The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-08-03
A BUSINESS TRAINING
The Methods That Are Used In
the Schools of Germany.
CLASS ROOMS AS OFFICES.

That Carry on an Imaginary Trade
With Each Other-The Course From
Office Boy to Director.
No one will deny the fact that Ger.
mans are among the keenest business
men In the world. And undoubtedly
one Of the secrets of their success lies
In the fact that in German schools
boys are taught the practical details
OF business. The writer recently re-
turned from Hamburg after a years
course of education. and an outline of
the system of training boys In business
may be interesting
On my first days attendance / was
handed time table on which appear
ed, set out In formidable array, such
subjects as commercial correspond.
ence, laws of bills Of exchange, cur
rency, political economy and CONNER
cial law, none Of which at the time
conveyed much to me and raised seri-
GUS doubts in my mind as to whether
l should be able to understand and an.
preciate what appeared to be most
abstruse subjects.
the course began. prefaced by q cou-
pie OF hours hard study, for the Ger
mans are gluttOns to work and think
nothing Of twelve hour day. The
first course was called business train.
Ing" We worked in two spacious
representing different business house.
These two firms carried on an image
nary trade with each other, and the
routine adhered to was modelled exact.
ly on the lines Of 6rst class business
establishment
Each firm had director, and these
two were the most eminent students In
the academy. They had subject to
their management and control q COM
plete staff Of correspondents, short
hand writer's. typists. bookkeepers, etc.
The whole was supervised by a mas
ter. to whom reference was made I'm
case OF dispute or difficulty.
On making my appearance I was in
formed that my services were in re-
quest as an Office boy. was some
what taken back. not to say a little
Inundated. by the lowly position as
signed to me. and l gave the master to
understand that I considered I was
qualified to occupy a much better post
than that which he had chosen for me.
He did not seem in the least perturbed
by my remarks, but said: "You have
already made mistake-a mistake of
diplomacy. One Of the great maxims
or business as taught here Is to do
what you are told. to do it at once and
do it we'll
With that he handed me L pile Of
envelopes and iou6 l.st Of addresses
and told ME to set to- wor'g addressing
them. did SO. but not with very
good grace. the master coming round
from time to time to inspect my work.
For two solid hours plodded on until
II a. M, when the course came to an
end. Then took the opportunity Of
going up to the master again and ask
Ing him If he did not really think
had been wasting my time in what
had been doing.
"Not in the least" said he. TN
everything. no matter how simple or
how difficult. there Is always a good
deal to learn. If you have paid atten-
tion while you were working you will
have learned something about the ge-
ography of the German empire, for
each address contains the name Of
some important town and province in
which it is situated and the name Of
some firm celebrated for some particu-
lar class of goods"
This gave me food for reflection. As
matter of fact, I had not paid the
least attention to what had been
writing; consequently l had failed to
derive the benefit which 1t was the
masters intention should obtain from
what seemed to me at the outset a
most senseless task. On the following
day / resolved to follow out the mas
ter's instructions to the letter, and
was surprised to find how interesting
the work became.
continued addressing envelopes for
two hours day for whole week, and
the next week I received promotion.
In this way went through the whole
routine. from office boy to director,
and the experience which l obtained
In the various capacities has proved
invaluable to me In business.
AS director had to sign checks, die
tate letters. enter into agreements with
the other firm with reference to the
sale and purchase of goods, keep an
eye on the money market, work out ar
bitrage calculations. draw up and in
dorse bills Of exchange and bills of
lading, make out periodical statements
OF affairs, allow or dispute amounts
| placed to the debit Of the firm on ac-
count Of general average losses and
generally supervise everything.
While we were thus drilled In practi.
cal work the theoretical side Of busi-
ness was not neglected. Lectures were
| given at fixed hours. bookkeeping and