Bethel University - Spire Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

Page 7 text:

FACULTY ALFRED J. WIXGBLADE. ARYID GORDH. DAVID E. HAGLUND. R. C. KING. WILLIAM SMITH. FREDA SWENSON.

Page 6 text:

4 THE ACORN Academic. Thirty students were enrolled in the regular academic course. Mr. Horace Peterson gave assistance in the Academic department and Miss Ruth Sandvall in special evening classes. The Bethel Academy Male Chorus was under the leadership of Mr. Victor Bodien. The following year the school was cared for in the same temporary quarters. Classes were multiplied and we found considerable difficulty in conducting the work satisfactorily. We struggled on. month after month, but felt very keenly the need of a home of our own, yea, we felt, that not only the development of the school but its very existence was dependent on a right solution of the building problem. No wonder then, that we received the news with rejoicing, that the administration had decided to erect a building on the beautiful site already secured in St. Anthony Park. On the Uth of June. Mr. Olof Swenson, the generous friend of the Institution, invited us to lay the corner stone, and the house was completed in time for the opening of the Fall term. October 1st. Now the school had a modern brick structure, heated by hot water and lighted by gas, and containing recitation rooms, reading room, furnished rooms for a number of students, dining hall, and kitchen. Thus Bethel Academy came to be located in North St. Anthony Park, a beautiful residence district, midway between St. Paul and Minneapolis, on the Como-Interurban Electric Line, within the five cent limit of either city. Hopefulness marked the opening of the third year. Of the former staff of teachers, only the principal remained. But the vacancies on the faculty were now more than filled by four new and able instruc- tois. all full of life and enthusiasm. Mr. Horace Peterson, whose assistance during the first year had been appreciated by all, entered upon another year of service. The new appointees were Miss Freda Swenson of St. Paul and Mr. David E. Haglund of Lindsborg and Me. Alfred J. Wingblade of Topeka. Kansas. The year was most profitable. Commencement came, and our first graduates, Carl Tidema.n of New Haven, Conn., and Leonard Palmquist of Oakland. N'ebr.. received their diplomas. Mr. Peterson discontinued his service in the spring of 1908. and with the opening of the present school-year Mr. William Smith began his work in the departments of history and science. By his untiring labor, and by the liberality of the Young People of the First Swedish Baptist Church of St. Paul, we now have a laboratory, well equipped with all apparatus needful for the teaching of physics. A recommendation to establish a commercial department—an idea entering into the original plans of the school—met with the approval of the Board. This promising department? offering courses in book-keeping and shorthand, has been in charge of Mr. R. C. King, an expert penman and an able instructor in business branches. The students of this department have had the privilege of taking one or more subjects in the regular academy without any extra charge. Space does not permit us to tell of the Missionary Band, the Literary Society, the Male Chorus, the Quartettes, the Athletic Association, and—The Acorn, all contributing factors in the development of gifts and the enriching of character. Arvid Gordh.

Page 8 text:

G THE ACORN EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS. Business is an act whose practice is based upon a knowledge of the facts of the industrial world, and of the principals which underlie the conduct of commercial transactions. The life of the business man aside from his routine duties, is occupied in making decisions, answering questions, forming judgments. How may I judge this applicant for credit? How shall I invest my unemployed balance? Where shall 1 locate my branch house? By what system shall I pay my employees? in how far will it pay me as a manufacturer to disregard the middleman and go direct to the consumer? What is the cheapest route lor my shipments? How may I forsee the course of prices, of interest rates, or business solvency? What method or methods of advertising shall I adopt? How may i extend my business into foreign countries? Such questions as these, and many others arise in the experience of every man who occupies a position of responsibility, either in his own business or in the employ of some firm or corporation. In order to answer these questions correctly and to make sound judgements and decisions, certain knowledge must be acquired either in the course of a business career or in the preparation which precedes it. Essential to the business man’s equipment is a knowledge of the geography or the United States and foreign countries, of the raw materials of industry, with ‘.ho source of their supply and the methods of their production; of the institutions and agencies of finance, industry and trade; of the methods employed in the organization and management of the bank, the trust company, the factory and the store; of the principals which underlie the financing of a business, the granting of credit. the sale of goods, and the education of the consumer by means of advertising; of the various computations which the business man must make, the principals of bookkeeping. the interpretation of the accounts of partnerships and corporations; the methods of cost-keeping; the relation of the business man to the transportation company; the method of forwarding, and the calculation of freight charges by alternative routes. Finally tho not of least importance, the business man should be well grounded in the principals of business law, and esnecially should he have a thoro knowledge of bookkeeping. Successful men. after many yeais of active contact with affairs, acquire this knowledge, along with a large amount of valuable experience; but this equipment, when gained in active life, takes years to obtain, and is in many cases incomplete. If a large portion of the knowledge of business facts can be obtained in advance, the efficiency of even the man of highest natural ability and most fortunate situation will be greatly increased. Practical experience is essential to business success. No one is fit to be a superior who has not first been a subordinate. The experience gained during an apprenticeship in a bank, factory or railway office is indispensable. The time of apprenticeship can. however, be greatly shortened, and the value of this practical training can he much increased, if it is preceded by a thoro com-me’cial training. The commercial school bears the same relation to the career of the well-equipped business man that law and medical schools do to the practice of the lawyer and the doctor, and, unless due preparation is made one cannot expect to achieve that prompt and conspicous success which is the natural ambition cf every man. R. C. King.