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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final Examinations for Junior and Senior Political Economy. Dunbar, 1876-77

 

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror’s scribe-curator is now back in action to provide four examinations (two mid-year and two final exams) from the two political economy courses taught at Harvard by Charles F. Dunbar during the 1876-77 academic year.

It is really great to be back transcribing and curating!

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Political Economy Courses
Elective Studies, 1876-77.

Prof. Dunbar. Philosophy 5. Political Economy.

— J. S. Mill’s Political Economy. — Bagehot’s Lombard Street. — Lectures on the Financial Legislation of the United States.

Number of students: 1 Graduate, 30 Seniors, 64 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 2 Unmatriculated.
Number of sections: 2
Exercises per week for students: 3
Exercises per week for instructors: 6

Prof. Dunbar. Philosophy 6. Advanced Political Economy.

— Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. — McKean’s Condensation of Carey’s Social Science. — Lectures.

Number of students: 2 Graduates, 22 Seniors
Number of sections: 1
Exercises per week for students: 3
Exercises per week for instructors: 3

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1876-77, p. 49.

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PHILOSOPHY 5.
Mid-Year Examination
February, 1877

[In answering the questions do not change their order.]

  1. Why is the distinction between labor for the supply of productive and for the supply of unproductive consumption, more important than that between productive and unproductive labor?
  2. What is the ground for saying that “every increase of capital is capable of giving additional employment to industry, and this without assignable limit”?
  3. How does the existence of the banking system facilitate the equalization of profits in different employments?
  4. How far is the doctrine of rent, or of the value of land, affected, if it be shown that in the actual occupation of the earth the best lands are the last to be cultivated?
  5. What is the ground for saying that rent is not a part of the cost of production, the fact being that the farmer is obliged to take account of it as one of his expenses?
  6. On what does the cost of labor depend?
  7. Is there any commodity of which the change of supply must be actual as well as possible, in order that its value may be made to conform to its cost of production?
  8. Why does the durability of the precious metals give steadiness to their value?
  9. Criticise Mr. Mill’s statement that when there are successive emissions of inconvertible paper it will drive out the metallic money previously in circulation, “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 smallest payments.”
  10. How would a currency of convertible paper compare in steadiness of value with one of inconvertible paper which was of fixed amount?
  11. Explain the statement that it is “not general taxation but differential taxation,” that affects values and prices.
  12. Explain the disproportionate pressure on the Bank of England as compared with other banks, during a financial panic.
  13. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the “many-reserve” system, and how does American experience affect Mr. Bagehot’s reasoning on the matter?
  14. The following is the account of the Bank of England (given in millions and tenths of millions) for May 9, 1866: –

Issue Department.

Notes issued,

£27.3

 Gov’t debt and securities,

£15.0

____

 Coin and bullion,

£12.3

£27.3

£27.3

Banking Department.

Capital,

£14.5

 Government securities,

£10.9

Rest,

£  3.2

 Other securities,

£20.8
Public deposits,

£  5.8

 Reserve,

£  5.8
Private deposits,

£13.5
Seven-day bills,

£  0.5

____

£37.5

£37.5

The panic reached its height and the Act of 1844 was suspended on the 12th; in the next three weeks the Bank increased its loans by thirteen millions, and five millions were drawn out by depositors. What changes must therefore be made in the above account? What changes would have been necessary if depositors had drawn seven millions instead of five?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 1, Folder “Mid-year examinations, 1876-1877”.

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PHILOSOPHY 5.
Final Examination
May, 1877

[Do not change the order of the questions.
A number marked with an asterisk may be substituted for the same number not so marked.]

  1. To what extent is it true that “wages (meaning of course money wages) vary with the price of food, rising when it rises, and falling when it falls”?
  2. “Even a general rise of wages, when it involves a real increase in the cost of labor, does in some degree influence values.” How?
  3. What is the meaning of the statement that “it is not a difference in the absolute cost of production, which determines the interchanges [of commodities between countries], but a difference in the comparative cost.”
  4. How was the exchange of commodities with other countries be affected by an improvement which lowers the cost of production of some article which the country already exports?

4. *Explain both branches of the statement that “they are in the right to maintain that taxes on imports are partly paid by foreigners; but they are mistaken when they say, that it is by the foreign producer.”

  1. If a country has a large regular product of gold, what will be the natural effect on the rate charged for bills of exchange upon foreign countries, and why?
  2. If both the capital and population of the country are increasing, what will be the effect on wages, profits, and rent, respectively? Give the reasons.

6. *Why do improvements which cheapen the production of luxuries have less effect than those which cheaper the necessaries of life, in retarding the decline of profits towards the minimum?

  1. What is the ground for saying that a tax on what is properly called rent falls wholly on the landlord in the long run?
  2. Is a tax on the value of unimproved property (as e.g. vacant land) consistent with Adam Smith’s first canon of taxation? Give your reasons.
  3. The following is the account of the Bank of England for November 11, 1857:—

Issue Department.

Notes issued, £21.1 Gov’t debt and securities, £14.5
____ Coin and bullion, £  6.6
£21.1 £21.1

Banking Department.

Capital, £14.5 Government securities, £   9.4
Rest, £  3.4 Other securities, £26.1
Public deposits, £  5.3 Reserve, £  1.5
Private deposits, £12.9
Seven-day bills, £  0.9 ____
£37.0 £37.0

In the next two weeks five millions were lent to individuals and three millions of deposits were drawn out. Show the changes in the account and the effect on the limit fixed by the act of 1844.

    1. What was the date of the last suspension of specie payments in the United States? Explain the circumstances which led to it.
    2. Show what influences besides improving credit made the sale of 5-20’s easy in 1863, although it had been nearly impossible in 1862.
    3. Explain the plan on which the national banks are established; show its points of resemblance, if any, to the plan of the Bank of England; and state the purposes for which the deposits of bonds and the reserves are required.
    4. Describe the action which Congress has taken on the subject of currency since the financial crisis of 1873.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 2, Folder “Final examinations, 1876-1877”.

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PHILOSOPHY 6.
Mid-year Examination
February, 1877

[In answering the questions do not change their order.]

    1. How far are prices determined by Reciprocal International Demand, Reciprocal Domestic Demand, and Cost of Production, respectively? Is any change to be made in Cairnes’s statement that “an alteration in the reciprocal demand of two trading nations will act upon the price, not of any commodity in particular, but of every commodity which enters into the trade?”
    2. What is Cairnes’s reply to Mill’s statement that the portion of supply which is reserved for future sale forms no part of the supply which determines market price? How does Cairnes define supply and demand as affecting market price?
    3. In the general cheapening of manufacturers, resulting from modern improvements, which is cheapened most, the consumption of the masses or the consumption of the rich?
    4. How does the following statement of the wages-fund doctrine compare with Cairnes’s statement of it?
      “The wages-fund, therefore, may be greater or less at another time, but at the time taken it is definite. The amount of it cannot be increased by force of law or of public opinion, or through sympathy and compassion on the part of employers, or as the result of appeals or efforts on the part of the working classes.” (Walker, “The Wages Question,” p. 138.)
    5. It is said in answer to Cairnes’s argument for coöperation, that laborers can now bring profits to reinforce wages, by means of the savings banks. What answer is to be made to this?
    6. What is the connection between general wages and foreign trade, as illustrated by the case of the Australian colony, Victoria?
    7. What were Cairnes’s reasons for expecting in 1873 that before many years the balance of trade would become permanently “favorable” to the United States?
    8. “If the high rates of industrial remuneration in America be only evidence of a low cost of production, how is the fact to be explained, that the people of the United States are unable to compete in neutral markets, in the sale of certain important wares, with England and other European countries?”
    9. What is the inconsistency between the common definition of the cost of production and the doctrine of international values? How is the inconsistency to be remedied?
    10. Compare Carey’s doctrine of Value with Mill’s.
    11. “Diminution in the value of capital,” says Carey, “is attended by diminution in the proportion of labor given for its use by those who, unable to purchase, desire to hire it. Had the first axe been exclusive property of one of our colonists, he would have demanded more than half the wood that could be cut, in return for its use… His neighbor would find it to his advantage to give three-fourths of the product for use of the axe… The arrival of the ship having given them better axes at a smaller cost, would not give, nor could the other demand so large a proportion as before … In the fourteenth century, when a week’s labor would command only 7½d. in silver, the owner of a pound of that metal could demand as compensation for its use a much larger proportion than now, when the laborer can obtain that quantity in a little more than a fortnight.”
      What is the fallacy in this reasoning?
    12. Criticize the following statements : –
      “Ricardo’s system is based upon the assumed fact, that in the beginning of cultivation, when population is small and land abundant, the richest soils alone are cultivated… If it can be shown that, in every country and at every age, the order of events has been direct opposition to what it is supposed by Mr. Ricardo to have been, then must his theory be abandoned as wholly destitute of foundation.”
    13. It is also assumed that if our paper currency is brought to equality of value with gold, no further withdrawal of paper will be necessary. Can this be taken for granted? Can the gold now in the Treasury or in the Pacific States, or any of it, be regarded as a provision for specie resumption?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 1, Folder “Mid-year examinations, 1876-1877”.

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PHILOSOPHY 6.
Final Examination
May, 1877

    1. What is the reason “that’s so little impression has been made on the rate of wages and profits” by the immense industrial progress of recent times?
    2. Criticise the following extract from Walker’s “Wages Question,” p. 198: –

“Instead of asserting, as Prof. Cairnes has done, the practical isolation of certain great groups, with the entire freedom of movement within these groups, I believe that a fuller study of industrial society will establish the conviction that nowhere is mobility perfect, theoretically or even practically, and nowhere is there entire immobility of labor; that all classes and conditions of men are appreciably affected by the force of competition; but that, on the other hand, the force of competition, which nowhere becomes nil, even for practical purposes, ranges from a very high to very low degree of efficiency, according to national temperament, according to peculiarities of personal character and circumstance, according to the laws and institutions of the community, and according to natural or geographical influences.”

    1. It is laid down that high general wages do not hinder a country from exchanging with others. Trace the course of a trade, opened between two countries one of which has higher general wages and higher prices for all commodities adapted to foreign commerce than the other, and show the application of the principle first stated.
    2. What is meant by saying that a nation is interested, not in having its prices high or low, but in having its gold cheap?
    3. Examine the question whether a nation which has an unfavorable balance of trade can maintain specie payments?
    4. What is Mr. Carey’s doctrine as to the prices of raw materials and finished goods respectively, and the reason for it? How does he answer the question, “must not improved cultivation tend to cheapen corn, as improvements in the mode of conversion tend to cheapen cloth?”
    5. Compare Mr. Carey’s doctrine as to the distribution between capital and labor with the proposition laid down by Ricardo and Mill, that profits tend to decline in consequence of an increasing cost of labor.
    6. Discuss the following:—
      “The use of bank-notes tends, we are told, to promote the expulsion of gold. Were this so, it would be in opposition to the great general law in virtue of which all commodities tend to, and not from, the places where their utility is greatest…The check and the bank-note stimulate the import [of the precious metals], as is proved by the fact, that for a century past, they have flowed towards Britain, where such notes were most in use.”
    7. What is likely to be the effect of the attempt of Ohio and Illinois to make the subsidiary silver a legal tender without limit, supposing their constitutional power to do so to be granted?
    8. What are the distinguishing characteristics of the land-reforms undertaken in the last century in France, Prussia, and Russia, respectively?
    9. Of these six, — Adam Smith, Sir James Stewart, Quesnay, J.-B. Say, Ricardo, Sismondi, — take three, giving dates, relations to each other, and doctrines or discussions for which they are best known.
    10. Show the contributions of Ricardo, Mill, and Cairnes, respectively, to the full development of the doctrine of international values.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 2, Folder “Final examinations, 1876-1877”.

Image Source: Charles F. Dunbar in E. H. Jackson and R. W. Hunter (eds.), Portraits of the Harvard Faculty (Boston, 1892).

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Political Economy Examinations. Bowen, Green, and Dunbar, 1868-1872.

 

Today’s post provides transcriptions for five examinations in political economy used at Harvard between 1868 and 1872. Links to two previously transcribed examinations from that time are provided as well. Information about course enrollments and textbooks come from the annual reports of the President of Harvard College.

Before Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and John Stuart Mill’s Principles of Political Economy were assigned beginning with the 1870-71 academic year, the following textbooks were listed for Harvard’s  political economy courses:

As an introductory textbook for the junior year course in political economy:

James E. Thorold Rogers, A Manual of Political Economy for Schools and Colleges. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1868.

“Advanced” Textbooks in political economy for senior year courses by Francis Bowen:

The Principles of Political Economy applied to the Condition, the Resources, and the Institutions of the American People (2ndedition, 1859). American Political Economy; including Strictures of the Currency and the Finances since 1861 (1870). One might presume Bowen’s lectures were closer to what is found in the later of these two books. 

About the instructors…

Harvard Crimson’s obituary for Francis Bowen. Profile of “Francis Bowen, 1811-1890” at the History of Economics Website.

