currents. Accumulators. Electric arc lamps. Regulators. Jablochkoff's candle. Incandescent electric lamps. Choice to make between the arc lamps and the incandescent lamps according to circumstances. Distribution of electric light by direct current or by transformed currents. Lighting of passenger stations, of market halls, and of large industrial, commercial, or financial establishments. Domestic lighting; study of a certain number of cases of actual lighting. Various advantages resulting from the employment of the electric light. Price of electric lighting compared with that of gas. Future of electric lighting, its war with gas. Transportation by electric force.-The most satisfactory systems. Trials and applications. Electric traction. Administrative regulations and surveillance of electric lines and factories. Lifting apparatus.-The different types of hand cranes. Timber and metallic cranes, fixed or variable. Steam cranes with or without gearing. Christian cranes. Revolving steam cranes. The organization of transporting in the factory park of Creusot. Cranes run by water under pressure; the Armstrong system. Revolving steam derricks employed in unloading railroad cars or river boats. Inclined planes with trucks. Railroads.-Comparison between the traction of a vehicle on an ordinary road and on an iron track; necessity for modifying the grades and curves. The numerous conditions which must be fulfilled in order to lay out a great railroad line. A normal track and a double track. Ties; iron rails and steel rails, etc. Transferring from one track to another; switches, crosses, etc. Railroad ties. Turning tables. Rolling stock for transporting merchandise. The construction of a train of cars. Couplings. Different types of cars. Box cars, truck cars, and platform cars. The limitation of charges. Transportation of large pieces of wood. Special cars. Freight stations. Small stations. Principal stations. Quays and market halls. Stations for transshipment of goods. Special cranes employed in these stations. Large stations at junctions. Sorting cars in order to return them. Sorting and classifying acccording to weight (the inclined plane of Edge Hill). Terminal stations; their location (station at Batignolles, of Bercy, etc.). Detailed description of the station "la Chapelle." Switching cars. Moving by hand and with horses. Switch engines. Hydraulic windlasses. Charcoal stations. Stations for iron and stone. Particular branches. Conditions of establishment and exploitation. Administrative formalities. Narrow gauge railroad. Facilities and economy of building the road and of material. Example. Stations at the junctions with the principal systems. Their machines for transferring merchandise. Small railroads for the special use of manufactories, of large commercial houses, and warehouses in general. Tramways. Portable railroads. Inland navigation.-Material for transportation on rivers and canals. Forms and dimensions of boats. Different methods of locomotion: Towing by hand, with horses, and attempts at towing by steam. Navigation with sails and drifting. Steam navigation. Wheel steamers. Screw steamers. Towers. Rafting loose logs and logs fastened together. The canalization of rivers; dams; locks; lateral canals. Summit level ponds. Method of feeding. Inclined plane of the Morris Canal; inclined plane of Black Hill. Great Western elevator; Anderton's elevator; elevator of Fontinettes. Landing places for inland navigation. Seaports.-War between the marine cities; the progress realized every day in the management and in the use of machinery at seaports. The different operations involved in handling merchandise from the time it leaves the hold of the vessel until it is placed in cars or in storehouses, and vice versa. The harmony necessary to establish between land and naval institutions. Ocean seaports. The tide port. Wet docks. Docks for half tide. Docks for full tide. Deep-water docks. Seaports without docks. Works on the seacoast, jetties, outer dikes. Description of a typical port according to M. Barret. Jetties affected by steamers transporting dispatches, passengers, and prize merchandise. Sheds and storehouses. Iron tracks. Jetties affected exclusively by steamers carrying merchandise. Jetties for exportation or importation of heavy and cumbersome merchandise. Wooden bottoms. Pilots: New York. Quays and the shores of docks; their management. Maritime stations. Quays and exterior embankments. Transferring from one vessel to another. The apparatus used for lifting at wharves; movable hydraulic cranes. Floating steam cranes. Derricks worked by hand, by steam, and by hydraulic pressure. The utilization of hydraulic pressure for manipulating turning bridges, windlasses, etc. Unloading of grain. Pneumatic apparatus. Floating elevators. Establishments for repairing; docks for careening, dockyards, windlasses, floating docks. Docks of transfer. Dry docks. The docks of London and of Liverpool. Docks for the exportation of coal. Northumberland and Tyne dock. Detailed description of the seaports at Trieste, Marseilles, Havre, and Antwerp. Warehouses and general storehouses.-Buildings having several stories and buildings of but one story; advantages and disadvantages of each kind. Construction and management. Elevator apparatus; charges for hydraulic elevating or lowering goods. Buildings destined to receive special merchandise. Spirits, wines, vegetable oils, petroleum, storing grain. Pits and various granaries. PENMANSHIP (TWO YEARS)—FIRST YEAR (TWENTY LESSONS)-SECOND YEAR (FIFTEEN LESSONS). Review of the general principles relating to the different species of handwriting. Theoretical and practical exercises. The customary practice in writing and in the graphic execution of correspondence and of commercial accounts; business letters, commercial bills, invoices. Transferring entries from the journal to the ledger; inventories; balance sheets; discount memoranda, etc. Administrative documents, synoptical tables, memoranda, etc. Foreign commercial correspondence. NOTES ON THE COMMERCIAL SCHOOLS OF FRANCE. GROUPS.