444 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



general culture occupied by history. The first place among studies 

 calculated to give special training is given to economics, which explains 

 the general principles underlying the present structure of economic 

 society. This includes, besides systematic courses, studies in applied 

 economics, statistics, money, banking and finance. Under the caption 

 'Commerce and Industry' may be grouped studies in the principles of 

 commerce and the geography, materials, customs and usages of com- 

 merce and also detailed examination into the structure and processes 

 of the extractive and manufacturing industries. Attention should be 

 called to the at present very meagerly developed study of industrial 

 organization, vs^hich has to do with the administrative relations existing 

 within an individual business, especially if it be of large size, and with 

 the methods of utilizing the resources of investors in financing new 

 undertakings. A very important group are the applied sciences, in- 

 cluding industrial chemistry, the application of physics to industry, 

 economic geology, etc. Among other subjects generally included are 

 the modern languages and commercial law, the latter covering not only 

 the legal liabilities attending industrial acts, but the principles upon 

 which the state interferes to regulate the competitive struggle. The 

 successful conduct of such a program of study obviously involves the 

 cooperation of several departments of a university; the humanities are 

 represented in the history, economics and languages; the scientific de- 

 partment in the various courses of applied science ; the law department 

 in commercial law; while the studies in 'commerce and industry' pro- 

 vide a new group which serves as a central topic about which the others 

 are arranged. 



The university must not be expected to show its full effectiveness 

 in the new field it has entered until a considerable amount of prelim- 

 inary work has been done in the collecting and classifying of knowl- 

 edge, the preparation of text-books and the adapting of methods of 

 instruction to the nature of the new subjects taught. Higher commer- 

 cial education does not aim to fit the individual for the immediate 

 assumption of responsible commercial tasks any more than engineering 

 schools fit young men to step at once to the position of engineer-in- 

 chief. There is a body of detail connected with the operation of most 

 businesses which can only be learned in practice. The university is 

 aiming to train the youth to clear thinking and to equip him with a 

 knowledge of the general principles upon which sound business prac- 

 tice rests, trusting that with such a preparation his later advancement 

 will be such that the years of study will prove years well spent and 

 that, in addition to a compensating financial return, life will contain 

 a richer reward of the higher utilities and a larger sphere of usefulness, 

 because of the early implanted love of truth. 



