INTRODUCTION

This book is frankly written from the national point of view. Someone has suggested that much futile discussion would be prevented if everyone were required to point at the thing of which he was talking. It would be a wise rule if no one would ever speak or write about "society," or "the community” in general, but only of such groups as can be named and located. The United States of America is such a group. So also are England, France, Canada, and a number of others. These and similar groups are the largest that are capable of carrying through definite economic policies.

Not only is this book written from the national point of view; it is frankly a theory of national prosperity. In this respect the author has the illustrious example of the great Adam Smith, whose work was entitled "An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations." Prosperity is assumed to be desirable and worthy of the highest efforts of the scholar in economics as well as the statesman. It is believed to require not only an ample production but also a fair distribution of the products among all classes, to the end that all may share in the national prosperity.

The writer may be accused of bringing purely ethical considerations into an economic discussion. He has no desire to repudiate the charge, certainly not on the ground that ethical considerations are unworthy of an economist. The charge, however, does not happen to be correct, unless a preference for national prosperity as against national poverty can justly be called an ethical preference. The author pleads guilty to this preference, and the book is written as an expression of it. Having this preference, the author frankly argues for those