Recent events have brought the people of the United States face to face with numerous new economic problems, many of which are likely to remain unsolved for years to come; besides, they have complicated to a marked degree those old problems which were pressing for solution at the outbreak of the Great War. In consequence, our leaders are becoming more and more convinced that increased attention should be given in our secondary schools to a serious consideration of the fundamental principles on which these problems rest.

Such a conviction is a new one in many quarters, for hitherto the notion has very generally prevailed, especially among university teachers, that no formal study of the Principles of Economics should be undertaken before the sophomore year in college. Obviously such a notion carries the implication, unconscious perhaps, that the fundamentals of Economics, even in their simplest forms, should be withheld from the great mass of young men and women engaged in industry, and restricted to the select few who are able by one means or another to become college students. Such a notion not only carries vicious implication, but it also is ill founded; for hundreds of high schools the country over prove by experience that their pupils are fully capable of grasping the elements of economic science when presented concretely and in a way to show their relationship to practical affairs.

The public high school is now the "finishing school" of the typical leader of American life, and it is likely to continue to perform that function for another generation at least; and just so long as this condition prevails our high schools cannot, if they would, escape the responsibility of presenting squarely and as fully as possible the elementary principles that govern our everyday business actions.

Since the great bulk of the leaders of to-morrow can have no other academic training in economic principles than that gained in the public high school, it is highly essential that the textbook placed in their hands should be something more than an introduction to a college course to be pursued two or three years hence. It should, with due regard for the capacities of high school pupils, endeavor to introduce its readers to the principles that underlie business, and determine in large measure the practices of the business world.

In preparing this text I have had four ideals in mind: to choose for discussion only those topics which are fundamentally important; to push the discussion of laws and principles to a point where every serious-minded high school pupil would feel a real mental challenge; to illustrate every law and principle by references to historical events and to everyday experiences, and by the use of graphic material; and finally, to show the relation of each law and principle to the industrial activities in which practically every high school boy and many of our girls must engage.

In keeping the viewpoint of the high school I have had the assistance of teachers in secondary schools of various types in all sections of the country; and for their kind and disinterested cooperation I take pleasure in expressing my sincere appreciation. I am under special obligation to one of my colleagues, Dr. M. H. Hunter, who has read and criticized the entire manuscript, and rendered invaluable aid in preparing the Exercises and Problems that accompany each chapter.

Charles Manfred Thompson

Urbana, Illinois June 1, 1919