_Copyright, 1909, by American School of Correspondence._
It is commonly supposed by the smaller business men that method is a result of business growth. Sometimes it is. If a business grows fast, better methods become a necessity. Without method any business must remain small—with few exceptions, just as small as the capacity of the man at the helm. "To the extent which system is intelligently used, it multiplies one's powers of achievement in all directions."
The importance of the order billing and shipping departments, the amount of waste effort therein, and the relation of each to all other branches of the business, make them a most interesting and profitable study for the progressive business student, whether he be a beginner, an executive, or an owner. To attain quick results and to eliminate useless head, hand, and leg work, learn the capacity, capability, and usefulness of office machinery and the short-cut methods made possible thereby.
During the last eight years there has been a tremendous amount of improvement made both in this country and abroad in handling office work, changing from hand to machine methods. Most of these improvements have been literally forced upon the business men of the country by specialty companies having labor-saving devices for sale. Wide-awake merchants have in some cases left the installation of such devices to office people who feared the loss of their positions through the use of them.
One of the pioneers in the development of the class of work above mentioned is Hiram J. Halle, who overcame all obstacles, and gave the impetus to modern billing methods which has been such a help to our economic results in office practice. The typewriter companies have followed his lead and equipped cylinder machines with the necessary attachments for accomplishing almost any desired result, except writing in a bound book. In order to overcome this obstacle, the McMillan and the Empire and some other loose-leaf books have been invented. These books are loose-leaf only while they are being written upon; after completion they are permanently bound by a simple device, and become as secure as a sewed book.
In any book of this character, the student must consider the text as a series of problems, with explanations of how each has been solved. If the student does not learn to exercise his own powers of originality as a result of a study of this volume, he will fail to secure the result intended. Rarely, if ever, will two problems be met in two commercial establishments which will be alike. The judgment of the person installing the system will determine the best method to be used under certain conditions.