthropy of:

Frédéric Le Play,
Dorothea Dix,
Pastor von Bodelschwingh,
Charles L. Brace,
Samuel G. Howe.

The Elberfeld System — its organization, officials, relation tomunicipal government, and practical working.
The Liverpool System of Collection.
Mr. Charles Booth’s eight classes of East London,— their definition, dimensions, traits, and proportion. (Labor and Life of the People, I. pp. 37-62.) Mr. Booth’s view of the children of Class E (p. 160).
Compare Mr. Booth’s method and results in East London with his method and results in all London.
Compare the principle as to direct relief of the London Charity Organization Society with that of the Boston Associated Charities. (Loch, Charity Organization, pp. 59, 82.) Which is the sounder principle? Why?
The Belgian Labor Colonies,— their scope and method of classification. Compare their aims with those of the colonies of Holland and Germany.
The Christian doctrine of the Social Order — its principles and its peril.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

PHILOSOPHY 5.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Year-end Examination. 1895.

Explain the theory of ethics which makes the basis of this course of study; and the way in which this theory is practically illustrated by phases of the modern labor question.
In what respect do the social ideals of Carlyle and Ruskin seem identical, and in what respect do they appear to be inconsistent with each other?
The authorship and the significance of the following phrases:

“There is no wealth but Life…. A strange political economy; the only one, nevertheless, that ever was or can be.”

“I am for permanence in all things. Blessed is he that continueth where he is.”

“The gospel of dilettantism.”

“Roots of honour.”

“Ricardo is the parent of Socialism.”

“The value of a thing is independent of opinion and of quantity.”

“The reformation was the work of a monk; the revolution must be the work of a philosopher.”

“The people are the Rock on which the Church of the future must be built.”

The practical programme proposed by Scientific Socialism; the chief advantages claimed for it by its adherents; and the criticisms on it which appear to you most serious. Utilize here your reading of Naquet and The Social Horizon.
Socialism and Religion. The apparent grounds for sympathy and the practical reasons for antagonism. The teachings concerning socialism in the Encyclical of 1891.
The philosophy of history which encourages the Socialist, and the “Opportunist’s” view of this “Law” of social evolution.
The growth of Trades Unionism in Great Britain, and its contribution to moral education.
Federalism and Individualism in English Coöperation. The issue involved, and the advantages of each scheme of expansion.
Compare the characteristics of the forms of Liquor Legislation in force in Massachusetts and in Pennsylvania. (Fanshawe, XI, XII.) How are licenses granted under the Brooks Law? What is the function of probation-officers in Massachusetts?
How far do physiological considerations go to determine one’s duty as to drink?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 4. Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95. “Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1895,” pp. 6-7.

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1894-95.
ECONOMICS 1.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 1. Professor [William] Ashley, Asst. Professor [Edward] Cummings, Dr. [John] Cummings, and Mr. [Frederick Redman] Clow. — Outlines of Economics. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation. 3 hours.

Total 277: 2 Graduates, 39 Seniors, 18 Juniors, 159 Sophomores, 9 Freshmen, 50 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

ECONOMICS 1.
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the question. One question may be omitted.]

“All members of the community are not laborers, but all are consumers, and consume either unproductively or productively.” Explain and illustrate by examples. Suppose everybody resolved to consume “productively” only, what would be the result?
“The distinction, then, between capital and not-capital, does not lie in the kind of commodities, but in the mind of the capitalist — in his will to employ them for one purpose rather than another.” Discuss this statement, using the following illustrations:—

Bread.
A knitting machine.
A steam engine.
A carriage.

Where does true economic rent appear in the following cases:—

(a) The cultivation of a farm by its owner.
(b) The rental of a farm under a long lease by a tenant who has made permanent improvements on the land.

What is the effect on values of a general fall of profits? Of a general fall of wages?
What is the effect on rents of (1) an improvement in the methods of agriculture, (2) an improvement in transportation?
“The price of land, mines, and all other fixed sources of income, depends on the rate of interest.” Explain.
According to Mill, “Every addition to capital gives to labor either additional employment, or additional remuneration.” Why? What is the effect of an increase of labor-saving machinery on employment and on remuneration? Illustrate carefully.
“Money cannot in itself perform any part of the office of capital, since it can afford no assistance to production.” Do you agree or disagree? Why? Is money capital? Is credit money? Is credit capital?
What does Mill mean by “stationary state”? And what changes would bring about a progressive state?
What would be the effect on prices of (1) adding to a gold and silver currency a small issue of inconvertible paper money, (2) the discovery of very rich gold fields?
What do you understand by the Domestic system? By Competition? By Labor?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

ECONOMICS 1.
Year-end Examination. 1895.

(Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the question. Omit three of the even numbers: answer all others.)

“We must suppose the entire savings of the community to be annually invested in really productive employment within the country itself; and no new channels opened by industrial inventions, or by more extensive substitution of the best known processes for inferior ones.” How would profits be affected supposing population (a) to remain stationary; (b) to increase in proportion to the increase in capital?
The operations, therefore, of speculative dealers, are useful to the public whenever profitable to themselves; and although they are sometimes injurious to the public, by heightening the fluctuations which their more usual office is to alleviate, yet, whenever this happens the speculators are the greatest losers. Explain Mill’s reasoning.
Mill says of the stationary state, “I am inclined to believe that it would be, on the whole, a very considerable improvement on our present condition.” Why? Explain carefully.
Is there a necessary hostility of interests between consumers organized in co-operative associations and producers organized in trade unions?
Describe the different results obtained in co-operation by distributing profits in the form of dividend (a) on capital, (b) on labor (in proportion to wages), (c) on purchases. Illustrate by the experience of co-operation in France and England.
How do you distinguish between what Mill calls the necessary and the optional functions of government?
“We have had an example of a tax on exports, that is, on foreigners, falling in part on ourselves. We shall therefore not be surprised if we find a tax on imports, that is, on ourselves, partly falling on foreigners.” Explain carefully each case, tracing the possible effects upon prices and international trade of taxes (a) upon exports; (b) upon imports.
“Equality of taxation, therefore, as a maxim of polities, means equality of sacrifice.” Apply this maxim to a tax on incomes.
Suppose a tax of a fixed sum per bushel to be laid upon corn; what would be the effect (a) upon prices; (b) upon population; (c) upon profits; (d) upon rents?
How would the results differ if instead of a fixed sum per bushel the tax were…

(i) …a fixed proportion of the produce;
(ii) …proportioned to the rent of the land;
(iii) …a fixed sum of so much per cultivated acre? Explain carefully each case.

Describe the kinds of currency used in the United States, indicating briefly the conditions of issue in each case.
Explain the causes and effects of (a) combined reserves, (b) a suspension of the Bank Charter Act in England.
What are the provisions of the law in regard to the issue of bank notes at the present day in England? In Germany?

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1894-95.
ECONOMICS 2.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 2. Professors Ashley and [Silus Marcus] Macvane. — Economic Theory from Adam Smith to the present time. — Selections from Adam Smith and Ricardo. — Modern Writers. — Lectures. 3 hours.

Total 34: 9 Graduates, 14 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 1 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

ECONOMICS 2.
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

N.B.—Not more than seven questions must be attempted.

“The study which lately in England has been called Political Economy is, in reality, nothing more than the investigation of some accidental phenomena of modern commercial operations, nor has it been true in its investigation even of these. It has no connection whatever with political economy, as understood and treated of by the great thinkers of past ages; and as long as its unscholarly and undefined statements are allowed to pass under the same name, every word written on the subject by those thinkers—and chiefly the words of Plato, Xenophon, Cicero, and Bacon—must be nearly useless to mankind” (Ruskin, Munera Pulveris). Consider some or all of these assertions.
Give a brief account of the Physiocrat doctrine, and state to what extent it was “corrected” by Adam Smith.
Explain the origin and content of Adam Smith’s conception of “Nature.”
“A diamond has scarcely any value in use.” Consider this statement in its relation to the discussion since Adam Smith’s time of the doctrine of Value.
How does the doctrine of Rent expounded by Adam Smith agree with, and differ from, that of Ricardo?
Compare Adam Smith’s “natural rate of wages” with Ricardo’s “natural price of labour.”
“Population tends to outstrip the means of subsistence.” Distinguish the various meanings assignable to this phrase, and indicate which was meant by Malthus.
What does Adam Smith understand by “Capital”? Compare his conception with that of John Stuart Mill.
Present a critical estimate—based upon your own study—of one of the following:

1. Ingram, History of Political Economy.
2. Price, Political Economy in England.
3. Cossa, Introduction to the Study of Political Economy.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

ECONOMICS 2.
Year-end Examination, 1895

Answer at least four, but not more than six, of the following questions:

What is the economic source of Interest? Examine the proposition that “interest is the price paid for the use of capital.”
State briefly your conclusions as to the law of general wages.
Apply the Austrian theory of wages to the following case:
Number of laborers 1,000,000; total subsistence fund $600,000,000; scale of increase of productiveness of labor as the “productive period” is lengthened from one year to seven years: $350, $450, $530, $580, $620, $650, and $670.
How, in your opinion, are the profits of employers determined? What is your conclusion as to the function, in distribution, of the so-called “no profits employers.”
Discuss the following passages:
“This National Dividend is at once the aggregate Net product of, and the sole source of payment for, all the agents of production within the country: it is divided up into Earnings of labour, Interest of capital, and lastly the Producer’s Surplus, or Rent, of land and of other differential advantages for production. It constitutes the whole of them and the whole of it is distributed among them.”
“The proposal to put rent aside while we are considering how earnings and interest are determined, has been found to suggest that rent is determined first and then takes part in determining earnings and interest; and this is, of course, the opposite of what really occurs.”
It has been said that Mill expresses his meaning badly when he said that demand for commodities is not a demand for labor. Does the proposition seem to you to need revision!
Does increase of saving tend to make the supply of goods outrun the demand for goods?
Examine the doctrine that the exchange value of commodities is determined by marginal utility.
Past and present relations between gold and silver.

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1894-95.
ECONOMICS 3.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 3. Asst. Professor Cummings. — The Principles of Sociology. — Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions. 2 hours.

Total 52: 10 Graduates, 30 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

ECONOMICS 3.
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

Answer the questions in the order in which they stand. Omit three questions.

State accurately the reading you have done in this course to date.
“But now let us drop the alleged parallelism between individual organizations and social organizations. I have used the analogies elaborated but as a scaffolding to help in building up a coherent body of sociological inductions. Let us take away the scaffolding: the inductions will stand by themselves.” What are these inductions?
“The family relinquishes one provisional and temporary function after another; its only purpose being to fill gaps in social offices, it made way for independent institutions … as soon as these institutions arose.” Explain and illustrate. How far would Spencer assent to this doctrine?
“Most anthropologists who have written on prehistoric customs believe, indeed, that man lived originally in a state of promiscuity or ‘communal marriage’; but we have found this hypothesis is essentially unscientific.” Discuss the evidence.
“The status of children, in common with that of women, rises in proportion as the compulsory coöperation characterizing militant societies, becomes qualified by the voluntary coöperation characterising industrial societies.” Why? Trace the rise, and illustrate.
“These three distinct states of mind, all of which, in point of fact, are admitted to exist together at the present time, and perhaps to have always done so to a greater or less extent, Comte declares to have undergone a regular progressive movement in the history of society. There have been three successive epochs, during which these philosophic principles, each in its turn, preponderated over both the others and controlled the current of human events.” Explain.
“So that as law differentiates from personal commands, and as morality differentiates from religious injunctions, so politeness differentiates from ceremonial observance. To which I may add, so does rational usage differentiate from fashion.” Explain and illustrate.
How does Spencer account for the diverse types of political organization; and what influences determine the order in which they arise? Illustrate.
“From the Evolution-standpoint we are thus enabled to discern the relative beneficence of institutions which, considered absolutely, are not beneficent; and are taught to approve as temporary that which, as permanent, we abhor.” Explain and illustrate. Does our idea of progress then include all social changes?
“In all ways, then, we are shown that with this relative decrease of militancy and relative increase of industrialism, there has been a change from a social order in which individuals exist for the State, to a social order in which the State exists for individuals?” Explain and illustrate.
According to Spencer, what are likely to be the future forms of political organization and action in societies that are favorably circumstanced for carrying social evolution to its highest stage?
“At bottom this is a physical explanation, and Spencerian sociology in general, whether formulated by Mr. Spencer or by other writers under the influence of his thought, is essentially a physical philosophy of society, notwithstanding its liberal use of biological and psychological data.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

ECONOMICS 3.
Year-end Examination

[Answer the questions in the order in which they stand. Omit one question.]

State accurately the reading you have done in this course to date.
What has been the function of religion in social evolution? (Compare Spencer and Kidd.) Do you find reasons for thinking society will become more religious?
“The only conclusion to which we are brought by this prolonged examination of authorities is that community of land has not yet been historically proved.” Discuss the evidence.
“And as of old, Society and State tend to coincide, political questions to become identical with social questions.” Discuss the historical changes and tendencies in question. Distinguish carefully between Society, the State, the Government, the Nation.
“It is becoming clear that, when people speak of natural rights of liberty, property, etc., they really mean, not rights which once existed and have been lost, but rights which they believe ought to exist, and which would be produced by a condition of society and an ordering of the State such as they think desirable.” Explain. How far do changes in the theory and practice of penal legislation substantiate this view?
“The gulf between the state of society towards which it is the tendency of the process of evolution now in progress to carry us, and socialism, is wide and deep.”
“The Individualism of the past is buried, and the immediate future is unmistakably with a progressive Socialism, the full extent of which no man can get see.” Discuss carefully the facts and theories upon which these opposing views are based.
“The philanthropic and experimental forms of socialism, which played a conspicuous rôle before 1848, perished then in the wreck of the Revolution, and have never risen to life again.” What were the characteristics of these earlier forms; and what was their relation to the movements which preceded them and followed them?

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1894-95.
ECONOMICS 5.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 5². Mr. George Ole Virtue. — Railway Transportation. — Lectures and written work. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 21: 2 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 1 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

ECONOMICS 5.
Year-end Examination. 1895.

Sketch the railroad history of France.
“The [Reilly] bill now before Congress proposes to extend the debt for another fifty years and a grand opportunity will thus be let slip for trying, under the most favorable circumstances, an experiment whose possibilities no man can measure.”
What legislation can you suggest for improving the relations between the different classes of owners of railway capital? For the protection of the interests of investors in railway capital generally?
State briefly the significance in railway history of the following cases: Munn v. Illinois; Wabash, etc. Ry. Co. v. Illinois; Ames v. U. P. Ry. Co.; Budd v. New York; In re Louisville & Nashville; The Denaby Main Colliery Case.
Choose one:

(a) The bearing upon the making of rates, of the “cost of service”; “value of service”; “charging what the traffic will bear”; “joint cost.”
(b) “Group rates,” “equal mileage rates,” “the blanket rate,” “the postage rate,” “Wagen-raum tarif,” “differentials.”
(c) A “reasonable rates.”

Recount the experience which has led the Interstate Commerce Commission to recomment an amendment to the Act to Regulate Commerce: (a) Construing the meaning of “the word ‘line’ when used in the act to be a physical line and not a business arrangement”; (b) relieving “shippers and individuals not connected with railway employment from liability to fine and imprisonment under Section 10,” with certain exceptions.
What would be the probable effect of giving the Commission power to prescribe minimum as well as maximum rates? Would it obviate the necessity now claimed for pooling?
“When the first bill to regulate commerce was passed the great and powerful wedge of State socialism, so far as government control of railroads is concerned, was driven one-quarter of its length into the timber of conservative government. … The pending bill, [the pooling which passed the House at the last session is referred to] the moment it becomes a law, will drive the wedge three-quarters of its length into the timber.”
Give your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with each of the above statements.
What conclusions on the question of public management can you draw from the experience of the states in the internal improvement movement?
Why is it peculiarly true in railway business that “competition must end in combination”?
The success of the State Railroad Commissions and suggestions for increasing their efficiency.

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1894-95.
ECONOMICS 7¹.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 7¹. Professor [Charles F.] Dunbar. — The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to local taxation in the United States. 3 hours. 1^st half-year.

Total 28: 6 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

ECONOMICS 7¹.
Mid-year Examination. 1895.

What is the “Benefit Theory” of taxation? What is the “Faculty Theory”? Define “Faculty” as used in this expression.
What are the leading points of difference between the English, Prussian and American income tax systems?
What reasons are there for having income tax levied by national authority rather than local? To what extent, if at all, do these reasons apply also to a general property tax?
In levying a general property tax, should the debts of the taxpayer be deducted from the property held by him?
By what reasoning is it maintained that,—
“When the local real estate tax is levied according to rental value and assessed in the first instance on the occupier, as is the case in England, the main burden of the tax will rest ultimately on the occupier, not the owner of the premises.”
Will the same reasoning apply to the income tax on rent, assessed under Schedule A., and collected from the occupier?
What are the leading points of difference between the German method of taxing distilled liquors and the method practised in England and the United States?
The theories of Canard, Thiers and Stein are,—
“That every tax is shifted on everybody — that every consumer will again shift the tax on a third party, and that this third party who is again a consumer will shift it to someone else — and so ad infinitum. And since everyone is a consumer, everyone will bear a portion of the taxes that everybody else pays.”
Professor Seligman’s comment is that “the error of this doctrine lies in the failure to distinguish between productive and unproductive consumption.” Is this answer complete? If not, wherein does it fail?
In a statement of the circumstances under which a tax may or may not be capitalized, it is said,—
“The principle would not apply to special taxes on property or profits if the capital value of this class of commodities should for any other reason fluctuate in price. For example, if a special tax were levied on government securities it might nevertheless happen that if some reason confidence in government bonds, as over against general securities, might decrease to such an extent as to counterbalance the decreased returns from the investment. In such a case there would be no capitalization of the tax.”
What criticism have you to make on this reasoning?
Can the theory of progressive taxation be satisfied by a gradually decreasing rate of progression [“degressively progressive taxation”]. or does it require a rate which shall cut off all income or accumulation above a certain level?
What practical difficulties does the taxation of real estate offer in shaping a system of progressive taxation?

__________________

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 7².

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 7². Professor Dunbar. — Financial Administration and Public Debts. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 28: 7 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 1 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

ECONOMICS 7².
Year-end Examination

[Spend an hour on A, and the remainder of the time on B.]

A.

Give an account of the management of the English debt in the decade 1880-90.
Do “sound rules of finance” demand that the principal of the debt or the rate of interest shall be determined by the government? that securities shall never be issued below par? that a government shall not buy in its securities at a premium?

B.

How far, if at all, is the government justified in pledging itself to any fixed policy of debt payment?
How may the policy of conversation conflict with the policy of debt payment?
Give an account of the United States refunding operations in the decade 1865-75.
Discuss the respective powers of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Great Britain, the minister of finance in France.
In each case where does the responsibility for the financial policy of the government rest?
Give an account of the creation of Pit’s sinking fund and of the successive modifications made in the sinking fund provisions down to 1803.
Discuss the various methods of placing government securities in the market, and the conditions of contract which make one form of security more attractive to buyers than another.
The United States 4 per cent. 30-year bonds are quoted at about 123¼; how is the present worth of these securities determined?
What determines the present worth of a terminable annuity? of a perpetual annuity? of a life annuity?
Discuss the manner of making up the estimates of public income and expenditure in Great Britain and in France; the manner of providing for any deficits which may occur in any department during the year; the manner of providing for carrying on the government where the enactment of the budget is delayed until after the beginning of the year; and the disposal of balances unexpended at the end of the year.

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1894-95.
ECONOMICS 8.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 8¹. Professor Dunbar. — History of Financial Legislation in the United States. 2 hours.

Total 52: 5 Graduates, 22 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

ECONOMICS 8.
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

Hamilton is sometimes said to have favored the policy of perpetual debt, and Gallatin, on the other hand, to have established the policy of debt-payment. How far are these statements confirmed by the measures of Hamilton and Gallatin respectively?
How far should you say that Hamilton was justified in his expectation (stated in the Report on Public Credit), (1) That the public debt, if properly funded, would answer most of the purposes of money, and (2) that it would increase the amount of capital for use in trade and lower the interest of money?
When were the several classes of obligations in which the revolutionary debt was funded finally paid off?
Was it fortunate or unfortunate that Congress did not adopt Madison’s policy as to a United States Bank in January, 1815? Why?
Give a list, with dates, of the cases in which bills for establishing a United States Bank have been vetoed.
Give as complete a chronology as you can of the events connected with the Bank, from President Jackson’s first attack upon it down to its final failure.
The removal of the deposits is sometimes spoken of as a fatal blow to the United States Bank. What do you gather from your reading as to its importance as regards the business position or credit of the Bank?
What was the Specie Circular of 1836, and what serious financial results did it produce?
What led to the adoption of the National Bank system in 1863?
How would it have eased the financial difficulty in 1861, if the Secretary of the Treasury had made more free use of his authority, under the act of August 5, for suspending some of the provisions of the Independent Treasury act?
The earlier legal-tender acts provided for funding the notes, at the pleasure of the holder, in United States bonds. When and why was this privilege of funding withdrawn? What would probably have been the effect if it had been retained until the close of the war?
What were the steps by which the legal tender issues came to be treated as the practically permanent element in our paper currency and to be fixed in amount?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

__________________

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 9.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 9. Asst. Professor Cummings. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the United States and in other countries. 3 hours.

Total 79: 3 Graduates, 34 Seniors, 31 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

ECONOMICS 9.
Mid-Year Examination, 1895.

(Arrange your answers, in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries.)

State accurately the reading you have done in this course to date.
“The interests of the working classes are identical in all lands governed by capitalist methods of production. The extension of the world’s commerce and production for the world’s markets, make the position of the workman in any one country daily more dependent upon that of the workmen in other countries.” Why? Explain how in the history of trade unions this community of interest among workmen, not only of the same trade and the same country but of different trades and different countries, has actually manifested itself. Illustrate.
Precisely what answer to the “lump of labor” theory is to be drawn from that version of the wage-fund doctrine adopted by Mill, by Walker, by yourself?
How far has the theory and the practice of coöperation offered a complete remedy for the evils of the existing industrial organization? and at precisely what points has the theory and the practice broken down? Illustrate carefully.
“The struggle of the working classes against capitalist exploitation must of necessity be a political struggle.” How far does the history of trade unions and of coöperation show a tendency in this direction? Illustrate carefully.
“But above all things, observe that all types of piece wage, whether single or progressive, and whether individual or collective, possess this most marked superiority over Profit-sharing.” … “At the same time, it is right to remark that there are many cases, in which the method of Profit-sharing surpasses in important respects any form of the ordinary wage-system.” Explain carefully the grounds of the alleged inferiority and superiority in each case.
“Before, therefore, the trade union can realize its policy of ‘collective bargaining,’ it must solve the two-fold problem – how to bind its own constituents, and how to obtain the recognition of employers.” By what methods have trade unions endeavored to solve this problem? Illustrate.
Trace the successive stages of the so-called “industrial revolution” during the last hundred and fifty years.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

ECONOMICS 9.
Year-end Examination. 1895.

[Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by statistical and descriptive matter showing the relative condition of working people in the United States and in other countries.]

I.

State accurately the reading you have done in this course since the mid-year examinations.

II.

Devote three hours to a careful discussion of the merits and defects of the German system of compulsory insurance, under the following general heads:

An accurate account of the origin, scope, organization, administration of the system in Germany, — stating approximately the numbers insured, the cost of insurance to all parties concerned, the benefits provided, the methods of collection, distribution, etc.;
Difficulties, opposition, and criticisms thus far encountered;
Progress of similar movements towards compulsory insurance in other countries;
Facts bearing upon the adequacy of existing provisions for sickness, accident, old age in England and the United States;
A biographical sketch showing at what age and in what respects the State already interferes to prescribe conditions of employment, education, etc., for operatives reared from childhood to old age in the factory system of Massachusetts: showing also the additional interference which would be involved in the adoption of the German system of compulsory insurance;
Conclusion.

__________________

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 10.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 10. Professor Ashley. — The Elements of Economic History from the Middle Ages to Modern Times. 2 hours.

Total 61: 9 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

ECONOMICS 10.
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

I. To be first attempted by all.

Translate, and comment on, the following passages:

Quomodo vocatur mansio; quis tenuit eam T. R. E.; quis mod tenet; quot hidae; quot carrucae in dominio; quot hominum; quot villani; quot cotarii; quot servi; quot liberi homines; quot sochemanni.
De virgis operantur ii diebus in ebdomada.
Rex. . . destinavit per regnum quos ad id prudentiores.. . . cognoverat, qui circumeuntes et oculata fide fundos singulos perlustrantes, habita aestimatione victualium quae de hiis solvebantur, redegerunt in summam denariorum.
Interiors plerique frumenta non serunt, sed lacte et carne vivunt, pellibusque sunt vestiti.
Ideo rogamus, sacratissime imperator, subvenias. . . . ademptum sit jus etiam procuratoribus, nedum conductori, adversus colonos ampliandi partes agrarias.
Arva per annos mutant et superest ager.
Ego Eddi episcopus terram quae dicitur Lantocal tres cassatos Heglisco abbati libenter largior.
Rex misit in singulos comitatus quod messores et alii operarii non plus caperent quam capere solebant.
Noveritis nos concessisse omnibus tenentibus nostris . . . . quod omnia praedicta terrae et tenementa de cetero sint libera, et liberae conditionis.

II. Write on two only of the following subjects.

The reasons for believing in the survival in Britain of the Roman agrarian organisation.
A comparison, from the economic point of view, of the open-field system with modern methods of farming.
The condition of the tillers of the soil in England in A.D. 1381 as compared with A.D. 1066.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

ECONOMICS 10.
Year-end Examination. 1895.

I.
[To be first attempted by all.]

TRANSLATE, and comment on, the following passages:—

In Kateringes sunt x. hidae ad geldum Regis. Et de istis
hidis tenent xl. villani xl. virgas terrae. … Et omnes isti homines operantur iii^bus diebus in ebdomada.
Agriculturae non student; majorque pars eorum victus in lacte caseo carne consistit; neque quisquam agri modum certum aut fines habet proprios; sed magistratus ac principes in annos singulos gentibus cognationibusque hominum qui una coierunt, quantum et quo loco visum est agri attribuunt atque anno post alio transire cogunt.
Nul ne deit rien acheter a revendre en la vile meyme, fors yl serra Gildeyn.
Cives Londoniae debent xl marcas pro Gilda Telaria delenda; ita ut de cetero non suscitetur.
Johannes Hore mortuus est, qui tenuit de domino dimidiam acram terrae cujus heriettum unus vitulus precii iiii d. Et Johanna soror dicti Johannis est proximus heres, quae venit et gersummavit dictam terram tenendam sibi et suis in villenagio ad voluntatem per servicia et consuetudines.

II.
[Write on four only of the following subjects.]

“I contend that from 1563 to 1824, a conspiracy, concocted by the law and carried out by parties interested in its success, was entered into, to cheat the English workman of his wages, to tie him to the soil, to deprive him of hope, and to degrade him into irremediable poverty.” Consider this.
Discuss the question whether the statute of 5 Eliz. c. 4, displays any distinct economic policy.
Explain the causes, nature and consequences of the change in commercial routes in the sixteenth century.
What is meant by a national economy, as contrasted with a town economy? Illustrate from European conditions in the 15th and 16th centuries.
What has been the economic gain to England from immigration?
Mention briefly those respects in which the economic development of England has resembled that of Western Europe, and those respects in which it has been peculiar.

Tags Ashley, Clow, CummingsEdward, CummingsJohn, Dunbar, Macvane, Peabody, Virtue

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Semester exams for all economics and one social ethics course, 1893-1894

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-11-29

With this post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror adds yet another annual slice of final examinations from Harvard. Over twenty pages of exam questions (with course enrollment figures) for the 1893-94 academic year have been transcribed and are now available to the internet community of historians of economics. For other years visitors can simply scan or search the chronological catalogue of artifacts. Alternatively using Google search constrained to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror, “harvard economics exams site:irwincollier.com“, will get you links to plenty of Harvard examination postings through the years.

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Enrollment for Philosophy 5.
The Ethics of the Social Questions.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Philosophy] 5. Professor Peabody. — The Ethics of the Social Questions. — The questions of Charity, Divorce, the Indians, Temperance, and the various phases of the Labor Question, as problems of practical Ethics. — Lectures, essays, and practical observations. 2 hours.

Total 118: 6 Gr., 56 Se., 23 Ju., 2 So., 12 Others, 19 Divinity.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 58.

