plane. While these imposters are advertising their three-months' course, let us emphasize the necessity of a four-years' preparation, and let us seek the help of all true citizens, all true educators, and, if need be, the majesty of the law, to bring about a state of affairs wherein a man uneducated in proper channels can no more teach in a commercial school than can an ignoramus teach in an established university.

It has been found that many of the pupils of our commercial courses at the end of the first, second, or third year are lured away to finish," as they call it, in these colleges. Their personal loss they are too ignorant to perceive, but they soon find themselves mere machines, worth just as much to their employers as the limited amount and low grade of work done. Then the deficiencies of hurried training are only too evident, and so great as to discourage ambition.

This tendency should be taken into consideration, and the four-years' course be so arranged that bright and studious pupils, by special work, may complete it in three years. At the same time it should be presented as a unit, and the correlation and relative importance of the studies shown from the beginning.

As a definite commercial course equivalent to any other course of study in the high school, and whose aim is the cultivation of reasoning. powers, judgment, observation, and character building, I suggest the following:

The basis for all superstructure is English. This includes English grammar, rhetoric, literature, and a daily exercise in spelling. The grammar and rhetoric, upon which too much stress cannot be placed, should be logically and practically treated. Frequent exercises in composition should be given to secure easy, rapid, and accurate expression of thought in adequate language.

In order that the modern languages, German and Spanish, both of which are today used extensively in business circles, may have the necessary Latin as foundation, this is placed in the first year, followed in the second and third by German and in the fourth by Spanish. A speaking knowledge of these two languages is desirable.

For mental discipline, algebra and plane geometry are given in the

second and third years. Of the two sciences, chemistry is placed in the second year and physics in the last. Since chemistry is largely a memory study, an observation of phenomena, and a recording of facts, it naturally precedes physics, which calls much more upon the reasoning powers.

Commercial law, so far as it relates to commercial paper, bank customs, taxes, international revenue, imports, and exports, should be carefully taught, and also a thoro course in civil government, for one must not lose sight of the fact that the commercial students of today will be our merchants of tomorrow, who will govern our municipal affairs. While we are making business-men we are making the class of citizens of whom we, as a nation, are proud.

Stress should also be laid upon the study of commercial geography, for a person in the business world needs a thoro knowledge of the products of the world, how and where produced, and thru what channels secured, the available amounts or quantities, and the different grades and prices.

As to mathematics, I should have the graduates really expert in the manipulation of figures in ordinary operations, such as the four fundamental rules and the principles of percentage and interest. This can result only from continued practice. I should also have the graduates easy, rapid, graceful penmen and good spellers. Accuracy in spelling, by whatever means acquired, should be acquired.

Such a four-years' course is of sufficient duration to afford a thoro and liberal education and equip the pupil with the power of instant concentration and correct judgment. While aiming at the technical equipment we do not sacrifice to it the general knowledge of cultural training, for this would mean new additions to the ranks of narrow business-men, to whom success is merely the ability to acquire money, and business only a means to this end.

If our aim is to be the symmetrical unfolding of the mental faculties, we must depart from the narrow, well-worn grooves in which we have run so long; we must strike, and strike hard, for a system of commercial education so broad and complete that our graduates will be eligible for any positions naturally open to them. Such an elevation of the standards will soon prove an inestimable benefit to the country, for its results will be the thoro equipment of the thousands of young people who have energy and perseverance, but whose minds, altho capable of much, are going to waste for lack of any adequate system of business education.

DISCUSSION

TEMPLETON P. TWIGGS, director of commercial department, Central High School, Detroit, Mich. In giving the requirements for actual business, I would place first a willingness to work, work, and, I might again add, work. By that I mean a willingness on the part of the individual not only to do what he is told to do, but also to do anything he

sees that ought to be done, and to do it as well as it can be done, or as well as the doer's ability will permit. What we need to teach is the nobility of labor in any capacity, and the absolute necessity of it the practically immutable certainty of not succeeding or even "getting along" moderately well without it. Just as soon as the pupil is made to comprehend that he must "get ahead" by his own effort, and by that alone, just so soon will he be prepared for actual business. One who is willing to work, tho of medium ability and little training, will succeed better than the best trained of ample ability with ambition and energy lacking.

Now, as to further requirements of actual business: First, the business must be in competent hands, and we are perfectly safe in saying that nothing less will answer. Hence the best course of study is the one that develops the power of thought, teaches self-reliance, gives a broad intelligence, and impresses the absolute certainty of the rewarding of well-directed industry. If this is fully comprehended, successful preparation for actual business is well begun.

As to what will produce this condition of affairs, and the nature and variety of training required:

One of the greatest weaknesses of our present school system in the grammar grades, the real preparatory school, is the utter lack of training in independent thought and action, the very thing always in demand in business life. What is of more assistance to the captain of industry than to know that when he gives an order it will be carried out to the letter, intelligently, promptly, and faithfully? What more handicaps him than to know that if his instructions are carried out at all it must be at the expense of constant supervision, and constant supervision is expensive and exhaustive of profits.

At what time can these habits of self-reliance, honesty, industry, and a proper regard for authority be best impressed upon the mind of the young? It cannot be begun too soon. When children are carried along thru school with the least effort on their part, what can be expected of them when the time comes that they must do for themselves? In fine, unless they are taught, thru the formative period, to be self-reliant, industrious, and respectful of authority, how can they, when they come into the presence of the employer, be expected to practice at once all the commendable virtues to which they are strangers? Of almost equal importance with industry as a requirement I would place courtesy and respect for those in authority. No one thing commands recognition more readily than a courteous and respectful demeanor at all times and under all conditions. Do we not fall short in preparing for business if this element of success is not given its share of attention?

