VOL. III. The Technology Review APRIL, 1901 No. 2 EDUCATION FOR COMMERCE The old century was born amidst days of marvellous mechanical inventions which enormously increased the production of economic goods. Commerce, to be sure, expanded throughout the last century; but the distinctive note was production,- penetration into the secrets of nature, and the use of natural forces hitherto unharnessed, to do effective work for the comfort of the human race. What the final economic significance of this century will be, it is useless to conjecture; but at its birth we are certainly witnessing an expansion in industrial organization and international exchange which must, at least, enkindle the imagination of every observer of economic affairs. Does this movement have any significance for education? Does it justify the introduction of special curricula, in order to meet new demands? Education at the beginning of the last century was almost exclusively for the benefit of the ruling and professional classes; here and there a wider responsibility was recognized, as in the United States; but even here education was primarily to secure a better citizenship and to withstand the more valiantly the temptations of that "old deluder, Satan." The industrial activity of the last century after much educational controversy led in turn to the estab lishment of special schools of manual training, trades, mechanical arts, engineering, and agriculture, so as to be able to utilize more effectively the new productive instruments. These schools have had to struggle for recognition, and have only gradually won an honorable place. Manual training was said to be a prostitution of the real ends of education; and it was absurd to suppose that a student could be educated for the shop or for an engineering career within the walls of a class-room of a school. Nevertheless, the dignity of the new education has been slowly but increasingly acknowledged; and the practicability of a preparatory training outside of the machine-shop has been admitted by the most crusty and conservative defenders of the older system of apprenticeship. Is there any analogy in this experience which may be applied to the more recent developments of economic life? There are two questions to be considered: first, Is a commercial education needed? and, secondly, Can such an education be provided through the agency of an educational institution? In regard to each of these inquiries there is considerable scepticism even among business men. The answer consequently demands careful reflection. It will be impossible in this place to consider the whole range of commercial education through its several grades; and I shall therefore confine my attention to one particular portion of the subject, to that part, however, in regard to which there is the greatest amount of perplexity and doubt. A recent report of a sub-committee appointed by the Technical Education Board of the London County Council points out that the commercial classes may be divided into three groups of persons, performing very diverse functions, and, consequently, needing very different educational opportunities. These are: (1) the general class of office boys, junior clerks, shorthand clerks, copyists, and bookkeepers, who are engaged in operations which are largely mechanical; (2) employees in more responsible positions, correspondence clerks, managers of departments, agents, dealers, and travellers; (3) the great employers of industry and heads of large firms and business houses. Here, also, may be included the experts employed in government positions, national and municipal, and commercial attachés engaged in consular service. The proper education of the first two of these classes is for the present passed by, and will not fall within the scope of this brief paper. My inquiry is limited to the training of the third group; that is, the commercial education of a collegiate type for youth from eighteen to twenty-one or twenty-two years of age. First, then, is a special education for those who hope to reach a high mark in the commercial organization needed? Is there a special education which will be helpful to the commercial cadet in overcoming difficulties, in lessening wasteful effort, and in gaining the desired promotion? When it is seen that thousands of young men leave the college or university and enter upon commercial life without any such special preparation, and achieve a certain measure of success in the business world, many are disposed to answer these questions in the negative. Business, we are told, is a comparatively simple matter, requiring first of all certain moral and personal qualities, as honesty, industry, shrewdness, and tact. Given these, the young man who has learned to handle his powers, and who possesses an intuitive business knack, can best pick up in the countingroom or "on the road" the professional knowledge which is required for success. In the past there may have been some truth in this reply, but observation shows that the change now going on in the commercial organization is so great that this older answer must now be modified. Goods are produced to be consumed. It was formerly, for the great proportion of exchanges, an easy matter to get the goods, when once produced, into the hands of the consumers. The producer and the consumer were economic neighbors. They lived in the same community or district, and easily adjusted the exchanges which they wished to make. The exceptions in exchangeable goods were for the most part luxuries and certain staples of raw materials. It needs no extended illustration to show that the distance between the producer and the consumer is growing greater and greater. Commodity after commodity is being swept into the great world current of commerce and exchange. A knowledge of the world's markets, the geographical distribution of raw materials, the methods of communication, the commercial customs of different countries, and the governmental restrictions which are imposed thus become more and more important. This is no fanciful statement. It is the burden of every message which comes back from the consuls of every nation. And, if we turn our eyes to industry which is not concerned with foreign markets, we find the entrepreneur involved in a network of intricacies. Formerly the commercial success of the manufacturer depended largely upon the moral qualities referred to, plus the possession of some capital with which to erect a plant, upon purchase of raw materials, and hiring of labor near by, and, finally, upon the display of shrewdness and enterprise in selling the product. These conditions, however, are departing. Business is being technically organized on a larger and larger scale. The corporation is taking the place of the individual or the simple partnership. The industrial unit is an assemblage of sub-departments, each of which must be fitted with nice precision into the whole, so as to secure the greatest economy of effort. All this All this presupposes a wider range of specialized knowledge; and, in addition, what is, perhaps, of more importance yet, this knowledge must be applied promptly and decisively. An error in moving this or that pawn on the commercial chess-board means disaster. Business no longer allows that dilatory procedure which our forefathers enjoyed in planning their commercial ventures. Here, again, we may find an analogy in the field of mechanical development, in the decay of apprenticeship. Apprenticeship has become an anomaly or an impossibility in the large factory or shop. And, as it has become more and more impracticable for the son of the manufacturer to learn the mechanical processes and arts by working at the craft, so it is becoming more and more difficult for the son of the commercial entrepreneur to learn by experience the various facts which are requisite for confident leadership. The complaint to the writer by a successful manufacturer and exporter of machinery may serve as a single illustration: "I can hire young men, graduates of engineering schools, to go into the mechanical departments of my business; but I do not know where to turn to find a young man properly trained to come into my office who, by an appreciation of the problems which I have to face, can relieve me of a portion of responsibility." Success, then, depends not only upon the possession of honesty, promptness, sagacity, and fierce activity, but also upon a knowledge of the economic and political forces amid which the individual business is now placed. This leader must know something of the new legal status in which business is framed,- that is, the corporation,- the methods of its organization, its capitalization, its restrictions, its responsibilities, and its opportunities; of local taxation, increasing in its varieties, and which is becoming every year of more vital importance to the manufacturer; of banking and |