Book Department.

PROCEEDINGS OF MINNESOTA EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION, 1908. 336 pages.

Price $1.00.

The business man who is interested in the progress that industrial and commercial education is making in this country will gain some valuable suggestions from the proceedings of the M. E. A.. The information is not statistical in character, but it is rather in the form of that most valuable of all evidence, i. e., those ideas about business education which have unconsciously crept into the many papers. devoted solely to the "cultural" subjects. This shows the impression the new education is making upon the thoughts of those whose educational conservatism has made their minds all but impenetrable to a new idea. Beside these " ear marks" of the new movement there are also valuable papers which treat of the relation of industrial education to other school subjects and of business education directly. In discussing this last subject in its relation to the High School Professor E. V. Robinson, of Minnesota University, says, "Most of our high schools are still trying to make a preacher or doctor or lawyer of every boy, and a teacher of every girl who enters its portals. Nowhere else in the world is there so much misdirected energy, and no other agency turns so many people from their natural careers, to the detriment of themselves and of society. yet there never was a time when the demand for wide information and trained judgment in business was so great as to-day. The purely academic high school still cumbers our educational earth, and graduates of such schools if they finally succeed in business, do so rather in spite of than because of their high school education-for they are turned out on a long-suffering public learned in many things which they can never apply, and as ignorant of modern business as babes unborn."

Altogether there are no less than twenty papers devoted to the subject of industrial business education. This gives a balance to the general discussion of education not found in most meetings of this kind. Such prominence is due to the broad-minded policy of the Association Secretary, Superintendent V. G. Pickett. He has succeeded to a remarkable degree in giving to this year's proceedings that most difficult of properties proportion.

ESSAYS ON MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION, by Prof. John H. Fairlie. The Macmillan Company. 1908. Price $2.50 net.

As the title suggests, the author has not attempted to present a systematic and comprehensive discussion of municipal government. The papers which are presented have been grouped into three classes. In the first group are those relating to problems of organization and the legal relations of the city to the state. The second group contains those pertaining

to municipal functions and activities. The third group embraces a series of papers upon municipal government in Europe.

The problem of city administration shows itself to be one of organization and efficiency from the point of view of business. The rapid growth in the number and size of cities has not been attended with a change of policy and organization to fit city govenrment on the "large scale" basis. Business men will find the book of especial interest from two points of view. First, as a citizen, it is the business man's duty to understand the causes which underlie the maladministration of our cities. The hope of betterment lies in the aid which our business men are capable of giving to the public out of the store of their experience gained in modern private but gigantic enterprises. Second, the accountant interested in municipal accounting could do no better than read Professor Fairlie's book in order to know the broader economic questions which have made his profession more necessary to the success of good city government than any other profession, not excluding law and politics.

THE ACCOUNTANTS' COMPENDIUM, by Sidney Stanley Dawson. Third edition. London, 1908. 630 pages. Price $9.25.

This third edition of Dawson's standard work, which has just been issued, is a satisfactory lexicon for accountants. Although a large part of the subject matter refers to English law, that portion which relates to accounting and business is up-to-date and applicable to American as well as English practice. Many of the accounting articles have been revised, enlarged, and brought up-to-date. Several new subjects have also been introduced. This last edition will certainly add to the popularity which the author enjoys among accountants.

THE EARNING POWER OF RAILROADS, compiled and edited by Floyd W. Mundy of Jas. H. Oliphant and Co., 1907. New York. Price gratis.

This book is a type of the kind which, it is hoped, will become more and more common. It places before the public not only a mass of statistics, but precedes these with a general statement of certain fundamental principles which the experienced investor has learned to observe. This portion of the book is significant in two respects. First, it indicates a growing tendency on the part of business men to think in terms of cause and effect, and, hence, to express the result of their experience in formulated laws. Secondly, the explanations here given serve as a key to the interpretation of the statistical data that follows. To the investor in railway stocks and bonds this is most important, for, although he may get the same information in many academic text books, here the theory of industrial values has the support of the practical business man, and the general investor sees the fundamental basis on which the business professional operates.

The author attacks certain misconceptions which are generally prevalent among investors. Among these is a discussion of the operating ratio. The faith which the average man has in a simple ratio is here clearly

manifested. The operating ratio is supposed to count for all, and instead of gathering the enormous amount of information necessary which every considerable investor in railroad securities should gather, sole reliance is placed in this one ratio of operating expenses to gross earnings-a statement which has of itself no significance whatever.

THE ROMANCE OF THE REAPER, by Herbert N. Casson. Doubleday, Page and Company, New York, 1908. Price $1.00.

While the title of this book indicates its style and purpose, there is more to it than the inside history of a great American business. It portrays the development of American business enterprise. The description does not deal so much with the financial operations but rather with the personality of the first and the present promoters and owners of the reaper business. Competition here has not depended upon the shrewd manipulation of the market for securities. The originators of the reaper business fought for the possession of the market where machinery is is sold and the word "fought" is used as often in the literal as in its figurative sense.

The history of no other industrial organization shows so clearly the futility of opposing the great forces in society which are compelling concerns to consolidate and avoid the waste due to competition. No group of business men were ever more opposed to this form of organization than the men who stood at the head of the individual reaper firms, but "The International Harvester Company" was the only solution possible if ruin was to be avoided. The difficulty which Mr. Perkins had in keeping the various hostile temperaments apart while the negotiations for the Morganizing of this group of fighters were under way is humorously told by Mr. Casson.

