In December the Business Historical Society presented to its members a new book, WEAF: A Pioneer in Commercial Broadcasting, by William P. Banning. This volume is concerned with the beginnings of the radio industry, which has become so very important both economically and culturally in the brief span of about a quarter-century. The experimentation involved led to the creation of the American way of commercial broadcasting.

In the history of man there have been many occupations but none more important than war, business, and religion. We shall consider at length the course of the first two, without neglecting the third, during the period of the last 600 years.

The way in which business men “translate” economic policy into business policy has never been studied systematically, but the subject is worth investigating. This problem first came to my attention in connection with some research in the field of economic history, and I have recently run across a case which merits description though broader conclusions cannot be drawn at this time.