-The French schools of commerce may be divided into two groups. The first group comprises seven higher schools, of which two are at Paris and five in the provinces. The second group comprises four primary and intermediate schools, of which three are at Paris and one in the provinces; a total of eleven schools of commerce. CONSTITUTION OF THE SCHOOLS.-The Superior School of Commerce at Paris; the Commercial School of the Avenue Trudaine, and the School of Higher Commercial Studies are all governed by the Paris Chamber of Commerce, which purchased the first in 1869 and founded the other two in 1862 and 1881. The schools at Lyons, Marseilles, Havre, and the Commercial Institute of Paris are controlled by private corporations. The school at Rouen was also created by a corporation; its capital having been exhausted in 1882, an arrangement was made which incorporated the school into the School of Sciences and Letters of Rouen (Academy of Caen), in whose hands it now languishes. The method of subsidies was adopted in the case of the School of Bordeaux, which was organized in 1874. This combination permitted a reduction of the cost of tuition to 200 francs, while giving to the school a good location and an excellent equipment. The School of Reims, supported by the same method of subsidy as the School of Bordeaux, became a public establishment in 1882 under the immediate control of the ministry of public instruction, like the manual school. The Practical School of Commerce and Accounting has remained private property. If one compares the value of these different methods of support, one must recognize that they are all equally precarious. The School of Rouen has foundered for lack of capital; the school at Havre manages to exist with great difficulty; that at Lyons, founded by a private corporation which seemed to offer more permanence, has about arrived at the end of its resources. If the Paris Chamber of Commerce had been obliged to carry for the School of the Avenue Trudaine and that of the rue Amelot the same deficits as for the School of Higher Commercial Studies, it is evident it would have been obliged to have closed these establishments. As to the School of Bordeaux, it could not survive a disagreement between the three bodies which subsidized it. The school at Reims alone sees its position assured by the aid of the State, but it has lost all liberty. So far as an educational point of view is concerned, those schools governed by private corporations offer more freedom in instruction. Nevertheless, it does not assure as careful supervision as the method of subsidies, for shareholders are usually little interested in operations which do not give profits. Finally, excellent results have been obtained under all methods, so far as the instruction is concerned, but from the administrative and financial point of view the direct control by the State would be preferable to the corporation, which is less watchful and less attentive, and the form of corporate management is, morcover, rarely favorable to enterprise. COUNCILS.-The different schools are administered by councils, composed ordinarily of the prominent merchants of the vicinity. The councils of the three schools, supported by the Paris Chamber of Commerce, are recruited from the members of that body. Besides looking after the financial administration these committees are also charged with supervising the course of study. The council of the school at Lyons is composed of thirteen members, of whom four are chosen from the Chamber of Commerce and nine from the shareholders. The council of the school at Marseilles is composed of twelve members, of whom ten are shareholders and two are members of the Chamber of Commerce, and is assisted by an educational committee founded by it, and whose members can be taken from outside the body of shareholders; a proSavanahla to good instruction, for it permits the introduction of looking after the financial administration, it organizes the instruction of the school and supervises it. At Bordeaux the administration of the school is confided to the Philomathic Society, under the control of a committee of supervision, composed of five members of the municipal council, five members of the Chamber of Commerce, and a representative of the council general of the Gironde, also five members of the Philomathic Society. The Commercial Institute of the Chaussée d'Antin is administered by a council of supervision, taken from the founders and shareholders of the institute. Finally the Professional School at Reims has a committee of patronage and supervision, composed of fourteen members. The Superior School of Commerce at Paris, besides its administrative delegation, has an educational council composed of twenty-five notabilities and presided over by the ministry of commerce. SCHOLARSHIPS.-In addition to the information which is found in the table published above, we add some remarks upon the pecuniary aid which the State has given to commercial instruction. A ministerial order, dated February 1, 1819,' created at the Superior School of Commerce at Paris, directed at that time by M. Blanqui, By an order of April 23, 1853, these sixsixteen half scholarships of 500 francs each. teen half scholarships were transformed into twelve entire scholarships of 1,200 francs each. The total expense of 14,400 francs was taken from the grant for the encouragement of industry and commerce. A special grant for the maintenance of scholarships in the schools of commerce was first inserted into the budget for the year 1875. This grant amounted to 30,000 francs; it was raised to 40,000 francs by the law of 1883. These scholarships are distributed as follows: Scholarships. Value. Superior School of Commerce of Lyons Superior School of Commerce of Rouen. 10 SUBSIDIES.