PREFACE

ix

Malthus,  gave  a  brilliant  and  a  sound  analysis  of  these
phenomena,  which  was  never  refuted.  Their  valid  arguments
were  rejected  not  because  they  were  disproved,  but  because
they  were  associated  with  views  and  practical  proposals
often  rightly  regarded  as  misleading  or  mischievous.  The
general  acceptance  of  illogical  and  inconsistent  definitions
of  the  terms  Capital  and  Demand,  and  a  neglect  to  study
the  actual  mechanism  of  Saving,  have  caused  the  main
body  of  English  professional  economists  to  evade  all
scientific  recognition  of  the  phenomenon  of  an  excess  of
general  producing-power  which  is  visible  in  periods  of
trade  depression.  No  sufficient  consideration  has  been
accorded  to  several  recent  statements  of  the  case,  both
in  England  and  in  the  United  States.  In  the  latter  country
Mr.  Uriel  Crocker  of  Boston  was  the  first  to  apply  clearly
and  effectively  this  analysis  to  the  modern  phenomena  of  “depressed ­
  trade”  in  advanced  industrial  communities,  and  his
latest  statement  entitled  “  The  Cause  of  Hard  Times'’  is  by  far
the  most  convincing  short  popular  rendering  of  the  argument.
Mr.  J.  M.  Robertson  in  his  “  Fallacy  of  Saving"  gave  a  powerful
reading  of  one  important  aspect  of  the  case,  the  false  or
bogus"  saving  which  a  futile  endeavour  to  establish  excessive ­
  capital  engenders.  Some  years  ago  in  conjunction
w ith  the  late  Mr.  A.  F.  Mummery  I  endeavoured,  in
The  Physiology  of  Industry,  to  call  attention  to  the  large
issues  involved  in  this  line  of  thought.  Several  other
writers  *  during  recent  years  have  effectively  exposed  the
fallacies  of  Adam  Smith’s  doctrine  of  Parsimony  and
J-  S.  Mill’s  Fundamental  Propositions  concerning  Capital,
E'S't  R-  S.  Moffat  in  "The  Economy  of  Consumption.”  Frank
Fairman,  in  various  pamphlets.  Dr.  Hertzka  in  “  Freeland.”  Sec  also
The  Evolution  of  Modern  Capitalism”,  by  the  present  writer.