ThisWeek Community Newspapers Grove City Record
Page A4
March 10, 2011
Commentary & opinion
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As it were
Some of the basics taught ‘office boys’ still good today About a century ago, Columbus, like much of the rest of America, was coping with change. A mostly rural agricultural society was rapidly becoming an urban and industrial nation. The process had begun shortly after the end of the American Civil War and would not really end until well into the 20th century. In fact, it would not be until well into the 1920s that most Ohioans would be living in or near its large cities. But at the turn of the century, the great need of new businesses was not simply for more workers with strong backs and boundless energy, although such people would always be welcome. Just as important was the need for a whole new generation of white collar workers to help handle the administrative and managerial tasks of the new world of “modern business.” In an era when most young people did not go much beyond the eighth grade in the public school system, large numbers of students missed out on the useful training that a “business course” in Columbus’s one and only high school could provide. But the need for young people in the new offices created by new businesses was still there. To meet that need, other community organizations tried to be of help. Important among them was the Young Men’s Christian Association or YMCA. Brought to Columbus in 1855 by Henry B. Carrington — a man who would later go on to some renown in the Civil War and the Indian Wars that followed — the YMCA became an important social organization. By 1893, it had established itself in a nice building at 30 S. Third St. in Columbus. In this building, young men could participate in physical education programs, religious meetings and a wide variety of educational courses. One course, taught by Homer Niday, was called “The Business Boys Training School.” Mr. Niday, the head bookkeeper at the American Savings Bank, asserted that with his course, “the question of breaking in a new office boy is settled to the satisfaction of all concerned.” Looking at a summary of Mr. Niday’s course that appeared in the local press at the time, we can learn something of both what has changed and what has not changed in local business education. “At present there are 15 boys in the ‘Business Boys Training School’ ranging in age from 15 to 18 years. Promptly at seven of o’clock, they came in — bright-faced, alert, quick-stepping youngsters, whose every attitude showed they were there for business. “ And what exactly did these young men — and they were all men, as the office was no place for a lady — learn in their classes at the YMCA? “Complete mastery of typewriters of all makes, and the clever art of keeping the machines clean, oiled and in good order, proper punctuation and neatness with all copy “ “How to write a check; how to indorse a check; how to give a receipt; how to deposit money
at the bank and how to give out change. “How to answer telephone calls and the imED portance of always being LENTZ courteous, even to the most peevish caller. “How to manipulate the adding machine; how to make mimeograph copies; how to file papers and clippings; how to open and sort the mail and place it neatly for the man ‘higher-up’. “How to write, fold and stamp letters with accurate neatness.” Reading through all of this, anybody who has recently worked in an office will notice how much has changed from a century ago. First and foremost, there will soon be as many office girls as office boys. And while complete mastery of office machines is important, most of them do not today require all that much oiling. Similarly, most adding machines have been replaced by pocket calculators and the mimeograph is now a museum exhibit rather than a means of making copies. Despite all of these technical differences between that time and our own, Homer Niday left his students with certain pieces of advice: “Be ‘Johnnie on the Spot’ when needed.” “The business world has no place for the laggard, even a new office boy.” “When you go anywhere to represent your firm, show that you are proud of it.” “When you answer a telephone or greet a caller, be courteous and pleasant.” “Remember that office boys grow up very gradually and that there is sure promotion for the lad who is sincere, energetic and reliable.” “Study your employer’s busi-
ness and interests and aim to make yourself valuable to him from the very first day you enter his office” While most of us will not be called upon soon to oil a typewriter or operate a mimeograph, the general advice as to deportment and discipline given by Mr. Niday is just as valuable today as it was more than a century ago. The newspaper article from more than century ago concluded optimistically, “That the business world has no place for laggards, even a new office boy, is the A B C D of this school for hustlers. That there is always room ‘higher up’ for the faithful boy is an incentive which is not overlooked. “The boys in Mr. Niday’s class will certainly be well qualified for their work when they ‘graduate.’ The course is six months long with lessons twice each week, Tuesday evenings and Thursday evenings … “A few years hence, the commercial life of the city will doubtless be represented in many ways and in various locations throughout the world by the men who, as boys, received their first lessons in business at the “Business Boys Training School” at the Columbus YMCA.” In a few years, the business school of the Columbus YMCA would leave and over the course of time become Franklin University. The YMCA itself would move in 1924 to its new home on Spring Street. The old building would be removed and an entirely new building would be built to be the home of The Columbus Dispatch. And Mr. Niday’s boys? While their names remain unknown, I would like to believe that they went on to some success. They certainly seemed to be well prepared to do so.
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