Obituary for Nicholas St. John Green in the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 12 (May, 1876-May 1877), pp. 289-291.

Frank Taussig’s 1900 obituary for Charles Franklin Dunbar. Profile of  “Charles Franklin Dunbar, 1830-1900” at the History of Economics Website.

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Academic Year 1867-68.

Seniors.

“During the First Academic Term, the Senior Class recited six times a week in Bowen’s Logic, and Bowen’s Political Economy.”

Source: Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1867-68, p. 24.

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POLITICAL ECONOMY

SENIORS, JANUARY, 1868.

  1. Wherein does value differ from utility? What are the two elements of value, and what becomes of the value, when either of these elements is wanting?
  2. Explain the nature of Capital, wherein it differs from Wealth, and what is its source or the means of its increase. Distinguish productive from unproductive consumption.
  3. Which are the three functions of banks, and which of these three is unessential, so that banks could exist and do their work without it? Wherein do our present National Banks differ from the old State banks?
  4. What is the operation of funding a National Debt? By what vicious method of funding was the English National Debt made over 40 per cent. larger than the amount actually received by the government as a loan? In what different way was our own National Debt, contracted during the Civil War, made largely to exceed the amount received?
  5. Distinguish Direct from Indirect Taxes? Why is our present Income Tax said to be unconstitutional? Why are legacy taxes and other taxes on succession to property said to be the best of all forms of taxation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943 (HUC 7000.55), Box 1, Folder “Mid-year examinations, 1867-1868”.

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Academic Year 1868-69.

Seniors.

“During the First Academic Term the Senior Class recited three times a week in Bowen’s Ethics and Metaphysics, and Bowen’s Political Economy.”

Source: Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1868-69, p. 32.

 

Exam Questions in Political Economy for Seniors, June 1869.

 

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Academic Year 1869-70.

Seniors. First Term.

Prof. Bowen. Political Economy.

Text-Book: Bowen’s Political Economy.
Number of students: 129
Number of Sections: 2 & 3
Number of exercises per week: 3
Number of hours per week: 3

Source: Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1869-70, p. 36.

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Academic Year 1869-70.

POLITICAL ECONOMY

SENIORS, DECEMBER, 1869.

  1. Explain the distinction between Property and Wealth; between Wealth and Capital; between the Price of a commodity and its natural Exchangeable Value; between Simple and Complex Coöperation, the two kinds of Division of Labor. What are the two elements of Exchangeable Value, and what is its measure?
  2. What is Wakefield’s theory of Colonization, and how did it work? In what respects was an ancient Colony unlike a modern one? Explain the United States system of disposing of the public lands.
  3. What were the old guilds of trade, and the old meaning of the word University? How does Caste, or the fixity of ranks and classes, affect the Increase of Capital?
  4. Explain briefly the Malthusian theory of population; refute it by facts and arguments.
  5. Give an outline of Ricardo’s theory of Rent, Wages, and Profits, showing the connection in each case with Malthusianism. How does Ricardo explain the steady decline of the rate of Profit? What better explanation can be given of this phenomenon?
  6. Explain Bills of Exchange; the course and par of exchange between London, New York, and Paris; the difference between the nominal and the real par.
  7. Prove that a gradual decline is now taking place in the value of money, — e.of the two precious metals; and show how this decline will affect the value of different investments and various kinds of property.
  8. What change was made in the dollar by the law of 1834, and again by the law of 1853? Why was the gold dollar altered in the former case, and the silver dollar in the latter?
  9. Distinguish Paper Money properly so called from Bank Currency; and trace the causes and consequences of the issue of the former in Revolutionary times.
  10. Explain the three functions of a Bank: prove that convertible Bank-bills cannot be issued in excess. What was the “Allied Bank” system in Boston, and what circumstances led to its adoption?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943 (HUC 7000.55), Box 1, Folder “Mid-year examinations, 1869-1870”.

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Academic Year 1869-70.

Juniors. Second Term.

Mr. N. St. John Green. Instructor in Philosophy

Text-Books: Hamilton’s Metaphysics and Rogers’s Political Economy.
Number of students: 158
Number of Sections: 3
Number of exercises per week: 3
Number of hours per week [for instructor]: 9

Source: Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1869-70, p. 38.

 

Examination questions in Political Economy for Juniors, June 1870.

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Academic Year 1870-71.

Seniors.

Mr. N. St. John Green. Instructor in Political Economy.

Text-Books: Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. — J. S. Mill’s Political Economy.
Number of students: 99
Number of Sections: 2
Number of exercises per week for students: 3
Number of hours per week for instructor: 6

Source: Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1870-71, p. 52.

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POLITICAL ECONOMY.

SENIORS, FEBRUARY 1871.

  1. What are the laws which fix the natural rate of wages?
  2. What are the laws which fix the natural rate of profit?
  3. What is the nature of rent?
  4. How does rent enter into the price of commodities?
  5. What is capital, and what is the difference between fixed and circulating capital?
  6. What are the principles which determine the rate of interest?
  7. What are the advantages of a division of labor, and how far can the division of labor be carried to advantage?
  8. What is price and what [is] the difference between nominal and real, natural and market price?
  9. Suppose a prosperous people hitherto untaxed. It becomes necessary to raise a moderate amount of money by taxation. What kind of tax should, in your opinion, be resorted to? Why? To what objections would such a tax be liable?
  10. Boswell, in his Life of Johnson, says, “I put a question to him (Johnson) upon a fact in common life which he could not answer, nor have I found any one else who could: What is the reason that women servants, though obliged to be at the expense of purchasing their own clothes, have much lower wages than men servants, to whom a great proportion of that article is furnished, and when in fact our female house servants work much harder than the male?” How do you answer Boswell’s question?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943 (HUC 7000.55), Box 1, Folder “Mid-year examinations, 1870-1871”.

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Academic Year 1871-72.

Seniors.

Prof. Dunbar. Political Economy. (elective)

Text-Books: Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. — J. S. Mill’s Political Economy.
Number of students: 75
Number of Sections: 2
Number of exercises per week for students: 3
Number of hours per week for instructor: 6

Source: Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1871-72, p. 48.

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POLITICAL ECONOMY.

SENIORS, January 1872.

  1. What is the distinction between wealth and capital?
  2. What is the difference between fixed and circulating capitals? — and to which does money belong?
  3. When either of the precious metals becomes more abundant, and the remedy of over-valuation and limitation of the right of tender is to be applied, does it make any difference which metal is over-valued, and if so, what difference?
  4. On what basis is the circulation of the Bank of England established?
  5. How does Smith distinguish between productive laborers and unproductive?
  6. Explain the paradox that “what is annually saved is as regularly consumed as what is annually spent?”
  7. What was the error of Locke and Montesquieu as to the supposed connection between the depreciation of value of gold and silver and the lowering of the rate of interest?
  8. What is Adam Smith’s view as to the point at which the rate of interest should be fixed by law, and what is his mistake?
  9. How can a paper currency be kept at a par with gold?
  10. What was the theory of the balance of trade, and in what respect was it fallacious?
  11. Why do manufactures often flourish while a nation is carrying on a foreign war?
  12. What was the theory of the agricultural system, and what was its great error?
  13. State the general objection to any system for the extraordinary encouragement of a particular branch of industry, and such partial or complete answers to that objection as may occur to you.
  14. What is the chronological relation of the several systems of Political Economy?

For Consideration.

[From a Report of the Comptroller of the Currency, December, 1871.]

“The tenacity with which the Pacific States adhere to a gold currency is quite notable. Whether it is equally praiseworthy, is another thing. It is not clear that those States derive any substantial benefit from the course they have pursued, and it is beginning to be manifest that the United States are not at all benefited by it. The substitution of a paper currency in California and the other gold-producing States for their present hard money would probably set free for the use of the government and the whole country some thirty or forty millions of gold, and at the same time provide those communities with a more economical, active, and accommodating circulating medium.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943 (HUC 7000.55), Box 1, Folder “Mid-year examinations, 1871-1872”.

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Academic Year 1871-72.

Juniors.

Prof. Dunbar. Political Economy [required course]

Text-Books: Rogers’s Political Economy.
Number of students: 128
Number of Sections: 3
Number of exercises per week for students: 1
Number of hours per week for instructor: 3 (for a half-year)

Source: Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1871-72, p. 46.

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POLITICAL ECONOMY.

Juniors, February 1872.

  1. What is the difference between price and value?
  2. What is capital, and whence is it derived?
  3. Is a legal tender note of the United States money? If not then what is it?
  4. What effect has an excessive issue of paper currency upon prices?
  5. In an estimate of public wealth, what kinds of individual wealth are excluded? And why?
  6. Why is the rate of interest high in a newly settled western state?
  7. What determines the rate of wages?
  8. What was the theory of Malthus as to the growth of population?
  9. What effect has the introduction of machinery upon the rate of wages?
  10. What is rent and how does it depend upon the cost of production?
  11. In the trade between nations, how is the transmission of gold and silver for the most part avoided?
  12. If there is a scarcity of some article of which there are several qualities of different prices, will the cheapest or the dearest quality rise most? And why?
  13. What is the difference between direct and indirect taxation, and what are their respective advantages?
  14. Why is a tax on raw materials a bad tax?
  15. How does our national debt differ in form from the English, and what advantage has either form?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943 (HUC 7000.55), Box 1, Folder “Mid-year examinations, 1871-1872”.

Image: Memorial Hall (ca. 1900), Harvard University from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

 

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Courses Curriculum Harvard

Harvard. Rich economics course descriptions, 1884-85

 

Harvard’s expansion of its course offerings in political economy starting in 1883-84 was a major milestone in university instruction in economics in the United States. A report from the Harvard Crimson and another from New York Post have been posted earlier in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. Following up the previous post that provided J. Laurence Laughlin’s thoughts from 1885 about how to best teach economics, thick descriptions of the Harvard courses in political economy listed for 1884-85 can be found below. The chapter from which the excerpts have been transcribed is in the same volume in which Richard Ely contributed a chapter, “On Methods of Teaching Political Economy” that was cited by Laughlin.  

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Excerpts from:

THE COURSES OF STUDY IN HISTORY, ROMAN LAW, AND POLITICAL ECONOMY, AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY.1
By Henry E. Scott, Harvard University.

A DESCRIPTION of the ground covered and of the methods used in the various courses in History and Political Science at Harvard must necessarily be preceded by a brief statement of the circumstances under which these studies are pursued there.

In the first place, all the courses offered in these branches — and in almost all other branches as well — are purely elective. The University requires each year a certain amount of work from every undergraduate who is a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts; but, with the exception of about two-fifths of the work of the Freshman year, and certain prescribed written exercises in English in the Sophomore, Junior and Senior years, the undergraduate has full liberty to select any course in any subject which his previous training qualifies him to pursue. The courses in History and in Political Science may therefore be elected by any undergraduate, by the Freshman as well as by the Senior; and they are also, it may be added, open to the students of the various professional schools embraced in the University, to resident graduates, and to special students whether graduates or not.

1In the preparation of the following article, the writer has been greatly assisted by the instructors in the several courses described, and their statements have been incorporated in the text with but little change.

[168]
In order to provide suitable recognition for those students who have confined their college work to one or two special fields, Honors of two grades — Honorsand Highest Honors — are awarded at graduation in almost all branches in which instruction is offered. The candidate for Honors in History or in Political Science must have taken in the department selected six full courses or their equivalent, i.e., he must have devoted to it about one-half of his last three years as an undergraduate, four full courses or their equivalent being the amount of elective work required each year of Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors; and he must have passed with great credit the regular examinations in those courses, and also, shortly before Commencement, a special examination covering all the six courses in question. Students who do not care to specialize to the extent necessary to obtain Honors can yet, by doing creditably about one-half as much work (i.e., by taking three full courses) in any one subject, receive at graduation Honorable Mention in that subject.

To pursue with advantage studies in History or in Political Science, the student must have easy access to books; and, in order to place within his reach the principal sources, authorities, and other helps necessary for the study of a given course, the system of “reserved books” was established some years ago in the Harvard College Library. The instructors in the various departments request the Library authorities to place upon the shelves of certain alcoves, assigned for this purpose in the reading-room of the Library, the books used by their classes for collateral reading and reference. The books thus reserved can be taken from the shelves by the students themselves without the formality of oral or written orders, and can be consulted in the Library during the day. At the close of library hours, they may, if properly charged, be taken out for the ensuing night only, [169] the borrowers promising to return them at 9 a.m. the next day. The right to use the reserved books is not limited to those students who take the particular course for which certain books have been reserved, but all persons entitled to the privileges of the Library are likewise entitled to use all the reserved books, the purpose of the system being not to withdraw the works from general use for the benefit of a narrow circle, but rather so to regulate their use that the greatest possible number of students may be able to consult them. Persons engaged in special investigations can, if necessary, obtain cards of admission to the shelves where the material they wish to use is stored; but, for the ordinary student, the reserved books, together with those ordered from the Library in the usual way, are sufficient.

