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been completed in the twelfth year, and who have also, greatly to the advantage of the reader, allowed an extension of space from two volumes to three, thus permitting a greater fulness of treatment than could otherwise have been possible. The time spent in the actual construction of the work represents, however, but a comparatively small part of that period during which it has been the subject of my thoughts, a period which covers a very large part of my life. And yet after these years of labour I am most deeply conscious not only of omissions but also of imperfections inevitable in a work of this description.

I may now turn, and with more pleasure, to an explanation of the plan which has been followed. It was obvious that the limits of space did not permit an absolutely exhaustive treatment of most, if of any of the subjects contained in the Dictionary. Each heading, however, has been dealt with as fully as possible. Every effort has been made to give the most complete information attainable by means of cross-references to the other articles contained in the work which take up different portions of the subject and will thus assist the reader. Clearness has not been sacrificed to the exigencies of space. Where, indeed, clearness could not be attained without employing some considerable space or even some repetition, this has been allowed, and, equally wherever possible, care has been taken to supply an adequate bibliography of each subject.

It is thus hoped that the Dictionary will assist the student to carry out any special investigation, by giving him some preliminary information, and by referring him to the best authorities. In selecting these authorities, while due attention has been given to the more important writers, reference has also been made to many whose works, valuable in themselves, are less generally studied, and who may perhaps have only contributed a monograph on the particular subject under notice. The works of men comparatively unknown, remote from us through the countries where they lived or the period when they wrote, are often of considerable service in elucidating particular cases or illustrating special points in history. The same principle has been applied to the biographies. Considerable attention has been given to the less known writers, for the same reason. It is easy for the student to find out all that he requires about the works of the more celebrated men, while he frequently finds it difficult to obtain information about the more obscure, a knowledge of whose investigations, however, may be necessary to him. Better that fifty should consider an explanation superfluous than that one should find a difficulty unsolved.

The turn which the study of economics has taken in recent years has necessitated corresponding developments in this work. The historical side of the study has been constantly remembered as well as the more recent effort to gain greater exactness through the employment of mathematical methods.

In connection with the first branch of the subject, articles will be found both on the Historical Method and on the Historical School of Economists. The early history of economic movements has been explained with reference both to theory and to practice, as in the articles on the Canon Law and Gilds, and the Mercantile System-all of which may be claimed as still having survivals in modern thought. Some space also has been devoted to short histories, as of the trading companies

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formerly so powerful in this country, and of the Hanseatic League, whose influence on the continent of Europe extended so widely.

In connection with the employment of mathematical methods the use of Diagrams is also explained, as well as the Graphic Method. These articles show the use which may be made of Diagrams both in abstract theoretic exposition and in the explanation of concrete economic phenomena. A practical application of these methods for the use either of students or business men will be found in the article on Polegraphy, the name given to a graphic method recently devised to enable those concerned to obtain a clear view for practical purposes of complex combinations of operations either on the stock or produce exchanges. This article contains, it is believed, the first explanation of this method available for the English reader.

Whatever method we use we must ever bear in mind the necessity of constant, careful, and exact observation of facts. We must "classify our facts before we generalise, and seek for narrower generalisations and inductions before we aim at the highest."

As the limits of space compelled concentration, and this work is intended mainly for the service of students among the English-speaking peoples, the developments of economic thought in other countries, however interesting, have necessarily not received the same fulness of treatment as those which have taken place within our own shores. Yet these subjects have not been neglected.

The Dictionary contains, it is believed, the first attempt which has ever been made in a work of this description to give, under separate heads, an account of the labours of the principal writers and the characteristics of the different schools of economic thought throughout the civilised world.

The work of the economic Schools of England, in which last we may include the growing and powerful body of thinkers in America; the labours of the Schools of Austria, of France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Russia, and Spain, have thus formed the subjects of separate articles. These may be commended to the special attention of the reader. They will help him to understand the various modifications of doctrine and opinion which the study has undergone. And if, in all cases, opinions are not agreed, much may be ascribed to the different requirements of national life in different countries.

The student who examines these articles will find that he is able to carry his investigations further by means of the separate notices of the principal writers named, and of the special subjects to which reference is made.

