THE PREFACE HE following papers, which have been written at various times, and for different occasions, during the last eight years, on economic subjects—in which the author has been specially interested-are connected by certain common characteristics. They deal generally with the relations of economic theory to proposals of practical economic reform. In the first, an attempt is made to set forth the moral, if it may be so called, of the present position. In the six succeeding Essays, different aspects of various methods of industrial reform, which have lately engaged a large measure of popular attention, are brought under review. In the eighth, the general relations of economic theory to practical affairs are considered; and in the three, which immediately follow, the application of these general relations to three particular questions of the day, briefly treated in the eighth as illustrative examples, is more fully developed. In the two concluding Essays, the nature of the changes, which have recently passed over economic theory, and have resulted generally in the incorporation of the older traditional teaching, exemplified by Adam Smith, with the newer presentation, and connection with later facts and practice, supplied 102215 |