PREFACE

POLITICAL  Economy  Is,  and  has  been  for  some  years,  in  a
transitional  state,  which  is  proof  of  its  vitality.  On  the
one  side  it  is  becoming  more  abstract,  and  on  the  other  side
it  is  becoming  more  realistic.  The  two  movements  are
not  in  the  least  opposed,  unless  in  the  sense  that  they  act
and  react  on  each  other  incessantly  to  the  great  advancement ­
  of  the  study.  Much  modern  Economic  science
is  being  increasingly  assimilated  in  form  and  method  to
the  Natural  sciences.  In  chemical  and  physical  laboratories ­
  which  can  pretend  to  any  distinction  realistic
researching  never  stops  ;  but  speculation  as  regards  the
fundamentals  of  chemistry  and  physics  continue  and
must  continue.  In  the  great  laboratory  of  the  world  a
multitude  of  realistic  researches  remain  to  be  made  by
economists,  and  it  is  only  as  they  are  made  that  the
science  of  economics  will  develop  satisfactorily  ;  but  to
attack  the  ultra-abstract  and  mathematical  economists
on  that  account,  in  the  supposed  interests  of  realism,
is  suicidal.  Of  this  book  speculative  results  of  a  very
general  kind  are  the  substance.
I  have  to  thank  Mr.  A.  Fingland  Jack,  Lecturer  on
Economics  and  Commerce  in  the  University  of  Manchester
for  his  kind  assistance  with  the  proofs,
The  University,
Manchester,  June,  1912