1893-94.
PHILOSOPHY 5.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Mid-Year Examination.

“Political Economy ought to combine with the old question: ‘Will it pay?’ another and higher query: ‘Is it right?’” (C. D. Wright, Political Economy and the Labor Question, p. 17.) The place and value of this view of Political Economy.
Spencer’s formula for conduct, explained and criticized (Data of Ethics, p. 14.)
The Socialist’s view of Charity and the argument which sustains it. Mr. Spencer’s view of Charity and his practical advice. (Principles of Ethics, II. p. 376, ff.)
What does Mr. Charles Booth regard as the “crux” of the Social Problem in East London? (Labour and Life of the People, I. pp. 596 and 162.) Why? The practical remedy proposed by him.
The causes of poverty in East London, as analyzed by Mr. Booth, (I. 147); in their order of importance and the proportion of cases involved.
The Labor Colonies of Germany compared with those of Holland, in method and intention. How far, and under what principle, is such an enterprise applicable to the condition of this country?
“Liberalitas” and “Caritas,” — the aim, the service, and the peril of each.
The historical development and the practical rules of the English Poor-Law System.
The Relation of Charity Organization in England to Poor-Law Relief. (Loch, p. 37, ff.); and the objections to Charity Organization. (Loch, p. 97, ff.)
The growth of Charity Organization in the United States, its present extent and its two types (Report, pp. 1-8.) Which type is represented by the London Charity Organization Society? (Loch p. 54.) Which is the sounder principle for this country? Why? Which is the more generally accepted principle? (Appendix of Report, p. 34.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94

PHILOSOPHY 5.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Final Examination

[Omit one question.]

The authorship and the historical importance of the following phrases:—
“The value of a thing is independent of opinion and of quantity. To be valuable is to avail towards life.”
“All commodities are only masses of congealed labor-time.”
“The high road to a stable sufficiency and comfort among the people is through the medium of their character.”
“Cash-payment never was or could, except for a few years, be the union-bond of man to man.”
“Aristocracy of talent.”
“It is easier to determine what a man ought to have for his work, than what his necessities will compel him to take for it.”
“Ill-th.”
Compare Carlyle and Ruskin in their attitudes toward the growth of democracy and in their doctrine of social progress.
Compare the view of the “Social Horizon” with that of Naquet as to the effect of collectivism on enterprise and invention. (Social Horizon, pp. 112-151; Naquet, pp. 92-126.)
The Anarchist’s criticism of the Socialist, the Socialist’s criticism of the Anarchist, and the Communist as he is criticised by both.
Is thrift a virtue? Who doubts it? Why?
Is competition an evil? Who doubts it? Why?
Christian Socialism and its difficulties. The logical and the practical relation of Socialism to Religion.
In the four ideals which are possible to Socialism and Individualism, “the normal relation would be that of cross-correspondence.” (Bosanquet. The Civilization of Christendom, p. 136.) Explain and comment on this statement.
Enumerate and classify the arguments presented in the Course on the ethical aspects of Socialism, with your judgment of the weight of these suggestions.
Compare the plan of profit-sharing in the Paris and Orleans Railway (Sedley Taylor, pp. 77-86) with that adopted by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
How far are we carried in the argument for abstinence from intoxicating drink by considerations drawn from the “risks of life.” Why?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, p. 7.

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Economics 1.
Outlines of Economics.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 1. Professors Taussig and Ashley, Asst. Professor Cummings and Mr. Clow. — Outlines of Economics. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation. 3 hours.

Total 340: 1 Gr., 35 Se., 111 Ju., 136 So., 7 Fr., 50 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 1.
Mid-Year Examination.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
One question may be omitted.]

“Let us consider whether, and in what cases, the property of those who live on the interest of what they possess, without being personally engaged in production, can be regarded as capital.” Illustrate by example.
“Capital, though saved, and the result of saving, is nevertheless consumed. The word saving does not imply that what is saved is not consumed, nor even necessarily that its consumption is deferred.” Explain. Who is the consumer? and is the consumption usually deferred?
Are wages likely to be low or high in different occupations because of (1) attractiveness, (2) unpleasantness, of the work? Why?
“This equalizing process, commonly described as the transfer of capital from one employment to another, is not necessarily the slow, onerous, and almost impracticable process which it is often represented to be.” What is the equalizing process? and why is it or is it not slow and onerous?
“Even if there were never any land taken into cultivation for which rent was not paid, it would be true, nevertheless, that there is always some agricultural capital which pays no rent.” Explain, and give the reasons for the statement.
What are the laws of value applicable to: silver bullion, cotton-cloth, raw hides, wheat-bread, telephones?
Explain what is meant by a fall in the value of money; an appreciation of gold; a depreciation of inconvertible paper; a stable standard of value.
Wherein does the play of demand and supply, in determining the value of money, differ from its operation in determining the value of commodities in general? Wherein does cost of production determine the value of money and of commodities differently?
What is the effect of general high wages on prices? on values? on profits? Why?
“So far as rents, profits, wages, prices. are determined by competition, laws may be assigned for them. Assume competition to be their exclusive regulator, and principles of broad generality and scientific precision may be laid down, according to which they will be regulated.” Trace the historical origin of the conditions here assumed.
What seems to you to be the value of economic history in relation to the study of economic theory?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 1.
Final Examination.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

I.
[One question in this group may be omitted.]

Explain the connection between the law of diminishing returns the pressure of population on subsistence; the tendency of profits to a minimum.
What is the nature of the remuneration received by the holder of a government bond; the holder of a railway bond; the landlord of a building let for business purposes; the landlord of land let for agricultural purposes; a manufacturer carrying on business with borrowed capital; the holder of a patent receiving a royalty for its use?
How does cost of production influence tire value of (1) silver bullion, (2) oats, (3) coffee, (4) bicycles?
What seems to you to be the value of economic history in relation to the study of economic theory?

II.
[One question in this group may be omitted.]

In 1851, very rich deposits of gold were found in Australia. What would you expect the result to be in Australia on wages, prices, imports and exports?
Is the gain from international trade to be found in the import or in the exports? Why and how?
It is said that when the quantity of money is increased, prices rise precisely in proportion to the increase. What exceptions or qualifications would you make to this statement?
Is the exportation of specie from a country disadvantageous?

III.
[Answer all in this group.]

What sorts of advantages, in regard to wages, do Trade-unions and Coöperative Societies offer to workingmen?
“Deposits are currency.” What is meant?
What is the most important objection to the use of inconvertible paper money? What illustrations of its force do you find in the experience of the United States since 1860?
Compare the policy followed in times of panic by the Bank of England, the Reichsbank of Germany, and the National Banks of the United States.

______________________

Economics 2.
Economic Theory from Adam Smith
to the Present Time.
1893-94.

Enrollment

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Economics] 2. Professor Taussig. — Economic Theory from Adam Smith to the present time. — Examination of selections from leading writers. 3 hours.

Total 43: 12 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

1893-94
ECONOMICS 2.
Mid-Year Examination.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
Write with deliberation, but answer all the questions.]

“It is no doubt true that a portion of capital is always remuneratory and not auxiliary in its nature; that is, does not consist of instruments that make labour more efficient, but of finished products, destined for the consumption of labourers and others. This part of capital continually becomes real wages (as well as real profits, interest, and rent), being purchased by the labourer with the money wages he receives from time to time. But it does not seem to me therefore correct to regard the real wages as capital ‘advanced’ by the employer to the labourer. The transaction between the two is essentially a purchase, not a loan. The employer purchases the results of a week’s labour, which thereby becomes part of his capital, and may be conceived — if we omit for simplicity’s sake the medium of exchange — to give the labourer in return some of the finished products of his industry.”
Consider whether and how remuneratory capital continually becomes real interest and rent, as well as real wages; and give your opinion as to the closing analysis of the relation between employers and laborers.
Suppose (1) that profit-sharing were universally adopted; (2) that laborers habitually saved a very large part of their income, — and consider whether any modification must be made in the reasoning of those who would maintain a Wages-Fund doctrine.
It has been said that while the capital of the employing class is the immediate source from which wages are paid, the ultimate and important source is the income of the consumers who buy the goods made by the laborers for the capitalists. Consider this doctrine.
Compare critically the treatment by Walker, Sidgwick, and Ricardo, of the relation between the profits of the individual capitalist and the amount of capital owned by him.
State carefully Ricardo’s criticism of Adam Smith’s doctrine on labor as the measure of value.
Compare Adam Smith’s reasoning with Ricardo’s as to the manner in which the progress of society in wealth affects profits.
“We have seen that in the early stages of society both the landlord’s and the labourer’s share of the value of the produce of the earth would be but small; and that it would increase in proportion to the progress of wealth and the difficulty of procuring food. We have known, too, that although the value of the labourer’s portion will be increased by the high value of food, his real share will be diminished; while that of the landlord will not only be raised in value, but will also be increased in quantity.”
Explain the reasoning by which Ricardo reached the several conclusions here summarized, and give your opinion as to the soundness of the conclusions.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Prof. F. W. Taussig, Examination Papers in Economics 1882-1935 (Scrapbook). Also: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

1893-94
ECONOMICS 2.
[Final Examination.]

“Perhaps the most striking conflict of the Wages-Fund-theory with facts, is found in the periodical influctions and depressions of trade. After a commercial crisis, when the shock is over and the necessary liquidation has taken place, we generally find that there is a period during which there is a glut of capital, and yet wages are low. The abundance of capital is shown by the low rate of interest and the difficulty of obtaining remunerative investments.” — Nicholson, Political Economy
How far is the theory in conflict with the facts here adduced?
How is the significance of the doctrine of consumer’s rent affected by the fact that the money incomes of different purchasers vary widely?
Explain Marshall’s doctrine as to the influence on wages of the standard of living among laborers; and consider how far it differs from Richard’s teaching as to the connection between wages and the price of food.
Explain Marshall’s doctrine of the quasi-rent of labor; compare it with his conclusions as to the rent of business ability; and point out how far he finds in either case something analogous to economic rent as defined by the classic writers.
“It is not true that the spinning of yarn in a factory, after allowance has been made for the wear-and-tear of the machinery, is the product of the labour of the operatives. It is the product of their labour (together with that of the employer and subordinate managers) and of the capital; and that capital itself is the product of labour and waiting; and therefore the spinning is the product of labour (of many kinds) and of waiting. If we admit that it is the product of labour alone, and not of labour and waiting, we can no doubt be compelled by inexorable logic to admit that there is no justification for interest, the reward of waiting.”
How far would you accept this reasoning?
“Barter, though earlier historically than buying and selling, is really a mere complex transaction, and the theory of it is rather curious than important.” — Marshall.
“The attribute of normal or usual value implies systematic and continuous production.” — Cairnes.
“Where commodities are made for sale, the sellers’ subjective valuations fall out altogether, and price is determined by the valuation of the last buyer.” — Böhm-Bawerk.
Explain these statements, separately or in connection with each other.
What does Böhm-Bawerk mean by the general subsistence market, or the total of advances for subsistence; and how far do the “advances” differ from the wages-fund of the classic economists?
Explain Böhm-Bawerk’s views as to the connection between the prolongation of the period of production, and the increase in the productiveness of labor; and consider how far his conclusions as to interest would need to be modified, if those views were changed.
Explain briefly, by definition or example, the sense in which Böhm-Bawerk uses the terms, —

social capital;
private capital;
subjective value;
marginal pairs;
technical superiority of present goods.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Prof. F. W. Taussig, Examination Papers in Economics 1882-1935 (Scrapbook). Also: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 35-36.

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Economics 3.
Principles of Sociology.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 3. Asst. Professor Cummings. — The Principles of Sociology. — Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions. 3 hours.

Total 47: 17 Gr., 19 Se., 5 Ju., 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 3.
Mid-Year Examination

(Arrange your answers in the order of your questions. Omit two.)

“In fact, the conception of society as an organism seems to admit of more easy application to just those very views about the State which Mr. Spencer most dislikes: and, though the conception or organism has its value in helping political thinking out of the confusions of individualism, if it be taken as a final key to all mysteries, it leads to new confusions of its own, for which it would be absurd to blame Mr. Spencer.” Explain and criticise.
How does Spencer account for the diverse types of political organization; and what influences determine the order in which they arise? Illustrate.
What evidence of political evolution is there in the sequence of the various forms of political organization in Greek, Roman, and Medieval society? Trace the steps.
According to Burke, “Society is indeed a contract. … It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.” Explain. How does this differ from earlier conceptions of the social contract? From the conception of society as an organism?
Upon what grounds does Spencer base his preference for the industrial rather than the militant type of society?
According to Jevons, “the first step must be to rid our minds of the idea that there are any such things in social matters as abstract rights, absolute principles, indefeasible laws, inalterable rules, or anything whatever of an eternal and inflexible nature.” According to another view, “the state presupposes rights and the rights of individuals.” What is your own opinion? Why? Are there “Natural Rights”? Illustrate.
“The State is after all the least of the powers that govern us.” How far is this true at different stages of social development?
What is involved in the conception of Sovereignty? In whom is it rested? On what does it rest? For example, England and the United States.
What is the bearing of Comte’s maxim, “Voir pour prevour,” upon the doctrine of social evolution?
“The environment in our problem must, therefore, not only include psychical as well as physical factors, but the former are immeasurably the more important factors, and as civilization advances their relative importance steadily increases.”
What do you mean by State Interference? By Individual liberty?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 3.
Final Examination

[Questions are in all cases to be discussed with direct reference to facts and theories presented in this course. Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. Take either the first question or six others.]

Devote three hours to a discussion of “Social Evolution”;— expounding Mr. Kidd’s views, discussing his opinions and conclusions in the light of facts and theories presented in this course, and stating carefully your own reasons for agreeing or disagreeing.
What, according to Mr. Kidd, are the necessary “Conditions of Human Progress”? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
What are the points of resemblance and of difference between the “Scientific Socialism” of today and earlier forms of so-called socialistic propaganda which have appeared within this century?
“Step by step the community has absorbed them, wholly or partially, and the area of private exploitation has been lessened. Parallel with this progressive nationalization or municipalization of industry, there has gone on, outside, the elimination of the purely personal element in business management.” Indicate briefly the character, extent and probable significance of “nationalization and municipalization” in the United States and in European Countries.
What inferences may and what may not safely be drawn from American experience in municipal ownership or control of gas, of water, and of electric light plants? Discuss carefully the extent and character of the evidence.
“According to them, the tribe or horde is the primary social unit of the human race, and the family only a secondary unit, developed in later times. Indeed, this assumption has been treated by many writers, not as a more or less probable hypothesis, but as a demonstrated truth. Yet the idea that a man’s children belong to the tribe, has no foundation in fact.” Indicate briefly the present state of this controversy. What significance do you attach to it?
“The central fact with which we are confronted in our progressive societies is, therefore, that the interests of the social organism and those of the individuals comprising it at any time are actually antagonistic; they can never be reconciled, they are inherently and essentially irreconcilable.” State carefully the arguments for and against this position.
“True Socialism of the German type must be recognized to be, ultimately, as individualistic and as anti-social as individualism in its advanced forms.” By what line of reasoning is this conclusion reached? State carefully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing.

___________________________

Economics 5 (First Semester).
Railway Transportation.
1893-994.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 5¹. Professor Taussig. — Railway Transportation. — Lectures and written work. 3 hours. 1st half-year.

Total 39: 3 Gr., 24 Se., 9 Ju., 1 So., 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 5.
Final [Mid-Year] Examination.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

State what important general lessons are to be learned from the early experiments of Pennsylvania and Michigan in constructing and managing transportation routes.
Why the change in the attitude of the public towards the Pacific railways after 1870? And what were some consequences of the change?
What was the effect of the land-grant system on the welfare of the community, and on railway profits?
“These conditions [leading to financial losses] may fairly enough be described as the Interstate Commerce Commission describes them, — parallel railroad construction and wars of rates. But when the Commission goes on to say that they cannot with any justice be claimed to have resulted from the act or from its administration, they make an unwarranted assertion.” What were the conditions here referred to (give dates)? And was the assertion unwarranted?
Consider the probable results of the repeal of the section of the Interstate Commerce act which prohibits pooling.
“High rates on some articles are not to be regarded as a tax which could be removed if low rates on others were abandoned.” Why not?
“The enormous fixed capital and the consequent impossibility of retiring from the enterprise if it becomes unprofitable; the greater or less degree of monopoly; the wide gulf between railway managers and investors, sometimes leading to consequences of its own,” consider in what manner and extent these circumstances have affected railway rates in the United States.
What do you believe to be the significance and importance of the following figures (for the United States in 1891):

Revenue per passenger mile	2.142 cents
Average cost of carrying a passenger one mile	1.910 cents
Revenue per ton mile	0.895 cents
Average cost of carrying a ton one mile	0.583 cents
Revenue per freight train mile	$1.63
Average cost of running a freight train one mile	$1.06

Compare the course of railway policy in France, Prussia, and Italy, in 1880-85.
Compare the principles which underlie the natural (car-space) system of freight rates and the zone system of passenger rates.

___________________________

Economics 6 (Second Semester)
History of Tariff Legislation
in the United States.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 6². Professor Taussig. — History of Tariff Legislation in the United States. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 97: 11 Gr., 33 Se., 36 Ju., 2 So., 1 Fr., 14 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 62.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 6.
Final Examination

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
Answer all the questions.]

Is it to be inferred from Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures that if he were now living, he would not be an advocate of protection?
What grounds are there for saying that the act of 1789 was a protective measure?
State the important provisions of the act of 1816, and consider whether it differs in any essentials from the act of 1824.
Was Clay right in affirming, or Webster in denying, that the protective system of 1824 was “American”?
How would you ascertain what were the duties, in 1840, on (1) woollen goods, (2) cotton goods, (3) silk goods, (4) bar iron?
Suppose the present specific duties on woollen manufactures to be removed; the ad valorem duties to remain unchanged; wool to be admitted free; and consider how far there would ensue a change in the effective protection given on finer woollen cloths, on cheaper woollen cloths, and on carpets.
Mention briefly what were the duties on tea and coffee in the successive stages of tariff legislation from 1789 to 1890; noting the significance of the changes made from time to time.
Why do the effects, in recent times, of the duties on flax and hemp, and on glassware, “reduce themselves in the last analysis to illustrations of the doctrine of comparative costs”?
Wherein is there resemblance, wherein difference, between the general course of tariff history in the United States after the civil war, and in France after the Napoleonic wars?
What would be the probable effects of the removal of the present duties on cotton goods?

___________________________

Economics 8 (First Semester)
History of Financial Legislation
in the United States.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 8¹. Professor Dunbar. — History of Financial Legislation in the United States. 2 hours. 1st half-year.

Total 63: 9 Gr., 26 Se., 23 Ju., 1 So., 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 62.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 8.
Mid-Year Examination.

Instead of answering the starred questions in this paper you may substitute, if you prefer, an essay on the subject marked A, printed at the close.

*“It is sometimes said that Mr. Hamilton believed in a perpetual debt, and when one notices the form into which he threw the obligations of the United States, the only escape from this conclusion is to say that he was ignorant of the true meaning of the contracts which he created.” — [H. C. ADAMs, Public Debts, p. 161.]
How far is the above remark confirmed by the provisions as to the payment of the debt funded by the Act of 1790?
How far should you say that Gallatin, although an anti-Federalist, finally adopted Federalist measures or methods in financial matters?
Give a general statement of the agreement between the banks and the Treasury for the resumption of specie payment in 1817, and show the way in which it was intended to operate.
Inasmuch as Jackson’s general prepossessions were unfavorable to all banks, how are we to explain his resort to the plan of depositing Government funds in State banks after the removal of the deposits in 1833?
*How serious a blow did Jackson really strike when he removed the deposits from the United States bank in 1833?
What expedients were suggested for supplying the needs of the government in 1861-62 without resorting to the issue of legal-tender notes?
*The “Gold Bill” of June 17, 1864, and its fate.
What was the process by which the bonds issued during the war were refunded under the act of 1870 and when did the refunding take place?
What signs of change in the policy of Congress as to the resumption of specie payments are to be found in the legislation between 1865 and 1876?
State the provisions of the Resumption Act of 1875 as to the redemption of legal-tender notes, and show whether the act did or did not provide for the possible eventual disappearance of all the notes. What has made the amount of outstanding legal-tender notes stationary at $346,681,016?
*A recent writer, discussing the question of a paper currency issued by government, says:—
“In the United States there were twenty issues of treasury notes before the late war. Those issues were receivable in the revenues the government, and were always preferred to gold.”
What criticism is to be made on this statement?
*Describe the different kinds of paper currency now in use in the United States, stating as to each the cases in which it can be tendered for private debt, and those which it. can he received or paid out by the government.

* * * * * * * * * *
A.

The change which has taken place since 1846 in the conditions affecting the Independent Treasury, and the justification of Secretary Carlisle’s statement, in the Finance Report for 1893, that “the laws have imposed upon the Treasury Department all the duties and responsibilities of a bank of issue, and to a certain extent the functions of bank of deposit.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

___________________________

Economics 9.
The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the United States and in other countries.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 9. Asst. Professor Cummings. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the United States and in other countries. 3 hours.

Total 43: 7 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 5 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

Mid-year Examination.
ECONOMICS 9.
1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries. Omit two questions.)

“It becomes my duty, therefore, in undertaking to interpret the social movement of our own times, to disclose, first, those changes in industrial methods by which harmony in industries has been disturbed, and then to trace the influence of such changes into the structure of society.” State carefully what these changes have been; and trace their influence.
[Henry C. Adams. “An Interpretation of the Social Movements of our Time”, International Journal of Ethics, Vol II, October, 1891), p. 33]
Discuss the effect upon wages of machinery, — (a) as a substitute for labor (b) as auxiliary to labor; (c) as affecting division of labor; (d) as concentrating labor and capital; (e) as affecting the nobility[sic, “mobility”] of labor and capital.
“In my opinion, combination among workingmen is a necessary step in the re-crystallization of industrial rights and duties.” State fully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with this opinion. What forms of combination do you include?
[Henry C. Adams. “An Interpretation of the Social Movements of our Time”, International Journal of Ethics, Vol II, October, 1891), p. 45]
“Trade-unions have been stronger in England than on the Continent, and in America….” In what respects stronger? Why? Contrast briefly the history and present tendencies of the trade-union movement in the United States, England, France, Germany, and Italy.
[Alfred Marshall, Elements of Economics of Industry: being the First Volume of Elements of Economics (London: Macmillan, 1892), Book VI, Ch. XIII. §18, p. 404]
“Trade-unions have been stronger in England than on the Continent, and in America; and wages have been higher in England than on the Continent, but lower than in America.” “Again, those occupations in which wages have risen most in England happen to be those in which there are no unions.” How far do such facts impeach the effectiveness of trade-unions as a means of raising wages and improving the condition of workingmen? What do you conceive to be the economic limits and the proper sphere of trade-union action?
[Alfred Marshall, Elements of Economics of Industry: being the First Volume of Elements of Economics (London: Macmillan, 1892), Book VI, Ch. §18, pp. 404-405.]
“We saw at the beginning that in comparatively recent years the difficulties of keeping up a purely offensive and defensive organization had brought many of the unions back nearer their old allies, the friendly societies, and emphasized the friendly benefits in proportion as the expenditure for trade disputes seemed less important.” Explain carefully this earlier and later relation of trade-unions and Friendly Societies in England.
[Edward Cummings, The English Trades-Unions, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. III (July, 1889), p. 432.]
“This spirit of independent self-help has its advantages and its disadvantages. We have already had occasion to remark how slow in these Friendly Societies has been the progress of reform, and we must repeat that up to the present day it still exhibits defects.” Explain and illustrate the progress of the reform and the nature of existing defects. Does English self-help experience suggest the desirability or undesirability of imitating German methods of compulsory insurance?
“Countless[sic, “Doubtless” in original] boards of arbitration and conciliation, the establishment of certain rules of procedure, agreements covering definite periods of time, may aid somewhat in averting causes of dispute or in adjusting disputes as they arise; but if we have these alone to look to, strife will be the rule rather than the exception.” Explain the various methods adopted and the results obtained. What have you to say of “compulsory arbitration?”
[Francis A. Walker. “What Shall We Tell the Working Classes?” Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 2, 1887. Reprinted in Discussions in Economics and Statistics, edited by Davis R. Dewey. Vol. II. 315-316.]
“The conclusion of the whole matter seems to be, that what is desirable is not so much to put a stop to sub-contracting as to put a stop to ‘sweating,’ whether the man who treats the workman in the oppressive manner which the word ‘sweating’ denotes be a sub-contractor, a piece-master, or a contractor.” Indicate briefly some of the principal forms of industrial remuneration, — giving the special merits and defects of each.
[David F. Schloss. Methods of Industrial Remuneration (London: Williams and Norgate, 1892), p. 140.]
“Now that I am on piece-work, I am making about double what I used to make when on day-work. I know I am doing wrong. I am taking away the work of another man.” State and criticize the theory involved in this view of production.
[David F. Schloss. Methods of Industrial Remuneration (London: Williams and Norgate, 1892), p. 43-44.]

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94. Transcribed and posted earlier at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Year-End Examination
ECONOMICS 9.
1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries. Take the first three questions and four others.)

“As soon, however, as the factory system was established, the inequality of women and children in their struggle with employers attracted the attention of even the most careless observers; and, attention once drawn to this circumstance, it was not long before the inequality of adult men was also brought into prominence.” How far is this true (a) of England, (b) of the United States? Trace briefly the legislative consequences for children and for adults in the two countries.
[Arnold Toynbee. Lectures on the Industrial Revolution of the 18^th Century in England (The Humboldt Library of Popular Science Literature, Vol. 13. New York: Humboldt Publishing Co.), p. 17.]
“It will be necessary, in the first place, to distinguish clearly between the failure of Industrial Coöperation and the failure of the coöperative method—a method, as we have seen, adopted, even partially, by only a very small fraction of Industrial Coöperation.” Explain carefully, discussing especially the evidence furnished by France and England.
“These four concerns—the Maison Leclaire, the Godin Foundry, the Coöperative Paper Works of Angoulême and the Bon Marché—are virtually coöperative; certainly they secure to the employers and stockholders the substantial benefits of purely coöperative productive enterprises, while they are still, logically, profit-sharing establishments.” State your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing. Indicate briefly the characteristic features of each enterprise.
“What inferences are we to draw from the foregoing statistics? Unmistakably this, that the higher daily wages in America do not mean a correspondingly enhanced labor cost to the manufacturer. But why so?” Discuss the character of available evidence in regard to the United States, Great Britain and the continent of Europe.
[E. R. L. Gould. The Social Condition of Labor (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, January 1893), pp. 41-2.]
“The juxtaposition of figures portraying the social-economic status of workmen of different nationalities in the country of their birth and the land of their adoption furnishes lessons of even higher interest. From this we are able to learn the social effect of economic betterment.” Explain. How do the facts in question affect your attitude toward recent changes in the character and volume of our immigration?
[E. R. L. Gould. The Social Condition of Labor (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, January 1893), pp. 35-6.]
“The Senate Finance Committee issued some time ago a comparative exhibit of prices and wages for fifty-two years, from which the conclusion is generally drawn that the condition of the wage earner is better to-day than it was thirty or forty years ago. A conclusion of this kind reveals the weakness of even the best statistics. No one can doubt that the work of the Finance Committee is work of high excellence, but for comparing the economic condition of workers it is of little value.” Do you agree or disagree? Why? Indicate briefly the character of the evidence.
What are the principle organizations which may be said to represent the “Labor Movement” in the United States at the present time? How far are they helpful and how far hostile to one another?
“In a preceding chapter I have said that as a moral force and as a system the factory system of industry is superior to the domestic system, which it supplanted.” State your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing.
[Carroll D. Wright. Factory Legislation from Vol. II, Tenth Census of the United States, reprinted in First Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors of the State of New York (Albany, 1887), p. 41.]
Contrast the English and the German policy in regard to Government Workingmen’s Insurance.
“Gladly turning to more constructive work, I next consider some industrial changes and reforms which would tend to correct the present bias towards individualism.” What are they?
Give an imaginary family budget for American, English and German operatives in one of the following industries, — coal, iron, steel, cotton, wool, glass, indicating roughly characteristic differences in such items as throw most light on the social condition of labor.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 4, Volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95. pp. 39-41. Transcribed and posted earlier at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

______________________

Economics 10.
The Elements of Economic History from the Middle Ages to Modern Times.
1893-94.

