Practically every citizen will buy more than he buys now. ✓
Buying will be faster. ✓
National distribution will be faster. ✓
Retail selling will be faster. ✓
People buying more than they buy now. ✓
We will be a leisure people. ✓
We will have more time to consume and pay more attention to consuming. ✓
The market will be more sophisticated and more educated. ✓
You may think the above predictions were written at some point in the last 20 years, but they actually came from a list published in the January 1929 issue of System: The Magazine of Business. They were part of an article by film producer Adolph Zuker titled, “Looking Ahead a Decade or Two.” While Zuker’s article wasn’t wrong, the stock market crash a few months later may have impacted his timeline.
System – sometimes seen as The Magazine of Business – began publishing in December 1900. At the time, it was a small publication costing 10 cents, with a few ads and articles like “The ‘Follow-Up’ System in Securing Business,” and was directed at those wanting to keep up on topics related to running a business. Over time, the magazine expanded its scope and grew more comprehensive.
As it grew into a more established business magazine, System featured articles on a variety of topics of interest to executives, including articles looking to the future. One such article ran in the February 1929 issue, “Business at Airplane Speed” by Colonel Paul Henderson, vice president of the Transcontinental Air Transport Company. It looked at the future of passenger and freight transportation and offered a few spot-on predictions as well as the following quote that, with a few tweaks, would ring true today if it was written about the future:
“People who believe that things move rapidly now in the United States would be dizzy if they could suddenly look at the speed which will be quite the order of the day in 1950 – or even 1940.” (p 141)
By 1929, the last year of publication under the name System, issues cost 35 cents and the magazine had become a modern business magazine, looking at all aspects of business, from activities in the office to the wider world of business and the economy. Many of the articles were very much about various business practices, though testimonials and salesmanship were also popular topics. Pieces like “Why People Buy Things” (August 1929), “A Set of Rules for Our Testimonial Industry” (May 1929), and “Do ‘Paid Testimonials’ Pay?” (May 1929) feel like articles that could be written today about social media influencers and online selling.
The magazine regularly included business trend articles and a “Weather Map,” a feature which cited the views of a “Council on the Trend of Business.” This group of business leaders was convened by the magazine, and who were surveyed on their sentiments on business and the economy. There were articles on specific industries like “Is Aviation Over Expanded?,” “The A-B-C of Airports,” and “Motor-Car Markets Abroad.” One particular article I wanted to mention, which ran in the July 1929 issue, was about the circus — “What Business Can Learn from the Circus.” This article provided a brief, behind-the-scenes picture of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey and seemed odd at first, but it turned out to be interesting. The author began by making the case that, while the circus might not be a manufacturing plant or a traditional retail store, it still had something to teach businesses because the circus was a business of logistics:
“Between March 1 and November1 each year, John Ringling moves his factory 150 times. This factory employs 1,500 people. It costs $18,500 a day to move it, erect it, get it into full production, tear it down, and start it on its journey to another site. This $18,500 includes feeding the people and several hundred animals. These people and animals, aided by machinery, manufacture amusement. John Ringling sells this merchandise for cash on each site where he operates his factory.” (p. 24)
As business changed, so too did the publication. A special insert in the July 1929 issue made the case for the changes. The publisher emphasized that the world of business was changing; events in distant places would impact local businesses as never before. The days of local business owners, who had immediate control over operations and people, and primarily focused on local concerns, were giving way to a world where businessmen would need to keep up with national and international business news. This revamped and renamed publication would fit the needs of the next era of business.
Beginning with the September 7, 1929 issue, the magazine published weekly under a new name — Business Week (yes, that Business Week, now Bloomberg BusinessWeek). The new publication would have articles that focus more on news and less on management and process. However, the publisher also published System and Business Management for a few years (we have issues from 1928-1935) and that publication focused more on management pieces.
This publication, founded in 1900, continues to be a source of business news today.
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