Page:(Commercial character) The Joseph Fisher lecture in commerce, delivered at the University of Adelaide (IA commercialcharac00jessrich).pdf/33

29 the failures of nations who have bought their experience and paid for it with an expenditure of blood and treasure through the ages. But there seems a tendency to deride tradition and the teachings of the past and to apotheosize false prophets, who pretend to interpret the views of the multitude, and while oftentimes seeking their own ends, aspire to furnish an object lesson to an unappreciative world. The conditions of old and densely-populated countries, while possessing an undoubted interest for the Australian sociological student, should, it seems to me, be to him of merely academic importance. If the cry of want of employment be heard from a population such as ours, in a country such as this, one cannot help feeling that the cause is to be found in ineptitude, ignorance, deficient training, prejudice, want of enterprise, or some other source other than that in which the distressing wail finds its origin in the crowded centres of the old world. The deductions to be drawn from this rambling and imperfect address of mine concern chiefly one class of boys—not those who have shown their discernment by selecting wealthy or influential progenitors, not the abnormally astute, not the morally obtuse, but ordinary, honest, healthy boys, who are forced to engage in the struggle at what seems a somewhat immature age, and propose to start life in an office. It is clear that the elaborate curriculum, which some theorists regard as providing an indispensable equipment for commercial aspirants, does not concern this latter class. Those who have to work all day for a living, if they possess the necessary physique and are pricked by the spur of ambition, must rely to a great extent on evening classes for such technical education as will conduce to an improvement in their