The importance which the author attaches to the reaper in the structure of our civilization is best stated in his own words:

"The reaper is our best guarantee of prosperity. In spite of our periodical panics, which prove, by the way, that the men who provide us with banks are not as efficient as the men who provide us with bread, we are certain to rebound into prosperity and social progress as long as we continue to make three hundred harvesting machines every working day-one every two minutes. The rising flood of wheat is bound to submerge the schemers and the pessimists alike. Every harvester means more comfort, more travel, more art and music, more books and education."

The conclusion which the author arrives at in his investigations is that the business methods of this institution seem to conform to the highest standards of fair play and square dealing and that the International Harvest Combine is not a tariff trust.

Current Magazine

Magazine Articles.

The periodical literature of business is enormous in volume, but not impressive in quality. Too much of it is mere gossip or disguised advertising or superficial rehash of what sensible business men already know. But among the chaff there are always

a few grains of wheat which ought not to be allowed to go to waste. It is the purpose of this department to pick out and summarize some of the articles that are worth attention. As no one man could possibly cover the whole field, the editor will be grateful to any one who will take the trouble to call his attention to articles that have been found useful.

Hastening Deliveries.

The sales department is nearly always ready to promise deliveries to suit the customer. When it is not physically impossible, it is up to the order department to "make good." Mr. C. E. Knoeppel describes in the Engineering Magazine for July how orders may be followed up in a large establishment and sent off according to schedule. "A promise cannot keep itself any more than a shipment can make itself," he says, "yet it seems to be the principle that so many work upon. Any arrangement that will enable you to make deliveries as close to the schedule as it is possible to make them should have your careful attention, for it will mean much in the way of more satisfied customers, better deliveries by those from whom you purchase, and lower cost through increased production, all these being points which materially assist in making an enterprise successful."

In any establishment of ordinary size, those concerned in the handling of an order from its receipt until shipment are: Chief Clerk, Works Manager, Chief Stores Clerk, and Shipping Clerk.

If the four men heretofore mentioned are allowed to act as one body, with full power, the result is going to be better deliveries, no matter under what conditions the company may be operating. Organize a committee composed of these four men; make them responsible for promises and deliveries-and you can depend upon it that they will exercise care before they set a time when an order will be shipped; for in their discussions, they will (or should) ascertain how much of an order is ready to ship, how much must be built, what is in stock ready to assemble, what is in stock ready to process, what must be purchased outside, and about when this material can be secured, how long it will take the shops to process and assemble, etc.; and if track is kept of the progress the order is making, from time to time, there is every reason to expect that the shipment will go forward about when promised.

The system is simple, and while it would require a little work each day in order to obtain maximum results, does not the end in view justify the means? Let us sum up briefly the advantages to be derived through some such system, devised to meet your own conditions. In the first place your works manager, order clerk, stores clerk, and shipping clerk, all know and have collectively agreed upon the dates of shipment, the points peculiar to each order having received attention before this was done; the orders

are constantly before them, the metal workers showing the dates of shipments to be made; and through coöperation, which should be insisted upon,, they will be able practically to see the end at the start.

The works manager will be in a position to plan his work to better advantage, for he can notify his foremen what he wants and when he wants it, they in their turn giving the men the necessary orders and instructions that will start the desired work along and through the shops in the most systematic way, so that in reality we have the whole force doing their share in an effort to get the work through on time.

The stock clerk will know what stock is necessary to get ready for the shops, and he will also know what has to be purchased outside. He can make the necessary requisitions on the purchasing department, with notations as to when he wants the materials that are to be ordered.

The purchasing department can keep after the people with whom the orders were placed, which in itself will have an influence in obtaining better deliveries; for once you know what you want and when you want it, you can, in the majority of cases, by keeping after the concerns from whom you ordered, get your materials in time to enable you to keep your promise to your customers.

Your order clerk each day will bring to the attention of the others the list of shipments arranged for the following day, and if new dates have to be set it can be done, and he can so notify the people to whom the materials were going. At the same time he can take up with the others the possibility of getting future shipments off as promised, and by keeping track of the details and looking after the clerical work, he is in a position to give valuable information as to the status of any order.

The shipping clerk, knowing after each day's conference what is to go forward within the two or three days following, in a position to see to getting everything in readiness for shipment on the day set; and if anything happens to make it necessary to change any date set, he knows it the day previous and can be governed accordingly. The shipping clerk is therefore in a position to make his work count for something, as he is able to concentrate his attention upon the accomplishment of something definite, and is not forced to do a lot of work that will count for nothing.

In brief, we have a combination of brains working along the same lines and with the same end in view, and this will accomplish more than could be accomplished by individual effort along widely different lines. The result of such effort would be more prompt deliveries, and, therefore, more satisfied customers-the desire of every manufacturer.

New York Central Operating Organization.

A brief but enlightening article in the Railroad Age Gazette for July 10, discusses the above subject. The writer says:

Like the organization of every other American railroad, it is designed to fit local conditions and consequently is neither purely divisional nor purely departmental. We have always taken the pure type of a departmental organization as that typified by English practice (now growing rare), where the head of the mechanical department is on an absolute parity with the general manager, so far as authority over his department is concerned, and reports to nobody but his board of non-technical directors. No road in the United States has an organization like that, fortunately, but there is a fairly well defined division of practice between a departmental organization, such as that possessed by the Lackawanna,