The courses of instruction which are now to be described are classified — as are all courses offered in the College — as courses or half-courses, according to the amount of work required of the student and the number of exercises a week, a course having either three or two exercises a week, a half-course either two or one.1 Some of the courses are given every year, others every two years, others twice in three years. The more advanced courses can be taken only by special permission of the instructors, to obtain which students must give evidence of their ability to do the work expected of them. There are announced this year (1884-85) in the official pamphlet sixteen courses and two half-courses in History, one course and two half-courses in Roman Law, and four courses and four half-courses in Political Economy. There are actually given this year eleven courses and two half-courses in History, one course in Roman Law, and four courses and three half-courses in Political Economy,

1In the following description the half-courses are especially designated as such.

[170] the remaining courses being omitted in accordance with the arrangements mentioned above or for special reasons. The average number of hours of instruction per week devoted this year to History is thirty; to Roman Law, three; to Political Economy, fifteen.

[…]

THE COURSES IN POLITICAL ECONOMY.

Political Economy 1 (Mill’s “Principles of Political Economy “; Lectures on Banking and the Financial Legislation of the United States; three hours a week, Professor Dunbar and Assistant-Professor Laughlin) is designed (1) to provide for those students who intend to continue their economic studies for more than one year a suitable introduction to the elementary principles of the science, and their application to questions of practical interest; and (2) to furnish students whose time is chiefly devoted to other departments of study with that general knowledge of and training in Political Economy which all men of liberal education should desire. It has, therefore, its theoretical and its practical side. In the present year (1884-85) the new edition of Mill, prepared by Professor Laughlin, serves as a text-book for the main part of the course, and the remaining time is occupied by lectures on the elements of banking and the public finance of the United States (especially in the last quarter of a century). The instructor holds that for a course in the elements of Political Economy, where it is eminently desirable that the student should assimilate principles rather than memorize explanations of each subject, neither the recitation system nor the lecture system is best fitted, but that a judicious mixture of both is necessary; for the object of the instruction is in general not merely to give men facts, but to lead them to think. The text-book is supposed to furnish to the student a clear statement of the principles that are to be taken up at a given exercise. Then in the class-room the instructor, by questions, and by drawing the men into discussion and the free expression of difficulties, endeavors as much as possible to fix the knowledge of principles in the mind of the students, and to direct their attention to the workings of these principles in concrete cases. Graphic [186] representations of facts (such, for example, as are given by the charts in the text-book referred to) are often used to make the relation between theory and practice still clearer; and statements from the newspapers in regard to economic matters are sometimes read in the class-room, in order to test the student’s ability in applying abstract principles to the affairs of every-day life. To give the students practice in making accurate statements, questions are now and then written on the blackboard and answered in writing within fifteen minutes, and at the next hour these answers are criticised and discussed.

In the lectures on the elements of banking and finance in the latter part of the year, the three functions of banking — deposit, issue, and discount — are illustrated by references to the system of National Banks, of the old United States Banks, and of the Bank of England; and the sub-treasury system, the national debt, the methods of raising revenue during the war, the issue of legal tender paper, the resumption of specie payments, etc., are some of the topics discussed, Professor Dunbar’s pamphlet entitled “Extracts from the Laws of the United States relating to Currency and Finance” serving as a basis for the lectures on finance.

 

Political Economy 2 (History of Economic Theory — Examination of Selections from Leading Writers, three hours a week, Professor Dunbar) was in former years conducted by taking up, in the earlier part of the year, Cairnes’s “Leading Principles,” and, in the later part, some book of which the discussion and criticism would bring out more clearly the meaning of the generally accepted doctrines. Carey’s “Social Science,” [three volumes: Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3] George’s “Progress and Poverty,” Shadwell’s ”Principles” — books which put the “orthodox” student in a defensive attitude — were used for this purpose. In addition, lectures were given on the history of political economy, and on examples of the working in practice of its principles, such as the working of the principles of international trade in the payment of the Franco-German indemnity in 1871-73, the commercial crisis of 1857, etc.

For the present year (1884-85) the course is remodelled. Nothing in the nature of a text-book is used. The subject is treated by topics. Such questions as the wages-fund controversy, the theory of international trade, the method of political economy, the theory of value, are to be taken up in succession. On each topic references to leading writers will be submitted to the students for examination and discussion. On the wages-fund question, for example, Mill’s retractation in the “Fortnightly Review” of his original views, Cairnes’s restatement of the theory, F. A. Walker’s position as found in his “Wages Question” and his “Political Economy,” George’s criticism of current views in “Progress and Poverty” will be read and discussed. The history of political economy is to be taken up in a similar way, by reference to characteristic extracts from the writings of the Physiocrats, Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, Senior, Say, Bastiat, and their successors and critics in England and on the Continent. These extracts, read beforehand by the students and discussed in the class-room, will be supplemented by the comments and explanations of the instructor. By this method it is hoped that some familiarity with the literature of the subject will be obtained, as well as a more exact comprehension of its doctrines than can come from an elementary study like that of Course 1.

 

In Political Economy 3 (Discussion of Practical Economic Questions — Lectures and Theses, three hours a week, Assistant-Professor Laughlin) it is expected that the student, who is supposed now to have grasped firmly the general principles of political economy by at least one year’s previous study, will apply these principles to the work of examining [188] some of the prominent questions of the day, such as the navigation laws and American shipping, bimetallism, reciprocity with Canada, government and national bank issues, etc. At the beginning of each topic a general outline of the subject and its principal divisions is given by the instructor, together with more or less particular references to the most important authorities; but a complete list of books is not always furnished, the student being rather encouraged to hunt for material himself. The exercise in the class-room takes the form rather of a discussion than a formal lecture, references to authorities being given previous to each meeting, as the following examples will show: —

Standards of Value, see Jevons, “Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,” chaps, iii, xxv; S. Dana Horton, “Gold and Silver,” chap.iv, p. 36; F. A. Walker, “Political Economy,” pp. 363-368, “Money, Trade, and Industry,” pp. 56-77; Wolowski, “L’Or et l’Argent,” pp. 7, 22, 207; Mill, “Principles of Political Economy,” book iii, chap, xv; Walras, “Journal des Économistes,” October, 1882, pp. 5-13.

The third hour of the week (and also the mid-year examination) can be omitted by men who promise to prepare one considerable thesis (due in April) on a subject connected with some practical question of the day which has not been discussed in the class-room. Examples of such subjects are: the warehousing system; a commercial treaty with Mexico; the public land system; the remedy for our surplus of revenue; municipal taxation; characteristics of socialism in the United States; co-operation in the United States (productive and distributive co-operation, industrial partnerships, and cooperative banks); advantages and disadvantages of small holdings.

 

Political Economy 4 (Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War, three hours a week, Professor Dunbar) serves to connect Political Economy with  [189] History. It requires no previous study of Political Economy, although some historical knowledge of the period is presupposed. Among the more prominent subjects taken up are: the rise of the modern manufacturing system, more particularly in cottons, woolens, iron; the steam engine; the economic effects of American Independence and of the French Revolution; the factory system; the migration of labor; improved transportation by railroads and steamships; the application of liberal ideas to international trade; the new gold of California and Australia; the economic effects of the Civil War in the United States; American grain in Europe; the Suez Canal; the crisis of 1873, and commercial crises in general; the development of banking; and the resumption of specie payments in the United States.

The course is chiefly narrative, and is carried on by lectures, supplemented by references for collateral reading. A printed list of topics is distributed to the students, containing a summary of the lectures and references to books reserved in the Library. An extract from this list will most clearly indicate its character and purpose. It gives the topics and references for the first lecture on the new gold supply: —

Lecture XLVII. — The discovery of gold in California: “Robinson’s California” (see Larkin’s and Mason‘s Reports, pp. 17, 33); also Exec. Doc. of U. S., 1848, i, 1. — The discovery in Australia: Westgarth, “Colony of Victoria,” 122,315. — Establishment of miners’ customs: Wood,”Sixteen Months in the Gold Diggings,” 125; Lalor’s “Cyclopaedia,” ii, 851. — Increased supply of precious metals in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries small in proportion to that in nineteenth century: Soetbeer, “Edelmetall-Production” (in Petermann’s “Mittheilungen”), Plate 3; “Walker on Money,” Part I, chaps, vii, viii. — The discoveries of 1848 and 1851 needed to give effect to influences already stimulating trade and commerce.

Similar topics and references are given for each of the eighty or ninety lectures.

 

[190] In Political Economy 5 (Economic Effects of Land Tenures in England, Ireland, France, and Germany—Lectures and Theses, one hour a week, counting as a half-course, Assistant-Professor Laughlin) a branch of the science that has been but slightly considered in Course 1 is taken up, and, as in the other practical courses, an attempt is made to apply principles to facts. The following extract from the official pamphlet, describing the courses of study in Political Economy, will indicate the ground covered: —

“This course covers the questions now of political importance in England, Ireland, France, and Germany in their economic aspects, and embraces the following subjects: — In England: the land laws; relative position of landlord, tenant, and laborer in the last one hundred years; tenant-right; leases; prices and importation of grain; repeal of the corn-laws; American competition; peasant proprietorship. In Ireland: the ancient tribal customs; English conquests; relations of landlord and tenant; security of tenure; Ulster tenant-right; absenteeism; parliamentary legislation; acts of 1869, 1870, 1881, 1882; population; prices of food and labor. In France: feudal burdens on land; relation of classes, and condition of peasantry and agriculture before the Revolution; small holdings and the law of equal division; present condition of peasantry and agriculture; growth of population; statistics of production, wages, prices; peasant proprietorship. In Germany: reforms of Stein and Hardenberg; condition of agriculture; peasant proprietors; statistics of wages and prices.”

A subject taken up (for example, English land tenures) is divided into topics, some of which are treated by the instructor by means of lectures, others are assigned to the individual members of the class, who are expected to present the results of their study in writing. These short theses are criticised and discussed by the instructor and the class, authorities that have been overlooked are pointed out, and suggestions are made as to the way in which the question can be better handled. Perhaps five or six of these papers [191] are required from each student during the year, the intention being that at least one shall be handed in each week. As the natural tendency of such work is to “compile,” much more consideration is given to the quality than to the quantity of the thesis.

 

In Political Economy 6 (History of Tariff Legislation in the United States, one hour a week, counting as a half- course, Dr. Taussig) the history of tariff legislation from 1789 to the present day is studied. The method of instruction is by lectures and collateral reading, specific references being given beforehand on the subjects to be taken up; for example, the references on the tariff act of 1789 are as follows: Hamilton’s “Life of Hamilton,” iv, 2-7; Adams, “Taxation in United States,” 1-30, especially 27-30; Sumner, “History of Protection,” 21-25; Young’s “Report on Tariff Legislation,” pp. iv-xvi. Similar references are given when the economic effects of the tariff, more particularly in recent years, are discussed. The class-room work is based on the assumption that the passages referred to have been read by the students, and, though mainly carried on by lectures, includes questioning and discussion on the references. The economic principles bearing on tariff legislation are taken up in connection with the more important public utterances on the subject, such as Hamilton’s “Report on Manufactures,” Gallatin’s “Memorial of 1832,” Walker’s “Treasury Report of 1845,” and the speeches of Webster, Clay, and others. These are read by the students, and discussed in the class; and at the same time with them are considered the views of writers on the theory of economic science. In the course of the year the various arguments pro and con in the protection controversy are, in one shape or another, encountered and discussed. Towards the close of the year lectures are given on the tariff history of England, France, and Germany.

 

[192] Political Economy 7 (Comparison of the Financial Systems of France, England, Germany, and the United States, one hour a week, counting as a half-course, Professor Dunbar) deals with the principles of finance, and with the financial systems of the more important civilized countries. The budgets of France, Germany, and England are examined and compared, the financial methods of the United States are noted, and the principles of finance and the advantages and disadvantages of different taxes are discussed. The instruction is mainly by lectures. The course is not given in the present year (1884-85), and may be omitted in future years, though it will be retained on the elective list.

 

In Political Economy 8 (History of Financial Legislation in the United States, one hour a week, counting as a half- course, Professor Dunbar) the funding of the Revolutionary debt, the establishment and working of the first Bank of the United States, the financial policy of Hamilton and Gallatin, the effect of the War of 1812 on the finances and the currency, the establishment of the second Bank of the United States, the fall of the bank in Jackson’s time, and the years 1836-40, the independent treasury, the State banking system, the growth of the public debt during the Civil War, and its reduction and conversion since, the establishment and working of the National Bank system, — are the topics successively considered. The method of instruction is by lectures and by reference to the public documents and other writings bearing on the subject. It is advised by the instructors that Courses 6 and 8 in Political Economy be taken together; and this advice has been followed, most students who take one of these courses being also members of the other.

 

Source:  Henry E. Scott, “The Courses of Study in History, Roman Law, and Political Economy at Harvard University”  Vol. I. Methods of Teaching History (pp. 167-170, 185-192) in the series Pedagogical Library, edited by G. Stanley Hall. Boston: D.C. Heath & Company, second edition, 1885.

