EDUCATION IN MARKETING The leaks and wastes enumerated above are certainly respon sible for at least a quarter of the present costs of marketing. They may be responsible for a third or even more. Here, then, is a great field for reducing costs by improving present methods. The first general step towards such improvement is education. Before 186o the apprenticeship system was general in England and to some extent in America, in retail, wholesale, and importing houses. The apprenticeship system gradually broke down about the middle of the 19th century, and for years no systematic train ing was provided for young people other than the haphazard effect of their experience. The first training of modern salesmen in America seems to have been by the subscription book houses that flourished during the '705 and '8os. Their canvassers or book agents were thoroughly drilled or schooled in the art of selling or in securing orders.
During the '9os sales managers in specialty manufacturing concerns, notably the National Cash Register Company, of Dayton, 0., began training their men in special schools held at the factory.
Training salespeople for retail stores seems to have begun in the '9os in such subjects as arithmetic, spelling and writing and, in 1905, in sales methods, under the auspices of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union in Boston. Educational service
to salespeople and other workers is now commonly found in the better classes of both wholesale and retail stores. A beginning has been made also in education in distribution and marketing in colleges and public schools. Several colleges offer courses in marketing, selling, sales management and advertising. Many high schools give similar but more elementary courses. Trade associa tions have a marked educational bent in practically all lines per taining to marketing. Through the trade associations better accounting, better advertising and better personnel work have been the objects of systematic educational programmes.