BY THE SAME AUTHOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRODUCTS. Mechanism and the Metaphysics of Exchange. Essays: WHAT MAKES THE RATE OF WAGES? Or, The Three "His remarks on the legislators of the country are vigorous and refreshing. The book, notwithstanding its statistics, is exceedingly interesting and is the ablest defense of capital that we have seen."-Chicago Advance. THE MARGIN OF PROFITS. How Profits are Now Divided; What Part of the Present Hours of Labor can Now be Spared. Together with the reply of Mr. E. M. Chamberlin, representing the Labor Union, and Mr. Atkinson's rejoinder to the reply. (No. XL. of "The Questions of the Day Series '') Cloth, 75 cents; paper 40 cents "This volume abounds in facts and statistics of first importance, and no student of the economic problems of the day should fail to give it a careful reading."-Boston Traveller. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON THE INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS OF THE NATION CONSUMPTION LIMITED, PRODUCTION BY EDWARD ATKINSON, LL.D., PH.D. AUTHOR OF "THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRODUCTS," THE MARGIN OF PROFITS," ETC. NEW YORK & LONDON G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS The Knickerbocker Press 1890 PUBLIC LIBRARY 245714 ASTOR, LENOX AND COPYRIGHT BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS The knickerbocker Press G. P. Putnam's Sons PREFACE. I VENTURE again to present to the public two series of articles which have appeared, one in The Century Magazine, and one in The Forum. I have made such slight corrections as have been found necessary. I have continued the statistics which have been previously published down to the present date and I have added some other treatises not previously published, notably the Address, given to the graduating class of the University of South Carolina in which I have given very fully the motive of my work. I began the investigation of our national accounts early in the year 1862, wishing to demonstrate the ability of the Nation to bear any amount of taxation which might become necessary for the maintenance of the national existence. At that time my own concepts of the great problems in social science which I have since undertaken to treat, were very vague and indefinite; I held, however, a profound conviction Ist. That the purpose of human life upon earth could only be the development of the character and capacity of the individual through the very struggle for material existence which seems to be so arduous. 2d. That mind and character must be the paramount factors in material production. 3d. That there must be a higher law leading through the correlation of mental and material forces toward an ample and abundant subsistence and toward an equitable distribution. 4th. I held the profound conviction that these conditions of material welfare could only be attained by the development of individual intelligence, leading to the conception that in all commerce among men both parties serve each other. 5th That whenever the interdependence of men and of nations should become a part of the common knowledge of the people, peace, order, and industry would be adopted as the common law and practice of nations. 6th. As I have explored each branch of material production, it has become more and more apparent to me that the earth's capacity to sus |