are several score business organizations in this country, yet THE JOURNAL does not know of one which has attempted to make any impression on our school system. It seems to be taken for granted that the business man as such has no particular interest in pedagogics. No one denies that as a citizen he has a right to an opinion with regard to the school policy in the community in which he lives. There is, indeed, a common notion that the schools of the country have attained the ideal when they turn out good citizens. In our opinion this view of education is a mistaken one. Our schools will not do their full duty until they aim to produce useful as well as good citizens, and since a large proportion of American citizens are engaged in business, it is the duty of our schools to give young men a training that will help make them successful business men as well as good and loyal citizens.

THE JOURNAL Suggests therefore that the committee on education of the American Association at once set about the performance of a difficult but very important task. During the coming year it should examine and report on the existing facilities for acquiring the kind of education needed by young men entering business, giving especial attention to the methods and curricula of those schools which profess to train men for the profession of public accountancy. This is a task for which a body of accountants is probably better fitted by experience than any other body of business men. The accountant necessarily knows a great deal about all kinds of business, for he is brought into close contact with all of them in his capacity as organizer and adviser. Better than any one else he knows the problems which confront business men of all kinds, and if he will take up the subject seriously, he should be able to determine whether a system of commercial education is really adapted to serve its purpose. THE JOURNAL suggests that the committee begin its work with the secondary schools. Over 95 per cent. of the young men who apply for positions in business offices are without even a high school training. Most of them have been obliged to leave the public schools at the ages of fourteen and fifteen, and have studied little more than reading and writing and arithmetic.

The success of the so-called business college in this country is evidence of a strong demand for elementary training in business methods. Until within a few years these private schools

were the only institutions in the country where a boy could learn anything about bookkeeping and business practice. Of late years many high schools have established commercial departments, and in a few cities high schools of commerce have been created. Are these schools really giving their pupils the kind of instruction that is best suited to their needs? Are they doing thorough work? Are they doing unnecessary work? Are they neglecting to teach certain subjects which ought to be taught? These questions are important and they have never been considered by business men. Let the committee of the American Association of Public Accountants make an investigation and report its findings at the next annual meeting.

Many of the managers of private commercial schools or business colleges are anxious to raise the standard and so increase the value of their diplomas. The task is a difficult one, for these schools are business undertakings and are competing eagerly for students. It is difficult, therefore, to bring them into harmony, or to establish a high standard to which all will adhere. At the present time the fact that a boy is a graduate of a business college means very little. It can be taken for granted that he has a smattering of bookkeeping and that he knows the difference between a check and a promissory note, but one cannot be at all sure about his spelling, his penmanship or his English. The training is too often superficial and wholly inadequate. If the American Association of Public Accountants will take hold of this subject and put the stamp of its approval on a scheme of study for these private commercial schools the result will undoubtedly be beneficial.

Publicity for the Accounting Profession.

Hon. William Harman Black threw out a good suggestion at the annual dinner of the American Association when he advocated the establishment of a publicity and promotion bureau, whose duty it should be to obtain more recognition from the press of the importance and interest to the public of accounting work. The appointment of a Special Committee on Press and Publicity served to emphasize the general approval of Mr. Black's suggestion. The readers of THE JOURNAL will, no doubt, follow attentively the work of this Committee.

It is a difficult and delicate, but by no means impossible, task to arouse public interest without departing from the accepted standards of professional dignity. The difficulties are closely similar to those which confront the administrative offices of leading universities. Certain universities have attempted to keep their names before the public by methods that are reminiscent of the circus press-agent. They have encouraged their professors to announce sensational discoveries and theories and have sent out glowing stories that had very slight foundations in fact; and by such means they have obtained a great quantity of cheap, but scarcely desirable, advertising. The older institutions do not favor this style of publicity. There is not one of all the universities, however, so dignified and conservative that it does not welcome the publication of books and articles by its professors, and does not try to make its public lectures and exercises so timely and interesting that the newspapers will give them space. This is the kind of advertising that pays; it attracts every one's attention, without offending any one's taste.

