The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1880-07-02
The Value Of a Business Education.

It is said by good authority that
ninety-seyen of every one hundred that
engage in mercantile pursuits fail. It is
also contended that there is no necessity
for so large percentage of failures; that
the existing cause in most cases is a lack
of business education or training, and
that defeat follows in the footsteps of
ignorance. A man would not undertake
the practice of law, Or medicine, or en-
gage as an engineer or an artist, without
preliminary education for the special
field of his endeavors. But thousands
recklessly enter into the arena of bust
ness, seemingly without thought, and
certainly without previous special educa-
ton; Edward T. Freedley, in his prao-
tical treatise on business, says: "Every
business that is worthy of the name has
two departments; it's science, to be un-
derstood by study, and its art, to be ac-
quired by practice" Many writer's be-
lieve that business education should
commence at youth, and that, instead Of
sending young man off to college to
learn Greek and Latin against his will,
if his predictions avor, after thor
ough practical education, he should be
inducted into the mystery and arts of
that particular line of trade for which he
expresses decided preference. The ad-
vantage of an early education is, that his
knowledge comes. as it were, automatic
ally, and he really grows up into and
with the business, while, in later years,
learning is acquired by much harder
effort and more mechanically.
To the successful merchant there must
he ever present wide scope of informa-
ton. He must be versed in the styles
and qualities of goods, and know their
adaptability to ends and uses. He must
know their comparative worth and rela-
tive fneness; their special adaptation to
given localities as well as their seasona-
full knowledge of the various markets
for the goods he deals in, and inform
himself as to the advantages which one
market affords over another, in point of
price, or other feature of benefit. He
should employ the best Judgment in
purchasing the proper quantities in their
season, and study to forecast the market.
He ought to carefully weigh the question
of supply and demand, and particularly
note the liability of his goods to deteri-
oration. But how can all these things be
accomplished without special fitness by
study and experience? A neglect to OBJ
serve any of the things we have suggest
ed is very likely to entail loss, if not dis
aster.
How can mere novice in business
guard against any of the results which
follow from any of the conditions here
suggested? He must grope blindly in
the dark, and if failure threatens he will
be powerless to arrest its progress; be-
sides, by his ignorance, he heeds not the
impending shadows that fall across his
path, betokening sure coming misfor-
tune. Wooed by his ignorance, he, as it
were, floats on in utter heedlessness of
that fate which soon will engulf him in
irretrievable ruin. But to him who is
rooted and grounded in the knowledge of
his business, and the dangers that beset,
there are materials of assistance on every
hand that aid in ayerting the calamity Of
failure, and become oft times the step
ping stones to a future success. In the
race for business existence, the educated
and enlightened merchant has by far the
best chance. Ignorance is handicapped,
but education has the inside track, and is
bound to win. The young man who
looks forward to mercantile career will
do well to thoroughly acquaint himself,
by study and practical observation, with
the laws of trade and business, and once
having fortified himself with sufficient
knowledge, he may reasonably hope for
abundant success in his chosen field.-
Commercial Advertiser.