retained in memory; but we regard them as entirely representative of essential conditions. They represent such fidelity to actual circumstances as is demanded for a perspective view. The authors have drawn freely upon the standard treatises in the various lines touched upon in the text, such as conservation, immigration, transportation, and industry and trade in general, and much use has been made of government publications, especially those of the Census Bureau. Our obligation to such sources is a general one scarcely admitting of specification. NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT THE AUTHORS It will not be long before every school student is " out in the world." That is what he or she is getting ready for during the school years. There is a living to make and a life to lead, and all must get into the game. But it is poor business jumping into a game whose conditions and rules we do not know. We don't want to make a hit and then run to third instead of first, or we shall pretty soon be sitting on the bench, watching better-informed people play. The game this book deals with the game of labor and industry is one we cannot stay out of unless we want to be professional loafers or tramps. We want to take part in winning prosperity for our country, and for ourselves along with it. No country is truly prosperous if its people are afraid of work. The industries of a country are the basis of its well-being. Yet mere work or industry is not enough; the labors of us all must be intelligent if they are to set us high among the nations and peoples. And that means that we must be thoroughly informed about what we have to do with, here in America, and how we can best put it to use. We shall win out as a people, and also as individuals, in proportion as we possess wide and exact knowledge. We want to know what is being done in the industrial and business world so that we can better decide where to put in our efforts to best advantage. And not that alone-we also need to know what has been done in the past; for that will show us how things have come to be what they are, and will give us hints as to how they can be improved still more. Knowing about the history of our industries furnishes us with a sort of map or chart of our country's life from which we can the more readily lay out our future course. Successful peoples have always had to learn what they had to do with and how best to use it. The young Indian brave had to know what game there was, where to find it, and how to lay hand on it, or he failed in his career as a hunter. He must know where the best flint was to be found for his arrowheads, where he could most easily ford the rivers, how to dry and preserve skins and meat, and many another practical thing. He must know the rules of warfare and the chase, so that he might be a help and not a hindrance to his fellows. If he learned all this and it took effort to do so he became a respected and admired member of his tribe. He made himself a career. It is the same with us. We must know where the iron and copper are and how to get them out; where and how to build roads and railways; how to mill and market wheat and corn; how to build ships and sail them. We must know the rules of industry and business and how to be a help and not a hindrance to our fellow citizens. If we learn all this—and it will take study to do that we shall become respected and solid citizens of the Republic. We shall each make a career. We shall be able to pull our own weight, and more, in the boat. There can be no greater satisfaction in life than that. To bear an intelligent part in the destiny of the nation, as well as to make a personal success for ourselves, we must know our land and its people. What sort of a land have we, and what sort of a population? Then, what can we get out of the land? Shall we try to raise bananas in Maine, or fish for cod in the Mississippi, or mine for coal in Florida? We need to know our best resources and where they are, and not be easy marks for confidence-men or robber-nations. Cotton and coal, meat and |