these captains of industry needed was young men of broad education and training, such as the universities give, to come into their employ in minor capacities as understudies, learning by long association their methods, gradually taking over their responsibilities. He said that the business world was looking to the universities for men to take such places.

What is true of the college education is true in proportionate degree of the high school education. What the business world needs at the hands of the high school is that it shall give to the young man it is educating for business the best and broadest possible training. Instead of narrowing and restricting his course it should broaden and strengthen it.

Let us look at what the high school is doing in this respect. I have here before me the four years' commercial course of one of the leading New England high schools. It is fairly typical. The course is as follows, the numerals in parentheses showing the number of recitations each week in the given subject:

First Year

English (4); algebra (4); arithmetic, penmanship, and spelling (5). Take one: German (5); French (5); history (3).

Second Year

English (3); bookkeeping (5); arithmetic 1-2 year (3); commercial geography 1-2 year (5). Take one: German (5); French (5); geometry (5).

Third Year

Commercial English (4); history of commerce (3); common law, 1-2 year (5); civics, 1-2 year (5). Take two: German (5); French (5); stenography (5); typewriting (5); physics (5); English (3).

Fourth Year

Commercial English and correspondence (4); advanced arithmetic (2); advanced bookkeeping and office practise

(5). Take two: English (5); chemistry (5); stenography (5); typewriting (5); United States history (3).

In the first year of this course, five recitations a week are devoted to arithmetic, spelling, and penmanship. In the second year bookkeeping takes 3 recitations; commercial geography 5 for half a year and arithmetic 3 for the other half, or 4 in all for the year. In the third year commercial English requires 4 recitations, simple English having been taken in the first and second years also; history of commerce 3; law and civics 5; stenography 5; and typewriting 5. Commercial English and correspondence occupy 4 recitations in the fourth year, with advanced arithmetic taking 2; advanced bookkeeping and office practise 5; stenography 5; and typewriting 5. The total time devoted to so-called commercial subjects is 57 hours out of a normal 78.

The elective or supplementary courses are interesting. In the first year the pupil takes English and algebra regularly and may choose one from the three subjects, German, French, geometry. In the second year he has English again and may choose one from German, French, geometry. In the third year he may choose one of the four, German, French, physics, or English. In the fourth year he may try chemistry or United States history.

Let us examine in detail these so-called commercial subjects. Arithmetic is a grammar-grade subject; it matters not whether it has "commercial" prefixt to it or not. It has no real place in the high school. If a pupil is deficient in this subject he should not have been graduated into the high school. That pupils should be expected to spend time in daily recitations on arithmetic during three of the four years of the high school course seems incredible, and yet here it is in the schedule.

Now arithmetic is very important to the young business man, but this arithmetic is the foundation on which his course in bookkeeping must be based. What is bookkeeping if it is not a practical application of the methods of arithmetic to the treatment of business transactions? The commercial arithmetic should be developed in connection with the book

keeping course of which it is an essential feature. Then let us cut out arithmetic as a separate course.

Spelling is the next subject mentioned. This is worse than arithmetic. It is a grammar grade subject pure and simple. It is a waste of time for the high school pupil to have recitations in spelling. And yet spelling is a most important subject, especially to the stenographer. Without it his skill in the writing of shorthand and the operating of the typewriter is useless. But what is the nature of the course in shorthand and typewriting? It consists in the writing of some four or five thousand of the commoner words of the English language in accordance with a brief form of characters. These words have to be translated into shorthand characters and transcribed back into longhand or on the typewriter. The words must be written not once, twice, or a few times, but literally thousands of times. A month is sufficient time to learn the theory of shorthand, but it requires four months of practise to fix the rules and gain the requisite speed. The work means write, write, write, hour after hour, day after day, reading back the notes, transcribing, and comparing the words. This work is all under inspection of a teacher. If any high school pupil comes thru this ordeal without knowing how to spell the words with which he is working, his case is hopeless. Then finally there is one simple and effective lesson in spelling which any teacher can give to any pupil in a single sentence: "Go to the dictionary, and don't go twice for the same word." By all means let us cut out the spelling as a separate subject.

Next comes penmanship. I need not go into details over this. The subject is incidental to the course in bookkeeping. A few minutes' time of this class from day to day devoted to drill in the movements of writing, proper holding of the pen, and the correct forms of letters is all that this subject needs. It is not high school work. It should be cut out.

The next subject is commercial geography. It also belongs to the grammar grades. There is a sort of intensified geography which is important to the young business man, but this forms naturally a part of his instruction in the fundamental

commercial subjects. It is found in the map of the state, the county, the city in which he is to work. It is found in the United States Postal Guide, in the travelers and shippers' guide, in a good atlas such as the Century, in the city directory and the telephone directory. These should all be familiar to him. They will be found to be a part of the reference equipment of any good office. They should form a part of the equipment of any course in shorthand and bookkeeping, and tasks designed to illustrate their use should be assigned regularly to pupils in these subjects. So far as formal recitations are concerned, commercial geography should be cut out of the high school course.

Then we come to commercial English. What is commercial English? Is there a special style of grammar for business correspondence? We may answer, No! and the subject falls at once into its proper place as a part of the regular work in English composition. If the English department is not teaching the high school pupil how to write a good business letter, its course should be reformed, not supplemented by a new

course.

It may be said further that the four months of practise, which is part of the regular work in shorthand instruction, can in a large measure be based upon business letters and papers. There are manuals on manuals of these arranged as dictation exercises. They can be found grouped under special business heads, as railroading, lumbering, retail trade, wholesale trade, and the like, or scattered over a wide range of subjects. They are to be written in shorthand and transcribed on the typewriter. Original letters will be dictated by the teacher for transcript. Answers to letters will be suggested, the wording being left to the pupil. The pupil who receives a proper course of instruction in shorthand and typewriting ought to become thoroly steeped in business style and form. Commercial English and correspondence as separate subjects may therefore be cut out.

The same is true of history and civics. If the commercial aspects of history are not sufficiently covered by the regular courses in American history or general modern history, to

meet the need of the young business man, something is wrong with the history teacher.

There is left commercial law. This can not be disposed of in the way we have treated other subjects. It does not belong in the grammar grade nor in some allied department in the high school. This may be said, however: the young stenographer or bookkeeper is not likely to be called upon to give legal advice to his firm, and any profound knowledge of business law is not necessary for him. He needs a certain practical knowledge of the ordinary forms of business paper, checks, notes, drafts, bills, etc., and their use, but these papers are the stock in trade of the course in bookkeeping. Its operations are carried on by means of these papers. A few minutes' talk on them by the teacher, as occasion may arise, will suffice to give all the knowledge in this regard that is needed, and commercial law as a subject for separate recitations may be

cut out.

What, then, is left? Just the essentials of the commercial course and no more. These are shorthand, typewriting, and elementary bookkeeping, the only subjects that should formally appear as commercial branches in the high school.

But it will be objected that there must be a reason for the presence in the high school curriculum of the courses we have so ruthlessly cut out. There is a reason and it is a very simple one. The high schools have borrowed their commercial course from the business college-a very different institution; and the reason for this borrowing is a very interesting one. It is that the public school system has made no provision for the training of teachers in commercial branches.

Ninety-one public high schools in the state of California are today offering instruction in subjects, vital to the interests of 3-5 of the high school pupils of the state, in which no provision whatever has been made for the training of teachers. We have a fine set of normal schools and two universities, the latter specially charged with the work of preparing teachers for the high schools, but neither normal schools nor universities offer training for commercial teachers. This is a most