There is an idea here worth noting by public accountants. Recognition by intelligent people, not cheap notoriety, is what the profession of accountancy needs. The best way to get it is to follow the conservative university lead. Accountants ought to make it a point to speak out on timely questions. The American Association, through its special committees, has already made its influence felt in the insurance agitation, in the reform of governmental business methods and in the revision of railroad accounts under the new Interstate Commerce Law. The policy is good. It ought to be followed by the State Societies also, and even by individual accountants throughout the country, each one of whom may find opportunities to render service gratis to his local community and at the same time to win recognition for the accounting profession. It is a mistake for accountants to narrow themselves too closely to their own technical pursuits, while the application of their science to business and to public affairs remains in the minds of most people so vague and misunderstood.

Just at present the best vehicle for the expression of accountants' views on matters of general interest is the magazine, rather than the newspaper, for the reason that the magazine appeals to a more discriminating public. THE JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTANCY holds its columns open to every variety of intelli

gent opinion, especially on timely questions, and through THE JOURNAL the editorial offices of important periodicals may be reached. In addition the more popular business magazines are not to be despised as mediums of publicity. THE JOURNAL welcomes the increasing attention which they are giving to elementary accounting, as distinguished from bookkeeping, problems. Even the literary magazines are devoting more and more space to questions of business administration and control. The man who can make the accountant's method of approaching such questions intelligible and interesting to the average magazine reader will perform a genuine service to the profession of accountancy.

Doctoring the Currency.

Probably no set of men are better equipped for an understanding of the currency than are public accountants. It is commonly assumed that expert opinion upon this subject can be found among bankers only, for there is a common belief that bankers are more concerned about the money question than anybody else. As a matter of fact the average banker has very little occasion to study the money question. He is a lender of other people's capital and not a dealer in money. The currency, however, has practically nothing to do with capital. It is the medium of exchange, and that is something in which all people are vitally interested.

The agitation for the improvement of our currency system has been given a great impetus by the reports recently made by the Special Currency Committee of the New York Chamber of Commerce and the Commission representing the American Bankers' Association. THE JOURNAL believes it to be the duty of accountants to take an active part in this agitation, for they are well equipped by their training to get a mastery of the question.

The currency question really relates to the use which a bank shall be permitted to make of its power to incur liabilities. Under the law in this country banks have the right to create deposit liabilities to any extent. The only requirement is that they shall carry a certain money reserve and that they shall not default on their obligations. With regard to the issue of note liabilities, however, the national banks of the United States are subject to

several artificial restrictions. Both these forms of bank liability, namely, the deposit and the note, yield a medium of exchange that is very useful in the community. The bank deposit yields the check, which is of great service as a medium of exchange among business men. The bank note, being the bank's liability to bearer, has such a general acceptability that it passes current as money itself, and is particularly useful among people who do not keep bank accounts or write checks.

It is evident that if banks were permitted to increase both these forms of liability with perfect freedom, the country would never suffer from a lack of currency. Just as increasing business in cities results in a larger volume of bank checks and bigger totals at the clearing houses, so would any growth of business in the country districts result in a greater volume of bank notes. Then business in no part of the country would be hampered merely because of scarcity of the circulating medium. On the other hand, if there were a general decline of business activity, then the volume of checks and of notes would both correspondingly decrease, so that the country would have no surplus of either.

Such would be the ideal condition, but under the present National Bank Act it cannot be attained. The requirement that banks must purchase government bonds before they issue bank notes introduces an investment consideration of such importance that our banks will not issue notes merely to satisfy a temporary increase in the demand for such a medium. Consequently in the fall, when the harvesting of our crops calls for increased sums of cash in the country districts, the banks meet this need, not by a larger issue of notes, but by the withdrawal of actual money from the reserves. Hence they are forced to contract their loans and all borrowers suffer, the rate of interest always being advanced.

Is this situation necessary? Is it not possible to devise a system whereby our banks may be safely allowed to issue notes. with more freedom? The volume of checks and drafts-often called deposit currency-responds most sensitively to the demands of trade, increasing when trade is active and decreasing when trade is dull. Is it not possible to impart a similar elasticity to the volume of bank notes? That, in substance, is the currency question.