[Economics] 10. Professor Ashley. — The Elements of Economic History from the Middle Ages to Modern Times. 3 hours.

Total 51: 6 Gr., 17 Se., 20 Ju., 4 So., 1 Fr., 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 10.
Mid-Year Examination.

A modern writer has insisted upon the difference between the point of view of economic history and the point of view of constitutional history. Consider this in relation to the growth of mediaeval towns.
Distinguish briefly between the various processes known as “Enclosure,” and explain their relation to the open-field husbandry.
What light does the history of the English woollen industry throw upon the question as to the relation between the gild and the domestic workshop?
“Only one who is unacquainted with social conditions under Henry VIll. and Edward VI. can maintain that the Reformation was not responsible for English pauperism.” Discuss this.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 10.
Final Examination.

[Candidates are requested to answer only six questions, of which the first should be one.]

Translate and comment upon:
1. Omnes isti sochemanni habent viii carrucas, et arant iii vicibus per annum. Et quisquis eorum metit in Augusto de blado domini dimidiam acram et ii vicibus in Augusto precationem.
2. Sciatis me concessisse … civibus meis in Oxenforde omnes libertates et consuetudines et leges et quietantias quas habuerunt tempore regis Henrici avi mei, nominatim gildam suam mercatoriam cum omnibus libertatibus et consuetudinibus in terris et in silvis pasturis et aliis pertinentiis, ita quod aliquis qui non sit de gildhalls aliquam mercaturam non faciet in civitate vel suburbiis.
Give some account of the changes in trade-routes during the sixteenth century.
Describe the organization of industry in the middle of the reign of Elizabeth.
Compare the Enclosures of the eighteenth century with those of the sixteenth.
What was the condition of the mercantile marine of New England in the eighteenth century? What connection was there between this condition and the Navigation Acts?
Institute a comparison between the reforms of Stein and Hardenberg and recent agrarian legislation in Ireland, or any other country with which you are familiar.
What light is cast upon the teaching of (1) Adam Smith, (2) Malthus, (3) Ricardo, by contemporary economic conditions.
Estimate the importance of Arthur Young in the economic history of England.
What seem to you the most characteristic features of the economic development of the United States during the present century as contrasted with England.

___________________________

Economics 12 (First Semester).
Banking and the History
of the leading Banking Systems
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 12¹. Professor Dunbar. — Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems. 3 hours. 1st half-year.

Total 50: 10 Gr., 24 Se., 15 Ju., 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 62.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 12^[1].Mid-Year Examination

Which system of banks appears to present the greatest advantages, — (a) one with a powerful central bank as in England and Germany: (b) an aristocracy of strong banks as in Scotland; or (c) a democracy of banks as in this country?
In any period of financial pressure, would the Bank of England he under any obligation, legal or moral, to act for the relief of the public, if such action involved risk or loss to its stockholders? What would be the source of such obligation, if any exists?
The German bank act requires every bank to hold cash, (a) for all notes issued by it above its limit of uncovered issue: (b) and amounting to at least one third of all the notes issued Why is it that notes of other banks can be reckoned as cash in one of these cases, but not in the other?
What is to be said as to the proposition frequently maintained. that “note issue is in reality a function of the State as much as coinage, and should not be delegated to corporations or to private hands?”
If we hold that all note issues need to be kept under national control, in order to secure uniformity of value, what ground is there for denying that all deposit banking needs the same control for the same reason?
Supposing the securities required for deposit under the national banking system to be abundant and fairly attractive as investments, — would that system afford an elastic currency?
To the plan of securing notes by a safety fund (as practiced formerly in New York and now in Canada), it has been objected that it would be unjust to require well-managed banks to pay for losses incurred by weak or imprudent ones, and that a premium would be offered for bad management. How much weight is there in this objection?
To the plan of making the notes of a bank a first lien on its assets it has been objected,—
“It deprives the bank of the fund which is the basis of its credit in asking for deposits Without the deposit the banks cannot do a profitable business. It is difficult to believe that, the capital being subjected to a first lien for the amount of the notes, and there being always the possibility of an over-issue of such notes, the credit of the bank in its discount and deposit business would not be impaired. is calling upon the capital to do a double work when it is already loaded with the single task of inspiring confidence in the people who have to make deposits.”
What is the answer to this objection?
Discuss the following extract from the Commercial and Financial Chronicle of May 14th, 1892:—
“Every prerogative and attribute even of our bank notes, and still more of our silver certificates, tends to draw them away from the interior, even when the issuer is resident in a Southern or Western State, and lodge them in an Eastern city. [The semi legal-tender quality of the national bank circulation and its redemption at the Treasury help to make its movements unnatural, artificial, and impart to it a roaming character helping to force it away from the issuer, away from the country districts where it is needed, and consequently to induce its accumulation when out of active commercial employment in the great financial centres, and while there to foster and become more or less fixed in speculative ventures — that is unresponsive to commercial influences when needed for commercial work?”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

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Economics 12 (Second Semester).
International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 12². Professor Dunbar.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 38: 12 Graduates, 18 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 62.

1893-94
ECONOMICS 12².
Final Examination.

Mr. Goschen says that while a gold currency existed on both sides of the Atlantic the actual par of exchange between New York and London was about 109. What is the explanation of this method of stating the point of equilibrium?
Is Clare justified in making the general statement that “the gold-points mark the highest level to which an exchange may rise, and the lowest to which it may fall?”
What effect would the current rate of interest (as e.g. in a tight money market, either in the drawing or in the accepting country,) have on the rates for sixty-day bills as compared with cash bills?
Clare makes the remark that “as the rate of exchange between two countries…must be fixed by the one who draws and negotiates the bill, it follows that the exchanges between England and most other countries are controlled from the other side, and that we in London have scarcely part or say in the matter.” Is the rate then a matter of indifference to those in London?
Why is it that in certain trades bills are drawn chiefly, or even exclusively, in one direction, as e.g. by New York on London and not vice versa; and how is this practice made to answer the purpose of settling payments, which have to be made in one direction as well as the other?
Mr. Goschen says that the primary cause which makes England the great banking centre of the world is “the stupendous and never-ceasing exports of England, which have for their effect that every country I the world, being in constant receipt of English manufactures, is under the necessity of making remittances to pay for them, either in bullion, in produce, or in bills.”
Compare this statement with the fact that for ten years past the imports of merchandise into England have averaged about £400,000,000 annually, and the exports from England have averaged a little under £300,000,000.
Suppose the exportation of specie from the United States to be prohibited (or, as has sometimes been suggested, to be slightly hindered,) what would be the effect on rates of exchange, and on prices of goods, either domestic or foreign? Would the country be a loser or not? [See Ricardo (McCulloch’s ed.) p. 139.]
State Mr. Cairnes’s general doctrine as to the movement of prices which determines the normal flow of new supplies of gold from one country to another in the process of distribution over the commercial world.
Cairnes argues that, as the effect of the cheapening of gold, “each country will endure a loss;” but that in particular cases “the primary loss may…be compensated, or even converted into a positive gain.” State and discuss the reasoning on which this proposition rests.
Say, in his Report on the Indemnity, says:—
La France a, en réalité, (1) fait passer à l’étranger le plus de capitaux possible, en prenant tous les changes qu’elle pouvait acquérir sur quelque pays que ce fût, et (2) a ensuite dirigé sur l’Allemagne tout ce qu’elle avait approvisionné ailleurs.
1. What reason was there why France should prefer the course described in (1) rather than a direct transfer to Germany?
2. What movements of trade or capital, of any sort, made the course described in (1) possible or easy?
3. What movements of the same nature made (2) possible, or enable Germany to absorb the capital thus turned towards her?

* * * * * * *

On either of the following topics, give an orderly and concise statement, as complete as you can make it in thirty minutes:—
1. Sidgwick’s criticisms on Mill’s doctrine of international trade and their validity.
2. The supply and distribution of the new gold from the United States and Australia, 1858-70.
3. The action of the new gold in the banking countries.
4. The absorption of new gold by the currency of France and the foreign trade of that country.
5. The reasons for the varying ability of India to absorb silver?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 2, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 44-46. Transcribed and posted earlier in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

____________________

1893-94
Enrollment for Economics 13.
The Development of Land Tenures and of Agrarian Conditions in Europe.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 13. Professor Ashley. – The Development of Land Tenures and of Agrarian Conditions in Europe. 1 hour.

Total 2: 1 Graduate, 1 Senior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

Note: No printed final examination in the collection of Harvard semester examinations.

____________________

Economics 14.
Ideal Social Reconstructions
from Plato to the Present.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 14. Asst. Professor Cummings. — Ideal Social Reconstructions, from Plato’s Republic to the present time. 1 hour.

Total 22: 7 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

ECONOMICS 14.
Mid-year examination, 1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order of the questions. Omit one.)

What is a Utopia? and what significance do you attached to the recurrence of such literature at certain historical ethics?
“For judging of the importance of any thinker in the history of Economics, no matter is more important to us than the view he takes of the laboring population.” Judge Plato, More and Bacon by this standard.
“Moreover, it is hardly too much to say that Plato never got to the point of having a theory of the State at all.” In the Republic “man is treated as a micropolis, and the city is the citizen writ large.” Explain and criticize.
“In More’s Utopia we have a revival of the Platonic Republic with additions which make the scheme entirely modern.… The economical element in the social body receives for the first time its proper rank as of the highest moment for public welfare.” Explain. To what extent have the ideals of Utopia been realized?
“Then we may say that democracy, like oligarchy, is destroyed by its insatiable craving for the object which defines to be supremely good?” What, according to the Republic are the peculiar merits and defects of the several forms of political organization? and how are these forms related in point of origin and sequence?
“Sir Thomas More has been called the father of Modern Communism.” How does he compare in this respect with Plato? How far do you trace the influence of historical conditions in each case?
“But in your case, it is we that have begotten you for the State as well as for yourselves, to be like leaders and kings of the hive,– better and more perfectly trained than the rest, and more capable of playing a part in both modes of life.” Criticise the method and purpose of the educational system of the Republic. How far does Plato’s argument as to the duty of public service apply to the educated man to-day?
“The religious ferment produced by the Reformation movement had begun to show signs of abatement, when another movement closely connected with it made its appearance almost at the same time in England and Italy, namely, the rise of a new philosophy.” How was this new philosophy embodied in the social ideals of Bacon and of Campanella? and what is the distinguishing characteristic of it?
What essential contrast between pagan and Christian ideals have you found in schemes for social regeneration?
Is there any recognition of “Social Evolution” in the Utopian philosophies thus far considered?
What in a word, do you regard as the chief defect of the social reconstruction suggested in turn by Plato, Lycurgus, More, Bacon and Campanella? To what main problems suggested by them have we still to seek an answer?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94. Previously transcribed and posted in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

ECONOMICS 14.
Final examination, 1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.)

[“]The essential unity and continuity of the vital process which has been in progress in our civilization from the beginning is almost lost sight of. Many of the writers on social subjects at the present day are like the old school of geologists: they seem to think that progress has consisted of a series of cataclysms.” How far is this criticism true? Is the characteristic in question more or less conspicuous in earlier writers?
“At the outset underneath all socialist ideals yawns the problem of population…. Under the Utopias of Socialism, one of two things must happen. Either this increase must be restricted or not. If it be not restricted, and selection is allowed to continue, then the whole foundations of such a fabric as Mr. Bellamy has constructed are bodily removed.” State carefully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing. In which of the schemes for social reconstruction, ancient or modern, do you find any adequate recognition of the part which selection plays in progress?
“If it is possible for the community to provide the capital for production without thereby doing injury to either the principle of perfect individual freedom or to that of justice, if interest can be dispensed with without introducing communistic control in its stead, then there no longer stands any positive obstacle in the way of the free social order.” Discuss the provisions by which Hertzka hopes to guaranteed this “perfect individual freedom.” Contrast him with Bellamy in this respect.
“I perceive that capitalism stops the growth of wealth, not – as Marx has it – by stimulating ‘production for the market,’ but by preventing the consumption of the surplus produce; and that interest, though not unjust, will nevertheless in a condition of economic justice becomes superfluous and objectless.” Explain Hertzka’s reasoning and criticise the economic theory involved.”
What is the gist of “News from Nowhere”?
The condition which the social mind has reached may be tentatively described as one of realization, more or less unconscious, that religion has a definite function to perform in society, and that it is a factor of some kind in the social evolution which is in progress.” How far have you found a recognition of this factor in theories of social reconstruction?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC 7000.28). Box 2, Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894.

Also: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 46-47. Previously transcribed and posted in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Source: Left-to-right: Dunbar, Taussig, Ashley. From University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D. Vol II (1899), pp. 159 [Dunbar], 595 [Ashley]. Vol. III (1899), p. 99 [Taussig]

Tags Ashley, Clow, CummingsEdward, Dunbar, Peabody, Taussig

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final examinations in Political Economy courses, 1891-1892

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-09-09

HARVARD. ECONOMICS EXAMINATIONS, 1891-1892

With the start of the 2021-22 academic year Economics in the Rear-view Mirror resumes the careful transcription of documents for the digital record of the development of economics education.

The Harvard archives are full of exam materials across time and fields so I pick up with where I left off in that series. Edward Cummings joined the teaching staff that in 1891-92 only consisted of two professors (Dunbar and Taussig) and a pair of instructors (Edward Cummings and William M. Cole).

_______________________

Note to self: Still Missing for 1891-92.

Political Economy 3. Edward Cummings. Mid-year examination, 1892
Political Economy 4. William M. Cole. Mid-year examination, 1892
Political Economy 7. Charles F. Dunbar. Mid-year examination, 1892

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Course Description and Enrollment.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 1. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig, Mr. [William M.] Cole, and Mr. [Edward] Cummings.

— First half-year: Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. 3 hours.

— Second half-year:

Division A (Theoretical): Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. 3 hours.

Division B (Descriptive): Lectures on Finance, Labor and Capital, Coöperation. — Hadley’s Railroad Transportation.—Dunbar’s Chapters on Banking. 3 hours.

Total 288: 1 Graduate, 47 Seniors, 102 Juniors, 91 Sophomores, 7 Freshmen, 40 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Mid-Year Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Divide your time equally between the two parts of the paper.]

I.
[Omit one.]

Mill says that “the laws and conditions of the production of wealth partake of the character of physical truths. . . . Whatever mankind produces must be produced in the modes, and under the conditions, imposed by the constitution of external things, and by the inherent properties of their own bodily and mental structure.” Is this true of the laws and conditions of production from land? of the laws and conditions of the accumulation of capital?
Of things limited in quantity, it is said that “their value depends on the demand and the supply. . . . But the quantity demanded is not a ﬁxed quantity, even at the same time and place; it varies according to the value; if the thing is cheap, there is usually a demand for more of it than when it is dear. The demand therefore partly depends on the supply. But it was before laid down that the value depends on the demand. From this contradiction, how shall we extricate ourselves? How solve the paradox, of two things, each depending on the other?”
“Every fall in proﬁts lowers in some degree the value of things made with much or durable machinery, and raises that of things made by hand; and every rise in proﬁts does the reverse.” Explain.
Is there any inconsistency between the propositions that the value of money depends,
(1) on its cost of production at the mines;
(2) on its quantity;
(3) on the expansion and contraction of credit;
(4) on the terms on which a country gets its imported commodities.
Explain Mill’s reasoning (1) as to the manner in which an issue of inconvertible paper money drives specie out of circulation; (2) as to the manner in which, under a double standard, one metal [which one?] disappears from circulation. Are the results, in fact, brought about in the manner described by Mill?
Explain carefully how a decrease in the foreign demand for a country’s exports causes loss to those who consume its imports.

II.
[Answer all, briefly.]

Does nature give more aid to man in one kind of industry than in another?
Are there grounds for saying that the necessity of restraining population is conﬁned to a state of inequality of property?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a currency composed of specie, as compared with one of equal amount composed of inconvertible paper money?
What are the laws of value applicable to (1) silver bullion; (2) iron nails; (3) wool; (4) eighteenth century furniture?
Does the beneﬁt of foreign trade consist in its affording an outlet for the surplus produce of a country?
Mill says the superiority of reward in certain occupations may be the consequence of competition, and may be due to the absence of competition. Explain which explanation holds good of the high wages (1) of laborers in whom much conﬁdence is reposed; (2) of laborers in disagreeable employments; (3) of laborers whose education has been expensive.
What is the nature of the remuneration received by (1) a manufacturer on a large scale; (2) an independent artisan; (3) a farmer tilling land which he has leased at a ﬁxed rent; (4) the owner, of a building who receives rent from those using the building.

Source: J. L. Laughlin, Economics 1: A Synopsis of John Stuart Mill’s Principles of Political Economy (Cambridge, MA: W.H. Wheeler, 1892), pp. 101-103.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Division A.
Final Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

I.
[Omit one.]

“It will be remembered that in a former portion of this work I criticized at some length the received doctrine of Cost of Production, which, as expounded by Mr. Mill and others, is represented as consisting in, and varying with, the wages and profits of producers. I stated then that this conception of cost was not reconcilable with the doctrine of international values upheld by the same authorities, which refers these phenomena, not to cost of production, but to the reciprocal demand of exchanging nations.” Why not reconcilable?
[John Elliott Cairnes, Some Leading Principles of Political Economy Newly Expounded (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1874), p. 343. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t85h88k6k?urlappend=%3Bseq=351]
“The actual price, therefore, of any given commodity will, it is evident, be the composite result of the combined action of these several agencies”—namely, reciprocal international demand, reciprocal domestic demand, and cost of production. Explain.
[John Elliott Cairnes, Some Leading Principles of Political Economy Newly Expounded (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1874), p. 94. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t85h88k6k?urlappend=%3Bseq=102]
“Assuming a certain field for investment, and the prospect of profit in this such as to attract a certain aggregate of capital, and assuming the national industries to be of a certain kind, the proportion of this aggregate capital which shall be invested in wages is not a matter within the discretion of capitalists, always supposing they desire to obtain the largest practical return upon their outlay.” Why?
[John Elliott Cairnes, Some Leading Principles of Political Economy Newly Expounded (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1874), p. 186. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t85h88k6k?urlappend=%3Bseq=194]
“We see, then, within what very narrow limits the possibilities of the laborer’s lot are confined, so long as he depends for his well-being upon the produce of his day’s work. Against these barriers Trades-unions must dash themselves in vain.” What, according to Cairnes, are the barriers?
[John Elliott Cairnes, Some Leading Principles of Political Economy Newly Expounded (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1874), p. 283. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t85h88k6k?urlappend=%3Bseq=291]
“Saving (for productive investment), and spending, coincide very closely in the first stage of their operations.” Explain Mill’s meaning.

II.
[Answer all.]

Why is there a tendency of profits to a minimum?
What is the effect of a rise in the value of money on debtors and on creditors?
“Though laborers in certain departments of industry are practically cut off from competition with laborers in other departments, the competition of capitalists, as I have already pointed out, is effective over the whole ﬁeld.” How is this consistent with the existence of large amounts of Fixed Capital?
“And here this remark may at once be made: that as the course of price in the ﬁeld of raw products is, on the whole, upward, so in that of manufactured goods the course is, not less strikingly, in the opposite direction. The reasons of this are exceedingly plain.” (Cairnes.) What are they?
What would be the effect on wages and proﬁts of the universal adoption of coöperative production? of proﬁt-sharing ?
How far did the premium on gold during the civil war measure the real depreciation of the paper?
Compare Mill’s attitude on coöperation with Cairnes’s.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1892) in the bound volume: Examination Papers 1890-92.

Also J. L. Laughlin, Economics 1: A Synopsis of John Stuart Mill’s Principles of Political Economy (Cambridge, MA: W.H. Wheeler, 1892), pp. 106-108.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Division B.
Final Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions]

What is the fundamental objection to the issue of inconvertible paper money? What light is thrown on it by the experience of the United States during the civil war?
Is a rise in the value of money advantageous to debtors or to creditors, or to neither? Why?
What is the cause of the tendency of the rate of interest to fall?
What would be the effect upon the price of food, and upon rent, of a tax of a fixed sum per acre upon agricultural land?
Taking the two following accounts as representing the condition of a bank at different dates, state (1) what operations are most likely to have given rise to the changed condition, and (2) whether the bank is American or foreign, city or country, with your reasons for thinking so:—

I.
Capital	100,000	Government securities	5,000
Surplus	10,000	Other securities	50,000
Profits	3,000	Loans	255,000
Notes	20,000	Expenses	2,000
Deposits	250,000	Cash	71,000
	383,000		383,000

II.
Capital	100,000	Government securities	5,000
Surplus	12,000	Other securities	50,000
Profits	2,000	Loans	260,000
Notes	20,000	Expenses	1,000
Deposits	270,000	Cash	88,000
	404,000		404,000

What is the sliding scale of discount? Name two countries in which it is used.
Point out wherein there are differences, wherein similarities, in the legal provisions of the United States, England, and France, for the security, immediate and ultimate, of bank notes.
Give a brief history of the small change (under one dollar) in the United States since 1850.
What would be the effect upon the price of silver bullion of an act for free coinage of silver?
What was the nature and purpose of the original restriction upon the amount of national bank notes in the United States? When and why was it repealed?
Compare the main features of the silver acts of 1878 and 1890.
How are profits divided in schemes for distributive coöperation? For credit coöperation? What is the important difference?

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Course Description and Enrollment

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 2. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig. — Economic Theory. — Examination of selections from leading writers. 3 hours.

Total 38: 9 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Freshman, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Mid-Year Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions]

Are laborers paid out of the product of their own labor in cases where the employer sells the product before pay-day and pays the laborers out of the proceeds?
“Whether wages are advanced out of capital in whole, or in part, or not at all, it still remains true that it is the product to which the employer looks to ascertain the amount which he can afford to pay: the value of the product furnishes the measure of wages. . . .
It is the prospect of a profit in production which determines the employer to hire laborers; it is the anticipated value of the product which determines how much he can pay them.”
Is this consistent with the wages-fund theory?
Consider the following: —

“Given machinery, raw materials, and a year’s subsistence, does it make no difference with the annual product whether the laborers are Englishmen or East-Indians? Certainly if one quarter part of what has been adduced under the head of the efficiency of labor be valid, the difference in the product of industry arising out of differences in the industrial quality of distinct communities of laborers are so great as to prohibit us from making use of capital to determine the amount that can be expended in any year or series of years in the purchase of labor.”

How does President Walker prove the existence of a no-profits class of business men?
Wherein does President Walker’s theory of distribution differ from Professor Sidgwick’s?
What grounds are there for saying that Political Economy is distinctly a modern science?
“Let us suppose, for example, that in the greater part of employments the productive powers of labour had been improved to ten-fold, or that a day’s labour could produce ten times the quantity of work which it had done originally; but that in a particular employment they had been improved only to double, or that a day’s labour could produce only twice the quantity of work it had done before. In exchanging the produce of a day’s labour in the greater part of employments for that of a day’s labour in this particular one, ten times the original quantity of work in them would purchase only twice the original quantity in it. Any particular quantity in it, therefore, a pound weight, for example, would appear to be five times dearer than before. In reality, however, it would be twice as cheap.” — Wealth of Nations, Book I. ch. viii.
Explain what Adam Smith meant; and what Ricardo would have said as to this passage.
Explain Adam Smith’s conclusions as to the effect on wages, profits, and rent, of the progress of society; noting briefly the reasoning which lead to the conclusion in each case.
Examine the following criticisms on Malthus: —
1. that there is no such difference of law between the increase of man and of the organic beings which form his food, as is implied in the proposition that man increases in a geometrical, food in arithmetical ratio;
2. that the adaptation of numbers to the means available for their support is effected by the felt or anticipated pressure of circumstances and the fear of social degradation, within a tolerable degree of approximation to what is desirable.
Explain carefully Ricardo’s doctrine as to the effect of profits on value.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Frank Taussig’s Scrapbook of his examinations. Posted earlier in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Final Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions]

Does the example of a laborer hired by a farmer, and paid by him at the close of the season, after the crop has been harvested and disposed of, present a case of labor paid, not out of capital, but out of the product of current industry?
What do you conceive the relation of political economy to laissez faire to have been with Adam Smith? with Ricardo and his contemporaries? How would you state the relation yourself?
“Ricardo never fairly appreciated that his notion of the laborer’s ‘necessaries’ stood for something subject to wide variation in different stages of civilization. It is true that in one passage he says with emphasis that the necessaries, which determine the natural rate of wages, depend on habits which vary with time and place; but elsewhere he sets up a distinction between gross and net income, which is tenable only if we put the laborer’s necessaries side by side with other elements of cost of production. The distinction loses its practical harshness, when he admits that the laborer may at times receive, over and above natural wages, some part of the community’s net income; but its theoretic shortcomings then become the more obvious.” (Cohn, National-oekonomie.)
Explain Ricardo’s conception of natural wages and net income, here referred to; and examine the justice of this criticism.
“The average rate of profits is the real barometer, the true and infallible criterion of national prosperity. A high rate of profit is the effect of industry having become more productive, and it shows that the power of society to amass capital, and to add to its wealth and population, has been increased.” (M’Culloch’s Political Economy.) What led to the adoption of this test by M’Culloch? Should you accept it?
What were Ricardo’s views as to the effect of foreign trade on profits?
“In the actual period of production, on a wages system, the existing supplies for laborers are distributed to laborers in wages, while they, with the help of fixed capital, till the ground and work up the raw materials, transforming the old capital into a new product. . . . The product is divided at the end of the period of production into the replacement of capital (support of laborers, raw material, and wear of fixed capital), profits, and rent. . . . Hence it is clear that wages and profits are not parts of the same whole. Wages were in capital at the beginning of the period of production; profits are in product at its close.” (W. G. Sumner.)“We may suppose that share of the National Dividend which goes as rent to be set on one side; and then there remains what would be produced by labour and capital if they were all applied under conditions no more favourable than those under which they were applied at the margin of profitable employment; and a proposal was made by the present writer, in the Economics of Industry, that this should be called the Wages-and-Profits Fund, or the Earnings-and-Interest Fund. These terms were suggested in order to emphasize the opinion that the so-called Wages-Fund theory, however it might be purified from the vulgar errors which had grown around it, still erred in suggesting that earnings and interest, or wages and profits, do not stand in the same relation to the National Dividend.” (Marshall.)
Which of these seems to you the sounder view?
Explain what is meant by Consumer’s Rent; and examine the effect on Consumer’s Rent and on the aggregate satisfaction of the community, of a tax on a community subject to the law of Diminishing Returns.
Explain the grounds which lead Professor Marshall to believe that the forces by which the wages of different grades of laborers are determined, work by a process similar to that by which the expenses of production determine the value of commodities.
Examine carefully Professor Marshall’s view of the part played by rent of natural ability in determining manager’s earnings.
Wherein is there similarity, wherein difference, in the positions of Carey and Bastiat in the history of economic theory?

Also found in Frank Taussig’s Scrapbook of his examinations. Posted earlier in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
Course Description and Enrollment

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 3. Mr. [Edward] Cummings. — The Principles of Sociology. — Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions. 3 hours.

Total 25: 8 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
Mid-year Examination, 1892.

[Not yet found]

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
Final Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers in the order of the questions. Omit one.]

“The liberty of the subject is only a means towards an end; hence, when it fails to produce the desired end, it may be set aside, and other means employed.”
What do you conceive to be this “desired end”? On what is the prerogative in question founded?
“When everything has been done to deter from crime or reform the criminal there will still remain a certain class whom it is hopeless to influence, and who must be dealt with in course of law, not for much result on themselves, but to carry out the principle of justice, and mainly to deter others.”
Discuss the theoretical and practical validity of the principles of penal legislation here affirmed.
“There are still two more weaknesses, which are peculiar to all states, not only to the modern elective State. From the strictly professional point of view, in the technical works which they direct; public functionaries have neither the stimulus nor the restraint of personal interest.”
“Nearly every present acknowledged function of government has once been intrusted to private enterprise….Now, of all the enterprises which the state has thus appropriated to itself, there is not one which is not managed better and more wisely than it had been managed before by private parties. Most of them are such that the world has entirely forgotten that they were ever private enterprises.”
What light is thrown on this controversy by the experience of continental governments in the management of railroads? Do the same arguments apply to railroads as to the telegraph, and the post? Why?
State an criticize the theory of “surplus value.”
“Let us suppose the whole field of industry covered by syndicates….Competition complained of by the Socialists would be largely gone, being merged within the syndicate; useless middlemen displaced; the employing capitalist with his too high wages replaced by a manager: all steps towards the Socialist goal. What is wanting chiefly?”
Give a general outline of the Collectivist scheme, from the point of view of production, distribution and value.
“But the bare labor-cost value, as it has been formulated up to now, invests the whole economy of socialism for the present with the character of a Utopia….It is remarkable, and even comforting, that all which is required to make socialism so much a matter of practical discussion, urges it to preserve, and even to intensify, the brighter elements of the liberal economic system.”
“Moreover it is not difficult to deduce the necessity of State interference from Mr. Spencer’s own fundamental principles….The inspector is himself in fact, as Prof. Jevons says, a necessary product of social evolution and the division of labor.”
Does expansion of public and municipal industry necessarily indicate the “gradual triumph of socialism”?
Compare briefly the political and economic tendencies in Glasgow, London, and New York.
What ground do you find for De Laveleye’s assertion that Socialism is pessimistic, while Political Economy is optimistic?
State the arguments for and against municipal manufacture of gas in the United States.
The systems of state education in the United States have been devised by the several states of the Union, and are exceedingly heterogeneous and defective. In certain States scarcely anything worthy of the name of education exists, while in others the systems have attained a high degree of perfection.”
How in this respect does the United States compare with European countries.

