78 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



March I, 1913. 



military family, proud of his family 

 and of his rank, deliberately, because of 

 his supreme recognition of the dignity 

 of business, becoming a business man at 

 a time when to do so was the equivalent 

 of social suicide. The lack of recogni- 

 tion of the dignity of business in Great 

 Britain comes in part from the feudal 

 sentiment which still pertains in so much 

 of our life, and which regards business 

 men as little better than paid hucksters, 

 and quite outside the pale. But sureh' 

 those responsible for the education at 

 public school or university realise fully 

 that such a point of view is no longer 

 tenable. To-day business has as much 

 dignity as any of the much-lauded pro- 

 fessions, and calls for as many qualities 

 of brain. Young men should recognise 

 that there is no sport so enduringly fas- 

 cinating as that of matching their brains 

 against all comers. 



THE BEST NOW NEEDED. 



This realisation should bring added 

 zest to the study of higher mathematics 

 or of the advanced classics, since such 

 mental gymnastics must be as beneficial 

 to the brain of the university man when 

 he becomes a business man as are the 

 various physical exercise systems to the 

 body of the athlete. It would, however, 

 be wrong to say that the business com- 

 munity is indifferent to or looks down 

 upon the training of the university man. 

 There are some, but not enough, notable 

 successes in business from the 'varsity. 

 The business community of the country 

 needs the best men that the country has 

 to give, and is awakening to a realisa- 

 tion of this need more and more every 

 day. To-day the nation realises that 

 the personnel of the business world is a 

 question of national importance. Nor 

 is this to be wondered at when we re- 

 member that the prosperity of our com- 

 mercial undertakings is practically 

 synonymous with the prosperity of the 

 nation ; and those, therefore, who are 

 trul}' alive to the welfare of their coun- 

 try must admit that business efficiency 

 and progress are matters of the greatest 

 urgency. And greater business efficiency 

 is impossible and not to be hoped for 

 unless steps are taken to bring into com- 

 mercial circles the best of the land. 



WHAT GERMANY DOES. 



If examples were wanted we need go 

 no farther than Germany, where we find 

 the business of the countr}' largely 

 directed by men who have been edu- 

 cated in universities, and who have 

 grasped the fundamental fact that in 

 being efficient business men they are ful- 

 filling to the utmost their opportunities 

 as citizens, and that their profession 

 ranks second to none. The business 

 man who seriousl\- thinks about his 

 business and its relation to the national 

 welfare must surely be thrilled with 

 pride, conscious and unconscious, at the 

 knowledge that but for him and his pre- 

 decessors there would be no British Em- 

 pire, and that instead of British citizen- 

 ship ranking as a British asset in the 

 world, it would have been of no account. 

 Business has made the dignity of the 

 British Empire, and citizens of the 

 centre of the Empire cannot do less to- 

 day than realise the dignity of that 

 force which has made them great. I do 

 not hesitate to say that once clear re- 

 flection has impressed the fact of the 

 dignity of business upon the minds of 

 the rising generation there will be no 

 holding back, and the business circles 

 of this country will obtain more of 

 those first-class, cultivated and able men 

 who are naturally fitted for positions of 

 leadership. Opportunities for the right 

 men are to be found in ever\' business ; 

 the difficulty has been to find the men. 

 If a college education can make up a 

 man's mind in one direction, there is no 

 reason why it should not in another ; 

 and a developed self-confidence, added 

 to the studied mental detachment which 

 is one of the hall-marks of university 

 education, can hardly fail to be of the 

 greatest advantage to business enter- 

 prise. 



BUSINESS — WHAT IT IS MADE. 



Those who urge that in business they 

 must mix with undesirable elements and 

 undergo unpleasant experiences forget 

 that business is largely what it is made 

 by the individual, and that a man of 

 real worth has absolute control of the 

 treatment he receives. Through the lift- 

 ing of the ideal of business and a fuller 

 recognition of its dignity, an improving 



