New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-09-29
BUSINESS SCHOOLING.
Big Companies That Teach Their
En- pl0ges an Classes.


ard commerce have opened this fall with largely
increased membership It is a comparatively
new thi-, with Us for the state to undertake
e7,cb WORK and the commercial high school is
rar.ic1larly an innovation The High School
Of Commerce Of the city Of Boston, now entering
upon its second year. Is 4 case in point
The states erbarking in business schooling.
as il may be called. Is. like many other Of the
best things the state does, only following in the
footsteps Of progressive American citizens of
private life. The movement toward popular
Industrial education has been gaining strength
steadily for many years. In this state ten or
dozen years ago schools with elementary and
advanced technical courses were opened by the
textile manufacturers Of New Bedford, Lowell
and Fail River. with the aid Of the state and
CRY The textile school in Philadelphia dates
back TO the same impulse. So well worth while
did The idea Immediately prove itself 70 be that
otaer places and other lines Of industry began
adopting il without delay. In several Southern
cities manufacturers have established technical
schools il order that ambitious young men and
women need no longer come North for their
training.
Even in business lines where the principle
is net 50 broadly applicable modified forms have
been introduced. until to-day there are perhaps
q hundred large commercial and manufacturing
concerns that maintain at considerable eK-
reT.se training courses in one branch or another
q their business Life insurance companies. .
for example, long ago began 10 educate young
men in the art Of approaching prospective pol
icyhoIders. Now the craftsmanship class is a
feature Of the Office organization Of a large
proportion Of big wholesale houses and not a !
few big retail stores, while in some cities free
evening classes in the same subject have been
established by the school boards
The quasi-Er public services have special need /
e industrial education and i is natural that
they should be leaders in its development That +!
American public service il general has attained |
is position as the best in the world-aTd fair |
minded foreign Observers acknowledge that II |
has reached that erninence-is due 70 its having /
been made profession in the true sense Of the |
I'd. not only for those who manage it. but
even for those who operate il in humber places
The task Of 2 locomotive fireman, for instance, I
seems TO be merely that Of shoveIIing coal into
The frebox and regulating the draft But the
cost e teaching him how TO do these things
scientifically has been saved many times over
IN the fGei economy il has paid for, The train
hand must deal with passengers courteously
and djsCreetIy: in the interest Of speed. safety
and comfort Of travel he must know many IN
suspected mechanical details. so the big rail
road systems maintain instruction cars" that
travel back and forth over the lines, stopping
a. division points for a few days time to
teach beginners and brush up the knowledge
Of the older hands
The lighting companies used to depend largely
teclsicaI schools FOR their trained men But
II is a curious fact that, though gas has been
IN use in this country half century
illuuainant and quarter century as power, gas
engineering is almost a new science, and the
real centre of its teaching in the United States
is In Philadelphia. at the headquarters of the
associated companies which operate the plants
Of a score Of Western cities well as the huge
system Of the City Of Brotherly Love.
The street railroad and the telephone service
have particularly difficult problems, for in them
the personal equation, the human element" IS
constantly present Electricity as a motive power
gave the transportation people entirely new
set Of conditions 10 deal with Speedier transit
only increased the hurry Of the travelling pub
lie Y made IL necessary that rlOtormen, con-
ductors and their brethren Of the third rail
train should have working familiarity with
diversity OF electrical equipment and the watch
FL diplomacy OF q minister plenipotentiary. So
the street railways Of the larger cities have
surface or elevated line how TO operate the
motors, and the conductor how TO conduct him
self, and in all these educational schemes al
most the most important feature is that Of
h. 1io