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Course Description and Enrollment

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 4. Mr. [William M.] Cole. — Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. — Lectures and written work. 3 hours.

Total 132: 35 Seniors, 40 Juniors, 40 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 16 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Mid-year Examination, 1892.

[Not yet found]

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Final Examination, 1892.

[Answer both the questions in Roman numerals, and eight of the nine in Arabic numerals.]

Compare the facilities for transportation by land as they existed in 1700 with those of 1830 and those of 1890.
Do the same, for the same periods, for water transportation, for cotton manufacturing, and for banking.
Compare the growth in the numbers of population in the United States since 1790 with the growth in the density of population per square mile. If you find any discrepancies, explain them.

How far has England’s policy regarding free trade been affected by the policy of other nations?
What, in your opinion, would have been the status in the United States of slavery, as a system of producing wealth, if emancipation had not taken place? State your reasons.
Explain the change in the position of the American merchant marine at about the time of the Civil War.
What influence has the extensive investment of capital in foreign countries upon the need, for the world’s commerce, of specie?
By what process, and in what way, did the payment of the German indemnity by France affect the Crisis of 1873?
How was the United States able to accumulate enough gold for Resumption in 1879?
Was the indemnity demanded of France by Germany in 1871 just? Give your reasons.
By what sort of processes has the United States reduced the annual burden of its debt faster than the principal?
Why has England become the natural clearing-house for the world?

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 5.
Course Description and Enrollment

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 5. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig. — Railway Transportation. — Lectures and written work. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 42: 3 Graduates, 22 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 5.
Final Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

Compare the modes in which New York and Pennsylvania tried to secure communications with the West in 1825-1840.
Sketch the salient events in the history of the New York Central Railway to the present time.
Sketch the important provisions of the Thurman Act of 1878 in regard to the Pacific railroads, and the results which have ensued.
Why was the railway mileage constructed in the United States in 1887 the largest yet reached?
Why has the railway beaten the canal?
Does the practice of charging what the traffic will bear result from the fact that railways present a case of industrial monopoly? Would it cease if competition were fully effective in railway operations?
Discuss separately or together,
(a) Whether the prohibition of railway pools is wise;
(b) Whether there are grounds for permitting or prohibiting such combinations, which do not apply to attempts to bring about combination and monopoly in other industries.
Point out wherein the schedules of maximum rates fixed by the State of Iowa resemble the German Reform Tariff, and wherein they differ from it.
Explain what is the state of legislation as to long and short haul rates in the United States, England, France, and Germany; and state your opinion as to the desirability of preventing lower charges on the longer haul.
Sketch the history of railway policy in Belgium.
Why are railway pools and traffic agreements more stable in England than in the United States?
Point out wherein the Railway Commission under the English Act of 1888 differs from the Interstate Commerce Commission.

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.
Course Description and Enrollment

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 6. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig. — History of Tariff Legislation in the United States. 3 hours. 1^st half-year.

Total 64: 7 Graduates, 32 Seniors, 13 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 10 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.
Mid-year Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Be concise. Answer all questions.]

Criticize the arguments by which Hamilton endeavored to show (1) that agriculture was not more productive than manufactures; (2) that the greater division of labor and use of machinery in manufactures made the introduction of manufacturing industries peculiarly advantageous to a country.
How do you explain the change, between 1820 and 1840, in the arguments as to the bearing of high wages on the protective system?
Sketch the growth of the international trade of the United States from 1820 to 1860.
Are there good grounds for saying that the tariff act of 1846 led to a period of general prosperity?
In what way have the duties on fine woolens been higher in recent years than those on cheap woollens? Does the difference explain the fact that the domestic production is confined mainly to the cheaper goods? Give your reasons carefully.
Explain the difference (1) in character, (2) in probable effects, between the Continental sugar bounties and the present United States bounty.
Wherein would there probably be differences between the effects of reciprocity treaties (1) with Great Britain, admitting iron free; (2) with Great Britain, admitting wool from Australia free; (3) with Germany, admitting refined sugar free?
How far is it true that the high level of wages in the United States is an effective obstacle to the successful prosecution of manufacturing industries?
What were the duties on coffee, cotton goods, pig-iron, and wool, in 1799, 1819, 1839, 1859, 1879? (Use tabular form, if you wish.)
How far did the South secure what it aimed at from the tariff act of 1833?
Sketch the tariff legislation of 1872.
Is it true that the adoption of a policy of free trade in England dates from the abolition of the corn-laws?

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Course Description and Enrollment.

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 7. Professor [Charles F.] Dunbar.

— First half-year:—

The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special references to local taxation in the United States. 3 hours.

Total 30: 2 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 8 Juniors.

— Second half-year —

Banking, and the History of the leading Banking Systems. 3 hours.

Total 38: 2 Graduates, 22 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Mid-year examination (first half-year), 1892.

[not yet found]

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Final examination (second half-year), 1892.

A.
Of these five questions one may be omitted.

Which of the three great banks, the Bank of England, the Bank of France, and the Reichsbank, appears to you to present the best model for a great national bank, — and why?
What peculiarities in the Scotch banking system account for the high credit and extended usefulness of the Scotch banks, and make their issue of £1 notes both necessary and safe?
The value of a currency is said to depend on (a) its quantity, rapidity of circulation, and the amount of transactions to be effected, and (b) on the cost of the precious metals. How is this reasoning to be made applicable to deposits, considered as a part of the currency?
A recent pamphlet contains the following:—
“The ‘Currency Principle’ was advocated by Lord Overstone and others, and held that, under a system of free banking, over-issue [of convertible notes] is possible and likely to occur, inflating the currency. In England, the principle of limiting the issues was adopted in the Bank Act of 1844. A different application of the same principle obtains in this country under the National Bank system.”
Discuss the closing statement in the above extract.
As saving banks and banks of deposit and discount are alike bound to pay their depositors on demand, on what ground can investments be treated as safe or suitable for one of these classes of banks and not for the other? This may be illustrated by reference to investments in mortgages, in bank stock, and in commercial paper.

B.
Of these five questions one may be omitted.

Describe Mr. Goschen’s proposals for increasing the stock of gold in the Bank of England and issuing £1 notes, and state the objects to be gained by the plan and the objections to it.
Discuss the propositions, laid down by Mr. Buckner, in his speech of April, 1882, in opposition to the Bank Charters Extension Bill,—
1. That the currency ought to be issued by the government;
2. That an elastic currency is mischievous, as introducing an element of uncertainty, and that the government should therefore issue a fixed amount of convertible notes.
It is urged that the characteristics which insure the high credit and universal currency of the national bank circulation,—
“are qualities which help to make its movements unnatural, artificial, and impart to it a roaming character, helping to force it away from the issuer, away from the country districts where it is needed, and consequently to induce its accumulation when out of active commercial employment in the great financial centres, and while there to foster and become more or less fixed in speculative ventures—that is, unresponsive to commercial influences when needed for commercial work.”
Discuss the question whether issues having only local credit would remedy the difficulties suggested above?
Discuss the following proposition for the issue of bank-notes under State authority:—
1. Take off the present 10 per cent. tax from the notes of any bank complying with the following regulations:—
2. Permit any State to tax circulation, in order to accumulate a fund to redeem notes of such of its own banks a may fail.
3. Forbid any bank to issue notes in excess of two-thirds of its capital.
4. Make notes a first lien on all assets of the issuing bank.
5. Require coin redemption by the banks and a coin reserve of 25 per cent. of outstanding notes.
6. Leave any State free to forbid or permit the issue of notes under the above regulations by banks within its jurisdiction.
  [Commercial and Financial Chronicle, May 14.]
Discuss the following propositions for completely free banking, made by Courcelle-Seneuil (Traité des Opérations de Banque, Book IV., ch. ix., §3):—
“Il vaudrait mieux donner au premier venu le droit d’émettre des billets à vue et au porteur sous certaines conditions définies par la loi….On doit supposer que le banquier sait mieux son métier que le législateur; celui-ci ne doit point réglementer ce qui est du métier; il doit se borner à prévenir la fraude, et il ne peut mieux y parvenir qu’en imposant au banquier un fort cautionnement envers le public, c’est-à-dire un fort capital….Les vérifications officielles de portefeuille ne peuvent présenter au public aucune garantie.”

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
Course Description and Enrollment.

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 8. Professor [Charles F.] Dunbar. — History of Financial Legislation in the United States. 3 hours. 2d half-year

Total 50: 7 Graduates, 22 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
Final Examination, 1892.

Two questions may be omitted.

What were the terms on which the different portions of the revolutionary debt were made redeemable by the act of August 4, 1790, and when and how was their redemption actually undertaken?
What are the leading cases of suspension of specie payments in the United States since 1789, and what were the general causes in each case?
What was the method by which specie payments were resumed in 1817?
Von Holst says (II., p. 32), “Jackson did not come to Washington resolved to wipe out the bank.” What is probably the truth as to Jackson’s attitude towards the bank when he was inaugurated, and as to the breaking out of the bank war?
What were the “branch drafts” issued by the branches of the second United States Bank, the reasons for their issue, and the objections thereto?
What is the history of the following item in the general account of the Treasurer of the United States:—
“Unavailable amount on deposit with the States, $28, 101,645.”
What were Mr. Chase’s reasons for urging the establishment of the national banking system?
How does the legal tender decision in Juillard vs. Greenman differ in principle from that in the earlier case of Knox vs. Lee?
What were Mr. McCulloch’s reasons for wishing to establish the policy of contracting the currency without delay in 1865?
What influences led Congress to restrict, and finally annul, Secretary McCulloch’s authority for retiring United States notes? Give approximate dates of the Acts.
President Grant wrote, in 1874:—
“I would like to see a provision that…the currency issued by the United States should be redeemed in coin…and that all currency so redeemed should be cancelled and never be re-issued.” [ To Jones.]
How does this compare with the redemption actually practiced under the Resumption Act, and how came the present practice to be adopted?
Sherman, speaking of the first Legal Tender Act, said:—
“We agreed in that act that we would apply one per cent. of the principal of the debt to the payment of the debt. The debt is now $2,5000,000,000. One per cent. is $25,000,000, and that must not only be applied every year, but it must be applied in the nature of a sinking fund.” [Speeches p. 264.]
How far has the government followed this interpretation of the act?

Tags ColeWM, CummingsEdward, Dunbar, Taussig

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exams for Political Economy Courses and Ethics of Social Questions, 1890-1891

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-06-24

With the academic year 1890-91, a new instructor joined the Harvard political economy team, William Morse Cole who co-taught Political Economy 1 with Frank Taussig and Political Economy 8, History of Financial Legislation in the United States. Cole went on to have a successful career as professor of accounting at Harvard Business School.

The previous year’s exams have been transcribed and posted earlier:

Harvard. Final exams in political economy and ethics of social reform, 1889-1890

_________________________

1890-1891. Philosophy 14.

Enrollment

[Philosophy] 11. Professor F. G. Peabody. — The Ethics of Social Questions. — The questions of Charity, Divorce, the Indians, Temperance, and the various phases of the Labor Question (Socialism, Communism, Arbitration, Cooperation, etc.), as questions of practical Ethics. — Lectures, essays, and practical observations. 3 hours.

Total 103: 4 Graduates, 53 Senior, 28 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 3 Freshmen, 11 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 57.

PHILOSOPHY 14.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Mid-year examination (1890-91)

[Omit one question.]

The attitude of political economy toward the questions of social reform.
Consider the possible relations in which your own life may stand to the life of society, and their ethical significance.
Examine a special case of moral heroism and state what, in your opinion, was its motive.
What, according to Professor Sumner, are the duties toward others of “a free man in a free democracy”? Why? And with what result, in your opinion, to society?
Enumerate and illustrate some of the practical rules of good charity which issue from the philosophy of charity.
The relation of the labor question in France and England to the political history of those countries.
Compare the conditions of wealth and the possibilities of revolution in England and in this country.
Consider Carlyle’s doctrine of the “Captain of Industry” as a solution of the modern labor question.
What does Ruskin mean by: Roots of honor; veins of purple; non-competitive just exchange; ad valorem?
What is there in religion which encourages the Socialist and what is there which repels him, and what relation between socialism and religion is, in your judgment, likely to be the result?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. From bound volume Examination Papers, 1890-91.

PHILOSOPHY 14.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

[Omit one question.]

“All wealth is due to labor; therefore to labor all wealth is due.” What, in your opinion, is the economic importance, and the justice, of this proposition?
Compare the views of the Socialist, the Individualist and the “Opportunist” as to the tendency toward State interference. What is your own view of the merits of this kind of legislation?
“Well may Prince Bismarck display leanings toward State Socialism.” Why does Mr. Spencer make this remark, and with what justice?
On what principle would a Professor be paid, under the Socialist programme?
Consider the commercial advantages and hindrances of an establishment like the Hebden Bridge Fustian Mill.
Compare the principle of profit-sharing formerly used in the American Fisheries with that represented by the firm of Billon et Isaac.
Describe the general features and the main intention of the Dawes Indian Bill; and the supplementary legislation now proposed.
What is meant by the “Philosophy of the Family,” and what is its relation to the modern Divorce Question?
If you should enter the retail liquor business in Boston, what legal restrictions would you find hampering the freedom of your trade?
Apply the doctrine of the “Social Organism” to the question of Temperance.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 3. Papers Set for Final examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1891) in bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1890-91.

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 1. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig and Mr. [William Morse] Cole. —

First half-year: —

Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. 3 hours

Second half-year: —

Division A (Theoretical): Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. 3 hours.

Division B (Descriptive): Lectures on Finance, Labor and Capital, Coöperation. — Hadley’s Railroad Transportation. — Laughlin’s Bimetallism. 3 hours.

Total 201:

A: 10 Seniors, 53 Juniors, 50 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 19 Others.
B: 12 Seniors, 31 Juniors, 15 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

Student notes available at the Harvard Archives

Kennedy, Frank Lowell, Notes on lectures by Frank W. Taussig and William M. Cole on Political Economy 1, 1890-1891. Harvard University Archives HUC 8890.371.1

1890-91.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Mid-year examination.

[Divide your time equally between the two parts of the paper.]

I.
[Omit two.]

“Whether men like it or not, the unproductive expenditure of individuals will pro tanto tend to impoverish the community, and only their productive expenditure will enrich it.”
“It would be a great error to regret the large proportion of the annual produce which in an opulent country goes to supply unproductive consumption.”
Can you reconcile these two statements of Mill’s?
“Hardly any two dealers in the same trade, even if their commodities are equally good and equally cheap, carry on their business at the same expense, or turn over their capital in the same time. That equal capitals give equal profits, as a general maxim of trade, would be as false as that equal age or size give equal bodily strength, or that equal reading or experience give equal knowledge.” Can you reconcile this statement of Mill’s with the doctrine of the tendency of profits to an equality?
How far is it true that a general rise or fall in wages would not affect values?
Suppose a country having a metallic currency to issue inconvertible paper to one-half the amount of the coin, and trace the effects on prices and on the circulating medium (1) in an isolated country, having no international trade; (2) in a country having international trade.
On the same supposition, trace the effects, in the country having international trade, on the foreign exchanges, on the course of international trade, and on the terms of international exchange.
“If consumers were to save and covert into capital more than a limited portion of their income, and were not to devote to unproductive consumption an amount of means bearing a certain ratio to the capital of the country, the extra accumulation would be merely so much waste, since there would be no market for the commodities which the capital so created would produce.” Is this true?

II.
[Answer all.]

“Capital is not the result of saving; it is not an accumulation. Its nature is that it should be consumed almost as fast as it is produced. … Saving or accumulation would necessarily defeat the end of its existence. How can materials or tools be saved?” Answer the question.
Explain why rent is not an element in the cost of production of the commodity which yields it.
Connect the law of the increase of labor with the law of production from land.
What is the effect of gratuitous education for a profession on the wages of those engaged in it?
Why does the durability of the precious metals give stability to their value?
What are the laws of value applicable to (1) iron ore, (2) watch-springs, (3) wool and mutton, (4) patented bicycles?
How does the rate of interest bear on the price of land and of securities?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. From bound volume Examination Papers, 1890-91.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Year-end examination (June 1891)
Division A.

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

Wherein is the effect of a change in the demand for commodities on the wages-fund different (1) if competition among laborers is effective? (2) if it is not effective?
On what grounds does Cairnes reach the same conclusions, as to the possible effects of Trades Unions on general wages, for England and for the United States?
Examine Cairnes’s reasoning as to the possibility of maintaining the accumulation of capital in a socialist community.
Why are the wages of women, according to Mill, lower than the wages of men? Accepting Mill’s explanation, what would Cairnes say as to the laws of value applicable to the exchange of the products of women’s labor with the products of men’s labor?
What is the error in saying that high wages make high prices?
“Gold may be cheap, and prices at the same time be low.” Explain.
Is it true that the benefit of foreign trade lies in its affording an outlet for the surplus produce of the community?
Suppose the people of the United States to borrow annually large sums from Europe; and suppose them also to have large interest payments to make on loans contracted in previous years; would you expect our foreign trade to show an excess of imports or of exports?
Mill says that an emission of inconvertible paper money, equal in amount to the specie previously circulating, will drive out the whole of the metallic money; “that is, if paper be issued of as low a denomination as the lowest coin; if not, as much will remain as convenience requires for the smaller payments.” What light is thrown on this statement by the experience of the United States in 1862?
Why did the circumstance that an exceptionally large part of the country’s business was done for cash in the period immediately after the civil war make the time favorable for a speedy contraction of the currency?
Is payment for capital sunk in the soil, rent, or profit?

Division B.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]
[One question may be omitted.]

Why have pools and traffic agreements been more stable in England than in the United States?
Why does a railroad charge more per ton per mile on cotton goods than on coal?
“A government enterprise may be managed on any one of four principles: 1. as a tax; 2. for business profits; 3. to pay expenses; 4. for public service, without much regard to the question of expenses.” Explain, giving an example under each head.
Wherein is there a resemblance between the legislation of France as to railways and as to banking?
Arrange in proper order the following items of a bank account: Capital, 300; Loans, 1150; Bonds and Stocks, 50; Surplus, 85; Undivided Profits, 10; Cash, 110; Cash items, 90; Notes, 90; Real Estate, 25; Other Assets, 20; Deposits, 960.
Do you see any reason for believing this bank to be or not to be a national bank of the United States? To be a city or a country bank?
Suppose the national banks of the United States ceased to issue notes, their other operations remaining as now; how great would be the effect of the change on the circulating medium of the community? Compare the effect with that which would ensue in Germany if the note issue of the German banks were to cease.
Under the national bank act, how does the action of our banks, when their reserves are suddenly lowered, differ from that of the Bank of England in like case?
Wherein is the mode of dividing profits among members of the coöperative stores in England different from that of the coöperative building associations of the United States?
Wherein does bimetallism as now practiced in France differ from bimetallism as it was in France in 1850? Wherein does it differ from bimetallism as it is in the United States now?
Compare the legislation of Germany on coinage in 1873 with that of the United States in 1853.
Mill divides commodities into three classes, according to the laws of value applicable to them. In which class would you put silver bullion?
Describe carefully the act for the resumption of specie payments, stating when it was passed, when it went into effect, and how far it was successful in accomplishing the desired object.
Will a general rise in wages affect values? prices? profits?

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 2. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig and Mr. [John Graham] Brooks. — History of Economic Theory. — Examination of selections from Leading Writers. — Socialism. 3 hours.

Total 23: 4 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

Previously Posted

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-history-of-economic-theory-final-exam-questions-taussig-1891-94/

Fun fact: W.E.B. Dubois was enrolled in Economics 2 in 1890/91 as a graduate student and was awarded a grade of A (one of six awarded to the twenty-two who received grades, as recorded in Taussig’s scrapbook).

1890-91.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Mid-year examination.

[Divide your time equally between the two parts of the paper.]
[Omit one question.]

It has been suggested that the real source from which wages are paid is not the product of the laborer, nor the capital of the employer, but the income of the consumer. What should you say?
To which of the following cases, if to any, is the reasoning of the wages fund theory applicable? (1) The farmer tilling his own land with his own capital; (2) the fisherman working for a share of the catch; (3) the independent artisan working on his own account with borrowed capital; (4) the employer who habitually sells his product before pay-day, and pays his laborers with the proceeds.
Wherein does President Walker’s view of the source from which wages are paid differ from George’s?
“The extra gains which any producer or dealer obtains through superior talent in business, or superior business arrangements, are very much of a similar kind [to rent.] If all his competitors had the same advantages, and used them, the benefit would be transferred to the consumers, through the diminished value of the article; he only retains it for himself because he is able to bring his commodity to market at a lower cost, while its value is determined by a higher…. Wages and profits represent the universal elements in production, while rent may be taken to represent the differential and peculiar; any difference in favor of certain producers, or in favor of production in certain circumstances, being the source of a gain, which, though not called rent, unless paid periodically by one person to another, is governed by laws entirely the same with it.”—Mill, Political Economy, book iii., ch. v., §4.
What has President Walker added to this in his discussion of business profits?
“It is true that money does not beget money; but capital does manifestly beget capital. If a man borrows a thousand ducats and ties them up in a bag, he will not find any little ducats in the bag at the end of the year; but if he purchases with the ducats a flock of sheep, he will, with proper attention, have lambs enough at the end of the year to make a handsome interest on the loan, and make a handsome profit for himself. If the turns the ducats into corn, he will find it bringing forth, some thirty, some sixty, some an hundred fold…Very seldom does a man borrow money to use it, as money, through the term of his loan. When he does so, as brokers for example sometimes do, he may to Antonio’s question, ‘Is your gold and silver rams and ewes?’ return Shylock’s answer, ‘I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast.’”
Discuss this explanation of interest. Whom do you suppose to be the writer of the extract?
“The natural history of the notion on which it [the wages-fund doctrine] rests, is not obscure. It grew out of the conditions which existed in England during and immediately subsequent to the Napoleonic wars. Two things were then noted. First, capital had become accumulated in the island to such an extent that employers found no (financial) difficulty in paying their laborers by the month, week, or day, instead of requiring them to await the fruition of their labor in the harvested or marketed product. Second, the wages were, in fact, generally so low that they furnished no more than a bare subsistence, while the employment offered was so restricted that an increase in the number of laborers had the effect to throw some out of employment or to reduce the wages for all. Out of these things the wages-fund theory was put together.”
Examine this account of the rise of the wages-fund doctrine.
Discuss the method of reasoning followed by Adam Smith, and illustrate by his treatment of two of the following topics: (1) the causes which bring about high wages; (2) the effects on domestic industry of restraints on importation; (3) the origin and effects of the division of labor.
Explain how Ricardo’s conception of wages bears on his conclusions as to the effects of taxes on wages, and as to the net income of society.
What can be said in justification of the views of the writers of the mercantile school?

Source: Harvard University Archives. In Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. From bound volume Examination Papers, 1890-91.

Second semester taught by John Graham Brooks.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

From Rousseau to the Fabians, what have been the chief historic changes in the Philosophy of Socialism?
In detail, state the differences between the Marx type of Socialism and that of the Fabians.
With reference to the “three rents” what are the most important objections to Socialism?
What reasons can you give to show that Socialism is likely to have much further development in our society?

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 3. Mr. [John Graham] Brooks. Investigation and Discussion of Practical Economic Questions. — Social Questions. — Short theses. 1^st half-year. 3 hours.

Total 10: 1 Graduate, 7 Seniors, 1 Junior, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
Mid-year examination

State the general objects of the German State Insurance, with reasons why it is likely, or not likely, to reach its objects.
State in detail the strong points and the weak points of Trades Unions.
What is the effect of Trades Unions upon their own wages, as distinguished from wages in general?
What advantages has Profit Sharing over the present forms of the wages system?
Are there reasons to believe that Profit Sharing will have much larger influence in the future?
With special reference to the work of the half year, what “social remedies” appear to you most promising?

Source: Harvard University Archives. In Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. From bound volume Examination Papers, 1890-91.

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 4. Professor [Charles Franklin] Dunbar. — Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. —Lectures and written work. 3 hours.

Total 103: 29 Seniors, 28 Juniors, 25 Sophomores, 4 Freshmen, 17 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

Other course material available at the Harvard Archives

Topics and references in political economy IV [1891?]. Student’s copy belonging to C. King Morrison, ’91. with manuscript notes. Harvard University Archives HUC 8890.371

Larrabee, Ralph Clinton (A.B. 1893). Notes in Political Economy 4: lectures by Prof. Dunbar, 1890-1891. Harvard University Archives HUC 8890.371.4.48

Principle text for Political Economy 4

From the prefatory note to Benjamin Rand’s (ed.) Selections illustrating economic history since the Seven Years’ War (Cambridge, MA: Waterman and Amee, 1889):

These selections have been made for use as a text-book of required reading to accompany a course of lectures on economic history given at Harvard College.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Mid-year examination

Lay out your time carefully, reserving 15 minutes for review and correction.

A.
Give half of your time (say 80 minutes) to A, omitting one question.

Make a careful statement of the leading provisions of the English navigation and colonial system.
Adam Smith’s reasons for saying that the policy of Great Britain towards her colonies had, upon the whole, been less illiberal and oppressive than that of other countries towards theirs. [Rand, pp. 12-26.]
Contrast the effects of the French revolutionary period upon the holding and distribution of land, in France and Germany respectively.
Describe the current of opinion and the industrial conditions which made free trade inevitably the policy for England.
State the reasons for the logical and political importance of the corn laws in the English free trade movement.
The essential differences between the French and the Anglo-American methods of managing railway construction and ownership, and the effect and advantages of each.

B.
Give 80 minutes to B, omitting two questions.

The trade between the United States and the British West Indies, before our revolution, and after.
The inventions or improvements which made the development of the cotton States possible.
The condition of commerce and manufactures in the United States in the two periods, 1794-1808, and 1808-1815.
The successive enterprises for opening communication with the territory north of the Ohio, and their importance.
The English legislation respecting cotton goods in the last century and the reasons for it.
What was the effect of the Napoleonic wars upon the introduction of manufactures on the continent of Europe?
The comparative state of preparation of England, France, Germany, and the United States for undertaking the modern industries when the peace of 1815 came.
Give what account you can of the career and opinions of Turgot, with dates.
The contributions of Stein and Hardenberg respectively to the reform in the Prussian system of land-holding.
On what plan was the Zollverein organized?
What are the differences in industrial characteristics which make it natural for England and France to adopt different policies as to protection and free trade?

Source: Harvard University Archives. In Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. From bound volume Examination Papers, 1890-91.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

Lay out your time carefully, reserving 15 minutes for review and correction

A.
Give half of your time to A. omitting one question.

The establishment of the Zollverein is spoken of [Rand, page 138] as “the first step towards what is called the Germanization of the people” and to have “prepared the way for a political nationality.” Show how it had this effect.
Cairnes, in his discussion of the new gold, [Rand, page 197] shows that “a given addition to the metallic stock of Great Britain and the United States … will cause a greater expansion of the total circulation, and therefore will support a greater advance in general prices, that the same addition to the currency of … France … and that again, the effect in countries like France will be greater than in countries like India or China.” Why is this, and how much effect did this difference in sensitiveness produce in the years after 1850?
Cairnes lays down [Rand, page 209] that “every country is interested in raising as rapidly as possible the prices of its productions,–in other words, in the most rapid possible depreciation in the local value of its gold.” What are the grounds for this proposition?
The writer in Blackwood’s, [Rand, page 228] says that the most important point in the payment of the French indemnity is “How came it that £170,000,000 [4,250,000,000 francs] of bills could be got at all”? What is the explanation of this fact?
What are the reasons for looking upon Italy as a possible serious competitor in ocean navigation, and what are her great drawbacks in such competition?

