Grateful acknowledgment is made also of the valuable service rendered by the many manufacturers and specialists in office and factory methods, whose coöperation has made it possible to include in these volumes suitable illustrations of the latest equipment for office use; as well as those financial, mercantile, and manufacturing concerns who have supplied illustrations of offices, factories, shops, and buildings, typical of the commercial and industrial life of America.
JOSEPH HARDCASTLE, C. P. A. Formerly Professor of Principles and Practice of Accounts, School of Commerce, Accounts, and Finance, New York University. Author of "Accounts of Executors and Testamentary Trustees." HORACE LUCIAN ARNOLD Specialist in Factory Organization and Accounting. Author of "The Complete Cost Keeper," and "Factory Manager and Accountant." JOHN F. J. MULHALL, P. A. Specialist in Corporation Accounts. Author of "Quasi Public Corporation Accounting and Management." SHERWIN CODY Advertising and Sales Specialist. Author of "How to Do Business by Letter," and "Art of Writing and Speaking the English Language." FREDERICK TIPSON, C. P. A. Author of "Theory of Accounts." CHARLES BUXTON GOING Managing Editor of The Engineering Magazine. Associate in Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University. Corresponding Member, Canadian Mining Institute. F. E. WEBNER Public Accountant. Specialist in Factory Accounting. Contributor to The Engineering Press.
GENERAL SALES OFFICES, SWIFT & CO., CHICAGO, ILL.
Foreword
With the unprecedented increase in our commercial activities has come a demand for better business methods. Methods which were adequate for the business of a less active commercial era, have given way to systems and labor-saving ideas in keeping with the financial and industrial progress of the world.
¶ Out of this progress has risen a new literature—the literature of business. But with the rapid advancement in the science of business, its literature can scarcely be said to have kept pace, at least, not to the same extent as in other sciences and professions. Much excellent material dealing with special phases of business activity has been prepared, but this is so scattered that the student desiring to acquire a comprehensive business library has found himself confronted by serious difficulties. He has been obliged, to a great extent, to make his selections blindly, resulting in many duplications of material without securing needed information on important phases of the subject.
¶ In the belief that a demand exists for a library which shall embrace the best practice in all branches of business—from buying to selling, from simple bookkeeping to the administration of the financial affairs of a great corporation—these volumes have been prepared. Prepared primarily for use as instruction books for the American School of Correspondence, the material from which the Cyclopedia has been compiled embraces the latest ideas with explanations of the most approved methods of modern business.
¶ Editors and writers have been selected because of their familiarity with, and experience in handling various subjects pertaining to Commerce, Accountancy, and Business Administration. Writers with practical business experience have received preference over those with theoretical training; practicability has been considered of greater importance than literary excellence.
¶ In addition to covering the entire general field of business, this Cyclopedia contains much specialized information not heretofore published in any form. This specialization is particularly apparent in those sections which treat of accounting and methods of management for Department Stores, Contractors, Publishers and Printers, Insurance, and Real Estate. The value of this information will be recognized by every student of business.