What is needed is the person, young or old, who can do things and will do things without the spur of necessity or fear of dismissal as the only incentive that makes him exert his powers.

This incapacity for independent action, this moral stupidity, this infirmity of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold and lift, are the things that cause so many failures, and we, as teachers, should make this feature of self-help prominent, if not foremost, in all our instruction. Particularly is this true as a consequence of ever-increasing competition.

Concentration of mind with its attendant result of accuracy is another demand or requirement for a business career, and with these go orderly and systematic habits, qualities that are all too often lacking in our later-day teachings.

Self-respect goes along with the others as a sort of armor. While appearances are more subject to being counterfeited, the genuine article is an excellent commodity. “Of course, when a fellow gets to the point where he is something in particular, he doesn't have to care because he doesn't look like anything special; but while a young fellow isn't anything in particular it is a mighty valuable asset if he looks like something special."

The effect of private business schools cannot but be for the best, as they must per

force keep the mind of the pupil on those qualities that make for success in a business career. What the "business man" expects, and will demand, is kept constantly in view. But the real preparation, lasting and substantial, must be laid on a broader and deeper foundation. Broaden the curriculum, take in the studies that broaden the mind and give a capacity for a comprehensive view of affairs, even unto the world-wide view, for with such must the future captain of industry deal. A too thoro English training cannot be insisted upon. History is of great value, and mathematics are absolutely essential. Then the regular commercial studies, with commercial law, economics, and commercial geography, come in as matters of necessity.

BUSINESS EDUCATION

J. M. ANDERSON, PRESIDENT METROPOLITAN MUSIC COMPANY, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.

Prior to the Civil War we were an agricultural country. We had scarcely made an impression in the manufacturing and commercial world. Our whole industrial system was crude and primitive as compared with today. With the exception of our railroads, we had no great corporations, as we now understand that term, and even these represented but insignificant accumulations of capital.

The small merchant at the crossroad was at once producer, manufacturer, and distributor, furnishing the raw material, producing the finished products, and sending them into the market.

Our vast public domain west of the Mississippi was almost untouched. In the eyes of Europe we were an isolated, undeveloped nation of uncertain future, unimportant in the great world-movements of commerce. From our Civil War we emerged with the eyes of the world upon us, slavery abolished, and the stability of republican institutions forever settled. A new era of invention was already dawning, and this led to development and expansion beyond the wildest dream. This we shared in common with the nations of Europe. The world noted in us the beginnings of new life, energy, and development. Whereas, from 1789 to 1876, or practically the first century of our history, our imports exceeded our exports by one thousand millions of dollars, from 1876 to 1897, or twenty-one years, our exports exceeded our imports by four thousand millions, and from 1897 to 1902, or the past five years, our exports exceeded our imports by two thousand six hundred millions.

Our industries may be classed under three general heads: production, manufacturing, and commerce, or interchange of commodities. In each of these we are now the dominating factor among the nations. An unparalleled immigration followed the Civil War, rapidly settling our western states, and the product of our mines and farms doubled again and again, until at the present time, with but 5 per cent. of the world's population, our mines are producing 39 per cent. of the world's minerals,

and we are cultivating one-fourth of the cultivated land of the earth. We contribute 23 per cent. of the world's agricultural products, or more than four and one-half times as much as our proportion of population. We supply 34 per cent. of the world's manufactured goods, or nearly seven times as much as our proportion of population. (Henry Gannet, in May Forum.) In manufacturing our standing is: United States 100, England 44, Germany 35, and France 30. Thus it will be seen that our manufactured products exceed by more than 25 per cent. the combined products of our two nearest competitors.

In foreign commerce we rank third. The relative positions of the three leading countries may be represented as follows: England 18, Germany 10, United States 9. (Professor Monaghan, United States Consul, Chemnitz, Germany.) Our ocean tonnage already outstrips all continental powers, and ranks second only to England.

We have in operation two hundred thousand miles of railway, or more than the entire continent of Europe, and our railways give employment to more than one million men. Of the six billion dollars annually earned in transportation by all nations, we are now earning 34 per cent., or nearly double the earnings of England, our nearest competitor.

It may be asked what all this has to do with education. Indeed, our unrivaled successes are sometimes urged as evidence of our superior training, and have led to the belief that we have little to learn. It is not strange that we have failed to note the need of better preparation for the new problems imposed by our stupendous growth, or that we have indulged in self-adulation, attributing our marvelous success in the great struggle of nations to our superior intelligence and skill. We hear much of Yankee ingenuity, and plume ourselves upon the brilliant achievements of our manufacturers and merchants. We have come to believe that all this unexampled prosperity is due to the special skill of American workmen and the superiority of American methods. No greater fallacy ever threatened the prosperity of a nation or pointed the way more unmistakably to sure defeat. We have persistently ignored other easily discoverable causes of our prosperity. Let us look for a moment at conditions as they actually exist.

Our rapid growth, commanding world-wide attention, dates from about the beginning of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, or from the beginning of that era of invention to which I have referred. The partition of Africa had not yet begun, in fact that continent was still unexplored; the dominion of Canada was in a very real sense yet unpeopled; Australia was as yet but a continent of struggling colonies, and the great domain of Russia was practically still unknown to the outside world. Thus it will be seen that until a comparatively recent date we have enjoyed the unique distinction of being practically the only source of the world's supply of raw materials. Providence has furnished