What are the marked differences between the great change in the production and value of the precious metals in the sixteenth century, and that in the nineteenth?
Why was an additional supply of gold especially important to the world in the years 1850-60?
How does the mere saving of time in transportation, or in the transmission of intelligence, produce an effect upon commerce?
How far was the civil war the cause of the decline of American shipping after 1860?
What reasons made the breaking out of a financial crisis in the United States in 1873 easier than usual?
Why did the payment of the French indemnity disturb the financial quiet of other countries than France and Germany?
What are the great cases of resumption of specie payment in the years 1875-85, and how were they brought about respectively?
Why is the trade between countries so often “triangular,” and why is England so generally one of the parties concerned?
How does the modern theory of the utility of colonies differ from that of a century or two ago?

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 6. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig. — History of Tariff Legislation in the United States. 2 hours. 2d half-year

Total 43: 1 Graduate, 28 Seniors, 12 Juniors, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Answer all questions.]

Explain wherein France and the United States were in similar positions, as regards customs policy, in 1814-15; and state briefly the legislation to which these situations led in the two countries.
What was the argument, discussed in Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures, which rested on the supposed exceptions productiveness of agriculture? What was Hamilton’s answer? What is the sound view?
How did Gallatin propose in 1831 to fix customs duties without regard to their protective effect? Walker in 1845?
Was there any ground in 1832 for saying that the duties on imports were equivalent to duties on exports? Is there now?
How did the general fall in prices after 1819 affect the growth of manufactures in the United States?
“The climate, soil, and conditions generally in the Northwest, are very favorable to the cultivation of flax fibre as well as of the seed. After a short experience as to the primary manipulation and handling of the flax fibre, our farmers would produce flax which would compare favorably with the best varieties of the fibre. It seems strange that a practical people like ourselves should for years have been satisfied to cultivate seed for flax at a value of about $15 per acre, and at the same time allow 600 pounds of flax fibre per acre to rot on the ground, this fibre having a value, after being manipulated, of $186 per ton.”
Can you explain the anomaly?
Describe the process by which the duties on woollen cloths, as they stand in the act of 1890, were arrived at.
What ground is there for saying that the protective movement in the United States is part of a general reaction towards protection which has appeared in most civilized countries in recent years?
It has been said that the tariff act of 1789 began the protective policy of the United States; that the act of 1816 was the first giving serious protection; that the act of 1824 was the first strictly protective act. Which statement, if any, do you think true?
Which of the important tariff acts between 1835 and 1859 were passed quite without regard to financial considerations?
What does the continued importation of clothing wool indicate as to the effect of the duty on the domestic price? of pig iron? of silks?

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 7. Professor [Charles Franklin] Dunbar. — Public Finance and Taxation. — Cohn’s Finanzwissenschaft. 3 hours.

Total 7: 2 Graduates, 4 Seniors, 1 Junior.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

It is recommended that at least a third of the time be given to B.

Accepting the usual reasoning that a tax under some circumstances, by diminishing the income from property, diminishes its selling value, and so ceases to be felt by subsequent purchasers, should you say,—
1. That the French impôt foncier is a tax on present landholders?
2. That the English income-tax under Schedule A. is a tax on present landholders?
  The reason for the difference, if any exists.
What is your final conclusion as to the sale of bonds or annuities at a discount, — is it defensible or not, and on what grounds?
Explain the English method of using terminable annuities for the reduction of the public debt, as in 1867 and 1883, and discuss its advantages and drawbacks.
“The administrator of local finances is permitted to found a sinking-fund at the time of issuing bonds, a permission, it will be remembered, contrary to sound rules of national financiering.”
Does the distinction here made between local and national finances give solid ground for difference of treatment? Are the propositions as to the propriety of establishing sinking-funds in the two cases respectively tenable?
Say remarks that the French government, in providing for the indemnity, bought any kind of foreign bills of exchange, “prenant tous les changes qu’elle pouvait acquérir sur quelque pay que ce fût.” How did this purchase of a bill, say upon Russia, facilitate the payment of the indemnity any more than the purchase of a bill upon Marseilles would have done, seeing that in either case the government had to collect the proceeds in order to use them?

In 1872 Herr Bamberger, in his pamphlet die Fünf Milliarden, regretted that Germany had not been allowed more time to absorb the indemnity, so as to avoid the risk of over-stimulated enterprise, rise of prices, and speculation.
Discuss the probably effects, in Germany or elsewhere, (1) of longer time allowed to France; (2) of more cautious introduction of the wealth into Germany, effected
1. By longer deposit (say) in London,
2. By payment in securities, to be sold by Germany by degrees.

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 8. Mr. [William Morse] Cole. — History of Financial Legislation in the United States. 2 hours. 1^st half-year.

Total 46: 1 Graduate, 29 Seniors, 13 Juniors, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
Mid-year examination

“That the public credit was much better during the Civil War than during the War of 1812 is proved by the fact that during the former war the bulk of the loans were sold at par, whereas during the latter the larger part were sold below par.”
Comment on this statement.
Under what authority does the Secretary of the Treasury purchase bonds in the market? Why does he not redeem them at par?
Explain: “Five-twenties”; “Seven-thirties”; and tell why they were made seven-thirties; “Deferred sixes,” “5% redemption fund.”
When were the first legal tenders under the present constitution authorized?
What have been the express legal exemptions of government obligations from taxation since the outbrake of the Civil War?
In what different capacities was each of the following men connected with the finances of the nation: Hugh McCulloch, Levi Woodbury, William Pitt Fessenden, John Tyler?

II.
(Omit two.)

1, 2. [Counts as two questions.] Compare the causes of the suspensions of 1814, 1837, and 1861.

3, 4. [Counts as two.] Mention the different systems which have been in vogue since 1789 for caring for public funds, and tell why each change was made.

1. It was said that the bill which finally became the act for resumption in 1875 really provided for nothing in particular, and therefore ought not to be put upon the statute book. Did the provisions of the bill warrant the remark? Did subsequent history justify the remark?
2. In what way were the French Spoliation Claims connected with the Second-Bank Struggle?
3. Hamilton wished to have a system of internal taxation in working order as a resource in case of emergency. Does history throw any light upon the wisdom or folly of such a policy?
4. What were the causes of Gallatin’s retirement from the Treasury?
5. What history would you cite as an argument upon a proposition to replace bonds exempt from all taxation by bonds taxed to a moderate extent, and to distribute the receipts from the tax among the States according to the federal ratio?
6. In a speech on the refunding bill it was said that the government made no threat, but merely promised certain privileges to those who presented bonds to be refunded at a lower rate. “No one proposes…the alternative adopted by our own Government under Hamilton’s plan of reducing the interest.”
  Is this implication regarding Hamilton’s funding justified by the facts?

11, 12. [Counts as two.] Mention as many as possible of the kinds of obligations which have been contracted by the government; i.e. character of obligation (bond or what), length of time to run, and rate of interest. Give one example under each kind,—giving period of issue, but not necessarily the exact date.

Source: Harvard University Archives. In Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. From bound volume Examination Papers, 1890-91.

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 9.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 9. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig. — Railway Transportation. —Lectures and written work. 3 hours. 2d half-year

Total 20: 14 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

1890-91.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 9.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

[Answer all the questions, and arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

Can it be fairly said that the early experience of the States of the Union supplies strong arguments against State ownership of railways? Can it be fairly said of the experience of France since 1878?
State the salient events in the history of the federal land grants to railways.
How do you explain the rapidity with which the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads were completed?
Wherein did the so-called Granger legislation on railway rates resemble the “natural” system advocated in Germany after 1871? Wherein did it differ from it?
Sketch the history and machinery of the Southern Railway and Steamship Association.
Explain the difference in the working of the Trunk Line Association before and after the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act.
What ground is there for saying that the prohibition of pooling in the Interstate Commerce Act is inconsistent with its prohibition of discrimination between individuals?
Suppose a railway to be built and used exclusively for coal traffic; would its rates be arranged on a plan essentially different from that in use with ordinary railways, having a varied traffic?
It has been said that the principle of tolls, or rates based on cost of service, makes it necessary that each item of business should pay its share of the fixed charges. Why, or why not?
Sketch the history of government management of railways in Italy.
“Property has reached an ideal perfection. It is felt and treated as the national lifeblood. The rights of property nothing but felony and treason can override. The house is a castle which the King cannot enter. The Bank is a strong box to which the King has no key. Whatever surly sweetness possession can give is tasted in England to the dregs. Vested rights are awful things, and absolute possession gives the smallest freeholder identity of interest with the duke.”—Emerson, English Traits.
Wherein does the trait here described make the railroad situation in England different from that in the United States?

Tags BrooksJG, ColeWM, Dunbar, Peabody, Taussig

Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Final exams in political economy and ethics of social reform, 1888-1889

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-04-12

J. Laurence Laughlin left the Harvard faculty in 1888. The hole he left in the department of political economy’s teaching program was filled by two junior hires whose names were noted in the enrollment statistics published in the annual report of the president of Harvard College for 1888-89: Francis Cleaveland Huntington (A.B. 1887, LL.B. 1891) and John Henry Gray (A.B., 1887).

Huntington ultimately went on to become a New York City lawyer. Judging from the reports of his 1904 marriage, he must have been fairly successful (and/or married into a very well-to-do family). His high-water market in political economy was achieved with this short stint as an instructor, one could say he was Frank Taussig’s wingman for the principles course.

John Henry Gray was another matter altogether, having left Harvard to do graduate work in Europe as a Rogers fellow that culminated in his 1892 doctorate under Johannes Conrad at the University of Halle. His thesis was published in German, Die Stellung der privaten Beleuchtungsgesellschaften zu Stadt und Staat. Die Erfahrungen in Wien, Paris und Massachusetts. Jena, 1893. A fuller c.v. will be the subject of a later post (Besides professorships at Northwestern, Minnesota and Carleton College, Gray served as the AEA president in 1914).

_____________________

Philosophy 11. The Ethics of Social Reform.

Enrollment 1888-89.
Philosophy 11.

Prof. Peabody. 11. The Ethics of Social Reform. — The questions of Charity, Divorce, the Indians, Labor, Prisons, Temperance, etc., as problems of practical Ethics. — Lectures, essays, and practical observations. Hours per week: 2.

Total 84: 3 Graduates, 51 Seniors, 23 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 71.

1888-89.
PHILOSOPHY 11.
THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM.
[Mid-year Examination, 1889]

[Omit one question].

“Estimating life by multiplying its length into its breadth, we must say that the augmentation of it results from increase of both factors.” — (Spencer, Data of Ethics, p. 14.)
Explain and criticise.
“I am one of those who believe that the Real will never find an irremovable basis till it rests on the Idea.” — (J. R. Lowell, Address on Democracy.)
Illustrate this in the conduct of Charity.
“To lift one man up we push another down” … ”A drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be. If a policeman picks him up, the industrious and sober workman bears the penalty.” — (Sumner, Social Classes, pp. 128, 131.)
Comment on the ethics of this view.
Plato’s view of the duty of the State to the diseased and helpless (Republic, III., 407), compared with the view of Christian civilization. What is the philosophical basis of each view?
What do you regard as the most immediately practicable remedy for existing evils in the divorce question? And why?
The practical significance of a study of the evolution of the family as a contribution to the divorce question.
Explain the reaction of “marriage by capture” into polyandry, in primitive society.
“Only the group could weather the first ages.” What picture does this give of primitive society, and what transition has ethnology seen in this respect?
The natural status of woman as suggested by biology.
The place of the family in the Socialist programme. Criticise this view of the end of social evolution.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound Volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1888-89.

1888-89.
PHILOSOPHY 11.
THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM.
[Final Examination, 1889]

Describe the present system of administering Indian Affairs, including education; its machinery, its relation to religious bodies, and the changes now proposed.
In dealing with the Indian Question, by what other social questions of our time are you confronted and what answers to them are suggested to you?
Ruskin’s doctrine of: (a) Exchange, (b) Value, with your own comments and criticisms.
The attitude of the Anarchist toward the social institutions of the United States.
The Socialist’s criticism of the Anarchist, and the Anarchist’s criticism of the Socialist.
“It is right and necessary that all men should have work to do:
“First, Work worth doing;
“Second, Work of itself pleasant to do;
“Third, Work done under such conditions as would make it neither over wearisome nor over anxious.” W. Morris, Art and Socialism, p. 45. — Under what social conditions does the author suppose that work will be thus done? Describe and criticize these conditions.
Why have the attempts to “Christianize” Socialism so often begun with hope and ended in failure?
Consider the objection to Profit-Sharing, that the Employed cannot share losses.
The conditions of success in Productive Coöperation.
How far does a judicious self-interest carry one towards abstinence from intoxicating drink?

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 1, First half-year.

Prof. Taussig and Mr. Huntington. 1. First half-year: Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on Social Questions. Hours per week: 3.

Total 232 (Four sections): 1 Graduate, 19 Seniors, 83 Juniors, 95 Sophomores, 4 Freshmen, 30 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
[Mid-year Examination, 1889]

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

How is the rapid recovery of countries devastated by war to be explained?
Is it for the advantage of the laborers that the rich should spend largely for unproductive consumption?
Is it desirable that a large proportion of the annual produce of a country should be consumed unproductively?
If all land were of equal fertility, equally distant from the market, and all were required for cultivation, would it pay rent?
Explain under which head, — wages, profit, rents, — you would classify the gains of (1) a shop-keeper; (2) a farmer tilling his own land; (3) a manufacturer; (4) a stock-holder; (5) a bond-holder; (6) a house-owner receiving rent for houses.
Can capitalists recoup themselves for a general rise in the cost of labor by raising the prices of their goods?
“Since cost of production fails us in explaining the value of commodities having a joint cost, we must revert to a law of value anterior to cost of production, and more fundamental.” What is this more fundamental law, and what is its application in the case referred to by Mill?
Suppose that
in England one day’s labor produces 25 yards of linens,
in England one day’s labor produces 30 yards of cottons,
in Germany one day’s labor produces 15 yards of linens,
in Germany one day’s labor produces 20 yards of cottons.
Would international trade arise between Germany and England?
If a day’s labor in Germany produced 25 yards of linens, would trade arise?
Suppose a new article of export to appear in the international trade of the United States; what would be the effect on the price in New York of sight bills on London? How long would that effect continue?
What causes the tendency of profits to a minimum (1) in a country whose population is stationary; (2) in a country whose population is advancing? What forces counteract the tendency, and how do they act in each of these cases?
If productive cooperation were universally adopted, how would rent, interest, wages, and “profits” (i.e. wages of superintendence) be affected? How, if socialism were adopted?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound Volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1888-89.

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 1, Second half-year, Division A.

Prof. Taussig and Mr. Huntington. 1. Division A (theoretical). Second half-year: Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on Banking and Finance. Hours per week: 3.

Total 127 (Two sections): 1 Graduate, 8 Seniors, 39 Juniors, 60 Sophomores, 4 Freshmen, 15 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
[Final Examination, 1889]
Division A.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

“The price of mutton on an average exceeds that of beef in the ratio of 9 to 8; we must conclude that people generally esteem mutton more than beef in this proportion, otherwise they would not buy the dearer meat.”
(a) Give your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with the above conclusion.
(b) On Jevons’s theory of value, what conclusion should you draw from the given hypothesis?
If you suppose free competition, does Cairnes’s theory of normal value differ essentially from that of Mill? If so, wherein? If not, why not?
Longe “puts the case of a capitalist who, by taking advantage of the necessities of his workmen, effects a reduction in their wages, and succeeds in withdrawing so much, call it £1000, from the wages fund; and asks, how is the sum thus withdrawn to be restored to the fund? On Mr. Longe’s principles the answer is simple — ‘by being spent on commodities’; for it may be assumed that the sum so withdrawn will in any case not be hoarded….The answer, therefore, to the case put by Mr. Longe is easy on his own principles; and I am disposed to flatter myself that the reader who has gone with me in the foregoing discussion will not have much difficulty in replying to it upon mine.”
What is the answer, on Cairnes’s principles, to the case put by Mr. Longe?
What bearing, if any, has the wages-fund theory as expounded by Cairnes upon the question of the ability of trades unions to raise permanently (a) general wages, (b) wages in particular occupations?
“If labor will only be employed where work is to be done, and will be employed more largely in any given work in proportion as there is more of that work to do; and if, again, as the work becomes more urgent the laborer is more sought; why is it wrong to say that it is the interest of the laborer that the quantity of work to be done should be as large and the need for it as urgent as possible?”
Would a general fall of wages in the United States cause an expansion of the country’s international trade? Would a fall of wages in a particular industry?
Did Mill think there were grounds for a separate theory of international trade? Did Cairnes?
How much truth is there in the common opinion that the value of gold is the same the world over?
Mill lays down certain propositions as to the connection between the quantity of money and the general range of prices. How are they modified by what you have learned of deposit banking?
What general causes affected the market price of gold, or in other words the premium on gold, during the civil war? How far did the premium at a given moment indicate depreciation of the paper currency, and what would be a more exact test of such depreciation?

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 1, Second half-year, Division B.

Prof. Taussig and Mr. Huntington. 1. Division B (descriptive). Second half-year: Hadley’s Railroad Transportation. — Laughlin’s History of Bimetallism in the United States. — Lectures on Banking and Finance. Hours per week: 3.

Total 105 (Two sections): 11 Seniors, 44 Juniors, 35 Sophomores, 15 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Division B.
[Final Examination, 1889]

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

State the principles upon which the system of subsidiary coinage rests. When were these principles first applied by the United States?
State the causes assigned by Mr. Laughlin for the fall in the gold price of silver since 1873.
In what way, if any, was the change which took place in the value of gold after the gold discoveries in Australia and California different from what it would have been if, at the time, the mint of France had not been open for the free coinage of gold and silver into full legal tender money at a fixed ratio?
In the United States also there was at the same time free coinage of gold and silver into full legal tender money at a fixed ratio. Was the influence exerted by bi-metallism on the value of gold different in these two cases? If so, why?
How did the trade dollar differ in value from the standard dollar (a) in the United States, (b) in foreign countries?
Mill lays down certain propositions as to the effect of an increase or decrease in the quantity of money on general prices. How far are they modified by what you have learned of deposit banking?
Mill divides commodities into three classes, and lays down certain principles of value applying to the three classes, respectively.
In which class would you put the commodity of transportation by railroad, and by what principle is its value determined?
What is meant when it is said that “an effective pooling of through business leaves the hands of railroads free to serve local interests”?
What is meant by “charging repairs to construction”? Why should it ever be done?
In what countries does government ownership of railroads now exist, and how long has it existed in them?
Explain briefly the following terms: differential; long and short haul principle; “dollar of our fathers”; demonetization of silver.
What descriptions of paper, intended to serve as currency, did the United States issue during the civil war?

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POLITICAL ECONOMY 2

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 2.

Prof. Taussig. 2. — Examination of selections from leading writers. — Lectures and discussions; one extended thesis from each student. Hours per week: 3. *Consent of instructor required.

Total 24: 13 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Mid-year and Final Examination, 1889]

Point out wherein the teachings of the mercantile writers on population and on the balance of trade were connected with the political and economic history of their time.
Under what conditions did Adam Smith believe that wages could long remain high? What reasoning led him to his conclusion? Do you think the reasoning sound?
Wherein did Adam Smith’s doctrines as to foreign trade differ from those of Hume and of the Physiocrats?
Ricardo’s chapter on value has been criticized on the following grounds: —
(1) Ricardo asserts, but in no way proves, that value depends on quantity of labor.
(2) He does not state whether he means labor expended on the production of goods, or labor needed for their reproduction.
(3) His principle holds good only of goods of which the production can be increased indefinitely, and as to which competition is free.
(4) The principle is at once modified by the statement that the general rate of profits affects values.
Discuss briefly each objection.
Malthus laid it down that (1) marriages and deaths bear a constant proportion in an old country; (2) with a rise in the standard of living, marriages become less in proportion to population; (3) births, like marriages, bear a constant proportion to deaths, in an old country.
What led Malthus to these conclusions? Does experience bear him out?
By what mode of proof did Malthus show that the wars of the French Revolution had not diminished the population of France? Point out wherein his discussion of this subject is characteristic of the Essay on Population.
Malthus, Ricardo, J. S. Mill, Cairnes, — note briefly how they are related in the history of economic theory.
What would be the movement of wages and prices in case of a general improvement in industrial processes?
What does Cairnes conclude as to the results which Trade Unions can permanently bring about (1) in England; (2) in the United States?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound Volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1888-89.

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Final Examination, 1889]

On what grounds can you reason that the stock of consumable commodities is likely to be sufficient, or more than sufficient, to last, at the present rate of consumption, till a new stock can be produced? What bearing has the answer on the wages-fund controversy?
Discuss President F. A. Walker’s explanation of business profits in its bearing on the general theory of distribution.
By what reasoning does Cairnes reach the conclusion that, in the present state of society, “the rich will be growing richer, and the poor, at least relatively, poorer.”
Could Cairnes, consistently with his conclusions as to coöperation, oppose measures such as were urged by Lasalle?
Point out wherein Sidgwick’s exposition of the causes determining the rate of interest differs from Mill’s.
What was the attitude toward laissez-faire of Adam Smith? Of Ricardo? Of Cairnes?
What reasons are there why the term “socialist” should or should not be applied to (1) the Christian socialists; (2) advocates of German legislation on workmen’s insurance; (3) followers of Mr. Henry George.
Point out wherein Marx’s discussion of wages is similar to that of Rodbertus.
“From the history of the double standard we reach Gresham’s law, that where two currencies exist side by side the baser will drive the good out; from the prosperity of England we can reason to the principle of free trade, at least for industrially developed nations.” — R. M. Smith. What would Cairnes say to this mode of investigation for the specific questions mentioned?
Comment on the following extracts, separately or in connection with each other:—

“The value of most of the theorems of the classic economists is a good deal attenuated by the habitual assumption…that there is a definite universal rate of profits and wages in a community; this last postulate implying (1) that the capital embarked in any undertaking will pass at once to another in which larger profits are for the time to be made; (2) that a laborer, whatever his ties and feelings, family, habit, or other engagements, will transfer himself immediately to any place where, or employment in which, larger wages are to be earned; (3) that both capitalists and laborers have a perfect knowledge of the condition and prospects of industry throughout the country, both in their own and in other occupations.” — J. K. Ingram.

“In proof of the equalization of profits, Mr. Cairnes urges that capital deserts or avoids occupations which are known to be comparatively unremunerative; while if large profits are known to be realized in any investment there is a flow of capital toward it. Hence it is inferred that capital finds its level like water. But surely the movement of capital from losing to highly profitable trades proves only a great inequality of profits.” — Cliffe Leslie.

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 3

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 3.
Omitted in 1888-89.

[3. Investigation and Discussion of Practical Economic Questions. *Consent of instructor required.]

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 4

Enrollment 1888-89.
Political Economy 4.

Mr. Gray. 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. — Lectures and written work. Hours per week: 3.

Total 95: 1 Graduate, 16 Seniors, 46 Juniors, 27 Sophomores, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Mid-year Examination, 1889]

[Give one hour to A. Under B omit any two questions except number 5.]

Make a concise statement of the English Navigation and Colonial system.
Give a careful sketch of the English Corn Laws. Discuss the wisdom of these laws and their relation to the general question of Protection.
The Emancipating Edict of Stein. Give the provisions in it; the reasons for it, and the results of it.

“It has been a generally received notion among political arithmeticians that we (the English nation) may increase our debt to £100,000,000, but they acknowledge that it must then close by the debtor becoming bankrupt” [Samuel Hannay, 1756].
Compare the English and Belgian Railway System in their origin, methods, and results.
Give a sketch of the introduction of Steam Navigation. What country felt the beneficial effects first? Why?
Say what you can about the geographical distribution of the Iron, Cotton, and Woolen industries of to-day, both as regards the different countries and also within each country. How did the new inventions and discoveries affect the location of these industries respectively?
Make a clear statement of our Commercial Relations with the West Indies since the independence of the United States. Pay particular attention to the laws under which that trade has been carried on, and the character and importance of that trade to the United States.
What was the attitude of the United States towards a Protective tariff in 1816? How do you account for that attitude?
Say what you can of the Economic effects of Slavery on the South.
The chief arguments used against the abolition of the Slave Trade in England. Were they sound? Why was the abolition postponed to so late a day?
Looking at the history of England since the adoption of Free Trade, what fact can you cite to show that Free Trade has been the best policy for her?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound Volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1888-89.

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Final Examination, 1889]

[Take all of A, all of B, and two questions from C.]

Pitt’s “perfectly new and solid system of finance,” 1797.
At what actual rate could England borrow in 1797? What methods were used? What provision made for repayment? — [“The Finances of England, 1793-1815.” — Selections.]
Say what you can of the extent, the methods, the importance, and the prospects of the cotton manufacture in the United States. The possibility of successful competition with England in this industry. — [“The Cotton Manufacture.” — — Selections.]
What would have been the effect upon the United States, Australia, and India, respectively, of introducing a gold currency into India when the “new gold” came in? — [“The New Gold.” — — International Results. — Selections.]

The history, present extent, character, benefits, evils, and prospects of immigration to the United States.
At what general periods in this century have the exports largely exceeded the imports of the United States? The imports the exports? The medium by which balances were settled for the time being in each case. The chief commodities exported or imported by the United States in each period.
Describe the plans of Napoleon III. for aiding industry.
Sketch the English factory and workshop legislation. Its economic and political significance. Which political party has been most prominent in securing this legislation?
The coal supply as the basis of England’s industrial and commercial supremacy. The possibility of England’s decline because of the exhaustion of her coal supply.
State the chief provisions of the Resumption Act of 1875. How much cash did the Treasury collect for the purposes of this act before 1879? How was the cash obtained? How much of it was used? What was done with the balance?

The demands for gold, 1871-1883? How was it possible to meet them?
Explain the causes of the variation in the number of failures, and the peculiar local distribution of the failures in the United States, 1873-1879.
T-he causes of the fall in the price of silver in 1876.
The causes of the decline of American navigation since 1860.
What were the internal revenue taxes laid during the civil war, 1861-1865? The relation of those taxes to our customs revenue.

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 5

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 5.
Omitted in 1888-89.

[5. Economic Effects of Land Tenures in England, Ireland, France, and the United States. *Consent of instructor required.]

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 6

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 6, Second half-year.

Prof. Taussig. 6. History of Tariff Legislation in the United States.—Lectures and reports on special topics. Hours per week: 2, 2^ndhalf-year. *Consent of instructor required.

Total 34: 18 Seniors, 14 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6
[End-Year]

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

State the duties on cotton cloths, woolen cloths, pig iron, and coffee, in 1790, 1840, 1850, 1885, noting whether the duties were specific or ad valorem, and what tariff acts were in force at these dates, respectively [Use tabular form if you wish.]
“Beside the protection thrown over the manufacturing interest by Congress during this period (1789-1812), the war which raged in Europe produced a favorable effect. As the United States was a neutral nation, she fattened on the miseries of the European nations, and her commerce increased with astonishing rapidity. Our manufactures flourished from the same cause, though not to a corresponding degree with our commerce”
Did Congress protect manufactures during this period? Did the wars in Europe have the effect described on our commerce and manufactures?
Wherein were the duties on rolled iron in France, in the first half of this century, similar to those in the United States at the same period? How do you account for the similarity, and what was the effect of the duties in either country?
Why was a compound duty imposed on wool in 1828? Why in 1867? Is such a duty now imposed on wool?
Wherein does the present duty on worsted goods differ from that imposed on woolen goods in 1828? wherein from the present duty on woolens? What has been the effect of the difference between the present rates on woolens and worsteds?
Point out some general features in the tariff act of 1846 which were recommended in Secretary Walker’s Report of the year preceding.
What would be the effect of a treaty with Spain admitting free of duty sugar from Cuba?
Wherein has the effect of the duties of the last twenty-five years been different as to cottons, linens, woolens? Why the differences?
[Omit one of the following:—]
Mill says that certain conclusions which he reaches as to the effect on foreign countries of import duties, do not hold good as to protective duties. Is there good ground for distinguishing as he does between revenue and protective duties.
“The only case indeed in which personal aptitudes go for much in the commerce of nations is where the nations concerned occupy different grades in the scale of civilization…In the main it would seem that this cause does not go for very much in international commerce. The principal condition, to which all others are subordinate, must be looked for in that other form of adaptation founded on the special advantages, positive or comparative, offered by particular localities for the prosecution of particular industries.”—Cairnes, Leading Principles.
Discuss, with reference to the general line of reasoning in this passage, the international trade of the United States in (1) glassware, (2) hardware and cutlery, (3) hemp and flax [take any two].
Comment on the following:—
“The manufacture of silk goods in the United States at the present time [1882] probably supplies an example of an industry which, though comparatively new, can hardly be said to deserve protection as a young industry. The methods and machinery in use are not essentially different from those of other branches of textile manufactures. No great departure from the usual track of production is necessary in order to make silks….Those artificial obstacles which might temporarily prevent the rise of the industry do not exist; and it may be inferred that, if there are no permanent causes which prevent silks from being made as cheaply in the United States as in foreign countries, the manufacture will be undertaken and carried on without needing any stimulus from protecting duties.”— Taussig, Protection to Young Industries.

