THE CITIZEN'S LIBRARY OF ECONOMICS, POLITICS, AND SOCIOLOGY EDITED BY RICHARD T. ELY, PH.D., LL.D. DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS WORLD POLITICS THE CITIZEN'S LIBRARY OF ECONOMICS, POLITICS, AND SOCIOLOGY. ECONOMIC CRISES. BY EDWARD D. JONES, PH.D. OUTLINE OF ECONOMICS. GOVERNMENT IN SWITZERLAND. ESSAYS IN THE MONETARY HISTORY OF BY CHARLES J. BULLOCK, PH.D. HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES. BY JESSE MACY, LL.D. IN PREPARATION. MUNICIPAL ENGINEERING AND SANITATION. BY MR. M. N. BAKER. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 66 FIFTH AVENUE. COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped May, 1900. Reprinted September, 1900; February, 1902. PREFACE IT has been the intention of the writer in the present volume to gather into a harmonious picture the multitude of facts and considerations that go to make up international politics at the present time. The treatment is of necessity suggestive rather than exhaustive, but it is believed that, while at present no complete historical judgment as to the great forces at work could be delivered, still the far-reaching importance and dramatic interest of present developments would justify the attempt to obtain a bird's-eye view. These considerations indicate the purpose as well as the necessary limitations of the present work. While the author has, in every case, sifted his evidence and attempted to found his judgments on unimpeachable testimony, the subject is so vast that only the paradoxical specialist in all fields could avoid just criticism. The author has, however, attempted to keep himself entirely free from a priori conceptions and prejudices, and to view the great drama of contemporary life as an unimpassioned beholder who forbears to censure or commend. The plan of the book may need a word of explanation. The first part is an introduction, and gives a general view of the forces at work, |