Image Source:  Charles F. Dunbar (left) and Frank W. Taussig (right) from E. H. Jackson and R. W. Hunter, Portraits of the Harvard Faculty (1892); J. Laurence Laughlin (middle) from Marion Talbot. More Than Lore: Reminiscences of Marion Talbot, Dean of Women, The University of Chicago, 1892-1925. Chicago: University of Chicago (1936).

Categories
Curriculum Germany Harvard

Harvard. The German language in higher education, 1894

 

Several earlier posts have considered foreign language requirements from the perspective of mid-20th century (e.g. Harvard, Columbia, Chicago). This post takes us back to the early years of graduate instruction at the end of the 19th century. The report by the “German Committee” submitted to the Board of Overseers of Harvard College in 1894 was forty-six pages long. I have included only the statements by three professors of economics (Taussig, Dunbar, and Ashley) between the report’s lede and its conclusions, but I can recommend a quick glance at the statements submitted by members of other departments at Harvard.

__________________

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON GERMAN.
[October 4, 1894]

To The Board of Overseers : —

In order either to confirm or to correct the opinions held by the undersigned as to the position which instruction in the German language should occupy in the general scheme of the University, the following questions were addressed to teachers of every grade active in the various branches of the institution:

  1. Is any of your work, or of the work of any student in the University under you, determined, or limited, or in any way affected by knowledge or ignorance of the German language on the part of such student, and, if so, how?
  2. Is knowledge of German required of any student in the University for admission to, or for continuance in, any study under you, and, if so, how much knowledge, and how much is it used, and for what study or studies?
  3. What proportion of the published work of yourself, or of any student, or students, in your department, is published in the German language, and, if any, in what books or papers?
  4. What remedy or remedies can you suggest for any evil suffered by the University or any student or students thereof through ignorance of, or imperfect knowledge of German.

We beg leave to submit the answers received in the original; but, for the sake of convenience, we present also in this report, grouped according to the different branches of study, abstracts of opinions expressed, especially in response to question 1, to which we respectfully and urgently invite the attention of the Board of Overseers. It will be found that while a few of the professors, instructors or lecturers consider the knowledge of German as of little consequence to their students, an overwhelming majority of them, representing all conceivable varieties of study, agree, with singular concert of judgment, as to the desirability of that knowledge, differing only in the degree of their appreciation of it, some declaring the ability to read German merely helpful, while others pronounce it to be absolutely indispensable.

We shall now let them speak for themselves :

[…]

Professor F. W. Taussig, Professor of Political Economy.

  1. In the work of all my advanced courses, and especially in the course on economic theory, I am hampered by the fact that the students, otherwise well equipped, cannot handle German.

Professor C. F. Dunbar, Professor of Political Economy and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

  1. In public finance and banking the work is so far affected that I feel it practically useless to require the reading of anything which cannot be paralleled in French or English; and although I make references to German sources, it is with the feeling that they will be used by only a part of the class. This often makes it necessary, in order to cover a German topic with certainty (as e. g. in Taxation), to give it a disproportionate amount of time in my lectures. I must add that the state of things appears to me to be improving.

Professor W. J. Ashley, Professor of Economic History.

  1. In all the higher University work with which I am concerned, in the study of economic and social history, it would be a great advantage to the men to have a fair acquaintance with German.
  2. In “The History of Economic Theory down to Adam Smith,” to read German is declared in the department pamphlet to be “desirable.” In a class last year of some eight seniors and graduate students, two, if I remember rightly, showed that they could use German with ease, and one of these did an excellent piece of work for me and the class which would have been impossible otherwise.

[…]

            While these reports are calculated to create a favorable impression as far as they go, it is to be gathered from many of the opinions expressed that, although a certain advance is to be noticed, a greater and more general proficiency in German among the students is very desirable. As to the question how the deficiencies that may exist might be remedied, the answers received in response to our interogatories differ. They may be divided into the following classes: —

  1. Those recommending that students be admonished by way of suggestion and advice, in the official reports and pamphlets as well as in personal conversation, to devote more attention to the study of the German language.
  2. Those recommending that the requirements as to German in the examinations for admission to the University be increased.
  3. Those recommending higher requirements as to German for admission to scientific schools, and for honors and degrees; and
  4. Those recommending special courses for scientific German to be connected with the different scientific departments.

These different recommendations do not necessarily exclude one another, as, indeed, they appear grouped together in one or two of the answers we have received to our interrogatories. The admonition by suggestion or advice, as well as the establishment of higher requirements in German for certain honors or degrees, might prove desirable incentives under any circumstances. But a careful consideration of the whole subject has led us to the conclusion that the recommendation of an increase of the initial requirements deserves the most serious attention. The more Harvard rises to the station and dignity of a University in the higher,—that is, the true sense—the less the institution should have to do with that kind of work which naturally belongs to the office of the preparatory school. The student entering Harvard should be required sufficiently to possess what may be called the mechanical equipment necessary for the pursuit of his studies. This, applied to the German language, would mean that the Harvard student should be beyond the struggle with its structural difficulties, that he should be able to read it understandingly, without the painful drudgery of conscious translation word for word, and that in using it his labor should be reduced to a mere occasional enlargement of the vocabulary.

We admit that it may be very difficult, if not impossible, to reach this objective point all at once. But it may ultimately reached by gradual approaches. We venture respectfully to suggest as the first step a public announcement that the requirements as to German in the examination for admission, will henceforth be increased by degrees, and that elementary instruction in German at the University will be discontinued.

We further suggest that the time for the examination in German be extended to two hours and that it include, in addition to the translation of German prose, not of the simplest kind, but of ordinary difficulty, the translation of a few sentences of simple English prose into German, or a simple composition in German, and some ordinary tests in German grammar. The examination should certainly be severe enough not to permit the attainment of a satisfactory result by cramming.

We believe also that the recommendation made by several of the officers of instruction concerning the establishment of special courses in “scientific German” in connection with the respective scientific schools, deserves to be seriously considered. If, as sources of information, German works are to be read, it is most important that they should be read understandingly. The meaning of writers who are studied as authorities should not be merely guessed at. This is one of the cases in which “a little knowledge” is more dangerous than none at all. The particular study of scientific terminologies appears especially necessary with regard to German writers because, as is well known, not a few of them—whether writing on science, or philosophy, or even history, — take great liberties with their language in constructing composite words and in various other ways, thus creating, to some extent, technical terms, or forms of expression which, when applied to certain things, are to convey a special meaning — more or less peculiar to themselves. The courses suggested would, therefore, serve a useful purpose.

We would also respectfully recommend that in courses in which recitations form part of the system of instruction, the classes be divided into sections conveniently small, to contain not above 30 students, and that the number of instructors be correspondingly increased.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

C. SCHURZ,
J. ELLIOT CABOT,
CHARLES E. GRINNELL,

Committee on German.

4th October, 1894.

 

Source: Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from February 6, 1890, to January 8, 1902 Inclusive. Cambridge, Massachusetts (1902), pp. 221, 241-242, 265-267.

Image Source:  Dunbar, Ashley and Taussig from The Harvard Portfolio (Class of 1895), Vol. VI.

 

 

 

Categories
Curriculum Harvard

Harvard. Economics Education of Theodore Roosevelt, 1878-80

 

The founding head of the University of Chicago’s Department of Political Economy, James Laurence Laughlin, was originally trained at Harvard where he taught for five years. He moved on to Cornell for two years before going to Chicago. During Laughlin’s early years at Harvard, one of his economics students was Theodore Roosevelt (Harvard Class of 1880, better known as the 26th President of the United States of America). Roosevelt was eight years younger than Laughlin and died in 1919. Five years later Laughlin published an essay on “Roosevelt at Harvard”. An original typed draft of the essay can be found in his papers at the Library of Congress. While Laughlin spends much of the essay going through Roosevelt’s transcript with interesting comments and observations on Harvard personalities of the late 1870’s, I have only included those parts that deal with the economic education of the future President.

I have not yet compared this draft to the published version, but I have corrected obvious typing errors and inserted some material from what appears to be an earlier draft of page 9 of the typed manuscript.

________________________________

From “Roosevelt’s College Days”
by James Laurence Laughlin

…As a freshman Roosevelt entered the university in 1876 just as a new régime inaugurated by President Eliot had got fairly into working order. The new captain had already introduced the elective system and had enlisted some forward-looking members of his faculty such as C. C. Langdell, Charles F. Dunbar, and Henry Adams. The potentialities of this situation are so interesting that one might be tempted to linger too long on them. They involved epoch-making changes for the nation in education for law, economics, and history. The appointment of Dean Langdell in the Law School brought in the case-system, revolutionized the teaching of law throughout the country, and attracted the attention of foreign jurists. With the creation of the first professorship in economics at Harvard for Dunbar in 1871 there then began the modern teaching in economics which has had so remarkable a development for the last thirty years in all the universities of the country. While Gurney and Torrey were princes of the blood in History, Henry Adams came as the paladin of new adventure. He had the dash and spirit of the crusader. He held the first seminar for research in history in this country. He tied up American history not only with British institutions but also with those of our Teutonic forebears. Such men as these added a new touch to the temple of learning by which Harvard had already won distinction an on which she is till receiving credit….

…For the first time [Roosevelt’s] mind turned from the languages and natural history to those of public interest with which his future was to be so much occupied [during his junior year, 1878-79]. He selected a course in Political Economy then known as Philosophy 6. Although Professor Dunbar had been appointed in 1871, there was no separate department of Political Economy until 1879-80. Previously economics had been briefly taught by Francis Bowen, the professor of philosophy, and for a time the new subject found shelter in his department. Roosevelt’s first introduction to that field was announced in the catalogue as: “Political Economy. –J. S. Mill’s Political Economy.—Financial Legislation of the United States. Prof. Dunbar and Dr. Laughlin.” Professor Dunbar gave lectures on the public finance of the Civil War in which he was a master. To me fell the duty of conducting recitation and discussions on Mill’s original two-volume treatise. [Laughlin’s own Abridged version of Mill’s Principles] Inasmuch as the work was exacting, Roosevelt’s mark for the year of 89 was high.…

[In his senior year, 1879-80…] In Political Economy he studied with Professor Dunbar Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy, McLeod’s Elements of Banking, and Bastiat’s Harmonies Économiques in which he got 78.

During his junior year, in order to widen the interest of my students in applying economics to public questions, I suggested to a group of them the advantage of forming a Finance Club for the purpose of inviting outside economists to speak at the university. Besides Roosevelt there were George Hoadley, J. G.Thorp, A. B. Hart, F. J. Ranlett, W. H. Rhett, Josiah Quincy and Charles G. Washburn. The plan evidently appealed to Roosevelt, for he writes to his sister in the autumn of 1878 as follows:

‘I have begun studying fairly hard now, and shall keep it up until Christmas. I am afraid I shall not be able to come home for Thanksgiving; I really have my hands full, especially now that my Political Economy Professor wishes me to start a Finance Club, which would be very interesting indeed, and would do us all a great deal would of good, but which will also take up a great deal of time”.

The President of the club was J. G. Thorp (of 1879) and the Secretary was A. B. Hart. The meetings were held in the rooms of the department on the first floor of University Hall, on the window sills of which along side the wide front steps was placed the “shingle” of the club as a means of announcing a meeting to members. That “shingle” is now hanging on the wall of Professor Hart’s office in the Widener Library.

The lecturers invited by the club stirred up a wide interest in economics. Few of us had known William G. Sumner personally. The vigor of his writing had given us the impression of a very austere personality. At Yale a student who had been invited to supper with Sumner’s family came bursting into his chum’s room late on a wintry night, shouting: “Fellows, Billy Sumner is kind to his family.” Any such impression was dispelled by a very interesting lecture [on “The Relation of Legislation to Money”] marked by Sumner’s usual felicity of style. It was a pleasure, also, to come into contact with the unusually agreeable personality of Gen. Francis A. Walker, another lecturer [on “The Principles of Taxation”]. His experience in the army with Hancock, his administrative ability, his work on the census, and his suggestive economic mind created a desire to know him. Likewise, in the case of Edward Atkinson we came to know an active business man who without academic training had attempted to formulate economic theory. [He had a genius for lucid exposition, so that his lectures on “American Competition with Europe”, “Capital and Labor”, “Railways”, and “The National Banking System”, attracted many students. Later, the one lecture which stirred up the most permanent interest was that by Col. T. W. Higginson on “Young Men in Politics”, which led to the formation of a Harvard Union after the example of the one at Oxford. Another result of the new interest in economics was the action of the university authorities in bringing Hugh McCulloch and Simon Newcomb each to give a course of three lectures.]

[Of especial value was the writing and discussion of papers by the members themselves. Early in the first year five papers had been read. In February, 1879, one of them was by Robert Bacon and Theodore Roosevelt on “Taxation.”]

There was an interesting meeting of the Finance Club on the occasion of the presence of Henry George. I can recall the small group of members gathered in University Hall to whom George spoke informally. After his talk there was a general discussion, in which the students freely exchanged arguments with the speaker. They had had a fairly good grind in the fundamental principles of economics. As a consequence, George did not show to advantage in the give-and-take. It is an interesting coincidence that only seven years after (in 1886) Theodore Roosevelt was the Republican candidate for Mayor of new York city against Henry George, the Labor candidate, and Abram S. Hewitt, the candidate of the United Democracy.