Political Economy 6. Grade Distribution 1888-89, 2d half-year.

Total (32)	Senior (16)	Junior (14)	Other (2)
A	2	2
A-	1
B+	3	2
B	4	4
B-	1	1
C	1	3	2
D	4
E		2

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1889. Grade distribution source: Harvard University Archives. Examination papers in economics, 1882-1935. Prof. F. W. Taussig.

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 7

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 7.

Prof. Dunbar. 7. Taxation, Public Debts, and Banking. Hours per week: 3. *Consent of instructor required.

Total 7: 3 Graduates, 3 Seniors, 1 Junior.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
[Mid-year Examination, 1889]

Commenting upon taxes on commodities, Mill remarks that “the necessity of advancing the tax obliges producers and dealers to carry on their business with larger capitals than would otherwise be necessary,” the excess being “employed in advances to the state, repaid in the price of the goods,” for which “the consumers must give an indemnity to the sellers.”
Compare in this respect the several methods of taxing tobacco.
Everything considered, which method appears to you the best, and why?
How much difference is there in theory between a tax of repartition like the French land tax and tax levied by a general rate, or tax of quotité?
Discuss the importance of the familiar proposition that taxation should not encroach upon capital or hinder its increase, with special reference to these three cases: —
(a) The taxation of business profits at the same rate as incomes from invested property, as g. in the English Schedules D and A;
(b) Succession duties, which Ricardo regards as in practice a deduction from capital;
(c) Graduated taxation, which lays a heavier percentage on the larger properties or incomes than on the smaller.
Supposing all difficulty in the way of obtaining a full disclosure to be removed and the returns to be complete, would it be better to tax the assessed value of property or the actual income derived from it?
In the following cases, which may serve for illustration, the assessment is supposed to fairly represent the selling value: —

	Assessed.	Income.
Improved real estate	$20,000	$1,200
Vacant land	$10,000	nil
Railroad stock, 50 sh.	$10,000	$400
Railroad stock, 50 sh.	$5,500	$200
Railroad stock, 50 sh.	$4,500	nil
Railroad bonds, $5,000	$3,000	nil
Railroad bonds, $5,000	$3,500	$200

Cossa, discussing the taxation of public debts, (1) favors it “on principles of justice and equity, which are opposed to fiscal privileges in favor of the creditors of the state, who should not be released from the fulfilment of the duties of citizens”; and (2) suggests in answer to the argument that public credit would be thereby injured, “that a moderate impost does not produce the anticipated evils, because the tendency towards a decline of the public credit may be balanced by a tendency to rise owing to financial improvement, partly due to the impost itself.”
Examine these two points.
In answering the proposition that

Every man ought to be taxed [solely] on all that property which he consumes or appropriates to his exclusive use,

President Walker says among other things that,

If wealth not devoted to personal expenditure is to be exempt from taxation on the ground that it is to be used for the public good, it unmistakably is the right, and it might even become the duty of the state, to see to it that such wealth is, in fact, in all respects and at all times put to the best possible use. Indeed, if any citizen protests against taxation on the ground that his tools “are working the business of the state,” — how can the state, without injustice to all other citizens, excuse him from contribution without requiring that he shall exhibit satisfactory evidence, not only that his tools are really working its business, but that they are doing this in the most thorough, efficient and economical manner? If this is not socialism of the rankest sort, I should be troubled to define socialism.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound Volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1888-89.

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
[Final Examination, 1889]

State the conditions under which loans will sell higher or lower by reason of
(a) annual drawings by lot for payment;
(b) reserved right to pay at pleasure;
(c) agreement to pay at or after some distant date;
(d) arrangement like that of the “Five-twenties.”
When the United States issued the 5-20 bonds (principal and interest payable in gold) they had the choice between three courses, viz.:—
(a) to sell the bonds for par in gold and make the rate of interest high enough to attract buyers;
(b) to sell the bonds for gold at such discount as might be necessary, their interest being at six per cent.;
(c) to sell the bonds at their nominal par in depreciated paper.
Which course now seems to you the best of the three, and why?
In discussing the Aldrich plan for converting the 4 per cents. into 2½ per cents. by paying the creditors the present worth of 1½ per cent. interest for the period 1889-1907, Mr. Adams says:—

“It will be noticed that there is one essential difference between the anticipation of interest-payments, and the anticipation of the payment of the principal of a debt by purchases on the market. This latter procedure, as has been shown, is expensive, because it requires a larger sum of money to extinguish a given debt than will be required after the debt comes to be redeemable; but no such result follows the anticipation of interest-payments. These are determined by the terms of the contract, and may be calculated with accuracy. The interest does not, like the market value of a debt, fall as the bonds approach the period of their redemption, and it is but the application of sound business rules to use any surplus moneys on hand in making advanced payments of interest.”— Public Debts, p. 278.
What do you say to this reasoning?

Explain the English method of using terminable annuities as a sinking fund, and its advantages or disadvantages.
As an ultimate arrangement of the right of issuing bank notes, should you give your preference (a) to a system which gives the right to a single bank or to few banks, as in the English and Continental practice, or (b) to a system of free banking like that contemplated by the law of the United States; and why?
Bonamy Price says “the Bank of England has become a non-issuing bank.”
How is this remark to be justified and yet reconciled with the course of events on those occasions when, as in November, 1857, it has been necessary to suspend the provisions of the act of 1844?
Give an outline of the German system of banks of issue.
Considering deposits as a part of the currency, how do you extend to them the usual reasoning as to the dependence of the value of currency on (a) its quantity, rapidity of circulation, and the quantity of transactions to be effected, and (b) the cost of the precious metals?

_____________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 8

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 8, First half-year.

Prof. Dunbar. 8. History of Financial Legislation in the United States. Hours per week: 2. 1^sthalf-year. *Consent of instructor required.

Total 44: 28 Seniors, 12 Juniors, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
[Final Examination, Mid-year, 1889]

In what manner is it probable that the first Bank of the United States effected what Hamilton declared to be one of the principal objects of a bank, viz. “the augmentation of the active or productive capital of a country”?
The act of 1790, providing for the assumption of State debts, fixed the maximum which could be assumed for every State, as e.g. for Connecticut $1,600,000. What effect would it have on the fairness of the settlement of accounts with any State, if its outstanding revolutionary debt were found to be more or less than the amount thus to be assumed for it?
Comment on the following extract:—
“It is sometimes said that Mr. Hamilton believed in a perpetual debt, and when one notices the form into which he threw the obligations of the United States, the only escape from this conclusion is to say that he was ignorant of the true meaning of the contracts which he created.” — [H.C. Adams, Public Debts, p. 161]
How did Hamilton’s financial system tend to increase the political strength of the Government, and in what features of the system is this tendency most marked?
Describe the general condition of the public finances just before the news of peace arrived in 1815.
Inasmuch as Jackson’s general prepossessions were unfavorable to all banks, how are we to explain his resort to the plan of depositing Government funds in State banks after the removal of the deposits in 1833?
How did the specie circular of 1836 and the deposit of surplus revenue with the States affect the banks and help to produce the revulsion of May, 1837?
What law, if any, regulated the deposit of public funds by the Treasury in 1837, and what changes of system were made down to the passage of the Independent Treasury act of 1846?
What is to be inferred from the provisions of the Legal Tender act of February, 1862, as to the intention of Congress with respect to the payment of the principal of the five-twenty bonds in paper?
Several rulings made in the Treasury Department [House Exec. Doc. 1885-86, No. 158, p. 15] have declared a State’s unpaid quota of the direct tax of 1861 to be a debt due by the State as a body corporate, and so to be properly chargeable against any money which the General Government may chance to owe the State. What is to be inferred on this point from the provisions made for the collection of previous direct taxes?
What were the circumstances which gave such peculiar importance to Grant’s veto of the inflation bill of 1874?
What were the forms in which the question as to the power of Congress to make a paper legal tender presented itself, in the three cases,

Hepburn v. Griswold (1869),
Knox v. Lee (1872), and
Juillard v. Greenman (1884),

respectively?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound Volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1888-89. Also, Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1889.

Enrollment 1888-89
Political Economy 9, Second half-year.

Mr. Gray. 9. Management and Ownership of Railways. — Lectures and written work. Hours per week: 2. 2^ndhalf-year. *Consent of instructor required.

Total 13: 5 Seniors, 8 Juniors.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1888-1889, p. 72.

1888-89.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 9.
[Final Examination, 1889]

Take all in Group A; two in Group B.

Explain briefly any five:
1. Cost of Service.
2. Value of Service.
3. Differential rate.
4. Grouping (of rates).
5. Pooling.
6. Fixed Charges.
7. Operating Expenses.
8. Common Carrier.
9. Cumulative Voting.
10. “Railroad” (as used in the Act to Regulate Commerce).
State clearly under what conditions Competition “may make out the dissimilar circumstances entitling the carrier to charge less for the longer than for the shorter haul, etc.”, under the Interstate Commerce Act.
Discuss one of the following cases decided by the Interstate Commerce Commission:
(1) Boston Export Rates. Boston Chamb. Com. v. Lake Shore, etc., R.R. Co. — I.I.C.C.R. 436.
(2) Providence Coal Co. v. Providence & Worcester R.R. Co. — I.I.C.C.R. 107.
(3) Boards of Trade Union of Farmington, etc. v Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul R’y. Co. — I.I.C.C.R. 215.
State the principles which, in your opinion, ought to govern railroad rates.
Take either (a) or (b).
(a) The benefits and the evils of general railroad incorporation laws. The extent to which special charters can be obtained in the United States.
(b) Compare the security of railway investments in France, England and the United States.
Take either (a) or (b).
(a) Give a careful account of the powers and the work of the Massachusetts Railroad Commission.
(b) Compare the English Railway Commission of 1873-88 with the Interstate Commerce Commission.
History of the English Railway Clearing House. The Desirability and the possibility of such an organization in the United States.

Competition as a regulator of rates. Particulars in which Competition among railroads differs from ordinary business Competition.
Relation of the French Government to the Railroads compared with the Relation of the German Government to the Railroads.
What do you consider the “Railroad Problem” of to-day? What indications do you see of a reasonable solution of that problem?
Discuss the statement that whatever partakes of the nature of a monopoly can be better managed by the Government than by a private Corporation.

Image Source: Harvard University, Memorial Hall, 1923. Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

Tags Dunbar, GrayJH, Huntington, Peabody, Taussig

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Semester examinations in all political economy courses, 1887-1888

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-02-14

In this post we have a complete collection of the semester examinations for the eight courses in political economy taught at Harvard during the 1887-88 academic year. As an extra bonus we have the examinations for the Philosophy course “Ethics of Social Reform” that clearly included a good chunk of the normative political economy of its time.

Fun facts: Mr. Gray, who taught the less theoretical sections of the second half of the principles course, was John Henry Gray (1859-1946) who had received his A.B. from Harvard in 1887 and who went on to receive a Ph.D. in 1892 at the University of Halle-Wittenberg in Germany under Johannes Conrad. In addition to having professorships at Northwestern, Carleton College and the University of Minnesota, Gray was president of the AEA in 1914.

_______________________

Political Economy 1. Course Description and Enrollment
1887-88

Political Economy 1. First half-year: Mill’s Principles of Political Economy.—Lectures on Banking. Profs. Laughlin and Taussig.

Total 210: 2 Graduates, 29 Seniors, 83 Juniors, 69 Sophomores, 5 Freshmen, 22 Others. (Four sections).

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1887-1888, p. 62.

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

Political Economy 1
1887-1888.
[Mid-year examination]

Is productive consumption necessarily consumption of capital? Can there be unproductive consumption of capital?
Distinguish which of the following commodities are capital, and, as to those that are capital, distinguish which you would call fixed capital and which circulating.
A ton of pig iron; a plough; a package of tobacco; a loaf of bread; a dwelling-house.
Can you reconcile the statement that one or other of these commodities is or is not capital with the proposition that the intention of the owner determines whether an article shall or shall not be capital?
Suppose an inconvertible paper money to be issued, of half the amount of specie previously in circulation. Trace the effects (1) in a country carrying on trade with other countries, (2) in a country shut off from trade with other countries.
Explain in what manner the proposition that the value of commodities is governed by their cost of production applies to wheat, to iron nails, and to gold bullion.
Explain the proposition that rent does not enter into the cost of production. Does it hold good of the rent paid for a factory building? Of the rent paid for agricultural land?
It has been said that wages depend (a) on the price of food, (b) on the standard of living of the laborers, (c) on the ratio between capital and population. Are these propositions consistent with each other? Are they sound?
Suppose that
One day’s labor in the United States produces 10 pounds of copper,
One day’s labor England produces 8 pounds of copper,
One day’s labor in the United States produces 5 pounds of tin,
One day’s labor England produces 5 pounds of tin,
Would trade arise between England and the United States, and if so, how?
Suppose that, other things remaining as above, one day’s labor in England produced 12 pounds of copper, would trade arise, and if so, how?
Explain what is meant when it is said that “there are two senses in which a country obtains commodities more cheaply by foreign trade: in the sense of value, and in the sense of cost.”
Arrange in proper order the following items of a bank account: Capital, $300,00; Bonds and Stocks, $35,000; Real estate and fixtures, $20,000; Other assets, $20,000; Surplus, $80,000; Undivided Profits, $10,500; Notes, $90,000; Cash, $110,000; Cash items, $90,000; Deposits, $850,000; Loans, $1,050,000; Expenses, $5,500. ,
Suppose loans are repaid to this bank to the amount of $100,000. One half by cancelling deposits, one quarter in its own notes, and one quarter in cash; how will the account then stand?
What is the effect of the use of credit on the value of money? Wherein does credit in the form of bank deposits exercise an effect on the value of money different from that of credit in the form of bank notes?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1887-88.

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

Political Economy 1A.
Course Description and Enrollment
1887-88

Political Economy 1. Second half-year: Division A. Mill’s Principles.—Cairnes’s Leading Principles.—Bagehot’s Postulates of Political Economy.—Lectures on Financial Legislation. Mr. [John Henry] Gray.

Total 90: 4 Seniors, 33 Juniors, 44 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 8 Others. (Two sections).

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1887-1888, p. 62.

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

POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
DIVISION A.
[Year-end examination, 1888]

From the causes now enumerated, unless counteracted by others, the progress of things (society) enables a country to obtain at less and less of real cost, not only its own productions, but those of foreign countries.”—Mill, Bk. IV, c.1.
Explain what is meant by the “causes now enumerated,” and also what the counteracting influences are. Do the counteracting influences affect all commodities equally and at the same time?
Mill says, “…if there are human beings capable of work and food to feed them they may always be employed in producing something.” Wakefield says, “Production is limited not solely by the quantity of capital and labor, but also by the extent of the field of employment.”
Explain what is meant by the “field of employment,” and reconcile the two statements, if possible.
One of the objects of the Land Tenure Association, of which Mill was President, was “To claim for the benefit of the State the interception by Taxation of the Future Unearned increase of the Rent of Land.”
Discuss the justice of such a plan, compare it with Henry George’s proposal on the same subject, and show the difficulties in administering it.
Characterize each of Adam Smith’s Canons of Taxation by a word or phrase. Explain the meaning of each, and discuss them briefly in relation to our present system of national taxation.
Discuss the justice and desirability of an Income Tax. Should there be any exemptions from such a tax? If so, why? If not, why not? Are the practical difficulties in the way of an Income Tax greater now than they would have been a century ago?
On what circumstances does industrial competition depend? Does the development of Industry increase or does it decrease the extent of the field over which such competition is effective?
Point out any mistakes of the English School of Political Economy as to the importance and extent of competition.
(a) “Let the price of labor in Victoria only fall to the same level as in the countries from which it imports its wheat…and it will at once become profitable to raise wheat in Victoria from soils from which it cannot now be raised with profit.”
What would be Ricardo’s reply to this proposition? Would it be adequate?
(b) Suppose that England could by some mechanical intervention, unknown to the rest of the world, reduce by three fourths the present cost of producing woollens, what would be the effect on her foreign trade, and on the remuneration of her labor?
Suppose the United States and Great Britain in Commercial Equilibrium. Then a very large number of American citizens go to Great Britain to reside. What effect does this have on the equilibrium? How does it affect International Values as between the United States and Great Britain?
How did depreciation of the currency facilitate the sale of five-twenty bonds in 1863-64?
State the provisions of the Resumption Act.
By what reasoning was Cairnes led to predict the occurrence of the conditions which favored resumption?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, 1887-89. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College. June, 1888.

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

Political Economy 1B.
Course Description and Enrollment
1887-88

Political Economy 1. Second half-year: Division B. Mill’s Principles (selections).—Jevons’s The State in Relation to Labor.—Taussig’s Present Tariff.—Hadley’s Railroad Transportation.—Lectures on Social Questions and on Financial Legislation. Prof. Taussig.

Total 117: 2 Graduates, 25 Seniors, 49 Juniors, 25 Sophomores, 4 Freshmen, 12 Others. (Two sections).

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1887-1888, p. 62.

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

POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
DIVISION B.
[Year-end examination, 1888]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

Explain what was Mill’s proposal in regard to a tax on rents, and state the reasons urged by him in its support. Point out wherein the tax proposed by him differs from a special tax on all rents from real estate.
Wherein is the effect of an import duty on coffee different from that of an import duty on woolen goods? Would your conclusion be different if coffee were a monopolized article abroad? If woollen goods were a monopolized article at home?
What are the present duties on these articles?
It is said that if present duties on manufactured articles were repealed, the labor and capital engaged in producing them would turn to agriculture, and that more agricultural commodities would then be produced than there was a market for. What should you say?
Give the main provisions of present English legislation on factories.
A certain cooperative society in England pays (1) interest on loans, (2) a dividend to share holders, (3) a dividend to purchasers and (4) a bonus to workmen. What kind of coöperation is typified by its operations?
At [sic, “As”?] common law combinations to raise or maintain prices are invalid. Explain wherein the Interstate Commerce Act makes a similar provision as to pooling by railroads, and wherein a different provision. What reasons are there why the law in regard to railroads should be different from the law in regard to other industries?
Why are cheap bulky goods charged with lower freight rates on railroads than compact expensive goods? Mention an analogous case in another industry.
It is said that the large fixed capital invested in railroads makes it possible for railroad charges to be so low as not to repay cost. Is this possible? Suppose it to be so; would such a state of things be inconsistent with the principle that the value of commodities is fixed by their cost of production?
State the causes which affected the gold premium in 1863-64, and explain how the depreciation of the currency facilitated the sale of the five-twenty bonds in those years.
State the provisions of the Resumption Act, and the circumstances which made it easy to resume specie payments at the date fixed upon.

_______________________

Political Economy 2.
Course Description and Enrollment
1887-88

Political Economy 2. History of Economic Theory.—Distribution.—The Scope and Method of Political Economy.—Socialism. Lectures, preparation of theses, and discussion of selections from leading writers. Prof. Taussig.

Total 29: 4 Graduates, 14 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1887-1888, p. 62.

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

1887-88.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Mid-year examination. 1888.]

Compare the treatment of the theory of money by Boisguillebert, Law, and Hume.
What was Adam Smith’s doctrine as to rent, and wherein does it differ from that of the Physiocrats, and from that of Ricardo?
Make a brief comparison between the general characteristics of the economic writings of Adam Smith and of J. S. Mill.
Explain how Malthus illustrated and applied his general principles in his discussion of the movement of population in (a) Sweden and Norway, (b) Switzerland, (c) France during the Revolutionary wars. [Take one of these three.)
“Mr. Malthus thinks that a low money price of corn would not be favourable to the lower classes of society, because the real exchangeable value of labour, that is, its power of commanding the necessaries, conveniencies, and luxuries of life, would not be augmented, but diminished, by a low money price. Some of his observations on this subject are certainly of great weight, but he does not sufficiently allow for the effect of a better distribution of the national capital on the situation of the lower classes. It would be beneficial to them, because the same capital would employ more hands; besides, the greater profits would lead to more accumulation; and thus a stimulus would be given to population by really high wages, which could not fail for a long time to ameliorate the condition of the laboring classes.”— Ricardo, Essay on the Influence of a Low Price of Corn.
Explain (a) whether this states fairly Malthus’s opinion as to the effect of cheap food; (b) what Ricardo meant by “a better distribution of the national capital”; (c) what light the concluding sentence throws on Ricardo’s view of the effect on wages and profits of cheap food.
“The notion that any portion of the wealth of the country should be ‘determined’ to the payment of wages seems to shock Mr. Longe’s sense of economic propriety; which is strange, seeing that his own doctrine — that it is ‘the demand for commodities which determines the quantity of wealth spent in the payment of wages’ — plainly involves this consequence. He puts the case of a capitalist who, taking advantage of the necessities of his workmen, effects a reduction of wages and succeeds in withdrawing so much, say £1000, from the Wages-Fund; and asks how is the sum thus withdrawn to be restored to the fund? On Mr. Longe’s principles the answer is simple,—‘by being spent in commodities’; for it may be assumed that the sum so withdrawn will, in any case, not be hoarded. * * * The answer, therefore, to the case put by Mr. Longe is easy on his own principles; and I am disposed to flatter myself that the reader who has gone with me in the foregoing discussion will not have much difficulty in replying to it on my own.”— Cairnes, Leading Principles.
What is the answer on Cairnes’s principles?
Would the explanation which the Wages-Fund theory gives of the causes regulating the rate of wages apply to a society in which a system of profit-sharing had been universally adopted?
Wherein does Ricardo’s treatment of the manner in which profits affect value differ from Cairnes’s treatment of the same subject?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1887-88.

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

1887-88
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Year-end examination. 1888.]

“Cairnes, who earnestly maintained that capital is divided into wages, raw material, and fixed capital, argued that trades-unions could not increase wages in the several trades, because, if they did so, they would reduce profits below the rate which would make investment worth while. On his own doctrine, increased wages could not trench on profits. He should have argued that wages, if increased by a trades-union, could only be increased at the expense of raw material and fixed capital, which would be far more difficult than to increase them at the expense of profits. Indeed, if the trades-union movement did not coincide with a new distribution of capital into its three parts (a new distribution which would produce a rise in wages), the trades-union could not possibly force an advance at the expense of raw materials or fixed capital.” — W. G. Sumner, Collected Essays.
Can you reconcile Cairnes’s reasoning on trades-unions with his doctrine as to the wages fund?
“The railroads of the United States receive annually two hundred and ten millions of dollars for transporting passengers. Those receipts came in day by day, yet the railroad company habitually pays its employees at the close of the week or at the close of the month. Here we have a very large class of services where the employer receives the price of his product before he pays for the labor concerned in its production. The railroads of the United States also receive annually for freights five hundred and fifty millions. The greater portion of this amount is collected before the track hands and the station hands have received the remuneration for their share of the service. . . . To descend to the other end of the scale of dignity, hotel keepers and, in less degrees, boarding-house keepers collect their bills before they pay their cooks, chambermaids, and scullions. Nearly all receipts of theatre, opera, and concert companies are obtained day by day, although their staffs and troupes are borne on monthly or weekly pay-rolls.” — F. A. Walker, in the Journal of Economics, April, 1888.
Are these facts inconsistent with the proposition that wages are paid out of capital?
What should you say to the doctrine that the real source of wages is in the incomes of the consumers of the articles made by the laborers?
It has been said that “Mr. Walker’s theory is, in reality, not a theory of manager’s earnings at all, but a theory of difference in manager’s earnings.” Do you think this is a sound criticism?
Explain what was Bastiat’s doctrine as to value; point out wherein it was like or unlike Carey’s doctrine on the same subject; and state briefly Cairnes’s criticism on Bastiat.
“There are two kinds of sociological inquiry. In the first kind, the question proposed is, what effect will follow from a given cause, a certain general condition of social circumstances being presupposed. As, for example, what would be the effect of abolishing or repealing corn laws in the present conditions of society or civilization in any European country, or under any other given supposition with regard to the circumstances of society in general; without reference to the changes which might take place, or which may be already in progress, in those circumstances. But there is also a second inquiry, namely, what are the laws which determine those general circumstances themselves. In this last the question is, not what will be the effect of a given cause in a certain state of society, but what are the causes which produce, and the phenomena which characterize, states of society generally.” — Mill’s Logic.
What reasons are there for saying that different methods should be applied to these two kinds of inquiry? and what are the differences in method?
Can the legislation of Germany on workmen’s insurance be said to be socialistic in a sense in which (a) the Christian socialist movement in England, and (b) the regulation or ownership by the state, are not socialistic?
Suppose production coöperation were universally adopted; wherein would the organization of society differ from that which socialism proposes?

_______________________

Political Economy 3.
Course Description and Enrollment
1887-88

Political Economy 3. First half-year. Investigation and Discussion of Practical Economic Questions.—Short theses. Prof. Laughlin.

Total 23: 1 Graduate, 12 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1887-1888, p. 62.

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

1887-88.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3
[Mid-year examination]

In what way, in your opinion, is the discussion of a “standard of value” related to the questions involved in Bimetallism?
How far can the figures of coinage be used to show the operation of Gresham’s Law? Illustrate by reference to the history of our coinage. Are all coins intended for circulation?
Compare the production of silver in 1780-1820 with that for the period since 1872. Were the results of production the same?
Distinguish between “Free coinage” and gratuitous coinage. What is “seigniorage”? Has the theory of seigniorage any connection with the circulation of our subsidiary coinage, or the silver dollar?
Discuss the results of the recent legislation permitting the issue of small silver certificates.
How far can legislation regulate the value of metallic money?
Compare the impelling causes for the passage of the English Navigation Laws in 1651 and the American Navigation Laws of 1789 and 1817.
Enumerate briefly any provisions of existing laws which operate to prevent the increase of our ocean tonnage.
Distinguish between the conditions affecting our shipping before 1856, and since. If our shipping flourished in the former period, are there the same reasons to suppose it should be as prosperous in the later period?
How far have the customs-duties imposed during the Civil War affected ship-building? Have they influenced ship-sailing?
In what way may foreigners procure a ship built in the United States cheaper than citizens of this country can procure them? Does this affect our tonnage?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1887-88.

_______________________

Political Economy 4.
Course Description and Enrollment
1887-88

Political Economy 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War.—Selections for required reading. Prof. Dunbar.

Total 102: 3 Graduates, 38 Seniors, 29 Juniors, 25 Sophomores, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1887-1888, p. 62.

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

1887-88.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4
[Mid-year examination]

[Answer all of A, and eight questions from B]

A.

Why did the period of the wars 1793-1815, when England was making enormous unproductive expenditures and subjecting herself to severe taxation, nevertheless present many of the appearances of high prosperity? [See the extract from Porter, 113-115.]
What was Napoleon’s Milan decree, and the occasion for its issue? [See the extract from Levi.]
“The general feeling in Germany towards the Zoll-Verein is, that it is the first step towards what is called the Germanization of the people.”—[Extract from Bowring, 138.]
Why was the Zoll-Verein more effective for this purpose than the Confederation?

B.

In what way was the English colonial system less injurious to the colonies than that of any other important power of the time?
English legislation on Indian cotton goods: dates, purpose, and effects, good or bad.
The school of writers known as the French Economistes.
How did the American Revolution tend to prepare the way for that in France?
The date and cause of the English Bank Restriction and its duration.
What was the pressure which compelled Prussia to adopt the emancipating edict of 1807?
American manufactures before 1808 and after.
Why were the years 1815-30 a period of general commercial embarrassment and irregularity?
What special advantages for the cotton, woolen, and iron manufactures respectively did England exhibit prior to the great inventions?
How did free trade become a commercial necessity for England?
The system on which railway building was undertaken in the United States, England, Belgium, France, and Prussia respectively.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1887-88.

