Forging Ahead in Business

Chapter I. The Modern Business Course and Service

THE MODERN BUSINESS COURSE AND SERVICE

As Dean of New York University School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance, Joseph French Johnson had for many years continually received letters requesting advice on what to read on business.

These demands came not only from young men, but from mature and able executives, and sometimes even from the most successful business leaders. To all such requests Dean Johnson was obliged to reply that the only practical way to study the fundamental principles of business in a systematic manner was to attend the lectures in university schools of commerce.

At that time the literature of business was scanty and for the most part of doubtful value. Working alone, a man could get but little help in his efforts to widen and deepen his knowledge of business principles.

It became evident that there was a great need for an organized, logical statement of the basic principles on which successful business is founded. It was determined to establish an institution which should meet the demand. After years of preparation the Alexander Hamilton Institute was established in 1909.

The name

In selecting the name, it was agreed that none could be so suitable as that of Alexander Hamilton.

Hamilton is perhaps chiefly remembered for his masterly statesmanship; but he was equally conspicuous as soldier, financier, author, organizer and practical economist.

He was without doubt the greatest manager ever employed by the United States Government. When he became the first Secretary of the Treasury, he found a chaotic government, without money, without credit, and without organization. He secured order, provided funds and created prosperity. He investigated the industries and directed the early commercial development of the United States. "He touched the dead corpse of the public credit, and it sprang upon its feet. He smote the rock of the nation's resources and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth."

Hamilton was a great executive and systematizer; he himself worked out an accounting system for the United States Government which, with but slight modifications, remained in force for more than a hundred years.

The plan

The Modern Business Course and Service is a systematic, time-saving method of bringing to any man's office or home that business knowledge and training which he needs, but which he cannot acquire through his own experience.

It is designed for the benefit of two groups of men:

(1) those who already are in executive or semi-executive positions;

(2) young men who have brains and the ambition to become business executives.

It is intended, in general, for the men who are looking and moving ahead; for live, keen-witted, energetic men; for men who are not satisfied to remain in the ranks or in subordinate positions. These men may or may not have had a thorough school and college training; that is not an essential. They may or may not have wealth and high position; that is unimportant. But they must have ability and enough serious purpose to spend a portion of their spare time in reading and thinking about business problems.

The organization

The Modern Business Course and Service is conducted by an organization made up of business and professional men and of university specialists in business subjects. Inasmuch as such an institution derives its strength almost wholly from the men who are identified with it, a complete list of these men, with brief biographical notes to show who they are and what they have accomplished, is given in Chapter VII, on pages 97 to 118.

The Institute organization consists of four groups:

ADVISORY COUNCIL

AUTHORS AND COLLABORATORS

SPECIAL LECTURERS

INSTITUTE STAFF a. CONSULTANT STAFF b. ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Business and educational authority of the highest standing is represented in the Advisory Council of the Institute.

This Advisory Council consists of Frank A. Vanderlip, the financier; T. Coleman duPont, the business executive; John Hays Hammond, the eminent engineer; Joseph French Johnson, Dean of the New York University School of Commerce; and Jeremiah W. Jenks, the statistician and economist. The Council has general supervision and direction of the policies and activities of the Institute. No important move of any kind is made without the sanction of this body.

The Authors and Collaborators are men prominent in educational and business circles. As authors, co-authors and collaborators they are responsible for the Modern Business volumes. Their writing is done under the guidance and with the cooperation of the Institute's Editorial Board. Each one is chosen because of his particular training and ability in the field he covers.

The Special Lecturers, whose business connections are stated on pages 111 to 118, are men of high commercial standing who have devoted time and thought to preparing written lectures for the Modern Business Course and Service. These lectures present some of the results of their successful business experience.

The Institute Staff actively conducts the Modern Business Course and Service. Many of the members of the Staff are also members of the faculties of university schools of commerce. Every member of the Staff is a specialist who in some one business subject is entitled to rank as an authority. Their names, business and university connections and official duties in the Institute are stated on pages 100 to 110.

(a) The Consultant Staff are the experts who do not give their entire time to the Institute, but who are called upon for special information and advice whenever the occasion requires.

(b) The Administrative Staff consists of the Senior and Junior Executives who are active in the administrative work of the organization. These men are heads of the departments responsible for the successful management of the Alexander Hamilton Institute.

Subjects covered

The Modern Business Course and Service brings to a subscriber the essential business knowledge that he does not acquire in his own experience. The subject matter of the Course and Service is treated under the following 24 heads:

1. BUSINESS AND THE MAN 2. ECONOMICS--THE SCIENCE OF BUSINESS 3. BUSINESS ORGANIZATION 4. PLANT MANAGEMENT 5. MARKETING AND MERCHANDISING 6. SALESMANSHIP AND SALES MANAGEMENT 7. ADVERTISING PRINCIPLES 8. OFFICE ADMINISTRATION 9. ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES 10. CREDIT AND COLLECTIONS 11. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE 12. COST FINDING 13. ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS 14. CORPORATION FINANCE 15. TRANSPORTATION 16. FOREIGN TRADE AND SHIPPING 17. BANKING 18. INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE 19. INSURANCE 20. THE STOCK AND PRODUCE EXCHANGES 21. ACCOUNTING PRACTICE AND AUDITING 22. FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS STATEMENTS 23. INVESTMENTS 24. BUSINESS AND THE GOVERNMENT

Simple, elastic, workable

The Modern Business Course and Service covers the essential subjects on which every business man should be well informed.

When an enrolment is accepted, the Institute undertakes,

1. To supply the subscriber with the Modern Business Text--the most complete and best organized treatment of business principles and practice that has yet been produced.

2. To guide and illuminate his reading of the Text by a series of Modern Business Talks.

3. To bring him into touch with the ideas and methods of some of the foremost business and professional men in the country through a series of Modern Business Lectures.

4. To give him facilities for applying and testing his knowledge of business principles through a series of Modern Business Problems.

5. To keep him informed on current business events and the trend of future affairs in the commercial world by means of Monthly Letters on Business Conditions.

6. To acquaint him with important events covering the production and prices of general commodities and the current security market.

7. To supply him with four Modern Business Reports on important problems; the reports to be selected by him from an extensive list.

8. To render personal service through answers to all inquiries in connection with his reading of the Course.

An enrolment for the Modern Business Course and Service covers a period of two years. During that time each subscriber is constantly in touch with the members of the Institute Staff. There are no rigid rules--no red tape--to restrict or annoy; instead, there is personal guidance and sincere cooperation.

The more carefully you consider the plan, the more clearly you will see how well it is adapted to the needs of busy men who must make every minute and every ounce of effort produce the greatest possible results.

You will see more clearly the actual scope of the Modern Business Course and Service if you keep in view its eight main features:

1--TEXT 2--TALKS 3--LECTURES 4--PROBLEMS 5--MONTHLY LETTERS 6--FINANCIAL AND TRADE REVIEWS 7--REPORTS 8--SERVICE

1--Text

The basis of the Course and Service is a series of twenty-four text-books prepared under the careful supervision of its editors, assisted by well-known authorities. In some cases the latter appear as authors, in others as collaborators in the preparation of the Texts.

Dean Joseph French Johnson is Editor-in-Chief of the Course. The managing editor is Dr. Roland P. Falkner. Associated with them is a large editorial staff which takes an active share in the writing and preparation of the Course. The authors and collaborators are specialists who rank as authorities in their particular field. The series is widely recognized as the most important contribution yet made to business literature.

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