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PRO and CON

OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS AND OTHER AUTHORITATIVE
SELECTIONS-SHOWING THE WORLD-WIDE REPLACE-
MENT OF PRIVATE BY GOVERNMENTAL INDUSTRY
BEFORE AND DURING THE WAR

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COPYRIGHT, 1917,

Вг

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

Published May, 1917

THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS
RAMWAY, N. J.

PREFACE

THE tendency toward collectivism is probably the most portentous movement of the twentieth century. Despite its importance no book has heretofore been published in the United States dealing adequately with this subject. The two admirable though exceedingly brief English publications, Emil Davies' Collectivist State in the Making and the Fabian Research Bureau's State and Municipal Enterprise, a supplement of the New Statesman, are the only attempts thus far made to give a comprehensive idea of the extent and purport of collectivism in Europe and America. The present volume differs from these studies in that it is primarily a source book, presenting authoritative selections either written by experts or selected by experts from official reports, and is not in any way an expression of the personal views of the editors.

The book is in no sense a brief for State Socialism. The editors are well aware of many of the inadequacies of the present governmental industries and of other economic activities of governments. The object of the volume is simply to portray the extent of this new governmental phenomenon and to suggest its probable future development. It is, of course, impossible in a volume of this nature to include a description of all collectivist enterprises, or to determine to a nicety the proper space to allot to each activity, and we can lay no claim to completeness or finality.

The scope of our work will be seen from the table of contents and the number of pages we have been able to allot to each topic. Attention is to be centered rather on the chapters than on the five parts into which the work is divided, purely for the purpose of convenience. This division into parts is meant to be not dogmatically rigid but only suggestive. It will be found that a considerable portion of our space, though not the larger portion, has been given to the United States. We have not

sought, however, to put American conditions in a leading or central position. In some cases we have given America first or even sole consideration because of her leadership in certain directions. On the other hand, in cases where little or nothing is going on in this country, we have sometimes ignored American conditions.

The title chosen, "State Socialism-Pro and Con," should not be taken to mean that the editors have sought to reproduce partizan arguments on either side. Our object has been rather to provide the reader with the most important data, so that he may be equally free to reach a conclusion for or against collectivism. Only in the Introduction have we tried to give a summary of what we regard as the more important arguments.

Besides the special editor mentioned on the title page, the general editors were largely guided in the selection of material by consultations with experts, such as H. Parker Willis, Secretary of the Federal Reserve Board; Harry A. Slattery, Secretary of the National Conservation Association; I. M. Rubinow, author of Social Insurance; Carl Vrooman, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture; Professor E. R. A. Seligman, and W. Jett Lauck, of the Bureau of Railway Economics-though the editors alone are responsible for the selections finally chosen. We are also indebted to J. G. Phelps Stokes, Alexander Trachtenberg, James W. Alexander, Caro Lloyd Strobell, Frederick Kirby, M. Louise Hunt, and other members of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society -upon the initiative of which the work was undertaken.

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