194 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EDUCATION. 
peculiar to this country. The sentiment of caste, which in many parts of 
he world keeps the highly educated class out of business, has never 
obtained here, and as a consequence a considerable percentage of the well- 
to-do and of the best-educated class are in business; and the training 
given by the business college, which, compared with the broad curriculum 
of the European schools or the long apprenticeship of the English youth, 
would seem inadequate, is, however, much more effective than it would 
appear to be, because of the excellent preliminary training alluded to. 
Those who have taken it have succeeded ; and it is believed that a fair 
comparison between the German, French, and English business man and 
she American business man will not give the advantage in the question of 
ability and effectiveness to his foreign brother. 
In all of the best of these institutions the important part of the course is 
shat which is given the student in what is known as the practice depart- 
ment. In this department the student is furnished with a capital in 
money, merchandise, etc., represented by cards or otherwise, and engages 
with his fellow-students in transactions which elucidate the methods, 
forms, customs, and laws of business in all departments. Thus the work 
of a jobbing house is duplicated in the work of the students with a degree 
of exactness and fullness that enables the graduates to immediately assume 
the duties of very responsible positions in such houses; while so much 
attention is given to the opening and conducting of corporations, and to 
the latest customs and methods of dealing with their bonds and stock, and 
to the relationship of owners and the public, in all aspects, that very many 
of the large corporations have been operated by graduates without further 
‘raining. 
No adequate judgment of the place the American business college has 
1 the educational appliances of the country, or the relationship it has to 
she great industries of the country, is possible without giving due weight 
;0 these important and significant facts concerning the extent of the con- 
;rol and management which their graduates have of the business of the 
Jnited States. 
While the methods, laws, and customs of the various commercial 
nations of the world are necessarily similar in many respects, a marked 
.ndividuality obtains in each, and this notwithstanding the constant 
efforts that are being made by commercial, financial, and industrial 
songresses to unify these methods, laws, and customs. 
Much good in this direction is to be hoped for as a result of the various 
conferences of the great Columbian Exposition ; and what may be agreed 
apon, which can be generally adopted, will be at once made a part of the 
curricula of the commercial colleges, and the large body of their graduates 
who are taking positions in the business world will aid in giving it effect. 
The relationship of the million of alumni of these colleges with their 
alma mater has been annually growing more intimate, and the dissemina-