There was a reason why George did not fare well in this discussion. It is a curious fact that George’s system was almost always regarded as a problem in taxation, and in the discussion of it attention was only directed to the matter of so taxing land value that there would be no object in holding land in private property ownership. Strangely enough, the course of the arguments by which he reached this conclusion, the very supports on which his system of taxation rested, were generally disregarded, or what is more likely were little understood. To this day there is no adequate study of the logic of “Progress and Poverty”. It does not seem to be realized that his plan of taxation depended on the dictum that payment of rent was a subtraction from wages, and that abolition of rent for land would remove the existence of low wages and wipe out poverty. Such an outcome was reached only by granting as proved that payment of interest on capital could be eliminated. This part of this theorizing was extremely weak. if his reasoning was wrong, his system of taxation had no supports.

In the copy of the first edition of “Progress and Poverty” [Link to Fourth Edition, 1881] now lying on my table, I find a request for a review of it from the editor of the International Review as follows:

Jan. 11., 1880

“My dear Laughlin:

About 2pp. on this book, please. I should suppose from glancing at it that it was rubbish. But there may be ideas in it.

Truly yrs.

H.C-Lodge.”

Senator Lodge had ceased to be an instructor in history after 1878-79, and when Roosevelt was a senior he had become editor of the International Review….

…In his junior year I had an interesting conference with [Roosevelt]. He came to me to discuss whether it would be better for him to specialize on natural history or to take more economics. He gave no indication that he was thinking of a public career. My advice was that the country at that time especially needed men trained to think correctly on public questions and that these questions were nine-tenths economic. I can no say, of course, that my advice influenced him, but he did continue his economics in his senior year. Nor could one say that in after life he always thought correctly on economics. in public office, in order to get things done, it is too often supposed that economic considerations must be sacrificed to political expediency. Yet he did not forget his college courses in economics. After he had left the presidency and was contributing editor on the Outlook, when I was in charge of the campaign of education for the passage of the Federal Reserve Act, I had an interview with him in order to secure his support of the measure. On sending in my card, he appeared at the other end of the open floor entirely covered with desks, holding up my card at arm’s length, and shouting: “Where’s the fellow that taught me Political Economy”. In conference, after explaining the measure and asking him for advice how to proceed, he said “Have it associated as little as possible with Aldrich’s name. Have it come up from the small bankers of Florida or Oregon.” Then, as we finished, he added: “I will do all I can to help you. I wish I could do more. I could make a speech on the free coinage of silver; but when you get me into compound differentials and finance”—here his voice rose into his characteristic falsetto—“I am all up in the air.” To which I replied “That does not speak well for your teaching at the university”. “On the contrary, Mr. Laughlin, patting me cordially on the knee, “that was the best course I had at the university”. It was a bit of kindly good fellowship…

 

Source: Library of Congress, The Papers of James Laurence Laughlin. Box 7, Folder “Roosevelt at Harvard Oct/24” published as J. L. Laughlin, “Roosevelt’s College Days,” American Review of Reviews, October, 1924.

Image Source:  Library of Congress, The Papers of James Laurence Laughlin. Box 7, Folder “Roosevelt at Harvard Oct/24”.

Categories
Courses Curriculum Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Economics courses with enrollments and exam questions, 1871-1875

 

In an earlier posting I assembled information for the two or three economics courses regularly offered at Harvard in the mid-1870s. Today’s posting provides information on the economics course offerings during the first half of the 1870s. Except for the academic year 1870-1, all the courses were taught by Charles Dunbar, who only began teaching at Harvard in 1871/72. Below you will find titles of the textbooks assigned for the courses, enrollment figures, and final examination questions pieced together from the Harvard course catalogues, reports of the President of Harvard and a few unpublished exams I have found during my visit to the Harvard archives in February 2017.

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If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled. You can subscribe to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror below. There is also an opportunity for comment following each posting….

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1870-71

REQUIRED: POLITICAL SCIENCE.
Junior year

Assistant Professor of Philosophy Ellis Peterson, A.M. Roger’s Political Economy. Mr. O. W. Holmes, Jr. — Alden, Constitution of the United States.

One hour a week. 119 students, 3 sections, 1 exercises per week for students, 3 exercises per week for instructor [for political economy]. 2 sections, 1 exercises per week for students, 3 exercises per week for instructor [for constitutional law].

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1871-72, p. 39;  Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1870-71, p. 51.

POLITICAL ECONOMY
Final Examination, June 1871
Junior year

I.

1. What is the sense in which the term wealth is used in Political Economy? 2. What was the cause, and also the effect of the belief that wealth was money? 3. In what sense is the term value used by Political Economists? 4. What is the cause of economical value, and under what conditions is land an exception to the rule of value? 5. Distinguish price from value, and show that while there may be a general rise in prices, there cannot be a general rise in values.

II.

1. What are the causes of “demand,” and which of these are relative, and which absolute? 2. On what does the price of commodities depend in the long run? Also, at any particular time? 3. Why is the increase in the price of bread-stuffs greater than the decrease in the supply? 4. Explain the effects of a very high price of bread on the price of meat. 5. Illustrate by the “cotton famine” in England (1826-65), how demand and supply affect prices.

III.

1. Give the origin and the definition of capital. 2. What are the real profits of capital, and what are included in the gross profits? 3. What are the principal causes of the unequal distribution of capital? 4. How are capital and labor affected by governmnet’s contracting a loan for an unproductive purpose? 5. Why are the fluctuations in the rate of disocunt greater than in the rate of interest?

IV.

1. Show that unproductive labor may be indirectly productive? 2. Give the advantages of “Division of Labor.” 3. Analyze wages of labor. 4. (1)If the number of laborers and the amount of capital invested in production be given, what of course must be the average wages of labor? (2)What causes the difference of wages in different employments? (3)What causes fluctuations of wages of a certain labor, and also of a certain laborer? 5. Show how the staple food of a country may affect the rate of wages?

V.

1. Give Malthus’s Theory of Population. 2. Why have the credit banks of M. Delitzsch been successful? 3. What is the first of Adam Smith’s four canons of taxation? 4. Distinguish direct from indirect taxes. 5. Give briefly the arguments for and against direct and also indirect taxation.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC 7000.28) Box 1 of 284, Folder “Final Examinations, 1870-1871”.

 

ELECTIVE: PHILOSOPHY 4
POLITICAL ECONOMY
Senior year

Nicholas St. John  Green, LL.B. Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. — J. S. Mill’s Political Economy.

Three times a week. 99 Seniors, 2 sections, 3 exercises per week for students, 6 exercises per week for instructor.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1871-72, p. 41;  Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1870-71, p. 52.

PHILOSOPHY IV
POLITICAL ECONOMY
Final Examination, June, 1871

  1. In what respect do the views of Mr. Mill upon co-operation and the division of labor differ from the views of Adam Smith?
  2. On what does the degree of Productiveness of productive Agents depend?
  3. What is the doctrine of Malthus and what is Mr. Mill’s opinion of that doctrine?
  4. What is Communism? St. Simonism? Fourierism?
  5. What does Mr. Mill think concerning property in land?
  6. What is the remedy for low wages?
  7. What are the functions of money, and how and to what extent can credit supply its place?
  8. What are the evils of an inconvertible paper currency?
  9. What are the ordinary functions of government?
  10. What are the limits of the province of government?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC 7000.28) Box 1 of 284, Folder “Final Examinations, 1870-1871”.

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1871-72

REQUIRED: POLITICAL SCIENCE.
Junior year

Prof. Dunbar. Roger’s Political Economy. — Alden, Constitution of the United States.
One hour a week. 128 students, 3 sections, 1 exercises per week for students, 3 exercises per week for instructor.

[Note: Political Economy and the U.S. Constitution were each a half-year course with Political Economy covered in the first semester and the U.S. Constitution in the second semester.]

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1872-73, p. 58;  Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1871-72, p. 46.

POLITICAL ECONOMY
Final Examination, February 1872
Junior year

  1. What is the difference between price and value?
  2. What is capital, and whence is it derived?
  3. Is a legal tender note of the United States money? If not, then what is it?
  4. What effect has an excessive issue of paper currency upon prices?
  5. In an estimate of public wealth, what kinds of individual wealth are excluded, and why?
  6. Why is the rate of interest high in a newly settled Western State?
  7. What determines the rate of wages?
  8. What was the theory of Malthus as to the growth of population?
  9. What effect has the introduction of machinery upon the rate of wages?
  10. What is rent, and how does it depend upon the cost of production?
  11. In the trade between nations, how is the transmission of gold and silver for the most part avoided?
  12. If there is a scarcity of some article of which there are several qualities of different prices, will the cheapest or the dearest quality rise most, and why?
  13. What is the difference between direct and indirect taxation, and what are their respective advantages!
  14. Why is a tax on raw materials a bad tax?
  15. How does our national debt differ in form from the English, and what advantage has either form?

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1872-73, p. 241.

ELECTIVE: POLITICAL ECONOMY
Senior year

Prof. Dunbar. Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. — J. S. Mill’s Political Economy.
Three times a week. 75 Seniors, 2 sections, 3 exercises per week for students, 6 exercises per week for instructor.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1872-73, p. 61;  Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1871-72, p. 48.

POLITICAL ECONOMY
Special Examination, December, 1871

  1. What is probably the most important advantage obtained by the division of labor?
  2. Define wealth.
  3. Define money.
  4. What is the difference between value and price?
  5. What is the real price of an article, and by what is it measured?
  6. What is the natural price?
  7. What is the market price, and what is its relation to the natural
    price?
  8. In a country where gold and silver coin are both used, what effect will a permanent increase in the supply of either metal have upon the currency? What effect upon prices?
  9. Can these effects be avoided or mitigated, and if so, by what expedient?
  10. What is rent, and how does it depend upon the cost of production?
  11. In the trade between nations, how is the transmission of gold and silver for the most part avoided?
  12. If there is a scarcity of some article of which there are several qualities of different prices, will the cheapest or the dearest quality rise most, and why?
  13. What is the difference between direct and indirect taxation, and what are their respective advantages!
  14. Why is a tax on raw materials a bad tax?
  15. How does our national debt differ in form from the English, and what advantage has either form?

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1872-73, p. 248-9.

POLITICAL ECONOMY
Special Examination, January, 1872

  1. What is the distinction between wealth and capital?
  2. What is the difference between fixed and circulating capitals? and to which does money belong?
  3. When either of the precious metals becomes more abundant, and the remedy of over-valuation and limitation of the right of tender is to be applied, does it make any difference which metal is over-valued, and if so, what difference?
  4. On what basis is the Bank of England established?
  5. How does Smith distinguish between productive laborers and unproductive?
  6. Explain the paradox that “what is annually saved is as regularly consumed as what is annually spent.”
  7. What is the error of Locke and Montesquieu as to the supposed connection between the depreciation of value of gold and silver and the lowering of the rate of interest?
  8. What is Adam Smith’s view as to the point at which the rate of interest should be fixed by law, and what is his mistake?
  9. How can a paper currency be kept at par with gold?
  10. What was the theory of the balance of trade, and in what respect was it fallacious?
  11. Why do manufactures often flourish while a nation is carrying on a foreign war?
  12. What was the theory of the agricultural system, and what was its great error?
  13. State the general objection to any system for the extraordinary encouragement of a particular branch of industry, and such partial or complete answers to that objection as may occur to you.
  14. What is the chronological relation of the several systems of Political Economy?
  15. Consider the following passage from a Report of the Comptroller of the Currency, made in December, 1871:—

“The tenacity with which the Pacific States adhere to a gold currency is quite notable. Whether it is equally praiseworthy is another thing. It is not clear that those States derive any substantial benefit from the course they have pursued, and it is beginning to be manifest that the United States are not at all benefited by it. The substitution of a paper currency in California and the other gold-producing States for their present hard money would probably set free for the use of the government and the whole country some thirty or forty millions of gold, and, at the same time, provide those communities with a more economical, active, and accommodating circulating medium.”

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1872-73, p. 249-50.

POLITICAL ECONOMY
Final Examination, June, 1872.

  1. How does Mr. Mill distinguish between productive labor and unproductive? and under which head is mental labor (as, e.g., that of a philosopher or inventor) to be placed?
  2. If a nation has to meet extraordinary expenses, as in time of war, is it better to raise the amount by loan, or by taxes within the year! and why?
  3. What is the relation between profits and the cost of labor?
  4. What is the law which determines the value of that class of commodities of which the supply can be indefinitely increased without increase of cost?
  5. Why are both profits and wages high in a new and fertile country?
  6. If a fall in profits takes place, are manufactured articles or agricultural produce most likely to fall in value, and why?
  7. Why does Mr. Mill think a general over-supply of commodities impossible?
  8. Suppose a paper currency to be issued, of which every note represents actual property. Can it be depreciated, and why?
  9. Can two countries exchange products if in one the general cost of production is higher than in the other, and why?
  10. What is the general law determining the values at which a country exchanges its produce with other countries?
  11. What effect is produced upon international trade by an improvement which introduces a new article of export?
  12. What effect is produced upon rent, profits, and wages respectively, by a great improvement in agriculture?
  13. What reasons are there in theory for exempting from income tax so much of income as is saved and invested?
  14. If a tax upon agricultural produce is of long standing, on whom does it finally fall, and why?
  15. Under what circumstances does Mr. Mill think that protecting duties can properly be levied?

