It maintained a publication for members only, in Berlin. A Russian publication in Petrograd furnished information on trade opportunities in both countries, giving special attention to the needs of its members. It also maintained a department for the settlement of customs and freight difficulties and a collection and a translation bureau.

The "Central Society for Commercial Geography and Promoting German Interests Abroad" has a membership of 5,000. It promotes intercourse between Germans living abroad and those at home, and investigates prospects for the extension of German trade in foreign lands. It has an office for furnishing information to applicants who desire to settle abroad, and offers legal aid to Germans residing in foreign countries. The study of commercial conditions in all foreign lands and particularly of the colonial policies of foreign states, is part of the association's work. It has promoted participation in foreign expositions in Australia and South America, has sent floating exhibitions to foreign countries, and is affiliated with two similar German associations in Brazil.

A single powerful organization-the Deutsche Handelstag-binds the commercial and trade bodies of Germany together. Through it the business interests of the whole empire coöperate to further their common purpose. This solidarity is unquestionably one of the reasons why Germany has achieved supremacy in so many fields, particularly in foreign trade.

Germany's success as a commercial and industrial world power is due in a large degree to coöperation— coöperation among business men in their associations and coöperation between these associations and the Imperial Government. Her business men work together. Communities of interest exist between the small and big men of business. The strength that comes from unity has proved to be the backbone of Germany's industrial and commercial achievementsefficiency and strength.

German trade associations and cartels, it is reported on good authority, are now perfecting their coöperative machinery for the purpose of buying raw materials after the war.* European manufacturers have considered the appointing of single buying agents in the United States for the purpose of purchasing all the cotton and other commodities required. They contemplate playing one group of American producers against the other in order to decrease the price. European business men realize that their labor cost will be increased as a result of the war, and they are omitting no effort to offset this by economies in other directions. If Europe by coöperation can obtain American raw materials cheaper than the American manufacturer, as has been the case with copper, lumber, and naval stores, and may become the case with cotton, grain, and other products, the European manufacturer will have an advantage

*See "European Economic Alliances," published by the National Foreign Trade Council, September, 1916.

all along the line in selling his finished merchandise. His labor cost will probably be, in spite of the increase due to the war, lower than the American cost, his raw materials will cost less, and he will have the advantage of highly organized coöperation with his government, banks, and steamship lines, which business in the United States at the present time does not enjoy.

In this country we do not care to copy the methods of another people, but the activities of German trade bodies suggest many ways in which we can develop. Some lines of activity now followed by German trade associations would, of course, be contrary to our antitrust laws, but there are still many fields into which they have introduced effective coöperation which would afford legitimate activities for American trade associations. Our trade associations have neglected many of their opportunities, particularly those which relate to foreign trade. We must put our associations at a task which is admittedly too large for any one manufacturer.

CHAPTER VIII

COMMERCIAL EDUCATION AND THE NEW ERA

OF BUSINESS

HE commercial outlook of our time ranges across the seas. Professional and business

TH

activities were once limited by national boundaries, but to-day the pursuit of any profession or occupation is likely to lead into the foreign field. Only political boundaries remain; economic and industrial frontiers have been swept away. The business man, more frequently than any other now, becomes a citizen of the world. One of the numerous economic changes effected by the present war is that almost overnight the United States has assumed a leading rôle among the commercial nations of the world. For good or ill we have irrevocably passed beyond our former limits, have allied ourselves with new interests, assumed new responsibilities, and are confronted by new problems intensely momentous in their bearing upon our whole economic future.

In view of all this the question arises whether our present commercial supremacy is based on a secure and permanent foundation. Are we to maintain our present position in the future and will we be able to gain additional ground? What foreign trade we

have and we stand second among the nations in volume and value of our oversea commerce-is largely due to our wealth in natural resources and agricultural products. A smaller part of our export trade consists of finished manufactures, sold in competition with other industrial nations. For the foothold that our manufactures give us in the world market we should accord full credit to those great industrial enterprises which have marched far ahead of general opinion and government support in appreciation of the need for an outlet for the surplus output of American labor, inventive genius, and business skill.

The creation of foreign trade for manufactured products is a difficult problem. A manufactured article never sells itself abroad as does a bushel of wheat. It must either fill a new demand or displace a like product from another country. The early detection of this new demand requires as much, if not more, skill and organization than does the attainment of superiority in quality over the rival foreign articles. Here is where the efficiency of industrial education becomes the supreme arbiter.

If our present lead is not to remain merely temporary but is to become permanent, the United States must equip her hosts of commerce and industry with the ingenuity to invent, the skill to adapt, the leadership to organize, and, above all, the intelligence to extend. Efficiency founded on intelligence must become the keyword of our business efforts.

More than