The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-06-11


 practice with all the important types of accounts and of accounting pro cesses. There are also special higher courses in cost accounting, in audit Ing and certified public accounting problems. It is not primarily the pur- pose of these courses to prepare pro- fessional accountants. Most of the men in cost accounting this year eX- pect to go into the manufacturing business. Most of those taking audit ing expect to go into banking or to occupy positions of responsibility in the commercial world. The few who expect to become professional ac- countants will take all of the account ing courses, including drill In certi- fled public accounting problems.
 Closely associated with accounting is commercial mathematics. This is not the commercial arithmetic of the high school, but advanced business mathematics. consisting of the applis cation of algebra to business All commerce freshmen study 1t, instead of the conventional algebra, solid ge- ometry and trigonometry. Student gossip says that 1t is harder than the old fashioned pure mathematics" but every freshman can see it's usefulness, and those who fail at first try it again uncomplainingly. It embraces the mathematics of insurance, annuities. bond yields, amortization of debts and many other problems actually en. countered in business. IL teaches all of the mathematics needed for tile higher accounting and for statistics.
 Command of the English language is prime necessity for business men. All commerce freshmen must study English composition. In the sopho- m fhaxr al respondence. Not merely the form and style of business letters, but the con- tents of the most important types of business letters are taught, with abundant practice. Filing systems are explained.
 With an eye on foreign trade, the school requires that all freshmen study a foreign language. There Is an option between Spanish and French, but Spanish Is usually pre- ferred. Everyone must have as much as two years of the foreign language in the university or two years in high school and one in the university. Those who desire may go farther.
 The resources of our nation and of foreign countries, the products of the United States and of the world, the ports, marts and routes of trade are studied. Our young business men must know something ot the commer- eial map of the world. These five major subjects. accounting, commer- cial mathematics, English, Spanish or French, and commercial geography, together with a brief course in per sonal hygiene and the military drill required of all freshmen, make up the work of the freshman year.
 In Sophomore Year
 The SophomoreS continue account Ing and foreign language, take up commercial correspondence, econom- ics and statistics, and study national. state and local governments. This latter study is required without apol ogy, for its civic value, but is also regarded as vital clement in tech nical business training. Uncle Sam is himself now the biggest business man in the world, carrying on purely commercial operations with turn over three times as great as that of the United States Steel Cooperation. state and city governments, too, are conducting business operation of im- mense variety and extent. The busi- ness man of today Is not only in contact with government as a citizen. but he is doing business with his government. He needs a thorough knowledge of the forms and processes ol bSNSiHHteHt, ana o1 the actual workings of practical politics. Our prospective business man gets this in his required courses in national state and local governments.
 The study of economies Is begun in the sophomore year. The school of commerce and business adminis- tration is the outgrowth of the de- partment of economies. It's dean. Le. Bidgood, came to the University of Alabama nine years ago to take the first professorship of economies established in Alabama. He is a native of Virginia and graduate of the University of Virginia. but came to Alabama from an instructorship Tn economies in the University of Wisconsin. Before the School of Commerce and Business Administra- tion was established, nearly a thou sand students had passed through the beginning course ir~ economies and over hundred had pursued ad- vaneed courses, such as corporation finance, trusts. tariff history, public finance and the like. A great many of these men have already become prominent in the business life of the state, and are in no small degree responsible for the prompt success of the School of Commerce and Busi- ness Administration.
 The first course in economies. that required of commercial sophomores. Is American economy, description of the economic institutions and life of the United States. It has been de- veloped by Dean Bidgood at the Uni- versity of Alabama, and differs rad ically from the courses in elementary economies taught elsewhere in that 1t omits all of the economic theories which make up approximately four fifths of all the existing textbooks of economies, and substitutes for them systematic account of the business sytem of the United states Business organizations. business ef- ficiency. business concentration or ''big business" the different branches of business activity and their services. advertising, market Ing, cooperation, foreign trade, re- tail stores, money, banking, finance, prices, profits, interest. rent, wages, labor problems, taxation and public and private expenditures, are some of the things included. This course is. with accounting, one of the main