Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1917 — Federal University of Commerce Needed To Give Training for Foreign Service [ARTICLE]

Federal University of Commerce Needed To Give Training for Foreign Service

By DR. G. L. SWIGGETT

AuuUnt Secretary General Pan American Financial CongreM

The foreign relations of a country 'refer no longer to that nation s affairs of state. The flag will follow, henceforth, trade and social welfare work as never before. This kind of service is carried on by organizations and individuals, with or without governmental patronage, and needs a -superior and particular kind of preparation in view of the services to be undertaken. The nation’s foreign policy may be elastic, but must be in •accord with and fundamentally true to the genius and political principles of the governrtient. Training for foreign service, adequate to achieve the end in view, must be based on satisfactory courses in commercial education. 1 his type of education should be established in all cities of present potential foreign trade. It should be established with due cognizance on the part of business men of the proper emphasis to be placed upon the inherent educative vshui of certain studies, particularly for certain grades in the school of the student, and with due recognition, as well, on the part of educators, that not only is co-operation with local industrial, mercantile and manufacturing interests essential for the most efficient and least wasteful method of instruction in commercial branches, but that a readjustment of our traditional educational organization and its administration is highly desirable in order to articulate and accredit the excellent instruction that is now. being given jn extramural or nonacademic agencies as emergency preparation *for specific careers in business, domestic or foreign. I foresee, therefore, the establishment in the early future of a federal university of commerce, the natural culmination of the nation s local efforts in this field of education. I refer particularly to those courses in commerce that relate to foreign service. Providence, political wisdom, educational integrity and economy demand that we all think in that direction and work to the. establishment of such an institution, whether there hie'but one or several in the land. "7. .. '' '..... ■ Our nation must not be divided against itself in this respect. 1 do not think that we can create a unity of conception in foreign policy in separate and disparate institutions under varied control and catering to diversified local interests. Only a federal university of commerce, with proper establishment and direction, can train the young men and young women of this nation for foreign missions, with the singleness of aim and lofty vision that such a career demands today.