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

1887-88.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4
[Year-end examination]

[Answer all of A, and ten questions from B]

A.

The writer in Blackwood’s [Selections, p. 248], speaking of the use of bills of exchange in the payment of the French Indemnity, says: “How came it that £170,000,000 of bills could be got at all’ [e. in what transactions were bills created so much in excess of the usual supply]?
Cairnes [Selections, p. 218], says that “as the final result of the above movement [of the new gold] we find that while the metallic systems of England and the United States are receiving but small permanent accessions, those of India and China are absorbing enormous supplies.” Why?
Of the two pairs of countries above named which pair gained most from the movement, and why?

B.

Is it probable that England would have adopted Free Trade, if the refusal of other countries to follow her example had been foreseen?
What caused the rapid growth of American navigation down to 1857-60?
How are the prices, usually taken as measuring the value of gold, affected by quick transportation and telegraphs?
England and the Suez Canal.
Banking in France and Germany is said to be in an undeveloped condition. Illustrate this by comparison with the development of banking methods in England and the United States.
Is England a gainer or a loser by the extension of our wheat area and the consequent cheapness of supply from this country?
How did the payment of the French Indemnity contribute to the financial crisis of 1873 in the United States?
How did the crisis of 1873 help to bring about the resumption of specie payment in this country?
Compare the three cases of resumption,— the United States, France, and Italy,–as regards the kinds of currency in use and the general method adopted.
Fawcett [God and Debt, p. 122] says of the public debts of the world, that “the actual liquidation of this vast sum, amounting to just about eight times the total of all the gold and silver used as money in Europe and America, is, of course, not to be contemplated — it is impossible.”
How does the revived colonial enterprise of our day differ from that of the last century as regards the purposes and expectations of the colonizing nations?
The great political consolidations in Europe have brought with them enormous military burdens. How should you say that this loss has been offset?

_______________________

1887-88
POLITICAL ECONOMY 5
Economic Effects of Land Tenures in England, Ireland, France, and Germany
[ Course Omitted in 1887-88]

_______________________

Political Economy 6.
Course Description and Enrollment
1887-88

Political Economy 6. Second Half-year. History of Tariff Legislation in the United States.—Lectures, required reading, and investigation of special topics. Prof. Taussig.

Total 58: 5 Graduates, 31 Seniors, 17 Juniors, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1887-1888, p. 62.

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

Topics and References in Political Economy VI.
Harvard College. Tariff Legislation in the United States. Cambridge, Mass., 1888.

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

1887-88.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6
[Year-end examination]

“I will not argue the question whether, looking to the policy indicated by the laws of 1789, 1817, 1824, 1828, 1832, and 1842, there has been ground for the industrious and enterprising people of the United States, engaged in home pursuits, to expect government protection for internal industry. The question is, do these laws, or do they not, from 1789 to the present time, constantly show and maintain a purpose, a policy, which might naturally induce men to invest property in manufactures, and to commit themselves to those pursuits in life? Without lengthened argument, I shall take this for granted.”—Webster, Speech of 1846.
Was Webster justified in taking so much for granted?
Compare the treatment of the bearing of protective duties on wages in Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures with the treatment of the same topic in Walker’s Report of 1846, and give an opinion on the value of the discussion at the hands of both statesmen.
What connection has been alleged to exist, and what connection in fact existed, between tariff legislation and general prosperity in 1837-39, in 1843, and in 1857?
Point out wherein the duties on wool and woolens under the act of 1828 resembled, and wherein they differed from, the duties on the same articles under the act of 1867.
Compare the effect of the duties on cotton goods between 1816 and 1824, with the effect of the duties on the same goods between 1864 and 1883.
Point out wherein Mill’s reasoning as to the effect of an import duty on the terms of an international exchange is different from the export tax theory of 1832.
Explain what conclusions you can draw as to the economic effect of the duties on pig iron between 1870 and 1888, from your knowledge of foreign and domestic prices, duties, domestic production, and imports.
Explain why the duty on imported sugar has not stimulated the production of beet sugar in the United States. Apply a similar explanation to some other industry, not connected with agriculture, in which high duties have had less effect than might have been expected.
Point out wherein the course of the tariff legislation of the United States between 1864 and 1883 was similar to the course of legislation in France between 1815 and 1860, and wherein it was not similar.
“First, there is no sufficient market for our surplus agricultural products except a foreign market, and, in default of this, such surplus will either not be raised, or, if raised, will rot on the ground. Second, the domestic demand for the products of existing furnaces and factories is very far short of the capacity of such furnaces and factories to supply; and, until larger and more extended markets are obtainable, domestic competition will inevitably continue, as now, to reduce profits to a minimum and greatly restrict the extension of the so-called manufacturing industries….Industrial depression, business stagnation, and social discontent in the United States, as a rule, are going to continue and increase until the nation adopts a fiscal and commercial policy more liberal and better suited to the new condition of affairs.”— D.A. Wells, in the North American Review.
Do you think the remedy of lower import duties will remove the difficulties said to arise from excessive production?

_______________________

Political Economy 7.
Course Description and Enrollment
1887-88

Political Economy 7. Taxation, Public Debts, and Banking.—Lectures. Prof. Dunbar.

Total 15: 1 Graduate, 11 Seniors, 3 Juniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1887-1888, p. 62.

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

1887-88.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7
[Mid-year examination]

[Discuss three of the following topics.]

What are the conditions necessary for the complete development and efficient working of a budget system?
Accepting Mill’s reasoning that a tax under some circumstances, by diminishing the income from property, diminishes its selling value, and so ceases to be felt by subsequent purchasers, should you say,—
1. That the French impôt foncier is a tax on present landholders?
2. That the English income-tax under Schedule A, is a tax on present landholders?
  The reason for the difference, if any exists.
Comparative advantages of the methods of local taxation used in the four leading countries.
“It is an error, to assume that [1] all descriptions of property should be subjected to taxation in order to insure equality and uniformity. On the contrary, all experience has shown—none better than that of the United States—that the more ‘concrete’ and the less diffused a system of taxation can be made, the better for the people and the better for the State; for, with the exception of direct taxes on income, and upon those articles, like spirits and tobacco, which are consumed solely for personal gratification, taxation distributes itself with a wonderful degree of uniformity. If placed upon land, it will constitute an element of the cost of that which the land produces; if upon manufacturing industry, then of the cost of the products of such industry; upon shipping, of the cost of that which the ship transports; upon capital, of the cost, price, or interest, which is paid for the use of such capital; and if upon buildings, it will be reflected upon the income of the occupier, or upon the cost of the goods, wares and merchandise stored, exchanged or produced therein….And so [2] a tax imposed upon an article or service of prime necessity to a community, like land or buildings, for example, becomes, in effect, a tax upon all, without the vexations of infinitesimal application.”
The same author has expressed this idea elsewhere by saying,—
“Proportional taxes on all things of any given class will be diffused and equalized on all other property.”
Discuss the two general principles of taxation, [1], [2], contrasted with each other in the above extracts.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1887-88.

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

1887-88.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7
[Year-end examination]

A.

A careful examination and discussion of these two topics is desired. Not less than one half of your time should be given to this division of the paper.

“In so far as bondholders live from the proceeds of their bonds, they form a class not immediately interested in current industries. At some time in the past they may have furnished the government with large sums of capital, thus averting the inconvenience of excessive taxation or of a sudden change in rates; and, in return for this service, they receive from the government the promise of an annuity until an equivalent of the original capital should be returned. Such persons are guaranteed a living without labor.
“There is but one way in which the government may escape the necessity of supporting in idleness this class, and that is by paying its members their respective claims. The bondholders would in this manner be deprived of their secured annuity, but they would in its stead hold a sum of free capital; and if they wish to continue in the enjoyment of an income from their property they must apply their funds to some productive purpose. In this manner the country gains by bringing to bear upon industrial affairs the interested attention of those who formerly were secured a living from the proceeds of public taxes. For another reason also is the payment of a debt advantageous. No people can long retain that hopefulness so essential to the vigorous prosecution of industries if the past lays heavy claims upon the present. As a rule, they only should partake of current product who are in some way connected with present production. Carelessness and jealousy are not characteristics of efficient labor, but they are sometimes naturally engendered by the payment of taxes for the support of a favored class. It is the permanency of this payment, rather than its amount, which exerts a depressing influence upon labor, and its extinction is a first step toward the establishment of confidence and contentment.”
“As the circulation of a bank is a source of profit, and as the managers are usually disposed to oblige their patrons by loans and accommodations, it can never be wise to allow banks or parties who have pecuniary interests at stake to increase or diminish the volume of currency in the country at their pleasure. Nor do I find in the condition of things a law or rule on which we can safely rely. Upon these views I form the conclusion that the circulation of the banks should be fixed and limited, and that the power to change the volume of paper in circulation, within limits established by law, should remain in the Treasury Department.
“A degree of flexibility in the volume of currency is essential for two reasons:
“First. The business of the Department cannot be transacted properly if a limit is fixed, and the power to raise the circulation above or reduce it below that limit is denied.
“A rule of this nature would compel the Secretary to accumulate a large currency balance and to hold it; as, otherwise, the credit of the government, in meeting the ordinary daily claims upon it, would be at the mercy of every serious business and political revulsion in the United States or Europe….
“Secondly. There is a necessity every autumn for moving the crops without delay from the South and West to the seaboard that they may be in hand for export and consumption as wanted. This work should be done in the main before the lakes, rivers, and canals are closed, and yet it cannot be done without the use of large amounts of currency.
“In the summer months funds accumulate at the centres, but the renewal of business in August and September gives employment for large sums, and leaves little or nothing for forwarding the crops in October and November….
“The crops cannot be moved generally by the aid of bank balances, checks, and letters of credit, but only by bank notes and United States notes paid at once to the producers…
“The problem is to find a way of increasing the currency for moving the crops and diminishing it at once when that work is done. This is a necessary work, and, inasmuch as it cannot be confined to the banks, where, but in the Treasury Department, can the power be reposed?”—[Finance Report, by Secretary Boutwell, 1872.]

B.

In the loan act of August 5, 1861, Congress, having previously authorized the issue of seven per cent twenty-year bonds at par, authorized the Secretary, if he thought best, to sell six per cent twenty-year bonds, “at any rate not less that the equivalent of par, for the bonds bearing seven per centum interest, authorized by said [previous] act.” What considerations should determine the choice of the Secretary in using this discretion?
What is your own estimate of the merits of the English system of operating on the national debt by means of terminable annuities, as proposed by Mr. Gladstone and extended by Mr. Childers?
Shadwell [System of Political Economy, 371] says:—
“The tendency of all legislation on the subject of notes is to sacrifice the interests of the depositors to those of the note-holders, and there are some people to whom such a course appears justifiable. Banks, it is said, are imprudently managed; therefore, when one fails, its notes should be paid in full before the claims of its depositors are dealt with. It would not be more arbitrary to say that because banks are imprudently managed, therefore the depositors should be paid in full before the claims of the note-holders are dealt with.”
What is your own conclusion of this question?
Which of the three great banks, the Bank of England, the Bank of France, and the Reichsbank, appears to you to present the best model for a great national bank,— and why?
It has been remarked that the expedient by which the New York banks associated themselves against a common danger, in 1860, 1873, and 1884, finds its nearest analogy in the occasional suspension of the limit which the act of 1844 places on the Bank of England. How close and real is the analogy?

_______________________

Political Economy 8.
Course Description and Enrollment
1887-88

Political Economy 8. First half-year. Financial history of the United States.—Lectures. Prof. Dunbar.

Total 39: 3 Graduates, 26 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1887-1888, p. 62.

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

1887-88.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8
[Mid-year examination]

[Take one question from A and nine from B, or both from A and seven from B.]

The questions under A are supposed to require half an hour each for careful treatment, and those under B fifteen minutes each.

A.

There is disclosed in the administration of Mr. Gallatin the true policy of debt-payment. It consists in the establishment of a permanent appropriation for the service of the debt which shall be in excess of the demands of current interest. But such appropriation need not be “inviolable.” It need form no part of a “private contract,” nor be regarded as constituting “private property.” A government should always be at liberty in time of emergency to divert money held for the payment of debt to the support of new loans…The United States is indebted to Mr. Gallatin more than to any other man for the establishment of this policy. Under the guidance of his clear insight this country departed from the pernicious methods of English financiering.—H.C. Adams, Public Debts, 268.
Discuss the above with particular reference to the suggested difference of principle between Hamilton’s sinking-fund policy and Gallatin’s.
What does the experience of the United States government show as to the policy of relying upon duties on imports as the sole means of supplying the Treasury?

B.

How is the fact to be explained that the Bank of the United States was so much less able to resist attack than it appeared to be in 1829?
What kind of currency did the government use and where were its money kept, and under what authority of law, after the closing of the first Bank of the United States, 1811-17, and after the removal of the deposits from the second, 1833-36?
In what way would the renewal of the charter of the first Bank of the United States probably have affected the finances during the war, 1812-15?
What was the reason for the difference between Mr. Dallas’s proposition for a bank in 1814 and that which he made in 1815?
How did the second Bank of the United States aid in the resumption of specie payment in 1817?
What was the specie circular of 1836, and how was it financially important?
How would it have eased the finances of 1861, if the Secretary of the Treasury had made more free use of the Act of August 5, suspending for some purposes the provisions of the Independent Treasury Act?
What were the nearest approaches made to a government legal-tender paper before 1862?
Why was 1865 a favorable occasion for returning to specie payment, and what then prevented the return?
As a general question, apart from any special provision of law, who has authority to tax United States bonds or the income derived from them, and under what limitations, if any?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1887-88.

_______________________

Political Economy 9.
Course Description and Enrollment
1887-88

Political Economy 9. First half-year. Management and Ownership of Railways. Prof. Laughlin.

Total 19: 1 Graduate, 14 Seniors, 3 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1887-1888, p. 62.

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

1887-88.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 9
[Mid-year examination]

In what way is railway transportation related to the general principles of economic theory?
Wherein is there any opposition between the interests of the shareholders and the directors of railways?
How far are railway rates regulated by the competition of railways with each other?
Discuss the reasons for and against equal mileage rates.
What gave rise to pooling in the United States? What have been the practical effects of pooling on railway rates in this country?
Explain: Cost of service, differential rates, a “differential,” the evening system, preferred stock, the Joint Executive Committee, the Petroleum Pool.
Is classification the necessary consequence of any one theory of rates? How does classification in the United States compare with that of European railways?
Compare the Railway Commissions of Georgia and Massachusetts.
Do you regard the Granger legislation as having accomplished any permanent results?
Discuss the interpretation of the Fourth Section of the Inter-State Commerce Act by the National Commission.
What arguments in favor of State ownership of railways by the United States can be drawn from the experience of Germany and Italy?
Do you find any part of the railway system of England which would be worthy of adoption by the United States?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1887-88.

_______________________

Philosophy 11.
Course Description and Enrollment
1887-88

Philosophy 11. The Ethics of Social Reform. The questions of Charity, Divorce, the Indians, Labor, Prisons, temperance, etc., as problems of practical ethics.—Lectures, essays, and practical observations. Prof. Peabody.

Total 84: 3 Graduates, 51 Seniors, 23 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1887-1888, p. 71.

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

1887-88
PHILOSOPHY 11.
THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM.
[Mid-year examination]

[Omit one question]

Inductive ethics. Explain and illustrate this phrase, as applied to the study of the social questions.
The various possible relations between one’s own life and the life of society. Illustrate by the history of ethical theory.
“The whole question of the relation of ethics to political economy resolves itself into a bare question of classification. Shall our nomenclature be such as to make the term political economy include the ethical sphere or not?”—(C.F. Dunbar, Quarterly Journal of Economics, October, 1886, p. 25.)
What is your answer to this question of classification?
“No one doubts that a man who improves the current morality of his time must be something of an Idealist. He must have an idea which moves him to seek its realization. That idea cannot represent any experienced reality.”.-(T.H. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, p. 325.)
Illustrate this in the conduct of a social reform.
“I fully believe that to-day the next most pernicious thing to vice is charity in its broad and popular sense.”—(W.G. Sumner, What Social Classes owe to each other, p. 157.)
What is there in modern charity which tends to justify this view and in what way can such a danger be met?
“Among the means toward a higher civilization I unhesitatingly assert that the deliberate cultivation of public amusement is a principal one.”—(W.S. Jevons, Methods of Social Reform, p. 7.) Why?
Consider the advantages and disadvantages of a Constitutional Amendment as a remedy for existing evils in the divorce question.
“Without the circumstances of infancy…the phenomena of social life would have been omitted from the history of the world and with them the phenomena of ethics.”—(John Fiske, Cosmic Philosophy, II. 363) Why?
“The most ancient system”—of family life—“was a system of kinship through females only.”—(McLennan,Studies in Ancient History, p. 85.)
What was the origin of this matriarchal type and why is it supposed to have preceded the patriarchal family?
“The movement of progressive societies has been uniform in one respect. Through all its course it has been distinguished by the gradual dissolution of family dependency and the growth of individual obligation. The individual is steadily substituted for the family as the unit of which civil laws take account.”—(Sir Henry Maine, Ancient Law, p. 163.)
Consider the history, the tendencies, and the risks of this evolution of the individual.
Illustrate the interdependence of the question of Marriage and Divorce with other social questions.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1887-88.

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

Philosophy 11.
THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM.
[Year-end examination]

[Omit two questions.]

Have you discovered any philosophical principles underlying this course of study, and can you suggest any change of method in the course which will make these underlying principles more clear?
Why has the Indian been hitherto so impervious to civilization?
Explain the “Dawes Bills.” What supplementary legislation is needed for their successful administration?
Contrast the economic doctrines of Carlyle and of Ruskin and consider modern illustrations of each.
Enumerate some of the ways in which an employer seems to have a natural advantage in a conflict with his employed.
On what principle would wages be paid if the “Democratic Federation” should carry out its programme?
“Socialists regard colossal corporations and the wealthy bosses that direct them as the greatest pioneers of their cause.”-Kirkup, An Inquiry into Socialism, p. 169.—Why?
“There are certain establishments nominally coöperative, which have little significance as bearing on the Labor Question. The chief of these is the Rochdale form of the cooperative store.”—J.B. Clark, The Philosophy of Wealth, p. 190.—Why is this, and what are some of the obstacles to more complete coöperation?
Illustrate by several instances the tendency of the State to infringe upon the liberty of the individual. How far do you think that this tendency can be wisely encouraged?
On what principle would you distinguish the various forms of liquor legislation, and what considerations would determine your vote in your own state or town?
“Society is not an aggregate of independent units, not a mechanical whole, but, in the true sense of the word, an organism.”—Prof. Edward Caird, The Moral Aspect of the Economical Problem, p. 16.—If this is true, how does it affect your duty as to temperance, and your understanding of the argument from “example”?

Image Source: John Harvard Statue (1904). Library of Congress. Photos, Prints and Drawings.

Tags Dunbar, GrayJH, Laughlin, Taussig

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Examinations for Political Economy courses, Dunbar, Laughlin, and Taussig, 1886-87.

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-01-24

On January 5th, 2021 my 94 year old father passed away following a Covid-19 infection. On January 6th, 2021 a pro-Trump mob breached the United States Capitol, leading to the impeachment of President Donald Trump exactly one week later. With the exception of a single post that had been nearly completed before those two days, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has had no new content added. With today’s post (January 24, 2021) your curator resumes his work of collecting, transcribing and presenting artifacts to provide a documentary record of the evolution of the economics curriculum.

This post adds to our collection brief course descriptions, enrollment figures and examinations from Harvard for the academic year 1886-87 when Charles Dunbar, J. Laurence Laughlin, and Frank W. Taussig constituted the entire department of political economy.

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Political Economy 1 (1886-87).

Class Enrollment.

Political Economy 1. First half year: Laughlin’s Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. —Dunbar’s Chapters on Banking. Profs. Laughlin and Taussig.

Total 207: 1 Graduates, 33 Seniors, 100 Juniors, 47 Sophomores, 7 Freshmen, 19 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1886-87, p. 58.

1886-87.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
[One-hour Examination. Nov. 17, 1886]

Point out, as to the following articles, whether they are or are not capital; and, as to those which you consider capital, whether they are fixed or circulating capital: a dwelling-house; a bale of cotton goods; a government bond; hewn granite; a plow; a stock of tobacco.
A keeps twenty saddle horses in Boston for hire. B keeps twenty horses which he uses in cultivating a farm in the country. Trace the respective economic effects of their expenditure in maintaining the horses.
State concisely the laws of production and distribution as to land, and explain the connexion between them.
Comment on the following proposition: “There should be annually appropriated by every city or town of 5000 or more inhabitants a sum of money sufficient to pay wages at the rate of one dollar a day for 300 days in the year to as many as 10 percent of the actual population. … Any person finding himself out of employment should have the privilege of making application to the Department of Labor, and should be given some useful work to do at the wages of one dollar per day of eight hours, so long as he might choose to work for that pay.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Scrapbook of Professor Frank W. Taussig, p. 10.

1886-87.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
[Mid-Year Examination. 1887]

Compare the economic effects of defraying war expenditure by loans and by taxation.
Does the rent of a factory building affect the value of the goods made in it? Does the rent of a farm affect the value of the grain grown on it? Does the rent paid for a lot near a great city, from which gravel is taken, affect the value of the gravel?
It has been said that “the laws and conditions of the production of wealth partake of the character of physical truths. There is nothing optional or arbitrary in them.” State briefly the laws of the production of wealth here referred to, and whether the statement in regard to them is true.
It has been said that the law of population and the law of diminishing returns from land point inevitably to misery and want as the destiny of the mass of mankind. What influences affecting the operation of these laws are to be taken into account; and if they are taken into account, are the laws of population and diminishing returns from land thereby shown to be invalid?
Explain briefly the nature of the remuneration received by the following persons: a farmer tilling his own land; a merchant carrying on business with his own capital; a manufacturer carrying on business with borrowed capital; a holder of railway stocks; a holder of government bonds; a patentee.
Wherein is the value of metallic money governed by different principles from those that regulate the value of commodities in general? And wherein is the value of inconvertible paper money governed by different principles from those that regulate the value of coin?
Credit is said to be purchasing power. Explain what is meant by this proposition, and in what manner it bears on the theory of the value of money. Point out in what form credit, as purchasing power, is most likely to affect prices in the United States and in France.
(a) Suppose that:
In the U.S. one day’s labor produces 2 bushels of corn;
“ “       “     “      “         “            “          10 yards of cotton cloth;
“ England “ “ “ “          1 bushel of corn;
“      “ “      “         “            “          5 yards of cotton cloth.
Would trade arise between England and the United States? If so how?
(b) Suppose that in England one day’s labor produced 8 yards of cotton cloth, other conditions remaining the same as in (a). Would trade arise? If so, how?
(c) Suppose that in England one day’s labor produced 2 yards of cotton cloth, other conditions remaining the same as in (a) Would trade arise? If so, how?
Suppose a new article to appear among the exports of a given country. Trace the effects in that country on the course of the foreign exchanges; on the flow of specie; on the value of money; on the terms of international exchange. Would the results be the same if, instead of a new article of export, some article previously exported were to be sold abroad in larger quantity because of a lowering of its cost and price?
(a) Arrange in proper order the following items of a bank account: Loans, $538,000; Bonds and Stocks, $40,000; Capital, $200,000; Real Estate, $26,000; other assets, $26,000; Surplus, $65,100; Deposits, $440,000; Notes, $101,550; Cash, $124,000; Cash Items, $52,650.
(b) Suppose the bank to discount four months paper (at 6 per cent) to the amount of $10,000, of which it purchases one-half by promises to pay (the bearer) on demand, and one-half by cash. How would the account then stand?
(c) Suppose a borrower to have repaid a loan of $2000 by giving $1000 in cash, and $1000 in a cheque on the bank. How would the account then stand?
(d) Suppose the bank to be confronted, in a time of general embarrassment, with demands from depositors for cash, and from borrowers for discounts. What policy would be adopted if it were the Bank of England? If it were a United States national bank?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Scrapbook of Professor Frank W. Taussig, pp. 10-11.

Class Enrollment.

Political Economy 1. Second half year: Division A (Theoretical, introductory to Courses 2 and 3). Mill’s Principles (Books IV, and V.). — Cairnes’s Leading Principles (Part I., chaps. Iii. and v.; part III., chaps. i.-v.). — Thompson’s Lectures on Protection. — Sumner’s Protectionism. — Bimetallism. Prof. Laughlin.

Total 101: 6 Seniors, 44 Juniors, 38 Sophomores, 5 Freshmen, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1886-87, p. 58.

1886-87.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Division A.
[Year-end Examination. 1887]

If taxes levied on the rich cause a diminution in their unproductive expenditure, would that in any way affect the employment offered for labor? Discuss fully.
What principle does Mr. Mill furnish by which the respective shares of labor and capital are determined? Has his Wages-Fund Theory any connection with his exposition of the dependence of “profits” on Cost of Labor?
In discussing the distribution of the product, why is it that the relative shares of labor and capital can be discussed independently of rent? Would an increase of rent affect the share of labor or of capital?
Why is it that city banks make a greater use of the deposit liability than of the note liability? Why is the fact just the reverse with country banks?
State fully the difference between Cost of Labor and Cost of Production. Would a decrease in Cost of Production affect Cost of Labor in any way?
If the returns, and consequently wages, in our extractive industries were to decline, how would the course of our foreign trade probably be affected?
Explain carefully how, and under what conditions, Reciprocal Demand regulates Normal Value.
How do you reconcile the doctrine of comparative cost in international trade with the fact that a merchant regulates his conduct by a comparison of prices at home with prices abroad?
Explain how a tax on “profits” may fall either (1) on the laborer, or (2) on the landlord.
Discuss the argument that protection raises wages.
Is the customs-duty on sugar economically justifiable?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1887), pp. 5-6, in bound volume Examination Papers, 1887-89.

Class Enrollment.

Political Economy 1. Second half year: Division B (Descriptive). Mill’s Principles (selections). — Upton’s Money in Politics. —Jevons’s The State in Relation to Labor. — Lectures on Money, Bimetallism, Cooperation, and Trade-Unions. Prof. Taussig.

Total 106: 1 Graduate, 27 Seniors, 56 Juniors, 9 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 11 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1886-87, p. 58.

1886-87.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Division B.
[One-hour Examination. April. 4, 1887]

As society advances, what changes would you expect in the relative values of wheat of coal, of cotton cloth, and of watch-springs?
Suppose the coinage of silver under the act of 1878 had been 20 millions of dollars a month, what would now be the money in use in the country? Explain briefly what has been the actual coinage, and what effect it has had on our monetary system.
Make a comparison between the issues of paper money by the Continental Congress during the war of the Revolution, and by Congress during the civil war.
Explain briefly what is meant by the following phrases: five-twenties; ten-forties; seven-thirties; continued 3 ½ per cents.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Scrapbook of Professor Frank W. Taussig, p. 12.

1886-87.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Division B.
[Year-end Examination. 1887]

Suppose the price of silver to rise to such a point that the ratio of silver to gold would be 15 to 1, what change would take place in the money at present in use in the United States?
Is such a change probable? If so, why? If not, why not?
State the essential differences between the coinage acts of 1792, 1834, and 1878.
“All experience has shown that there are periods when, under any system of paper money, however carefully guarded, it is impracticable to maintain actual coin redemption. Usually contracts will be based on current paper money, and it is just that, during a sudden panic or an unreasonable demand for coin, the creditor should not be allowed to demand payment in other than the currency in which the debt was contracted. To meet this contingency, it would seem to be right to maintain the legal tender quality of United States notes. If they are not at par with coin, it is the fault of the Government and not of the debtor, or rather it is the result of an unforeseen stringency not contemplated by the contracting parties.” From the Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, dated December, 1877.
Under what circumstances was this passage written? Is the recommendation made by it a wise one? Has it been acted on?
Ten men club together to buy flour at wholesale, each taking a part and paying his share of the price. Ten others club together, borrow money jointly, and lend it out to themselves for aid in carrying on their trades. A third ten club together, set up a workshop on joint account and work in it, and periodically divide the net proceeds.
What kinds of cooperation are typified, respectively, by these proceedings? In what countries has each kind been most widely applied? Which seems to you to be of greatest intrinsic interest for the social question?
What is meant by the eight-hour law? Wherein does it resemble, and wherein differ from, factory legislation in England?
Compare the regulations of the Knights of Labor in regard to strikes with those of an English Trades-Union.
“The present doctrine is that the workmen’s interests are linked to those of other workmen, and the employer’s interests to those of other employers. Eventually it will be seen that industrial divisions should be perpendicular, not horizontal.” Explain what is meant by this passage; state by what devices it is endeavored to promote the “horizontal” and the “perpendicular” divisions, respectively; and given an opinion as to which line of division is likely to endure.
The declaration of principles of the Knights of Labor demand “the enactment of laws providing for arbitration between employer and employed, and to enforce the decision of the arbitrators.” Is it desirable to comply with that demand in whole, in part, or not at all?
Suppose a tax were levied of ten percent on the house-rent paid by every person, those who occupied their own houses being assessed for the letting value of their dwellings. Would such a tax be direct or indirect? Would it conform to the principle of equality of taxation? Give your reasons.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Scrapbook of Professor Frank W. Taussig, p. 12. Also, Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1887), pp. 5-6, in bound volume Examination Papers, 1887-89.

