Reviews the book "Commercial Education in the High School," by Fredrick G. Nichols.

Reviews the book "Business Under the Recovery Act," by Robert Valenstein and E.B. Weiss.

Abstract Many students of accounting have investigated with thoroughness the question of whether or not accounting is included in the curricula of many liberal arts colleges, as well as the number and scope of courses usually offered. These investigations show that accounting has attained a position of no minor importance in such curricula and that liberal arts colleges are offering an increasing number of advanced as well as elementary courses, as of March 1933. Since we recognize that the study of accounting has taken its place by the side of the study of literature and the classics, a spirit of inquiry leads us to ask whether it is justified to call accounting a liberal arts subject and, if so, does the nature of the college necessitate a different approach or an adaptation of content in the accounting course. It is with these two questions that this article deals. The goal of the educator should certainly be to train the youth to live in the particular environment in which he finds himself. As environments change there is every reason why the field of his study, too, must change, for his social adjustment and his philosophy of life must turn upon his understanding and interpretation of his surroundings.

GENERAL business in the United States, as reflected by the B curve of the index chart (page 63), was at about the same average level in the first quarter of this year as in the preceding quarter a condition which had not prevailed since the second quarter of I930. The course of general business during the quarter was downward; and the March figure was undoubtedly at a new low level, somewhat below that of November I932. Exact measurement, either for March or the quarter as a whole, is impossible because of the temporary omission of bank debits figures due to the March bank moratorium. (See technical explanation below, page 73.) The declines in February and March were not exceptionally severe, particularly when allowance is made for the apparent sharpness of the revival late in March. The outstanding developments of the first quarter of I933 were in banking and credit. Various disquieting influences, largely political and psychological, led to renewed and intensified runs upon banks. Local moratoria became necessary, and presently a general suspension of gold payments and a temporary closing of all banks could not be avoided. March was largely devoted to the adoption of emergency measures which permitted the reopening of most banks; and certain other steps taken tended to restore confidence. The quarter closed with faith and hope rapidly reviving; and the imminence of inflation, which was to develop early in April, had not yet become a decisive factor in the reckoning of most business and financial leaders. Speculation, as reflected by Curve A (page 63), declined during the quarter; but the net movement for March as a whole was nearly horizontal. The most striking manifestations of the banking and monetary crisis were thus not in speculation but in the field of money and credit money rates and the currency and banking data.

THE downward course of general business in the United States continued, with two moderate interruptions, during I932. Although the total decline for the year was large, it was somewhat smaller than that of I93I; and the average rate of decline was much slackened after the first quarter. Of the two interruptions to the decline, that of April was cut short by the second gold panic, and that of December occurred under conditions more generally favorable to sustained recovery (Chart i, p. 9). Whereas in I93I the dominant factor in renewing and prolonging the decline of business had been the world financial crisis, the critical influences during I932 were mainly domestic and centered about the second-quarter crisis in the federal budget. This crisis was accompanied by a second drive upon our gold standard, an episode following so closely upon the gold panic of September-October I93I that certain effects of the two episodes upon our credit and financial situations were all but continuous. The year was marked by steady and rapid decline in short term money rates; and the aggregate reduction for the year was greater than in the calendar year I930, though not as great as for the I2-months period ending in September I930. Even during the gold panic of the second quarter money rates fell, in response to the energetic easy money policy of the federal reserve system. With the passing of the second gold crisis, credit conditions improved; and the third and fourth quarters witnessed a vigorous upturn of member bank deposits, while loans were still declining. Many credit difficulties remain unsolved, but readjustment in bank credit has gone far and provides a basis for revival of business borrowing. Average wholesale commodity prices declined further during the year, but the total drop was only about half that suffered in I93I. Although the course of prices was downward as the year closed, there had been an important gain after the end of the gold panic. Hence the December figure was only moderately below that for June, and the last half of the year as a whole gave emphatic evidence of a slackening in the long slump of prices. In security prices the final half year was even more favorable: after the May-June panic had forced both bonds and stocks to extremely low levels, brisk recoveries occurred in the third quarter, and only moderate changes took place thereafter. Average prices of both bonds and stocks closed the year not greatly changed from the levels of January. In security markets, I932 brought striking evidence of a turn for the better.