Forging Ahead in Business. Alexander Hamilton Institute
is not the dramatic moments of life that count. It is the quiet planning and reading of the man who is getting ready now for what is going to happen two, five or ten years from now.
Chapter I
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 CouncilAuthors and CollaboratorsSpecial LecturersInstitute Staffa. Consultant Staffb. 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