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Political Economy 2 (1886-87).

Class Enrollment.

Political Economy 2. Economic Theory; its history and present stage. — Lectures, preparation of papers, and discussion of selections from leading writers. Prof. Taussig.

Total 49: 2 Graduates, 33 Seniors, 14 Juniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1886-87, p. 58.

1886-87.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Mid-year Examination, 1887]

It has been said that the Mercantile writers built up the first system of political economy; again, that a system is first found in the writings of the Physiocrats; and again, that Ricardo created political economy as a science. What should you say as to these statements?
Say something as to the connection that may be traced between the personal history of Adam Smith and of Ricardo, and the characteristics of their writings.
Sketch the history of the doctrines as to the productiveness of different kinds of labor from the time of the Mercantile writers to that of J. S. Mill.
Comment on the following:—
“It remains a matter of some difficulty to discover what solid contribution Malthus has made to our knowledge, nor is it easy to ascertain precisely what practical precepts, not already familiar, he founded on his theoretic principles…. ‘Much,’ he thought, ‘remained to be done. The comparison between the increase of population and of food had not, perhaps, been stated with sufficient force and precision’ and ‘few inquiries had been made into the various modes by which the level’ between population and the means of subsistence ‘is effected.’ The first desideratum here mentioned—the want, namely, of an accurate statement of the relation between the population and the supply of food—Malthus doubtless supposed to have been supplied by the celebrated proposition that ‘population increases in a geometrical, food in an arithmetical, ratio.’ This proposition has been conclusively shown to be erroneous, there being no such difference of law between the increase of man and of the organic beings who form his food. When this formula is not used, other somewhat nebulous expressions are sometimes employed, as, for example, that ‘population has a tendency to increase faster than food’ a sentence in which both are treated as if they were spontaneous growths…It must always have been perfectly well known that population will probably (though not necessarily) increase with every augmentation of the supply of subsistence, and may, in some instances, inconveniently press upon or even for a certain time exceed the number properly corresponding to that supply. Nor could it have ever been doubted that war, disease, poverty — the last two often the consequences of vice — are causes which keep population down. Again, it is surely plain enough that the apprehension by individuals of the evils of poverty, or a sense of duty to their possible offspring, may retard the increase of population, and has in all civilized communities operated to a certain extent in that way. It is only when such obvious truths are clothed in the technical terminology of ‘positive’ and ‘preventive’ checks that they appear novel and profound; and yet they appear to contain the whole message of Malthus to mankind.”
State carefully Cairnes’s theory of value, and show wherein it differs from Ricardo’s exposition of that subject.
Explain the conclusions which George draws as to wages from an analysis of the simplest stage of society, and those which Ricardo draws as to values from a similar analysis. State whether the reasoning in the two cases differs and if so, wherein; and give an opinion as to the soundness of the conclusions reached.
State carefully the wage-fund doctrine as expounded by Cairnes, and show wherein his exposition is an advance on the previous treatment of the subject.
In a collection of examination questions, the following was asked:—
“Cairnes argues that we cannot apply the law of supply and demand to labor, because the supply of labor is produced by biological forces and not as commodities are produced.— What is the fallacy of this argument?
Comment on the question, and answer it; and refer briefly to the history of the line of argument that draws and analogy between the value of labor and of commodities.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 1, Folder “Mid-year Examinations, 1886-1887”.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Year-end examination]

Comment, separately or in a connected essay, on the following extracts:—
(a) “The first of these theories is known as the wage-fund theory of the books on Political Economy. It represents the rate of wages as depending on the amount of capital which employers think proper to disburse as wages. The wage rate was regarded as the dividend, found by dividing the wages-fund by the number of labourers. But though this division doubtless takes place, there is nothing in the theory to determine either the whole amount which is to be divided, or the proportional share which any particular labourer may obtain. Nobody can possibly suppose that workmen in different branches of production, or in different ranks in the same branch, receive the same wages. Nor can anybody imagine that the capitalist distributes his capital simply because it is capital, irrespective of the produce which he expects from the labour bought.” — W. S. Jevons.
(b) “Ricardo held that profits and wages are the leavings of each other. Later economists have generally rejected this doctrine; but even those of them who maintain that wages are paid out of capital, fall back on arguments which imply its truth. For instance, Cairnes, who earnestly maintained that capital is divided into wages, rent, material, and wage-fund, argued that trades-unions could not increase the rate of wages because, if they did so, they would reduce profits below the rate which would make investment worth while. On his own doctrine, increased wages could not trench on profits. … We shall see further on that wages and profits are not the leavings of each other, because they are not parts of the same whole.”
(c) “If we assume that upon a cultivated island are tools and carts and animals for draught, and other forms of capital, adequate for a thousand laborers, the production will vary within a very wide range according to the industrial quality of the laborers using that capital. If we suppose them to be East Indians, we shall have a certain annual product; if we suppose Russian peasants to be substituted for East Indians, we shall have twice or three times that product; if we suppose Englishmen to be substituted for Russians, we shall have the product again multiplied two or three fold. By the wage-fund theory, the rate of wages would remain the same through these changes, inasmuch as the aggregate capital of the island would remain the same through these changes and the number of laborers in the market would be unchanged, the only difference being found in the substitution of more efficient for less efficient laborers. According to the view here advanced, on the contrary, the amount to be paid in wages should and would rise with the increased production due to the higher industrial quality of the laboring population.”
(d) “The capital of the employer is by no means the real source of the wages even of the workmen employed by him. It is only the immediate reservoir through which wages are paid out, until the purchasers of the commodities produced by that labor make good the advance and thereby encourage the undertaker to purchase additional labor.” — W. Roscher.
Whom do you judge to be the writers of the extracts (b) and (c)?
State carefully Walker’s theory of business profits. Give an opinion as to its value (1) in explaining differences between the returns of different managers, and (2) in eliminating such returns, like rent, from the problem of distribution.
Compare Carey and Bastiat, and say something as to the manner and extent of their influence on the course of economic speculation.
Explain wherein the attitude of Wagner to economic study differs from that of Mill and Cairnes.
“Mr. Cairnes asks, ‘how far should religious and moral considerations be admitted as coming within the province of political economy?’ His answer is that ‘they are to be taken account of precisely in so far as they are found to affect the conduct of men in the pursuit of wealth;’ and one needs only to allude to the influence of mediaeval religion both on the forms and the distribution of the wealth of the community, the changes in both with the change in religion after the Reformation, in proof of the impotence of the a priori method in relation to this class of agencies. Yet a few pages after recognizing their title to investigation, Mr. Cairnes argues that induction, though indispensable in physical, is needless in economic science, on the ground that the economist starts with a knowledge of ultimate causes’ and ‘is already at the outset of his enterprise in the position which the physicist only attains after ages of laborious research.’ The followers of the deduction method are in fact on the horns of a dilemma. They must either follow Mr. Lowe’s narrow path, and reason strictly from the assumption that men are actuated by no motive save the desire of pecuniary gain, or they must contend that they have an intuitive knowledge of all the moral, religious, political, and other motives influencing human conduct, and of the changes they undergo in different countries and periods.”
Was Cairnes inconsistent in the manner here stated? Does his reasoning lead to the alleged dilemma?
Should you agree with the following:—
“If economic phenomena were the results of a single force or combination of forces, standing alone, then only would the assumption hold good that there is an identity of effects on the appearance of the same causes. But economic facts are so closely connected with the whole of life, the element of personal freedom comes in so constantly, that a causal connection like that of a law of nature cannot be shown. This is at bottom the sound point in the criticisms of Ricardo’s keen logic. Ricardo often begins with facts, carefully and nicely observed in real life, and makes them the first premises of his reasoning. Then he uses a method of reasoning which is common in philosophy, but inadmissible in political economy. By logical sequence of thought he leads the reader, who can see no flaw in the chain of conclusions, to a result which, notwithstanding the solidity of the premises and the steadfast reasoning, is yet by no means unquestionable. For in the end we are not concerned with the elaboration of a truthful train of thought, but with a truth of real life; hence the test of truth lies in the connection of cause and effect that exists in real life; and as to that, with its manifold and varied possibilities, no human insight can make the true combinations in advance by abstract reasoning. There may be an artistic truth, which yet, when compared with reality, is not a truth. Even if one sees no inconsistency with the facts of experience up to the very last step in the reasoning, yet that reasoning gets its final stamp of truth only from experience. Our thoughts on the facts of the world are often true only so long as we shape them according to those facts that we know; a new experience comes in to better this approximate truth.” — Knies, Die Politische Oekonomie vom Historischen Standpunkte.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1887), pp. 7-9, in bound volume Examination Papers, 1887-89.

Note: Political Economy 2. Has been posted earlier.

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Political Economy 3 (1886-87).

Class Enrollment.

Political Economy 3. Investigation and Discussion of Practical Economic Questions (Bimetallism, Gold and Prices, American Shipping, Canadian Reciprocity, and Railway Transportation. — Each student presented ten theses, which were read and discussed in the class. Prof. Laughlin.

Total 35: 3 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 19 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1886-87, p. 58.

1886-87.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
[Mid-year Examination, 1887]

Discuss the following statement: “I would venture to assert that the influence of gold in raising or reducing prices depends not so much on the quantity of it available for use, as on the circumstances attending its production, and the facilities offered for its employment. … The sudden acquisition of money by those who rushed into gold mining … could not do otherwise than raise the demand for the necessaries and luxuries of life beyond the supply, and thus enhance their cost.”
In considering the serious fall of prices since 1873 and its effects on existing contracts, compare the relative advantages to be derived from (1) a system of international Bimetallism, and (2) the Multiple Standard. What difficulties stand in the way of using the multiple standard?
Give the facts in regard to the Free Coinage of gold, or silver, to-day in England, France, Germany, and the United States.
Discuss the provisions of the U.S. Coinage Act of 1853, and its bearing on the success of the double standard in this country.
Could an agreement of the chief commercial countries of the world to coin gold and silver at a fixed ratio keep the value of silver from falling under all circumstances?
Name any Navigation Laws of the United States now in force, which had their origin in the retaliatory legislation of our early history.
What effect has the policy of reciprocity, taken together with the high cost of building iron ships in the United States, had upon the foreign carrying trade of the country?
Does the existing tariff work to diminish the United States foreign tonnage? How does the provision as to a drawback on articles manufactured wholly or in part of imported materials affect our foreign tonnage?
What remedies should you propose for the decline of American shipping?
Was the first experiment of issuing notes by a Bank, chartered by the United States, a successful one? Why?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 1, Folder “Mid-year Examinations, 1886-1887”.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
[Year-end examination]

How do you account for the additional fall in the value of silver since the close of 1885?
Are there sufficient grounds for believing that gold is scarce? What is the measure of scarcity? Is it the “needs of trade”?
Discuss the causes of the growth of American shipping to 1856. Why have these causes not produced the same results since 1856 as before?
Why were the issues of the Second United States Bank superior to those of the State banks of the same period?
Ought the United States notes to be retired?
In what way was the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 between Canada and the United States connected with the fishery question? Why was the Treaty given up?
What were the economic results of the Treaty? Do they furnish evidence as to the wisdom of reciprocity in the future?
Are there any reasons to suppose that competition operates to modify rates on the railways of the United States?
What are the objections against “pools”? Are these objections well founded?
Compare the railway systems of England and France. How are discriminations regarded in these countries?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 3. Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1887), pp. 9-10, in the bound volume Examination Papers, 1887-89.

_______________________

Political Economy 4 (1886-87).

Class Enrollment.

Political Economy 4. Financial history of England and America since the Seven Years’ War. — Lectures. Prof. Dunbar.

Total 157: 1 Graduate, 44 Seniors, 44 Juniors, 53 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 13 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1886-87, p. 58.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Mid-year examination, 1887]

[Copy not (yet) located]

POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Year-end examination, 1887]

Omit two questions

Why did the repeal of the corn laws settle the question as to the adoption of free trade by England?
Describe the leading measures by which Napoleon III. sought to stimulate the material prosperity of France.
What were the reasons for granting public lands in aid of railway companies, as exhibited in the cases of the Illinois Central and the Pacific Railroads?
The effects of the civil war on the system of landholding in the South and its probable influence on the general industry of that section.
In what respects do quick transportation and telegraphs tend to produce analogous effects, and how are prices, as a measure of the value of gold, thereby affected?
Among the causes for the decline of American shipping, how important was the civil war?
What are the causes which make England the convenient centre for the “triangular” trade between nations?
Describe the effects of the civil war on the tariff system of the United States.
What form of wealth did France pay out in settlement of the indemnity of 1871, and what form did Germany actually receive?
The causes which prevented the disastrous fall of gold predicted by some writers after 1850.
The absorption of silver by India and reasons for its recent irregularity.
The heavy demands for gold, 1871-83, and the reasons why they failed to produce any financial disturbance.
The circumstances which enabled the United States to accumulate gold with special ease after the passage of the Resumption Act.
If the working of the English coal mines should tend to become more expensive, could England protect her industrial supremacy by the importation of cheap coal? Give the reasons carefully.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 3. Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1887), pp. 10-11, in the bound volume Examination Papers, 1887-89.

_______________________

Political Economy 6 (1886-87).

Class Enrollment.

Political Economy 6. History of Tariff Legislation in the United States, and consideration of its economic effects. — Lectures, written exercises, and oral discussion. Prof. Taussig.
Second half-year.

Total 38: 2 Graduates, 28 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1886-87, p. 59.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.
[Year-end examination, 1887]

Comment on the historical statements, and on the reasoning from them, in the following extracts:—
“Such was the state of things [bankruptcy and ruin the most complete] at the date of the passage of the tariff act of 1842. Scarcely had it become a law, when confidence began to reappear and commerce to revive—the first steps toward the restoration of the whole country, in the briefest period, to a state of prosperity the like of which had never before been known. Seeing that these remarkable facts were totally opposed to the free-trade theory, the author was led to study the phenomena presented in the free-trade period from 1817 to 1824, and in the protective one which commenced in 1825 and ended in 1834, — the one terminating in bankruptcy and ruin similar to that which exhibited itself in 1842, and the other giving to the country a state of prosperity such as had again been realized in 1846. … The more he studied these facts, the more did he become satisfied that the free-trade theory embodied some great error.” H. C. Carey, Preface to the Principles of Social Science.
It has been said that protective duties cause the price of the protected articles to fall; and such an effect is said to have been produced on the prices of cotton cloth after 1816, of copper after 1869, and of steel rails after 1870. Comment on the principle, and on its application in these three cases.
“This ill-understood and much reviled principle [the minimum principle] appears to me to be a just, proper, effective, and strictly philosophical mode of laying protective duties. It is exactly conformable, as I think, to the soundest and most accurate principles of political economy. It is, in the most rigid sense, what all such enactments so far as practicable ought to be: that is to say, a mode of laying a specific duty. It lays the import exactly where it will do good and leaves the rest free. It is an intelligent, discerning, discriminating principle, not a blind, headlong, generalizing, uncalculating operation. … The minimum principle, however, was overthrown by the law of 1832, and that law, as it came from the House, and as it finally passed, substituted a general and universal ad valorem duty of fifty per cent.” Webster, Speech in the Senate, 1836.
What were the duties to which Webster refers in this passage? And what should you say to his comments on them?
Explain carefully what is the fundamental proposition in Walker’s Treasury Report of 1845, and discuss its soundness as a principle of tariff reform.
Explain the present system of duties on woollen cloths, stating briefly its history; and say something as to its effects.
It has been said that high duties should be levied on manufactured articles and low duties on raw materials, because raw materials, being more bulky, require much shipping to transport them, and their free admission would give increased employment to American vessels. Assuming that the materials would in fact be carried in American vessels, should you say the argument was a sound one?
How can you explain the fact that, while the manufacture of cotton cloths has been little, if at all, dependent on protection, the heavy duties on silk piece-goods have not prevented a continuous large importation?
It has been proposed to admit sugar from Cuba duty free, by a reciprocity treaty. Should you be in favor of such a measure?
Discuss one of the following subjects. (Those who have prepared special reports on any one of these subjects are not to select that one for discussion.)
1. The financial working of the tariff act of 1846.
2. Proposed tariff legislation since 1883.
3. The circumstances under which the tariff act of 1833 was passed.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 3. Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1887), pp. 11-12, in the bound volume Examination Papers, 1887-89.

_______________________

Political Economy 7 (1886-87).

Class Enrollment.

Political Economy 7. Public Finance and Banking. — Leroy-Beaulieu’s Science des Finances. Prof. Dunbar.

Total 12: 3 Graduates, 6 Seniors, 3 Juniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1886-87, p. 59.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
[Mid-year examination, 1887]

[Copy not (yet) located]

POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
[Year-end examination]

Divide your time equally between A and B.

[Two questions may be omitted.]

Discuss the suggestion, which has been made, that among the French taxes upon real estate we ought to reckon,—
1. The impôt des portes et fenêtres;
2. Of the contribution des patentes, the droit proportionnel [à la valeur locative des locaux occupés].
Weight the following reasons given by Leroy-Beaulieu for approving lottery loans:—
“Les emprunts à loterie peuvent être regardés comme une combinaison ingénieuse et inoffensive dans les cas suivants: quand le prêteur est toujours certain de retrouver un jour, même en ayant la chance la plus mauvaise, au moins le capital qu’il a versé; quand, en outre, un intérêt rémunérateur, quoique inférieur à celui qu’autoriserait le marché des capitaux, est accordé à toutes les obligations, sans exception, même à celles qui ne sortent pas au tirages (3 ou 4 p. 100 par exemple, au lieu de 5 ou 6 p. 100 qui seraient peut-être le taux habituel du marché); quand, en dernier lieu, les lots n’ont qu’une importance modique, 20,000, 30,000, 50,000, 100,000 ou 150,000 francs au plus, et qu’ils ne peuvent pas donner lieu à des fortunes énormes. Dans tous ces cas les emprunts à loterie sont inoffensifs: le prêteur est sûr de ne pas perdre son capital, ni la totalité de l’intérêt dû pour ce capital: il sacrifie seulement une faible portion de cet intérêt pour courir la chance d’un gain considérable, mais pas assez toutefois pour procurer d’énormes fortunes. Dans ces conditions on peut soutenir que l’emprunt à loterie provoque l’épargne, surtout dans les basses classes.”
Explain and discuss the system of reducing debt by means of terminable annuities, introduced by Mr. Gladstone.
Discuss the following summary of conclusions, arrived at by Leroy-Beaulieu:—
“Pour résumer cette épineuse matière, nous dirons que la partie de la dette d’un pays qui est entre les mains des nationaux peut légitimement être assujettie à tous les impôts généraux grevant dans le pays les valeurs analogues. Au contraire la partie de cette dette qui est entre les mains d’étrangers doit en être exempte. Mais jamais l’État ne peut s’arroger le droit de mettre un impôt spécial sur sa rente. Voilà ce que disent le bons sens et l’équité.”
Compare the experience of England and France in the conversion of their national debts, and give the reasons for the marked difference.
Discuss the propositions, laid down by Mr. Buckner, in his speech of April, 1882, in opposition to the Bank Charters Extension Bill,—
1. That the currency ought to be issued by the government;
2. That an elastic currency is mischievous, as introducing an element of uncertainty, and that the government should therefore issue a fixed amount of convertible notes.

Mr. Goschen’s Budget for 1887 rests upon the estimate that income and outlay, if existing arrangements should not be changed, would be as follows (000’s omitted):—

Revenue.			Expenditure.
Customs		£20,200	Consolidated Fund	£30,592
Excise		25,292	Army	18,394
Stamps		11,658	Navy	12,477
Land Tax		1,065	Civil Service	17,932
House Duty		1,920	Customs, Post, Teleg., &c.	10,786
Property and Income Tax		15,900
Post, Telegraph, &c.		15,120		______
		£91,155		£90,786
Surplus	974

Mr. Goschen then proposes, inter alia,—

To diminish sinking-fund payments by £2,000,000;
To take a penny off the income-tax, reducing it by £1,560,000;
To lower the duty on tobacco, and thus give up £600,000 more.

Discuss these propositions, giving all explanation needed for a clear understanding of the subject by an uninformed reader.

Mr. Goschen says of the sinking-fund payments, “I lay great stress upon the fact that unless we put the matter into an endurable form, you will risk far larger inroads upon the sinking-fund than I here propose;” and further that “practically the whole burden of paying off debt has to be borne by the payers of income-tax.” In confirmation of these views it is pointed out that when the fixed charge for public debt was settled the income-tax was only 2d., that it is now 8d., and that other branches of revenue have not been “elastic.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 3. Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1887), pp. 13-14, in the bound volume Examination Papers, 1887-89.

_______________________

Political Economy 8 (1886-87).

Class Enrollment.

Political Economy 8. Financial history of the United States. — Lectures. Prof. Dunbar.
First half-year

Total 32: 1 Graduate, 25 Seniors, 3 Juniors, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1886-87, p. 59.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
[Mid-year examination]

[Copy not (yet) located]

Image Source: Harvard Library, Hollis Images. Charles F. Dunbar (left) and James Laurence Laughlin (middle) and Frank W. Taussig (right).

Tags Dunbar, Laughlin, Taussig

From Harvard’s Report of the President 1873-74

Required studies. Sophomores.

Required studies. Juniors.

Elective studies.

Obituary from Boston Evening Transcript (July 13, 1887)

1888 Memoir of a Harvard Classmate

HENRY HOWLAND

ECONOMICS. GENERAL STATEMENT.

Outlines of Economics Economics 1

Economics 1: Enrollment

1897-98 Economics 1. [Mid-year Examination]

1897-98. Economics 1. [Final Examination]

Mediaeval Economic History of Europe Economics 10 [Omitted in 1897-98.]

Modern Economic History of Europe and America (from 1500) Economics 11

Economics 11: Enrollment 1897-98

1897-98. Economics 11. [Mid-year Examination]

1897-98. Economics 11. [Year-end Examination]

The Economic History of the United States Economics 6

Economics 6: Enrollment

1897-98. Economics 6. [Mid-year Examination]

I.

II.

III.

1897-98. Economics 6. [Year-end Examination]

History and Literature of Economics to the Close of the 18th Century Economics 15

Economics 15: Enrollment 1897-98

1897-98. Economics 15. [Mid-year Examination]

1897-98. Economics 15. [Year-end Examination]

Economic Theory in the 19th Century Economics 2

Economics 2: Enrollment 1897-98

1897-98. Economics 2. [Mid-year. 1898.]

1897-98. Economics 2. [Final Examination]

Scope and Method in Economic Theory and Investigation Economics 132

Economics 132: Enrollment 1897-98

1897-98. Economics 132. [Year-end Examination]

Principles of Sociology Economics 3

Economics 3: Enrollment 1897-98

1897-98. Economics 3. [Mid-year examination]

I.

II.

III.

1897-98. Economics 3. [Final Examination]

I.

II.

III.

IV.

Socialism and Communism Economics 14

Economics 14: Enrollment

1897-98. Economics 14. [Mid-year Examination]

Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. Economics 9.

Economics 9: Enrollment

1897-98. Economics 9. [Year-End Examination]

I. WORKINGMEN’S INSURANCE.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

Statistics Economics 4

Economics 4: Enrollment 1897-98

1897-98. Economics 4. [Mid-year Examination]

A.

B.

1897-98. Economics 4. [Final Examination]

A.

Railways and other Public Works Economics 52

Economics 52: Enrollment 1897-98

1897-1898. Economics 52. [Final Examination]

Theory and Methods of Taxation Economics 71

Economics 71: Enrollment

Economics 71. Readings

1897-98. Economics 71. [Mid-year Examination]

Financial Administration and Public Debts Economics 72

1897-98. Economics 72 [Final Examination]

Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems Economics 122

Economics 12: Enrollment

1897-98. Economics 121. [Mid-year Examination]

International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals Economics 121

Selected Topics in the Financial Legislation of the United States Economics 162

Economics 162: Enrollment

1897-98. Economics 162 [Year-end Examination]

From Harvard’s
Report of the President 1873-74

Required studies.
Sophomores.

Required studies.
Juniors.

Obituary from
Boston Evening Transcript
(July 13, 1887)

ECONOMICS.
GENERAL STATEMENT.

Outlines of Economics
Economics 1

1897-98
Economics 1.
[Mid-year Examination]

1897-98.
Economics 1.
[Final Examination]

Mediaeval Economic History of Europe
Economics 10
[Omitted in 1897-98.]

Modern Economic History of Europe and America
(from 1500)
Economics 11

Economics 11: Enrollment
1897-98

1897-98.
Economics 11.
[Mid-year Examination]

1897-98.
Economics 11.
[Year-end Examination]

The Economic History of the United States
Economics 6

1897-98.
Economics 6.
[Mid-year Examination]

1897-98.
Economics 6.
[Year-end Examination]

History and Literature of Economics to the Close of the 18th Century
Economics 15

Economics 15: Enrollment
1897-98

1897-98.
Economics 15.
[Mid-year Examination]

1897-98.
Economics 15.
[Year-end Examination]

Economic Theory
in the 19th Century
Economics 2

Economics 2: Enrollment
1897-98

1897-98.
Economics 2.
[Mid-year. 1898.]

1897-98.
Economics 2.
[Final Examination]

Scope and Method in Economic Theory and Investigation
Economics 13²

Economics 13²: Enrollment
1897-98

1897-98.
Economics 13².
[Year-end Examination]

Principles of Sociology
Economics 3

Economics 3: Enrollment
1897-98

1897-98.
Economics 3.
[Mid-year examination]

1897-98.
Economics 3.
[Final Examination]

Socialism and Communism
Economics 14

1897-98.
Economics 14.
[Mid-year Examination]

Labor Question
in Europe and the U.S.
Economics 9.

1897-98.
Economics 9.
[Year-End Examination]

I.
WORKINGMEN’S INSURANCE.

Statistics
Economics 4

Economics 4: Enrollment
1897-98

1897-98.
Economics 4.
[Mid-year Examination]

1897-98.
Economics 4.
[Final Examination]

Railways and other Public Works
Economics 5²

Economics 5²: Enrollment
1897-98

1897-1898.
Economics 5².
[Final Examination]

Theory and Methods of Taxation
Economics 7¹

Economics 7¹: Enrollment

Economics 7¹.
Readings

1897-98.
Economics 7¹.
[Mid-year Examination]

Financial Administration and Public Debts
Economics 7²

1897-98.
Economics 7²
[Final Examination]

Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems
Economics 12²

1897-98.
Economics 12¹.
[Mid-year Examination]

International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals
Economics 12¹

Selected Topics in the Financial Legislation of the United States
Economics 16²

Economics 16²: Enrollment

1897-98.
Economics 16²[Year-end Examination]

Economics Seminary
Economics 20

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO VISIT THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
May 22, 1895

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.
June 5, 1901.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.
September 30, 1903.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.
May 9, 1906.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.
April 8, 1908.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 1913-14.
April 13, 1914.

1894-95.
PHILOSOPHY 5.

PHILOSOPHY 5.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

PHILOSOPHY 5.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Year-end Examination. 1895.

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 1.

ECONOMICS 1.
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

ECONOMICS 1.
Year-end Examination. 1895.

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 2.

ECONOMICS 2.
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

ECONOMICS 2.
Year-end Examination, 1895

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 3.

ECONOMICS 3.
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

ECONOMICS 3.
Year-end Examination

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 5.

ECONOMICS 5.
Year-end Examination. 1895.

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 7¹.

ECONOMICS 7¹.
Mid-year Examination. 1895.

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 7².

ECONOMICS 7².
Year-end Examination