Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-01-06
CHARLES r. TOoTHAkER
IN the Business Men Of Tomorrow

TNIIE time to encourage and develop the
L business man of tomorrow is today,
while he Is going to school, learning funda-
mcntals. and when he is in receptive mem
tai condition and full of enthusiasm. is the
opinion of Charles X. TOothakcr, curator OF
the Commercial Museum.
"If we are to compete with the nations
of the world successfully in our future trad
ing" said Mr. Toothakcr. eve must pre-
pare our children for the future much better
than our business men have been prepared
in the past. 1t Is no longer possible for the
United States to think Of itself as sep
arate entity in this respect. We must think
more in terms OF world significance every
minute. IL we care for our future pocket
book and our comforts and the many Things
that make modern life the desirable th'hs
that it is.
"To trade with other nations successfully,
our city. for instance, must sell more Phila-
delDhia made goods throughout the world
1t is all very well for us to import goods
from other countries: that is necessary ana
importing must increase: but we must np-
proximately sell our goods dollar for dollar
with those that we get from other countries
if we are to preserve that trade balance that
is so essential TO prosperity.
Old. Equipment Won't DO
at is therefore necessary that we should
be fully prepared to trade with our foreign
neighborS. and to do this successfully we must
learn and know different things today from
the things that our fathers ana grandlathers
did in their time. d.
at is amazing the lack Of knowledge oL
fundamentals of foreign trade that Is shown
by contemporary business men. despite the
fact that through our foreign trade bureau
ut the museum we have enabled many DuSl-
ness men to progress greatly in improving
their knowledge Of forign trade within recent
years.
"For instance. to show how little knowl
edge of geography some business men pos
scSs, / have in mind the Chicago business
man who wired his representative in Ecua-
dor to run down to New York and see h i'm
as he was going to drop over there. And
again we had n man who makes freight rates
and handles transportation for big rail
road system ask us what rOpra (the meat OF
cocOnnt, which Is the basis of cOcOnut OilS)
is. Yet | can show you some thousands OF
school children today who are better in
formed on these points than these business
men were.
1--WE have to do something to fit the bust
ness man and woman OF tomorrow, when you
consider what the commercial schools Of
Europe are doing. England and France, not
to mention Germany and some other coun-
tries, have splendid schools for this purpose
and their young men and women of tomorrow
are going to be mighty formidable adver'
sariCs.
Must Know World and Peoples
10 DpSlIl WIN, we must Know tNr WOflu
better geographically. We must know the
characteristics OF other peoples. We must
know people just as well ms We know prod E
ucts. ii we are to sell them successfully
| Everybody knows that the popular sales
! man is often n more potential factor to the
| house lie represents than the goods he has
| for sale We must know our buyers, I o, IL
we are TO sell them most effectively and re .
tain their trade. 1t is therefore big part
of our future business to know the people
| Of the world. We must know the materials
| Of other countries and from what they are
! derived. This is a thing that many bust e
| ness men of today do not know very well.
! Our world business should increase enOr-
| mousy in the near future. just as it has In
| tho recent past and therefore these things
! are Of the highest import.
",Thc connection of the Commercial Mn
| scum with this work of fitting the business
man of both the present and future IL a
very definite one. Thus it is well to con :
slider that seven eighths of the flax of the
! world came from Russia, and that the rp :
mainder of it with the exception of about
- or 3 per cent came from Belgium. Neither
| Of these countries Is producing this necps
sity in any appreciable quantity today
! What are we going to do for our linen nnd
other products Of wearing and household ne
| ccSSity? What are we going to do for lin
seed oil, basic necessity of all painty W,
must turn to Argentina, India, North Do
| kOta and Minnesota for our future SUNNY
In the zeal to produce faxseed more than
100, 900 tons of flax that might be salvageG
from the stalks has been wasted every yeor
mo commercial machinery has yer hnou
discovered that will enable rs to produce .