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1872-73, p. 250.

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1872-73

REQUIRED: POLITICAL SCIENCE.
Junior year

Prof. Dunbar. Fawcett’s Political Economy. — Constitution of the United States.
Two hours a week. First half-year. 162 students, 1 lecture, 4 recitations, 2 exercises per week for students, 5 exercises per week for instructor.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1873-74, p. 62;  Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1872-73, p. 42.

Final Examination, February, 1873
CONSTITUTION AND POLITICAL ECONOMY
Prof. Dunbar

If unable to answer all the questions on this paper, do not fail to answer a part under each class.

A.

  1. What are the essential points in which the Constitution differs from the Confederation?
  2. Who are citizens of the United States?
  3. State the rule by which Representatives are to be apportioned among the States under Amendments XIV., and XV.
  4. What does the Constitution provide as to the issue of paper currency, whether by Congress or by the States, and whence does Congress derive its power to make paper a legal tender?
  5. On what provision did the claim of power by Congress to prohibit slavery in the Territories chiefly rest?
  6. Whence does either House of Congress obtain its power to punish witnesses for refusal to testify before a committee?
  7. State the change which was made in the method of electing president by Amendment XII., adopted in 1804, and the circumstances which led to that change.
  8. State briefly the provisions relating to the veto power.
  9. State the provisions which define the treaty-making power, and the power of appointing to office.
  10. To what does the judicial power of the United States extend, and how is it limited by Amendment XI.?
  11. How does the Constitution define treason and provide for its punishment?
  12. How can the Constitution be amended, and what exception is there to the power of amendment?

B.

  1. How are the permanently different rates of profit in different pursuits in the same country accounted for?
  2. How does credit affect prices?
  3. What is the advantage obtained by the consumer from the warehousing system?
  4. Should permanent incomes derived from invested property be taxed at the same rate as temporary or professional incomes? Give the reason.
  5. On whom does a tax laid on premises occupied for manufacturing purposes fall, and why?

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1873-74, p. 265.

 

ELECTIVE: POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Senior year

Prof. Dunbar. J. S. Mill’s Political Economy. — McCulloch on Taxation. — Subjects in Banking and Currency.
Three times a week. First half-year. 65 Seniors, 2 sections, 3 exercises per week for students, 6 exercises per week for instructor.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1873-74, p. 67;  Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1872-73, p. 44.

 

[Final Examination May or June 1873]
Political Economy
Prof. Dunbar

  1. Mill says, “That high wages make high prices is a popular and wide-spread opinion.” To what extent, and why, is that opinion incorrect?
  2. Suppose the recent combinations of English agricultural laborers to be successful in securing higher wages; what would be the effect on the price of food, the profits of farmers, and the rent?
  3. Adam Smith’s theory of the benefit of foreign trade was that it affords an outlet for surplus produce, and enables the country to replace a part of its capital with a profit. What criticism is to be made on this theory?
  4. How does Bastiat apply his theory of value, for the purpose of showing which of two nations will gain the most from an exchange of products?
  5. Explain Mill’s remark that “there are two senses in which a country obtains commodities cheaper by foreign trade: in the sense of value, and in the sense of cost.”
  6. If a country has regular annual payments to be made abroad, as e. g. interest on a public debt, what effect is produced thereby on the imports and exports, and on the terms on which it exchanges products with other countries?
  7. Suppose capital and population are both increasing; what will be the effect on rent, wages, and profits, and why?
  8. What will be the effect, in the case supposed above, if a great improvement is made in cultivation?
  9. Apply the results in Nos. 7 and 8 to the case of a country like the United States, where the land and the agricultural capital are generally owned by the same person.
  10. State the reasons for and against an income tax, the leading exemptions which should be made, and the rule to be observed in taxing incomes from invested property and from business profits respectively.
  11. Under what circumstances will a tax on exports fall upon foreigners?
  12. In what cases will a duty on imports fall upon foreigners?
  13. What answer is made to Adam Smith’s argument that home trade affords more encouragement to productive industry than foreign trade?’
  14. What answer is made to the objection that the system of protection adds the amount of the duty to the price paid by consumers of protected commodities?
  15. It being admitted that revenue must be raised by duties on imports, how does the plan of “a revenue tariff with incidental protection” fail to satisfy either the theory of protection or that of free trade?

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1873-74, p. 266.

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1873-74

REQUIRED: POLITICAL SCIENCE.
Sophomore and Junior year

[Note: In 1873 the required study of Political Science was transferred from the Junior to the Sophomore Year that implies combining Juniors and Sophomores for the transition year 1873-74.]

Prof. Dunbar and Mr. Howland. Elements of Political Economy. — Constitution of the United States.
Two hours a week. Half-year. 153 students, 3 sections, 2 exercises per week for students, 6 exercises per week for instructor.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1873-74, p. 67; Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1873-74, p. 44.

Final Examination
PRESCRIBED POLITICAL ECONOMY
February 1874

Political Economy

Those who are also to pass in the Constitution may omit questions marked (*).

  1. Define (a) wealth; (b) value; (c) price; (d) capital; (e) money.
  2. What are the qualities which make gold and silver suitable materials for a currency? What are the objections to a double standard of value?
  3. Explain the action of demand and supply upon the prices (a) of raw materials; (b) of manufactured articles.
  4. Show how rents would be affected by suddenly doubling the productiveness of all lands under cultivation. Prove that rent does not enter into the price of agricultural produce.
  5. State and illustrate the causes which produce a difference in the rate of wages in different employments.
  6. Suppose the amount of the (gold) currency of a country to be suddenly doubled, what would be the effect upon (a) values; (b) prices; (c) exports and imports?
  7. Define direct and indirect taxation. What are the objections to an import duty on raw materials? What is the incidence of a tax levied on the rent of land and paid by the tenant?
  8. (*) Define productive and unproductive consumption. If the latter were to cease altogether, what would be the ultimate effect upon production?
  9. (*) Show how the cost of labor is affected, (a) if the efficiency of labor is increased; (b) if the margin of cultivation sinks.
  10. (*) What are the elements of which profits are composed? Why does the rate of profits vary (a) in different employments; (b) in different countries?
  11. (*) Explain the several ways in which credit promotes production. What are the disadvantages of an irredeemable paper currency?
  12. (*) Explain the use of bills of exchange. What is meant by an unfavorable balance of exchange?
  13. (*) Discuss the question, whether temporary and permanent incomes should be taxed alike.

 

Constitution of the United States.
Those who are also to pass in Political Economy may omit questions marked (*).

  1. (*) When and by whom was the Constitution framed, and what were the principal steps leading to its formation and adoption?
  2. Define citizenship.
  3. What changes have the abolition of slavery and the consequent amendments of the Constitution made in the system of representation?
  4. State the method of electing the President, and the difference between the present method and that at first adopted.
  5. (*) By whom are questions settled which affect the validity of elections (a) of representatives, (b) of senators, (c) of President?
  6. (*) What provision does the Constitution make tor the removal, death, resignation, or inability to serve of the President or Vice-President, or for a failure to elect either officer or both?
  7. (*) What powers over the militia are given to Congress or to the President?
  8. What are the provisions of the Constitution affecting the subject of currency?
  9. What are the provisions relating to taxation, and what are direct taxes under the Constitution?
  10. (*) What are the provisions relating to impeachment?
  11. Under what provision did Congress claim and exercise the power of prohibiting slavery in the territories?
  12. What is the extent of the judicial power of the United States, and where is it vested?
  13. What is the provision for amending the Constitution?

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1874-75, p. 218-19.

 

ELECTIVE: PHILOSOPHY 6.
Political Economy

Prof. Dunbar. Political Economy. J. S. Mill’s Political Economy. — Bagehot’s Lombard Street. — Sumner’s History of American Currency.
Three hours a week. 70 Seniors, 1 Junior.
2 Sections, 3 exercises per week for students, 6 exercises per week for Instructor.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1873-74, p. 67; Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1873-74, p. 46.

 

Final Examination
Philosophy 6 (Political Economy)
June 1874

  1. If the recent efforts to promote emigration on a large scale among English agricultural laborers should be successful, what would be the effect on the price of food, the profits of fanners, and rent!
  2. What is the reason for the expectation that both capitalists and laborers will be gainers from co-operation, and that neither will gain at the expense of the other? and how is this expectation to be reconciled with the general doctrine of Ricardo, that “the rate of profits depends on wages, rising as wages fall, and falling as wages rise”?
  3. Is it desirable to collect a surplus revenue for the purpose of paying off a national debt, or should the amount be left “to fructify in the pockets of the people”? Give the reason.
  4. Explain Mill’s doctrine of the tendency of profits to a minimum, the causes which produce that tendency, and the circumstances which counteract it.
  5. State the general law which determines the values at which a country exchanges its produce with foreign countries, and illustrate its application by the example of cloth and linen.
  6. Explain the incidence of taxes on imports, and the arguments that may be drawn thence as to the policy of protecting duties.
  7. Does or does not a protecting duty give additional employment to home labor? Give the reason.
  8. Criticise the following passage from Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,” Book II., chapter iv. : —

“The legal rate of interest, it is to be observed, though it ought to be somewhat above, ought not to be much above the lowest market-rate. [If it were much above] the greater part of the money which was to be lent, would be lent to prodigals and projectors, who alone would be willing to give this high interest. Sober people, who will give for the use of money no more than a part of what they are likely to make by the use of it, would not venture into the competition. . . . Where the legal rate of interest, on the contrary, is fixed but a very little above the lowest market-rate, sober people are universally preferred, as borrowers, to prodigals and projectors. The person who lends money gets nearly as much interest from the former as he dares to take from the latter, and his money is much safer in the hands of the one set of people than in those of the other. A great part of the capital of the country is thus thrown into the hands in which it is most likely to be employed with advantage.”

  1. A respectable newspaper remarks, that “the object of taxation is to make all property bear its equitable share.” Is this a correct statement of the principle which should be followed in adjusting a system of taxation? Why, or why not?
  2. What effect will high internal taxes have upon prices and upon values?
  3. Explain the incidence of taxes laid on the rent of houses or stores, in a city where the value of land is great. Would the result be different if the tax were laid on the assessed value of the premises? Why, or why not?
  4. Give the leading facts and dates in the history of the United States Bank.
  5. Explain fully how the suspension of Peel’s act of 1844 gives relief to the money market in a panic, and what relation it bears to a suspension of specie payment.
  6. The dollar contains 23.22 grains of pure gold. A dollar in silver currency, if of full value, according to this standard should contain about 866.7 grains, but in fact contains only 345.6 grains of pure silver. How does this explain the somewhat tardy disappearance of silver change when our paper currency depreciated, and to what point must the value of the paper rise before silver can come back into general circulation?
  7. State present limits of our paper currency, and discuss the objections to such a currency when, like ours, it is redundant and depreciated, and has a maximum fixed by law.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1874-75, p. 223-4.

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1874-75

PRESCRIBED: POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Sophomore year

Prof. Dunbar. Fawcett’s Political Economy for Beginners. — Constitution of the United States (Alden’s Science of Government, omitting the first four and the last three chapters).
Two hours a week. Half-year. 208 students, 4 sections, 2 exercises per week for students, 8 exercises per week for instructor.

Source: Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1874-75, p. 45.; Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1874-75, p. 45.

 

Final Examination June, 1875
PRESCRIBED POLITICAL ECONOMY

Political Economy

[Do not change the order of the questions. Those who are to pass in the Constitution may omit questions marked (*).]

  1. (*) If A owns a United States bond, is it wealth? Is it capital?
  2. (*) What is the differene between circulating capital and fixed capital, and how is it that each “in order to fulfil its functions must be consumed?”
  3. (*) What is the difference between value, as the term is used in this discussion, and value in use?
  4. What is the relation between market price and cost of production? Consider this with reference to each of the three classes into which commodities are divided in relation to their value.
  5. (*) How is the value of gold determined?
  6. What circumstances are said to have counteracted the effect of the Australian and Californian gold discoveries? Did these circumstances affect the value of gold in England alone, or in other countries also? How?
  7. If a country uses both gold and silver coin as its legal tender, and silver depreciates, which coin will remain in circulation? Why?
  8. On what does the cost of labor depend? In your answer distinguish between real wages and money wages.
  9. What is the difference between convertible paper currency and inconvertible? Is one more secure against depreciation than the other? Why?
  10. Why does the interest earned on capital in different employments tend to equality at any given time and place?
  11. Explain the incidence of taxes laid on dwelling houses.
  12. Apply the four canons of taxation to the case of a duty on imported goods, and show whether it answers their requirements or not.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC 7000.28) Box 1 of 284, Folder “Final Examinations, 1874-1875”.