Thus the reader of the article on the French School will have his attention called to the writings of the many able Frenchmen who have written on Economics, to the work, for example, of the Physiocrats, and their organs, the Éphémérides and the Nouvelles Éphémérides—the only known complete set of which was liberally placed at the disposal of Dr. Bauer, who wrote the article on that subject. The many important writers referred to in the article on the German School show, especially in recent years, the influence of the great German thinkers, Kant, Fichte, and Hegel, who, though they can scarcely be claimed as economists, yet. influenced and modified economic thought far beyond the boundaries of their own

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country. The student of Economics will do well to examine these articles carefully, as well as those on the Italian, Russian, and Spanish Schools.

These articles contain much information on points in the economic development of the countries concerned, which may be new to the readers of the Dictionary. In our own country, to give merely two examples, the spirit of enterprise which has marked British character and peopled British colonies has been largely influenced by the English Law of Wills, which has fostered the energetic side of life through the necessity for hard work. A reference to the articles on this subject will show how completely the English law differs in principle from the law of other European countries, and how far more free in this respect the power of bequest in this country is. Again as to agricultural matters it is well to be reminded that in our older English land-holding system the leases for a long term, formerly possessed by English yeomen, helped to develop a class whose existence strengthened an interest of the highest economic importance to the country.

The plan of the work has been set out all through as broadly as possible. Due consideration has been given to theory and method. That so often misinterpreted expression, the Laws of Political Economy, is explained-that these are not rules to be obeyed but scientific uniformities. There are also articles on the Method of Political Economy and on Political Economy itself, with explanatory articles on the main headings into which Economic Method is divided.

The practical side of Economics also has not been neglected. Articles are given on Business subjects, on Banks, Clearing Houses, Commercial Crises, Docks, Railways, Insurance, Bills of Exchange, and the Precious Metals, with a summary of recent events in Silver Legislation in the United States.

The use of statistics is also explained, with articles on the kindred subjects of Index Numbers and the Tabular Standard.

Financial subjects are dealt with, including Taxation, which, according to the manner in which it is levied, exercises so vast an influence on the welfare of a country. Articles will be found on the National Debt, on the Budget, on Finance generally, on Export and Import Duties, on the Income Tax both in England and abroad, on Graduated Taxation, on Death Duties, on Taxation as a whole, on the Internal Customs formerly in use in France, and on Octroi Duties.

But levying taxation, though one of the most important, is not by any means the only manner in which the powers exercised by legislation influence the welfare of a country. Government regulation of Industry, the Factory Acts, the laws affecting Labour generally, may be mentioned as subjects dealt with in this connection.

Perhaps in the legislation on the poor law the influence of economic thought is more perceptible than in any other branch of our administration. A reference to the economic writers of all ages and of all countries who have dealt with questions of charitable relief, and whose biographies will be found in these volumes, will show how universal the difficulty of assisting the poor without pauperising them has always been. The charitably-disposed have often had to deplore the injury which well-meant efforts have inflicted on those for whom help was intended.

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The study of these volumes themselves will supply many and complete examples of what has briefly been recapitulated here. I venture to bring to an end this explanation of the object and scope of my work with a passage from one of my father's oldest friends, Mr. Henry Hallam, which I well remember reading with much interest in years past, little as I imagined then how closely it would describe my own feelings at this time.

"An author who waits till all requisite materials are accumulated to his hands, is but watching the stream that will run on for ever; and though I am fully sensible that I could have much improved what is now offered to the public by keeping it back for a longer time, I should but then have had to lament the impossibility of exhausting my subject. EПOIEI, the modest phrase of the Grecian sculptors, well expresses the imperfection that attaches to every work of literary industry or of philosophical investigation. But I have other warnings to bind up my sheaves while I may,-my own advancing years, and the gathering in the heavens."

In conclusion I have to express my sincere thanks to those who have assisted me by contributing to these volumes, and who have taken pains and trouble of which only the Editor can be aware. Specially my thanks are due to Dr. James Bonar, Prof. A. Caldecott, Prof. F. Y. Edgeworth, Mr. Henry Higgs, Dr. Ernest Schuster, and Mr. H. R. Tedder, who have helped in many ways as well as in preparing the work for the press, and to Miss Ethel Faraday for the labour and great attention she has bestowed on the Index.

My earnest hope as Editor is that this work may promote and facilitate the study of sound economic doctrine, the knowledge of which is essential to the lasting prosperity of our country.

HENSTEAD HALL, WRENTHAM, SUFFOLK,

1910.

R. H. INGLIS PALGRAVE.