Top of page

magazine cover says SYSTEM and shows a drawn scene with a seated businessman reading some papers and a standing woman in a shirtwaist and long skirt looking like she is filing
System cover from February 1901. Image courtesy of Ellen Terrell

The Magazine of Business: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Share this post:

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