License

Doctors, lawyers, teachers, many another member of the professional class, can enter upon a career only after long training, special licenses, impressive degrees. But anyone with a little money and an obliging wholesaler can open a small retail business. Painful is this situation to Professor Paul D. Converse, retail business expert at the University of Illinois.

Business men, said he last week, should be licensed. The prospective retailer should be given an examination in stock turnover, in markups, in cash discounts, in keeping books. According to Professor Converse, the average corporate life is less than six years and from 45% to 50% of retailers vanish from the merchandising world in less than five years.

"Before retailers were forced to file income tax returns," said Professor Converse, "only one out of every 25 of the smaller merchants kept books that would enable them to analyze their business. . . . The other 24 were running their stores by guess."