LABOR LEGISLATION RACO BY JOHN R. COMMONS, LL.D. PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRINCIPLES OF LABOR LEGISLATION Copyright, 1916, by Harper & Brothers A-Q EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION The aim of the Harper's Citizen's Series is to supply a series of volumes which will serve both as text-books for college and university class-room use, and as interesting and instructive treatises for the general reader. The criteria of a good text-book are, indeed, not different from those of a satisfactory treatise for the general reader. In both the aim is to present in clear and logical form the essential principles which furnish the basis for, and give scientific consistency and unity to, the subject which is treated. In this series the publishers, editors, and authors will cooperate in the preparation of a number of volumes which, while not fixed in number, will constitute a unity by reason of their harmony of purpose and their similarity in mode of treatment. The general purpose of the volumes is indicated by the title "Citizen's Series." They will each discuss a subject, an adequate knowledge of which is indispensable to good citizenship; -a topic, therefore, which needs to be taught in our schools and universities, and which should be interesting to all persons who seek to understand the social, economic, and political phenomena by which they are surrounded and the principles which explain the conditions that so largely determine the welfare of every member of an organized community. The mode of treatment which these topics will receive is indicated by the employment of the word "Principles" in the title of each volume. That is, the aim of each volume will be to reveal the fundamental principles which lie at the basis of the topic which is treated, and thus to provide the student or general reader with the instruction and information which will enable him not only to understand the facts which the volumes themselves furnish, but to appreciate the further facts which his other reading and every-day experiences will necessarily present to him. It is further intended that the topics will be so treated that the student or reader will be stimulated to continue his quest for knowledge and understanding beyond the class-room and outside the covers of books. In order that this orientation of each field may be satisfactorily secured, and this indispensable stimulus to further study supplied, care will be taken that the discussion of each subject will be by a scholar eminent in the field within which his subject lies. W. F. WILLOUGHBY. |