-The subsidies given to the establishments of commercial instruction were made from the grant for the encouragement of technical instruction, which figured regularly in the budgets since the year 1868. A special grant of 24,350 francs for subsidies to the establishments of commercial instruction was inscribed for the first time in the budget for the year 1884. For the year 1886 this grant was raised to 42,000 francs. These grants were distributed as follows for the year 1884-85: Superior School of Commerce of Lyons.. Superior School of Commerce of Havre Commercial School of Paris.. 1884. 1885. Francs. Francs. 5,000 2,000 5,000 200 1,000 50 2,000 3,000 500 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,100 1,000 1,000 Society for the Technical Instruction of Women (foundation E. Lemonnier) The Academic Society of Accounting, and other societies. TRAVELING SCHOLARSHIPS.-The budget for the year 1885, under the head of the ministry of commerce, contained a special grant of 9,000 francs for the establishment of traveling scholarships, in favor of the graduates of the higher schools of commerce. This grant was raised to 18,000 francs by the budget of 1886; the grant asked for at 1 Some half scholarships had been established ten years earlier. that time was 50,000 francs. The creation of traveling scholarships answers the necessity of extending our field of commercial activity abroad, as well as a just requirement from the standpoint of instruction. One must not forget the fact that in other careers in the fine arts, in university studies-traveling scholarships have been established at great expense, and that schools have been organized in order to enable the graduates to ripen their talent by the study of the works of the great masters. In Belgium the Government created, in 1862, several traveling scholarships for the licentiates in commercial sciences graduating from the Superior School of Commerce in Antwerp. Public opinion in France has been favorably inclined to the idea of taking a similar step in favor of the graduates of our schools of commerce. M. Jacquemart, in an excellent report, has made himself the eloquent interpreter of this sentiment, and he has been fortunate enough to gain his cause. Everything points to the fact that future budgets will increase each year the grant for these scholarships. The grant in Belgium amounts to 45,000 franes. When the French State shall decide to follow the example of Belgium, we said some time ago, it must not hesitate to increase the number of scholarships. One means of creating a large number of them without increasing the cost to the contrib utors would be to transform them into temporary loans made by the treasury, and reimbursable under given conditions." We have on several occasions mentioned this system, which could also be adopted by commercial societies or syndicates or insurance companies. This system of loans would substitute for a beneficiary a debtor who has taken upon himself certain formal obligations. "The beginning of a commercial career, let us add, ought not to be a gift from a society; a capital received and which is not to be repaid; a debt which is not to be liquidated. The State should limit itself to making a loan, and the traveler who benefits by the advance should repay it when he shall have succeeded in making it bear fruit. This capital would then assist other travelers, who would employ it fruitfully in their turn." However it may be with these reflections, we congratulate M. Jacquemart on this happy initiative and the result accomplished. The necessary thing was to do something. Below is appended the set of regulations relating to traveling scholarships, founded by the ministry of commerce: ARTICLE 1. A certain number of traveling scholarships will be annually opened to competition by the minstry of commerce. These scholarships, of an annual value of 3,000 francs, are granted for three years. ART. 2. To be admitted to the competition, candidates must produce a certificate of good conduct and moral character, and evidence showing, first, that they are French citizens either native or naturalized; second, that they are at least 20 years of age and not more than 25 at the time of the competition; third, that they are furnished with a diploma of one of the schools of commerce designated below: School of Higher Commercial Studies; Superior School of Commerce at Paris; Superior School of Commerce at Lyons; Superior School of Commerce at Marseilles; Superior School of Commerce at Bordeaux; Superior School of Commerce at Rouen; Superior School of Commerce at Havre; Commercial Institute of Paris; Commercial School of the Avenne Trudaine at Paris. ART. 3. Other things being equal, the proof that the candidate has already passed one or more years in active busines is also considered. ART. 4. The competition, announced a month in advance in the official journal, occurs at Paris from the 1st to the 30th of December. ART. 5. Registrations are received at the ministry of commerce up to the 15th of November. ART. 6. The competitive examination is divided into two parts: First, a written examination; second, an oral examination. The written examination comprises, first, commercial geography of the entire world; second, the history of French commerce; third, a composition in a foreign language-English, German, Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese. The oral examination includes, first, the commercial geography of the entire world; second, French customs legislation; third, French commercial law; fourth, a foreign language-English, German, Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese, at the choice of the candidate. ART. 7. These different examinations are conducted before a jury named each year by the ministry of commerce. ART. 8. The candidates judged worthy of the traveling scholarships will be asked to choose their place of residence after consultation with the minister of commerce, who