SELECTIONS AND DOCUMENTS IN ECONOMICS Already published TRUSTS, POOLS AND CORPORATIONS By William Z. Ripley, Ph.D., Professor of Economics, Harvard University In preparation SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS By Thomas N. Carver, Ph.D., Professor of Economics, Harvard University TAXATION AND PUBLIC FINANCE By Charles J. Bullock, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Economics, Harvard University ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Vol. I, 1763-1860; Vol. II, 1860-1900 By Guy Stevens Callender, Ph.D., Professor of Political Economy, Yale University GENERA COPYRIGHT, 1905 BY JOHN R. COMMONS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 55.10 The Athenæum Press GINN & COMPANY. PRO. HD6483 PREFACE This book is intended to do for the study of labor unions and labor problems what Ripley's "Trusts, Pools and Corporations" has done for the study of capital and its organization; and the preface to Dr. Ripley's book states the purpose of this book. It is "intended to be more than a mere collection of economic reprints," and is "planned for use specifically as a text-book; not merely as a handy volume for reference, or as a collection. of original documents. . . . It denotes a deliberate attempt at the application to the teaching of economics of the case system, so long successful in our law schools. With this end in view, each chapter is intended to illustrate a single, definite, typical phase of the general subject. The primary motive is to further the interests of sound economic teaching, with especial reference to the study of concrete problems of great public and private interest. A difficulty in the substitution of present-day social and economic studies for the good old-fashioned linguistic ones, or for the modern sciences, a difficulty especially peculiar to descriptive economics as differentiated from economic theory, has always been to secure data sufficiently concrete, definite, and convenient to form a basis for analysis, discussion, and criticism. . . . The first requisite, therefore, for the successful conduct of economic instruction in the descriptive field is to provide raw material; which in discussion, supplementary to the general lectures, may be worked over in detail in the class room." Selected, as these chapters are, mainly from the economic journals, it has not always been possible to restrict each chapter to a case illustrating a single phase or topic of the general subject. It has therefore been necessary to furnish in the Introduction and the Index a set of cross references by which the student may bring together the several illustrations of each phase. In this way it is hoped that two objects may be secured: first, 184127 that of viewing each industry and its labor conditions as a unit, wherein the several topics, such as division of labor, apprenticeship, minimum wage, "closed shop," and so forth, shall appear in their relations to the whole; and, second, that of furnishing the data for such general statements or conclusions regarding these topics as will make due allowance for the variety of attendant circumstances under which they are exhibited. The latter is properly the case method of study, as will be appreciated from the two chapters devoted to the decisions of courts. Since the volume is made up of selected cases illustrating a branch of political economy of world-wide variety and profound importance, it is intended to be looked upon as supplementary to a treatise like Adams and Sumner's "Labor Problems," or to the more general works on political economy, or to a lecture course. For the general public it makes available the contributions of many original investigators, scattered through the economic and trade journals, which otherwise would be restricted to those who have access to the great libraries of the country. I wish to express my great indebtedness to Professor W. Z. Ripley, the editor of this series, for his assistance and criticisms in the process of making selections and otherwise; and to the authors of the several papers for permission to reprint. It is also a privilege to be able to acknowledge the willing coöperation of the editors of the Political Science Quarterly, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Yale Review, the Economic Journal, the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the Review of Reviews, the Columbia University Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law, the Engineering Magazine, the Sibley Journal of Mechanical Engineering, the Atlanta University Press, the National Civic Federation Review, and Charities. My colleagues, Professor T. S. Adams and Professor E. A. Gilmore, have given me aid which I heartily appreciate, and I have been fortunate in the assistance rendered by Miss Helen L.. Sumner of the Wisconsin University Graduate School. JOHN R. COMMONS. |