The article on Technical Education in the new (Eleventh) Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (Vol. 26, p. 487), written by Philip Magnus, one of the greatest educational authorities in the world, says that:
“The widespread appreciation of the advantages of the higher education among all classes of the American people, and the general recognition among manufacturers, engineers and employers of labour, of the value to them in their own work, of the services of college-trained men, has largely helped to increase the number of students in attendance at the universities and technical institutions.”
A still broader truth is that the men who have learned to think clearly, by whatever study or reading they may have developed that power, possess the greatest of all advantages. As the Britannica article on Education indicates, the true value of education (not simply school education, but all education) lies as much in the influence which intelligently directed study exerts upon the mind as in the immediate usefulness of the information acquired, and the articles in the Britannica not only supply the most recent and authoritative information, but are so logically arranged, one dove-tailing into another, that they give the reader precisely that orderly view of knowledge which is the foundation of all mental training.
Since all of the series of chapters which immediately follow and which are intended for merchants and manufacturers, deal with commerce and manufactures, it will be for the reader’s convenience to begin by dealing with those two subjects in general. But certain branches of industrial and manufacturing knowledge are dealt with in special chapters. The articles on banking and finance are described fully in this Guide in the chapter For Bankers and Financiers, those on insurance in the chapter For Insurance Men, and those on law in the chapter For Lawyers. Three of the legal articles should, however, be mentioned here, as they are on especially important subjects: Sale of Goods (Vol. 24, p. 63), Company (Vol. 6, p. 795), which deals with the laws in various countries regulating corporations, and Employers’ Liability (Vol. 9, p. 356), on this topic so important in modern industrial law and in the relations between capital and labour.
Practical Economics for Practical Men
The broad questions of commercial and industrial policy are discussed in Economics (Vol. 8, p. 899), by Prof. Hewins; Commerce (Vol. 6, p. 766); Trusts (Vol. 27, p. 334); Monopoly (Vol. 18, p. 733), and Trade Organization (Vol. 27, p. 335), which describes commercial associations in the United States, the work of the consular service, and the organizations in Germany, France, Great Britain and other countries. Book-keeping (Vol. 4, p. 225), with its up-to-date account of modern accounting methods, card ledgers and loose leaf systems; Advertisement (Vol. 1, p. 235), and Mercantile Agencies (Vol. 18, p. 148) may be named as specimens of the many practical articles on business methods which need not all be enumerated here.
Imports and Exports
Much of what you read and hear about the tariff systems of the United States and various other countries and about their influence upon trade is so vague and confusing that you will be delighted with the group of clear, common-sense articles in the Britannica. Tariff (Vol. 26, p. 422) is by one of the most famous American economists, Prof. Taussig of Harvard, and is a very full and fair discussion of the points in controversy. Protection (Vol. 22, p. 464) is by Prof. James of the University of Illinois, and Free Trade (Vol. 11, p. 89) by William Cunningham. You should read with care Customs Duties (Vol. 7, p. 669); Free Ports (Vol. 11, p. 88), and Bounty (Vol. 4, p. 324). Balance of Trade (Vol. 3, p. 235) and Taxation (Vol. 26, p. 458) are both by Sir Robert Giffen. Exchange (Vol. 10, p. 50), by E. M. Harvey, a partner in one of the largest firms of bullion brokers in the world, deals with the movement of gold. Commercial Treaties (Vol. 6, p. 771) is by Sir C. M. Kennedy. Freights are discussed in Affreightment (Vol. 1, p. 302) by Sir Joseph Walton. Lien (Vol. 16, p. 594), with its section on “Stoppage in transitu,” is by F. W. Raikes; Salvage (Vol. 24, p. 97), by T. G. Carver, and Blockade (Vol. 4, p. 72), by Sir Thomas Barclay, the great international lawyer in Paris. Marine insurance, indemnity, Lloyds, and other insurance subjects fall under the chapter of this Guide For Insurance Men to which you should refer. Cargo-carrying and merchant shipping are further covered by Shipping (Vol. 24, p. 983). This article is by Douglas Owen, honorary secretary and treasurer of the Society of National Research, and author of Ports and Docks; it contains information about the great freight carrying lines of the world that can be found in no other book. Railroad freighting is covered by the article Railways (Vol. 22, p. 819), in which there is a special section (p. 854b) on the new models of American freight cars.
Manufacturing and Consuming Nations
In the article United States, which contains more matter than a whole book of ordinary size and more information than a dozen ordinary books, the sections (Vol. 27, p. 639) on manufactures and on foreign and domestic commerce, are by F. S. Philbrick, Ph.D. The internal commerce of the United States, as this article states, is in itself greater than the total international commerce of the world, and is so far from exhausting the country’s power of production and consumption, that even when coastwise traffic is disregarded, New York is the most active port in the world. A section (Vol. 9, p. 916) of the article Europe deals with European commerce in general. The articles on the great manufacturing towns of Europe contain much information as to industries. Great Britain’s industries are dealt with in the article United Kingdom (Vol. 27, p. 691). The industries of England alone are separately treated in a section (Vol. 9, p. 426) of the article England. Germany’s industries are the subject of sections (Vol. 11, p. 811) of the article Germany; and it is interesting to note that although Germany has outranked France in cotton manufactures since Mülhausen, Colmar and other important milling centres of Alsace became German, France has retorted by overtaking and passing Germany in the production of linen. The sections (Vol. 10, p. 785) on foreign commerce in the article France show her position as in the main a self-supporting country, though only a fourth of the cargoes loaded and discharged in French ports are carried under the French flag. It would be a waste of space to enumerate here the articles on Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and other countries, which you will consult in relation to those of their exports in which you are especially interested; but you should not overlook the article on Japan. The Britannica has done commerce a great service in giving to the world at last a good account of this extraordinary country.