ill strive to render their sojourn abroad easy and pleasant, by recommending them rge French business houses and procuring for them as much as possible the iplomatic and consular agents. ders of these scholarships must address, each quarter, to the minstudy upon the commerce and industries of the region in which they are living. They must add a certificate from the French consul in the district where they are residing, certifying that they are occupying themselves with serious studies, with business, and with commercial journeys. These regulations suggest some reflections on the diploma which one requires of the candidate, certifying that he possesses the knowledge shown in the programmes of the schools. We believe, then, that the examination is superfluous. It will certainly be judged to be so later when the State shall control the schools directly. But as long as the examination is recognized to be necessary, why have they eliminated from the test everything which relates to the science of commerce itself, which forms with modern languages the basis of the instruction in the schools of commerce? Law and legislation are only auxiliary branches in this instruction. Is not the essential rather the commercial knowledge of the sort demanded, attested either by the possession of a diploma or by an examination covering the programme of the higher schools themselves, and satisfactory statements in regard to the state of the health, character, habits of study, intellectual keenness, industry, spirit of initiative, fine sense of honor, etc., all things which escape the test of the examination? This information could be furnished by the chambers of commerce, and especially by the man who had employed the candidate. The regulations say further that, other things being equal, the fact that the candidate has already passed one or more years in active business will be taken into serious consideration. This provision authorizes, by implication at least, the candidate to present himself without having had any business experience-a thing which seems to us undesirable. We should have preferred that, other things being equal, practical experience should receive absolute preference, and as a matter of principle, considering the actual state of commercial instruction, this practical experience ought to be insisted upon in all cases, with the minimum period of one full year. At any rate, and let us emphasize this fact, if the foundation of these traveling scholarships is to give the best results regard must be had to the state of health, activity, initiative, and moral character of the candidate, and more attention must be paid to commercial knowledge than to legal knowledge. The holders of traveling scholarships must address, every quarter, a report to the minister upon the commerce and industries of the countries which they are visiting. This provision is excellent. We believe, however, that one ought to profit by the experience obtained in Belgium, where the report of a scholarship holder, demanded at one time a few months after the trip, is now demanded only after a full year, so that the pupil can make a careful study of the commerce of the country where he is living. "Since this provision was adopted," M. Grandgaignage, director of the institute, writes us, "I notice that the reports are more thorough, and merit publication in the consular reports." SCHOLARSHIPS-APPEAL TO THE MERCHANTS.-If the State is thus so far from having encouraged commercial instruction, what shall we say of our commerce itself? With rare exceptions no person in France has understood the importance of this instruction, which must be considered as truly national as that in agriculture and industry. We have shown elsewhere in this treatise that only a few chambers of commerce-those of Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, and Bordeaux-have really made sacrifices for the sake of this instruction. What have the other chambers of commerce to the number of 103 done? Absolutely nothing. Those who have not created schools of commerce have not even founded scholarships in the establishments in which they ought to have interested themselves, because they are representatives of commerce. Is it not incredible? And what have the syndical chambers of merchants and manufacturers done? These number 167 in Paris alone, and they count members perhaps by the thousands. Alas! They have not even founded a scholarship, nor encouraged in any way the graduates of these schools. Syndical chambers in the provinces to the number of 343 have shown the same indifference; they have given absolutely no aid to commercial instruction, as absolutely nothing as to the study of theology. How about our municipal councils, especially those of the large cities? The same indifference, except at Paris, Lyons, Havre, and Bordeaux. And the departments, the councils general? The same disregard, except the department of the Lower Seine, and that of the Bouches du Rhone. And what of the learned societies, and especially the societies of political economy? Again nothing; absolutely nothing, except the Philomathic Society of Bordeaux and the Society for the Protection of Commerce in Marseilles. Our economists, it would seem, ought to interest themselves in something else than the mere development of economic science. A certain number of merchants, bankers, and corporations, whose names we have mentioned above, are the only individuals or bodies who have understood the advantage of assisting the instruction which aids our commerce directly. Let us then take up this good movement and aid it as much as possible. Who should assist the work of commercial instruction if not commercial corporations themselves? One must not leave the whole burden of this work upon a few; one must not expect everything from the State, which justly asks that you should give the example to it which it needs in order to know what one should expect of it. |