Image Source: Charles Franklin Dunbar from The Harvard Graduates’Magazine, Vol. VIII, No. 32 (June, 1900), Frontspiece.

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. Memorial Minute for Professor Silas Marcus Macvane, 1914.

 

From this minute from the record of a meeting of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences (February 17, 1914), the historian Silas Marcus Macvane (incidentally, a classmate of the first head of the Chicago Department of Political Economy, J. Laurence Laughlin), we see that his first academic appointment was as an Instructor in Political Economy in Harvard College, two years after receiving his B.A. in 1875.  Five years later he was appointed Instructor in History and rose through the ranks in that field. He published nine articles in the Quarterly Journal of Economics up through its ninth volume in 1895.

Note: The copy of the Harvard Album of the Class of 1873 (its “yearbook”) in the Harvard Archives was the personal copy of J. Laurence Laughlin.

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Minute on the Life and Services of Professor Silas Marcus Macvane

The following minute on the life and services of Professor Macvane was placed upon the records of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the meeting of February 17, 1914 : —

Silas Marcus Macvane, McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History, Emeritus, died at Rome, Italy, January 19, 1914, in the seventy-second year of his age.

He was born at Bothwell, Prince Edward’s Island, June 4, 1842, of Scotch farming ancestry, and spent his boyhood in the rough but wholesome discipline of farm life. His natural taste for study led him to Acadia College, Nova Scotia, where he was graduated at the age of twenty-three. The six years following were spent in school teaching and in travel and study abroad.

In 1871 he entered the Junior Class in Harvard College, and was graduated here with the Class of 1873. While in College he came under the influence of Professor Henry Adams, to whom the later development of historical study at Harvard upon a scientific basis was largely due.

Immediately after graduation here Macvane married and began teaching in the Roxbury Latin School. There, as grateful pupils still bear witness, he developed that shrewd and sympathetic insight into young human nature which was to mark all his later dealing with more advanced pupils. Two years of teaching boys, however, sufficed to show that Macvane was, as his chief, Principal Collar, used to say, too large a man for that work, and in 1875 he was appointed Instructor in Political Economy in Harvard College. In 1878 he became Instructor in History, in 1883 Assistant Professor, and in 1886 Professor. In 1887 he was assigned to the McLean Professorship, and retained that title until his retirement in 1911, after thirty-six years of continuous service.

During that long period he was called upon by the demands of a rapid departmental expansion to teach at one time or another in every branch of Political Science, in History, Economics, International and Constitutional Law, Modern Government and Political Theory. In all these he showed himself adequately and evenly prepared, and his instruction in each was broadened and enriched by this many-sided preparation. For many years, however, he was especially identified with the instruction in Modern European History, a subject which he inherited directly from his favorite teacher, Henry Warren Torrey of happy memory. His method of teaching was deliberate, with cautious but incisive criticism, appealing to the better elements of his large classes and always commanding the respect of the rest by its obvious sincerity.

As a scholar he represented the older, wholesome tradition which dreaded a narrow specialization, abhorred the parade of curious learning, and shrank from hasty or ill-considered publication.

In the field of Economic Theory he was a recognized authority, and most of his published work was in that subject. He was a frequent contributor to the Quarterly Journal of Economics during the editorship of Professor Dunbar. In historical publication his most important work was a translation and revision of Seignobos’ Political History of Europe since 1814.

As a working member of this Faculty during the critical years in which the system of academic freedom was being worked out into practicable shape, he was a factor always to be reckoned with. His sympathy was with what in those days was rightly described as progressive, but he saw also the perils of too rapid progress. Never a quick debater, he followed carefully the course of discussion and invariably came in at the close with some shrewd comment which brought out the essential point and not infrequently turned the tide of opinion. His command of practical details led to his appointment on the Committee on the Tabular View, and for many years he was its responsible head, performing a thankless task with infinite patience and consideration for the wishes of his colleagues.

He was a sturdy fighter for the best things, a courteous opponent, a loyal friend and a devoted servant of the truth through loyalty to the College which he loved. Patient under prolonged trial, thinking no evil, he gave his life without complaint to the service of others, finding his sufficient reward in the sense of duty well done.

Source: Harvard University Gazette, Vol. IX, No. 22, February 21, 1914, p. 149-50  .

 

Economic Publications of Silas Marcus Macvane

Crocker, Uriel H., and S. M. Macvane. “General Overproduction.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 1, no. 3 (1887): 362-66. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1882763.

Macvane, S. M. “The Theory of Business Profits.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 2, no. 1 (1887): 1-36. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1879348.

__________. “Analysis of Cost of Production.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 1, no. 4 (1887): 481-87. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1879343.

__________. “Business Profits and Wages: A Rejoinder.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 2, no. 4 (1888): 453-68. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1879389.

__________. The Working Principles of Political Economy in a New and Practical form: a Book for Beginners. New York: Effingham Maynard & Co., 1890. https://archive.org/details/workingprincipl02macvgoog

__________. “Boehm-Bawerk on Value and Wages.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 5, no. 1 (1890): 24-43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1880831.

__________. “Capital and Interest.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 6, no. 2 (1892): 129-50. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1882544.

__________. “Marginal Utility and Value.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics7, no. 3 (1893): 255-85. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1884004.

__________. “The Austrian Theory of Value.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 4 (1893): 12-41. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1009036.

__________. “The Economists and the Public.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 9, no. 2 (1895): 132-50. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1885596.

__________. Review of The Letters of John Stuart Mill by Hugh S. R. Eliot, Mary Taylor. The American Economic Review 1, no. 4 (1911): 800-02. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1806884.

 

Categories
Courses Curriculum Harvard Undergraduate

Harvard. Major Expansion of Economics Course Offerings. 1883

Harvard’s decision to significantly increase its course offerings in political economy in 1883 received some national press coverage (that story posted earlier in Economics in the Rear-View Mirror). Today we have the announcement published in the Harvard Crimson. The trio Charles F. Dunbar, J. Laurence Laughlin and Frank W. Taussig were on their way to launch the take-off into a full academic program of economic study.

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POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Courses of Study for 1883-84.

Harvard Crimson
May 24, 1883

Arrangements recently completed have enabled the college to offer a more extended course of study in Political Economy than that which has been announced. A full statements to be substituted for that given on page 14 of the Elective Pamphlet, will be found below.

On page 15 of the pamphlet, line 13, for Course 6 read Course 7.

  1. Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. – Lectures on Banking and the Financial Legislation of the United States. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Prof. Dunbar and Asst. Prof. Laughlin.
  1. History of Economic Theory and a Critical Examination of Leading Writers. – Lectures. Mon., Wed. at 2 and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri. at 2. Prof. Dunbar.
  1. Discussion of Practical Economic Questions. – Theses, Tu., Th., at 3, and a third hour to be appointed by the instructor. Assistant Professor Laughlin.
  1. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. – Lectures. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 11. Professor Dunbar.
    Course 4 requires no previous study of Political Economy.
  1. Economic Effects of Land Tenures in England, Ireland, France and Germany. – Theses. Once a week, counting as a half course. Asst. Professor Laughlin.
  1. History of Tariff Legislation in the United States. – Once a week, counting as a half course. Mr. Taussig.
  1. Comparison of the Financial Systems of France, England, Germany and the United States. – Tu., at 2, counting as a half course. Professor Dunbar.

As a preparation for Courses 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 it is necessary to have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Course 1 is in Examination Group I.; Course 2, in Group V.; Course 3, in Group XII.; Course 4, in Group III.; Course 7, in Group XI.

The first two courses are intended to present the principles of the science, while the remaining five treat the subject in its historical and practical aspects. No. 2 will take up the principal writers of the present day, as Cairns, Carey and George, together with the current literature of the science. No times of recitation have been assigned to courses 5 and 6, as this will be arranged between the instructors and the students choosing the course. The department intend issuing a full descriptive pamphlet describing the different courses, which can be had at the office in a few days.

Image Source:  Charles F. Dunbar (left) and Frank W. Taussig (right) from E. H. Jackson and R. W. Hunter, Portraits of the Harvard Faculty (1892); J. Laurence Laughlin (middle) from Marion Talbot. More Than Lore: Reminiscences of Marion Talbot, Dean of Women, The University of Chicago, 1892-1925. Chicago: University of Chicago (1936).

Categories
Courses Curriculum Harvard

Harvard. Expansion of Economics Course Offerings. 1883.

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The tripling of regular economics course offerings at Harvard in the early 1880’s attracted medium (they only had newspapers then, so I suppose the singular form is appropriate) attention as seen in the following story from the New York Evening Post (October 11, 1883) that was picked up by the Chicago Tribune (October 15, 1883).  The expansion in course offerings in political economy was announced in the Harvard Crimson on May 24, 1883.

Here are links to five earlier Harvard-related posts from this period at Economics in the Rear-View Mirror:

1874-77.
Three Economics Courses. Texts and exams
Courses in Political Economy

1881.
Economics. Two Course Reviews

1886.
Account of Graduate Department

1888-89.
Political Economy Courses

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POLITICAL ECONOMY AT HARVARD [1883].

Sketch of the Reorganized Department – Seven Courses of Study – Their Scope and Aim.
[Correspondence of the Evening Post.]

Cambridge, Mass., October 5. – The Department of Political Economy in Harvard College has undergone an enlargement and organization this year which marks a growing interest in the subject on the part of the students and a readiness on the part of the authorities to give encouragement and increased opportunity for its pursuit. For some years political economy was taught practically in two courses, an introductory one, which developed the principles of the English school, Mill being the author used, and an advanced course, which took up Cairnes’ Leading Principles of Political Economy, and discussed also banking and finance. Some years there were two introductory courses instead of one, but in that case they were alternative, and not supplementary. Last year the field treated was broadened by the addition of course, given by Dr. Laughlin, on the economic effects of land tenures in England, Ireland, France, Germany, and Russia; and this year the return of Professor Dunbar from his vacation in Europe, and the retention of both Dr. Laughlin, now assistant professor, and Mr. Taussig, has resulted in the expansion of the whole treatment into seven courses of study. A brief account of the scope and character of these courses is as follows:

First, there is one course intended to give familiarity with the leading principles of the science. Mill’s book is here used as a basis, but there are also lectures on banking and the critical review of the public finance of the United States, chiefly during and since the last war. The course aims to give that general knowledge which every educated man ought to have. For those, however, wish to attain a thorough mastery of the principles of economics, one course is not deemed sufficient. Consequently course 2 – a history of economic theory and a critical examination of leading writers – is given by Professor Dunbar. He will take up all the principal writers in England, France, Germany, and Italy, and will review other recent literature, including the work of Henry George. He intends us to develop a grasp upon the fundamental principles that will enable the student to do practical work of real value.

The other five subjects are designed to turn the attention of students to the historical and practical side, affording training in the use of books and sources, the collection of statistics, and the investigation of such public questions as constantly arise from year to year. They are as follows:

Course 3. Discussion of Practical Economic Questions. – The work will here be done in discussion of live questions of the day, and in written monographs upon subjects which most concern the economic interests of the United States, for example: The navigation laws and American shipping; bimetallism; reciprocity with Canada; advantages of Government issues of notes compared with those of national banks.

Course 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. This is in the form of lectures by Professor Dunbar, and will trace the economic effects of the great events in the history of the last 125 years.

Course 5. Economic Effects of Land Tenures in England, Ireland, France, and Germany; is the course which was introduced by Professor Laughlin last year, and which he gives again; the work is mostly in the form of written theses.

Course 6. History of Tariff Legislation in the United States, by Mr. Taussig; is a study of the tariff laws which the country has tried, and of the reasons for their passage or repeal. The scope of the course is best seen in the following useful syllabus:

I. 1789-1816: Tariff system adopted after the formation of the Constitution; Hamilton’s report; the state of the protective controversy before 1816; the beginnings of manufacturing industry.
II. 1816-1840: The American System; Henry Clay; the tariffs of 1824, 1828, 1832; the Compromise Tariff of 1833; the growth of manufactures; the economic effects of protection.
III. 1840-1860: The political tariffs of 1842 (protectionist); 1846 (free trade); the industrial progress of the country from 1846 to 1860.
IV. 1860-1883: The Civil War; the development of the existing tariff system; the revenue act of 1864; the tax-reducing acts of later years; the tariff revision of 1883.

Course 7. Comparison of the Financial Systems of France, England, Germany, and the United States; is conducted by Professor Dunbar. He will compare the systems adopted by these nations to provide themselves with revenues, and will direct the study to the economic principles underlying public finance and closely connected with the science of government.

 

Source: New York Evening Post, October 11, 1883, p. 2. Scan of the page at Historical Newspapers From The United States and Canada, Archives of the New York Evening Post Newspaper, pdf-page 0360.

Image Source: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. “Sever Hall, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, Mass.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1898 – 1931.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Courses Curriculum Exam Questions Harvard Undergraduate

Harvard. Three Economics Courses. Texts and Exams, 1874-77.

