The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-05-04
A BUSINESS TRAINING
The Methods That Are Used In
the Schools of Germany.
CLASS ROOMS AS OFFICES.

That Garry 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 las |
In the fact that In German schools
boys are taught the practical details
OF business The writer recently re-
Earned from Hamburg after 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 ap-
preciate what appeared to be most
aDStruSe SUBJECTS.
At a. m. sharp on the following day
the course began, prefaced by a 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
rooms furnished as Offices, each room
representing II different business house.
These two firms carried on an lmagi
nary trade with each other, and the
routine adhered to was modelled exact.
ly on the lines of first class business
establishment.
Each firm had a director and these
two were the most eminent students In
the academy They had subject to
their management and control 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 In
case Of dispute or difficulty
On making my appearance | was In
formed that my services were In re-
quest as an office boy | was some
what taken back. not to say little
bumiliated. 10y the lowiy position as
signed to me, and gave the master to
understand that | considered was
qualified to occupy 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
Ot business as taught here is to do
what you are told. to do 1t at once and
10 it we'll"
With that he handed NEE pile of
envelopes and a long list of addresses
aud told me to set to work 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 Il. ~, 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
sad been doing.
Not in the least" said he. rs
everything, no matter how simple OF
how difficult. there is always a good
deal to learn. If you have paid stteD
ton while you were working you will
have learned something about the &c
ography of the German empire, fol
each address contains the name OF
some important town and province ir
which it is situated and the name OF
$ some firm celebrated for some particu
. lar class of goods"
This gave me food FOR reflection. Al
+ a matter of fact, had not paid thu
least attention to what | had beer
writing; consequently | had failed t,
derive the benefit which 1t was thu
, masters intention l should obtain from
what seemed to me at the outset {
= 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.
Z continued addressing envelopes TO
Z two hours day for a whole week. ant
the next week | received promotion
4 In this way | went through the who'll
routine. from office boy to director
and the experience which obtainet
q in the various capacities has proves
- invaluable to me In business.
81 As director | had to sign checks, die
a tate letters, enter into agreements Wit
IS the other Grm with reference to tn
$ sale and purchase of goods keep al
II eve on the money market, work out al
bitrage calculations draw up and In
Il dorse bills OF exchange and bills o
X lading, make out periodical statement
- of affairs, allow or dispute amount
placed to the debit Of the firm on &C
/ count Of general average losses AM
generally supervise everything.
While we were thus drilled in pract
cal work the theoretical side of bus
ness was not neglected Lectures wer
given at fixed hours, bookkeeping an
mercantile law Thus we enjoyed tn
lnestlmable advantage of acquiring tn
theory and practice of business at tn
1