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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 February 2011
I am going to begin by asking a theoretical question or, if this term appears too ambitious, I am going first to circumscribe by way of generalization the role of business administration in economic development. In the second instance the hypotheses so gained will be tested through application to the history of American banking administration between 1780 and 1914. However, before starting on this task we must agree about the terminology to be used, since the word “administration” may connote either a series of actions, namely, the practice of administering something, or the personnel which professionally administers, say, a business enterprise or a public agency or the like. The same holds true mutatis mutandis of the term “management” which in this paper will have a specific meaning. I am going to apply both connotations to the terms administration and management, but in such a way that no misunderstanding is possible.
1 Once more in the 1920's administrative necessities in banking led to technological progress. As Mr. Harold C. Passer informed me, in that decade the New York banker, now president of the Recordak Corporation, Mr. George L. McCarthy, became aware of the urgent need of banks for more complete records at reduced costs as a safeguard against fraud. After considerable experimenting he developed the microfilm.