In the mid-1870’s there were three courses in political economy offered at Harvard every year. The first was a one-term prescribed course in political economy required of all undergraduates in their sophomore year.  The other two courses in political economy were electives of which one was recommended for students of history while the other presumably put greater emphasis on economic theory. In the Harvard University Catalogues for the academic years 1874-5 through 1876-7, there is exactly one examination for each of these three courses. Using the annual Reports of the President of Harvard College, I was able to use enrollment data to determine the dates of the examinations.

The textbooks for the courses are identified and we see the first graduate students recorded in the class-enrollments for 1876-77.  I have grouped the courses below by academic year.

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If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled. You can subscribe to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror below. There is also an opportunity for comment following each posting….

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1874-75

PRESCRIBED: POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Sophomore year

Prof. Dunbar. Fawcett’s Political Economy for Beginners. — Constitution of the United States (Alden’s Science of Government, omitting the first four and the last three chapters).
Two hours a week. Half-year. 208 students, 4 sections, 2 exercises per week for students, 8 exercises per week for instructor.

Source: Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1874-75, p. 45.

 

[Note: Courses 7 and 8 are parallel Courses, Course 7 being preferable for students of History.]

ELECTIVE: PHILOSOPHY 7.
Political Economy

Prof. Dunbar. Political Economy. — Fawcett’s Manual of Political Economy. — Blanqui’s Histoire de l’Èconomie Politique en Europe.— Bagehot’s Lombard Street.
Three hours a week. 19 Seniors, 14 Juniors.
1 Sections, 3 exercises per week for students, 3 exercises per week for Instructor.

Source: Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1875-76, p. 49. Also, Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 56.

 

[EXAMINATION FOR 1874-75(?) FROM 1875-76 CATALOGUE]
PHILOSOPHY 7.

[In answering the questions do not change their order.]

  1. State the general principles which determine the exchange of commodities between two countries, and show the analogy between this case and that of exchange between individuals under the familiar law of demand and supply.
  1. If the United States were to levy an export duty on cotton, on whom would it fall? What objection is there to the proposition?
  1. It is known that the people of the United States are debtors to Europe to a large amount; should our annual returns show a balance of imports or of exports? Why? If, in fact, the balance appears to be the wrong way, what conclusion is to be drawn?
  1. With commerce in its normal condition, would exchange on Europe be in our favor, against us, or at par? Why? Would this state of things be for our disadvantage or not?
  1. What causes the tendency of profits to fall as a nation advances?
  1. If a tax were laid, at a uniform rate, on all property of every description, would it meet the requirements of Adam Smith’s first rule? Give the reason.
  1. Why should not large incomes be taxed at a higher rate than moderate ones; as, e.g., incomes of $10,000 and upwards higher than those between $5,000 and $10,000?
  1. How much control has the Bank of England over the rate of interest in the money market?
  1. Under the national bank act, how does the action of our banks, when the reserves are suddenly reduced, differ from that of the Bank of England in like case?
  1. What difference would there be likely to be in the operation of these two methods, at a time when the condition of monetary affairs is critical?
  1. State the following leading facts relating to the issue of legal tender notes: —

(1) When they were first authorized;
(2) The maximum prescribed by the act of June, 1864;
(3) The point to which they were reduced by Mr. McCulloch;
(4) The amount of expansion under Mr. Richardson
(5) The provision contained in the act of June, 1874;
(6) The provisions for withdrawal in the act of January, 1875.

  1. How do the deposit of bonds required of the national banks and the reserve required for their circulation differ in purpose?
  1. Give the date and circumstances of the first issue of fractional currency.
  1. Why did the government issue 5-20 bonds rather than 20-year bonds bearing the same rate of interest? Which is more valuable? Why?
  2. If all business were done for cash, what difference would it make as to the ease of resuming specie payments? Why?

Source: The Harvard University Catalogue, 1875-76. Cambridge, p. 238.

ELECTIVE: PHILOSOPHY 8.
Political Economy

Prof. Dunbar. Political Economy. — J. S. Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Bagehot’s Lombard Street. Legislation of the United States on Currency and Finance.

Three hours a week. — 65 Seniors, 33 Juniors.
2 Sections, 3 exercises per week for students, 6 exercises per week for instructor.

Source: Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1874-75, p. 48. Also, Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 56.

 

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1875-76

PRESCRIBED: POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Sophomore year

Mr. Macvane. Fawcett’s Political Economy for Beginners. — Constitution of the United States (Alden’s Science of Government, omitting the first four and the last three chapters).
Two hours a week. Second half-year. 182 students, 4 sections, 2 exercises per week for students, 8 exercises per week for Instructor.

Source: Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1875-76, p. 44.

 

[Examination of 1875-76(?), from 1876-77 Catalogue]
PRESCRIBED POLITICAL ECONOMY.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.

[Those who take the examination in the Constitution may omit the questions marked with a star (*).]

  1. Explain the service which Capital renders to production. Should you call a coal mine capital? a steam engine? a mill stream? Why?
  2. Define Value. Show whether a general rise of values is possible. Distinguish between natural value and market value. Do they ever coincide?
  3. What do you understand to be “the value of money “? On what does it depend? How does a rise in the value of money show itself?
  4. Mention the three classes into which commodities are divided in relation to their value. In which class should you place gold and silver?
  5. (*) Show how far the action of demand and supply controls the value of commodities in each class.
  6. Explain the relations between rent of land, price of food, and growth of population.
  7. What is meant by cost of labor? Show that a man’s wages may be low and yet the cost of his labor be high. Point out the connection between cost of labor and profit of capital.
  8. (*) Wherein do productive and unproductive consumption differ? “A knowledge of one of the first principles of political economy is sufficient to show that society is no gainer by the reckless expenditure of the spendthrift:” State the principle referred to, and illustrate the truth of the assertion.
  9. (*) Show that foreign trade is advantageous to both countries only when the relative cost of the commodities exchanged is different in the two countries. When exports and imports fail to balance each other in any country, how is the equilibrium restored?
  10. Give the four “canons of taxation,” and show the application of any two of them. How may the burden of taxation be distributed according to the first canon, in a country where the revenue is raised by duties on tea, sugar, wines, etc.
  11. (*) Distinguish direct from indirect taxes. To which class does the income tax belong? Ought permanent and temporary incomes to be taxed equally?
  12. (*) Show whether high wages make high prices. Suppose that laborers, by combinations and strikes, should succeed in raising wages so much as to bring profits down to a very low figure, would they be benefited thereby? Why?

 

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

[Those who take the examination in Political Economy will answer questions 1-7 only.]

  1. Explain the terms exclusive and concurrent as applied to legislative power. Mention two subjects in reference to which Congress has exclusive, and two in which it has concurrent, power of legislation.
  2. Through what stages must bills go in their passage through each house? Mention the ways in which a bill may become a law. In what case does a bill fail to become a law though passed by both houses and not vetoed by the President?
  3. State the qualifications required for Vice-President; for senators. Describe the mode of electing senators. How, and under what authority, has this mode been established?
  4. Show how the amendments relating to slavery (XIII.-XV.) affected the apportionment of representatives. How far has the right of each State to make its own franchise law been abridged by these amendments?
  5. When a president is to be elected, how many electors are appointed by each State? How are the electors chosen? What control has Congress over the election?
  6. What officers are subject to impeachment? For what offences? What is the effect of resigning? How may persons convicted on impeachment be punished?
  7. Give the provisions of the Constitution in reference to trial by jury. Describe the function of grand juries. Explain fully “the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.”
  8. Define treason. What courts have jurisdiction in cases of treason? What evidence is necessary in order to convict? What is provided in the Constitution as the punishment of treason 1
  9. How are direct taxes apportioned? What taxes are direct in the meaning of the Constitution? Compare this sense of the word with its use in Political Economy.
  10. Give the provisions in the original Constitution relating directly or indirectly to the subject of slavery. What difficulties, arising from the existence of slavery, were encountered in framing the Constitution?
  11. Taxes on exports. Taxes on immigrants.
  12. The treaty-making power in the United States and in England.
  13. Copyright and patent rights.
  14. Naturalization of aliens. Expatriation.
  15. Bills of credit. Legal-tender notes.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1876-77, p. 229.

 

ELECTIVE: PHILOSOPHY 5.
Political Economy

Prof. Dunbar. Political Economy. — J. S. Mill’s Political Economy. — Bagehot’s Lombard Street. –Lectures on the Financial Legislation of the United States.
Three hours a week. Second half-year. 36 Seniors, 80 Juniors, 1 Sophomore.
2 Sections, 3 exercises per week for students, 6 exercises per week for Instructor.

Source: Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1875-76, p. 49.

 

ELECTIVE: PHILOSOPHY 6.
Political Economy

Prof. Dunbar. Advanced Political Economy. — Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. — McKean’s Condensation of Carey’s Social Science. Lectures.
Three hours a week. 24 Seniors.
1 Sections, 3 exercises per week for students, 3 exercises per week for Instructor.

Source: Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1875-76, p. 49.

 

[EXAMINATION OF 1875-76(?) FROM 1876-77 CATALOGUE]
PHILOSOPHY 6.

  1. Give Mr. Cairnes’s statement of the wages-fund doctrine. (p. 167.)
  2. Criticise the following extracts from Walker’s “Wages Question,”
  3. 128-130: —

“A popular theory of wages is based upon the assumption that wages are paid out of capital, the saved results of the industry of the past. Hence, it is argued, capital must furnish the measure of wages. On the contrary, I hold that wages are, in a philosophical view of the subject, paid out of the product of present industry, and hence that production furnishes the true measure of wages. … So long as additional profits are to be made by the employment of additional labor, so long a sufficient reason for production exists; when profit is no longer expected, the reason for production ceases. At this point the mere fact that the employer has capital at his command no more constitutes a reason why he should use it in production when he can get no profits, than the fact that the laborer has legs and arms constitutes a reason why he should work when he can get no wages.

“The employer purchases labor with a view to the product of the labor; and the kind and amount of this product determine what wages he can afford to pay. … If the product is to be greater, he can afford to pay more; if it is to be smaller, he must, for his own interest, pay less. It is, then, for the sake of future production that the laborers are employed, not at all because the employer has possession of a fund which he must disburse; and it is the value of the product, such as it is likely to prove, which determines the amount of the wages that can be paid, not at all the amount of wealth which the employer has in possession or can command. Thus it is production, not capital, which furnishes the motive for employment, and the measure of wages.”

  1. What is the reasoning which leads Mr. Cairnes to predict an ultimate fall of prices in the United States as compared with prices elsewhere? How will a protective tariff affect the movement? (p. 304.)
  2. A recent writer says: —

“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.” (Thompson’s “Social Science,” p. 206.)

How essential are these three conditions, severally, for the resumption of specie payments?

  1. Criticise the argument contained in the following proposition :—

“With every increase in the facility of reproduction, there is a decline in the value of all existing things of a similar kind, attended by a diminution in the price paid for their use. The charge for the use of the existing money tends, therefore, to decline as man acquires control over the great forces provided by the Creator for his service; as is shown by the gradual diminution of the rate of interest in every advancing country.”

  1. Compare the generally received principle that paper currency tends to expel coin, with the following: —

“All commodities tend to move towards those places at which they are most utilized. . . . The note and the check increase the utility of the precious metals; and therefore is it, that money tends to flow towards those places at which notes and checks are most in use, — passing, in America, from the Southern and Western States towards the Northern and Eastern ones, and from America towards England.”

  1. What is Mr. Carey’s doctrine as to the value of land in an advancing society? Compare it with his general doctrine as to the determination of value hy cost of reproduction.
  2. What is Mr. Carey’s general law of distribution between labor and capital? Give the general course of reasoning leading to this law.
  3. Discuss Mr. Carey’s objection to the Malthusian theory, that increase of numbers is in the inverse ratio of development, man multiplying slowly while the lower forms of animal and vegetable life multiply rapidly.
  4. What logical necessity has compelled Mr. Carey to assume the existence of a law of diminishing fecundity in the human race? Compare this with the process of reasoning which leads to the Malthusian conclusion as to the necessary operation of ” checks,” positive and preventive.

Source:  Harvard University Catalogue, 1876-77, p. 233-4.

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1876-77 

NO LONGER PRESCRIBED: POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Sophomore year

Political Economy is no longer listed among the sophomore prescribed courses according the Annual reports of the President of Harvard University for 1876-77, pp. 44-45.   The only prescribed course from the department of philosophy was a junior year course of Logic and Psychology, each for one semester.  Cf. Catalogue of Harvard University, 1876-77, p. 55.

ELECTIVE: PHILOSOPHY 5.
Political Economy

Prof. Dunbar. Political Economy. — J. S. Mill’s Political Economy. — Financial Legislation of the United States. Three hours a week. 1 Graduate, 30 Seniors, 64 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 2 Unmatriculated.

Source: Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1876-77, p. 49.

ELECTIVE: PHILOSOPHY 6.
Advanced Political Economy

Prof. Dunbar. Advanced Political Economy. — Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. — McKean’s Condensation of Carey’s Social Science.
Three hours a week.  2 Graduates, 22 Seniors, 3 Juniors.

Source: Annual report of the President of Harvard University for 1876-77, p. 49.