Preface to the American Edition

The chief embarrassments and troubles of an old nation like the British are such as a young republic can never, or ought never, to suffer from. One of the gravest of the world’s doubts about young republics has always been, and still is, whether the latter are capable, in a secure and permanent way, of sustaining international relations. From the standpoint of republican principle, it is yet more important that Americans should profit by the mistakes and sufferings of old countries in matters of domestic policy. There may be some use also in the study by Americans of questions which still perplex and trouble the old country, though such difficulties may not be possible in the American case, unless from very different causes. The trade unions movement grew out of traditional crafts guilds; workers’ concerns, modernized by industrialization and the factory system, included wage stabilization, job security, and retirement and unemployment benefits.