Post-war functions of commercial education

Abstract

The title which I have chosen for the heading of this paper is at the best a vague and imperfect one. There are so many points to be considered, and the field of discussion is so wide as to our preparation for the Trade War which must inevitably ensue at the conclusion of the military one, that it is hard to find a central line of thought to which one can adhere without manifold digressions and side tracks. "The Post-War Functions of Commercial Education" implies, primarily, an examination of the specialised instruction for persons engaged in the purchase, sale and transport of goods as distinct from those concerned in the manufacture of those goods. But the manufacture of goods is so absolutely precedent to their sale and transport, and so entirely dominates all the issues with which we have to deal, that no discussion could claim to be complete which did not pay some attention to it. The general object of the discussion is, I take it, the promotion of our economic welfare in the hurly-burly which is certain to arise on the return of peace.