Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Commerce Building [PAGE 4]

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ful. The school had done little more than to prepare clerks and bookkeepers. It had not been realized that the function of a university school of commerce was to prepare for future leadership in economic enterprise, not for clerkships. Twenty-two years passed before interest in university commercial education was revived. I he abandonment of the first school of commerce was an inauspicious event but, in reality, a beneficial one, since it put an end to the "business college0 conception of university commercial education, and offered a clear field for the re-establishment of the work on its only proper basis, that of economic science. About 1899-1900, several of the leading universities of the country had become convinced of the desirability of a more systematic organization of courses that should prepare students for careers in commerce. To place the University of Illinois in line with this movement* an appropriation was asked for. It was obvious to the Board of Trustees that an excellent foundation for such expansion had already been laid by the department of economics, and, accordingly, an appeal for funds was made to the legislature. An appropriation was made and, in 1902, the school of commerce was re-established under the title of 'The Courses of Training for Business,M Professor Kin ley being appointed Director. Two additional professorships were established—one in commerce, and the other in industry and transportation. The effect of the new policy was immediately apparent. The total number of registrations in courses in economics had been 253 for the two semesters of 1901—02. In 1902^3, this increased to 309, in 1903-04 to 735; by 1906L07, it had reached 1,143. This striking increase came about not only because a larger number of students elected

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