NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION THIS Collection of papers has clearly done something to satisfy a want, both among students and in wider circles. In the universities it has been found of use as an introduction to that more "realistic" treatment of economic questions towards which they are all feeling their way. It is now reprinted in the belief that its modest size and wide range will enable it to serve that purpose for some time to come. Since its first appearance, however, there has been a welcome increase in the number of available treatises dealing with particular industries; and the reader who has obtained from these pages some general notions of the history and organization of a trade will do well to supplement his information by reference to later literature. On the subject of the first two lectures we can now turn to Mr. Jeans' "The Iron Trade of Great Britain" (1906); with which may advantageously be compared, both for further technical facts and also for the American point of view, Mr. H. H. Campbell's "The Manufacture and Properties of Iron and Steel" (1903). On textiles we have Professor S. J. Chapman's "The Lancashire Cotton Industry" (1904), and "The Cotton Industry and Trade" (1905); and also a brief but suggestive article by Professor J. H. Clapham on "Industrial Organization in the Woollen and Worsted Industries of Yorkshire" in the Economic Journal for December, 1906. Mr. Macrosty has continued his studies in capitalist combination, and has laid before us an admirably arranged collection of material in his recent work, "The Trust Movement in British Industry” (1907). Dr. Arthur Shadwell's "Industrial Efficiency: A Comparative Study of Industrial Life in England, Germany and America" (2 vols. 1906), gives the impressions of an unusually competent observer, and clothes the dry bones of commercial statistics with the flesh of human interest. Finally, it must be added that the various "Reports of the Tariff Commission," whatever may be thought of the conclusions to which the Commission has arrived, certainly contain a vast mass of useful information, conveniently arranged for purposes of reference. There are separate Reports on "The Iron and Steel Trades" (1904), "The Woollen Industry" (1905), and “The Flax, Hemp, and Jute Industries" (1905). The student who wishes to penetrate into the manufacturing problems of Lancashire may consult also a "Reply to the Report of the Tariff Commission on the Cotton Industry," prepared for the Free Trade League by Professor Chapman (1905). Readers of Mr. Jones' eloquent and weighty lecture will be interested to learn that a new sliding scale was adopted, after prolonged negotiations, by the Midland Iron and Steel Wages Board in June, 1906. EDGBASTON, May 25, 1907. ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS THE BRITISH IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRIES: THEIR By J. STEPHEN JEANS, Secretary of the British Iron Trade Cleveland, West Scotland, South Wales, and Staffordshire Comparison between Great Britain and the United States Iron-making and iron-mining. THE MIDLAND IRON AND STEEL WAGES BOARD. The Board and subordinate associations. Cost and advantages of membership. Functions of the Operatives' Works Representatives The Employers' Secretary. Organization of the Midland Board The South Wales Committee. The Sheet Mill Wages Schedule . The Sliding Scale Relation of the Board to Employers' and Operatives' Associations 66 Separation between the manufacturing and distributing business . History of the cotton industry in America and on the Continent. Comparison of English and foreign yarns Causes and character of the continental development By FREDERICK HOOPER, Secretary of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce, and Secretary of the Piece-Dyeing Board. (Delivered Other materials: cotton, mohair, alpaca, silk |