PREFACE.
IX
years to come, incapable of united action by
themselves, and requiring the strong guidance
of the capitalist, or, to use the good old-
fashioned word, ‘ the master.'
It is all very well to theorise and plan about
things as they should be, but we must first
recognise existing conditions, and then strive to
better them in the full light of this knowledge.
This contribution to the political economy
of the day—the result, as I have said, of an
intimate practical acquaintance with the subject
—will, I hope, help in some small degree to dispel
those communistic ideas, so prevalent in neigh
bouring countries, from the minds of our work
ing classes, and incite them and their friends to
renewed efforts for a better national life in no
revolutionary or theoretical, but in a thoroughly
conservative and practical spirit.
The chapter on ' Labour' appeared in
Melioi'a, a quarterly review of social science,
a good many years ago, and formed a small
contribution to the public opinion which has
found expression in the extension of factory
legislation and the early closing movements ;
that on ‘ Luxury ’ in Fraser s Magazine for
October 1872.
The chapter on ‘ Leisure ' was delivered as
a lecture at the inauguration of the Renton
a